Although Andre Villas-Boas's arrival at Chelsea was supposed to bring a summer clearout, when the dust cleared only Russian utilityman Yuri Zhirkov ended up leaving Stamford Bridge. Instead, the squad was revamped without many major departures, which has left several former starters on the bench, chafing.
The deadwood had to be cleared out at some point, and it very much looks as though that's going to happen this January, with Villas-Boas announcing today that Nicolas Anelka and Alex have submitted transfer requests, which the club has accepted:
@BluesChronicle
Dan Levene AVB confirms Anelka and Alex transfer requests have been accepted by the club, and that the two are training separately from rest of team.
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So, that means January business, and presumably quite a lot of it. I'm less interested in where the two departing players (who've been good servants for the club and for whom I wish only the best of luck in future) are going that how Chelsea will replace them, because this means that the Blues need to buy at least one defender (centre back or right back) and one wide forward.
Of course, they probably needed to do that anyway - we've been absolutely screaming for a real wide player and a right back - so on the face of things this announcement doesn't do anything but confirm our suspicions. But hey, it's always good to know what we should be expecting. Who would y'all like to see in?
PS: If we sign Gary Cahill I will kill myself.