Why Chelsea's Transfer Move for Jackson Martinez Won't Work for Jose Mourinho

The consensus among managers and football pundits has long been that spending big in January is more a gamble than a certain banker on success for the remainder of the season.

While the summer transfer window is used for clubs to rebuild, its winter counterpart is where they hit the panic button.

By making a £30 million January move for Jackson Martinez—as The Mirror's John Cross is predicting Chelsea will—the Blues appear to be doing just that.

It's not that Martinez isn't a player of significant quality—he quite evidently is—he's just not the player Chelsea should be making a move for right now.

On account of his European appearances for Porto this season, Martinez is ineligible to feature in the Champions League for another club until 2014-15, thus ruling him out of Chelsea's plans going forward in the competition.

Sure, Jose Mourinho isn't planning on paying Porto £30 million to have the player for six months, but the Blues manager cannot rule out the remainder of this season without taking his team's commitments into consideration.

Even if you are Roman Abramovich, £30 million is a significant transfer fee for any player, and Chelsea should be looking to squeeze every last penny's worth from any fee they pay.

Waiting until next August when Martinez can feature in all competitions doesn't scream value for money, does it?

There are other factors to consider too. Wayne Rooney, for instance.

What is his position at Manchester United? Does he want to remain at Old Trafford? Or can his head be turned the way Chelsea had hoped it would be last summer?

Come July 2014, Rooney will be entering the last year of his contract at United—if he doesn't put pen to paper in the meantime, that is. If that's the case, it will become an interesting game of roulette. Will the club look to cash in while they can or run the risk of allowing him to leave for nothing six months later when he can negotiate with other teams?

Right now, we don't know. Yet, if it's the former, Mourinho could very well get his man, albeit a year later than he initially anticipated. Rooney would cost a fraction of the price Porto are reportedly demanding for Martinez also. And besides that, he is a far superior talent.

The point is, come the summer, Chelsea's options will be far greater than they are right now. The market will be awash with players looking to move clubs, and with a saturated market, the Blues' bargaining power with Porto will be far greater than it is right now.

If they're willing to buy a player in January who cannot appear in all of their matches, thus writing off a significant part of his contribution for six months, why not wait until a time when he is available in all competitions? They would be effectively waiting that time anyway.

Chelsea's recent transfer policy has displayed an air of pragmatism about it. Now's not the time to break rank.

They've been strung in January before. It couldn't happen again, could it?

Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent and will be following the club from a London base throughout the 2013-14 season. Follow him on Twitter here @garryhayes