Vesper

that's the scenario that the hardcore Real Madrid lunatics are close to being pretty sure will happen and are pushing as though it is already etched in stone as fact IN 2022 1 They get Mbappe on a free 2 They get Camavinga on a free 3 They get Håland for €75m (£64m or so atm) 4 They get Kimmich for less than Håland in 2022 or on a free in 2023, and perhaps Goretzka too (new Kroos they call him, LOLOL) Both are due to Bayern not being able to match wage offers RM will make. 5 They go hard for de Ligt this window, or the next or the next (contract expires in 2024, so it would be 2023 that they can do the cheap manoeuvre) 6 They will get Salah this window or next (that is the least most likely to be seen being pushed, and the smarter ones say its thsi window or bust, as he turns 30yo in 11 months) 7 End game, once all that (or most all) happens, and that billion euro new stadium is pumping in over €120-150m plus new revenue each year, they can proceed to further rape every other team on the planet and take the best players possible for any and all positions down the road (I have seen some list out examples, like Alphonso Davies for LB, even the best young Brits, Foden (after Pep fucks off they say), Bellingham, Saka, Sancho (they deffo want Brits, I even saw MOUNT mentioned by a couple, roflmaooo), Hakimi (some are obsessed with getting him back, many had a fit RM did not match PSG, as they had right of first refusal). Basically ANY player from any team, and the most insane think they can also go in and mug Barca for De Jong, and Pedri (and Fati if he comes good after his horrific injuries). They are full blown megalomaniacs, and delusional (hopefully, my god, imagine if most of that actually happens, ffs). They do (and I do grudgingly admire that some of them have a grand vision and rationales) have a paradigm that IN THEORY makes some sense. Barca falls apart after Messi leaves, aided by RM ruthlessly raping them, the same for PSG, Bayern is financially handcuffed by too low revenue due to Bundesliga, Juve will pose no huge threat once they show they can take players like de Ligt form them, AC Milan simply never comes back to the level when they were often the best team on the planet for ages, and that leaves just the Big 4 EPL clubs (Manure, Citeh, us, Pool) to battle, and they wager Madrid is simply Irresistible (cue the song, lol) due to climate, stadium, reputation, lifestyle, etc etc etc., especially compared to the non London English clubs. Let us all hope it is a dystopian nightmare that never happens.

if CR7 comes back to the EPL, it will be to one club, Manure why would he come here? it is far too early in the window to assume anything about our sales and targets

taking CR7 now would make us look like a poundland Juve hard pass

lol sarcasm is now launching entire tangents on the merits of Pessi and Penaldo to Chels roflmaooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

in terms of 3 CB set-ups 3-1-4-2 or 3-5-2 or 3-4-2-1 or 3-4-1-2 or 3-4-3 or 3-3-3-1 or 3-3-1-3 or 3-3-2-2 or 3-1-3-3 or 3-2-4-1 or 3-2-3-2 or 3-2-2-3 or 3-1-5-1 or 3-5-1-1 or 3-2-1-3-1 many different options depending on opponent and who we put out there

£107.5m and do NOT forget the biggest Agent TUCHEL (whom he admires a lot) better late than never

The only CMF's who can get double figure league goals IMHO are (and NOT guaranteed) Sergej Milinković-Savić Marcos Llorente Ilkay Gündogan maybe Carlos Soler (he did this season, but not sure how he would adapt to the EPL from La Liga) maybe down the road Jude Bellingham

