Chelsea have seemingly ruled themselves out of the
running to sign Liverpool's Fernando Torres after manager Carlo
Ancelotti announced a significant shift towards youth in the club's
transfer policy.
Instead of competing with Manchester City in a bidding war for
Torres, Chelsea will instead promote five academy players into
their first-team squad next season as they look to lower the
average age of the team.
The new policy was first discussed following the Champions
League defeat to Inter Milan and was ratified following a meeting
with Blues owner Roman Abramovich last Monday.
Ancelotti said: "Next season there will be five academy players
in the squad. Some players will maybe move on. It's not because we
don't have the money, it's because we want to give strength to our
academy. We have very good young players and this is the time to
put them in the squad for next year."
Gael Kakuta, Fabio Borini, Jeffrey
Bruma, Patrick van Aanholt and Nemanja Matic will step up to
the first team.
Asked whether the club's supporters would be unhappy to miss out
on Torres, or additional big name signings, Ancelotti said:
"They'll be happy if Chelsea win the title and the FA Cup. After
that, I think they will see some new players in the future."
soccernet.