Barring one of the more unlikely league titles of all time, Chelsea's season is essentially over. Personally I think it's been a pretty great run, trophies or no -- we've played far better this year than we have at any point since Carlo Ancelotti's double-winning season, and I'm feeling good about the foundations the squad's being built on. But we're not done building yet.
The media seemed insistent that Jose Mourinho was lying when he said that his Chelsea squad was not favourites for the title, that this was a year in which some important building had to happen and that we'd be in a much better position to win trophies in the 2014/15 season, but for me I don't think the manager's comments fall particularly wide of the mark. We still don't have an ace striker and our midfield, even with the January addition of Nemanja Matic, remains questionable.
That means that this summer is enormously important. Chelsea need to get themselves into a position where they can finish off the squad in one transfer window, turning a fractured, flawed side -- and I don't think anyone would dispute that point, despite some very impressive victories this season -- into one that can dominate England. Fortunately we have a lot of cash with which to do so.
Everyone fully understands just how crucial this summer is, and that lets them play fairly fast and loose with the facts. The Mail, for example, is claiming that Mourinho is asking Chelsea to sign three 'global stars', asking for two strikers, a midfielder and a left back. Leaving the overblown rhetoric aside, those are the areas which the Blues probably need to target. All three current strikers should probably be shipped off, and while Romelu Lukaku has impressed in spells for Everton he's not yet good enough to lead the line for a team with designs on the Champions League.
And so we will see rumours connecting us to every big name centre forward and every big name central midfielder on the planet. You can trust that Chelsea will be chasing hard after upgrade this summer, but you can also trust that most of the rumours will be dead ends. Welcome to silly season. We're here to try to help.