The dust had barely settled on Chelsea’s 3-1 Premier League victory over Norwich City on Saturday when the Blues announced the signing of Ulises Dávila.

The 20-year old Mexican joins on a five-year deal from Chivas Guadalajara and is the latest in a recent spate of interesting South and Latin American transfers which offer up some interesting talking points about the club’s transfer and scouting policies.

From the moment Roman Abramovich took over at Stamford Bridge, every club in world football was on notice that their players could be targeted by the ambitious West London club.

However, with such obvious spending power, Chelsea were often held to a higher standard than other teams and were expected to pay more ‘because they could’.

Going hand in hand with that, to an extent, has been the desire to capture ready-made stars in order to compete for every trophy right now. There has been the occasional signing which was both cheap and full of potential – most notably that of Petr Cech – but by and large the club’s transfer policy has been to spend big and to win now.

That, of course, has left a squad which many will argue is past its best and, until this summer, was in desperate need of rejuvenation.

Four of Andre Villas-Boas’ five signings to date have been teenagers but even in the case of Romelu Lukaku, established young European potential comes at quite a price, and so the club have been turning their attentions further afield.

Indeed, they’ve been doing so for a while, but much of it has been under the radar. South (and in the case of Dávila Central) America is an intriguing market, one which is undoubtedly full of unearthed riches, but one which has proven to be inconsistent with regards to English football.

Not only do many players struggle to secure work permits in the UK, but the change in culture, lifestyle and weather is often too much for many to handle.

As is the jump in quality of football as well. Mike Forde, Chelsea’s Performance Director, noted in a presentation some time in 2010 that the club would typically look to sign a player who has made the jump from South America to Europe first, and not take them directly in order to minimise the risk factor.

This was the case with Alexandre Pato, who the Blues had a long-standing interest in before he ultimately joined Milan. Instead of inviting him to join up with the first team squad in London immediately, they proposed a plan whereby ‘the Duck’ would spend at least a season on loan at CSKA Moscow.

Pato baulked at the suggestion and the rest is history, but it shows the mindset the club has adopted for much of the past decade.

Elsewhere, you can find as many hits as you can misses but in what is now an exceptionally saturated market, clubs are desperate to find a way to get ahead. That invariably means casting the net farther afield in search of bargains.

In this pursuit, as with many aspects of football, imitating the success of others will likely be high on the agenda. Manchester United’s discovery of Javier Hernandez last summer gave them fantastic bang for their buck en route to regaining the Premier League title and the development of twin full-backs Rafael and Fabio Da Silva, signed for relative pennies as teenagers, has allowed them to rejuvenate an ageing back line.

Arsenal have tried similar under Arsene Wenger, but the likes of Carlos Vela and Denilson have been inconsistent at best whilst Costa Rican forward Joel Campbell has failed to get a work permit.

With two key scouts operating in South America (Jorge Alvial and Victor de los Santos), Chelsea’s presence in the region has been well known since Frank Arnesen arrived at the club and they have reaped the rewards of centre-back Alex (although the less said about compatriot Alcides the better).

However, the majority of their transfer activity there has been to secure the rights and/or signatures of much younger players for much cheaper fees, before they’ve developed into fully-fledged top level performers.

Uruguayan forward Jhon Pirez put pen to paper in 2008 and has continued his development at Defensor Sporting in his homeland, scoring on his senior debut for the club earlier this year.

He unfortunately suffered a serious knee injury in April which ruled him out of the Under-20 World Cup, else he could easily have been another star performer making waves on the international stage.

The sale of Deco to Fluminense last summer saw the Blues acquire 40% of the rights to three of the club’s young talents; Rafael Pernao, Wallace, and Ronan.

Pernao has since left the club after a dispute and is now affiliated with the Traffic group heavily involved with Manchester United, but Wallace, an attacking right-back, was one of Brazil’s standouts at the Under-17 World Cup in Mexico in June.

One of his team-mates during the competition was Lucas Piazon, the highest profile of Chelsea’s future imports. He will move to London next month ahead of making his transfer permanent when he turns 18 in January.

