Ethan Ward

Promising Belgian custodian Thibaut Courtois is set for a return to Chelsea next season as it emerged, boss Jose Mourinho, is ready to sell current number one Petr Cech. Mourinho has admitted this week that he is ready to sell Cech who has been first choice at Stamford Bridge for the best part of 10 years. The Express have reported.

Around this time in the football calendar (when it’s not the World Cup) there are always conflicting reports everywhere discussing the future’s of players, managers and the youth as well. Those whose contracts are expiring will be battling to find an agreement with their current clubs for a new contract or are searching for a new home, perhaps in a different country. The players that feel as those their time is up at their current club are often caught between seeing how things pan out and looking at offers from other clubs.

Some transfer gossip for you now. Chelsea are trying to tie-up a deal to sign Cesc Fabregas that would lead to Arsenal missing out on payment for their former midfielder. The Gunners are set to earn around about 50% of any profit which the Catalan club recover on the £28M that they sold Fabregas for, in a complicated deal three years ago. As the Independent have reported.

Many people have said that young Ross Barkley of Everton FC reminds them of Wayne Rooney, this includes Frank Lampard who will be battling with Barkley for a place in England’s midfield during the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil this summer. Barkley possesses a similar physique to that of Rooney as well as the fact that he started off at the same club as the Manchester United forward. Could he become better than Rooney?

Sometimes a career at a top-flight club doesn’t always pan out how you would want it to go. Discovered as a younger, thrust into the first team and become a legend of that club. Only a handful every achieve that legendary status, but so many thousands try. Some of these players aren’t even given a chance to prove themselves worthy as they are sent on loan for a majority of the early stages in their career and then sold.

As is the case with many owners these days, they tend to have more than just one investment in the world of sport. Stan Kroenke, of Arsenal, owns the Colorado Rapids in the MLS and the Denver Nuggets in the NBA. Sheikh Mansour of Manchester City also owns the new MLS side, New York City. Our Roman Abramovich had affiliations with CSKA Moscow, but that quickly disintegrated. However, Abramovich is extremely influential in the national side and is a main sponsor for the National Academy of Football.

When was the last time you saw a real high-quality swap deal between two big clubs? Not for a while. Well I certainly haven’t seen anything. Sometimes clubs will take advantage of the fact that they’ve just sold a player to a certain club and now they want a little something back. But, that technically isn’t a swap deal. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a good one, but Chelsea and Roma could end it.

While Chelsea have been busy, in the past couple of weeks, with sorting out signings for the club, they could be on the verge of making more money from selling players. Media attention have been firmly focused on the saga’s surrounding Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas, but also deals for Filipe Luis and Tiago from Atletico Madrid. A quartet of La Liga stars are expected to arrive in London after the World Cup has finished, so they say. 

We’ve entered that period in the year when clubs are beginning to decide what they’ll do with their current crop of players, either on loan or actually at the club. Jose Mourinho has to decide what to do about his strikers, Petr Cech and his loanees. Chelsea have a variety of players on loan with all demonstrating their talent on occasions. However, it looks as though Kurt Zouma will be the only one that could break into the Chelsea team next season.

While all the media attention has been focused on Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas, there have been other players linked with a move to Chelsea. This rumour will certainly wipe that smirk Tottenham Hotspur fans have on their face while seeing the events of the Fabregas saga unfold. They always like Arsenal fans going into a major meltdown, which is exactly what is happening at the moment.