Posted June 29, 201113 yr PURCHASES ON PAUSE Posted on: Wed 29 Jun 2011 Andre Villas-Boas insists there is no rush to move in the transfer market, and says he wants to assess the current Chelsea squad before adding to it. The new manager will meet the full squad when they return from their summer break on July 6, and will be making no decisions on players' futures until that point. 'Everybody will be in on July 6. Unfortunately for Vitesse we had to make some changes to pre-season and we decided to delay a couple of days the beginning of pre-season,' he explained, referring to our cancelled friendly in Holland. 'Everybody is in for July 6 to start and we go from there. 'I am more than happy with the actual squad,' he added. 'It is nothing new that when a manager comes, radical changes are expected. I think at the moment and bearing in mind the success this club has had in the past six or seven years, we have to judge things carefully and make wise decisions. 'I am counting on everybody to come in from last year and then make the best decisions. We have plenty of time in the market to judge the market and approach it in the way we see valuable for the team in the end, with no fuss in the changes we might need to do or not. They are top quality players and I want them back as soon as possible to start making decisions as soon as possible. 'The amount of trophies we won in the last six years is a good reference to start from. Trying to push ourselves this year will be a massive challenge. The most important thing is to raise players' ambitions and motivations to be successful. From the experience I have they are able to do it, I spoke to a couple of them on the phone and they are willing to come back and start this new life. Most of them told me this is a fresh new start and they are willing.' Villas-Boas rejected suggestions that having finished last season empty-handed, the squad will not be good enough to pick up silverware this time around. 'I don't agree because... Chelsea had the opportunity to go to Old Trafford and if they hadn't suffered a goal in the first minute, what would happen?' he asked. 'The game is so unpredictable, anything can happen and Man United are always a competitive team for trophies and have gone in the past four years to three Champions League finals. The reference is just there for us, so I don't feel the team falls short of quality because we are up there, but I agree minor changes can be done and we can put some input here and there in certain sectors. 'My confidence is for them to return to me and judge from that. These are players that deserve this respect from me. Up to August 31 we have plenty of time to make a wise decision, but I just don't agree on the fact we are short of quality because most of the players here have won a lot in their careers and still have the hunger for success. 'The main thing is for us to consider and value what we have at this time in the club which are top quality players which in the past have won three Premierships, three FA Cups and two Carling Cups and players that have played five Champions League semi-finals and one final, so this is the kind of quality you have.' The 33-year-old was also asked about Fernando Torres and whether he plans to mould the side around the Spanish forward. 'We faced this question more or less last year when we arrived in Porto with a striker the quality of Falcao, so it is the same,' he explained. 'In pre-season he didn't find the back of the net and ended up frustrated in the beginning. 'We didn't tune the team to provide to him, we tuned the team as a whole and in the end Falcao found the net and built on to another 30-goal season, and 60 goals in two seasons, so this is a question of fine-tuning the team, not fine-tuning a player so this is what we will try to do. 'The quality is amazing from every single player of Chelsea Football Club but the most important thing is for us to fine-tune the whole of the team and the organisation of the team, for them to perform for the team.' Naturally, there were a list of names put to the new manager as possible transfer targets, though he prefers to keep quiet and assess what is already at his disposal first. 'I wouldn't like to speculate on players that don't belong here. It is not fair for me,' he said. 'It's easy to move in the market where we want to. We have that kind of power and you know the kind of moves this club does, so I wouldn't speculate on names. 'All of them are interesting players - [Luka] Modric, Falcao and [Fabio] Coentrao. All of them are top quality players, if they can add to the squad or not I will prefer to make the decision after, on those or any other players we shortlist. There is no running away from it - everybody in first and then decision-making. At the moment we are stopped in time regarding the market.' Interesting read. Im fascinated as to how you guys read into this as every single day we are being linked to players however this statement seems to contradict any current activity... hmmmm
June 29, 201113 yr Well AVB's plans may not agree with the plans of whoever was looking at these players before his arrival. This is a good thing, he should get the players he wants after he's evaluated the squad in training. I can't remember the last time we let a manager do this.
June 30, 201113 yr The appointment of Roberto was kept in secret almost until the unveiling but I don't think AVB is the kind of man who makes secret plans just to surprise anyone. He just talks to fewer people to keep it from the press making the possibility of leaking smaller. You save yourself from a lot of nosy reporters keeping things quiet. There are probably lot of people inside the club you shouldn't be talking to as they will talk to their friend whose friend talks to his friend and so on. I genuinely think that everyone's in till they are assessed as AVB told. You need to see all of the players and their will to play. Roberto also needs to give his input. He doesn't know most of the players. If it took AVB 4 days to scout an opposing team how long do you think it will take him to assess Chelsea players? Could take a while. And we have lot of top class players, full time internationals, like Zhirkov who could be useful in the new managers eyes. Sturridge is a big question as well.
June 30, 201113 yr a new term for mastubation The expression CBB, is "Hold your horses" (Plural) How many do you have?
June 30, 201113 yr Author But surely he must know most of who he wants rid of at least?! I mean he must of followed some of the EPL last season and noticed what Chelsea lacked which caused us to struggle throughout the season. I would say hwe already knows who the deadwood is. I think his tranfers may be kept close to his chest but i reckon this work will be undertaken asap and people are probably all over the world right now representing Chelsea and trying to negotiate a deal with whoever it may be! Exciting times.
June 30, 201113 yr The expression CBB, is "Hold your horses" (Plural) How many do you have? I think it all depends on how many are there
June 30, 201113 yr But surely he must know most of who he wants rid of at least?! I mean he must of followed some of the EPL last season and noticed what Chelsea lacked which caused us to struggle throughout the season. I would say hwe already knows who the deadwood is. I think his tranfers may be kept close to his chest but i reckon this work will be undertaken asap and people are probably all over the world right now representing Chelsea and trying to negotiate a deal with whoever it may be! Exciting times. But I think he needs to sit down with every single player to see what they want and if someone actually wants out. Just by following EPL from TV doesn't give you the idea of players' capabilities. Zhirkov for example is a big question-mark in every way. You need to find out if a player is reliable and so on. And if AVB is as thorough as he was when scouting he doesn't let one single stone unturned. Same goes probably in players he wants to buy. It is very exciting times!
