It was the greatest night in our history. It was the greatest night of my life.
And now we’re home and we’re left with the memories of it all.
I cannot help but think we saw the end of an era on Saturday night so it is all tinged with an edge of sadness. Nothing else is going to top that. And we may well have seen the last games in blue of some fantastic servants of the club. Not least of course our very own Didier Drogba who announced earlier this afternoon that he is leaving the club. I was so very sad to hear it, but I completely understand why he wants to leave. How wonderfully romantic to leave with having won the Champions League with his last kick for the club. It makes you forget about all the bad stuff. Good luck Didi old son – we’ll always love you. I really hope the club give you a testimonial. You deserve it.
So who else might be leaving?
I’d point out at this point, I think RDM will be either Joachim Loew or Jurgen Klopp’s number two at the club next season, and that Eddie Newton will also be retained. You can quote me on that. I don’t think they are leaving.
I think the list of player departures is substantial though. We’ve all got our own likes and dislikes so I’d like to share with you my blueprint for the next three months. Some tough, often painful decisions await the club’s management so fingers crossed they get the calls right. I think many of our reserves will be going out on loan, and a few of our younger first teamers. I think Sturridge is as good as gone, and I think Torres is unsure about whether its ‘worth’ playing for us, so he’ll go as well. The club’s hierarchy cannot have been impressed with the timing of his angry (though wholly understandable) outburst.
Here’s a list of who I think is on their way.
Departures:
Drogba – Shanghai, free.
Kalou – Feyenoord maybe, free.
Bosingwa – Spain probably, 6m.
Ferreira – Portugal probably, free.
Torres – Spain, 25m.
Turnbull – lower leagues, 2m.
Essien – Italy maybe, 5m.
Malouda – France, 2m
Sturridge – City or Liverpool, 20m.
Bruma – Hamburg, 5m.
B Clifford – lower leagues, 1m.
C Clifford – lower leagues, 1m.
Taylor – lower leagues, 2m.
Walker – lower leagues, 1m.
Deen-Conteh – lower leagues, free.
Philip – released.
Saville – released.
Gordon – released.
Chalobah – season long loan.
Lukaku – season long loan.
Courtois – season long loan.
Piazon – season long loan.
Davila – season long loan.
Mitrovic – season long loan.
Lalkovic – season long loan.
Pirez – season long loan.
This will put us as follows for next season:
GK – Cech, Blackman, Delac, Hilario.
RB – ???, Ivanovic, Kane.
CB – Terry, Cahill, Luiz, Kalas.
UTILITY – Hutchison.
LB – Cole, Bertrand, Van Aanholt.
DM – Mikel, Romeu.
CM – Lampard, Mereilles, Ramires, McEachran.
AM – Mata, ???
LW – ???, Marin.
RW – ???, De Bruyne.
CF – ???, ???, ???, Bamford.
I make that seven players.
I’m not going to speculate on who those seven might be. But I will say that we have circa 60-70m we would nominally get for the departures above, and the 55m we got for winning the Champions League, plus a sizeable warchest from the club to invest in new players.
That is a lot of money.
In Michael Emenalo we have a DoF who knows a serious thing or two about signing players – he buys well, more or less. The typical Emenalo purchase is, Torres aside, an astute, considered one – a player who fits into our system and who is versatile.
You can speculate who the new players we need are. I think on the day Didier told us all he is leaving it is a bit poor form to start speculating who his replacement might be.
But one thing is sure, Chelsea of the coming season, the Chelsea that will be fighting to retain the biggest prize in football, will be massively different.
Onwards and upwards boys and girls. Saturday was as dramatic a game as you could imagine, but the summer to come promises to be just as dramatic in different ways.
Your thoughts please!
CAREFREE!!!
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