Chelsea’s salvation shopping list is an uninspiring set of names
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Chelsea are going to try and spend their way out of their current slump, whether Jose Mourinho remains the club’s manager or not.
After the Blues’ latest chastening defeat at the hands of struggling Bournemouth, two storylines emerged. The first suggested that losing to Porto in the Champions League, which would eliminate them from the competition, would spell the end for their Portuguese boss.
The second, from the Telegraph, insisted that a January shopping spree will take place to try and reinvigorate a squad that has lost nine times in all competitions this term.
Although in normal circumstances, such a splurge would see the west Londoners linked with some of the finest talent in world football, the names they actually find themselves aligned to accurately sum up their current status.
There are no Paul Pogba’s, no Zlatan’s and no Thomas Muller’s mentioned in the paper’s report. Instead it’s the likes of Jamie Vardy, Saido Berahino and Shakhtar Donetsk man Alex Teixeira that are tabbed to save Chelsea’s season.
Vardy has clearly enjoyed himself this term, setting a new Premier League record for goals in 11 consecutive games on his way to topping the league’s scoring charts, but it’s unclear whether he’d want to give up the regular game time he is guaranteed at league-leading Leicester.
Berahino isn’t close to touching Vardy’s form and is struggling to crack West Brom’s first team.
The regular rumour-mill star has spent the last two games rooted to the Baggies’ bench and has only scored three league goals all season.
Teixeira, on the other hand, is flying having netted 26 times in 25 all-competition games for Shakhtar. The 25-year-old plays as a number 10 for the Ukrainian outfit and scored a brace in the recent Champions League loss to Real Madrid.
He would be the most likely arrival of the trio mooted by the Telegraph, but would certainly not guarantee a spike in Chelsea’s form as he’d have to adapt and settle into new surroundings. Juan Cuadrado and Mohamed Salah are two recent January arrivals who can attest to Chelsea’s lack of patience in that department.
With Champions League football next season looking a distant possibility, the calibre of recruit the club can expect to attract has already drastically slipped. That is the harsh reality the Premier League champions are coming to realise.
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