Who Should Chelsea Buy in the Jan 2011 Transfer Window?

Well 2010 is nearly over and now Chelsea will enter 2011 in their lowest New Year league placing of the Abramovich era, last year may have been the most successful in our history but fans will enter 2o11 with a feeling of uncertainty.

With the new squad rules and summer departures of Michael Ballack, Joe Cole, Ricardo Carvalho, Deco and Juliano Belletti the Chelsea squad has looked very fragile at times this season, particularly as key players such as Frank Lampard, John Terry, Didier Drogba and Michael Essien has been out of action for large parts of the 2010/2011 season.

It seems to many fans that we need to strengthen if we are to recover our early dominant start to the season and compete with Manchester United, Arsenal and Manchester City in 2011.

January is always a tough time to buy with prices being higher and fewer high quality players available or willing to move and that is without considering the all important Champions League eligibility.

So should players be available, where should Chelsea strengthen this January?

Goalkeeper – No requirement this winter

Petr Cech rediscovered his best form in 2010 and I am sure this will continue into the New Year so the number one spot is well and truly spoken for.

However the number two spot is not cut and dry, few fans (myself included) would be confident about having Henrique Hilario or Ross Turnbull between the posts for Chelsea.

Defence

With the departure of Ricardo Carvalho and the premature retirement of Sam Hutchinson the stage seemed clear for Jeffrey Bruma to take the spotlight as back up to John Terry, Alex and Branslav Ivanovic. Unfortunately Carlo Ancelotti does not seem to have confidence in such a young player playing Paulo Ferreria in a central role instead.

Therefore in January it seems like a temporary signing would be a prudent move for the club, until the full options can be re-evaluated in the summer.

Midfield

The loss of Frank Lampard and Michael Essien left Chelsea with an injury crisis as Ramires struggled to adapt to his new more combative surroundings, whilst investment will be required, unless sublime cover can be found this position will need to be left until the summer.

Attack

The loss of attacking midfielders such as the departed Joe Cole and Deco, as well as the injured Frank Lampard has led to a reliance on Nicholas Anelka and Didier Drogba, when one of these players is unavailable we do look very weak.

However now is not the time to buy a striker, even if we did sign Anelka in this window, our options should be evaluated in the summer when I think a new signing will be needed.

Only one signing

Therefore I think Chelsea should only sign one player this winter as defensive cover, rather than as part of a long term strategy, yet it will be interesting to see if Carlo Ancelotti and more importantly Roman Abramovich agree with eChelseaFC’s editor this January.

What do you think, are more signings required?