Chelsea Sign Roberto Di-Matteo To 2-Year Deal

And the managerial hunt is officially over - Chelsea, as expected, end up with Roberto di Matteo as what they're now calling 'manager and first team coach'. We've been waiting on news of this all week, having been told to expect a one-year contract by virtually every English media outlet, and although they got the big-picture stuff right, it turns out that di Matteo will actually be here for two years. Or being paid for two years, I guess.

It would have been very difficult for Chelsea not to give di Matteo the job, of course. Unless a known world-class manager fell into their laps, it would have been a little bit silly to replace a coach who is beloved by the players and won the club their first-even European Cup. Could we do better? Almost certainly, but di Matteo looks like he's good enough, won't be too expensive and presumably won't oversee an Andre Villas-Boasesque dressing room implosion.

Yeah, a one-year deal would have been better, but two years isn't awful, and if that's what we needed to get him to sign, so be it. Now back to player transfers.