Vesper

he wants to replace Fraudgate and the FA is stupid enough to perhaps do it

Pep's midget fullback pair Pep's CB fullback pair

surely they reverse it it only is £250K per year cost

Matt Miazga has no regrets about joining Chelsea's loan army https://prosoccerwire.usatoday.com/2022/08/10/matt-miazga-has-no-regrets-about-joining-chelseas-loan-army/ snip Miazga, who signed with FC Cincinnati last week, has heard all of it. And he wants to say that even now, after six years at Chelsea and five loan clubs, he isn’t feeling any regret. “There was a lot of interest for me, and when Chelsea comes calling, when [Jose] Mourinho calls you and you’re able to meet with him in London, you’re not going to say no, really. It’s a dream and it was a proud moment to be wanted by a massive club like that,” Miazga told reporters on Tuesday. After two appearances in his first half season at Stamford Bridge, Miazga’s journey took him to Vitesse, Nantes, Reading, Anderlecht and finally Alavés. “Everyone thinks, ‘Oh, you go on loan, it’s not the right development path.’ But realistically, it is,” said Miazga. “I’m taking steps to climb back up the ladder. And that was the development process in all this.” In Miazga’s telling, whatever he missed in terms of a stable club environment was made up for by experiencing different clubs, cultures, countries, playing styles and teammates all across Europe. It’s experience that he hopes serves him well as he begins his second stint in MLS, chasing a league title as well as a return to the U.S. national team. “I’ve been able to live in so many different countries – play football, my passion, in so many different countries,” the defender said. “And meet so many new people, so many lifelong friends that I’ll always have, teammates and people within the clubs that I played at, as well as immersing myself in new cultures, new places to live, and learning. “When I look back, I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

he does look a monster would SO love to have a dominant keeper again Sanchez looks ok, but far from great atm

as I (and others) predicted Real are going to come HARD for Reece in 9 months Real are absolutely fucked at both fullbacks and there are only 5 on the board that they deem of WC quality (and the lowest one of the 5, Balde, is at Barca, so no chance) the same old 4 the only other ones they would remotely consider in their ideal plans are the other two always talked about (as Robertson is now aged out in terms of buying, as he will be 30yo soon) and both of these are really suspect defensively (especially TAA)

would also be a good kit logo

16-year-old Kiano Dyer now spotted in Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea first team training https://www.thechelseachronicle.com/news/16-year-old-youngster-now-spotted-in-mauricio-pochettinos-Chelsea-first-team-training/ Chelsea youngster Kiano Dyer has been spotted as part of the first team squad training during the international break. A video posted on the club’s Instagram page has seen the 16-year-old as part of the session being run by Mauricio Pochettino. It has already been claimed that it was business as usual as far as Pochettino was concerned for the players who remained at Cobham over the next two weeks. He was planning to remove days off that had been previously allowed for the players, as they look to climb up the table when domestic football returns. However, it does seem as if the lack of first teamers has seen an opportunity present itself for some youngsters to be involved and get an experience of what it is like training with the best in the world. Dyer spotted in training One of these this time has been Dyer, who was born as late as November 2006. He has become a full-time scholar at the club this season after his move from West Brom. It has not taken long for him to impress enough to be part of the young group who took part alongside the likes of Raheem Sterling and Romeo Lavia. It has reportedly not all been good news on the training ground this week, with the Belgian being one of those who has potentially suffered a serious injury this week. The club are waiting for the results of a scan after what could be a muscle tear for the youngster, which either way is likely to push his debut back a few more weeks. more: Teenage Kicks: Kiano Dyer https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/article/teenage-kicks-kiano-dyer

Norwegian talent Antonio Nusa has confirmed Chelsea wanted him on Deadline Day. He said: “We had a new talk when the money came but I knew what to do. A lot of money… but I can’t focus on that. I want to really think through my next step, what’s right for me.” - Chelsea will keep monitoring Antonio Nusa as the 2005-born winger is considered top talent. Chelsea’s scouts will keep tracking him in the next months after Deadline Day bid of around €30 million was rejected. https://thedailybriefing.io/i/136818600/Chelsea

