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far far too early to definitively rate Gittens

poor GKing by Unai Simon very poor

1 nil Arse Martinelli scores on a counter 30 seconds after he came on

extremely detailed post in re Noni

Is he better than CHO who was sold for 5m?

correct

I guess I can agree with this, but the issue is that Noni was second he was not starting 11 for us. So I think for a second was a good sell for that price especially with attitude problem. Now as far as upgrade I think we lost Noni, Sancho and Mudryk. And in exhcnage we got those 3. Non of the three in the past where starting 11 material, now did we got rid of 3 to get 3 starting 11? At this time no, the only that remotely takes that position is Estevao but it still too early to make that decision. To me Gittens was the replacement of Sancho, Garnacho the Mudryk replacement and Estevao the Noni replacement.

West Ham are considering a move for Nuno Espirito Santo should they sack manager Graham Potter. (Alan Nixon)

We don't need more data to conclude selling Noni is a mistake particularly because they reinvested the same money in Gittens. We can revisit this in December or May and it won't change. People point to his G/A numbers at Chelsea but Noni was already a rather useful weapon against low blocks and is much further along in his development. There was no need to take on another young project if we were serious about challenging for trophies.

Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior’s Real Madrid fortunes could hardly be more contrasting https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6630757/2025/09/16/kylian-mbappe-vinicius-junior-real-madrid-contrast If you wanted to see the contrasting fortunes of Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior at Real Madrid, you only had to watch the team’s 2-1 win against Real Sociedad. Mbappe’s fine solo goal and excellent assist showed the 26-year-old France captain is now Madrid’s undisputed on-pitch leader. Vinicius Jr’s subdued display and early substitution were further evidence of the 25-year-old Brazil winger’s lack of form. Less than 12 months ago, it was an entirely different story. Vinicius Jr’s stunning hat-trick in last October’s 5-2 Champions League win against Borussia Dortmund underlined why he was then many people’s favourite to win the 2024 Ballon d’Or. Four days later, Mbappe’s record eight offsides in Madrid’s 4-0 defeat to Barcelona symbolised his struggles while settling in at the Bernabeu following fitness issues and personal problems. That Clasico defeat was an early sign of the issues Carlo Ancelotti’s side would experience throughout last season. Vinicius Jr thrived the previous year in Ancelotti’s counter-attacking set-up, scoring the winning goal in the 2024 Champions League final and playing a crucial role in his side lifting the La Liga trophy. But his disappointment at missing out to Manchester City’s Rodri for the Ballon d’Or — which led to Madrid boycotting the ceremony — was followed by a serious dip in his on-pitch performances. Things have not gone to plan for Vinicius Jr since his hat-trick against Dortmund (Denis Doyle/Getty Images) Vinicius Jr scored just three goals in 16 La Liga games from January to May 2025, and only once in six Champions League knockout games as they were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Arsenal. He was not the only Madrid player whose form dipped as the season progressed towards a dismal end. But knowledgeable sources — speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, like all those consulted for this story — say he knew his campaign was not up to the required standard. At the same time, Mbappe’s contribution and confidence grew as the season progressed. At a January news conference, the summer arrival from Paris Saint-Germain said he had been cautious about imposing himself on and off the pitch in his first months at Madrid, but had since made a “mental” change, as “I knew I had to do more”. Mbappe finished the season with eight goals in their last five La Liga games, including a hat-trick in a 4-3 defeat to Barca, a result which ended any realistic chances of Madrid defending their league title. His total of 44 goals was a record for any debut Madrid season, while 31 efforts in La Liga gave him the Golden Shoe award for the top scorer in Europe’s top five leagues. When Alonso replaced Ancelotti as coach in May, the former Madrid, Liverpool and Spain midfielder set about introducing a proactive tactical approach to dominate possession and territory. This means Madrid’s forwards are required to do more off-the-ball work and have fewer opportunities for sprinting into space on the