New regime begins to take place

Roman Abramovich announced his arrival in English football with an unprecedented £111million spending spree last summer but there will be no repeat performance this time around, even with the extravagant Peter Kenyon holding the purse strings.

Kenyon has already made his most important signing in Jose Mourinho and Chelsea's new head coach is largely happy to work with the players already at his disposal.

Mourinho revealed yesterday that 20 of his preferred 23-man squad are already at the club, so there is little room for new signings following the £5million capture of Mateja Kezman from PSV Eindhoven.

There will be some changes before Chelsea leave for their pre-season tour of the United States in two weeks, by which time Mourinho is determined to have his whole squad in place, but their biggest problem could be offloading the players for which they have no use.

Goalkeepers

Mourinho is spoilt for choice in the goalkeeping department and faces a selection poser ahead of the opening game against Manchester United. Petr Cech is clearly the long-term favourite, following his £6m move from Rennes, but Carlo Cudicini has been arguably the most consistent Premiership goalkeeper of the last two seasons and, after a summer of rest, should get the nod. After a season on loan at Watford, Lenny Pidgeley should return as cover, with Marco Ambrosio, Jurgen Macho and Neil Sullivan on their way out.

Defenders

After the £13m signing of Paulo Ferreira, Mourinho is happy with the full-backs at his disposal, with the Portuguese international competing with Glen Johnson for the right-back berth and Celestine Babayaro providing cover for Wayne Bridge on the left. John Terry is guaranteed to start in the middle but could soon have a new partner as William Gallas and Marcel Desailly did not convince last season.