Guus Hiddink will not be staying at Chelsea after this season. That is not good news for Chelsea fans.
Has he been brought in to save the club from relegation? Has he been brought in to try and win a trophy? What about sorting out the players who brought about the downfall of Jose Mourinho? He must know that there is more than one bad apple in this particular barrel.
The point now is, does he really care about that side of things? Providing he keeps Chelsea in the Premier League, maybe gets into the top six, has a decent run in the Champion’s League, (even he must know they are not good enough to win it, although, they weren’t good enough to win it the year that they won it, so you never know!), and also has a good shot at the FA Cup then Guus will probably feel as though he has earned his money.
Is it really his problem that the football club contains some players, certainly led by a Fletcher Christian-type character, who wanted Mourinho out of the way and are trying to become the tail that wags the dog? No, it isn’t. It would be much easier for Hiddink to serve his time, pick up his money and disappear into the Dutch reservoirs armed only with a fishing rod and some worms.
What of the players left behind though? Will we ever find out who the trouble-makers really were? It is doubtful. These things are very difficult to prove and it is far more likely that a number of players will be moved on under the pretence of “natural evolution”.
For example, there are currently rumours that Eden Hazard will be sold in the Summer. Why? At one stage he was considered the third best player in the world. Has he now dropped down the pecking order so far that he isn’t even good enough for a mid-table team? Or was he one of the conspirators?
This is now the problem. Every time a player is deemed surplus to requirements at Stamford Bridge, the suspicion will be that he is being shipped out because he had some part in the overthrow of the king. Particularly when he is a player as good as Hazard. The problem is that, with a Russian in charge, the waters are likely to get murkier rather than clearer.
Pedro is also looking unsettled but this is more probably due to lack of first team opportunities than a part in any melodrama.
Surprisingly, it is rumoured that Branislav Ivanovic is being offered a new contract. Is this some kind of reward for loyalty? It must be because he has certainly been one of Chelsea’s worst players this season. His new style of defending, where he puts his hands behind his back, has cost at least two goals and his general play has been awful. Some of the other players must be wondering what exactly he has done to deserve this new deal.
It also seems that Chelsea have given up on Mourinho’s promise to return Radamel Falcao to the status of world class footballer. A more likely return is one which features Monaco, his parent club.
The Chelsea faithful may also be waving goodbye to Loic Remy. He is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated strikers in the Premier League. I can only assume he has an attitude problem because he didn’t get regular playing time at Newcastle, QPR and now Chelsea, yet he was a fairly prolific scorer.
Diego Costa could also be on his way. Chelsea’s answer to the Tasmanian Devil appears to be homesick, although whether “home” is Spain or Brazil isn’t too clear.
To remedy this, the club are looking to buy Alexandre Pato from Corinthians for around £8 million. This would be a considerable drop in expenditure for Chelsea and, more importantly, possibly a considerable drop in standard of player when you consider that none of the other top European clubs expressed any interest in him.
The comings and goings at Stamford Bridge this Summer could be very interesting. All we need do is sit back in a comfortable chair and decide which ones are being sold because they are surplus to requirements and which ones are being sold because they are mutineers.
The new manager will certainly have some fun with this one.
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