Chelsea only had one conversation about Rayan Cherki https://thedailybriefing.io/i/136808314/Chelsea-only-had-one-conversation-about-rayan-cherki Chelsea fans asked me a lot during the summer about their club and links with Lyon’s Rayan Cherki. Honestly, I’m only aware of Chelsea having one conversation with Lyon to discuss both Cherki and Bradley Barcola - they just wanted to be kept informed on the conditions of the deal, but they never made Lyon any bid and they never started any negotiation. From what I’m told, there was nothing concrete this summer. Chelsea were not working on the Cherki deal, he’s always been monitored, but he was not a priority on their list this summer. It was never something close or concrete, also because the player wasn’t desperate to move this summer, maybe in 2024. There were a lot of rumours, but Chelsea had different ideas. Let’s see for the future, but it was never something close this summer.

His record is shit compared to the Brighton blokes

was a big bust in 2014/15 only played 15 league games, 937 league minutes, no league goals or assists, and was gone the next season

no he misses the stupid 25yo and under cut-off (it should have been 26yo and under, with exceptions (27yo to 30yo depending on the player) made for GK, CB, and CF) he would have made that revised cut-off

Manure will get a slap on the wrist, whilst they, along with fellow untouchables Pool, Citeh, Arse, Spuds, etc (including the newly minted, trillions-backed, head chopper-owned NUFC) will do ANYTHING they can to get Chels booted out of the EPL for Boehly/Clearlake's splurging, and also fuelled by historical hatred of the dreaded Russian, Roman.

I posted the full article hours ago in the kits forum

time will tell I am not to lose sleep over not buying Rice I save that for not buying Tchou and Camavinga, lol

Twenty-Five 17yos and 16yos to watch who are remotely available (so no Endrick, Lamine Yamal, Warren Zaïre-Emery, Julien Duranville, Paul Wanner, Noah Darvich) Winger Estêvão Willian Palmeiras Right Footed CB Leny Yoro Lille AMF Luis Guilherme Palmeiras Right Footed CB Luka Vuskovic HNK Hajduk Split Winger Gianluca Prestianni Vélez Sarsfield Left Footed CB Jorrel Hato Ajax AMF Jobe Bellingham Sunderland DMF Gabriel Moscardo Corinthians (we already are trying to buy) RW/AMF Rayan Vitor Vasco da Gama AMF Claudio Echeverri River Plate CF Kauã Elias Fluminense CMF Sverre Nypan Rosenborg AMF Simone Pafundi Udinese Calcio Winger Pedro Corinthians Winger Roony Bardghji FC Copenhagen Left Footed CB Matai Akinmboni CMF Assan Ouédraogo Schalke 04 CMF Lucas Bergvall Djurgården Winger Roger Braga Left Footed CB Yasin Özcan Kasimpasa Winger Adyson América-MG Winger Faniel Tewelde Odd BK Winger Adrian Mazilu FCV Farul LB Andrei Borza FC Rapid 1923 GK Gonçalo Ribeiro Porto

Last season Caicedo played to a higher level than Rice IMHO. Yes, Rice won the tier 3 Euro trophy, but throughout the entirety of the seaon Caicedo was the better player and on a better team. Rice had more iffy games than Caicedo did. Rice was a major player for team that was often in danger of falling into a serious relegation battle. They collapsed in form from the year before.

