Five Players Chelsea Manager Jose Mourinho Should Target in January

Following the west London club’s surprise 2-0 loss at Newcastle United in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon, the Blues head coach is now sure to be splashing the cash when the transfer market reopens in the new year, but which players should the Portuguese be targeting to bring to Stamford Bridge though?

Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund)

It has long been assumed that the prolific Poland international had already agreed to move to European and German champions Bayern Munich on a lucrative free transfer come the end of this current season.

However, the word now coming out of the striker’s camp is that no such deal is in place, and that Lewandowski is still keeping all his options open, including a possible move to the English Premier League.

And if that is the case, then Chelsea should move heaven and earth to try and convince the Pole to move to Stamford Bridge in January, with his employers in the Ruhr Valley desperate to sell their star man for a cut-price fee of just £7 million at the turn of the year, rather than risk losing the 25-year-old on a free come the end of this campaign.

Eliaquim Mangala (FC Porto)

While central defence is not exactly an area of the team that is currently in need of reinforcements, the fact that club captain John Terry is not getting any younger, plus the recent revelations that both Premier League rivals Manchester United and Manchester City are preparing big-money bids for the Porto centre back in January, should surely kick-start the Blues into action.

The coveted France international has been tracked by just about every single European giant of late after turning in a string of dominant displays at the heart of the Portuguese champions’ back four in their Uefa Champions League campaigns over the course of the past two years.

And even though the 22-year-old has a reported buyout clause in his current contract at the Dragao, which runs until June 30 2016, valued at an estimated £40m, it is believed that Porto president Pinto da Costa would be willing to allow Mangala to leave the club for a fee somewhere in the region of between £30m and £35m when the winter window opens for business in the new year.

Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund)

The west London club may have recently signed one up-and-coming blond-haired Germany wide man in the form of Andre Schurrle, however, if the self-styled ‘Special One’ really does harbour ambitions to get his hands back on the Premier League title in his very first season back at Stamford Bridge, as well as also win the Uefa Champions League for the very first time as manager of Chelsea, then he should seriously think long and hard about trying to lure the Dortmund forward to the Blues in January.

Reus, who is contracted to last season’s Bundesliga and Champions League runners-up until the summer of 2017, has been one of the stand-out performers for Jurgen Klopp’s young vibrant team for some time now, as well as starring regularly for the German national side too.

In fact, in just his first two campaigns in the Ruhr Valley after joining Dortmund from fellow Bundesliga outfit Borussia Monchengladbach for 17.1m euros in January 2012, the 24-year-old has managed to hit the back of the net on 28 occasions in just 61 matches.

Luke Shaw (Southampton)

As current left-back Ashley Cole nears the end of his glittering Blues career, with injuries seemingly now catching up with the England international this season, as well as by his relative high standards, also a drop off in form, Chelsea need to start thinking quickly about who can take over from the the 32-year-old in the role going forward.

And that man should be the Saints’ England Under-21 international, a player who was also attracting the attentions of Premier League champions Manchester United during the summer transfer window.

However, with the Red Devils now set to instead focus their energies on luring Everton full-back Leighton Baines to Old Trafford in January, the west Londoners should pull out all the stops in order to land the 18-year-old.

Ilkay Gundogan (Borussia Dortmund)

The in-demand Germany international has been scouted by many of the Continent’s super powers following the eye-catching displays that the holding midfield player turned in for Jurgen Klopp’s men on their shock run all the way to last season’s Champions League final against Bayern Munich at Wembley stadium.

As a result, the likes of Spanish champions FC Barcelona, Arsenal and Premier League champions Manchester United have all been linked with the 23-year-old of late, however, Chelsea really should also join the race for Gundogan in the new year, with the addition of a new world-class defensive midfield player now an absolute priority at Stamford Bridge.

However the German, who is contracted to Dortmund until June 2015, is likely to cost somewhere in the region of £25m to purchase though.