Dominic Fifield 

Chelsea to consult Hiddink over summer plans for squad overhaul

Chelsea will seek the input of caretaker manager Guus Hiddink over summer transfer policy despite his planned departure
  
  

Guus Hiddink, Chelsea
Chelsea's interim manager Guus Hiddink. Photograph: Matthew Childs/Action Images Photograph: Matthew Childs/Action Images

Chelsea will seek the input of their temporary manager, Guus Hiddink, over summer transfer policy as they attempt to revamp their playing squad, despite the Dutchman's insistence that he will relinquish his part-time duties at the end of the season to return to his role as Russia's head coach.

Hiddink is currently with Russia in Moscow preparing for their World Cup qualifiers against Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein and, while he has consistently stressed that he will leave Stamford Bridge at the end of May, his influence will clearly be felt at the Premier League club next season. Chelsea, who are to assess Nicolas Anelka's fractured toe on Tuesday after the striker withdrew from the France squad, face an awkward summer as they reshape an ageing squad on a relatively slim budget – Roman Abramovich may provide one lavish signing, but other additions must be funded through sales – and intend to tap into Hiddink's knowledge.

"We are going to solicit his [Hiddink's] views as we think about summer transfers," said the Chelsea chairman, Bruce Buck, who dismissed suggestions that the club have made too many expensive errors in the market. "I don't think we make any more mistakes than any other club. We did look at this over a five-year period. This is not a perfect science. There is a lot of subjectivity that goes into buying a player and sometimes it doesn't work out as well as you would have expected.

"Sometimes it works out very well. I give us credit for expensive players like [Didier] Drogba and [Michael] Essien when they work out. In the summer time, you don't have a crystal ball. You know what your squad is, you have a view on replacements and you do the best you can. You can't predict that this person is going to be injured in November or this person just isn't going to have it in January."

Hiddink is willing to speak with Abramovich and Frank Arnesen, the club's chief scout and director of youth development, on the club's future whether that be over signings or the appointment of his replacement. He is likely to recommend the Russia international left midfielder Yuri Zhirkov, currently with CSKA Moscow, as Chelsea attempt to reduce the average age of their squad.

If Hiddink's stance on his role with the national team does not waver – and it seems inconceivable that he will start next season still filling both roles – then he is expected to recommend his friend and compatriot Frank Rijkaard as his replacement, with the Dutch influence at Stamford Bridge likely to be strengthened by the addition of Ajax's scout Hans van der Zee.

The former South Korea and Australia head coach has already said publicly how Chelsea would benefit from granting a manager time to make his influence felt, the club having been overseen by four managers since September 2007.

"It's good when a club has got continuity and stability in management," said Hiddink. "Then you can make the short-term plan but you can also plan a little bit for the longer-term. For stability, it's good. Chelsea haven't done that in recent times, and people are wise and sensitive to this issue."

"We would like to have managers here for a lengthy period of time," added Buck. "It is very difficult in this new age of football to do that. Each of the managers who has left has left for a specific reason and they have not left for the same reason. The board, the owners, the executives of the club have the exact same objectives as the fans. We are trying to win as many games and trophies as we can and we are trying to find a manager who can do that for us in the long term."

Hiddink may have to do without Anelka for Chelsea's next Premier League game, at Newcastle, and possibly even the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final at Liverpool on 8 April after the striker was released from the France squad having suffered a recurrence of a toe injury.

The France Football Federation sent Anelka back to Cobham for treatment, calling up Paris St Germain's Guillaume Hoarau as a replacement after suggesting will be out for three weeks after being assessed by the national side's medical team at Clairefontaine.

Chelsea's medical staff will conduct their own examinations of the player, who first suffered the injury in training before the Premier League game at Portsmouth. He missed that match and the FA Cup quarter-final at Coventry City, but had recovered sufficiently to play in the subsequent games against Juventus, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur with the club's hierarchy hopeful a rest over the international break will speed his rehabilitation.

 

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