Chelsea: summer transfer targets

This promises to be an interesting close season for Chelsea, as the long awaited rebuilding of an ageing team begins in earnest.

The victory in the Champions League final represented a form of closure for many of the players who have dominated the Abramovich era at the club – and already stars such as Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka have moved on. The Champions League success will have made Chelsea a more attractive proposition to players once again, although the low profile of manager Roberto Di Matteo could prove a stumbling block.

Already however, Chelsea have snatched Eden Hazard from under the noses of rivals Manchester United. The loss of Drogba – even though he was diminished by injuries and age – still leaves a massive gap at Chelsea that Fernando Torres will now be expected to fill. Chelsea did not pay £50 million for Torres for nothing, and they will look to rebuild around him. They still need reinforcements in an attacking sense though, so it is no surprise that the majority of the players that they are being linked with are strikers and attacking midfielders.

The club have long been interested in the Porto striker Hulk, and are rumoured to be set to offer the Portuguese club £35 million to secure him, although other Premiership clubs are also rumoured to be interested – so the deal may not be clear-cut for those looking to wager on it at sites like Bwin. The club are also being strongly linked with the Newcastle United striker Demba Ba, who made such an impression up front for them last season. Ba has not indicated a desire to move, but the Newcastle manager Alan Pardew has already acknowledged that they would find it hard to hang onto their top players in the event of interest from a Champions League club. Similarly, Chelsea have also been linked with Marouane Fellaini and Ross Barkley of Everton and – although the Goodison Park side would be reluctant to lose their talented youngster, they may be receptive to a realistic bid for Fellaini.