Chelsea Transfers: Grading Andre Villas-Boas' Summer Signings

The New Year brings with it the idea of rejuvenation, that all the bad and poor has past, and what lies before us is hope and promise. For Chelsea that feeling could not have come any quicker.

Off to a poor start as manager, Andre Villas-Boas is being heavily scrutinized by fans and pundits alike for not living up to the expectations everyone had for him. Torres is still not performing, the defense is a mess and Chelsea is in as poor of form as they have ever been in the last decade.

It is obvious that the club will need to make some moves during this winter transfer period not to win the league—Villas-Boas has practically conceded any hopes for that—but merely to be in the Champions League or any kind of European competition next season.

Amongst all the inane lists that call for the signings of players who are beyond belief expensive and in all honesty over hyped, I wanted to make a retrospective list. One that looks back at Villas-Boas’ first transfer period this summer and gives grades to each of the moves he made.

As always I encourage some feedback as I am sure we will not always agree on these grades.

Here are the grades for Villas-Boas’ summer signings at Chelsea.

Thibaut Courtois

Purchased from: Racing Genk

Price: £7 million

Sadly, Petr Cech will not be the Chelsea keeper forever. We will need to move on as fans and while emotionally it will be difficult as the man that has saved to Blues behinds for so many times gets up in age, the transition will be made a little easier with Courtois waiting on the wings.

Courtois is currently on loan at Atletico Madrid, taking over the place of United’s big summer signing David de Gea. At only 19 years old, the Belgian surprised the Madrid staff by performing excellently in his first few matches to be named the No. 1 keeper, beating out de Gea’s expected successor, Sergio Ansenjo.

In his first six La Liga matches, Courtois had four clean sheets against the likes of Osasuna, Racing, Sporting Gjion and Sevilla. He has also guided them to the round of 32 in Europa League, recording another three clean sheets in the group stage.

However, he has had some setbacks, most notably against the league's better sides. Barcelona put away five on him and Bilbao another four. In the Madrid derby he was sent off in the 17^th minute for taking down Karim Benzema, which ultimately led to a 4-1 loss.

The teenager cannot be blamed wholly for these results, but he seems vulnerable once the flood gates open. It's not an unusual thing for someone so young at that position, and I am sure he will work his way out of it.

Grade: B

Ulises Davila

Purchased from: Guadalajara

Price: £1.75 million

Davila is currently struggling to find playing time at Dutch club Vitesse, where he is being loaned out. He has only featured in three matches and has yet to score a goal with the first team.

However, he has been showing promise in the reserve squad. Scoring three goals in three straight games is at least keeping him on the radar in Arnhem.

At only 20 years old, he is still developing as a player. He has featured numerous times for the Mexico U-20 side, including this past summer to help them to a third-place finish. He will most likely also be in London this summer at the Olympics should Mexico qualify, giving Chelsea fans their first in person look at the midfielder.

It was obvious that this move was as much business as it was tactical. Given the success United has had with Chicharito, it would be foolish to allow them to corner the lucrative Mexican market. Unfortunately Davila is not quite reaching the same level the Little Pea has.

I have not seen him play yet, but if he is not finding regular playing time on a mediocre Dutch side, he is still a ways away from being a Chelsea player.

Grade: C-

Raul Meireles

Purchased from: Liverpool

Price: £12 million

Chelsea’s last-minute deal at the near stroke of midnight was for the Portuguese midfielder. Few were surprised that this move happened as he seemingly is the poor man’s Moutinho that Villas-Boas would need to anchor his midfield.

High hopes were had for his arrival. Unable to land Modric, there was a real worry of a lack of creativity in the midfield and something that could unlock stringent defenses that will just bunker in against Chelsea. Meireles has a history that doesn’t exactly make him the ideal player for this, but he is always capable of having a great moment or two a game.

Lately however, Meireles has really fallen into obscurity. He has not done much on the ball and has been rather weak defending in the midfield. His pace is just not up to par to run such an aggressive shutdown defense, which has led to some goals against.

