Summer spending spree has Chelsea primed for another season of sucess

The 32m man has been in fantastic form so far

Some were willing to question Roman Abramovich's motivation once Chelsea won the Champions League, but the wallet has remained open and with Eden Hazard supplying the ammunition for Fernando Torres the Blues are taking aim at the big prizes once more...

The big question posed by Chelsea's Champions League triumph was always exactly what would happen next.
Just after their magnificent night in Munich I posed the question whether, having achieved his goal of lifting Europe's most prized trophy, Roman Abramovich might decide he'd done enough. The answer since then has been pretty emphatic.

The Russian oligarch has come up with some 80million in the summer to make it clear that, far from being the fulfilment of a dream, winning the European Cup was only the start. Saturday morning's signing of Victor Moses for 9million after a summer long pursuit of Wigan's talented young striker was one more sign of intent.

There was 32million for Eden Hazard, another 25million for Oscar from Internacional, Marko Marin came from Werder Bremen for 7million, and Cesar Azpilicueta from Marseille for another 7million. Oh, and Thorgan Hazard from Lens on a free.

What was all the more impressive about all those deals were that they were done and dusted from an early stage. Moses, because Wigan quite rightly stuck out for the best possible fee, was the only one that didn't get resolved quickly.

Hazard, especially, was the standout signing - the one that told the rest of football that Chelsea were still in the game when it came to spending big to get the top players. Everybody wanted the lithe, young winger who had been earmarked for stardom since he first got into the Lille team as a 16-year-old. Chelsea were the ones who got him, a statement of intent at the start of the summer.

Bizarrely the one thing that wasn't immediately certain was the identity of the head coach, largely because Abramovich thought he could tempt Pep Guardiola to get straight back into work after stepping down at Barcelona. It meant he took time before confirming Roberto Di Matteo would carry on.

Clearly, however, Di Matteo has enough confidence in himself to believe it would happen - it's emerged today that on the flight home from Munich he was already telling an unhappy Fernando Torres that this season would be when he'd become the main man.

It's what the Spaniard wanted to hear, and the response has already been pretty emphatic. Already he has helped himself to a couple of goals - a third of last season's entire haul in the League. But he's looked far fresher, far happier, and clearly is enjoying the vote of confidence he's received from both owner and the man who picks the team.

The bonus of an extra early fixture has helped them get off to a flying start, three wins out of three and confidence flowing. It's enough to confirm that the 2.526/4 for Manchester City to retain the title has got to be a bet to lay, because there is going to be proper competition from both Chelsea and Manchester United.

Meanwhile Torres, matched as high as 12.011/1 to be the Premier League's top scorer, has come in to 6.86/1 favourite - thanks largely to the quality of service he's getting from Hazard and those around him.

Clearly I was wrong to wonder what was coming next after Chelsea's big night in Munich. Abramovich had already decided that having tasted the game's top prize once, he wanted to do it again.