We'll sell before we buy - Buck

14 April 2012

Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck has revealed the club will trim their current squad this summer to make space for new arrivals at Stamford Bridge.

Manager Jose Mourinho is set to be given funds to strengthen his roster, but it has been his intention since arriving from Porto last summer to always operate with a 24-man squad.

Buck insists that will remain club policy, and there are likely to be as many outgoing players as new arrivals before the start of next season. He told The Times that Chelsea would be "very careful" about where their money is spent.

"You have seen the transfer spend go down just in one year and you will see it keep going down," said Buck. "You will see several players come in the summer but also several go out."

The likes of Scott Parker and Robert Huth have been linked with moves away from west London, after frequently finding themselves out of favour during a season which will be crowned by the Barclays Premiership title tonight, should Arsenal not beat Tottenham at Highbury.

The season has seen Chelsea sweep almost all before them on both the domestic and European fronts, with a Champions League semi-final against Liverpool their next challenge.

However, there have been unwelcome episodes in the saga of Chelsea's season.
The UEFA rap for boss Mourinho, who claimed he saw referee Anders Frisk and Barcelona boss Frank Rijkaard in conversation at half-time during the last-16 Champions League clash at the Nou Camp, cast a shadow over the successful campaign.

An inquiry continues to proceed into allegations that Chelsea contacted Arsenal and England left-back Ashley Cole about a transfer without his club's permission.

Without indicating which aspects of the past nine months have left him frustrated, Buck said: "To be clear, if we were rerunning this entire year, there are clearly things that we would do differently.

"There have been some sideshows recently and we don't like that, particularly because of the success we've had on the pitch.