Vesper

SELL HIM

Robertson is Scottish.

LOL at the article intoning that having 4 CB's is too many ask Pep how that worked out!!!!! plus lol

the fans can fuck off ridiculous vote, ballot-stuffing by the scouse scum brigades

Miguel Almirón scored again, the lad is on fire since finally breaking his duck.

He is a tad thin for my preference, although he can still fill out. I rate Ozan Kabak of Schalke above him in terms of 19yo CB's.

Why would we sell him? You clearly are trying to utterly misrepresent my views on initial buys, sales, and age of players. Not a good look. Very passive aggressive of you.

My Baggies mate wants him BAD

Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho is more worried about Middlesbrough than January transfer window 'It will be a difficult match, we know what Championship teams can do,' said the Spurs boss https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/tottenham-manager-jose-mourinho-more-17559852

All in my last post said I can SO see the following happening in order of the post above we stick with Willy as back-up keeper I posited no CB moves above so we cannot cock that up We end up doing NOTHING for LB and roll on with exactly what we have now we do not sell Kante (who will start to plummet in value after summer 2020) do not get a class AMF we do a dice roll for some potential bust DMF/CMF (there are so many out there linked with us) Willian walks on a free (meaning two wingers needed), we fail at Sancho and buy Zaha and some other massively less talented winger we fail on both Werner and Lauraro and settle for Dembele plus some third stringer like the one I posted and we fuck up most of those sales yep I can SO see that happening btw, the above scenario of fails-to-buys and then potentially shit buys will still cost over £200m gross AND we lose a shit tonne in sales revenue (if we shit out a lot of those sales and hold onto other players who will soon plummet in value) and only marginally improve the squad (Dembele as backup striker is potentially the main improvement as to be honest, Zaha is really not a GIANT improvement over the Willian of 2019/20 and I can so see us fucking up the other winger slot), plus if we cock up the DMF/CMF it may be Bakayoko 2.0) and still have gaping holes (hello LB nightmare still and NO creative AMF) and keep the systemic issues around (hello square beg/round hole Kante)

MOST OF THIS FOLLOWING IS ALL IN THE SUMMER Sell Kante, buy Lautaro Martinez instead of Werner with the cash time to cash in on wee baldy this summer (our last chance to get huge money for him), he simply is not worth eating around £100m for what we brings to the team the way we use him now and the style of football we play he needs to play in a counter attacking system, which we are not going to play buy Rice (especially if West Ham is relegated) in the summer to replace on the roster (or Camavinga) go for Gosens at LB now (work out a swap deal with Emerson or even Alonso for him) sell the other LB in the summer and buy Alaba (who can play CB too, there is your ball playing CB option as well) probably need to renew Willian as we cannot buy two wingers in the same window due to other needs if Villa are relegated, I would move for Grealish at AMF, even if not, still would try leaves as our 25-man roster 3 GK Kepa plus but a new b/u (Willy will be 39 ffs), and then Cumming 3rd string 4 CB Rudiger, AC, Tomori, Zouma 2 LB Alaba, Gosens (Alaba who can play CB if needed) 2 RB Reece, Azpi 2 DMF Jorginho, Declan Rice (or Camavinga who is also a CMF) 3 CMF Kovacic, Barkley, RLC (also can play AMF) 2 AMF Grealish (or some other great AMF creative, Maddison will break this budget unfortunately and Leicester will fight to the death to keep him thsi summer), Mount 4 Wingers Sancho, CHO, Puli, Willian 3 Strikers Tammy, Lautaro Martinez (or Werner if that fails), Josh Maja (Bordeaux, we have scouted him, will not cost much) sell (on top of all the ones we already have sold) Kante, Alonso, Emerson, Giroud, Bats, Drinkwater (good luck) Bakayoko, Zappacosta, Baba, Kenedy (may walk on a free), Pedro (may walk on a free) van Ginkel (may walk on a free), Musonda, Lewis Baker, Izzy Brown, Piazon, Moses, Mario Pašalić (Atalanta is buying him), Jamal Blackman, Nathan Baxter, Jake Clarke-Salter, Matt Miazga, Richard Nartey, Jacob Maddox, Luke McCormick, Danilo Pantić the money definitely works, 100%, to do it all, as long as we sell all that utter dregs (and add that to what we already have sold in the past windows) and Kante obviously the hard ones are (1) Lautaro or Werner, (2) Sancho, (3) Grealish (or some other great AMF in his rough price range, Maddison will cost too much unless we dump Alaba, go cheaper for Gosens' LB partner (I will not get into all that here, plus as I said Leicester will be absolute cunts to deal with for Maddison), and probably also give up on Lautaro and all out go for lower priced (by a lot) Werner), (4) Rice or Camavinga, and (5) Alaba IF Kante is not sold, no chance we will pull all 5 positions (at least those WC or potentially WC players, plus we then will have to admit we are going to never get over 100m (and probably a LOT less) for Kante (plus all the chaos he causes by us forcing him into the lineup at a poor position for him) I am OVER Chilwell, not a chance I can justify £80m for him, HELL NO, that would be disastrous if he sucks up so much of the budget (especially if we stupidly do not sell Kante) that we cannot land Sancho AND one of the two BIG strikers, plus a wicked good AMF (if Kante is not sold, I think we will not move for a DMF of true quality, which is also fucked up) If we get Gosens, and then another decent LB, missing out on Alaba will not completely gut me as long as we bang on nail all those other options

