Don't think you should sign a striker just yet myself, it would be a pretty stupid purchase considering the cost of Cavani or Falcao when you have other areas which are far more in need of an upgrade.
Spending 40million on Falcao would completely end hope of Torres having a sucessful career at Chelsea IMO. Seeing as you play one upfront then there isn't room for two 'first choice' strikers, it would blatantly be Falcao and I can't see Torres sticking around to be a back up. Also, what was the point of spending £19million on Lukaku if you aren't going to introduce him to the first team? He needs games otherwise he'll just stall. The way Fergie played Jones, Smalling and Welbeck in recent years is how you develop a player. Lukaku won't get any better just sitting in the reserves, and given the outlay I'd be wary of writing him off just yet.
After 18 months our patience with Torres is wearing thin, In Drogba, Anelka and Kalou leaving we would be reliant on a full Torres revival to carry us which is a scenario I doubt anybody would put all the chips on with good reason. I hear what you say about Lukaku though he is still a teenager and won't break into the team proper for some yet, should Torres go that would leave Chelsea with a new striker, Sturridge and Lukaku which I think would suit him fine.
Having said that, Falcao would be absolutely perfect for Chelsea IMO, if you upgrade your wingers. He's lethal in the air so could follow on from Drogba in that respect and would allow you to carry on attacking down the flanks. I think you'd need to offload Torres first though.
The wings is where you need to improve and the reason for your poor season is because of the lack of wingers IMO. Sticking Mata out on the left was just a waste of his talent, and also he didn't even play as a winger anyway he kept coming infield which just made you very narrow and easy to defend against. Marin could prove good on the left, and if you match that with a good right winger who can likewise stretch the pitch then you would be in great shape, as it would give Mata the room to work in the middle at the tip of the midfield three, whilst maintaining a threat on the flanks.
I completely agree in that we urgently require a presence on our flanks though this is a less urgent concern as far as I am concerned relative to our lack of goals in the last 18 months and the deterioration of our midfield. As I said in the OP it is the one thing we have lacked consistently over the last decade though when we did possess it we won the title though we also had a solid side across the pitch on those three occasions.
No doubt many of our strikers have suffered through a lack of service though they have struggled anyway, it is resoundingly clear all too often that issues surrounding the lack of form of Torres are his own. Considering we have signed two young, promising wingers on the left you'd assume that is that side settled and that the right will be dealt with also.
Would Torres be open to returning to Atletico?
Would Robben even consider returning to the club that dropped him in favor of Malouda?
On the first point media speculation says so though over the last four weeks the media has reported on just about every possibility, having said that Atletico is supposedly still close to his heart. We didn't let Robben go in favour of Malouda, we let him go as for over 18 months he was unsettled and lost his way in English football.
Don't tell me the lad is going to end up doing a Katuka.
On Kakuta he has just finished a very encouraging loan spell in Ligue 1 at Dijon, playing most games, scoring and assisting on top of that playing centrally. I could see him floating around the first team squad as an option to fill the place of Mata though given the emergence of Lucas Piazon his window of opportunity is closing quickly.
With McEachran we have no worries really, he turned 19 only recently and when he did play at Swansea as rare as that was he played very well. If he had been able to do what Sturridge had done at Bolton last year then he could well be forcing himself into first team reckoning around now, if we didn't sign Modric or someone of his ilk we have enough confidence in him to come in and out of the side with regularlity this season though I doubt that we won't buy someone.
I definitely think an expensive striker will come in and Drogba will leave, Hulk and Cavani seem the big options but I wouldn't be surprised to see Chelsea move for Llorente.
Given the expendeture on a striker I would be surprised if Roman dropped another £35-40M on a CM. I could see him going for someone like M'Vila or Cabaye though, while moving on Essien and maybe Lampard.
With Marin and De Bryune already signed and Mata and Sturridge capable of playing wide I don't see another winger being bought, unless a punt is taken on Hoiltett for free.
As for right back, what happened to all the interest in Van Der Wiel?
Llorente is a good shout though I think you could toss a coin between half a dozen such strikers that we could zero in on in the very near future, no doubt we're sounding a very long list of candidates out though I wouldn't be saddened if he were one of them.
Marin and De Bruyne are both very encouraging indeed though they are both left wingers whilst Sturridge has played on the right flank though more in the vein of a wide forward, he struggled with regard to winger duties so I cannot see us going another season of hashing it on that side. We may not go for a big spend in this area, ala the two on the left but I am certainly we will get someone.
I could see this being a £100 million gross spend summer to finance moves for four key players and if necessary Torres and perhaps Essien be sold to lessen the burden of that which I am sure is frustrating as Kalou and Bosingwa will walk out the door for nothing at all. Last summer we were clearly in for Modric and in January were allegedly so for Willian on top of all our other spending since the beginning of last year so I cannot see us going for lesser targets due to lesser spending.
Van der Wiel is a very good shout, I doubt he'd come in for much less than £15 million which may be off putting.
