Vesper

Maresca’s comments about Casadei show he’s ready to reinvent midfielder https://Chelsea.news/2024/10/marescas-comments-about-casadei-show-hes-ready-to-reinvent-midfielder/ Enzo Maresca spoke to the TNT Sports cameras ahead of kickoff in tonight’s game against Gent, and his comments about Cesare Casadei were very interesting. It was quite subtle, but when asked what the Italian brings to his midfield, Enzo revealed quite a lot about his thinking. It seems that the youngster, more known for his attacking ability, is now considered a number 6 option in this B team, which otherwise lacks midfielders happy to sit deeper. “His physicality is strong… he can help us off the ball, in the way we press,” Maresca explained. “On the ball he is improving a lot. He’s doing well with us.” What Maresca’s tell us about his new favourite We can infer quite a lot from that. Firstly that the real reason Casadei was brought in against Barrow and again today is because of his capabilities off the ball, or defensively more generally. He’s tall and strong, which is important in this B team which is otherwise composed of quite a lot of small, tricky attacking players. Secondly, of course, that Casadei’s play on the ball isn’t up to standards – not yet anyway. That much has been obvious since he signed, but given his eye for goal most people saw him being used further forwards as a sort of support striker, rather than deeper as a destroyer. Maresca seems to really think he’s got something to work with in Casadei, whose opportunities have gone from 0 to B team regular in the space of just 3 games. Their time together at Leicester in the first half of last season seems to have given the former Inter academy player a headstart on some of his colleagues, and given Romeo Lavia and Moises Caicedo want to stay fresh for league games, using Casadei as a deep midfielder seems a clever solution from Maresca.

'Chelsea thought I was too expensive four months ago - now I'm worth twice as much' Chelsea's summer transfer mishap could end up costing them millions. https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1956976/Chelsea-jhon-duran-aston-villa Chelsea pondered signing Jhon Duran during the summer and they may pay the price for pulling the plug on a £40million move. The Aston Villa striker has come racing out of the blocks this season and his rapidly-rising stock received another boost on Wednesday night, when his audacious finish earned the West Midlands side a Champions League victory over Bayern Munich. Not even Erling Haaland can match Duran's Premier League strike rate of a goal every 39 minutes so far this season. And the Manchester City striker also comes out second best when pitted against the Colombian's 40-per-cent conversion rate - which is particularly astonishing given the variety of goals the Villa man scores, such as his long-distance screamer against Everton last month. Despite his heroics in front of goal, Duran is still playing second fiddle to Ollie Watkins at Villa Park. But he may not be for long, with top clubs sure to come sniffing around in January. All of them will be quoted top dollar by Villa, who would turn a monster profit on the £18m they paid to Chicago Fire almost two years ago. In fact, Duran has reportedly been slapped with an £80m price tag ahead of the winter window. That eye-watering sum would be painful for Chelsea to cough up if they reignite their interest, having passed up the opportunity to sign Duran for half that during the summer. The saga reached its peak in June, when the Blues were given permission to discuss personal terms with the 20-year-old after an extensive period of scouting. Villa were believed to be willing to sell in order to boost their profit and sustainability position but the switch did not progress beyond that point. Strong interest from West Ham also amounted to nothing, and Villa will now be thanking their lucky stars. There were murmurings about attitude problems last season but Villa captain John McGinn claims the youngster has got his act together, and it is paying dividends on the pitch. "I was quite hard on him last season," said the Scotsman in August. "Just about his attitude and how he can improve that, but in all fairness I’ve been pleasantly surprised. I think the coaching staff and players have been pleasantly surprised too about how he has handled it all. "He has all the attributes to be a world-class striker and we’re seeing glimpses of it now. He doesn’t seem to have let anything in the summer affect him. Maybe the penny has dropped for him. The way he is around people, around the staff - it has improved a lot and it’s great to see."