I do not know, I could be wrong, but it sure seemed like he was writing for them last year for a spell if he was not it means zero to me anyway I am not saying he is the gospel truth for transfer news, but what pure dross has he said in the past? (was it a complete lie à la Don Balon or IndyKaila level?) it hardly seems out of the realm of possibility to be talking to an unattached GKer with loads (181 games) of EPL experience and 96 Sr caps as our 3rd GKer we also need to loan Kepa and get a decent backup, as Mendy is gone foe a month or so to AFCON in half a year

and Eden going to RM (with huge add-ons that end up with us getting around £140m) and João Félix to AM all of these were over that or damn close (with add-ons in some cases, so I guess we would have to know the add-ons), all are well over £100m (CR7 to Juve was too, but he was £105m with little add-ons I think) Pogba must be close to £100m now, with inflation (as it was 5 years ago) so the over £100m club (with no inflation) has 8 members IF Mbappe and Håland both move this summer, it will have 9 members, and 10 transfers (Mbappe twice) Mbappe Neymar Eden Countinho Dembele Griezmann João Félix CR7 150m euros (the figure I have seen the most that was quoted as Dortmund's supposed price for Håland this summer) is £129m €150m makes sense as that is double his (again, supposed) release clause of 75m euros next summer

no, Phillips used to (no longer does) write for The Athletic too for a brief spell (and the Sun (Scottish, English, Irish) for ages, bleech), and at the Athletic there is also Simon Hughes (a scouser) over there, they had 3 Simons at one time also he writes here, so strange you slag him off https://www.talkchelsea.net/author/simon-phillips/page/8/ https://www.facebook.com/ChelseaFcFanclubsingblues/posts/1657740797760106 fucking Facebook, lolol

Simon Phillips is from The Athletic and has this board in his twitter profile

That MF of theirs, other than Verratti, is dire atm, even with Wijnaldum making it a bit better

here come the Hitler jokes, smdh Chelsea in talks to sign Wayne Hennessey The free agent is being looked at to replace Willy Caballero https://siphillipstalkschelsea.substack.com/p/sources-Chelsea-in-talks-to-sign

cannot blame him at all he is only 21yo he lives in one of the best smaller cities on the planet (San Sebastián) with just insane food, culture, etc, plus beaches and they just totally renovated their stadium to 40,000 and they have a great pipeline of young talent

