Chelsea FC Transfer Rumours: Blues Unsure About Further Bid For Modric

Chelsea's midfield weakness was made manifest last weekend against Stoke City, where Frank Lmpard proved completely incapable of linking up with Fernando Torres. The striker responded by trying to create chances himself, and while he played wonderfully throughout the entire match, he was unable to break through a massed Potters defence on his own. Surprise!

Anyway, it's fairly clear that Chelsea need a playmaker if they're going to persist on using Torres as their primary centre forward (and based on this weekend's evidence, there's no reason they wouldn't). Does this mean a further pursuit of Tottenham Hotspur's Luka Modric is on the cards? Well, maybe:

Spurs rejected our offer and I don't know if it will go further. Andre [Villas-Boas] didn't give us a shopping list but he did tell us where he thought we could improve. He did mention some players but it was not a case of 'I want this guy and I want that guy' because it is more than just selecting the players. It is whether the player is available, what the price is and every other dynamic that goes with it.

But Andre is working very well with the board and directly with Roman Abramovich in terms of looking at the squad and trying to see whether there is anything that needs to be done.

-Bruce Buck, Chelsea chairman. Source: BBC.

That's not exactly a quote people are going to be able to read much into, but it does kind of reaffirm Chelsea's current approach to transfers - identify areas of weakness and looks for ways to patch them rather than just going after big names and spending too much to get them. Other comments from Andre Villas-Boas would seem to imply that he'd quite like another midfielder. Whether or not that's Modric probably doesn't matter at this point - if CHelsea make a move to improve the team without making a ludicrous financial decision, I think everyone will be happy.

I do think a move will happen before the end of August, though. The Stoke match showed that the old weaknesses are still there and probably need to be addressed.