Christensen passes physical test after Lampard rejects talk of move to AC Milan (paywalled but I obtained a uni discount for a subscription) https://theathletic.com/1521864/2020/01/12/christensen-chelsea-transfer-lampard-ac-milan/ At a time when questions over his long-term future had started to be asked, Andreas Christensen was given just the kind of answers he wanted to hear. A day after coach Frank Lampard emphatically dismissed AC Milan’s chances of signing the defender this month, the Chelsea coach proved they weren’t just empty words by starting him against Burnley. Both Chelsea and Christensen may look back on this day later in the year as a very significant moment in their relationship. The Denmark international’s contract expires in 2022 and The Athletic understands talks over an extension have yet to begin. Once a player gets to within two years of their deal coming to an end, it is normal for both parties to decide whether to hold discussions, or not, over continuing their relationship. Certainly the club don’t like these situations to drift, especially if they are thinking about selling because transfer values can begin to depreciate. As things stand, it is believed negotiations are more likely to begin in the summer with both parties relaxed about the current situation. It helps that Lampard was so unequivocal about the 23-year-old remaining at Stamford Bridge in his pre-match press conference. “Yes, I can rule it out (a move to AC Milan),” he said. “I like Andreas as a player. I’ve always liked him. I used to train with him and saw the talent coming through. “He is certainly a player that gets slightly misjudged on age. I think he’s been around a long time and went on loan at a young age and did particularly well and people think that he’s probably older than he is. He’s still relatively young so that’s absolutely on his side. “What I want from Andreas is to be the best he can be. When you see him and you see the height, the athleticism and the quality on the ball, particularly in choice of pass, then I think he can be all the things I want him to be and I want to work towards that. He knows that. “What I will say is those little bits in his game can really make him the fantastic centre-half I think he can be.” But Christensen will be feeling more assured over his role after passing a physical test against Burnley at Stamford Bridge. This was just his 10th start in the Premier League this season, with the majority of those appearances coming in the first few months. A hamstring injury suffered while playing for Denmark in October put him out of the reckoning for several weeks. By the time he recovered, Fikayo Tomori had established himself, Kurt Zouma was Lampard’s regular first choice and Antonio Rudiger was about to stage a comeback after knee and hip problems. Christensen has found it difficult to earn a place in the side, though his cause has not been helped by a disappointing display, along with many Chelsea players, in a 3-1 defeat at Everton last month. It was an occasion where Everton appeared to outmuscle and unnerve him. It was in stark contrast to an assured outing in the 2-1 victory against Aston Villa three days before. In that fixture, Christensen boasted the third-most passes in the Chelsea XI (68), with a 96 per cent completion rate. He made two tackles, a clearance, two interceptions, gained possession 10 times and produced one block. He also lost possession on just three occasions, whereas his central-defensive partner Kurt Zouma gave it away 11 times. Conversely, his contribution at Goodison Park was far less effective. There were no tackles — a worrying statistic for most defenders — plus he regained possession just four times and lost it six. It is perhaps this inconsistency Lampard was referring to when he elaborated on why Christensen has not been playing too often of late. “The reality is we have competition at centre-back,” he said. “They’re not easy conversations for me because I have to choose on what I see and generally most weeks, two of them won’t be that happy. One particularly not happy. “But as with all the players I want to work on parts of the game I think they can improve and with Andreas you can watch him against Aston Villa and he was immense. He was great to watch, he had everything in a centre-back, and then sometimes if we are coming up against teams that are physical and ask a question then Andreas really has to stand up. I don’t mind saying it because I think he knows he needs to know that.” Lampard was obviously laying down a challenge with the visit of Burnley, who are renowned for their physical approach, in mind. The negative reaction among Chelsea fans on social media to Christensen’s selection ahead of Zouma betrayed a lack of confidence in his ability to pass the test. But Chelsea kept their first clean sheet at home in the Premier League since November and Christensen was assured for long periods up against the powerful Chris Wood. No player in blue made more tackles or clearances (3) and his percentage of total duels won (72.7) and aerial duels won (62.5) was better than that of his centre-back partner Rudiger (55.6 and 57.1). Burnley did have one set-piece goal ruled out by VAR and another chance headed off the line by Ross Barkley, but Christensen wasn’t at fault for either. He will be hard to drop on this form and Lampard will have a tough decision to make for the away game at Newcastle on January 18, although the opportunity to rotate may be taken anyway with Arsenal visiting Stamford Bridge on January 21. Still, it should be pointed out Christensen has a good relationship with the former Chelsea midfielder and this has remained the case even without playing time. It is believed Christensen would have started one of Chelsea’s best wins of the season — the 2-0 victory at Tottenham — in the middle of the back three had he not fallen ill the night before. Chelsea are all too aware that the centre-back, who joined the academy when he was 16, has many admirers on the continent. They have had to rebuff enquiries from Barcelona, Juventus and Bayern Munich to name just three in the past couple of seasons. Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach, where he was on loan between 2015-17, would love nothing more than an opportunity to sign him on a permanent basis. But sporting director Max Eberl is fully aware of the difficulty to do just that. Even if Chelsea are tempted to cash in, they would demand a figure in excess of £40 million. Eberl has still been asked about the possibility back in Germany this month and said: “We don’t need to talk about the quality of Andreas Christensen. I do not know whether it (a move) could be implemented. “I have not spoken to Chelsea. The fact is that Andreas still has two years left on his contract there. The transfer (fee) required to sign players from England who do not seem to have a major role is crazy.” Chelsea will have second thoughts, even if a sizeable offer is made, about selling such a young international and risk the possibility of seeing him fulfil his potential elsewhere. It has been assumed he will make way should the club carry out their plans to re-sign Nathan Ake from Bournemouth or target another centre-back, but that is not the case. Ake’s ability to use his left foot is certainly an attractive proposition, but that means he is also a candidate to be fielded at left-back should Marcos Alonso or Emerson be sold. Things can change very quickly in football, but it would be a surprise if Christensen isn’t seen at Chelsea for many more years to come.

