Carlo keen on new signings - Buck

Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck has confirmed that coach Carlo Ancelotti wants to bring in at least two new faces in the summer.

The double winners are expecting to lose Portugal and Germany midfielders Deco and Michael Ballack from their squad and Buck says that Ancelotti believes at least two new players will be required.

But Buck was a little more reticent when it came to the subject of the club signing a 'marquee player' and admitted he regrets first using the phrase last summer.

"I have said that in every year there is some refreshing of the squad and maybe we can expect three or four in and three or four out," said Buck.

"But this year I think Carlo has said two or three in and two or three out and he is very satisfied with the current squad.

"We can expect a couple of changes but that is just the nature of football, you can't have the jigsaw puzzle together and that is it forever.

"Let's see how the summer pans out. Once we are really clear on the kind of vacancies we may have and what we want to fill, we will decide what kind of player we want.

"Between now and the end of the transfer season there will be a story somewhere that every great player in Europe is coming to Chelsea.

"We will just have to see how it pans out. I honestly think that a year ago I was the one who first used the phrase 'marquee player' and I have regretted it ever since.

"Every year, because of players being injured, players being not as good or better than expected or opportunities arising, it is an ever-changing scene so we can expect some changes during the summer, but we don't agree with some of the comments that we have an old squad.

"Our average age is 27 to 28 years old and we do expect a number of players from the Academy and the reserves to be in the first-team squad next year.

"Chelsea had a board meeting on Monday at Cobham and the board formally thanked Carlo and his staff and the players for a job well done but it was also pointed out that Monday was the start of the new season. We have to start looking forward and are planning for the new season.

"The double is something special, very few teams have done it, and certainly in the last seven years this has to be the best season we have had.

"But we have to keep in mind that this is a season that has had a few ups and downs.

"The other Premier League titles that we have won in recent history were, from start to finish, pretty straightforward, if you can use that word.

"We were ahead all the time and won those titles in April. It is a lot different from winning it on the last day of the season."

While Buck was delighted with the team's double success, the Chelsea chairman was unhappy with the lack of recognition for some of the players and Ancelotti.

"Some of these teams of the year were just plain wrong," declared Buck. "Didier Drogba didn't get into some of these teams, Frank Lampard didn't get into some of these teams, Florent Malouda and John Terry didn't and that is wrong.

"The achievement of Carlo in his first season at the club is amazing and he has not really got the recognition he deserves, but more generally the club has got very good press about what it has accomplished in a very difficult year."

Buck also hailed the performance of Lampard, who is alleged to be a target for Real Madrid should former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho quit Inter Milan and take over at the Spanish giants.

"Lampard is a great player," said Buck. "You can't possibly imagine Frank Lampard wearing a shirt other than the Chelsea shirt.

"We have a couple of players, each of whom you could say is Mr Chelsea. They are very lucky to be at Chelsea and we are very lucky to have them."