Dávila is the latest in this wave of activity, markedly stepped up in the last 24 months, and is almost certain to go on loan to Vitesse Arnhem for the coming season.

The Dutch outfit – with whom Chelsea have an unofficial relationship due to the friendship between their respective owners – have also recently acquired twin Brazilian full-backs of their own in Alex and Anderson along with Ecuadorian forward Renato Ibarra.

In each case Chelsea have been linked with a partial involvement in the deal, and it would come as no surprise to learn that they had a hand in bringing them to Europe.

What is certain, however, is that there has been a definitive shift in focus from the ‘football board’ on the type of player they should be targeting.

David Luiz – a Brazilian – and Fernando Torres – a Spaniard – joined in January, whilst Juan Mata and Oriol Romeu have added to the Latin element to the squad under a new Portuguese manager.

The squad still features much by way of the big and physical athletic presence assembled by Jose Mourinho, but the future looks set to be a more subtle, technically minded one.

Whether it’s successful or not will be determined on the pitch, both at Stamford Bridge and in the wider footballing world. Success breeds imitation; the question is whether Chelsea will be the leaders or followers.

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas confirmed in his press conference this afternoon in Hong Kong that Spanish midfielder Oriol Romeu is set to undergo a medical with Blues medical staff after a deal was struck with Barcelona.

Newly-appointed chief physician Paco Biosca has travelled to Colombia to put Romeu through a series of tests ahead of finalising his move to London. The player is currently with the Spanish team for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup, which begins this evening.

Reports in Catalunya yesterday revealed that the deal is set to be worth €5m, with Barcelona having the option to buy him back in 2013 for €10m. The player is under no obligation to accept such a deal.

Romeu would become Chelsea’s second signing of the summer, following the €9.5m acquisition of Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

With pre-season now under way, footballers have returned from their summer sojourns, managers are again in gainful employment, and journos are pumping out their usual ill informed rubbish.

Well, part from those who used to work for the News of the World at least.

So we find ourselves raking over the news wires looking to see what changes may be afoot in the coming weeks as Villas Boas starts to imprint his management style upon the players we have, and directing the board in attaining those he wants.

With Thibaut Courtois already signed and promptly loaned to Atletico Madrid, and a deal looking all but done for Oriol Romeu, many supporters seem distinctly underwhelmed.

Now I’ve never been one to hanker for Chelsea to sign every ‘next big thing’ that comes along, especially if that involves a conceited Brazilian teen with a mohawk hairstyle, and to be frank the whole transfer rumours and roundabouts that seem to generate more column inches each season than the actual football played really annoys me.

So why is it then that every time I dip into forums to see what’s being discussed, is there an abundance of nigh on psychotic supporters screaming for Roman to open his wallet to the tune of £100million, every time the transfer window opens?

Before you keyboard warriors jump down my throat, I agree we may need a few new signings, as does any reasonably minded supporter. Yet the calls to replace half the squad are just plain silly, and it seems many a fickle fan are taken in by the oft repeated words that our squad is past it and wholesale changes are needed.

We need an out and out wide man, that much is clear.  The injury to Essien whilst a set-back is not a major disaster, and could prove to be a blessing in disguise for a certain Josh McEachran, but a creative mid-fielder should also be on the list, according to most anyway.  So we’re up to two players, maybe three at a push.

But where else, seriously do we need to strengthen? Bearing in mind that any non UK based player will inevitably have first season syndrome, and after three matches be written off by the same fickle fans that called for his signing in the first place?

Cech arguable had one of his best seasons last year, in defence we’re spoilt for choice in almost all positions and up front, well if we can’t cut through them with Torres then we’ll batter them with Didier, and Sturridge isn’t a bad backup, nor is Kalou either.

So the midfield needs some work, but we knew that already. Yet we still have an impressive list to call upon; Lampard, Ramires, Benayoun, Mikel, Malouda, Zhirkov, and with Essien still to return from injury, although quite what level he’ll be able to reach is yet unknown.

