Vesper

no one club can be this cursed it is like there really is some fucking malevolent force out there in the aether killing us off slowly

wtf this is freaking me out bad this is major club plans potentially going up in smoke, if true

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall: ‘Will Enzo Maresca surprise people at Chelsea? Definitely’ https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5660209/2024/07/26/dewsbury-hall-Chelsea-maresca-interview/ It did not take long for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to be employed in an unusual position after joining Chelsea from Leicester City this month. When most players move clubs, they approach new team-mates for insight into how the head coach operates, so they can make a positive impression. In Dewsbury-Hall’s case, it has been the other way around. Players are coming to him. Nobody at Chelsea knows what Enzo Maresca is like as a head coach better than he does. Cole Palmer and Romeo Lavia had a brief taste while he was in charge of Manchester City’s under-21s, but Dewsbury-Hall was a key part of the Italian’s Leicester squad that won the Championship title last season. That experience is giving the 25-year-old midfielder, who cost Chelsea £30million ($38.6m), quite the advantage at pre-season training. “It is quite weird but it has helped me settle in,” Dewsbury-Hall says. “You are getting lads coming up to me and asking questions. I am more than happy to let them know what my opinions and experiences of him (Maresca) are. ‘They will gather their own opinions week by week, but it has helped me a lot because I can have more conversations with people and get a really good bond with the lads. I have fitted in really well.” His close bond with the boss has been the source of some gentle banter, too, about him being a bit of a teacher’s pet. “I have had that a couple of times where he has shown clips of last season to help get his messages across and I feature in a couple,” Dewsbury-Hall adds with a smile. “Some of the lads have had a laugh and joke, I don’t mind — it’s all fun and games.” Anyone privy to Maresca’s training session on the eve of the first friendly of their ongoing U.S. pre-season tour against League One side Wrexham this week will have seen that, once the 44-year-old takes charge of a drill, it is no laughing matter. Instructions are barked loudly, his arms pointing in the direction he wants the ball or a particular player to go. From the outside, Maresca comes across as a very intense individual. But has Dewsbury-Hall noticed any changes from Maresca? “Not an awful lot, he has come in exactly like he was at Leicester — confident. He is probably more confident here than when he was at Leicester. I don’t know if that was because he has a year under his belt and we did really well at Leicester. “He knows exactly what he wants and needs. He has something about him where you respect him. From the first day I saw him at Chelsea it was straight back to work, working on the philosophy of what we want to do this year. “He is massive for that (players’ fitness). A lot of people look at him and think he is a tactician on the ball but off the ball, he knows exactly what he wants: he wants players who can run and can work hard. You need to not only be good on the ball but fit as well. “When he has the lads in meetings, it is time to work. He has got an aura. You listen to what he is saying and he can be very strict. Then he’s got a gentle, human side to him, where you can go and talk to him as a person. “He was a player for 20 years, so he knows what it is like. That is really good.” What Chelsea supporters want to know is whether Maresca can succeed where the previous head coaches employed by the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium have failed. Thomas Tuchel, who was at the helm when the American owners arrived in the summer of 2022, Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino have all lost their jobs. The club have not won a trophy during this turbulent period, and are also yet to qualify for the Champions League. The reaction to Maresca’s appointment has been mixed. The only other head coaching job on his resume is a disastrous 14-game spell with Parma in the Italian second division at the start of 2021-22, but he was an assistant under Pep Guardiola the following season as Manchester City won the treble of Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup before getting the Leicester job that summer. Dewsbury-Hall is convinced Chelsea have hired the right man. Some of you will read that and perhaps see it as more ammunition for his team-mates’ teacher’s pet jokes, particularly after the Premier League side only managed an unconvincing 2-2 draw in that friendly with Wrexham, needing a late Lesley Ugochukwu goal to save them from defeat. But Dewsbury-Hall, who did not feature in that game in Santa Clara, California, as he’s working his way towards full match fitness after a minor injury at the end of last season, has no doubts the appointment will pay off. Being quickly reunited with Maresca was a key reason behind leaving Leicester after 17 years there. That and the belief Chelsea are on the verge of becoming a major force in the game again. “At Leicester — a club that went down, were really low on confidence and had a lot of problems — he managed to galvanise that and change it to what Leicester did last season,” Dewsbury-Hall explains. “I don’t see why that can’t happen here if everyone buys into the system. We can be pushing for, minimum, top