According to Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay, the Blues will sign two new players “in the next eight to 10 days.” One of those two players will Barcelona teenager Oriol Romeu as both clubs have agreed to a transfer fee of around £5 million.
“Andre has come in just a few weeks ago and needed some time to look at the pool of players we have, and we strengthened in January with bringing Fernando Torres and David Luiz into the squad,” Gourlay told Chelsea’s official Thailand supporters club. “When a new coach comes in he has to look at players he has and think about tactics and systems, because different players play differently under different coaches and in the next 10 days Andre has the chance to analyse the squad and then we take it from there,” he continued.
“But from our activity in the market place in the past, if the coach feels there is a player available that can strengthen our team then we almost definitely go into the market place. We will have at least two signings in the next eight to 10 days.”
The Romeu deal is for pennies compared at to what Modric or Pastore will cost, as Chelsea have been closely linked with both players. But with them both valued at around £40 million, I cannot see how Chelsea can afford to sign both of them after spending £75 million in January
It looks more and more likely that it will be the Argentine playmaker Pastore that Chelsea have settled on as Palermo vice-president Guglielmo Micciche has claimed it’s ‘very probable’ that the midfielder will join Chelsea.
“It’s very probable that Pastore will go to Chelsea, but I think there are other top-level teams who are after the player,” Micciche told Radio Sportiva. “He wants a big club and there are advanced talks with very important teams. His agent [Marcelo Simonian] is working very well, and if someone pays the right money then we will be happy to sell him. If not, we will keep him. Let it be clear, we do not want any players as part of the deal.”
What do you think of signing Pastore instead of Modric? Are you surprised at Chelsea’s inactivity in the transfer market compared to all the players the club has been linked with?
