Hiddink fears Chelsea striker crisis
GUUS HIDDINK fears a further injury to one of his frontline strikers will wreck Chelsea’s top-four mission. Diego Costa and Loic Remy are his only two fit centre forwards and the Dutchman said: ‘Yes, I don’t deny that I’m concerned about Costa or Remy picking up another injury. I hope they will stay fit.’ Chelsea are in the market for a striker, with West Bromwich’s Saido Berahino and AC Milan’s Carlos Bacca on their list of targets. Emmanuel Adebayor, who is without a club, could even become an option. Hiddink insists Remy, who is available for tonight’s game against West Brom after recovering from a calf injury, will not be leaving Stamford Bridge in the transfer window. The France striker has grown frustrated by his lack of action and Crystal Palace, Newcastle and Aston Villa are monitoring his situation but Hiddink said: ‘At this moment he won’t go — he will stay until the end of the season.’ Patrick Bamford, who has returned to Chelsea after a failed loan spell at Crystal Palace, will train with the Under 21s and it looks likely that Chelsea’s only other senior striker, Radamel Falcao, will also stay. Monaco had considered taking the Colombian, who is on loan until the end of the season, back to the prinipality due to his lack of playing time. He returned to Monaco for checks on a thigh injury last week, but they are reluctant to end his loan deal because they would have to take full responsibility for his £260,000per-week wages. Chelsea had hoped to end Falcao’s loan agreement as they look to free up space in their squad for a new striker.
JURGEN KLOPP has turned to Steven Caulker to help solve his defensive issues as Liverpool signed him on a short-term loan. The one-cap England international has been given the No 19 jersey and he is eligible to play in tonight’s Anfield clash with Arsenal after Liverpool managed to complete the paperwork that secured his release from Queens Park Rangers.
Caulker had been on loan at Southampton for the first part of this season and his most recent appearance was on December 2, when Liverpool thrashed Ronald Koeman’s side 6-1 in the quarterfinal of the Capital One Cup.
But Southampton agreed to cancel Caulker’s loan, given he had started just once for them in the Barclays Premier League.
There is no agreement in place between the clubs to make the deal permanent in the summer, but as Dejan Lovren and Mamadou Sakho are sidelined with hamstring injuries, Caulker will inevitably get opportunities to impress.
Brendan Rodgers, Liverpool’s former manager, wanted to sign Caulker at the end of the 2013-14 campaign but the player ended up joining QPR for £8million and since then his career has stalled.
Klopp had looked at Borussia Dortmund’s Neven Subotic and Andrea Ranocchia of Inter Milan but he is content with Caulker.
‘We looked for Premier League experience because in this short time, you need that experience,’ said Klopp.
‘We looked for a good header of the ball because that’s what we need — we want to play good pressing, we want to press the opponent and so they have to play long balls . . . we are absolutely convinced that Steven is the best solution for us.’
Meanwhile, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is preparing to offer a new contract to Joel Campbell and believes the striker is following a similar path to that of Francis Coquelin, who broke into the first team after a series of loan spells last term.
Campbell, who was sent out on loan four times, was keen to move in the summer but the Arsenal boss convinced him to stay. Now, Wenger is set to offer Campbell a deal in a bid to keep him at the Emirates Stadium when his contract expires at the end of the season. Wenger said: ‘I explained the situation to him and said, “Let’s have a go and see where we stand in January.” It’s a bit similar to Coquelin.’ Coquelin made a huge impact last season when an injury crisis prompted a recall from a loan at Charlton, and
he went on to become one of Wenger’s key midfielders. Campbell’s breakthrough has been aided by injuries to Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, but he has played 18 times and scored three and is expected to keep his place for tonight’s game.
LIVERPOOL have applied to have the phrase ‘The Normal One’ trademarked under European law. Klopp used it to describe himself at his first press conference as Reds boss back in October following comparisons to ‘Special One’ Jose Mourinho.