four, but more than that because I can see the foundations are set, the squad is at a high level. So if it is nurtured in the right way, it could be good. “Will he (Maresca) surprise people? Definitely. Look, I do not want to be banging on saying we’re going to be doing this or that — he is almost unknown to a lot of people — but I can go off working with him and say my opinions and I think he is top, top level. “Within a week (of Maresca starting work at Leicester last summer) all the players were sold. I was convinced. I am getting the same feedback here (at Chelsea) with the lads. “I felt a bit stupid (when he first started being coached by Maresca at Leicester) because I thought I knew a lot about football. But he was teaching me things on a daily basis that I did not really know before. They were just little tactical tweaks — where you position yourself at certain times of games when players have the ball. It might sound little but in football, they can be so important. GO DEEPER Rosenior appointed head coach at BlueCo-owned Strasbourg “(Under Maresca) when a player gets the ball, he knows exactly where his team-mates are. You do not even need to look. Whereas other times when you play football, it might be more off the cuff — you have got the ball and are not sure what to do. You know the plan, exactly where everybody is, and it makes it free and easier. “It was going from understanding not so much to understanding everything on the pitch. You could see that for Leicester last season — flowing football. It was a joy to watch. This season, it will go up a level because Chelsea are a top, top, top club. “There are the profiles in there (the Chelsea squad) to suit the system he wants to play and we have seen it in training already. We have only been doing it for two or three weeks but the combination plays are really slick and tidy. That’s after two weeks. “I remember he said to us at Leicester, ‘Imagine after six months or a year, and you will see (where we’ll be)’. There might be teething problems at the start but it will improve. Hopefully, by the end of the season, it will be really fluid and a high level.” Brighton had hoped to sign Dewsbury-Hall this summer before Chelsea made their intentions clear. Instead of heading to the south coast, he became the latest Leicester player to make a big-money move to Stamford Bridge. The current squad includes Ben Chilwell and Wesley Fofana, while N’Golo Kante (2016-23) and Danny Drinkwater (2017-22) also left for Chelsea after helping Leicester to a shock title triumph in the 2015-16 season, albeit the latter pair experienced hugely contrasting fortunes at the London club. Obviously, Dewsbury-Hall wants to follow in fellow midfielder Kante’s footsteps most of all. Kante is remembered as one of Chelsea’s best-ever players, helping them win the Premier League in 2017 and the Champions League four years later. His success came as no surprise to Dewsbury-Hall, who used to clean the France international’s boots while a youngster at Leicester. “He did (tip well) actually,” Dewsbury-Hall recalls. “I don’t think he understood the concept of it before, but a few of the lads in the first team told him it was good manners or a good gesture to tip at Christmas. He might have gone to the cash point that night and brought it in the next day! He was quite generous, so I thank whoever told him that. I did a good job, though… the boots were clean! “He is a phenomenal player, one of the best Premier League midfielders ever. I saw a tweet I posted when he signed (for Chelsea), I said, ‘Now he’s gone there, they are going to win the league’, and that was the year Chelsea won the league. I was one of his biggest fans. To have any similarity to his journey at Chelsea would be a major success, because he is top tier. “I was at a point in my career where I wanted to test myself at the next level. This felt like the right time and I would not have left Leicester for a sideways move — it had to be a top move. “I am a completely different player now coming back into the Premier League than I was when I was playing in it before. I have evolved as a player and as a person. If I made those leaps in the first year (with Maresca), then I feel excited to see what can happen in the years to come. “It is going to be a surreal moment when we go back to the King Power Stadium (in late November) having played so many games there. I have a good relationship with the fans. If I score against them (Leicester), I won’t celebrate. I wish them the best of luck for this season.” One of Dewsbury-Hall’s other motivations for choosing Chelsea is the hope he can emulate Palmer’s impressive 2023-24 debut season with them and be rewarded with a call-up to the senior England squad. Yet to represent England at any level, he says: “I would be lying if I said it wasn’t in my aims for the next 12 months. I have always dreamt of playing for England and always hoped I’d be at a club where I’m playing well and getting picked. I have my aims for Chelsea of course — winning trophies and playing well — but if it can get me in contention for the national team, it would be a dream. “Cole (Palmer, who had only made three Premier League starts for Manchester City when he moved last summer) is the perfect example of that. He is absolutely flying and went on to make a great impact at the European Championship. “To do something similar, to follow in those footsteps, would be ideal.” GO DEEPER Madueke faces a battle to prove himself once again as he tries to impress a fourth head coach

