akgw13

Twitter report - Looks as though Chelsea and Valencia have reached a loan agreement for Bats. Seems like a mistake for me, Sarri must really rate Tammy.

I think you're spot on, except Musonda. Feels like he is going out on loan, he didn't feature in pre season at all. If Michy goes out on loan(looking likely) Tammy will stay and be the Europa League/Cup match starter. Giroud will operate as super sub to both Morata(prem starter) & Tammy.

Sarri mentioned when the WC players came back we can afford 1-2 in the XI. It is the first game of the season, Hazard & Kante simply have to start for me. Hazard might even be playing his first game as Captain. Smash them early and take them off at 60-75 mins. Pedro has been our best (senior/CHO has been but plays left) attacker and plays the right side, I think he starts ahead of Willian. Prediction: 3-0 Chelsea. Goals: Morata, Hazard, Barkley. I'm feeling optimistic!

Since Morata is here for another year, lets try to support him a little bit. I know its hard and he has not helped his case in 2018 but lets just blindly believe and maybe he will pull it off! 1) 2017 Morata had 12 goals before NYE. 2) No longer playing as an isolated over matched target man. 3) Sarri system of movement and passing suits him better than Contes 4) Proper midfield linking with the attackers now so they aren't as isolated 5) Full summer to get healthy + happy at home with birth of his twins. 6) Strikers are pure confidence players, we saw confidence Morata(2017) and no confidence (2018) an early goal this season could bring back his 2017 form! I am not a Morata fan boy, I am not ignoring his recent form, I am simply trying to be positive and support one of our players who needs it.

I am confident in our top 4 charge. However I view City and Liverpool as the clear 1/2. I'd expect Us 3rd followed by Spurs or United. A successful season to me is implementing sarri style successfully, re-signing Hazard & Kante, securing Champions league football. We could take the momentum of Hazard/Sarri/CL into the summer and continue with focused QUALITY buying.

Could you imagine the madness if we got the deal sheet in. I don't think its him though. Could be any number of people, the team is taking photos right now.

Was just about to edit my original post, he followed that tweet up by saynig OL wanted 80m Euro and we were ready to talk to negotiate but we didnt have an agreement with Fekir so no point progressing.

Francois Piraux on twitter said Fekir turned down the opportunity to join, We were ready to pay amount requested and OL president was open to negotiation. Move was rejected from Fekir. Lack of Champs league hurt us on that one for sure.

Successful Window for me, all things considered. We solved our Goalkeeper position, brought in an immensely important midfielder, loaned a potentially dynamic midfielder and brought in the coach who convinced them all with Europa League football to join. Goalkeepers: Kepa, Willy, Green Defenders: Azpi, Zappacosta, Christensen, Rudiger, Luiz, Ampadu, Emerson, Alonso, Moses(? might be loaned, might be an attacker) Midfielders: Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic, Barkley, Loftus-Cheek, Drinkwater, Fabregas Attackers: Hazard, Pedro, Willian, Hudson-Odoi Strikers: Morata, Giroud, Tammy Abraham (expecting the Bats-Valencia loan) Our main concern is goals, I hope Morata finds his form and some confidence cause if he does we are rolling. Happy to see a nice youth imprint on the team as well. Tammy, Hudson-Odoi & RLC can hopefully produce and prove they belong.

Only the prem window closes today, Serie A is open until end of the month. Chelsea are focusing their time right now on incoming as the window closes in 90 mins. Bakayoko can complete his loan to AC milan any day between now and the end of the month. Same for any other loanees who might be going outside of the prem.

Just a note, Only the premier league window is closing today. We can still loan/sell players outside of the prem. Baka(Italy) Bats(Spain) Zouma & DD might be prem loans, Zouma could also be france. One of Bats/Tammy will be staying. At this moment I think that Tammy/RLC/DD will be staying. The rest loaned outside of prem.

I dunno, I think Fekir would have been a fluid front 3 attacker with Sarri. Kovacic/Kante cover so much ground they are perfect beside each other in midfield. Fekir/Hazard would have been free to roam and find pockets of space to cause trouble. Doesn't seem possible from a time standpoint now, nor do Lyon seem particularly down to cooperate as they hold the leverage.

Would you rather have someone who will definitely help us try to get back into the champions league then potentially leave us in a better position(he very well might stay) or use "our player" who has shown he hasnt adapted to this style of play & who the coach doesnt trust. I personally think its short sighted to be so concerned with it being a loan. We are better today with Mateo Kovacic than we were yesterday with Bakayoko. Loftus-Cheek will get his chances with a full slate of games.

hahah maybe the next game! no chance he starts vs Huddersfield after 1-2 days of training.

News of United going for Zouma on a permanent deal. I say Willian (45-50m) and Zouma (20-25m) equal Martial (65-70). All parties walk away happy, Zouma & Willian get to go back under Jose. Martial gets to escape. We get a young promising player while unloading a RW who doesn't produce enough and a CB who is never gonna get gametime in our new system. I fear this is one of those Logical moves that clubs are afraid to make.

Thrilled to have him here, his future will sort itself out. I think he will be a hit in the PL.

My Starting XI: Kepa Azpi Christensen Rudiger Emerson Jorginho Kante Barkley Pedro Hazard Morata I sadly think we will probably see Alonso over Emerson though and probably Luiz over Christensen.

supposedly today, I don't put any stock in a Daily Star report.

He is a smart, technically gifted attacking player. He can play anywhere across the 3 attacking spots, and even do a job in the most attacking midfielder(i don't see him there though) He is incredibly tricky, and has a nice left foot on him from distance. He can pick passes and draw fouls. He would be wonderful as a false 9 setup with Hazard/Fekir/Willian(or pedro) or he could play the right sided attacker and interchange with Hazard throughout the game drifting into dangerous spaces. His pace isnt electric but as @ja1 mentioned it is closer to B Silva type, although he is much physically stronger. If we do sign him, it will send a serious message to Liverpool/City that when we get up to speed we will be extremely difficult to handle.

Could also be filled in with youth players starting next summer, having that flexibility allows us to be able to pick and choose the QUALITY player in the market we want rather than the quantity approach. Morata - Tammy Abraham Fabregas - Mason Mount Luiz/Cahill/Alonso - Jay Da Silva, Reece James, Ampadu, Dujon Sterling, Trev Chalobah, Clark-Salter, Even Baba Rahman if he returns to full health.

Pedulla saying we are talking with Lyon for Fekir, they are raising the price. I'd expect them to start at Liverpool fee and with timing and leverage through a few more million on the asking price. somewhere between 55-60 would get the deal done. Chelsea will insist on the 53 agreed with liverpool

We will know for sure once Chelsea announces it. Lets all stop guessing (myself included) too many conflicting reports, we will find out soon enough.

He does love Inter, I still believe that if we were willing to pay the fee he would have come. Kepa loved Bilbao and came. Big jump in salary and the bright lights of Prem are tough to say no to. its all speculation now anyways as we didn't hit the release clause so we will never know.

Only chance we had was paying his release clause before it expired. I agree with you.

If Michy goes, than I fully expect us to have another attacker coming in. Most rumours point to Fekir. Doesn't make any sense to loan him if Sarri said he wants to work with him and we don't need to clear a Non-HG spot.