Perhaps it is not so surprising that Roman Abramovich demands that his managers find that rare blend of winning and aesthetic football. Considering the match that supposedly turned him on to the game was a 4-3 extravaganza involving Manchester United and Real Madrid in April 2003, with a series of galácticos on display (Ronaldo, Luís Figo and Zinedine Zidane bewitched for the visitors while David Beckham, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Roy Keane delivered for the hosts), is it any wonder the Chelsea owner has lofty expectations? His benchmark was one of the glitziest matches in Champions League memory. There was a Harlem Globetrotters feel to an affair that dripped with so much romance it was almost sickly sweet.

For all of Chelsea's many successes (and near misses) since Abramovich began his Stamford Bridge project, the feeling persists that he is yet to be satisfied that any of his managers has created the perfect blend of easy on the eye and peasy with the medals.

André Villas-Boas has spoken liberally – but vaguely – of the myriad things he is trying to change to bring about a new Chelsea style. In their Champions League victory over Bayer Leverkusen there was progress. He defines it as "speed of possession". Coming after Fernando Torres's public critique of the team's velocity last week, it is an interesting development. Villas-Boas and his staff have been working hard to add speed of possession, of movement, of thinking, into Chelsea's gameplan. So why is it important to play quicker? "Because of the nature of British football basically, because it is full of high speed and high emotion," he says. "Maybe that is what we're trying to transform."

But what is striking is the way it is coming about. Chelsea are looking towards a Latin influence to make the difference. The bulk of recruits to arrive in the past year have come from southern Europe and the Americas – the technique of Juan Mata, Oriol Romeu and (if they can ignite it to the full) Torres from Spain, the dashing David Luiz and Ramires from Brazil, the subtlety of Raul Meireles from Portugal, the youthful prospect Ulises Dávila from Mexico.

Compare that to the intake from five summers ago: Michael Ballack, Andriy Shevchenko, Ashley Cole, Wayne Bridge, Khalid Boulahrouz, Mikel John Obi and Salomon Kalou. The blueprint was generally for a muscular six-footer whose football education took place in northern Europe.

Glance around the English participants in the Champions League, and the example of the success stories from Barcelona and the Spanish national team seems to be setting an increasingly potent trend. According to Villas-Boas, the example is not so much about speed of touch but of thought. "Barcelona have redefined the notion of time and space in football," he says. "What they have done is increase the speed of circulation of the ball by slowing the game down in their minds. In British football the game is too fast in your mind. Decision making collides with the speed and the nature of the British game."

Can he adjust that at Chelsea? "I can propose it," he says, mindful of the fact he is searching for a balance between new ideals with the culture of the game in the Premier League. Deep down, he does not think any other club can mimic Barcelona. "The mixture they have together is something out of this world and I don't think it's possible at the moment for any other club. It's Iniesta, Xavi, Messi, Piqué. So many brought up in that school they are able to show their full potential for the first team."

But looking for that balance between southern and northern football styles is clearly worth pursuing. It may be a trick of the eye – especially when you see Stoke City reinforced by Peter Crouch – but the Premier League seems to have become a magnet for smaller players in a way it has never been before. Where athletic prowess and physical bulk was a basic prerequisite not so long ago, now increasing numbers of dainty, nimble, ball players are running amok.

Manchester City are the most arresting example, with their agile front players weaving free-flow patterns that leave their fans giddy in more ways than one. The way that David Silva, Sergio Agüero, Samir Nasri and Carlos Tevez buzz around the final third makes them look like they would belong as comfortably in La Liga as they do in the Premier League.

Arsenal made the first attempt at that ideal with their miniature collection but they ultimately fell too short. While Manchester United have a more Latin flavour with Nani, Anderson, Javier Hernández and the Da Silva twins helping to make them tick. Interestingly United have done it by signing players as young as possible and giving them an Old Trafford education, to facilitate the blend that Villas-Boas is trying to encourage from an early age.

It will be intriguing to see which kind of team Chelsea's fresh-faced manager selects for his first showpiece test, at Old Trafford. Having flexed his muscles by dropping the likes of John Terry, Frank Lampard and Torres already this season, will he trust the more old school, English Chelsea, or the newer, Latin Chelsea, or will he throw together a mélange?

Whichever, one thing he does not expect is a scoreline of anything like 8-2.