How important is matchday revenue to Premier League clubs? https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5776720/2024/10/01/premier-league-tickets-match-day-revenue/ Aston Villa will welcome Champions League football to Villa Park for the first time on Wednesday when they host Bayern Munich. After 41 years away, the mood ought to be one of celebration. This is a fitting first home fixture back in Europe’s premier club competition — it is a mouth-watering re-run of the 1982 European Cup final, in the tournament’s previous iteration, which Villa won 1-0. The Class of ’82 are sure to be revisited, not least with the game coming so soon after the death of Gary Shaw, one of that team’s stellar talents. But the club’s return to this level will be tinged with anger and disappointment, too, given the price hikes for fans in attendance. Villa revealed ticket prices for their group fixtures would start at £70 ($94) for adults, rising as high as £97. The lowest-priced ticket for those without season tickets will set them back £85. Around 27,000 of the 42,640 capacity at Villa Park is made up of season ticket holders. The club refused a request from their fan advisory board (FAB) to cap prices at £70 and came under criticism from supporters who pointed to the lower prices for the Premier League’s other clubs involved in the competition. Liverpool and Manchester City’s most costly tickets are priced lower than the cheapest at Villa, who have also increased general admission matchday tickets by an average of 12 per cent. The Villa Supporters Trust called the ticket structure “extremely disappointing” and urged a rethink, without success. Villa’s president of business operations Chris Heck defended the pricing. “Achieving our sporting ambitions while complying with financial stability regulations requires difficult decisions,” he said. “Financial fair play rules prohibit owners from covering shortfalls to finance this ambition, so we need to generate as much revenue as possible through sponsorships, merchandise and ticket sales to ensure that we can keep the club where it rightfully belongs — competing (and winning) at the top of English and European football.” As clubs increasingly seek to diversify their revenue streams, the proportion of their income made up by matchday ticketing is changing. But despite record income from TV deals, prices are still on the rise. Of the 20 Premier League clubs this season, 19 upped the price of a season ticket to watch their men’s team, with Crystal Palace the outlier. Season ticket holders, who purchase an annual pass that guarantees them a seat for all 19 of their club’s home league matches, pay less per game than supporters who buy individual match tickets. The prices for individual games also change depending on the opposition, with games split into different categories. Clubs have faced a backlash after raising the price of tickets both directly and by stealth with the reduction or alteration of eligibility for concession bands, while tickets for individual matches have risen at several clubs. Protests were held by fans of several Premier League clubs, including Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City and Fulham. At Chelsea, there were price rises of five per cent on general admission matchday tickets, with the club citing inflationary pressures as justification after 13 years of price freezes. Their season ticket prices rose by eight per cent. Brentford’s season ticket prices rose by 10 per cent, newly promoted Ipswich’s by eight per cent and Nottingham Forest’s by around 24 per cent — although changes to the banding and eligibility make this higher in some cases. Wolverhampton Wanderers supporters faced rises of between 17 and 23 per cent for adults, with some under-21 prices rising by as much as 46.6 per cent. At Southampton, again restored to the Premier League, there has been a hike of 15 per cent. West Ham United supporters petitioned their club over a decision to limit the availability of concession tickets and maintained their protests at their Carabao Cup tie at Liverpool last week, while Tottenham fans railed against the decision to raise season ticket prices by six per cent, which will generate an extra £2.5million to £3m per year. That figure pales into comparison with income from broadcasting rights. Typically the revenue from gate receipts includes the takings from matchday hospitality, although this is not specified in clubs’ accounts. “Matchday income is still a core revenue function,” Dr Dan Plumley, senior lecturer in sport finance at Sheffield Hallam University, tells The Athletic. “But what we’ve seen at the top end of the Premier League and the elite is that it’s probably less important to them in their revenue mix picture because it’s a bit more balanced. “You’ve only got broadcasting and then commercials to throw into the mix of the main three. The biggest clubs in the Premier League are less reliant on matchday income and their commercial income is probably now outstripping broadcasting. “But if you were to drop down a little bit and into the lower tier of the Premier League, you’ll find that broadcasting money makes up probably 60 to 70 per cent of some clubs’ income. “If you’re looking at how you can generate a little bit more revenue then moving the age brackets around, offering fewer concessions and making more people fall into what we might term a ‘general bracket’ — which is normally the highest priced tickets, depending on where you sit in the stadium — is one way of doing that.” Bournemouth have the lowest proportion of matchday income at £5.4million compared to overall revenue of £141m, equating to just 3.8 per cent. At Brentford, the figures are 6.8 per cent of a £166.5m revenue, while Villa took £18.7m on matchdays from a £217.7m revenue — 8.6 per cent. At the other end of the scale, and ignoring Ipswich (more on their 36.7 per cent figure later), Arsenal have the highest proportion of the established Premier League clubs at 22.1 per cent where £102.6million income represented 22.1 per cent of their £464.6m total. Tottenham’s 21.4 per cent — £117.6m from £549.6m — was close behind. For Arsenal, that was an increase from £79.4m a year earlier. The notes in their accounts reference the return of European football to the Emirates as a contributory factor, with four Champions League matches staged at home. Although this only meant one further home fixture than the previous season (they had played three Carabao Cup matches in 2021-22), the prestige of the Champions League meant higher prices were charged and therefore greater revenue received. Arsenal noted that it was the first time matchday revenue has returned to more than £100m since the 2014-15 season. It shows how matchday revenue is affected by not only the number of home fixtures played in a season depending on successful cup runs, but also the type of fixture and potentially the level and glamour of the opposition. Inevitably the more in demand a match is, the more clubs will charge for tickets. Returning to Ipswich Town’s position at the top of the table above, their 36.7 per cent is an outlier because they received significantly less from broadcasting rights due to their participation in League One in 2022-23, the season to which their latest set of accounts refer. That does, though, demonstrate the greater importance of gate receipts the lower down the pyramid you go. Deloitte analysis revealed that, across the Premier League, revenue increased 14 per cent to £867million in 2022-23. Broadcast revenue primarily drove that rise but, with a record average league attendance of 40,291, there was a 14 per cent increase in matchday income. That is a result of clubs increasing prices, rising attendances and more matches for clubs who progressed deeper into European competitions. Manchester City won the Champions League that season, while West Ham won the Europa Conference League. GO DEEPER Premier League ticket prices are rising - but how do they compare? “We will unfortunately (see clubs continue to increase prices),” says Plumley. “That won’t appease the traditional match-going fan. What we’ve seen is that they’ll not do it in drastic steps. They do it in a way where it will slightly tip up. “There’s examples that are kind of out of the ordinary. Villa is a good example of squeezing a little bit because of the Champions League, because of the amount of time they’ve had out of that main European competition. “They know that people are going to want to be part of it and, therefore, they’ll feel they can justify those prices. “The other side of that equation is always, ‘Where does it stop?’. As long as there are bums on seats, if somebody isn’t prepared to pay the ticket price but somebody else is, then clubs will think, ‘We’re still filling the ground and you’re still paying the prices’. It will be a collective look at the fanbase, not on an individual level. “It’s very easy to add several million over eight games, especially if you’re targeting corporate hospitality. “This upsets fans because Villa will take around £50m from the prize pot and the TV contract and the English Premier League position in the European football market. So people ask, ‘What’s an extra few million?’. But the other side of that equation is that money possibly funds someone’s wages for the year, or investment in the infrastructure. ‘We can use that money to do X, Y and Z’.” The other factor which limits clubs’ ability to generate income on match days is their stadium size. Bournemouth (£5.4m) and Brentford (£11.3m) have the lowest matchday incomes of any sides in the Premier League during this accounting period. The Vitality Stadium and Gtech Community Stadium hold 11,307 and 17,250 spectators. The latter, completed in 2020, has more capacity for higher end seating which makes up a chunk of the matchday income at clubs. That is becoming ever more important as clubs try to squeeze money out of fans in every way they can. Watching football has become about more than just the 90 minutes of the game. Clubs are trying to encourage fans to spend more in the stadium rather than outside while offering more premium experiences, such as tunnel clubs. Football is becoming an event. “The only way you can put the revenue line up is by either charging a little bit more for the tickets, expanding the stadium or building a new one. The latter two are really costly,” says Plumley. “It is a business-focused industry and pushing up the revenue line is really important to clubs. They’ll find a way to do this as much and as often as they can. Yes, they’ve got to be careful, but the reality is that we’ll see more of those tactics (increasing ticket prices directly and by stealth). There’s a fear of missing out.” While it may be dwarfed in comparison to broadcast income, matchday tickets will continue to play a relatively small, but significant, part in Premier League clubs’ ability to generate income. That is likely to spell bad news for match-going supporters. GO DEEPER Revealed: The results of our Premier League season ticket survey