Chelsea new boy Renato Veiga: ‘Elite’ potential, confident and focused on football https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5658013/2024/07/27/renato-veiga-Chelsea-profile/ Three years ago, Sporting Lisbon’s B-team coach Filipe Celikkaya sat down with Renato Veiga for the first of several conversations about the teenager’s development. “Renato was a player we identified as someone who could grow to the elite level,” Celikkaya tells The Athletic. “We told him he had the potential to play for a Champions League club.” Celikkaya and his staff laid out a roadmap for the now-20-year-old to work towards that target. As well as exposing Veiga early to competitive football against men (Sporting B play in Portugal’s third tier), they implemented a clear positional framework influenced by the modern game’s tactical evolution. “We proposed a methodology for him with the ball and without the ball, so he could work in two different positions: No 6 and centre-back,” Celikkaya explains. “In my team, he played in those two positions. He has a lot of versatility in the game. He’s like a hybrid who can play different positions at a high level.” It is this tactical versatility, coupled with Veiga’s intriguing blend of physical and technical attributes — he is fast and strong in his 6ft 3in (190cm) frame, with an assured left foot and expansive passing range — that prompted Chelsea to agree a deal worth €14million (£11.8m; $15.2m) to sign him from Swiss club Basel this month. Chelsea believe that as well as providing another option in central midfield and defence, Veiga’s skill set makes him a prime candidate to be deployed as an inverted full-back in their new head coach Enzo Maresca’s system. He has been listed in the club’s squad for their ongoing pre-season tour in the United States as a defender, the position where he has won his seven Portugal Under-21 caps, but played most of his minutes for Basel last season at the base of midfield. A player who turns 21 on Monday remains a relatively raw prospect, though, with work to do on and off the pitch — a reality underlined by the unusual career path that has now brought him to Stamford Bridge. Confidence has never been an issue for Veiga. Son of former Cape Verde international defender Nelson Veiga, he was first taken to a football stadium at three weeks old. Renato Veiga has always felt at home with a ball at his feet. In his unveiling interview with Chelsea, he cited his father as his biggest inspiration. “I just wanted to be like him,” he said. Celikkaya quickly identified Veiga junior as a natural choice to captain Sporting B. “He was the ‘octopus’ of the team, to share my information on the pitch,” he explains. “He was one of the oldest in the locker room, because our B team was very young.” The tall teenager demanded the ball, directed his team-mates’ movements and let them know if standards were slipping. The serious intensity that would later mark him out, for better and worse, was evident. “‘We don’t come here to play around. We come here to win, to be the best’. That is his mentality,” Celikkaya says of Veiga. “He’s very concentrated, very competitive in training, competitive in games. But a humble person, a fantastic kid. We had a very good relationship because of that.” Veiga’s ironclad self-belief underpinned his decision to jump at the opportunity to join Augsburg on a 12-month loan deal in January last year, swapping B-team football for a relegation battle in Germany’s Bundesliga. He made 13 appearances in the second half of that 2022-23 season but only seven starts as Augsburg survived by one point, and fell foul of coach Enrico Maassen over his timekeeping. In August, days before their first league match of the new season, Augsburg announced the loan had been terminated early by mutual decision. “My conscience is clear,” Veiga insisted when asked what had gone wrong for him in Bavaria during an interview with bz Basel, a Swiss newspaper, shortly after joining Basel from Sporting for €4.6million a couple of weeks later. Celine Feller, the journalist who conducted that interview, has reported on Basel for nine years. She recalls being wowed by Veiga’s debut: a dominating individual midfield display in a 2-2 draw with Zurich on September 3, punctuated by a long-range free kick whipped into the top corner to halve a two-goal deficit. “His body language was immense, you really felt his presence, you saw how he tries to tell everybody where to go, he always asks for the ball,” Feller tells The Athletic. “He also