Who could Chelsea target in the January transfer window?
Friday 1 January 2016 19:38, UK
Chelsea have endured a miserable season but could they bring anyone in to change it in January?
Jose Mourinho may have written off the team's top-four chances but there has been fighting talk from Stamford Bridge since the Chelsea manager's departure.
Caretaker boss Guus Hiddink would only concede it will be "difficult", while Willian maintains that it is still the club's target this season.
With confidence still shaky at Chelsea, new signings could be the catalyst for an upturn in fortunes. Here we assess the January prospects…
DEFENCE
Although the Metro linked Chelsea with a move for Valencia left-back Jose Gaya in September, much of the transfer talk in regard to defenders remains centred around Everton's John Stones.
Chelsea pursued the England centre-back with gusto in the summer only for the Toffees to stand firm in order to hold onto their prized asset. But for how long?
Everton boss Roberto Martinez insists that "January doesn't come into consideration" so Chelsea face a battle to instigate a change but the interest in Stones would appear to remain.
MIDFIELD
Plenty of big-name midfielders have been linked with Stamford Bridge this January with the Daily Mirror suggesting in November that Tottenham's Mousa Dembele was a January target.
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Dembele would presumably offer competition for Nemanja Matic but would also prove a difficult deal to pull off. Moreover, Mourinho was still involved in the decision-making process back then.
Since Hiddink's arrival, it's been claimed by the Daily Star that attention has switched to Real Madrid's James Rodriguez, the top scorer at last year's World Cup in Brazil.
A more realistic prospect might be Dinamo Zagreb midfielder Ante Coric. According to a report in AS, Chelsea could beat Real Madrid and Manchester City to the signing of the 18-year-old.
ATTACK
With Diego Costa enduring a difficult season, a plethora of strikers have been linked with Chelsea over the past few months.
According to the Daily Mail, Tottenham's Harry Kane was a serious January target as recently as November, while the Daily Mirror suggest that there is interest in Leicester's Jamie Vardy.
With the current clubs of both of those England internationals chasing the Champions League, any mid-season deal would surely be extremely tricky.
Elsewhere, the Daily Star claim that Didier Drogba has advised Hiddink to bring Romelu Lukaku back to Stamford Bridge, The Sun say that a shock move for Karim Benzema could be on the way and Jackson Martinez's agent suggests there is interest in the Atletico Madrid forward.
A more realistic January buy could be Shakhtar Donetsk forward Alex Teixeira - with the Daily Express claiming that a £30m deal has been done for the Brazilian.
Charlton's Ademola Lookman might not be quite so costly but The Sun report that the 18-year-old could be another addition with Chelsea expected to win the race for his signature.
Summary
Chelsea might be anxious to climb the table but with many of their targets within the Premier League, clubs have the cash to resist their advances - at least until the summer.
Teenage targets such as Coric and Lookman might be more realistic but with the performance of the first-team of foremost importance, Chelsea will want to pull off a bigger deal this January.
