Many in the game were astonished that Chelsea forked out £21 million to re-sign Nemanja Matic from Benifca on January 15th this year. It seemed to epitomise Chelsea’s insane recruitment policy over the last few seasons.
Matic had originally been signed from MFK Kosice in 2009 for a meager £1.5 million. Like so many other youngsters he got few opportunities and when he did he failed to shine. He made his full debut for Chelsea on 21st November 2009 coming on against Wolves as a 69th minute substitute for Florent Malouda. I remember being delighted to see a promising youngster getting a chance, but to be honest I remember very little about his performance, and then sure as night follows day yet another young acquisition disappeared on loan and was then subsequently sold.
The next time we saw Matic was in the final of the Europa Cup last season, and it was already clear that this was not the young lad who had debuted for the Blues some 4 years before. He looked stronger, more assured and played the key role at the heart of Benfica’s defensive midfield. Luckily for us not too well though as Chelsea triumphed to bring the Europa Cup back home!
Most Chelsea supporters were pre-occupied with a certain transfer of Juan Mata to rivals Man Utd during the transfer window, so we were somewhat distracted when the news that we had signed Matic came through. Of course the rival fans immediately pointed out the stupidity of re-signing a player who had hitherto only cost us £1.5 million, and had been let go for £5 million as part of a deal to capture Comedian-in-Chief David Luiz. We took it on the chin, and after all, Jose Mourinho wanted Matic and he knows what he is doing so let’s leave it at that!
I don’t think that any one of us could have believed the impact that Matic was to make – almost immediately – in the game away at Man City. City were leading the League at that stage and were unbeaten at home. Other than Jose Mourinho’s masterful tactics going a long way to inflicting a defeat on City, it was Matic who impressed most. Up against Yaya Toure who is widely recognised as one of the best, if not the best, midfielder of his type, the young Serb out muscled Toure, out tackled him, out passed him and was very unlucky not to get on the score sheet with a spectacular drive from long range.
The defeat of City was significant, and without doubt was the turning point in our season. But do not underestimate how significant the confident arrival of Nemanja Matic was in that match.
Since then barring the odd duff performance and result, Chelsea has begun to look like a Mourinho team – strong, physical, quick and playing with maturity and intelligence. I believe that much of this has been down to having Matic in the side. It is no coincidence that since Matic’s arrival Chelsea has only conceded four goals in the Premier League. The defence has undoubtedly played a massive part in this with Cech and Terry back to their best, and with Cahill and Azpilicueta maturing in to fine players. But the key to this is the defensive shield provided by Nemanja Matic.
But it is not just his defensive duties that are so important to the team. Mourinho’s Chelsea MKII will have a different style to the first incarnation. The brief this time is to break up 
the opposition’s play and to move the ball forward quickly and unleash the speed and talents of players such as Hazard, Willian and Schurrle. We have struggled over the last few seasons with a defensive midfielder who can do more than break up play and pass a no-risk sideways ball 5 yards. We need more for this team to flourish, and I believe that in Nemanja Matic we have it.
The performance against Arsenal proved this in spades, although Arsenal’s midfield showed an unbelievable negligence and naivety in the process of being hammered 6-0. Nevertheless, Matic was at the heart of it and was instrumental in several of the goals for doing exactly what is required of a defensive midfielder of the modern type. In addition Matic allows the likes of Oscar, Willian and Hazard more license up front as they do not need to play deeper to get the ball and move it forward as Matic will naturally do this. And when Chelsea needed to conserve energy, he calmly slowed the game down and kept possession.
This has not gone unnoticed by the Special One himself who singled Matic out for special praise after the Arsenal match commenting that he keeps possession well, doesn’t play square passes, has the vision to look forward and play the ball in to space, and when re-covering the ball doesn’t make silly fouls in dangerous positions. Praise indeed from the great man himself!
What Matic gives Mourinho other than a superb defensive midfielder to plug one of the obvious holes in the squad, is options. He can now play one of Mikel, Ramires, Lampard or Luiz alongside Matic depending on the game situation and the opposition Chelsea face. And for this he must be very grateful. And we on the Chelsea FanCast are very grateful too, as nearly every week Matic gets nominated for our Man of the Match award. A great impact indeed!
If Chelsea win the title this year, I believe that much of this will be down to the signing of Matic. He has already proved a shrewd signing, and he is already helping to transform the team from ‘little horses’ in to what promises to be thoroughbreds.
Funnily enough we and Matic himself owe a debt of gratitude to ‘Jesus’, Jorge Jesus the Benfica coach to be precise, as it was Tim Sherwood’s bête noire who identified that Matic would be well suited to the defensive midfield role and encouraged him to switch position from the number 10 role, and learn his trade in a new one.
A great deal of praise must also go to Jose Mourinho for sticking to his guns and demanding the signing of a player who he knew would make the difference in spite of the peculiar circumstances surrounding it. More to the point it is further evidence of the benefit of having Jose Mourinho as the manager at your club. Matic took all of one minute to decide to come back to Chelsea, the reason being perfectly simple: “I want to use this chance to play for a big club in a big league and work with a coach like Mourinho. He was one of the reasons I came back because probably he is the best coach in the world and it’s good to work with him. I think I can improve a lot.”
I suspect that many other promising young players will be making the same journey in the summer for the same reason, but it is unlikely that any of them will represent the bargain that signing Matic for £21 million has already proved to be.
Do you think we would still have signed him if Van Hinkel hadn’t been injured?
If so,the biggest impact Van Hinkel will probably have for us will have been picking up that injury at Swindon.
I meant to say “if not” !