NEWS

Hey, did you want a post about how Chelsea Football Club have confirmed and submitted a list of names and numbers to the Premier League offices regarding the shirt numbers that their players will wear for the 2013-14 season?  The same shirt numbers that they have been wearing for over a month now?  Well today is your lucky day!

Chelsea Football Club have confirmed and submitted a list of twenty-six names and numbers to the Premier League offices ahead of the kick-off of the 2013-14 Premier League season.  Here's the list:

1 Petr Cech
2 Branislav Ivanovic
3 Ashley Cole
4 David Luiz
5 Michael Essien
7 Ramires
8 Frank Lampard
9 Fernando Torres
10 Juan Mata
11 Oscar
12 John Mikel Obi
13 Victor Moses
14 Andre Schurrle
15 Kevin De Bruyne
16 Marco van Ginkel
17 Eden Hazard
18 Romelu Lukaku
19 Demba Ba
23 Mark Schwarzer
24 Gary Cahill
26 John Terry
28 Cesar Azpilicueta
33 Tomas Kalas
34 Ryan Bertrand
40 Henrique Hilario
46 Jamal Blackman

Notice anything new or weird or crazy or strange or just random?  No?  Yeah, I didn't either.
The best part about this list is that it's still actually just "provisional" since things can (and sometimes do) change before the transfer window shuts for the summer.  So after assigning numbers for pre-season training and now assigning the same numbers for the "provisional" list, Chelsea will get to assign the numbers for a third time on September 4th.  Fun!
Moving on.

Chelsea have finally resolved the hot button issue of the summer, solidifying a third choice keeper for the 2013/14 campaign. The keeper in question? That would be the legendary Henrique Hilario.

According to the club's website, Hilario has agreed to a one-year deal that will allow him to keep watching the club from the best seat on the pitch. Having a "job" that consists of training with one of the best clubs on the planet and watching from the best seats in the house sounds like a great deal, so Hilario was unsurprisingly pleased:

'It feels really good to sign a new contract for another year at the club, I'm very proud. I'm really pleased to be part of this great squad and I'm looking forward to working once again with Jose Mourinho.'

None of Hilario, Petr Cech, or Mark Schwarzer qualify as homegrown, meaning the Blues will have a trio of keepers occupying international slots. That's not usually a very sound way to build a roster, and would seem to lend weight to Jose Mourinho's suggestion that we aren't looking to add players aside from Wayne Rooney to the mix.
Fans hoping for youth to get more chances should probably be excited by that point, as any sort of injury crisis or suspension will likely see some youngsters getting a look. Fans holding out hope for a Sami Khedira or Daniele De Rossi signing will likely be disappointed though, as a move of that sort just became less likely. Regardless, Hilario seems like a good guy, and I'd much rather see him collecting a nice paycheck from the club as opposed to seeing the roster spot go unused. Welcome back, Henrique.