Should Chelsea be worried about their discipline problem? https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5808802/2024/10/02/Chelsea-discipline-yellow-cards/ Chelsea are well on track to beat their numbers from last season. Normally such a statement would be regarded as a good thing, a reason to be optimistic. Chelsea are eight points better off at the same stage — six fixtures played — so results and performances are certainly providing cause to be so. However, this is a piece highlighting a negative that needs to be addressed by head coach Enzo Maresca — and soon: the team’s poor disciplinary record. In 2023-24 Chelsea broke a Premier League record for most yellow cards received in a single season. When Malo Gusto received the club’s last booking in the 78th minute of their final game against Bournemouth, it took their tally to 105 (plus four reds), beating the previous best (or worst depending on how you see it) of 101 set by Leeds in 2021-22. There were only two matches in the league campaign where Chelsea did not get a card (Manchester United away and Tottenham at home). Those grim numbers were achieved under former head coach Mauricio Pochettino, but things do not seem to be improving under Maresca. Chelsea sit top of the bookings table again with 21 accrued in half a dozen fixtures. That works out as an average of 3.5 per game and if this rate is maintained, it would see the club end up with 133 by the end of May. According to whoscored.com, it also puts them in fourth spot among the top five leagues in Europe. It can be argued that the numbers have been skewed by the Bournemouth fixture last month when referee Anthony Taylor booked eight Chelsea players. It was not one-way traffic as Bournemouth fell foul of the official six times themselves, meaning the 14 yellows (not including the two shown to the two head coaches), is another Premier League disciplinary record with Chelsea’s name on it. But while some of the transgressions could be dismissed as a bit harsh that night, there were incidents where Taylor will argue he was not left with much choice and had to apply the letter of the law. Nicolas Jackson and Jadon Sancho were both punished for dissent. Renato Veiga was booked because he jumped into the crowd to celebrate Christopher Nkunku’s late winner. But Bournemouth is not the only match where Chelsea have fallen foul with the referee. So far they boast a 100 per cent record in the Premier League in terms of at least one player being booked per match. Here is a breakdown of their wrongdoings in the six league fixtures they have played: When The Athletic raised this topic with Maresca a week after the Bournemouth game, the Italian downplayed it. “I don’t think it is a discipline problem at all,” he said. “The Bournemouth game was the kind of game because of the pitch, because of the game, sometimes you are required to make some fouls. “I don’t think it’s about that. The day after, I watched Arsenal and Tottenham and I think in the first-half there were seven or eight yellow cards, so the average was there. “Have I spoken to the players about it? No, no, absolutely (not). It was a normal game and some of the yellow cards were probably avoidable from the referee, but he decided to go another way.” Maresca’s views will have been treated with a lot of sympathy from a fanbase that is not shy in expressing their frustration whenever Taylor is in charge of one of their games — the events of the 2017 and 2020 FA Cup finals alone are usually met with swear words by the regulars at Stamford Bridge. But Chelsea have not reached such large numbers of yellow cards over the last 13 months due to just one strict match official. They do need to look in the mirror. As Maresca concedes, in a fast, tough, competitive sport, fouls do happen and on many occasions, a yellow card soon follows. But Chelsea are guilty of picking up a lot of ‘cheap’ bookings too. Look at this table below where we have taken away all the yellow cards shown for fouls since the start of last season. There are far too many for needless offences which could be easily avoided: Football is an emotional game and players are not robots so no one should expect their players to be angels for 90 minutes every week. But 23 cards for dissent, with five already this season, is definitely far too many. There is a bit too much time-wasting going on as well. Chelsea are not an overly physical team. Statistics compiled by Opta show they average 10.5 fouls per game. Only Brighton, Manchester City and Brentford make fewer. Their average for tackles is just 16.7 per match, which ranks them 16th in the Premier League. This shows that Maresca’s side are getting booked more than they should for how they play. Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana, two of Maresca’s regulars in defence, are already on four bookings. Premier League rules dictate that you have to serve an automatic one-game ban if you get five in the first 19 fixtures. There is a two-match ban should you reach 10 yellows in 32 fixtures and a three-match ban for 15 yellows before the end of the season. Jackson serves as an example of how you can avoid trouble when you put your mind to it. The striker was one of Chelsea’s worst offenders last season with nine yellow cards in the first 24 league matches. But he then went 11 league games (15 all competitions) without further punishment to avoid the two-game suspension. Maresca has responded modestly to any questions regarding whether Chelsea can challenge for the title, saying there is a lot to improve in attack and defence. Trying to reduce the yellow card count should be added to the list.

