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He would bang them here i think, guy just has that strikers knack. He pops up in the right place and puts them home. Plus he has that nasty attitude people look for in a striker. This deal however will never happen before the deadline so lets not waste our time haha

Dimarzio reporting that we have agreed to a 1 year loan with 35m(Euro) option to buy. I hope he kills it and they buy him, 35m Euro is close enough to his price tag that we recoup most of an investment that never took off and certainly doesnt fit our current style.

I love his flexibility, He has played that deep role in his own way so realistically when Jorginho needs a rest he or cesc can fill in. He is mobile enough to cover for Kante, if he ever took a rest and he is skilled enough to play with both of them. It really is a wonderful signing, the option would be the cherry on top. Lets see what Sarri can do with them!

Nothing is confirmed until its official but Angelo Mangiante & Standard Sport written by Simon Johnson both mention it. I think it will probably be around 55-60m option. But nothing is ever confirmed until Chelsea announce officially.

I know it was against a tired Lyon side, but Kante looked better than I anticipated in his role yesterday. Jorginho found him with a lovely pass which he controlled and got a great chance out of. He was his normal self breaking up attacks, was hitting passes confidently. We might be seeing N'golo 2.0 this year. Excited to see how he continues to develop.

I was just trying to put it all together, There are rumours Sevilla is in for Batsman. If true, and Fekir does come I think we could potentially see a front 3 of Hazard/Fekir/Willian(or pedro) Both Hazard & Fekir can play the false 9 while being flexible to switch positions throughout the game. If we do loan Bats & Tammy that just leaves Morata & Giroud so I would expect that for sure. In an ideal world you're right, we would pull off that swap for Martial then trot out Hazard/Martial/Fekir, which is literally terrifying. But I don't think there is enough time to get it done, especially with an ego club like United. Even the Fekir deal is tough to pull off with this time frame left.

Happy to see there is an option to purchase at the end of the loan. Puts us in a wonderful position

One reason could be that we will settle our outgoing players during the rest of the month. all the other leagues windows are still open. Would make sense why we would focus only on incoming and giving Sarri as much time as possible to work and see who fits best, then shipping out the rest.

It really is quite the odd situation. I just feel like he wants to be valued and wanted, I don't think Madrid woo'd him the way they should have if they were serious about him. Even their fans seemed rather indifferent for him preferring their spanish stars and even Harry Kane instead of him! I thought for sure he was going to Madrid, but now I think with some love and Sarrismo he could genuinely stay.

If you're Hazard are you a slight bit let down that Madrid had the chance to go all out for you, but didnt? It seemed like they wanted him to make noise to get a cut rate price instead of valuing him as a Must have star. Perhaps its just my thinking but that might play into Chelseas favour. Feels to me like Neymar/Mbappe will be the Madrid focus from a marketing & goal scoring perspective at least, if we make Hazard the focal point in a Sarri system and pay him, I think he could stay.

Can we all not celebrate just for one day that Kovacic will be with us this season. Lets not forget who our other options were. His future will sort itself out, but what we do know is that in the arms race that is this seasons premier league Chelsea added 2 big guns today.

Dimarzio reports AC Milan want Bakayoko on Loan. mention of an option to buy. Loan is probably best for him. Lets see if this moves forward

I really wanted Leon Bailey, But this guy is one smooth cat. they are 1 & 1A for me. If we can actually close this deal that would be really something. Feels like if this gets done the Willian/Martial swap might not be so dead.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/08/07/chelsea-agree-world-record-71m-fee-sign-athletic-bilbao-goalkeeperkepa/ The arrival of Croatia international Kovacic on loan will raise further question marks over the futures of Tiemoue Bakayoko, Danny Drinkwater and Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Bottom of the article, seems to confirm the Kovacic Loan.

As far as reporters covering Chelsea he is the most reliable. He doesn't tweet all the rumors only when the deal is close to done.

Yes, Sorry i thought that was implied.

Matt Law in a tweet about Kepa mentioned the loan for Kovacic so that is a big name confirming our intentions for kovacic. @manpe I am worried about goals from Midfield as well, but this guy is crazy talented and could chip in somewhere like 5-7 goals a year, maybe more if he adapts to the system. Madrid deployed him deep and obviously had the goal threats. The key is he is extremely athletic and hardworking while possessing technical skill. Useful skills for Sarri

Outside of an official Chelsea press release this guy is as solid as it gets with Chelsea news. I am shocked, but delighted with this.

His biggest strength is his speed & dribbling ability. He is a hardworker while being technically gifted. Started as a #10 but has been deployed deeper by Inter & Madrid. He is hard working off the ball but isnt a destroyer like Kante/Fernandinho but his effort is definitely there on both ends. Is a fine passer but wont hit the killer pass like Fabregas/Jorginho. Doesn't seem to be much of a goal threat. For me he could fill in across any of our 3 midfield positions depending on opponents. He still has room to grow with consistent game time and fulfill his potential. But right now he can break the defensive lines and go on windy runs while also being a menace in defensive pressing. Only downside is lack of goal threat but maybe that can change with development or a different role in the system?

It very well might be too good to be true! don't pop the champagne until we see something a little more official. I am right there with you though.

would love to see a loan with option to buy type deal. Similar to James with Bayern.

Feels like below him, but with Potential to be world class. From what ive read/heard he is an insanely agile GK with great reflexes.

Could the board finally get the message and woken up? Shaping up to be a crazy 48 hours.

Would be a seriously strong end to the window is we bring in Kovacic/Kepa. Still some links out there for Zaha/Leon Bailey/Fekir. One of those would be icing on the cake. Might even be able to swap Willian for Martial then unload Morata by the end of august to somewhere hopefully on loan (Dortmund). All deals tough to get done, but the board seems to always wait until the last minute. In an ideal world we end with Martial/Kovacic/Kepa/RW (I am aware the odds of this are slim to none) Outgoing: H20 or Baka, Morata on loan to dortmund(my hope) Maybe even giroud to france?, Willian to United. We would have Martial/Bats/Tammy as strikers, Hazard/Pedro/CHO/New RW as attackers. Kante/Jorginho/Kovacic/Barkley/RLC/Fabregas for midfield and Kepa in net. THAT is a absolute best case scenario to end the window. I wont hold my breath though!

I agree for sure, I am still holding out hope a mid tier PL team will come for him, I saw a soft link to West Ham for him. The RLC conundrum is tricky, everyone wants him to come good but he hasn't really had a shot but you could argue he hasn't made the most of his opportunities either. I think no matter what his wishes are he stays until at least January. Who knows, be curious to see what we've got come Thursday, then see how we look when the other leagues windows are closed.