https://www.planetfootball.com/nostalgia/now-chelseas-first-starting-xi-roman-abramovich/ On August 17, 2003, Chelsea played their first Premier League game under the ownership of Roman Abramovich. Things were about to get really exciting. Plenty of players – and managers – have come and gone since Abramovich took control of the club, but during that period Chelsea have won more trophies than any other English team, with five Premier League titles, six FA Cups, three League Cups, two Champions Leagues and two Europa League trophies added to their cabinet. Chelsea famously beat Liverpool 2-1 to secure Champions League football in the final match before the Abramovich buyout, and the opening fixture of the following season was also against the Reds. We’ve looked back at the starting XI that secured another 2-1 win that day at Anfield. Carlo Cudicini Cudicini had already been with Chelsea for three years before the arrival of Abramovich, establishing a reputation as one of the better goalkeepers in the Premier League. The Italian remained the club’s No.1 – while wearing No.23 – throughout 2003-04 before losing his place to Petr Cech the following season. But Cudicini stayed loyal to Chelsea until 2009 when he joined Tottenham. He returned Stamford Bridge as a club ambassador and assistant to Antonio Conte in 2016, with his role seeing him act as a ‘go-between’ to ease tensions between Conte and the board. Despite Conte’s sacking, Cudicini remained in both positions under Maurizio Sarri until the appointment of Frank Lampard. He is now Chelsea’s loan player technical coach. Glen Johnson Johnson was one of Chelsea’s debutants in Abramovich’s first match in charge, having been signed in a £6million deal from West Ham in what was the first transfer to be completed under the Russian. The England international never truly established himself at Stamford Bridge and was loaned out to Portsmouth after two seasons before joining them permanently. Some 14 years on from his Chelsea debut he was being linked with a move to Barcelona while playing for Stoke. The move never materialised, of course, and Johnson officially announced his retirement in January 2019 having been released by the relegated Potters at the end of the 2017-18 season. John Terry The last surviving player of the pre-Abramovich era, Terry eventually left Chelsea for Aston Villa at the end of 2016-17 having just lifted the fifth Premier League title of an outstanding 19-year career at Stamford Bridge. He was unable to help Villa back into the Premier League as a player, suffering defeat in the play-off final against Fulham in 2018, but he returned to the club later that year as assistant manager to Dean Smith as the club leapt that final hurdle against Derby County. Marcel Desailly A goalscorer in that crucial final-day victory over Liverpool the previous season, 2003-04 would prove to be Desailly’s final campaign in a Chelsea shirt. A legend of the game, Desailly now devotes his time to punditry and charity work. We spoke to him ourselves in 2018, with the World Cup winner confessing he does not particularly miss life as a player. “I have my charity work, I do some media and I have a life that is more simple than when you are a footballer.” Wayne Bridge Another Chelsea debutant on that day, Bridge had been signed from Southampton for £7million. His best moment in a Blues shirt would come later that season as he knocked Arsenal’s Invincibles out of the Champions League quarter-finals with the winning goal at Highbury. Bridge was never really fancied by Jose Mourinho and went on to join Manchester City, but the former England left-back told us he didn’t really appreciate his quality and thought the Citizens had paid too much for him. He retired in 2014 after a season at Reading and has since appeared on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here and regularly plays in poker events. Jesper Gronkjaer Scorer of the winner against Liverpool on the final day of the previous season, Gronkjaer began the new campaign by providing the assist for the opener at Anfield. The Dane went on to spend short spells at Birmingham, Atletico Madrid and Stuttgart before settling at FC Copenhagen. He retired from top-level football in 2011 but returned five years later to play for FC Graesrodderne (FC Grassroots), a Danish seventh-tier team set up in 2015 for former professional players who missed the game. Geremi The arrival of Jose Mourinho prompted the departure of many of the players who helped establish Chelsea in the top four of the Premier League, but the Portuguese kept Geremi around for three years, describing the versatile Cameroonian as “an important person and somebody we love very much” when he eventually left for Newcastle in 2007. He finished his career with AEL in Greece in 2011 and is now president of the Cameroonian players’ union, the African players’ union and vice-president of FIFPro. “I want to develop and improve football in Africa,” he told Goal in 2021. “People love football and it concerns me why our politicians don’t see its importance. Football made me what I am now.” Juan Sebastian Veron Neither Manchester United nor Chelsea ever really saw the best of Veron on a consistent basis, but he did smash home the opener at Anfield. Once Mourinho took over at Stamford Bridge the midfielder was immediately loaned out to Inter Milan. He briefly came out of retirement for a fifth spell at Estudiantes at the age of 42 in 2016 and is now the Argentinian club’s chairman. Frank Lampard Ranking alongside Terry as the lifeblood to Chelsea’s sustained success under Abramovich, the midfielder became an icon at the club before moving on in 2014. After retiring in 2017, Lampard established himself as one of the most articulate pundits on television before being appointed Derby County manager in the summer of 2018. After a season at Derby, he moved back to Stamford Bridge as the main man having been chosen to succeed Maurizio Sarri. In his first season in charge he led the club to a Champions League spot and the FA Cup final, but was sacked in January 2021 and replaced by Thomas Tuchel, who clinched the club’s second European Cup in May. Damien Duff The final debutant to start for Chelsea in the first match under Abramovich, Duff was the most expensive signing during the Russian’s first summer, costing £17million from Blackburn. Duff would go on to play the best football of his career under Mourinho before an unhappy spell at Newcastle was followed by a return to form at Fulham. His playing career ended with a spell at Shamrock Rovers, where he began his coaching career. He also had a role in the Republic of Ireland youth set-up, and in January 2019 he took over as Celtic’s reserve manager before being promoted to first-team coach a month later. Then, in April 2020, Duff was announced as assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland senior team. He stepped down from the role in January 2021. Eidur Gudjohnsen Another player to earn the trust of Mourinho, and arguably one of the most underrated forwards in Premier League history. He joined Barcelona in 2006 before going on to play for another 11 clubs in a nomadic end to his career, eventually hanging up his boots after 22 years in 2016 following a brief spell at Molde. He is now the assistant manager of Icelandic national team. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (sub) Did they sell him too soon? The striker came off the bench to score the winner at Anfield but left Stamford Bridge once Mourinho took over. He has gone on to manage Royal Antwerp, Burton Albion, QPR and Northampton Town and is now back at Burton for a second spell. William Gallas (sub) One of the few players to turn out for Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs before finishing his career with Perth Glory. Joe Cole (sub) Came off the bench to make his Chelsea debut at Anfield and, like Duff, played the best football of his career under Mourinho. His career in England petered out and he eventually retired in November 2018 after a spell with Tampa Bay Rowdies in the United Soccer League. He went back to Chelsea in a coaching role with the academy but quit in 2020 to pursue a head coaching role.