Was Cole Palmer meant to be this good? https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5812068/2024/10/03/cole-palmer-Chelsea-manchester-city-analysis/ On a cold, rainy morning in March 2016, Kevin Betsy, then England Under-15s coach, travelled to Warwick University. He was there to watch an under-14 Premier League international tournament featuring academy teams who had come through regional qualifiers across the country, as well as a select group of invited youth sides from some of Europe’s elite clubs. One of Betsy’s priorities was to get a closer look at Manchester City, who boasted several of the country’s brightest prospects born in 2002. It did not take long for one of their attackers to catch his eye: Cole Palmer, playing in a shirt and shorts that looked much too big for him, already possessed many of the technical skills that are lighting up the Premier League at Chelsea but was physically a world away from what he would become. “He was probably the smallest player on the pitch,” Betsy recalls of Palmer in an interview with The Athletic, “but very efficient, with outstanding technical quality. “He had a lovely feel when receiving the ball, and he was able to dribble in tight spaces and then find combination passes in and around the box.” Those attributes have become all too familiar to Premier League defenders since he made his debut for Chelsea in the competition in September 2023. Palmer’s 43 direct goal involvements (28 goals, 15 assists) in 39 league appearances for Chelsea even put him ahead of Manchester City’s goalscoring phenomenon Erling Haaland since the start of the 2023-24 season. He has been established as a legitimate contender to be considered the best attacker in England. So rapid has been Palmer’s rise to superstardom since leaving City for Chelsea in a deal worth up to £42.5million ($56m) a year ago, that many are asking if anyone in football expected him to be this good. The answer is not entirely straightforward, not least because it takes in the physical challenges of adolescence that can alter the trajectories even of the most talented prospects in the unforgiving environment of elite academy football. City saw the same qualities in Palmer that would later become obvious to Betsy when they signed Palmer to their academy at the age of nine. “He stood out just in terms of how comfortable he was on the ball,” Scott Sellars, the club’s former head of academy coaching, tells The Athletic. “He never looked flustered and always looked like he had answers, even as a young boy. He had a great way of dropping his shoulder and going past people. I never like to use the word ‘natural’, but he had that ease of receiving, dribbling and decision-making at a very high level from a young age.” The memory of watching the 10-year-old Palmer dominate a youth tournament in Germany for City sticks with Sellars more than a decade on. “It was very frantic, small pitches, people frightened to make a mistake, and Cole would just get the ball off the goalkeeper and dribble past people — past one, past two, past three,” he says. “He was only small by comparison to the other players, but he had that ability to keep going past people, inside and outside. “We made a compilation video about a year later trying to show the talents we had in the academy, and the philosophy and methodology at the time, and Cole was in a lot of it because of his ability. That was the type of player we were looking to create: the player who could handle the ball and solve problems.” But it would be an exaggeration to suggest that Palmer stood head and shoulders above the many other bright talents in City’s academy at the time — in part because he did not stand head and shoulders above any of his peers for the majority of his youth career. Most grew up and bulked out much earlier and faster than he did, meaning Palmer endured no shortage of frustrating days as he waited for his body to catch up with his talent. “From age 13 to 16 is really difficult for the smaller, more technical players, and they can get lost and not have as much success as when they were younger, because it becomes a bit of a physical mismatch at times,” Sellars says. Betsy had no reservations about including the small, slight Palmer in his England Under-15 squad, and offered a reassuring voice when it came to the physical difficulties he was experiencing. “Cole’s technical ball manipulation meant he was able to out-feint or jink a player quite easily, but the player would catch up with him purely because of physicality,” he says. “We identified that he would grow really well in his body in the next two to three years and it wouldn’t hinder his progress. It’s just, when you’re trying to deal with not being able to accelerate and beat a player one-versus-one because they’re physically stronger than you, that can be difficult for a young player. You might lose confidence.” Palmer’s ironclad self-belief ensured that did not happen, backed by his father Jermaine, the keen amateur footballer who had helped him refine his immaculate touch with hours spent in the park before City found him. “His dad was strong in terms of believing in his technical ability over his size,” Sellars says. “He had great support from his family.” Betsy moved up to coach England Under-16s the following year, and Palmer made only one start during what he has since admitted was the most testing stretch of his career. “Physically, we had to manage him very delicately when he came on England camp, because he was going through a lot of growth and maturation,” Betsy says. “You can’t play significant minutes in a two or three-game international week. That comes with the player understanding the condition their body is in at that moment, and Cole was fully in the loop on that.” Not everyone at City was convinced that Palmer would develop enough physically to make it at the top level. There was a lively internal debate about whether to offer the diminutive 16-year-old a professional contract that was eventually settled by Jason Wilcox, then the club’s academy director, who never wavered in his belief that he was too talented to discard. “When we went to watch him at City Under-14s, Under-15s, Under-16s, Cole wasn’t always the standout player,” Betsy says. “He had a huge champion at the club in Jason. He was a huge fan of Cole. There were a couple of times we went to watch and Cole would be on the bench or wasn’t playing as well as he would have liked, but we were very convinced and Jason was very convinced that Cole would be the player that they and England believed.” Even if City had made a different decision, it is unlikely that Palmer would have fallen far with his body of work at academy level. “I was at Wolves (as technical director) when he was 15, 16, and I would hear other people saying Cole might not get a scholarship,” Sellars says. “Behind the scenes I was saying, ‘Well if he doesn’t, give me a call’.” A drastic growth spurt in his late teens validated Wilcox’s faith and transformed Palmer into the player now shining in a Chelsea shirt: listed at 6ft 2in tall, but with the touch in tight spaces and blend of technical skills more readily associated with much smaller attacking midfielders. With that physical development came an uptick in Palmer’s on-pitch production, both for City’s elite development squad — where he worked with Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca in 2020-21 — and for England Under-21s, becoming a key contributor in qualification for the 2023 European Under-21 Championship. City were convinced enough of his elite potential that when Southampton enquired about signing him in the summer of 2022 their interest was immediately rebuffed. Their analysis had indicated that he would be well suited to playing as a goalscoring No 10 in coach Ralph Hasenhuttl’s 4-2-2-2 system, but they were told that Palmer and Phil Foden were the two academy prospects who were off the table in transfer discussions. It was a different story when Chelsea came calling a year later, ready to make a significant up-front investment in Palmer as well as offering a clearer path to the regular game time he craved after struggling to complete his first-team breakthrough at City. “The only thing Cole was waiting for, from the outside perspective, was minutes,” Betsy says. What has happened since has exceeded even the most optimistic projections — and not just in terms of Palmer’s goals and assists. “I always felt in central areas he would score,” Sellars says. “He was always calm, composed, never flustered. It was just a case of him getting stronger. I thought he would grow, but I never thought he would be as tall as he is.” “Manchester City recruited Cole at under-9 because of the huge talent they saw in him, and the same with England at under-15,” Betsy adds. “It was a slow burn in terms of his progression, purely because of his physical characteristics, but that comes with time and patience. “No one has got a crystal ball in youth development — there are so many variables — but we had huge belief in Cole and that he could be one of the stars of the future for his club and country.” Palmer is very much a star of the present at Chelsea and, with a contract that commits him to the club until 2033, a foundational pillar of the young team taking shape at Stamford Bridge.

