Vesper

Gonzalo Higuain is just another Alvaro Morata per these shocking stats https://www.chelsea-news.co/2019/01/image-gonzalo-higuain-just-another-alvaro-morata-per-shocking-stats/ Chelsea are making attempts to sign Gonzalo Higuain from Serie A, and although Blues fans may be excited by that prospect, the Juventus striker is not an upgrade on Alvaro Morata. According to WhoScored, Chelsea will only be getting a striker hitting similar numbers to the player they are keen to move on. Both players have below 10 goals this season in their league campaigns and Europa League combined. In fact, Morata goes 168 minutes per goal as compared to Higuain’s 216.3 minutes before finding the back of the net this season. It’s understandable that Sarri wants his former red-hot striker to join him in England, but his days of scoring record-breaking 36 goals in a single season are over. Here’s the full comparison between the two stars by WhoScored. snip

We are crazy to not take a punt on him for £15.9m! been pushing him for months

CIES Football Observatory Monthly Report n°41 - January 2019 How important is ball possession in football ? http://www.football-observatory.com/IMG/sites/mr/mr41/en/ 1. Introduction The 41st Monthly Report analyses the link between ball possession and results in 35 championships from UEFA member associations for the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons (2017 and 2018 for the summer leagues). The data used was generated by the specialist InStatcompany, with which the CIES Football Observatory collaborates. The sample is made up of no less than 19,949 domestic league matches. The analysis focuses on both the results at match level and the rankings at the end of the season. Though the link between success and the three indicators for possession taken into account is undeniable, the report shows that it is only from a certain level that ball control allows teams to improve significantly their results. This is probably the source of the erroneous but widespread idea that possession is not a key factor for success. 2. Analysis by match The first type of analysis consists of crossing the percentage of ball possession with the average difference of goals per match. Possession was calculated on the basis of the actual amount of playing time. Figure 2 illustrates the positive link between possession and results. Nevertheless, a real disparity only starts to appear from a possession percentage of 57%. It is from this threshold that the dominant teams significantly increase their chances of victory. The second indicator analysed is the percentage of successfully completed passes by a team in comparison to the total of successful passes during a match. In this case also, a positive link with scores exists. However, up until a threshold of about 55%, the ability to complete more passes than one’s opponent does not have an impact on results. This confirms that possession must be sufficiently high to constitute a key factor for success. SNIP much more at the link

Woot, Lampard's Derby just knocked out SOTON away in pens Mount scored one of them

Nikola Kalinić is like buying another Giroud Gelson Martins is not good enough for Chelsea really depressed if either comes in middling shit buys

West Ham’s Piatek bid is bad news for Chelsea and AC Milan https://www.calciomercato.com/en/news/west-ham-s-piatek-bid-is-bad-news-for-chelsea-and-ac-milan-78428 According to what has been reported by Sportitalia, it is not just AC Milan who are in negotiation with Genoa over Polish forward Krzysztof Piatek – but also Premier League outfit West Ham United. West Ham, who successfully shopped in Italy over the summer to bring in Felipe Anderson from Lazio – who has been one of the Hammers’ best players this season, are now looking to Serie A again and, as per Sportitalia, have made a €35m offer for Piatek, which Genoa have reportedly rejected. Genoa value Piatek at €40m but will probably be unlikely to want to sell during January unless for a very profitable offer. If West Ham do beat AC Milan to the signing of Piatek, not only will the Rossoneri suffer but also Chelsea – who are waiting on Milan to sign a replacement for Gonzalo Higuain before the Argentine’s loan contract is cancelled and he joins Chelsea, as has been reported. snip

If we take either of these two I am going to lose my mind NO and NO'er

wow

ATM prefer Hirving Lozano at LW, unless Bailey comes as backup RW (instead of Malcom) at a fair price. Bailey would struggle at LW IMHO. My big 'get it done' post had LW Pulisic LW Lozano RW Suso (due to Nicolas Pepe crazy price of £72m set by Lille) RW Malcom Malcom plus cash deal for Willian looks dead, so in my actual true wish list (assuming Eden and CHO leave) I would love our wingers to end up after summer as LW Pulisic LW Lozano RW Nicolas Pepe (get Lille to come to £55 to £60m) RW Leon Bailey RW/LW backup Pedro Add in Jovic and Piątek both (or just Icardi) Tammy as 3rd striker (if just Icardi comes then I guess keep Giroud and let him battle it out with Tammy) that would be a wicked front attacking 3, stronger than we have now, even with Eden and CHO leaving.

Bailey is a left-footed inverted RW, CHO is clearly better on the LW.

Teenagers who cost £30m or more, inflation adjusted, and including add-ons. For euro-denominated buys, I used historical FOREX rates for the euro v GBP at time of sale and then calculated the resultant GBP amount into 2019 quid so we have a truly accurate snapshot, Figures are in 2019 GBP Antonio Cassano Roma 2001 £43.5m Anderson Manc U 2007 £39m Marquinhos PSG 2013 £32m Javier Saviola Barca 2001 £55m Wayne Rooney Manc U 2004 £50.5m Gabriel Jesus Manc Shitty 2017 £31m Renato Sanches Bayern 2016 £34m Lucas Moura PSG 2013 £41m Luke Shaw Manc U 2014 £37.5m Anthony Martial Manc U 2015 £63m (huge amount of add-ons, almost all already hit) Vinícius Júnior Real Madrid 2018 £55.5m (with add-ons) Kylian Mbappé PSG 2017 £175m (loan plus fee plus add-ons, all of which have been already hit) Rodrygo Real Madrid (summer 2019 or December 2019 he comes (Santos are trying to keep him till end of the year, deal was done this summer, already paid for) £41m If anyone has anymore I would be happy to do the maths and give you the 2019 pound sterling rate, inflation adjusted.