scored a sensational goal. But that was his best game — he never played that well again.” Veiga’s timing was unfortunate. Basel, 20 times champions of Switzerland, went on to suffer their worst league campaign this century, finishing eighth in the 12-club Swiss Super League. He played under three different coaches, with Timo Schultz sacked in late September and Fabio Celestini appointed one month later, following an interim stint by Heiko Vogel. As the team’s league position declined, Veiga’s demeanour dropped with it. “He was still quite dominant, demanding, loud on the pitch, but the more games he played, it became more about him than the team,” Feller says. “His body language got worse, he wasn’t positive, and he didn’t play that well anymore. He was complaining at team-mates, at the coach, at the referee — everybody.” Veiga remained a regular starter at the heart of midfield alongside Taulant Xhaka — elder brother of Bayer Leverkusen’s former Arsenal captain Granit — under Celestini, who offered a measured assessment of the Portuguese prospect’s performances in public. “Renato sometimes has a little too much energy,” he said. “Some of his game is still not efficient enough, so he needs to develop. He is always motivated and willing to learn. I’ve never seen him in training without enthusiasm.” Celestini was less forgiving when Veiga and team-mate Thierno Barry were late joining the squad before a Swiss Cup quarter-final against Lugano in February. Both players were dropped to the bench, though Veiga was brought on at half-time with his team 2-0 down. His first act was to shoot from the halfway line. Two late goals from Barry, also on for the start of the second half, took the tie to a penalty shootout, which Basel lost despite Veiga converting its opening spot kick with a nonchalant Panenka chip down the centre of the goal. The final two months of Veiga’s season were marred by an ankle sprain, diagnosed by Basel’s medical team after a match against Zurich in late March and confirmed by doctors back home in Portugal. GO DEEPER The end has come for Chalobah at Chelsea - this was just one battle too many Transfer interest in him this summer was anticipated and encouraged; Basel’s owner David Degen voiced his confidence shortly after Veiga was signed from Sporting that he would be sold for a significant profit. “Nobody expected that he would leave for a club like Chelsea so early, but nobody is sad,” Feller says. “Not the club, not the fans. It’s just seen as good business to let him go.” Veiga’s talent is real. So too is his determination to maximise it: he is very religious, and admits he has few interests outside football and his family. “His team-mates (at Basel) say he has no hobbies,” Feller adds. “He trains, goes home, goes to the gym, sleeps. For him, it’s football, football, football.” His focus on self-improvement extends beyond his play. Veiga wears an Oura ring that tracks his calorie intake, sleep quality, heart rate and body temperature. The data is sent to his phone, where he can analyse it to ensure he always has an “optimal” day. Adapting to life in England should not present as many challenges as might be expected for a young footballer. Veiga’s childhood followed the path of his father’s playing career, taking him to live in Cyprus for four years and Morocco for three. He is fluent in five languages: Portuguese, Spanish, English, French and Arabic. Most of his new team-mates will be able to talk to him in their native tongues. Making the leap to the strongest domestic league in the world from playing in Switzerland will be more daunting. It is not yet clear whether Veiga will be in Chelsea’s first-team squad this season or sent on loan. The fact he was the only unused outfield substitute in Maresca’s first match as their head coach, the friendly against Wrexham in California on Wednesday (early Thursday UK time) was a further indication his development could be a slow burn. “Chelsea need to help him on a daily basis so he can improve, because the Swiss League is one thing and the Premier League is another,” Celikayya warns. “You cannot sleep, because everyone wants your position.” The good news for Veiga is that he’s versatile enough to mean his position is flexible. “A guy like him: tall, knows how to play with his head and feet, aggressive, knows how to build up, who has a lot of characteristics to play at a high level,” Celikkaya says. “The game is evolving for that.” GO DEEPER What we learned from Maresca's 'first day' at Chelsea (and what we didn't)

