Is Chelsea a serious contender?

When Gianfranco Zola announced he was leaving Chelsea on July 2 the club's fans were united in their distress and left wondering who would provide the excitement in the season to come.

Six extraordinary weeks later, with nearly 60 million pounds ($96.07 million) of spending complete and more promised by new Russian owner Roman Abramovich, the shell-shocked supporters await the new campaign in a fever of trembling anticipation.

Zola, recently voted Chelsea's greatest-ever player, has already been condemned to a footnote in Stamford Bridge's long, but relatively unsuccessful history.

The club's only league title came almost a half a century ago in 1955 and though the last few years have brought sporadic cup success they have rarely looked capable of winning a second.

Whoever the manager, whatever the team, it was always the same old Chelsea -- able to beat the very best but also to lose to the worst.

Could it be all over? Can Abramovich's bottomless pockets turn the west London club into a serious contender for the premier league crown?

The bookmakers remain unconvinced but the answer has to be a resounding yes. The question is when.

Just when football finances appeared to be settling down, the Russian's massive investment has electrified the game, and no player is now beyond the reach of a club who last year barely spent a bean.

Despite the lack of spending in the last two years, the club already had a very good base and the magnificent seven of Juan Sebastian Veron, Damien Duff, Joe Cole, Geremi, Wayne Bridge, Glen Johnson and Adrian Mutu -- he if passes a medical and agrees terms -- are joining an already-solid team.

Of the squad good enough to finish fourth last year to earn a Champions League place, only Zola and Graeme le Saux have departed.

PERFECT REPLACEMENT

If he signs, Mutu would be the perfect replacement for the Italian both in stature and performance and could be the icing on the cake of summer spending.

The Romanian is mobile, sharp, inventive, committed and scores goals against the best defences -- as his 18 in Serie A for Parma last season prove.

Alex Ferguson was prepared to let Veron go for less than half the amount he paid for him and Ranieri's description of the Argentine as the best midfielder in the world looked preposterous based on his efforts over the last two seasons.

However, freed from what often appeared the stifling influence of Roy Keane, he is likely to revel in the role of creator-in-chief and will hope to perform again as he did with Lazio and Argentina at his peak.

Duff adds a penetrative wide option while Cole's tricks and individual skill could also turn a tight game.

Geremi and Frank Lampard offer some solidity, though the team still lacks a proven ball-winner of the quality of Keane or Patrick Vieira.

Full backs Bridge and Johnson are good long-term buys and buoy an already-decent defence containing Marcel Desailly, William Gallas and John Terry in front of an excellent goalkeeper in Carlo Cudicini.

So the pieces are all there. It is now down to Ranieri to mould them into a team, a challenge that has proved too much for may other big-spending managers before him all over the world.

Off the pitch too he will have to work hard. Massaging the egos of such a huge squad of established internationals, many of whom will spend game after game sitting disgruntled in the stands, will not be easy.

CRAZY DREAM

The amiable coach, who must wonder if he is going to wake up one day and find the whole summer has just been a crazy dream, is pleading for patience.

"Rome wasn't built in a day," said the man who hails from the Italian capital.

"You can buy all the best players in the world but if they do not want to be a group then you cannot win," added Ranieri, who believes the 2005 title is a more realistic target."

Chelsea have a Champions League qualifier in Slovakia on August 12, five days before the start of their premier league campaign against Liverpool -- the team they beat in the final game of last season to secure that European foothold.

What could reveal more about their title credentials, however, is how they perform in the next three league games against Leicester City, Birmingham City and Blackburn Rovers.

They are just the sort of awkward, committed opponents that were all too often the club's Achilles heel in days gone by.

But for the new Chelsea, history is irrelevant.

This is year zero.