FIFA proposes early transfer window for Club World Cup teams including Manchester City, Chelsea https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5815944/2024/10/03/transfer-window-club-world-cup-teams/ Next summer’s transfer window could open two weeks earlier than usual to allow teams competing in the revamped Club World Cup to sign new players, FIFA has announced. A FIFA Council meeting on Thursday unanimously approved a proposal to give national associations the option of an “exceptional registration window” from June 1 to June 10, which would close five days before the start of tournament in the United States. World football’s governing body said it took the measure to “address technicalities and equalise inconsistencies created by differences in registration periods and domestic-season timings” for the 32 competing teams. If the English Football Association (FA) was to take up this option, the Premier League’s two Club World Cup entrants, Chelsea and Manchester City, would, in theory, be able to strengthen their squads for a tournament that is, strictly speaking, still a part of the current season. The Athletic has contacted the FA for comment. If the option was taken up across Europe, the likes of Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid would also be able to make early signings, which could be tempting in a summer when there are some huge names potentially out of contract. For example, Liverpool trio Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, and Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-Min could all be looking for new challenges. And, in another tweak to usual rules, FIFA will let teams replace any players whose contracts expire during the Club World Cup by opening a “restricted in-competition” window from 27 June to 3 July. This is meant to address the situation that Manchester City may face with Kevin De Bruyne, or Bayern with Alphonso Davies or Joshua Kimmich, all of whom have contracts that currently expire at the end of June, halfway through the tournament. However, what is more likely, should any of those players, or players in a similar position, not sign new deals between now and June, is that they will agree to two-week extensions to cover the tournament’s duration. “The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 will kick off a new era for club football across the world, with the top teams competing to be crowned the official FIFA club world champions,” said FIFA president Gianni Infantino. “These regulations will ensure that the best possible conditions are in place in order for all 32 participating clubs and the best players in the world to shine at the highest level.” In recent seasons, the summer transfer window in Europe has opened in mid-June but FIFA did amend the rules in the summer of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic extended the extended season into August. FIFA this week confirmed the 12 stadiums that will stage the inaugural Club World Cup. 2025 Club World Cup stadiums: Full list MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford, N.J.)* Meredes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta) Bank of America Stadium (Charlotte) TQL Stadium (Cincinnati) Rose Bowl Stadium (Los Angeles) Hard Rock Stadium (Miami) GEODIS Park (Nashville) Camping World Stadium (Orlando) Inter&Co Stadium (Orlando) Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia) Lumen Field (Seattle) Audi Field (Washington, D.C.) *denotes 2026 World Cup final venue GO DEEPER The Club World Cup Cup has venues at last - but so many questions still remain

