Rafael Benítez has expressed concern to the Chelsea hierarchy that the European champions' first-team squad is critically thin on numbers and has been rendered more fragile by a cluttered fixture schedule which is damaging the players' fitness levels.
The interim first-team manager outlined his initial impressions, after a week in the job, during a board meeting attended by Roman Abramovich and the sporting director, Michael Emenalo, on Thursday. A second successive goalless draw, against Fulham the night before, led to Chelsea slipping seven points behind Manchester United in the Premier League having failed to win any of their past six games. Their strategy in January's transfer window was on the agenda in the talks at Stamford Bridge.
Some level of recruitment is anticipated even though Benítez feels it is too soon for him to make judgments on specific targets. He stressed to the board how stretched the squad appears, with 19 players having been used by his predecessor, Roberto Di Matteo, in the league and key personnel displaying fatigue ahead of the Club World Cup in Japan and the busy Christmas fixture list.
"If you're not winning and you analyse the players who have played almost every game, there aren't many players here," said Benítez. "There were 19 in the league, and now it's 20 with Marko Marin [who appeared as a substitute against Fulham]. They'd been playing fewer players than other clubs. I'm not here to criticise, but that's the reality. They'd played so many games, two or three a week and massive games in the Champions League, that the players were getting tired. You can't give them a rest either, because there's no time. I explained what I'd seen, my ideas on things and my explanations.
"You can see the team needs to improve a bit physically but you cannot do that if they play two games every week. There's no recovery time. I'd like to have players for a week and train them properly – they would all gain the benefit – but we have to play games. I will have to rest people for some matches, like we did with Juan Mata on Wednesday. It's a risk but we are thinking about the bigger picture. You have to prepare the team for now while thinking in the long run so that at the end, when the trophies are being won, we can benefit."
Money will be available in January, though. With Benítez contracted until the summer, Emenalo and the board will direct transfer policy while seeking input from the Spaniard. There is interest in Radamel Falcao at Atlético Madrid but securing the Colombian would require a lavish outlay. The likes of Taison Freda, a Brazilian midfielder at Metalist Kharkiv who would cost around £9m, and Liverpool's Raheem Sterling, who has yet to agree a new contract at Anfield, are on the list together with the young Southampton left-back Luke Shaw, who has been earmarked as a long-term replacement for the Paris St-Germain-bound Ashley Cole.
"The board were asking me my opinion on what we need," said Benítez. "We spoke about the future but I said it's too soon for me. I'm pleased they're asking me but I want to see the team in a couple more games yet. We also analysed the players out on loan, how they are performing. We spoke about Romelu Lukaku and we know he's doing well [at West Bromwich Albion], and maybe it's better for his development to stay there, playing. We will see. It's too soon for me."
Benítez's presence is still unsettling Chelsea's support. The chairman, Bruce Buck, opted against addressing the club's annual lunch at Stamford Bridge on Friday, though it has emerged Abramovich and the director Eugene Tenenbaum did meet with a select group of seven fans ahead of the visit of Manchester City last Sunday to gauge the mood following a week of upheaval. The meeting, held in an office at Stamford Bridge, has been described as informal and "candid" with subjects covering everything from Di Matteo's sacking, the damage that has been done to the image of the club and last year's controversy around the Chelsea Pitch Owners and a potential move to a new stadium.
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