he looks like an Employee of the Month at a Danish dairy farm on Falster

yep

Actually, half the season (2003/04), He was TWO, lolol Date of birth 17 December 2000

already showing leadership levels I like the cut of this kid's jib

me too

Ansu Fati, bad luck or a physique incompatible with elite football? https://www.fcbarcelonanoticias.com/en/fc-barcelona/ansu-fati-bad-luck-or-physique-incompatible-with-the-elite-football_305790_102.html FC Barcelona reported that Ansu Fati will not be able to continue being part of the Barcelona team's preseason after suffering a new injury. Thus, the forward seems not to be able to keep competing at the highest level, even at the training level The FC Barcelona communicated this Wednesday that Ansu Fati has suffered an injury in the plant of the right foot and will subject to a conservative treatment, by what does not have time of recovery estimated and besides will not be able to travel to United States to play the three friendly of turns it of pre-season of the Barcelona team. Like this, the attacker culé adds a new injury in his short career, one that clearly has remained marked by his bad luck, or predisposition, with the physical problems. And it is that since on 7 November 2020, when it suffered the break of the internal meniscus of the left knee in a party against the Real Betis, Ansu Fati has not been able to be the same. The forward of the Barça has chained since several injuries that have prevented him can confirm all the potential that showed when it burst into in the first Catalan team with alone 17 years. A history that began does long and continues extending The ordeal of Ansu Fati follows extending after having been 305 days of drop by the injury meniscal of 2020, happening later by that remembered moment in November of 2021 with the break of the biceps femoral of the left leg suffered in Balaídos. Absent two months more than the terrains of game, the attacker descartó go through the operating theatre, as they recommended him the medical services of the club, and opted by a conservative treatment that neither gave resulted because it went back to fall in January of 2022 in Saint Mamés and took three months in going back to be to disposal of the Barça. Already the previous course, in which it opted for being yielded to Brighton. An injury in the twin separated him then during three months of the terrains of game and no longer recover the chevrons that had when it announced his arrival to the Premier. Like this, the Barcelona club, the barcelonismo and even the same player, seem to understand that the injuries do not allow that it can fulfil the expectations that created from 2019, when it arrived to First Division and implanted several records precocity with the Barça, and also with Spain. Ansu Has not been able to recover these feelings of his start with the Barça In his first season finish marking 8 goals in 33 parties, creating an absolute illusion inside the fans culé, and doing him merecedor even to inherit the dorsal 10 of Leo Messi, when the Argentinian left in 2021. But since, the injuries simply have not allowed him have regularity, leaving it even without being able to reach still, for example, the 30 goals with the first team, after marking 8 in little more than half season, if we take into account his duels contested. Now, his future inside the elite seems to complicate even more, especially because it found trying convince to the trainer Hansi Flick that it deserved to recover a square in the staff in place to go out yielded once again. Although it is clear that still is early in the course, that there is not a clear way for his return to the field already creates an environment of déjà vu with regard to the others injuries of the player.