they do not care look at some of the other buys so many of us lost our minds over and they did it anyway

IF (a big if, granted) Duran and Shamu keep on playing (and even get better) at the level that they are, I can easily see them becoming the 2nd and 3rd best CFs on the planet in a couple years (behind Håland). Kane will age out (in less than 2 years he will be 33yo) Mbappe is NOT a CF Lautaro is off to a meh start and is not really a 'lead the line' type anyway I see nothing atm in Osimhen that would place him that high Duran's and Shamu's main competion for 2nd and 3rd best CF will be (IMHO): Isak (IF, a HUGE IF) he stays consistently healthy Endrick (again, not at all a 'lead the line' type of CF atm) Gyökeres Dušan Vlahović (have some real doubts he gets to that level) maybe, maybe Sesko maybe, maybe Loïs Openda wild card: Nico

10 big questions I want answered (about BlueCo) 1. Why was Tuchel REALLY sacked? 2. Why on earth did we buy Badi AND Disasi and pass on so many far better CBs? 3. Why did we drop 75m quid for an already damaged Wes Fofana? 4. What is the REAL story behind the Shamu 'failed medical' (especially if it is debunked like you said) 5. Why the fuck did we drop £88m on meh keepers (unless Penders turns into a monster) and not one of them was named Mamardashvili? 6. Once Shamu fell through, why the fuck did we not just pay the £40m for Duran (and we could have done that before Shamu as well, plus that would have also meant no need to drop almost 20m quid on the pure dice roll teen Omari Kellyman) and instead went all fuckabout with fucking Osimhen? 7. Why the fuck did we buy a 'clearly in decline' Sterling and then double down on the mistake and give him that insane £85m contract? 8. Why the fuck did we drop a potential £89m (if all add-ons are paid out) on Mudryk? 9. What the fuck is going on with the new stadium? 10. Why have we STILL not locked down a main shirt sponsor? I will be super generous and NOT bring up the insane overpays for Enzo and Caicedo, nor the KDH buy (although, even if he comes semi-good, there were 10+ better CMF options out there). I also understand (not agree with in most cases, though) some of the other dodgy buys that we dice-rolled on early on in the Boehly as Sporting Director times. Also we did try with Sesko (as did almost every big club) and he told everyone to piss off, so no anger there from me at all.

