Chelsea really do not need to reinforce their midfield but Mourinho perhaps still want a little more depth.
The Blues already have one of the best defensive midfield stars in Matic, top quality central midfielder in Cesc Fabreags, tireless Ramires and other youngsters stepping up in the squad.
Even French defender Kurt Zouma has been effectively utilized in midfield in the absence of Matic. Still, Chelsea are closing in to sign versatile midfielder in the form of former Arsenal star Alex Song.
Reports suggest that Blues have held talks to secure the services of 27 year old midfielder and perhaps that indicates that Mikel will be leaving the club.
Song was the leading assist provider for Gunners in 2011-2012 season but eventually made a huge mistake by joining Barca where he could only warm the bench. The Cameroonian played for West Ham on loan last season and probably his performances has impressed Jose enough to move for him.
Highly unlikely that he will get into the starting XI when key stars are fit. However, if he does start, here is how we believe Chelsea will line up with Alex Song.
Chelsea Close – How Blues will Line up with Versatile Midfielder
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Courtois- Ivanovic- azpi-Terry :Zouma
Douglas costa-Matic-Axel-Costa-Hazard-ferbricas.
Sub: Benteke, Cahil, Oscar, Bamford, Baba, Begovic,Song and Cheek
Alex Song can be a useful addition in central midfield. Together with matic they will provide the physicallity which was missing is some tough games. He is also quite mobile and a goog distributor. There will be more competition in both defensive and cental midfield positions between him, Ramires, Matic and Loftus. Let Fabregas and Oscar compete in position no. 10.
However the main concern should be the defence, starting with Terry’s position. Despite alot of praise from a patriotic press, his better days are gone. The guy is too slow such that any through pass from the opposition would pose a serious danger to the team.This is why Chelsea must use practically the entire team (bus) to defend when playing against teams like Man City, Man U, Arsenal or any strong team in the champions league. Terry should be phased out the way Man U did with Ryan Giggs. Chelsea must recruit a ready to use no. 5 if they hope to defend the title. Cahill is also not fast, but is overall play is ok. He can actually be more effective if he gets a good, fast and powerful no. 5. behind him. Zouma is also good in this position. Ivanovich is good going forward but a bit slow when coming back to defend. Maybe he should concentrate more with defending than attacking so that Chelsea’s right side of attack can be reactivated. Willian can be more useful in the right side of attack if he is assigned a more offensive role than the current situation where 50% of his energy is on defensive duties.
Overall there should be more competition and rotation in the team. The coach should also adopt a more offensive strategy.
Song is a great addition to the chelsea team
Having Alex Song in chelsea midfield will benefit chelsea alot. But it will be good for our team to have Douglas costa,Nicolas Gaitan,Benteke in our team this summer cos we need to balance our second eleven as well. Because our players went off the mark towards the end of last season due to fatique and our second eleven wasn’t good enough to take charge. Fabregas was outshined towards the end of last season,diego costa unending injuries caused him Epl top scorer last season and we can’t solely rely on matic always to do the job alone.
It was Chelsea’s settled defense and lack of rotation that won us the title last season. Yes, JT isn’t the quickest but he is an exceptional on field leader and what he lacks in pace he more than makes up for in positional play.
Chelsea were very fortunate with their lack of injuries last season by comparison to City, Arsenal and United. Alex Song would be a great addition to the squad as it seems Mikel is off (love him or hate him) and I also believe that John Stones would be a brilliant addition. My main concern for next season is the gamble on Falcao who hasn’t given me any more confidence with his inept performances in the South American cup. Mind you, Cuadrado looks brilliant in a Columbia shirt! Also, great to hear that Bertrand Traore has got his work permit and I am really looking forward to seeing him on our forthcoming US tour. IMHO the Chelsea first team squad to start this new season will be superior to last seasons and in Jose we must trust to get it right to retian our title and do better in the CL.