José Mourinho is set to employ a delicate balancing act come summer. The Chelsea manager has already made assurances that Fernando Torres will be staying on, despite the Spaniard’s lowly tally of four goals in the Premier League. But, after the midweek loss to Paris Saint-Germain, Mourinho also made it clear that he’s extremely displeased with his strikers – leading him to employ André Schürrle in a false nine against PSG.
But Mourinho, for all his criticism of his players this season, is also intent on keeping his stars, particularly Oscar and Eden Hazard. This being Chelsea, the deep pockets of Roman Abramovich would normally mean that the Blues could keep as many players as needed, while still spending £200 or £250m on four or five players.
However, the introduction of financial fair play puts some restrictions on Chelsea. Should they want to splash the cash come summer, they’ll have to sell first.
Instead, it seems, the club will be looking to bring in one strong striker, with Mourinho saying that they’ll be able to afford to spend about £50m (~$87m) on the player.
Despite three defeats in five matches, the Portuguese tactician is not prepared to overhaul the squad this summer. Instead, he feels stability is the key:
“Part of the evolution is based on stability and part is about bringing players in the transfer window like we did in January and what we’re going to try and do in the summer. It’s evolution based on stability. It’s not through selling the best players. It’s not through selling 10 and buying 10 that we’re going to reach it.”
Chelsea are set to host Stoke City in Saturday’s late kickoff. With Samuel Eto’o out with a hamstring injury, it’s likely Torres or Demba Ba could get the nod up top. Watch for yourself (12:30 p.m. ET on NBC and online via Live Extra) to decide just how much money the Blues should put toward a striker this summer.