counter. Alonso knew fitting both superstar strikers into such a system was a major challenge. Staff sources say the initial plan had both players as centre-forwards, but with Vinicius Jr moving out towards the left more. Madrid were unable to trial that idea during the Club World Cup due to a viral infection suffered by Mbappe. Vinicius Jr started all six of their games in the United States but again performed well below his best. Alonso planned to bench Vinicius Jr for the last of those, the semi-final against PSG, before Trent Alexander-Arnold picked up an injury. A 4-3-3 shape with Mbappe on the left wing and Vinicius Jr in his less favoured position on the right was then ruthlessly exploited and punished as Luis Enrique’s Champions League holders won 4-0. What You Should Read Next Why is Vinicius Jr out of favour at Real Madrid? From Ballon d'Or disappointment to contract complications, there's been a lot going on behind the scenes During the early stages of this season, Alonso’s doubts over Vinicius Jr’s role in the team have continued. The Brazilian was benched for the second game at Real Oviedo, with Rodrygo starting on the left wing instead. Vinicius Jr had not been informed and was surprised by the decision — although he came on as a substitute and channeled his disappointment into a goal and an assist for Mbappe in the 63rd minute. Alonso replied sternly when asked if he understood Vinicius Jr being upset at being left out of the starting line-up: “In football, decisions are made thinking of the collective, and everyone has to understand that”. Sources on both sides have told The Athletic the start between coach and player has not been ideal. Against Real Mallorca at home the following weekend, Vinicius Jr returned to the starting XI and scored the winner in a 2-1 victory. Sources say the coaching staff have confidence the Brazilian can return to his best form, but Alonso has been clear his selection decisions are made on merit, not reputation. Mbappe has started all four games at centre-forward, looking sharp and confident while scoring four goals, making him La Liga’s top scorer. He is now a much more commanding presence around the team, taking penalties and sometimes free-kicks while relishing his status as the team’s most important player. Mbappe is La Liga’s top scorer with four goals (Antonio Villalba/Real Madrid via Getty Images) “Kylian is fundamental, he’s in great shape, both his football and his personality,” Alonso said last Friday. “He takes that (leadership) role every day, although these responsibilities must be shared so we keep developing as a team.” Mbappe’s goal against Real Sociedad came when he lethally capitalised on a mistake by their back line to race clear and slot home. After Dean Huijsen’s controversial red card, he showed further leadership by creating the chance for Arda Guler to put them 2-0 ahead with an excellent dribble and unselfish pass. “Today’s goal was my type of goal, but the assist was more important as it was a key moment in the game,” Mbappe told Real Madrid TV afterwards. “I feel really good, the season has started well, for the team and me.” Meanwhile, Vinicius Jr had one off-target shot and caused few problems for La Real before being replaced on 67 minutes. He has now completed only one of 10 games under Alonso. For some who know him, it feels uncomfortably like when Zinedine Zidane was Madrid coach and Zidane clearly did not trust the (then much younger) Vinicius Jr. Mbappe’s superstar status was further seen this summer when he took the No 10 shirt, even though club policy dictates longer-serving players should get first dibs. The club had the final say and Mbappe was given the same number he wears with France, despite interest from Arda Guler, who had been at Madrid for longer. The No 10 shirt is further proof of Mbappe’s status at Madrid (Diego Souto/Getty Images) Compare that to how fans have sometimes whistled Vinicius Jr at the Bernabeu in recent months. Talks over renewing his current contract — which ends in 2027 — remain deadlocked. His camp have used the ‘signing bonus’ secured by Mbappe on arrival from PSG as an argument for a bumper pay-rise for their client, something the club hierarchy have yet to accept. The forwards have egos, but there is no suggestion of friction, and each has often spoken positively about their team-mate in public. Even so, everyone agrees they are not connecting well on the pitch, and there are no clear examples of both excelling in the same big game. Nobody at the Bernabeu is questioning Alonso’s management of the situation, or of the team generally, but it remains to be seen how happy Vinicius Jr will be if he continues to play second fiddle to Mbappe.