IF Alaba is around £45-50m then I can be persuaded to accept him over Telles, but I really want Gosens NOW am 100% sold on him as a great attacking left fullback, left wingback, and even maybe LMF/RW in a pinch he screams Chels quality to me gut feeling strictly but I truly like the cut of his jib I think he can do major damage under the Lamp's system he is MILES beyond the dregs buys of Zappacosta, and Baba and the utterly mediocre (for the EPL) Emerson he is like a far better defending so much faster, much stronger, far more driven Alonso (he is only 1 and a half inches shorter than the turtle too, so adds greatly needed height) Emerson as bait for Atalanta surely can help close a deal as Serie A LOVES Emerson (look at how long Juve have been trying to prise him away from us, under both Massimiliano Allegri and now the old smoker Sarri) He is HG in Italy, which is a huge advantage. We have already scouted him, so let's get it done!!! Lotthar Matthäus believes Atalanta's Robin Gosens deserves a shot in the German national team. https://bulinews.com/news/4269/lothar-matthäus-atalantas-robin-gosens-deserves-be-called-for-germany Lothar Matthäus has urged Germany coach Joachim Löw to call up Atalanta's Robin Gosens for the national team. Gosens, who can play at left-back and as a left midfielder, has made an impression on Matthäus with his performances for Atalanta over the past few seasons. "With the affinity I have for Italy, Robin Gosens is no longer a nobody to me. He has been playing at a high level for two years. He's dangerous in front of goal, and I think he's capable of playing internationally. He has proven that in the Champions League," Matthäus, a former Inter player, wrote in a column for Kicker. "I don't see why Löw shouldn't test him. He's very well trained tactically. That's why I would like to see him in the German national team," he added. The 25-year-old has made 21 appearances for Atalanta this season, racking up seven goals and four assists. snip Matthäus is notoriously hard on players too, so if he rates Gosens, that is a big deal

