Chelsea: We Are Still Waiting . . .

You’re getting a little impatient, aren’t you? There is so much happening in the transfer market while there is no action from Chelsea.

It’s very strange for various reasons. We’ve got a new manager and that’s always the best excuse to spend millions. The new manager comes an ailing top team of another league. That’s another reason for purchases.

Roman’s got the money and all rumours about his recession money drain is all wrong. That’s another great reason. Plus, more than anything, just like in a designer apparel shop, the best of the best gets sold in no time. Waiting may not really help you.

While Ancelotti has given his interview in English and all that, he hasn’t really come out to say what he plans to do for this season.

I don’t expect him to share the secrets but at least the fundamentals like: (i) What is the squad size we have in mind? (ii) Are we looking to buy players? (iii) Which positions are we looking at? (iv) Are we planning to offload some players?

These are some very basic questions which can be answered while keeping the secrets close to his chest.

The good news of the week: Florent Malouda has signed a four-year contract with Chelsea FC that keeps him here until 2013. That’s great news from variuos perspectives.

I like Malouda very much. He is very talented and works very hard. He is good spirited and works for the team. He is very much back in form and would soon reach his heights of Lyon days.

The fact that Malouda is given a four year contract tells me two contradicting things. Either Ancelotti might very well be keen on playing 4-3-3 or he is not going to play 4-3-3 but he needs a low maintenance winger just in case he plays 4-3-3.

There’s a rumour that Chelsea have signed the 18-year old Czech goalkeeper Jan Sebek on a long contract.

If it’s true that’d be very good news. He is young, he is Czech, and he is going to be an understudy for the great Petr Cech.

If Jan Sebek is a decent goalkeeper already, he would learn immensely in this role and would be a good back up from the club’s point of view.

If rumours are to be believed, the entire AC Milan team would sign for Chelsea FC and move over to London. And Chelsea will have a squad of about 47 players. Hold. Let’s look only at the rumours that borders on the news.

Andrea Pirlo is the biggest of all rumours. Some of us worried to hear this rumour, because he is another 30-year old ‘past-his-prime’ star from a slower and weaker league. He is even seen as the next Deco.

I doubt though. Deco was certainly on the wane when he quit Barca. Barca’s management and fans wanted to see him quit. Pirlo has not waned. He is still ace at what he does best.

The Milan fans absolutely want him to stay. He has at least couple of years of top-level football left in him. I like Pirlo a lot. How will he fare in the premier league? It’s just so hard to predict. I’d say, if he is available on loan, I’d grab the offer.

Then comes the Pato rumour. When Pato moved from Brazil to Europe, Chelsea were also in the race to sign him. I remember that I was so confident that we would sign him that I put him his image on the sidebar calling him Chelsea’s young sensation. Like any Latin American footballer would do, he chose a South European club.

His moving to Milan was such a disappointment for me back then. Now, there seems to be a chance of snatching him back.

He apparently loves Ancelotti and wants to work with him, irrespective of the climate and the language of the place of work. He could be expensive, but he might be worth it.

He is young, he is very promising (more than Bojan Krkic) and he is tipped as a future footballer of the year. How many of the current crop of young players can you say would be a footballer of the year in the future? This kid is special. If we can get him, we must.

Essien’s agent has dropped a bombshell that he would take offers from Real Madrid and Barcelona very seriously. He is an agent of a top footballer. He is just doing his job.

Essien has clearly mentioned how much he loves Chelsea and that he wants to stay with Chelsea. Something tells me that he would never leave Chelsea. I could be very naive in saying this.

We are not in a generation where footballers stay in the club for more than five seasons. I think the days of one-club footballers like Maldini are gone.

Anyway, I still think that Essien would remain at Chelsea. While successes do create that team spirit, it is the occasional failures that create the bonding with the team and the club.

I think Essien does feel that sense of belonging with the club. I read this line from Mikel, “I stay with Chelsea and win the Champions League.” Lovely!