As the article I just poseted Journos are just sensationist. How can you write about something like that when the season just started? Ridicoules people, they just never learn. People start on fire and fade away while others are slower to pick up. What matters is the entire season and see how we do at the end. But then again they are journos and need to sell and click and bait. The truth is that is too early to judge, we need more time and data to come to conclusion.

Arsenal's Noni Madueke: Were Chelsea right to allow winger to join Gunners after his impressive start to the season? Noni Madueke has impressed since the beginning of the season for both Arsenal and England; the 23-year-old winger joined the Gunners from Chelsea in the summer for £52m - amid his performances and Chelsea's alternatives struggling, were the Blues right to let him go? https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/13431561/arsenals-noni-madueke-were-Chelsea-right-to-allow-winger-to-join-gunners-after-his-impressive-start-to-the-season Noni Madueke divided opinion during his two-and-a-half years at Chelsea. However, since making the switch to Arsenal for £52m, there may already be feelings of regret at Stamford Bridge. The 23-year-old appears to be a man renewed at the Emirates, with his performances for both his new club and England being what Chelsea fans expected when they signed the winger from PSV in 2023. Blue frustration has only been inflated due to the underwhelming displays of the players brought into the club, tasked with filling the spot vacated by Madueke in the squad. Chelsea signed Jamie Gittens, Estevao and Alejandro Garnacho for a combined £120m in the summer. Tyrique George's move to Fulham falling through meant he remained at the club as an option, while Pedro Neto has started each of Chelsea's league games on either the left or right. However, despite a wealth of talent to choose from, are Enzo Maresca's Chelsea better off without Madueke? Madueke winning over his north London doubters Madueke's inconsistency during his time at Chelsea made Mikel Arteta's perceived obsession with signing the forward all the more confusing. The hashtag 'No to Madueke' trended on social media as the deal neared completion. There were suggestions that Arteta had prioritised the signing, with questions raised after he was recruited before Eberechi Eze when interest for Arsenal's new No 10 had cooled. However, Arteta's pursuit of Madueke has already been justified with Bukayo Saka's hamstring injury on matchday two against Leeds, forcing the need for an adequate replacement on the right. It is fair to say Madueke has taken the opportunity at Arsenal and has done the same for Thomas Tuchel's England side, providing potential headaches for his club and international manager when Saka returns on that right flank. In four appearances in the league for Arsenal thus far, Madueke ranks third in the Premier League for chances created per 90 minutes played with 2.76, and fourth for successful take-ons per match with 58.3 per cent. In his most recent league outing - Arsenal's 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest - Madueke created the most chances in the game and completed the most dribbles and crosses, as well as winning the most duels. Gary Neville was high in his praise of Madueke's display, following on from his goal and performance for England in their 5-0 win over Serbia. "Madueke's a lot better than I imagined and thought he would be, and certainly a lot better than Arsenal fans thought he would be," Neville said. "A couple of the runs that he made for England on Wednesday night were a different level. "I thought, those runs... Arjen Robben used to make those runs against me. Sometimes you play against wingers who are dribbling at you and you know they've got a trick and you know you're going to be in for a difficult day, and then you've got players who are a step above, a level above. "I'm not saying Madueke's there yet, but his movements and the things he's doing are very, very good." Following his performance in Arsenal's win over Forest there was talk about a more selfless Madueke at Arsenal. There appears to be a greater patience in his play as he builds an understanding with Jurrien Timber, allow him to overlap but also intentionally driving towards the byline to create. He has had fewer shots per match than he was averaging at Chelsea last season with a greater emphasis now perhaps on facilitating his team-mates rather than taking on responsibility for output. Madueke scored 11 goals and set up five last season for Chelsea in all competitions. Arsenal fans will hope for the numbers to soon follow his performances. However, early signs have been positive. Has the alternative been better for Chelsea? Chelsea's transfer policy of targeting promising young talent continued into the most recent window. Garnacho came through the door from Manchester United, while Estevao finally arrived after the Club World Cup and Gittens made the switch from Dortmund. The latter has come under some criticism for his displays so far. He underwhelmed as Chelsea were held at Brentford. His hooking at 1-0 down in the second period proved a turning point with Cole Palmer, scorer of Chelsea's equalising goal within minutes, introduced in his place. Garnacho, who came on for his debut, showed positive flashes despite potentially being at fault for Brentford's late equaliser as he left Fabio Carvalho unmarked as he fired home in injury-time. However, Garnacho's positivity led to Moises Caicedo's goal as he charged down the left before his cross, which Brentford failed to clear, fell to the Ecuadorian midfielder who was able to pick his spot from the edge of the area. Gittens has played on the left since arriving at Stamford Bridge. Estevao, who started in Chelsea's opening two games and impressed, missed the trip to Brentford through illness, so Neto played on the right. Estevao's start to life in west London has made him a shoo-in when fit. He excites on the ball but showed during an impressive last season that he can score goals too. The 18-year-old also picked up his first assist against West Ham. At 21 years old, it is fair to suggest that Gittens' best is yet to come. At Dortmund, his numbers were impressive, especially when compared to Madueke and Neto ahead of his move to Chelsea. However, the Premier League is the proverbial 'different animal' that Gittens must adapt to quickly. His high-speed dribbling offered him much respite in the Bundesliga, but in the Premier League he will find there is less space and defenders are more than a match for speed without much intent. Madueke was offered a period to adapt when he returned to these shores from a spell in the Netherlands. The pair share similarities in their game, but that time to adapt has helped Madueke greatly. It would only be fair to offer Gittens that time too. But the fear for him would be that Chelsea's depth in attack may not provide margin for error or inconsistency. If he wants to stay in the team, he will have to make the most of his opportunities, which he has failed to do so far.

