Chelsea Transfer Rumors: 5 Reasons They Need to Sign Cesar Azpilicueta

It seems that perhaps no one welcomed the 2012 year as much as Chelsea fans. Going through a similar winter slump that occurred last season under Carlo Ancelotti, Andre Villas-Boas’ boys are playing inept and mostly unattractive football.

So much has been made about how the forwards can’t score, the midfield does not hold possession and the back line is about as porous as the finest Swiss cheese. So how do Chelsea fans envision the solution to this problem?

Spend, spend, spend.

Names have been floated out there already from the utterly absurd (Hulk and Pato) to the completely unintelligible (Podolski and Wolfswinkel...really?). Any who, it’s the name of the game and all of your Twitter accounts and Google alerts will be abuzz with the type of garbage that is good for selling only one thing: ad space.

But among these crows, there has been one name that has recently come out. Marseille’s Cesar Azpilicueta has recently been linked to a move to Stamford Bridge for a cool £12 million.

Yes I admittedly am falling into the trap of writing about nonsense for my own selfish pleasure, but perhaps by the end of this slideshow I could persuade you that, of all the names Chelsea have been said to be seeking, Azpilicueta is above all the best. Here are five reasons why.

Desperate Need for a Right-Back

As much as we would all love Cavani, Kaka, Rolando, etc. those positions all have capable players. Drogba may not be the player he once was, but he gets the job done. Terry has slipped a bit in this new system, yet he has saved the day on more than one occasion. And Lampard slows down the build-up, but he still scores goals.

However, the same cannot be said about the squad's right-back. Whether it be Bosingwa, Ferreira or Ivanovic, all three have had their fair share of miscues that have led to goals against and ultimately losses.

Bosingwa has been the main man in charge mostly because he comes closest to fitting Villas-Boas’ idea of how to play the position. He gets up high in the attack, acting almost as an auxiliary winger, feeding balls into the box an even being a scoring threat himself. For all the good he has brought to the attack, he often does it at the sacrifice of his true responsibility: defense.

None will forget how he got so far coaxed out of position against Arsenal that Santos was able to slip win with a relatively easy goal. Though the score line did not indicate that it was a crucial goal, anyone watching would know that it was the moment things swung in the Gunners’ favor and first put the boss and his team under the microscope.

There have been few things that Chelsea supporters have agreed upon this season, but the need to bring in a new right-back is one of them.

If anything the purchase of Azpilicueta would bring some new hope and promise to the position and given the recent history of how players have played there in the last half of 2011, there is little he could do that would upset fans more than they already are. At least he can fall back on the excuse of youth and inexperience.

Player for the Future and Now

It is obvious that Villas-Boas is not building a team that can win this season. Perhaps even next season will be a rocky one. But Chelsea is setting itself up to be a powerhouse for years to come.

The current roster has 11 players who are under the age of 24 and another five who are out on loan. Right now many of them possess immense talent, but are raw and unrefined. Over the next few years the staff at Chelsea will mold this group into a strong squad with incredible chemistry as they come together all under the same system and philosophy.

At only 22 years old, Azpilicueta fits into this transitioning model. He would be right in the middle of the age span: not too young to lag behind and not too old to miss out. If signed now for a reasonable contract, he would develop along with this group and as he hits his prime, hopefully see that his future is best by staying at Stamford Bridge.

Though all of this is nice for the long term, at this level, expectations are more appropriate in the saying "what have you done for me lately?" Azpilicueta is already a talent on par with the best of game's young right-backs.

This summer rumors circulated around the possibility of signing Ajax right back Gregory van der Wiel. There is no denying that the young Dutch player has talent, but he has had a few questions about his character as well as his reliability with the ball. Sometimes he tends to go forward too much and not hold his covering responsibility on defense.

Azpilicueta has been praised for his level of maturity more than anything. This is extremely important given the position and role expected to be played in Villas-Boas’ system. The understanding that joining the attack is necessary, but primary responsibility fall your defensive duties. For a youngster to already understand this and make it the most attractive part of his game would give stability for years to come.

He's Spanish

I know this may seem a bit trite, but hear me out.

