Mourinho to Chelsea looks done and first signing may soon follow

If reports are to be believed Jose Mourinho has already signed a contract to return to Chelsea as manager for the next four years and it is unlikely to take him long to re-stamp his mark on the squad.

This will include some new arrivals at Stamford Bridge and transfer target number one may well prove to be Claudio Marchisio.

Somewhere in the region of £25m is likely to be the price required to even tempt Juventus to sell one of the biggest assets of their Serie A title-winning team, but he could prove especially valuable to Chelsea as a replacement for Frank Lampard.

Marchisio has a track record of scoring important goals, notably last season grabbing important winners against both AC Milan and Inter Milan, while he is Lampard-like in the way he can ghost into advanced positions with late driving runs.

Meanwhile, he has shown at Juventus this season a previous unknown ability to work just as influentially in a more attack-minded role, although at Chelsea he would surely operate in his more natural brief.

This would give Chelsea the option of mirroring the midfield that has been so crucial to Juventus this season, with Ramires capable of playing the role of Arturo Vidal. Although doing so would potentially mean leaving out one of Oscar, Juan Mata or Eden Hazard.

Chelsea clearly lack depth in midfield, which is arguably one reason for the decision to tinker with David Luiz in a more advanced role and another name being linked is Daniele De Rossi.

De Rossi is considered a fairly destructive player and would be the better fit in the deeper midfield slot over John Obi Mikel, who is strong positionally, but does little to help Chelsea in an attacking sense.

Signing both is not out of Chelsea’s remit and this would provide a strong boost to the club making a new title tilt next season. Chelsea are 5/2 in the Premier League odds to be crowned champions.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publication