Some fans will look at his play as him just doing what he is asked: simply being a connector between the defense and the attack, a caretaker of the ball, if you will. And in most instances they would be right. He is performing this role and doing it well, but at this point in Chelsea’s season he needs to begin to do more.

There is not enough happening up front and they are looking increasingly poor in the back. If Meireles is to be one of the few players involved in both phases, then a lot of blame can fall on him. I am not suggesting that he is not a good player, but perhaps just not the last-minute deal Chelsea needed to make.

Grade: C

Juan Mata

Purchased from: Valencia

Price: £23.5 million

The big move Chelsea made this offseason turned out to be one the best for the whole  transfer window. Few doubted that Mata would not come into the team and be a positive force, but to come in and be the very best player on the team week and week out is a luxury.

He scored in his very first match only minutes after coming on late. He went on to bag another four. Teams started to realize that perhaps that this Spaniard was the real offensive threat and no longer let him into shooting positions.

That was fine by Mata, who now stays out wide and just puts in great balls garnering nine assists through 23 games and countless balls into threatening positions. He has become such a force that you can see opposition game-planning entirely around his play.

Recently he has been shut down by a number of teams.

He has been unable to get the ball and make runs as defenses are just gravitating toward him. Villas-Boas has moved him all over the field trying to get him the ball, but defenses follow. If Chelsea had capable strikers this would be fine as they would have more freedom, but instead the team looks static when he is not getting the ball. That's more a testament to the kind of impact player he is than anything else.

At only 23 years old, he was bought to be Chelsea’s player of the future. And in his first season he has already started to take sights at becoming legend amongst the likes of the other Chelsea greats.

Grade: A

Oriol Romeu

Purchased from: Barcelona

Price: Undisclosed

Of all the moves Chelsea made this summer, none have been as immensely pleasing as the signing of Romeu.

Even coming from the Barca school of football, no one expected Romeu's impact to be felt immediately and with such fanfare.

Going into the season, it looked as if Chelsea may run into a crisis come the Africa Nations cup when both Mikel and Essien would be gone, but Romeu has shown that he is not the future—he is the now. After a nervy first few starts, he has settled down to become one of the most consistent players on the team, rarely making mistakes and even going beyond his role to help break down defenses.

What makes it all the more incredible is that he is only 20 years old and in a position where experience is as important as talent. Not enough can be said about his work rate, which has made him a fan favorite, or the fact that he is humble both on and off the pitch.

However, his rights still remain a little fuzzy. With Barca and Chelsea both conflicting on who actually owns the player and what the buyback clause in his contract actually means, it could be a messy legal battle down the road, as you can be sure both sides want him in their club.

But for right now he has been by far the best signing of the summer and hopefully will continue to have success for years to come at Chelsea.

Grade: A+

Romelu Lukaku

Purchased from: Anderlecht

Price: £18 million

No signing this summer has been as disappointing as Lukaku. However, it has little to do with his performances and more to do with Villas-Boas not giving him many chances to perform at all.

Through the first half of Chelsea’s season, Lukaku has only had six appearances in total, with three being bit sub roles in the league, and has yet to score a goal or get any real good chances.

To make matters worse, Villas-Boas surprisingly left him off of the Champions League roster. Many though that this would be where he would get his chance, especially against Genk, a side he is familiar with from his days in Belgium.

In all honesty his play has not been that impressive, but he is mostly put in to play in a winger position where he looks like a fish out of water. Less than half his appearances did he play in the middle and played his best when he was there. But with Drogba in form and a £50 million price tag looming over Torres, the teenager has found it difficult to get playing time.

When Lukaku first came to Stamford Bridge, he announced he did not want to be loaned out and for some reason Villas-Boas agreed. But now he is just sitting on the bench and at £18 million, the team cannot afford for him to not continue to develop into the future striker of the club.

Villas-Boas must loan him out this winter and get him consistent playing time. Many clubs in the bottom half of the table would love to have a force like Lukaku to deploy when the time calls for it. But leaving him to rot in the reserves is not doing this squad any good or the future Villas-Boas seems to be building toward.

Grade: N/A