A look at Chelsea’s potential line up for the first game of next season

It is an exciting time to be a Chelsea fan right now as the club looks to be fully backing manager Frank Lampard in the transfer market.

In a time when most other clubs will be carefully watching what they spend, Chelsea are being reliably linked with a number of top quality players coming in this summer.

Hakim Ziyech will be arriving from Ajax, and will be joined by Timo Werner pending an official announcement (Source – BBC).

As well as that, they are in talks to sign Bayer Leverkusen’s sought-after midfielder Kai Havertz (Source – Guardian), and Ben Chilwell from Leicester City (Source – Evening Standard).

There may well be further arrivals as well, with the centre back area something that Frank Lampard could look to improve.

Players are expected to leave the club as well in order to make room for these expensive and high profile marquee signings who are potentially coming in.

Here is a look at how Chelsea could line up at the start of next season with their main targets added.

GK – Kepa Arrizabalaga

It looks unlikely that Kepa will be replaced this summer now as Lampard looks ready to give him another shot of nailing down the number one position.

RB – Reece James

He will be backed up well by Cesar Azpilicueta, but James will surely take the regular reigns from the Chelsea captain next season.

CB’s – Kurt Zouma and Andreas Christensen

To be honest, this could be any of the four current options, and there could still be a new arrival coming in at centre back. But as it stands, this would probably be Lamaprd’s most balanced starting pair in my view.

LB – Ben Chilwell

Leicester City seem to be more willing to do a deal here with Chelsea as the days go on, and Chilwell remains Lampard’s priority in that area.

Deep Lying Playmaker – Mateo Kovacic

In the deep midfield position, I believe we will see Kovacic and Billy Gilmour compete for this role, depending on the opposition. I feel that Jorginho could be one of those sacrificed in order to land Kai Havertz.

Box-to-Box CM – Ruben Loftus-Cheek

A fully fit and firing Loftus-Cheek will fast become one of Chelsea’s most important players in a defensive and an attacking sense. But he will rotate with N’Golo Kante, and again the selection here will vary depending on opposition.

Attacking Midfielder – Kai Havertz

Havertz will be nicely backed up by Mason Mount, who can also play deeper or wide if needed. But Havertz will have the number 8 role, which is his preferred position, and he will be our creative hub. I think Ross Barkley could also be sold.

Left Wing/Inverted Winger – Timo Werner

This is probably the most difficult to predict, but I can see Werner playing as an inverted winger for Lampard to start with, but this could change again depending on the opponents. Christian Pulisic will be backing up both wing positions as well as attacking midfield.

Right Wing/Inverted Winger – Hakim Ziyech

Ziyech will be cutting in on his very dangerous left foot and will have the freedom to float inside a lot, making space for James to overlap. Callum Hudson-Odoi will be the rotation for this area I believe.

Striker – Tammy Abraham

I believe the faith will be kept in Abraham and rightly so. He has shown so much promise so far, and another season in the Premier League could really push him on. Olivier Giroud will be the other option for when we need something a bit different.

Overall you may fear for this team defensively, and I would agree. I think that to be a complete team they would need a more robust and athletic defensive midfielder who can do it all. One that not only has pace and is good defensively, but also dominant and good on the ball in tight areas.

Who I hear you ask? Great question!

I also feel Chelsea still need a dominant, commanding and physically inferior centre back, one with leadership qualities but is also very calm and technically sound on the ball.

But again, I join you on asking just who that would be.

Signing both the two profiles of players just described could be far too much in one window though, and the transition period could be over a few windows. However, A centre back is not too farfetched for this summer.

Finally, you may have concerns over Loftus-Cheek playing in the number 6 role. Well, I believe that he is purposely built for this box-to-box position, more than the number 8 role.

He is actually under rated for his defensive abilities. He may lack the energy of Kante, but that is why the two will be excellent understudies for each other and rotate often. Loftus-Cheek against the low blocks, Kante against the high energy counter attackers. Loftus-Cheek? Next Chelsea captain in my view….