So who then? Well the bids for Modric have been reported far and wide, which is unusual for Chelsea as most transfer dealings in recent years have left even the most well connected journos off the pace.  Which is what makes me think Modric is not the player we’re after to fill the ‘creative’ role we apparently don’t have, especially at the prices being quoted.

Twitchy Redknapp recently stated that; “I think he is worth an awful lot more money than that” when asked by a pundit if £35 million would be enough to buy the Croation, adding that; “Everyone wants Luka. Just ask Alex Ferguson what he thinks of him, ask Roberto Mancini at Manchester City – they all want him. He could play for Barcelona.” Yet apparently we’re the only ones who’ve bid, so it seems not everyone wants him, Harry, and I seriously don’t think we do, either.

Harry and the Spurs board are living in cloud cuckoo land if they think he’s worth that much, when it’d probably buy you a Sneijder instead, and what would be even funnier than nicking Spurs best player would be to leave them with him on their books, especially unhappy, and tarnished in Spurs fans eyes after the comments he made about Chelsea being a bigger club.

The bottom line is that we need to be patient, Villas Boas has only had command of the squad for a few weeks, and if signings are needed they will be made, as they have in the past and they no doubt will again. The new gaffer said as much when interviewed on Chelsea’s tour of Asia, stating; “Everyone knows how frenetic the market gets in the last weeks of August, it always happens like that.”

He added; “I understand the fans want and expect new signings and radical changes, we are trying to put a halt to that because it is valuable that we are assessing things.  We are not making decisions lightly, we are pondering every situation in order to go to the market with the things that we really need and not to go into the market chaotically and make mistakes.”

Speaking of mistakes, and to close this piece on a sore point, why is it that our distant fans on these pre-season tours seemingly get far more preferential treatment than those of us based back here in Blighty?  

I don’t begrudge any supporter the chance to meet the players they support, yet it seems that those overseas get signing and photo sessions, stuff dished out to them and are generally are fawned upon to a far higher degree than you and I who fork out each week. Look at the stark differences to how our supporters were treated in the Portsmouth match, to those who turned up against Malaysia.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s important that there is a link between the players and fans, and that contact IS available, but if it’s being done overseas to such an extent, then not repeating it over here is just another slap in the face from a football board who increasingly don’t give a stuff about those who put the most in the coffers each season, and it needs to change.

Oft-maligned, and for good reason, January transfer windows typically bring about much speculation and no shortage of hot air, but little by way of tangible product.

The first business of 2011 has blown that out of the water.

An unusually busy few weeks for Chelsea saw the club set a new British transfer record, acquire one of the world’s brightest young defensive talents, and allow a number of youngsters to take the next steps in their development.

Fernando Torres has been an unabashed object of Roman Abramovich’s affection for some time now, but the Russian’s advances had repeatedly been knocked back by Liverpool.

So when news broke on Friday of another failed bid, many Blues supporters simply put the news aside with previous stories and consigned it to history.

A whirlwind weekend later, and Torres had put pen to paper on a five year deal to take his game to the next level.

It took £50m to bring the Spaniard to West London, but the club’s new number nine brings undoubted pedigree and could become an instant hit on his debut against his previous employers.

Whilst Chelsea followers were dizzy at keeping up with the rapid pace of the Torres drama, they also grew frustrated and impatient at the ongoing saga surrounding Benfica’s Brazilian defender David Luiz.

A summer target which failed to materialise, Luiz was subject of further interest at the turn of the year, but his Portuguese club proved themselves to be amongst the toughest trading partners in European football, up alongside the likes of Jean-Michel Aulas and Lyon.

In the past seven days we went from being close to a deal, to being finalised, to being dead in the water and back to the start – and then the same again.

Even at the eleventh hour, news of Luiz being called back from a flight to England caused panic. However, it was merely a false alarm, with the decision being taken to file paperwork in Portugal and not risk a delay to his arrival in England with the clock ticking towards 11pm.

