3 players Chelsea should sell in January

The winter transfer window always seems to manage to combine excitement and trepidation, an impressive feat. Clubs are always looking for players to help start or save their season, but at the same time remain wary of over priced players that could turn out to be flops. No club knows this threat better than Chelsea with £50 million man Fernando Torres arriving in the winter window and promptly becoming a supreme disappointment.

Jose Mourinho has already spoken about how it is unlikely that any movement will be made, but to be honest did we expect anything else? No manager is going to openly express interest in a player unless it is necessary, they won’t want to jack the price up. There are however, some players at Stamford Bridge that Mourinho could consider getting rid of.

John Obi Mikel

The Nigerian has always divided Chelsea fans. Some see him as a talented player who has just been unlucky, but most see him as a liability. It’s true that some of Mikel’s performances have been an improvement on previous seasons, but he still doesn’t offer much to the team. He acts as a shield for the defence, but his tackle success rate is just 43%. For a man whose role is primarily to break up attacks that just isn’t good enough.

His passing doesn’t offer that much to the team and if you compare him to someone like Morgan Schneiderlin, there is a huge difference. Not only does Schneiderlin make more tackles, he also offers more going forward. There have been rumours thatFredy Guarin might be joining Chelsea in January and whilst I don’t agree with that transfer, a central midfielder will have to be moved on, and it should be Mikel. People might argue that Michael Essien can go but he has started to look a bit better after an extremely nervy return against Southampton.

David Luiz

A January transfer signing himself and another who divides opinion. There can be no doubting that Luiz is a supremely gifted footballer but his defensive lapses make him too much of a liability. His performance score of -23 is the worst at the club and although he’s only made six appearances, it just isn’t good enough.

Spanish giants Barcelona have long been linked to Luiz and if they come in for the Brazilian in January Chelsea should seriously consider selling. They should use the money (the deal would probably be upwards of £30-40 million) to invest in Luke Shaw. They can then play the youngster at left-back, switch Cesar Azpilicueta to right-back and rotate John Terry, Gary Cahill and Ivanovic at centre-back. Cole and Branislav Ivanovic have been two of the best full-backs in the league over the past few seasons but neither are anywhere near their best at the moment and Chelsea need to look to the future.

Demba Ba

Now it might seem incredibly harsh to single out Ba for a transfer when the Sengalese has barely featured and tried his best whenever he has. But there is a good reason. Fernando Torres is arguably Chelsea’s best striker at the moment. His work-rate is excellent and he is slowly regaining confidence under Mourinho. He is also on a ludicrous contract which means it will be extremely hard to shift him. Samuel Eto’o, despite his performance score of 149, has been unimpressive so far; he is lacking sharpness and hasn’t adapted well to the Premier League. He is only on a one year contract so Chelsea can’t sell him and will have to make do with him until the summer.

Demba Ba Goals Scored: PL 2013/14

Therefore, Ba seems the most likely to be sold even if his performances don’t strictly deserve that. Although, if we’re being honest it isn’t as if he’s set the world alight. When Romelu Lukaku returns from his loan he should become Chelsea’s number one striker. Fernando Torres can operate as a back-up and Chelsea should consider promoting a youngster from the reserves to act as a third choice. It is important to remember as well though that Andre Schurrle could operate as a forward should it be required.

All in all, these are not three bad players. For one reason or another they don’t cut the mustard at Chelsea, and they need to move on. Whether or not any of them move on is a different matter but they are simply not right for Chelsea. Whether that’s because they’re not good enough or because their style doesn’t match up is irrelevant, Chelsea need to start planning for the future and none of these three can be part of it.