Shamu off so no hat trick

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de Ligt is SHIT so so so glad we never went for him

he looks a different player than the games I watch last season CFs often take time to develop and yes, he deffo looks a real mix of threat same for Duran Sesko is more a straight up giant CF type

Chelsea have enough keepers… don’t need Hermansen https://thedailybriefing.io/i/149698844/Chelsea-have-enough-keepers-dont-need-hermansen Chelsea will not sign goalkeepers in January according to their current plan, so the information concerning Enzo Maresca moving for his Leicester keeper, Mads Hermansen, is false. They already have many in that position with Jorgensen, Sanchez, and also Penders for the future. So, it's already set for the goalkeepers future at Chelsea and I'm not aware of negotiations with any other GK in the market so far. snip Maresca: “The club signed Misha Mudryk as a big player and at the moment, he is not playing in the Premier League. But things change quickly in football, I hope he can do great tomorrow. He did very well against Barrow.” Enzo Maresca has apparently been courting one of his former Leicester players. Fabrizio Romano has the truth on a potential pursuit. Cesare Casadei: “I’m not thinking about leaving Chelsea in January, not now. It was my decision to stay and not go out on loan, after speaking to Maresca. I never had plans to leave permanently. I always wanted to play for Chelsea, one of the biggest teams in the world.” Si Phillips takes a look at what Chelsea should expect in their Conference League tie vs Gent.

https://thedailybriefing.io/i/149653761/murillo-would-be-very-expensive-for-Chelsea So guys, I’ve seen the rumours about Murillo and Chelsea, and what I can say is that Chelsea are following several players in the centre-back position but no talks taking place yet. There are so many links but there’s nothing concrete or really advanced now. Also, Murillo would be very expensive for any club as when Juventus thought about him last summer, Nottingham Forest didn't want to open the doors for him to leave. Chelsea will look for Chukwuemeka solution in the new year Sticking with Chelsea, Carney Chukwuemeka is still not playing. Why? Enzo Maresca has always been very honest and clear with his players, and has never hidden things, even when he speaks to the press in public. Maresca clarified that the plan this summer for Chelsea was for Carney to leave, but only to a club that would give him a good opportunity. A club where he could play 38 games, not moving to a club where he was not going to be a regular starter. This was why Chelsea rejected many approaches from Milan and others during the summer transfer window. Carney ended up staying of course but he's not playing, so the club will look for a solution in January. The player wants to play and Chelsea don't want him to stay out of the squad for too long, so work is in progress already.

https://football-observatory.com/WeeklyPost474 The 474th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the top 50 creators of chances in today world football, both in the Europe's big-5 and in 60 other leagues around the globe, according to an exclusively developed index (see below). The top Portuguese talent João Neves (Paris St-Germain) outranks the iconic Lionel Messi (Inter Miami). For the five major European leagues, João Neves is ahead of Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Romano Schmid (Werder Bremen) and Lamine Yamal (Barcelona). At the level of the other 60 leagues included in the analysis, two Spaniards rank after Lionel Messi: Iñigo Vicente (Racing de Santander) and Riqui Puig (Los Angeles Galaxy). The youngest players in the top 50s are Lamine Yamal and Kenan Yildiz for the big-5, as well as Kendry Páez (Independiente del Valle, on loan from Chelsea) for the other leagues. The chance creation index is calculated on a scale of 100 by adding the frequency of passes leading to a goal or a clear chance, passes made to the assistman (second assist), as well as passes breaking the opposition's defensive line received by a teammate (Wyscout). More explanations in this Monthly Report. The data refer to the current season's domestic league matches. Only footballers who played at least 360' have been included in the rankings. Chance creation index ranking Domestic league matches, current season until 30/09/2024.

the absolute shit buys since Roman's last year (the Lukaku nightmare buy) I am not even counting the massive overpays for Caicedo and Enzo the first 3 (italics) are looking dodgy so far, especially KDH Omari Kellyman Aston Villa £19.10m (unless he blows up this may well be a bold rotter bust buy, especially as it helped to cost us DURAN, as shown above) Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall Leicester City Leicester £30.00m Filip Jørgensen Villarreal CF Villarreal £20..50m Axel Disasi AS Monaco Monaco £38.50m Robert Sánchez Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton £25.00m Deivid Washington Santos FC Santos £13..50m Wesley Fofana Leicester City Leicester £75.00m including add-ons (massive overpay due to his being damaged goods BEFORE we bought him) Mykhaylo Mudryk Shakhtar Donetsk Shakhtar D. £60.00m + add-ons that take it to £89.00m Raheem Sterling Manchester City Man City £47.50m (plus an insane £325K PW 5 year contract) Kalidou Koulibaly SSC Napoli SSC Napoli £35.00m Benoît Badiashile AS Monaco Monaco £34.00m Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang FC Barcelona Barcelona £10.50m David Datro Fofana Molde FK Molde FK $10.50m Romelu Lukaku Inter Milan Inter £97.50m with add-ons and subtracting loyalty payment from Inter to us (£118.10m now in September 2024 when adjusted for pound sterling inflation!) £566.20m in toto (gross transfer fees + some add-ons) when Lukaku is adjusted for inflation and the Mudryk add-ons are included £448.10m (gross fees + some add-ons) of that is on Bo-Clownlake for the Americans here, that £566.20m is over 3/4ers of a BILLION US dollars gross spend ($750.52 million at current FOREX rates) Other than Wes Fofana (IF he stays healthy, but we still paid double what he was worth IMHO even then, as he was damaged goods) every player listed is either SHIT or (the first 3) potential (if not likely) shit.

