Soccer: Chelsea eyeing more big buys

Roman Abramovich. Photo / Getty Images

Chelsea's lavish spending will continue into the northern summer, with owner Roman Abramovich keen to attract the cream of Europe's top young players to Stamford Bridge before Uefa's Financial Fair Play rules kick in.

The Independent newspaper said Abramovich's decision to authorise the club's dramatic £75 million ($156 million) capture of Fernando Torres and David Luiz on the final day of the January transfer window signifies a marked change in the club's transfer policy of recent years.

With this extravagance, Abramovich spent more in one day than he had done in the previous three years with Chelsea, after finally being convinced of the need to inject fresh blood into the Premier League champions' ageing squad.

The indications are that the policy of rejuvenating the playing pool is to be carried on at the end of the season, and with that in mind Chelsea are continuing to monitor several players as potential new signings.

Chelsea's extensive list of possible targets includes Dutch right-back Gregory van der Wiel of Ajax, young Belgian internationals Eden Hazard from Lille and Romelu Lukaku of Anderlecht, Slovakia captain Marek Hamsik of Napoli and French winger Dimitri Payet of St Etienne.

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has earmarked a new right-back as a priority, and the club are likely to bid for van der Wiel, who celebrated his 23rd birthday yesterday. Van der Wiel has been at Ajax since he was 8 years old, has 20 caps for the Netherlands and impressed during the World Cup in South Africa. He almost joined Bayern Munich for £14 million last year, and would cost closer to £20 million this time around.

Before the signings of Luiz and Torres, Chelsea's sporting director, Frank Arnesen, admitted: "Gregory is on our No 1 list but not currently at the top. If we're serious, nothing will happen until the summer."

Chelsea are also keeping a very close eye on the development of 17-year-old Lukaku, who many see as the ideal long-term replacement for Didier Drogba. He is already a full Belgian international, and Anderlecht general manager Herman van Holsbeeck claimed yesterday that he rebuffed Chelsea's approaches during the recent window for Lukaku, putting a price tag of £25.5 million on him.

Van Holsbeeck said: "Chelsea wanted to buy this winter. We said no. He is not ready, and we still keep one to two seasons."

Alexis Sanchez is another player that Chelsea have made inquiries about and will consider bidding for in the northern summer.

The recruiting drive will lead to more senior players on high wages leaving in the summer, after last year's clear-out in which five first-team regulars went. This year's exodus is likely to include experienced internationals such as Jose Bosingwa, Paulo Ferreira and Yuri Zhirkov.

Other younger players such as Jeffrey Bruma and GaIl Kakuta, who has been loaned to neighbours Fulham, could also be sold if the price is right. Italian striker Fabio Borini is almost certain to move on, with Parma his likely destination.

- INDEPENDENT