Jose Mourinho appeared to reach boiling point in his recent press conference after storming out as a result of his frustration with the questions. However, the Blues sit just four points behind leaders Arsenal in the Premier League at present and will carry on ploughing away at their fixture list. To do so successfully, they may need to start planning who is and who isn’t in the plans of the Portuguese manager.
Straight away, flicking through the squad, your attention is drawn to the right-back situation. With Cesar Azpilicueta not floating Mourinho’s boat, bullish Serbia international Branislav Ivanovic is being played in that role, despite traditionally being a central defender.
This may not be the case for the whole season, however, as the Express are reporting that the so call Special One is looking at bringing in Ajax right-back Ricardo van Rhijn in January.
But who is he?
The 22-year-old is a full international for the Netherlands. He has won seven caps for Oranje, and has won huge praise for his versatility and ability to read the game. Because of this, van Rhijn is comfortable to play centre-back as well as on the right.
So far this season the defender has played in seven league games, scoring once and creating four chances. He has averaged three defensive actions per game and won 60% of his duels. From his 18 tackles, 13 have been successful, while 7/10 headers have been completed.
It looks as though Chelsea are onto a winner, but will Mourinho be at the club come the new year?