Villas-Boas is attempting to create a system very similar to the clubs in Spain—high attacking possession football that keeps teams on their heels and deep in their defensive third.

Villas-Boas made two highly successful purchases this past summer: Oriol Romeu and Juan Mata, two Spanish players. Mata was expected to be good. He was a star in Spain and has a World Cup to his name. And Romeu was a pleasant surprise to come on so early and strong, establishing himself as part of the starting 11. Right now the two best and most consistent players on Chelsea are of Spanish heritage and play a very Spanish style of football.

Azpilicueta would add to this trend of Spanish play, giving a presence on the defensive line that is use to this style. It would also put a link between the three positions that could create some great counters and link-up play from the defense all the way to the forwards.

Not to mention that Azpilicueta could also be in a spot to take over Sergio Ramos’ spot as the Spanish national team's right-back. I know Ramos is young as well and already has the vote of confidence from del Bosque, but he is probably the weakest link in that squad. Should he struggle at the Euros in the summer, do not be surprised if Azpilicueta gets his shot. Competing at that level with that group will only better him as a player.

Versatility

Villas-Boas’ system calls for the flank defenders to fill many roles. They must be able to cover back, close down and win 50/50 balls of defense. Offensively they must have good vision, make excellent crosses and even be a threat on goal. The issue right now is that whatever defender Villas-Boas picks, he is sacrificing something.

Put Ivanovic back there and he will surely slow the buildup and will never be a threat in front of goal from open play. Have Bosingwa come in and you are pretty much inviting the opponents wingers to have their way with that side of the pitch. What both are really lacking is versatility and that’s what is needed for this role.

Azpilicueta began his career as an attacking midfielder in the Osasuna academy. He was good enough in the role to become Spanish national team’s attacking midfielder for the youth squads. He was essentially expected to take the place of Iniesta. However, when injuries occurred on the Osasuna senior squad’s defense, he saw it as his chance to break into first-team football and agreed to play out of position. Thus he became a right-back.

The fact that his youth upbringing has him with the mindset of a midfielder and his on-field experience is as a right-back gives him a very unique versatility. While every instinct may be telling him to move up with the ball and carry it into the attack, that instinct is weighed against coaching that has recently molded him into a defender.

Though he is still perhaps not the total package that Villas-Boas would like, as say Ashley Cole is, he has plenty of time to hone both his skills further and become excellent on both sides of the ball. But even with a move to Chelsea testing him like he never has been before, he still offers perhaps the best solution to the kind of player Villas-Boas needs there to run his system.

Financial Considerations

With the Financial Fair Play rules soon ready to end the days of multiple big-money transfers and the kind of mega contracts that bankrupt clubs, every signing a team makes needs to make fiscal, tactical and contractual sense.

I know it may be a dull topic and a slid many people just push by, but it is an important subject matter to take up and a huge reason for why Azpilicueta is a player the club should sign.

The figures being suggested currently are £12 million for the youngster. This may seem steep given the fact that he is a somewhat unproven right back who had a major injury last year, but you must understand that a price like that is minute when you think about securing a spot for the next decade. Factor that out over his career at Chelsea you are either going to average it out to about £1 million a season or sell him off to make a considerable profit should he develop into a superstar.

There is also the idea that contractually you could limit the amount of money you pay him for the first season at least, knowing that he is cup-tied in Champions League. Not to mention that often transfer contracts have clauses in them that should a player play in "x" number of games a certain amount of money is awarded to the selling club, in this case Marseille.

With Chelsea already eliminated from two competitions and all but mathematically from a third, there is little reason to be put in a spot where you have to decide what is more important a win or the money.

Should he fail in the Premier League, he could still be a valuable on the market as well. Already proven himself in both France and Europe, he would still have a decent amount of equity that should be enough to allow the club to at least break even on selling him. We all know the Premier League is a beast on its own and that plenty of players have gone to England, failed but revived their careers elsewhere. There is no reason to doubt that this would not be the case with Azipilicueta.

I know this is a lot of hypotheticals and I am not on the inside of any negotiations, but it seems to me that the fiscal and logistical reasons for signing him only heighten the tactical ones.