Chelsea FC: Bastian Schweinsteiger Should Be Top Summer Target

Nemanja Matic’s ban has created a huge selection problem for Jose Mourinho. He will be missing for both the Capital One Cup final, and for a tough away game at West Ham. Matic’s de-facto deputy, John Obi Mikel, has had a season to forget so far, with only 1.1 tackles, 0.8 interceptions, and 28.4 passes per game. Compared to Matic’s 3.8 tackles, 2.2 interceptions, and 66.5 passes per game, it is no secret which of the holding midfielders is better at providing a screen for the back four, and at distributing the ball (stats from whoscored.com).

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Meanwhile, on the other side of the engine room, Cesc Fabregas has been turning heads for the wrong reasons: his dip in form. As caughtoffside.com pointed out earlier this month, Cesc’s amazing form in the beginning of the season led to 14 assists in just 20 appearances, which is far off from the 3 he has managed in the last ten games.

Dipping in form is a trend Cesc was infamous for in Barcelona, but there he had the likes of Xavi and Iniesta to pick up the slack. Chelsea has Ramires as his deputy, who is an entirely different kind of midfielder, and cannot contribute creatively the way Cecs can on a good day.

Another player with a similar reputation for needing a rest later in the season is Oscar, and who is Oscar’s most used replacement?… You guessed it: Cesc! Especially now that Mourinho essentially traded two wingers for one, resting Oscar is extremely limited, it’s either Cuadrado or Cesc.

Enter Bastian Schweinsteiger.

To the joy of the Premiere League, there have been reports that Schweini is unhappy at Bayern, which should not come as a surprise, since he has only participated in 13 matches in all competitions so far. According to Express, the Bayern man has hinted that he could leave Germany, saying in his autobiography that he has achieved all he can there.

His contract has not been renewed since 2010, and is set to expire in 2016. With no hints of a new contract in the horizon, Bayern will want to grab a hefty profit from a player who rose up from the youth team.

The world-cup winner is an all-around athlete. While he is great at creating from what Alonso destroys, he is also extremely effective at holding the fort when Bayern decide to go for their attacking 4-1-4-1 without Xabi. Out of favor at Bayern, the midfielder has already contributed to 4 goals (3 assists, 1 goal) in only 10 games, having been subbed in for four of those.

Of the 9 games that he has started this season, he has played 6 as a creative midfielder, and only 3 as a holding midfielder, which will warp the quality of his defensive statistics a bit. Regardless, he still holds firm at 1 tackle and 1.3 interceptions per game. He has also managed to slightly outdo even Matic in distribution, having 67.3 passes per game this season (stats from whoscored.com).

Signing Schweini would solve many of Chelsea’s problems at once. There would be an adequate replacement for Matic, which is an important role, since the holding midfielder often fouls and receives yellow-card bans (not to mention red cards).