Jose Mourinho’s £21m plan can help Marina Granovskaia give Chelsea and Thomas Tuchel title lift

As the January transfer window approaches, Chelsea can take inspiration from a previous mid-season boost to hand Thomas Tuchel’s side the advantage. infoguidenigeria

However, just a couple of weeks ago, Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel’s biggest worry was his injury-plagued midfield. The German boss likely looks back on that time as the good old days.

Positive COVID tests have since decimated his squad as they prepare to head into the most congested period of the season, with six members of the team ruled out for 10 days (this stat was correct at the time of writing, who knows how much worse it could be by the time you actually read this).

There are fresh injury concerns to manage in other areas too, plus the obvious drop in form since the beginning of December which has severely hampered Tuchel’s title charge.

Most of the speculation over any activity has centred around the wing-back position with Ben Chilwell’s ACL injury ruling him out until mid-January.

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Marina Granovskaia could wind the clock back seven years to a deal she oversaw in the winter of 2014, a transfer that helped to majorly boost the Blues’ midfield for the short-term, before being a pillar of a title triumph the following season.

Chelsea spent £21m to re-sign Nemanja Matic from Benfica after he was originally sold to the Portuguese giants only three years prior for £3m. jamb result

Matic made an instant impact, slotting into the centre of Mourinho’s 4-2-3-1 system, either playing alongside Ramires, John Obi Mikel or David Luiz who was eventually shifted forward from central defence.

The dominance of his eye-catching display at the Etihad Stadium in Chelsea’s impressive 1-0 win over Manuel Pellegrini’s City in February was vindication for the singing. Bouncing a prime Yaya Toure off the ball as Chelsea clinched a vital three points.

While the likes of Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic offer a level of protection in possession Tuchel desires, there’s still a sense the raw physicality of the Premier League can sometimes get the better of Chelsea, especially when N’Golo Kante is absent.

Tchouameni, who has played alongside Fabregas at Monaco, can offer the raw athleticism to cover wider ground, a craft in his passing and a high level of interceptions.

Like Matic, Tchouameni’s January signing could not only inject new life into an area ravaged by injury woes but also provide a pillar to build on for next season.

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