Chelsea set to gut their squad and buy Cristiano Ronaldo

With the international break upon us, we were always likely to be subjected to some sensational transfer 'news' over the two-week break. The latest nonsense comes from Spanish newspaper AS, who are reporting that Chelsea are willing to sell three star players to fund a Cristiano Ronaldo purchase.

AS claims that Roman Abramovich sees the Real Madrid superstar as a catalyst to "renovate" Chelsea, and that Chelsea are willing to bid up to €100 million -- approximately £70 million in current exchange rates -- to have Ronaldo. The funds for such bid would be acquired by the sales of Eden Hazard, Oscar and Nemanja Matic, who the Blues believe could amount to €200 million -- or £140 million. Trying to add some value to an already questionable rumour, AS brings up recent ambiguous quotes from Ronaldo regarding his future at Real Madrid as well as his comments on working with Mourinho in the future.

Even if we try to look at it logically, this rumour makes little sense since it goes against the club's philosophy from recent years, from doing the most to fit into FFP regulations and therefore diminish Chelsea's dependence on Abramovich's pockets, to their policy of cost-effective purchases over buying superstars. To add to that, Ronaldo is currently 30 years old, and not only would he not fit at all into Chelsea's policy of one-year deals for players over 30, he has probably already started on the downhill slope of his glorious career.

Once again, Silly Season never ends.