Mourinho After His Former Chelsea Players?
We’ve already heard recently that former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has got his eye on John Obi Mikel this summer, and Ricardo Carvalho was rumoured to want a reunion with his ex-boss from the minute he took over at Inter, so to hear the same rumours circulating again this week comes as no surprise.
We’re in a position of waiting for a new manager to arrive at the club yet again, so whether Mourinho really is sniffing around again or if it’s just the usual speculation is anyone’s guess but it’s hardly a shock either way.
The latest reports suggest Mourinho plans to offer £21million for the pair, with £6million of it for the centre-back he brought to Chelsea from Porto. Carvalho has always been highly rated at Chelsea and played a key part in our back-to-back titles under Mourinho but he’s 31 now and has spent most of this season out injured, playing just two games in the last four months, so maybe the time’s right to let him go? We’ve got Michael Mancienne who can play either at centre-back or right-back, Branislav Ivanovic who can play across the back four, and we’ve been linked to Porto’s Bruno Alves, so it’s not as if we haven’t got options if he goes.
The other £25million Mourinho is offering is for John Obi Mikel – another player he signed during his time with us – in a slightly dodgier deal it has to be said. Mikel might be harder to prise away from us though because not only is he just 22 but he proved a handy player to have around with Michael Essien out for so long. Ok, so he’s no Michael Essien but I thought he did a decent enough job. Add to that the fact that the player himself doesn’t seem in any hurry to leave Chelsea, stating “I love coming in here every day and training with the guys and the banter that we share. I think I have played a lot of games and I am happy with that achievement over the course of the season and the way I have contributed. I will be disappointed when the season ends but we need a few weeks away to rest. I won the Young Player Award two years ago and now I am looking forward to one day winning the senior one if I can”, and Mourinho might not get his hands on Mikel after all.
On the down side for Mikel though, his current deal runs out in 2011 and despite his improved temperament on the pitch, his behavior off the pitch hasn’t been exactly angelic, so maybe the £15million being offered by Inter might be enough to persuade Chelsea to let him go?
Filed under: Current Players, Rumours
I think we can afford to sell both, Carvalho as u said it too old and we have adequate replacements, Alex hasn’t disappointed at all! and we have adequate cover. For Mikel, maybe a Loan deal would be good since i think the way he plays right now he brings nothing new to Chelsea nothing that neither Ballack or Belleti can’t bring, even Mancienne could play out of position in his place, he certainly has the speed and physical presence. Chelsea need an overhaul but i have to say at the end of it all Man U proved u need a big squad to compete at all fronts for all the trophies and we should take a lesson from that.
The one player I don’t see anyone talking about is Quaresma! i don’t understand what went wrong with him, i actually thought he was pretty decent when he was playing much better than Malouda at least before his resurgent from of late.
I think we should sell Carlvalho now that we got 2-3 good and young replacements for him. Alex has really grown this year and I want to see him as the first choice for next season.
When it comes to Mikel I think it would be such a waste to sell him now. He´s only 22 years old, never makes a mistake and got the potential for making more smart och smooth passes to the offence. Think we could sell him for at least the double amount in a couple of years.
I would actually prefer Chelseas starting midfield to be; Mikel, Essien and Lampard.
It’s true chelsea may have a few decent players who can most effectively replace each other when the need arises but the thought of selling certain players will surely not be in chelsea’s favour.The sale of CAVALHO may not be such a bad idea, he has given us much already and age is obviously not in his favour. As 4 MIKEL i think it will be very unreasonable to sell him; this is due to the fact that he’s one of the most promising young first team players and chelsea honestly need such mode of players who are not only young but experienced,keep him and wach him improve in areas where he failed for the good of the club.I see MIKEL become a better ballack than he can be MAKALELE or ESSIEN…4me it’s chelsea 4 life.
Chelsea D has some pretty good insights, and I appreciate this blog quite a bit, but we clearly have different sentiments about Mikel. I think because Mikel, Makalele and Essien have been pegged as playing the same position in the press for the last few years, people have made the mistake of comparing Mikel to Makalele and to Essien. This has invariably resulted in Mikel being underappreciated on two fronts: (1) Because even though Mikel has played quite well as a defensive midfielder, he doesn’t bring precisely Makalele’s authority to the position and (2) even though Mikel has shown great potential (even flashes of brilliance) as a box-to-box central midfielder, he’s not quite the force of nature that Essien is. In my opinion, the whole concept is ludicrous. Michael Essien is arguably the best box-to-box all hands on deck central midfielder in the world. The only other CM that is in the same class in all honesty is Gerrard. Makalele? Well they named the position after him. Mikel is doing well at Chelsea, and quite frankly provides a style that is much more similar to Ballack. They are both physically imposing, but runs the midfield with a touch of elegance. Mikel shows preternatural composure on the ball whereas Ballack gives it away more often. Ballack has superior offensive skills and skills in the air, but because of his recent responsibilities, Mikel has better defensive positioning and disruptive possibilites. Both are good passers of the ball, but Mikel rivals Lampard for the best passing skills in the Chelsea midfield and has a great understanding with Essien and an on form Drogba. The bottom line is that Mikel has muscled his way into a place in a Chelsea central midfield that is by far the best in the world (rivalled only by Barcelona). I repeat, Chelsea has the best central midfield in the world Mikel has been able to stand shoulder to shoulder with players like Lampard, Essien, Ballack, and Makalele without being out of place. Why would you get rid of Mikel when 2 of the 3 CMs from that group left at Chelsea are well north of 30? From a player who started as an attacking mid, he’s shown great maturity to morph into a defensive midfielder on one of the most important teams in the world. He’s got awesome potential, and I think one of the only problems with teams like Chelsea (as opposed to Barcelona and Arsenal) is that they have gotten away from recognizing and developing talents like Mikel (as opposed to purchasing fully developed players). We know firsthand that Mourinho’s a great coach. He’s already won Serie A, and he’s looking looking to boost his team with enough class to win CL. That he’s looking to do so by taking Mikel and Carvalho off our hands is a big fat hint that we’d be well warned to be careful before letting them go.