Former Chelsea star Glen Johnson has urged the club to bring in an ‘unbelievable’ Bundesliga centre-back this summer to compliment Thomas Tuchel’s change in system.
Johnson believes experienced Bayern Munich star David Alaba would be the perfect fit in Tuchel’s 3-4-3 formation.
Alaba is one of the most decorated players in Bayern’s history, with nine Bundesliga titles and two Champions League trophies to his name. However, the 28-year-old is likely to leave on a free when his contract expires at the end of the season.
New Chelsea boss Tuchel is expected to strengthen at the back, and reports claim he’s already sanctioned a move for Alaba.
So far, however, the Blues have hit a stumbling block in the form of the player’s wage demands. Alaba wants an eye-popping £20million-a-year, if he is to move to London.
But Johnson insists his old club should bite the bullet and bring in the veteran star.
“Chelsea would need Alaba the most,” he told bettingexpert.com (as cited by Metro).
“If they’re going to play with wing-backs he would be the ideal man. He’s an unbelievably good athlete and could play on the left of a back three. He could also play as a left wing-back.
“Alaba could fit at Liverpool. But as we’ve seen with big-money defenders, Manchester City are the club that normally do that. If anybody needed him to slot into their formation right now that would be Chelsea.
“I don’t think he should be walking into a club where he’s the highest paid player. Because he’s out of contract I’m sure he’s trying to get a few big teams to come to the table and go to war over him.
“I think every manager thinks differently and has their views on players that they prefer to sign. I think Tuchel will want to bring some players in and I think his number one target will be a striker, just like every team.”
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Johnson not getting carried away
Johnson has also called for calm heads after an impressive start to life for Tuchel in London.
He added: “It’s been a good start so far. But I think Lampard would have had the same record in his first four games.
“The only big win so far is the Tottenham one. They’ve looked good, very organised and he’s improved the form of some struggling players, which is great. I don’t think anyone should go crazy with excitement over him just yet because I think they’re beating teams that they should.
“As long as the manager keeps everyone engaged and gets the best out of the players then I think they will compete again next season.
“They’ve got one of the best squads and now all they need is a bit of consistency.
“Sometimes you can rotate a squad so much that you try and keep everyone happy then you don’t give people the right number of games.
“If they didn’t have a weak period this season where they lost a few games in a row they’d be up there towards the top now. But you can’t sustain any title challenge with that form.”
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Robert McCarthy
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