Nemanja Matic will join the Lisbon side in the summer, whilst they will also receive €25m and host a friendly between the clubs in June.

With over £70m spent on strengthening the first team squad, the opportunity to take stock of the state of the club’s youngsters became available, and as a result, some have found temporary homes for the rest of the season.

Gael Kakuta will head down the Fulham Road to play for the Cottagers of SW6, whilst Daniel Sturridge will return to the North West and settle at Bolton until the end of May.

Patrick van Aanholt will link up with Sven-Goran Eriksson at promotion-chasing Leicester City, and he may yet be joined by Jeffrey Bruma. The Dutch international was set to make a last-minute move but paperwork was bungled and that deal may now have to wait.

Jacob Mellis, fresh from signing a new two-year contract, will get regular first team football at Barnsley meanwhile.

There is, however, just one headline story from this transfer window. David Luiz will prove to be an inspirational signing for the years to come, but talk to a Chelsea fan this morning, and there’ll be only one word on their lips.

Torres.

Chelsea have completed the signing of Fernando Torres from Liverpool for a UK record fee of £50million. Torres has reportedly signed a deal to stay at Stamford Bridge until 2016.

Chelsea originally enquired about Torres in the summer, however despite the overtures from the club, the Spaniard elected to stay on Merseyside. However with their season collapsing, he submitted a transfer request in order to fulfil his quest for trophies.

Torres started his career at Atletico Madrid and made 214 appearances scoring 82 goals. He joined Liverpool in 2007, playing 102 times in which he hit the back of the net on 65 occasions. Torres has also scored regularly for Spain, notching 26 goals in 82 matches.

We at TheChels.org would like to welcome Fernando to Chelsea, and hope that he can step his game up a level, and help Chelsea onto further glory.

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With Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka not firing on all cylinders within the last couple of months, my mind turned to a striker with whom nobody has really mentioned, or in fact has linked with Chelsea to my knowledge.

Both Drogba and Anelka are now at an age where we should start looking for at least one, if not two proven goalscorers. In my opinion, both Sturridge and Kalou are not world-class, but they have age on their side, whereas both Anelka and Drogba are, in my personal opinion, coming to the end of their natural careers at the club, with the latter part of this season proving that fact.

A name sprang to mind a few days ago regarding a striker who has scored many a goal in the last couple of seasons, however, his name has gone unnoticed to large extents. Personally I’m still unsure if this particular player could do what is necessary at Chelsea, but I’ve wanted to put his name forward in any case.

He moved to his current club in 2009 and in 71 appearances for that club, has scored 40 goals. When his next birthday comes around in August, he will be 27, his name? Giampaolo Pazzini.

If you cast your mind back to when the new Wembley was opened, the Italian U21 team came to play England’s U21’s and on that particular afternoon, Pazzini grabbed a hat-trick and the first goal at the new stadium after just 28 seconds.

With an ageing strike force in Drogba and Anelka, could Pazzini be the player to come from Italy to bolster our attacking line for the 2011/12 season?

My perceptions of Pazzini are that he is more of a poacher than a striker who will score from outside of the box, but every goal counts. However, could Pazzini adjust to the Premiership and to Chelsea? I’m sure that the lifestyle would suit the Italian. From what I’ve seen, Pazzini is quite flamboyant, but would that suit the club and ultimately the fans?

Whilst on Twitter recently, I asked a well-known Journalist what he thought of Pazzini, my reply was that the Italian could play in the Premiership, but it would depend upon the level. He also went on to say that he didn’t like Pazzini as much as some others and wasn’t too sure about his personality, either.

Could Chelsea take a risk on such a player and in reality, how much would Sampdoria ask for Pazzini? Without knowing a great deal about the Italian club, I do believe that their financial situation is quite good.

So, would Pazzini really fit the bill in SW6? Names always crop up when we research strikers and their abilities, but Pazzini is someone that has gone undetected to a degree, perhaps he’s one to keep a close eye on, or should we leave him well alone?

January is the worst time to buy players. Clubs and managers are reluctant to break up squads, especially let their prize assets go when they are playing so well.