I can deffo be happy with this even though I am super paranoid about Chiesa post massive injury, £20m is not too much money for a punt, and if he does return to full level, he is a monster still unhappy AF about GK and CB if not Chiesa, then it is pretty much down to these 5 for right-footed LWers (as Gordon is too expensive and Juve told us to fuck off with Kenan Yıldız) Amine Adli Ferran Torres Amine Gouiri Crysencio Summerville Morgan Rogers

I do not put that much stock in that The 2nd best CF on the planet (Lautaro, as I am not counting Mbappe as a CF, so only Håland is ahead of him as Kane has peaked and will start to retreat IMHO) doesnt start for the Argies (but did win the Copa America for them) top 21 (and the only ones valued at over £38m) CFs in terms of valuation (not counting Mbappe) this really show the lack of truly WC CFs Erling Haaland Lautaro Martínez Victor Osimhen Harry Kane drop off Julián Álvarez Alexander Isak drop off Darwin Núñez (over-valued IMHO, I would place him under the other 3 at this level as he simply cannot shoot well, this from years of watching him) Dušan Vlahović Ollie Watkins Viktor Gyökeres drop off Marcus Thuram Rasmus Højlund Gabriel Jesus Endrick Loïs Openda drop off (all the rest at rated at £42m) Jonathan David Benjamin Sesko Ivan Toney Joshua Zirkzee Evan Ferguson Gonçalo Ramos

morons!

and Rodrygo He is a huge baller as well. I would kill to have him as our LWer (he is right footed and is a natural LW)

buy as many 15, 16, 17, 18yo Brasilans as possible, lolol Camden awaits!

Man City set £60m asking price for top Chelsea target as Guardiola ‘furious’ with decision https://www.football365.com/news/man-city-60m-asking-price-Chelsea-target-guardiola-furious-decision Manchester City have slapped a £60m asking price on Chelsea target Julian Alvarez, who is angling for a move from the club this summer. Alvarez moved to City for £14m from River Plate in January 2022 and has 36 goals and 18 assists in 103 appearances for the club across all competitions. But he’s grown frustrated at his lack of game time at the Etihad, in large part due to the arrival of Erling Haaland, and a report in The Athletic this week that focused chiefly on the possible departure of Ederson, who’s been heavily linked with a move to Saudi Arabia, detailed Alvarez’s desire for more minutes, whether at City or – more likely – elsewhere. Chelsea may also struggle to stump up the funds but are in the market for a new striker to compete with Nicolas Jackson and have identified Alavarez as a good option according to a report last month. Although £60m is a lot given Chelsea’s concerns over Premier League profit and sustainability rules, given a lack of top strikers on the market and there huge success in signing Cole Palmer from City last summer, it doesn’t seem like a huge outlay for someone of Alvarez’s quality and record. Barcelona are also thought to be keen with president Joan Laporta considering Alvarez a ‘bombshell signing’ amid ‘a plan to retire Robert Lewandowski’, and it’s claimed the 24-year-old ‘would welcome’ a move to the Nou Camp and the warmer climate he’s after. Alvarez is currently at the Olympics with Argentina having already played in the Copa America this summer, something City allowed in order to placate a frustrated player. Pep Guardiola is ‘furious’ with that decision and Alavarez’s desire to leave in general, as a report earlier this week explained.

not without lube to start and a box of chocolates ex post facto we got neither 😔

Anthony Gordon (very expensive) Federico Chiesa (damaged goods) Leaves Kenan Yıldız turned down once by Juve) Leaves these 5 Amine Adli Ferran Torres Amine Gouiri Crysencio Summerville Morgan Rogers

Native Americans name their children after events, etc. If CFC under Clownlake was Native American, our name would be Little Fucked In The Arse