Conor Gallagher recall could damage his development – Staying at Charlton is the answer https://thechelseablog.org/2020/01/14/opinion-conor-gallagher-recall-could-damage-his-development-staying-at-charlton-is-the-answer/ Reports are suggesting the young loan star is set to return to Stamford Bridge. The 19-year-old has shown great progess with his talent being nurtured at The Valley. Gallagher joined Charlton last summer. In 26-appearances, he has six-goals and three-assists to his name. The Addicks form has dropped since an impressive start. However, the Blues academy graduate is one of the first names on the team sheet every week. Football.london are exclusively claiming the youngster will not return to stake a claim for a place in Frank Lampard’s starting line-up. Instead, he will continue his development by going out on another loan. Last month Burnley were linked with a potential move, and Norwich are another premier league club showing interest. Another spell in the Championship is a possibility – West Brom, Milwall, QPR, and Swansea are reportedly keeping an eye on Gallagher. A premier league move would be a step up, and aid his development. However, the 19-year-old will not be guaranteed first-team action. A move to another championship club would seem like a step sideways. For me, Gallagher has learned a lot from his time with Lee Bowyer. He’s a first-team regular, and settled at the Valley. Once the youngster has a season under his belt, he will then be ready for a step up. Whether than be a premier league loan, or a place in the squad at Stamford Bridge. snip