But we are getting desperate now; Spurs and Arsenal are sitting above us and were in the Europa league spot with Sunderland and Bolton breathing down our necks. Wow, who would have thought that 6 games into the season?

A new creative player is needed, particularly a winger that plays on the wing. Not who constantly drops deep to play or has his back to goal for 80% of the match afraid to shot. We need a young, hungry right footed player who isn’t scared to get past a defender and then deliver a decent ball and contribute with goals.

Options: Thomas Muller, Alexis Sanchez , Pablo Hernandez or even Jordan Henderson.

Our defence was the best in the league and now we struggle to keep a clean sheet. This isn’t Petr Cech’s fault, he’s been in fine form this season but we have struggled with our back line. The loss of Riccy C and injuries to Alex and Terry hasn’t helped, however I was impressed with Bruma against Villa, young, fast and seems an excellent reader of the game. One for the future, if given the right chance.

Bosingwa looks a lot weaker than before his injury and less confident, he needs time but I’m a huge fan of Ivanovic, his workrate and versatility means he should be our right back giving Bosingwa decent competition and time to recover, whilst Ivanovic can be used as cover in the CB position for injuries and suspensions.

Therefore that leaves a gap at centre back that we need to fill, Terry is a hero but not getting younger and is constantly playing with injuries; would be ideal to give him time to rest.

Options: David Luiz, Gary Cahill, Mats Hummels or Roger Johnson.

I believe we only need to bring in two new players at the moment, but we need to give certain players game time. Sturridge looks dangerous, confident and hungry to score goals, yet he is rarely given a chance. I feel Kalou is a lost cause; Anelka doesn’t look interested; give Sturridge 3 or 4 starts and see what he has to offer.

Every Chelsea fan is excited about young Josh McEachran, he looks like an exceptional talent but he hasn’t even started a Premier Lleague game this season. Look at Jack Wilshire, he was given 6 months at Bolton and now is a starter for Arsenal. If your good enough, you’re old enough.

I watched Gael Kakuta closely in the summer at the Under 19’s European Championship, he was incredible. He won the golden player of the tournament for the champion’s scoring crucial goals and assisting the winner in the final. Yet he hasn’t been given much time to show Chelsea what he is about.

That’s three players I’ve mentioned that haven’t played enough, without even considering Van Aanholt and Fabio Borini.

I appreciate that the correct integration along with time is needed to develop talent; we can’t drop half our team for youth it doesn’t work. Rather than giving 15 minutes every now and again to a player, let’s see some stars and a few risks taken, it’s not like things can get any worse can they?

Chelsea FC today announced that they have completed the signing of Ramires from Benfica, for a fee believed to be around £16.3 million.

The initial hold up to the deal was due to the third party ownership of Ramires contract, held by one Kia Joorabchian, and understood to be 50% of the value of any sell on clause.

Joorabchian had played a part in bringing the Brazilian to Benfica, and with ownership regulations less stringent in the Portuguese league this wasn’t a problem. However after the West Ham and Carlos Tevez affair, rules were put in place to ensure Premiership clubs owned 100% of their player contracts.

This was not the final hurdle to clear though, with a work permit far but guaranteed due to the ruling on Non-EU players, stating that they must have completed a certain percentage of international matches for their home country.

As we told you on Monday, this was expected and so we knew an appeal would have to be lodged and heard, before any transfer could complete. With Ramires in action for Brazil on Wednesday night, Thursday was the earliest it could happen.

We broke the news last night that the work permit had been granted, and the deal would complete today. As expected, Ramires is now officially a Chelsea player.

So what are we getting then? With the loss of Ballack, Cole, Deco, Belletti and others our mid-field is looking a bit lighter than normal, but in Ramires we are getting a hell of a player. Born Ramires Santos do Nascimento, in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro, the 23 year old can play either centrally or on the right hand side.

Much talk has been of how he is a defensive midfielder and will replace Mikel, but he’s not. Ramires is a box to box midfielder, much in the mould of our own Michael Essien. He is is quick, intelligent, and can hold up the ball well or move it quickly both short and long distances.

