Christian Pulisic: How Chelsea might line-up next season with incoming Borussia Dortmund star plus Gonzalo Higuain and Ivan Rakitic

Christian Pulisic: How Chelsea might line-up next season with incoming Borussia Dortmund star plus Gonzalo Higuain and Ivan Rakitic
There were all sorts of changes in personnel at Chelsea in the January transfer window.Gonzalo Higuain and Christian Pulisic signed for the Blues, and they said goodbye to Cesc Fabregas while Alvaro Morata joined Atletico Madrid on loan.6

Higuain made his Chelsea debut in Sunday’s FA Cup win over Sheffield Wednesday

The Blues have been linked with more names ahead of the summer including former player Nathan Ake andBarcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic.All this could make for a new team by the time next season comes around so talkSPORT takes a look at how Chelsea may line up for the 2019/20 campaign.

Goalkeeper

Although there is a lot of speculation at Chelsea right now, Kepa Arrizabalaga’s spot as the club’s No.1 is safe for seasons to come.The Spaniard was bought for 71.6million last summer, a record fee for a goalkeeper and has been pretty good in his first season.6

Kepa also saw Eric Dier sky his spot-kick as Chelsea won 4-2 in the shootout

Defence

Chelsea have first refusal for any deal on Ake, 23, and it wasclaimed recently that Bournemouth’s signing of Chris Mepham could see the Dutchman rejoin the Blues in the future.An Ake return would increase the competition for the two centre-back positions greatly, having to battle the likes of David Luiz, Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen for a starting spot.In this case, we’ve decided to place Ake alongside Luiz as the Brazilian is set pen a new one-year contract extension with the club. But we must stress Rudiger and Christensen are more than capable of playing there too.6

Chelsea have first refusal on the Bournemouth man

Chelsea have reverted to a back four in Maurizio Sarri’s first season so Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso should occupy the full-back slots even though both players haven’t been at their best this season.

Midfield

The west Londoners missed out on Leandro Paredes, who joined Paris Saint-Germainlast month, but rumours are emerging about Ivan Rakitic being a target for the Blues.With Barcelona adding the likes of Arthur and Frenkie de Jong to their ranks, the 30-year-old seems set for switch away from the Camp Nou in the summer.If he did move to Chelsea, he would slot into their midfield quite nicely alongside Jorginho and N’Golo Kante, offering the ability to play-make and defend dutifully, while also providing more competition for the likes of Ross Barkley and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.6

Rakitic’s stunning volley against Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League has been one of the goals of the season

It’s not clear whether Mateo Kovacic’s season-long loan will be extended as he’s hardly set things alight at the Bridge so Rakitic is a potential replacement if Chelsea decide against signing his compatriot permanently.Jorginho will occupy the deepest role, dictating play, even though Sarri has arguably the best defensive midfielder in world football at his disposal in Kante.

Attack

Chelsea’s potential front line looks almost unrecognisable from this season though.Higuain finally signed on loan until the end of the campaign and given Sarri doesn’t rate Morata or Olivier Giroud, the Argentinian should join the Blues permanently in the summer.Pulisic will be available for selection next season as he was loaned back to Borussia Dortmund for the remainder of this term and could be thrown straight into the starting XI.6

Sarri claimed to have not known about Pulisic’s 58m move before it was announced

Eden Hazard has said some not very encouraging things about his Stamford Bridge future but there’s been no concrete offer from Real Madrid, so the Belgian makes this Chelsea team.

Starting XI

6

Will this be Chelsea’s line-up on their opening game of the 2019/20 campaign?

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