‘It isn’t a statue of Zlatan anymore, it’s a symbol of betrayal and greed’ – How and why the Ibrahimovic divide has flared up again in Sweden https://theathletic.com/1530393/2020/01/13/zlatan-statue-malmo-hammarby-sweden-ibrahimovic/ Half-past three, Saturday afternoon in a south Stockholm bar on Folkungagatan — the street of the People’s King. Fans sporting green colours are sipping Kennedy beer while watching Cagliari versus Milan in Serie A. The bar is busy, but the atmosphere is sedate. Suddenly there are a few oohs. Milan have just hit the post with a header. The screen fills with the face of the player involved. Everyone knows his name, the would-be people’s king. In the bar there are knowing looks, quiet smiles. This is Hammarby-land and Hammarby IF is the Stockholm club Zlatan Ibrahimovic stunned Sweden and football by buying into in late November. That was considerably less predictable than Ibrahimovic hitting a post, even at 38. A few minutes later he scores, the first goal since returning to Italy from LA Galaxy a fortnight ago. Zlatan is back, says his statuesque celebration. The punters’ murmurs of approval are a little louder now. Yet there is a discernible hesitation. As longtime Hammarby fanzine writer Pernilla Olsson explains, who Ibrahimovic is and what he has done by investing in Hammarby rather than his native Malmo, makes him “this bomb.” All of Sweden is nervous, awaiting the fall-out, including Hammarby. There has, of course, been collateral damage already some 400 miles south in Malmo. There they erected a statue in honour of their hometown hero on October 8th. Ibrahimovic unveiled it and declared to his 6.3m Twitter followers: “We are Zweden!!!” The capital Z; the people’s king; Ibrahimovic felt like a unifying figure. His contribution to Swedish football and Swedish life over the past two decades has been huge and mostly positive. Then, seven weeks later, out of nowhere on his Instagram account, Ibrahimovic posted a new football message. This one was rather more cryptic. It was a hologram of Hammarby’s green and white jersey, which revolved to show his name on the back. A third image, of Hammarby’s crest, then emerged and Sweden went into meltdown. “WTF! is what I thought,” says Olsson. “I thought it was a joke. “Then we had 24 hours of speculation. Zlatan’s brother, or brother-in-law, is very into e-sports and we thought maybe it was him joining. Then this bomb blew up. “I’m a teacher. It was parents-teacher conference day and every parent — the fathers — came in and the first thing they said was: ‘Pernilla, what do you think about Zlatan!’ snip My bonus inside Stockholm info 'Kennedy beer' is S:t Eriks KX Speciallager (a collab between him and S:t Eriks brewery here in Stockholm) http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/galatea/pressreleases/s-t-eriks-bryggeri-lanserar-en-oel-med-kennedy-bakircioglu-2845337 Kennedy Bakircioglü was a legendary Hammarby player who infamously did this (after scoring a free kick versus IFK Göteborg) the video is semi taking the piss btw (you have to understand Swedish humour, as they do not ever 'break' the inside joke, BUT the beer thing is 1000000% real, it actually did happen) S:t Eriks brewery used to brew this ale below (it was a limited edition Belgian Ale) it was named after me (just kidding although my wifey knows the brew-master (she retired after brewing this, it was her last beer for them) after meeting her at a beerfest with my BIL she bought me a case for my birthday (it came out a day before my 25th birthday)

at LB it is easy I want BOTH of the following Sell fucking Alonso to Inter and buy Alex Telles (£32m RC) tracking to 10 goals and 16 assists, has over 50 assists as a LB (including CL) in the past 3 and half years, and he is a SUPERB corner taker and then (or first) swap for Robin Gosens (offer a straight swap of Emerson for him to Atalanta) tracking to at least 15 goals and 11 or 12 assists (over a 3500 min season) tall, pacy, solid defensively, motor on him, typical high end German fullback with a great shot and cross they are almost the exact same age (28 days apart) at 25yo Emerson is an Italian citizen and speaks (obviously) fluent Italian and has played for years in Serie A and is much more suited for Serie A (Gosens is built for the EPL as any LB is atm) they are both worth around £30m (hell, I would pay £35-40m for Gosens, I have watched a tonne of his games now, he is the real deal, so I would even toss a bit of cash in the deal to get it done) done and dusted it is madness to keep trotting out Azpi at LB he crushes, just kills, our offensive play on the left, the other two (regardless of how in demand they are, and they are in demand) are dogshit for us, the EPL, and the way we play LB is by far my number one enraging thing atm about the club (Kante will be soon be as well come summer if we do not do something to sort him now) we have NO QUALITY PLAYERS THERE AT ALL (the only position you can say this about) FUCK waiting for the insanely over priced Chilwell (who is massively slumping atm and is so NOT a guarantee but anyway) fuck paying 100m euros for Gaya or 60m for the super short Grimaldo Theo Hernandez I also rate, but he will be shit hard to pull from AC Milan (plus they just have been bought by the 2nd richest man on the planet, so have literally a 100 billion fortune backing them now) Alaba is a pipe dream, Bayern are not selling him now or in the summer, they will probably wait until summer 2021, (when he is 29yo) to sell him (even if they would sell him now, they would want at least £70m, no way do I believe they will sell him for 60m euros in January, which I have seen tossed out there)

I do not often push alternative, off-the-wall theories but I wonder if Howe played Ake at LB to scare us off as he is desperate to keep him and we are the only team that simply can snap our fingers and take him back, and, due to the fact Ake is left-footed and has played LB before, it has to go into our calculations a bit so showing that Ake sucks at LB (he does, at least in that game) maybe Howe was hoping that his poor play there diminishes our interest in him also, if he had a screamer at CB, then that would further pique our interest crazy thoughts and probably not true, but it did work on me, as his left-footedness is a big draw for me, but after that display, no thanks for him at LB ever with us, unless it was an extreme emergency

