Mata to Chelsea: My Take

Chelsea officially added Valencia winger Juan Mata today, strengthening the squad further in the run-up to the season.  Really, this is the first buy that will actually help the squad immediately-- the keeper Thibaut Courtois from Genk is one for the future (and was loaned to Atletico Madrid right away); Oriol Romeu couldn't break into Barca's squad, so he'll have trouble unseating Chelsea's central midfield veterans, and Romelu Lukaku is probably the fifth choice at striker right now, and is still only 18.

Mata, on the other hand, slots in instantly.  He's still young (23), and since breaking into Valencia's squad four seasons ago, has scored between 8 and 11 goals every year, and had double-digit assists twice in three years.  For the 4-3-3, he's just what the squad needs.  Now here's the problem.  Right now, the team has, by my count, 8 guys who can play in the front 3 slots: Drogba, Torres, Anelka, Sturridge, Malouda, Kalou, Lukaku, and now Mata.  Of those, FIVE are ideally central forwards (all but Malouda, Kalou and Mata), and three (Drogba, Torres, and Lukaku) can't really play out wide.  So by my reckoning, this means one of Malouda, Sturridge or Kalou will be starting wide left, one of Torres, Drogba or Lukaku will be starting centrally, and one of Mata, Anelka, and Kalou again will be starting wide right.  But Drogba is still probably the most effective central striker in the squad, and Torres cost 50 million pounds, so he'll be in the lineup most games too.  That leaves a whole bunch of bodies for only a few slots.  And there's still no creativity in midfield.

I think the next move here is clear-- trim some fat by dumping Anelka, Kalou and Alex (Ivanovic can slide over to RB, so he's cover at two different spots).  Then use that money in part to finance a deal for Luka Modric.  Now all of a sudden, you've got a pretty formidable lineup:

Cech; Cole, Terry, Luiz (or Ivanovic), Ivanovic (or Bosingwa or Luiz); Ramires, Lampard, Modric; Malouda (or Sturridge), Torres (or Drogba), Mata.  Then you've got a bench of Hilario,  Bosingwa, Mikel, Essien McEachran, Sturridge, and Drogba.  Of course, this means leaving Benayoun, Lukaku and Gael Kakuta out of most squads, but I think this should probably be Drogba's last year in the squad (and maybe Malouda and even Lampard's too), so you can plug them in next year and hopefully not miss much.

But I think Chelsea are a creative mid from having easily the best squad in the Premiership; and I think Modric is that creative mid.