Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is eager to spend £80 million on the summer transfer market to make his club play “sexy football” next season.
According to the tabloid Sun newspaper, the Russian billionaire, who is sick and tired of the Blues’ boring game, wants major changes in the London side’s starting lineup.
Chelsea’s chief executive, Ron Gourlay, said the Blues owner is targeting three main roles – a creative midfielder, a flying winger and a classy right-back.
Inter Milan’s leader Wesley Snyder, Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas, Tottenham midfielders Luka Modric and Gareth Bale, Manchester City’s attacker Carlos Tevez as well as Bayern Munich’s young star Thomas Muller are only some of the names on Abramovich’s wish-list.
The best-known Russian footballer, Andrey Arshavin, is also mentioned among the possible Chelsea buys.
The paper’s source within the London club said: “Roman has always wanted to see a Chelsea side that played what he calls 'sexy football’… He'd rather see a match where they win 4-3 in swashbuckling style than grind out a 1-0 result.”
The making of the new Chelsea has already begun, with the purchase of Fernando Torres and David Luiz in the winter.
Roman Abramovich has already spent £740 million pounds on Chelsea, but the players’ salaries continue to grow faster than the incomes of the club, and this casts doubt on the possibility of Chelsea reaching self-sufficiency in three years, as required by European football’s governing body, UEFA.