Frank Lampard opens up to Chelsea FC fans about Ross Barkley Frank Lampard explains why he's been pleased by Ross Barkley's recent form for Chelsea FC https://www.thesportreview.com/2020/01/chelsea-fc-news-ross-barkley-lampard/ Frank Lampard had admitted that he was delighted by Ross Barkley’s performance for Chelsea FC in the Blues’ 3-0 win over Burnley at the weekend. The 26-year-old midfielder played the full 90 minutes as he helped to inspire Lampard’s men to a comfortable and important Premier League victory in front of their home fans. Barkley has been struggling with a string of injury problems in recent months but the England international now looks to have shaken off the issues. The former Everton midfielder will now be hoping to hold down a more regular spot in the first team at Stamford Bridge in the second half of the season. Barkley has started just six games in the Premier League all season and he is yet to score or notch up an assist in the English top flight. However, Blues boss Lampard has clearly been pleased by what he has seen from Barkley in recent weeks. Speaking to Chelsea FC’s website, Lampard said: “I speak a lot with Ross and I really like him. “He came to me a couple of weeks ago and said he was starting to feel good. It was a niggly injury, but he’s just starting to feel absolutely released from it. “This was the performance [against Burnley] we want out of Ross. It was so positive and you saw his quality on the ball; he can hit a right-foot ball, left-foot ball, take the ball well. He looked confident. “That’s part of Ross’s game you could maybe question if you look from the outside: how confident is he when things go against him slightly? “This was exactly what Ross can do; an England player, playing for Chelsea, has given me a lot of thinking to do with that performance. “He just needs to train well and he needs to play well – and he played well against Burnley. He needs to continue like that.” Barkley has scored twice in the cup competitions for Chelsea FC this season. He will be hoping to feature when Chelsea FC travel to Newcastle United in the Premier League on Saturday night. snip

Jose Mourhino: Harry Kane could miss Euros for England https://www.metro.news/jose-mourhino-harry-kane-could-miss-euros-for-england/1872858/

The Sun has always been poor, horrific even, with gossip and non-factual shit but this window they are now at a level of just pure lies and pure fiction on most all to do with transfer market news they literally are making shit up on most articles I will never again post anything from them I think all their articles should be self banned from the board voluntarily by other posters (just a suggestion) it isn't just rumours, they literally are lying over things, not even using shaded language this was the straw that broke the camel's back for me it is all a flat out lie https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/10708648/piatek-tottenham-transfer-ac-milan-kane/ the fuckers said it was DONE, and went into great detail on payment and then even added the 'coming for the medical' part they have been called out on it by other sites so no more Sun from me I hope all choose this path as well

The stadium is a huge issue the cost of building it doesn't count versus FFP and it shorts us at least £50m plus in game-day and lux box revenue per year

How Tottenham overtook Chelsea and Arsenal to become London's richest football club https://www.cityam.com/how-tottenham-overtook-chelsea-and-arsenal-to-become-londons-richest-football-club/

€40 million (£34 million)

The Blues had revenues of £452.2million in 2018/19 according to the latest Deloitte Money League. It's a return that makes them the ninth richest club in the world, but not the top club in London. Tottenham Hotspur claimed that title last season by reaching the final of the Champions League. Despite this they've fallen down the overall rankings as other clubs have grown much faster. Back in 2008/09 Chelsea were actually the fifth richest club in the world, a position they held up to the 2011/12 campaign. https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/sports-business-group/articles/deloitte-football-money-league.html#

Athletico Paranaense president confirms Arsenal are interested in Bruno Guimaraes but will have to fight off competition from Benfica who have already bid for midfielder Reports said Arsenal and Chelsea had revived their interest in Bruno Guimaraes But Athletico Paranaense's president said Benfica have already submitted a bid The 22-year-old has been watched by Arsenal and Chelsea scouts recently https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-7883809/Athletico-Paranaense-president-confirms-Arsenal-interested-midfielder-Bruno-Guimaraes.html