He was pivotal to the Brazil team at the World Cup and was notable by his absence, as Brazil lost to Holland 2-1, with then Brazil boss Dunga citing the lack of Ramires presence in the midfield as a determining factor.

Speaking today Ramires said; “Every player in the world would love to play for Chelsea and it’s a great opportunity that was given to me, I will give my best to repay this chance, and I am very happy.”

Carlo Ancelotti added; “He is a fantastic player, a fantastic midfielder, he is very young and will be the future of the Brazilian national team, and I hope he will be the future of Chelsea.”

So do we Carlo, so do we. Ramires, welcome to Chelsea.

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News reaches us that Ramires has today been granted a work permit, and the £18 million deal to bring the Brazilian international to Chelsea should be concluded before the weekend.

Chelsea have trailed Ramires throughout the close season and once Benfica agreed a fee to sell him to Chelsea, only a work permit stood in the way as Ramires didn’t automatically qualify for one.

With the work permit now reportedly granted, the deal is now a formality. The club can focus on it’s other targets, reported to be Benfica defender David Luiz, and Santos starlet, Neymar.

We’ll bring you more as soon as we have it.

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Definitions of Enigma found on the Web:

• Riddle: a difficult problem.
• Mystery: something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained.

There is no better single word in the English language that defines Joe Cole.

Thrust into the limelight at West Ham back in 1998, Joe Cole exploded into the scene aged just 17.

Hailed as the next Gazza, and coveted by Alex Ferguson, Cole was touted as the hottest prospect in English football.

It was Claudio Ranieri who signed Joe from West Ham in 2003 for £6 million, but it was Jose Mourinho who got the best out of him.

During the 2005-06 season he played some of his finest football football for Chelsea, culminating with a beautiful goal in the World Cup 2006, and was one of the only players to return home to media praise.

Injuries largely disrupted his following years affecting both fitness and form, and with the Premiership being a far different beast to that of 1998, more cultured defenders were wise to his step-overs, preference for cutting inside, and generally predictable play.

Joe always claimed his best position was behind the strikers, yet to play such a position relies on the player seeing runs and playing balls through to the strikers, or wingers.

Sadly Cole, more often than not tries to beat the man in front of him and either loses the ball, or is crowded out. It’s his inability to make the simplest of football decisions, opting for the ‘flash’ option too often which lets him down.

Now aged 28, and with over a decade of top flight football under his belt, he still doesn’t know his best position, and his game hasn’t really evolved nor adapted to the changing demands of the Premiership.

A free agent after reportedly high wage demands closed the door at Chelsea after a series of seemingly bad decisions, I hope Joe Cole has finally made the right decision. People may criticise his move to Liverpool, but it makes sense in many ways.

At Tottenham it’s unlikely he’d play in the middle of their favoured 4-4-2, and he doesn’t hold the shape well enough to be the wide-man in that formation, as we’ve seen often enough with Chelsea. Plus, is he better than what they’ve got already?

With the quality Arsenal have out wide, their deep lying strikers and attacking mid-fielders too, it’s doubtful he would get many games there either, and Wenger isn’t the biggest fan of English players anyway.

No, I don’t think Joe Cole went to Liverpool because they’re Liverpool. Let’s be honest, they’re not the most attractive proposition at the moment. I think Joe Cole went to Liverpool, because of Roy Hodgson.

The reason? Well you only have to look at another previously forlorn former Chelsea winger who’s career Hodgson revitalised recently; Damien Duff.

Hodgson plucked the injured and demoralised Duff from Newcastle and turned him into one of Fulham’s most impressive players, helping the club consistently punch above their weight during his tenure. Roy Hodgson could just be the one person who can save Joe Cole’s career, and help him finally fulfil some of his undoubted promise.

If he can work his magic and consistently get the best out of his new signing, then he will have succeeded where so many other top class managers have failed.

Hodgson could just be the key to unlocking the enigma that is Joe Cole.