Chelsea are in for a very quiet week, if you believe interim manager Rafa Benitez:

Benitez has confirmed there will be no more incoming transfers for Chelsea this January.

— Dan Levene (@BluesChronicle) January 27, 2013

Let's assume, for the moment, that this quote is to be taken at face value. First of all, I would suggest that it's blatantly clear that Chelsea need further reinforcements, especially in midfield. Oriol Romeu will miss the season and hasn't been replaced. The double pivot is currently reliant on a 34-year-old player whose ability to play effectively in back-to-back games is in... some question.

If Chelsea want to seriously contend for trophies, they need to upgrade, and pretty badly. That said, with the Blues so far off the pace in the league this season, out of the Champions League and with only the Europa League and FA Cup to play for, there's something to be said about writing this whole season off and waiting until summer to get those upgrades. It'd be a reasonable, rational (if depressing) decision -- now that we have Demba Ba, the squad should be good enough to finish third assuming we don't lose John Obi Mikel and David Luiz long-term.

There's also the third possibility that Benitez doesn't really know what he's talking about, but I'm not really willing to credit that one. No, he's not in charge of the transfers, but I have to assume he's at least talking with Michael Emenalo about the goings-on around the club. I'm inclined to take him at his word... and pray that the rest of the year passes as quickly as possible, now that we've raised the white flag.