Ah, the ultimate writer of Chelsea stories. Will be following. Hopefully you can take this further than your FM12 story?
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As Chelsea's final friendly match against German outfit Hamburger SV approaches, Chris Borg along with the Chelsea board invite us along to discuss some further transfer deals being made to bolster their attack for the season ahead. Already having signed the likes of Eden Hazard & Oscar, some might question Borg's aim in spending more money up front with 50 million pound striker Fernando Torres looking much sharper this season. We met up with Borg to answer a few questions after training.
Preseason Interview
What are your thoughts on Roberto Di Matteo?
"He is a great guy and a true Chelsea legend. Being a childhood Chelsea fan myself, I look up to him and must say he did some brilliant work last year, he changed it all around. I met up with him a few weeks back where he passed on some information to myself which I am very thankful for, he also offered some very useful advice which shows his love for the club. He's a top fella and I must say there are no hard feelings!"
What a transfer window! so many exciting names and we now await another three, will this be it? or is the bank not completely empty yet?
"I'm confident that there will be just these three more signings for now. We've put a squad together built on last year's Champions League winning squad, with a few exciting additions all round. Obviously some big players have moved on since then; Drogba, Malouda, Kalou, Bosingwa, Essien on loan. And with this change we have brought in some new faces who I'm sure will settle in fine."
How much of an effect did the owner have on this transfer window?
"Let's put it this way, Roman has provided a substantial cash injection to cover these transfers as our profit from last year was not enough for what I had planned. Some of the earlier signings such as the Hazard brothers & Oscar, Marko Marin & Cesar Azpilicueta have all been scouted by the club for the last few years but were all players I was interested in too, I would not have signed them if not. With these new three signings they were suggested by myself and again thoroughly scouted so I think all in all this is more of a group decision between myself, the owner and other staff such as our Director of Football Michael Emenalo, Chief scout Piet de Visser, & Head of Youth Development Neil Bath. So I can honestly confirm that Roman does not come up to you and say I want him as many may have previously suggested!"
Is Fernando Torres going to fill the gap left by Didier Drogba?
"Fernando had a difficult time settling in to our style of play, but at the back end of last year has shown great promise and improvement. So far he has netted four times in the three halves that he has featured. He will be our main number 9 this season and without Didier, he needs to show more responsibility and step up in the big games too. I have spoken to Fernando about this and he is aware what is expected of him. We will be bringing in another striker who can play in his position and even behind him, so there is definitely going to be some healthy competition in that area. A lot of our signings can play in different roles so there is definitely room for shuffling about if needed."
How will these signings change your tactics & fit in with your current squad?
I'm not really going to discuss tactics right now as I still haven't made a full assessment of the squad but in the friendlies we are playing a 4-2-3-1 formation which seems to be working well. The main difference this year is that we will definitely have more competition for places. I want everyone to be constantly performing to their maximum and we will reassess in January. No player has their name guaranteed on the teamsheet, if any player does not like this system, the next transfer window is never that far away. I'm very happy with the squad so far, we have another friendly this week, the Community Shield & Super Cup to look forward to as well, so everyone will have their time to shine. Everyone is happy and I promise you we have everything in place to press on with the coming season."
And finally who are these new signings?
"You will have the full details first thing tomorrow morning! Until then I can tell you that they are all young & energetic, one boy impressed last season in the Premier League and the other two are from abroad."