We went for him in the first window and then went back for him, we did everything to get him but it just felt wrong and not the right signing and quality. Just a weird and bizarre signing

At the time felt like a downgrade to sancho , much less technically gifted. I imagine he will be benched all season for garnacho and also neto at times. Probably loaned out by next summer. Was close to being a great window but they messed it up

I guess you can see why Chelsea tried to sign a striker late on after Liam Delap got…View the full article

We have the squad to beat them. Its our defence that's the worry

Unleash estevao on them

Some people are confident we will beat Bayern with easy cause of their high line... I am not confident at all - Maresca has terrible record vs top clubs, wining only one game vs PSG (ok, that was great win) and maybe you can add the win vs hangover Liverpool. Other than that not only we couldn't beat Arsenal, City, first game vs Pool, but we were poor in those matches. Bayern defense is not great, that's true. But their attack - Kane, Gnabry, Olise and Diaz vs our shaky defense - ouch.

If we did sign a keeper, we'd still be stuck with Sanchez and Jorgensen on the books with even lower re-sale value. The Maignan deal made sense as he was old enough to play a few seasons and if Penders is as good as they say, he would be ready to fight for that #1 spot in 2 years time.

I was surprised Buonanotte was hooked off at H/T. He looked tidy and dangerous and was connecting well with Pedro. For his first appearance, I thought he did well and deserved to continue.

On 2 September 2025, Premier League club Manchester City announced the signing of Donnarumma on a five-year deal, with an option for a further year, for a reported transfer fee of £26 million. His salary is reportedly £13m this season £14m in the 2nd and 3rd year and £15m in the 4th and 5th years (and probably £15m the 6th year, the option year, as well) that is £71m just in salary for 5 years, and probably £86m if they exercise the option PLUS he can earn salary bonus of around £2.5m per season based off performance (personal and club) that kicks it up to around a potential £101m in toto just in salary/bonuses for the full 6 years add in the £26m tranfer fee £127m total potential outlay for 6 years and his agent perhaps got some pay-off as well (I admit I do not know that, nor do I know IF he himself got a signing bonus) I simply cannot see our owners committing to that level of spend for a GKer, not with so many already on our books and Penders hopefully coming into our Sr team soon

There are not ALL that many actually 'marquee' AND remotely available players in postions we need GK Diogo Costa Gregor Kobel (not really suited to our style of play) plus 3 older (33, 34yo next summer) ones: Jan Oblak Emiliano Martinez Alisson LCB Alessandro Bastoni Murillo Alessandro Buongiorno RCB (no clear perfect 'big name' targets) Leny Yoro (probably not possible next summer, maybe never) Bremer (but will be 29yo in March) Giorgio Scalvini only IF fully recovered Ronald Araujo only IF he gets back to WC level, which is a big if DMF Bruno Guimarães (but turns 29yo in fall 2026) Aurélien Tchouaméni (probably not available) Aleksandar Pavlovic (crazy hard pull) Adam Wharton Carlos Baleba (insanely expensive) Ruben Neves (wild card, crazy good passer and a less costly fee, a real vet and leader, I love him, but he turns 29yo in March) CMF Nicolò Barella (but turns 30yo in march 2027) Gavi Eduardo Camavinga Sandro Tonali Warren Zaïre-Emery Frenkie de Jong (turns 30yo at the end of next season (26/27) though) AMF Jamal Musiala (IF recovered, and also he would cost well over £100m IF Bayern would even sell and IF he would even want to come here) Morgan Rogers Fermin Lopez (do not think he leaves Barca next summer either) Nico Paz (Real Mardid will exercise their buy-back though, so very unlikely) Winger Kenan Yildiz Rodrygo Bradley Barcola Rafael Leão (hard pass) Malick Fofana CF (all 3 are likely not available, plus almost all top CFs are now locked in at new or old clubs, the 3 listed are the only ones even potentially not situated like that) Julian Alvarez Lautaro Martinez Victor Osimhen so as you can see there are only five main targets for me that would be 'marquee' signings IMHO: Diogo Costa (and probaly not needed IF Penders is soon ready) Bastoni (my dream CB signing for years) Adam Wharton Morgan Rogers Kenan Yıldız wild card signing of a non GK vet; Ruben Neves

Ligue 1 is miles ahead of both of these leagues. It also became a sort of farmer league for PL, they taylor made players for us, high percentage of players signed from there work out here. We can send players like Sarr or Paez as last step to RSC, if they work out there, they can be promoted to Chelsea. But from Belgian league? I don't think so. It's very wise we chose to invest there.

Well no, but the latest statement attributed to him is believable and consistent with the previous reporting.