no we could have bought him and sold Conor still (and still bought Felix to grease that) to Atleti we not only fucked about with Shamu and Osimhen................... BUT we also dropped (and this was with Villa) €22.5m on Omari Kellyman (ANOTHER left-footed AMF/winger type, one of like 11 or 12 we now have, we could have just dropped the extra £21m and bought DURAN, and NOT bought some below, especially KDH OR sold some of the ones listed below that and not fucked about with Shamu and Osimhen) plus we also dropped (in terms of players who I either do NOT rate or are, like Kellyman, pure prosepects) Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall €35.40m Filip Jørgensen €24.50m Mike Penders €20.00m Caleb Wiley €10.10m 112.5m euros there (94m quid) in toto Villa only wanted £40m for Duran Kellyman and KDH cost almost £50m Jørgensen and KDH cost £50m we already had Petro for GKer (who is playing great at Strasbourg btw) so zero need to dump out the cash for Jørgensen, OR if we wnated him no matter what, we could have sold Sanchez (I would have preffered that, I still am ragaing over why we ever bought him) plus we were so busying fucking about with crazy complicated buys (multiple ones which blew up in our face) that we did not concentrate HARD on perma sales for suplus goods we should have ALWAYS been trying to PERMA dump (from the moment the season ended, but no, we fucked about until it was too late) Badi Disasi Chilwell Broja (no buy obligation, no loan fee and only we also will pay his entire salary until Broja is ready to play) Trevoh Chalobah (no buy obligation) Kepa Arrizabalaga (no buy obligation) David Datro Fofana (no buy obligation) Alfie Gilchrist (no buy obligation)

I agree he is not a 'lead the line for a title winning EPL team' type of CF he is only 1.70m, slight of frame, and not a true threat in the air either 1.70m is the shortest CF in the top 50 highest valued the next 3 closest are Endrick at 1.73m (also not a classic lead the line type), Lautaro at 1.74m (who can lead the line but is often used with a SS/co CF) and way down, Vitor Roque (another short Brasilian type of striker who has been a semi bust at Barca so far) also at 1.74m here are the heights for the top 15 (and this includes Mbappe as a CF, at number 2, and 1.78m, plus Nkunku, who is not a CF IMFO as well, at 1.77m if you pull out Mbappe and Nkunku (again, who are not at all classic CFs), then other than Lautaro, Alvarez is 10 cms shorter than the next shortest (Watkins at 1.80m) and much shorter (16 cms or MORE) than all the rest (the next shortest after Watkins is OSIMHEN, an aerial monster, at 1.86m)

In terms of an LCB, assuming we do not even remotely think about dumping 75 to 80m quid on Jarrad Branthwaite (I simply to do see us doing that, he likely goes to either Manure or Pool).... then, from all that I am seeing atm, we likely move for for one of the 4 following (David Hancko turns 28yo next season, so outside our age perimeter) Gonçalo Inácio or Murillo or Piero Hincapié or Castello Lukeba (he also can play LB) Any of them are massive upgrades over Badi

Here are the giant global teams who need CFs fearsome competition for us 1 Real Madrid Spain LaLiga €1.34bn 3 Arsenal FC England Premier League €1.16bn 6 Liverpool FC England Premier League €923.00m 7 FC Barcelona Spain LaLiga €881.40m 8 Paris Saint-Germain France Ligue 1 €873.50m 9 Manchester United England Premier League €854.15m (I can see them dumping all but one of the CFs they have now) 11 Inter Milan Italy Serie A €672.30m (perhaps, IF they sell Lautaro) 15 AC Milan Italy Serie A €601.01m (long shot) 16 Juventus FC Italy Serie A €575.15m (IF they sell Vlahovic) (long shot) (you can also add Citeh, and then take off either Real or Barca IF Håland leaves for one of those 2 sides (surely thsoe are the only 2 sides in the running for him, I do NOT see Håland going to PSG or another EPL team) next summer or in summer 2026) Barca can sell one of their 70m plus valued players (sub zero chance they sell Yamal) to afford Duran, or 2 of them (and maybe some lesser valued) to afford Håland : Gavi Pedri Frenkie de Jong Ronald Araujo players below those 4 (in valuation) who Barca could/would sell: Raphinha Jules Koundé Andreas Christensen Alejandro Balde Ferran Torres Fermín López (tough as hell pull) Pau Cubarsí (tough as hell pull) Ansu Fati

huge blunder and I am not sold on Shamu atm (open to changing my mind) as almost all his goals are against shit Portugese non Big 3 sides, and the other one was against a Norwegian side (who did beat his Porto side) here are his 5 goals

atm Jhon Duran is looking like a young Drogba the way he sees the game the runs he makes, the way he uses CBs the superb shot accuracy (which is Nico's huge weakness)