Friday, March 29, 2024

Major changes a foot at Chelsea this summer

Juventus boss Max Allegri is favourite to be the next Chelsea boss, despite his current club saying he will not leave Turin

Juventus boss Max Allegri is favourite to be the next Chelsea boss, despite his current club saying he will not leave Turin

Chelsea drew 1-1 with Manchester United on Sunday afternoon at Stamford Bridge.

The draw was achieved by a stoppage-time goal, this time from Diego Costa, which was not the first late equaliser for the Blues in recent home games.

The fact that Chelsea was happy with the draw shows just how far they have fallen this season, since winning the Premier League title last season.

The Blues are currently 13th in the table and because of too many draws are not climbing the table.

A change of boss

Major changes could be afoot this summer, as a new boss heads to the club this summer. Dutch boss Guus Hiddink seems to like his temporary spells at Stamford Bridge. You cannot rule out another short-term stay for Hiddink when the next Blues boss is dispensed with in a couple years’ time.

He obviously does not fancy the challenge of attempting to resurrect the Blues fortunes in the long-term, but he is a decent stop-gap the Chelsea hierarchy thumb through their database of European bosses that they have not already sacked.

The current favourite to take the job at Stamford Bridge seems to be Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri. According to unconfirmed reports the Italian has been learning to speak English as preparation to move to the English top-flight.

Allegri has done a good job in Turin, after enjoying mixed fortunes at tradition Italian powerhouse AC Milan. Guiding the Bianconeri to the Champions League final last season is probably the main attraction for Chelsea.

The Juventus hierarchy have issued a ‘hands off’ warning to Chelsea, but if Allegri wants to go then no doubt he could engineer an exit from Turin.

Players linked with exit

The Chelsea squad seems to be in major need of an overhaul. Club captain and legend John Terry recently revealed that he has had no communication with the Blues over a contract extension, which means he would leave Stamford Bridge this summer.
Terry leaving Chelsea would be absolutely massive. He is a big character both on and off the pitch at Chelsea. If he left it would be the end of an era and the Blues would be weaker without him. His leadership skills have been vital to Chelsea for more than a decade.

Terry is not the only one likely to be heading towards the Stamford Bridge exit door this summer. Star striker Diego Costa has not enjoyed the best campaign, but has been heavily linked with a return to Atletico Madrid, while winger Eden Hazard has constantly been linked with a move to the other side of Madrid with Real.

Right-back Branislav Ivanovic has been heavily criticised this season by Blues fans and has been talked about as ‘pass it’ by certain sections of the media.

A new manager usually brings his own ideas and often his own players, so the Chelsea squad could look very different from the one on display this season. Midtable for a team like Chelsea is obviously not good enough.

There is much talk about the amount of money that has been invested in the Chelsea squad for the Blues to challenge for the title, so if the team cannot even achieve a top four finish then I am sure that Mr Abramovich will be thinking his money is not being spent wisely.

A much bigger challenge next season

This season has been a strange one with the likes of Tottenham and more importantly Leicester challenging for the Premier League title.

The likes of Manchester City and Manchester United will no doubt heavily invest in the summer. It looks increasingly likely that both will have new men in their manager’s offers. City’s coup in securing Pep Guardiola as boss will strengthen the Citizens without the club even signing any new players.

Whoever takes over at Stamford Bridge will have a major challenge on his hands to get the Blues back to the top of the Premier League table. Not only will City and United be stronger, but Tottenham and Leicester will strengthen, if as expected they make the top four.

It is a long way back for Chelsea after a very strange season. The Blues will no doubt have a better campaign next season, because let’s face it they could not have a worse one than the current campaign.

Will there be major changes at Chelsea this summer?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Nugent


David is a freelance football writer with nearly a decade of experience writing about the beautiful game. The experienced writer has written for over a dozen websites and also an international soccer magazine offline.
Arguably his best work has come as an editorial writer for Soccernews, sharing his good, bad and ugly opinions on the world’s favourite sport. During David’s writing career he has written editorials, betting previews, match previews, banter, news and opinion pieces.

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