I am all down for selling Sarri if he is going to keep Willian as one of our starting wingers for next 3 years, lolol

If he did he needs to be sacked ASAP. Not joking.

HELL YES Coutinho is game changing level. Proven monster in the EPL too, plus Victimpool would just lose their shit!!! Imagine him knocking in a brace including the game winner next year in a 3 4 win at Anfield aka Klopp's House of Hubcaps

So who should we sign? Completely disagree on Icardi btw. He is the real deal.

From what I have seen I woukd say no. He is a part time starter at Sassuolo, hardly a powerhouse club, but he is only 21 (turned 21 3 days ago). I hope he isn't an Emerson clone. I have no idea why we just don't buy a true quality LB like Chilwell, Firpo, or Alex Telles. All 3 of those (or the ultimate buy, Lucas Hernandez) would (well should, as you never know with Sarri) instantly bench Alonso. I guess we shall see with Rogerio. Maybe I an underestimating him, but he was barely ever in my evaluations (quite extensive) for LB targets. If he is so good, why are Juve letting him go? Especially as they must rate EMERSON as better. Not looking so good to me.

Matt Law's Chelsea briefing Mounting pressure on Mason's prospects Chelsea’s hunt for a midfield replacement for Cesc Fabregas has forced them to consider the development of Mason Mount. Mount is currently on a season-long loan at Derby County and has already earned an England senior call-up for the games against Croatia and Spain last October. Chelsea identified both Cagliari’s Nicolo Barella and Zenit St Petersburg’s Leandro Paredes as potential replacements for Fabregas, but conversations within the club also centred on Mount. Scouts were asked to assess whether or not they felt 21-year-old Barella or 24-year-old Paredes would provide a direct block to Mount’s path towards Chelsea’s first-team squad. Fearing they are fighting a losing battle to try to keep 18-year-old Callum Hudson-Odoi, who has been the subject of a £35 million bid from Bayern Munich, Chelsea are determined not to face a similar scenario over 20-year-old Mount. The Blues are well aware that English and foreign clubs will pounce on any opportunity to try to convince Mount to seek first-team football elsewhere. And Chelsea are determined to be able to demonstrate to Mount that he will be given every chance to succeed at the club he first joined at the age of six. Having spent a hugely valuable season on loan with Championship promotion chasers Derby under the watch of Chelsea legend Frank Lampard, Mount is likely to go on loan to a Premier League club next season. Ideally, Mount would be able to stay at Derby if they get promoted but if they do not then the youngster is likely to be loaned elsewhere to get top-flight experience. Chelsea’s hope is that he will then be ready for their squad and compete for a regular first-team place. Given the club’s high turnover of managers, it cannot be taken for granted that current head coach Maurizio Sarri will feel the benefit of Mount’s development but Chelsea are determined not to allow him to become disenchanted.

Well, we could pay them for doing it, as part of the swap

Bayern has option to buy for £39.5m. We should get him on loan now and swap CHO after they exercise option in summer CHO is leaving anyway, might as well get fair value

UEFA charges Chelsea with 'racist behaviour' after investigation into anti-Semitic chants https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/sport/football/uefa-charges-chelsea-racist-behaviour-after-investigation-into-anti-semitic-chants?variant=tb_v_1

Pulisic signing hampering Chelsea bid for €40m PSV star https://www.teamtalk.com/news/pulisic-signing-hampering-chelsea-bid-for-e40m-psv-star PSV winger Hirving Lozano looks certain to reject a move to Chelsea, while Napoli have also entered the race for his signature. Blues boss Maurizio Sarri has been chasing the attacker since the start of the season but Gazzetta dello Sport claims that Lozano’s agent, Mino Raiola, would prefer to sell his client to Inter Milan or Napoli due to the number of wingers already on Chelsea’s books. The Stamford Bridge outfit have already announced that Borussia Dortmund attacker Christian Pulisic will be joining them next summer and that appears to have ended Chelsea’s hopes of bringing in Lozano. Napoli, meanwhile, are on the hunt for another wide player after target Hamed Traore decided on a move to Fiorentina from Empoli. Carlo Ancelotti’s men are reported to have already bid €30m for the player, including bonuses, but PSV want nearer to €40m for Lozano – a player who really caught the eye in this season’s Champions League group stage in games against Barcelona, Inter and Tottenham. The report goes on to claim that the Naples club are now the firm favourites to beat Chelsea, Inter and Real Madrid to the 23-year-old Mexico international, who has also previously been linked with Manchester United. snip Lozano has been playing LW lately though

Wait till you see Rogerio, the new Emerson. Shoot me now