Despite Chelsea’s strikers only managing to score eight Premier League goals between the three of them this season, Jos Mourinho insists there will be no need to strengthen up top in January.
Fernando Torres’ recent haul of two goals in two games has give the Chelsea faithful reasons to be cheerful. Although to many clubs this comes as standard, it is no secret that the Blues have struggled to settle on a striker and get him scoring consistently.
New faith in Fernando
The 29 year old number nine, who has endured a torrid time since moving to London, is said to be happy that the manager has faith in his ability,
“Fernando is calm. He knows we are not going into the market now,” said Mourinho.
“In the summer, normally a club like Chelsea is always trying to improve and get new players but he knows that we like him and support him and he knows there is no problem.
“Everyone needs strikers to score goals; the strikers are the goalscorers.
“If you have players in other positions who can score an important number of goals – better. If you have a Frank Lampard – better. If you have Eden Hazard – better. But the strikers are the ones that normally score the goals.
Jose needs Mata
Juan Mata, Chelsea’s two time player of the year winner, is another who is linked with a move away from the club. The little Spaniard has struggled to adapt his play to Mourinho’s more pragmatic style and, coupled with an insurgence of raw ability from Oscar, has found it increasingly difficult to claim a starting spot.
Schurrle, another who will be playing less football than would have liked, is also linked with a move away, however, Mourinho has moved to highlight their importance.
“The others (Oscar, Willian, Eden Hazard), they are playing very well and the team is playing very well,” said the 50 year old.
“But we need other players. If the game goes on being 0-0 then Mata is coming into the game as he is a fantastic player. But the game went into another direction, we scored and then after that my brain worked in another way.
“But we need them. We need Mata, we need (Andre) Schurrle, we need these players as we cannot do it with three.
“Maybe in February maybe some are not in the best form and Juan is coming at the top of his game.”
The importance of this campaign isn’t limited to the end of the season. Of course, every player will want to be fighting for a World Cup place, and that begs the question; if Mata and Schurrle are constantly on the subs bench, can they fight for a spot on quality alone? I’m not so sure.
It definitely looks like we will be getting someone big in the summer now then?