yes, the injuries did him pretty hard I think he comes back with a vengeance this season

you really think you could handle one of us Bajans? 😈

Nuno Espírito Santo, he is from São Tomé and Príncipe, mixed race, part black he has a black African grandfather

The Euro 2020 Fiver: meanwhile, in club football … New Spurs boss Nuno Espírito Santo. Photograph: Tottenham Hotspur FC/Getty Images Paul Doyle @Paul_Doyle PUTTING THE NOT EURO 2020 INTO EURO NOT 2020 Allegations have been made that if you read The Fiver backwards it contains hidden messages, often Satanic. There have also been claims that if you read it the right way, The Fiver is witty. A load of xollob, naturally. But rumours can stick so we feel obliged to declare loud and clear that The Fiver has never knowingly provoked laughter, nor does it see eye to eye with the devil, whose insistence on making work for idle hands has never slouched right with us. That does invoke one pertinent question, though: what becomes of idle feet? Rafael Benítez is a gamble that could expose Everton’s wider fragility | Andy Hunter Read more That, of course, is a pressing issue and not just because EN 2020 has been paused to allow Uefa to consider whether to play the tournament to a conclusion or just hand the trophy right now to England and their ruth captain, Sir Harry of Goals. While an entire continent waits for the suits to finish their deliberations, which are already on to a fifth course, club football has been carrying on with such vigour that even Daniel Levy has finally been able to find work for idle hands, deciding that Tottenham Hotspur’s future will be determined by Nuno Espírito Santo’s ability to revive Matt Doherty. Everton, meanwhile, have announced that Rafa Benítez is in for a hell of a season. In south London, meanwhile, Crystal Palace fans eagerly await official confirmation that they have a new manager, with leading candidate Patrick Vieira understood to be seeking clarification as to what the floppy-haired man with the blue and red tie meant when he said that, contractually speaking, Lionel Messi is now as much a part of the furniture at Selhurst Park as Wayne Hennessey, Joel Ward, Scott Dann, Nathaniel Clyne, Mamadou Sakho, Andros Townsend, Gary Cahill, James McCarthy and Connor Wickham. LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE! It’s just the Euros blog, which is here. QUOTE OF THE DAY “He’s mad humble” – David Sesay, former teammate of Jadon Sancho during his formative years, gives an insight to the England player, who is on his way to Manchester United in a £73m deal. Sanchoooooooo. Photograph: Eddie Keogh/The FA/Getty Images FIVER LETTERS “I am English by birth (although with a Croatian father) and have lived in Australia for more than 20 flamin’ years. Football is about as likely to come home as I am” – Julian Busic. “I have a great deal of respect for your fine, erudite and incredibly knowledgeable publication. No, really! However, $exually Repressed Morris Dancing Fiver seems to get a lot of bad press from you. Having said that, when I suggested to my better half that I would like to start a flamin’ Morris dancing ‘side’ here in Robertson, New South Wales, her response was: ‘If that’s on, then we’re then we’re not!’ And quoted Lysistrata to make her point. I’m guessing $exually repressed Morris Dancing Fiver chose dancing” – Tim Allen. Send your letters to [email protected]. And you can always tweet The Fiver via @guardian_sport. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Tim Allen. NEWS, BITS AND BOBS Germany’s interior minister has hit out at Uefa for allowing big crowds at the tournament during a spike in the coronavirus crisis from the Delta variant. “Uefa’s position is utterly irresponsible,” fumed Horst Seehofer. “I cannot explain why Uefa is not being sensible … I suspect it is due to commercialism.” Speaking of which, data published by Public Health Scotland shows that 1,991 people who later tested positive had attended one or more Euro 2020 events during their infection period, a time when they “may have unknowingly transmitted their infection to others”. Nearly two-thirds of cases reported travelling to London for the game against England. Expatriate England fans look like they’ll have to provide the non-band backing in the Rome quarter-final against Ukraine. “I do think there’s quite an army out there that might show up,” It’s Coming Homed Mary Handley, who lives in Italy. “If I can do it, I’m ready to do it, absolutely. We just need the authorities to help us out. I think the expats will respond to this, especially as the expat community tends to be – how can I put this – in the older bracket. So we probably all have our Italian vaccinations and we can get into the stadium without jumping through any more hoops.” Ukraine striker Artem Besedin could be sidelined for up to six months by the knee-knack suffered in Marcus Danielson’s red-card challenge against Sweden. “He is a fighter and said that even if he had his time over, he would not take away his leg and would still go to the end for the victory of our team,” tub-thumped UAF president Andriy Pavelko. “This is the manifestation of his true human and fighting qualities.” Artem Besedin is helped off at Hampden. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images Spain keeper Unai Simón insists the team aren’t glad to have avoided France after they lost to Switzerland. “It’s a quarter-final tie, we don’t depend on our opponents, we depend on ourselves,” he roared. “We play to win this Euros and we don’t mind who we play, to win this tournament we have to face the best teams.” And Belgium’s Dries Mertens is looking forward more than most to Friday’s quarter-final with Italy. “It is special to play against Italy because I’ve lived there for the last eight years and I know all their players,” tooted the Napoli man. NON EUROS BUSINESS Er, think we covered that earlier. Hang on … Declan Rice has turned down two contract offers from West Ham and wants to be informed of any bids amid interest from English clubs in Big Cup. STILL WANT MORE? David Hytner hails Raheem Sterling’s resilience as he rewards Gareth Southgate’s faith and then some. Jonathan Liew on England’s collective triumph. Marcus Christenson borrows Jonathan Wilson’s tactics whiteboard, gives it a good disinfecting and explains where Ukraine v England will be won and lost. Belgium and England are the big climbers in our latest EN 2020 power rankings. Go, go power rankings! Composite: Shutterstock; Tom Jenkins/The Guardian; Pool via AP; Pool/AFP/Getty Images Referees and VAR: good now apparently, writes Paul MacInnes. Rafa Benítez has the smarts to succeed at Everton but it’s still a big gamble, warns Andy Hunter. Catilin Murray assesses the current state of the USA! USA!! USA!!! women’s team and reckons their Olympic squad can atone for that 2016 flop. Oh, and if it’s your thing … you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. And INSTACHAT, TOO! IT WAS JUST MB@NTER

THIS (a full legal statement) needs to be the fucking law for every transfer!!! 🤬

let's get both! 😹😹

I rate him at £60m max (because of English tax) zero chance I would drop £100m on him, zero my top DMF targets are simple the pipe dreams Joshua Kimmich (IF he refuses to renew due to Bayern low-balling his salary, which is now in play but still a SUPER long shot, plus will not come into play until next summer,, as he is signed until end of June, 2023) Nicolò Barella (as close to a Kante type as there is out there, but he would be insanely expensive now, and no clue if he would leave Italy, he did not want to last time, when we made a big run at him) then the realistic trad DMF's Aurélien Tchouaméni Manuel Locatelli Declan Rice Boubacar Kamara (can play CB as well, and is now so cheap, as Marseille are financially fucked) Hybrids (CMF/DMF) all are teens atm Eduardo Camavinga turns 19 in 4 and a half months Jude Bellingham (give him another year or two, he just turned 18yo 2 days ago) Ryan Gravenberch turns 20yo in 10 and a half months, more CMF than DMF atm Bruno Guimarães

Pessi inbound! roflmaooooooooooooooooooooooooo 😹