Did Chelsea really refuse signings based on age? https://thedailybriefing.io/i/136748695/did-Chelsea-really-refuse-signings-based-on-age The average age of Chelsea’s new signings this summer is just 20.5. And the average squad age is 22.5. That shows the project has been all about transforming the team and planning for the future. Chelsea spent £448m this summer, taking their outlay over the last three windows to over £1bn. But they also recouped £295m in sales and loan fees. That part shouldn’t be forgotten either. Chelsea’s strategy has been to largely look at players 25-years-old and under. And it’s true they passed up on going for James Maddison, who is now 26. But that wasn’t really down to age alone. There will always be exceptions to the age ‘rule’. After all, Mauricio Pochettino is also very keen on having Premier League experience. That’s why Raheem Sterling is seen as so important this season. Chelsea looked at lots of targets, which is normal in a busy window. But they also knew Maddison preferred the move to Spurs. Maddison wanted London, which also counted against Newcastle who were very keen at one point but had moved on prior to Spurs’ bid. Maddison also wanted to settle his future quickly having just had new-born twins. What’s clear with Chelsea is they do want to buy young. They view fees paid as an investment not an expense, and this approach allows them to get players on longer-term contracts and for lower wages. The strategy is ultimately reliant on players growing into their price tag. It’s harder to convince a player over 25 to sign a seven-year deal. And it’s riskier for the club as well because the signing could enter into their late 20s or early 30s and be surplus to requirements and harder to offload. But I don’t think it’s accurate or fair to say Chelsea will point-blank refuse to buy over 25s. Robert Sanchez is 25 and turns 26 in November, 26-year-old Raphinha was considered (he didn’t want to leave Barcelona) and 27-year-old Ivan Toney is one name Chelsea could yet explore in January. The recruitment approach isn’t rigid, so I don’t think we can say any player is ruled out on age alone. But it’s clear Chelsea do prefer to buy young at this stage of their project.

Chelsea have a hugely talented investment portfolio. Now they need a football team https://theathletic.com/4827934/2023/09/04/Chelsea-transfer-spending-squad/ As Nicolas Jackson’s lunging finish looped almost impossibly over the crossbar in the 83rd minute, the raucous Nottingham Forest supporters in Stamford Bridge’s Shed End burnished their gleeful jeer with the chant that had become the soundtrack to a deeply frustrating afternoon for Chelsea. “What a waste of money.” The boos that rippled around the home support at the final whistle when Forest’s 1-0 victory was confirmed were an understandable response to a performance that echoed Chelsea’s worst travails at home last season: slow possession stifled by a deep-lying opponent following a smart but simple plan, rare good chances wasted and an unforced error ruthlessly punished to turn a draw into a defeat. Forest did nothing unexpected to claim their first win at Stamford Bridge since 1995, but the fact that they succeeded should reinforce what might be an uncomfortable truth for those in charge of Chelsea’s insatiable recruitment operation: outspending everyone else in the transfer market offers absolutely zero guarantees of winning consistently in the Premier League, at least in the short term. Lost amid the fanfare that surrounds massive transfer fees, hijacked deals and glitzy social media announcements is the reality that, with the exception of one or two promoted clubs, the talent advantage enjoyed by the richest Premier League clubs over the rest in England’s top flight is actually pretty marginal. GO DEEPER Premier League transfer window: The good and the bad for each club There was compelling evidence of this across the pitch on Saturday at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea academy graduate Ola Aina, now 26, has never commanded an eight-figure transfer fee in his professional career. But he is an excellent one-v-one defender, more than capable of shutting down Raheem Sterling when mentally locked in. Catch him on the right day and Anthony Elanga, the product of another elite Premier League academy (Manchester United) and with Champions League goals to his name, has more than enough ability to have a greater impact in the final third than Noni Madueke and Mykhailo Mudryk. It also manifests in other ways. Brighton and Hove Albion had eight players at the last World Cup. West Ham had starters for England, Brazil, Germany and surprise semi-finalists Morocco. One day after completing a £30million deal for Ibrahim Sangare, a key midfielder from last season’s Eredivisie runners-up PSV, Forest were able to withdraw the tiring Aina and Serge Aurier in the second half at Stamford Bridge and introduce Gonzalo Montiel, the man who scored the winning penalty in the final shootout in Qatar. Premier League clubs committed more than double the sums spent on transfer fees by the PIF-bankrolled Saudi Pro League in England’s summer transfer window. This competition is by far the closest thing football has to a Super League, and the talent level across the board has never been higher. GO DEEPER Premier League spending reaches almost $3billion - and the excess will only increase Beneath the headlines that Chelsea seized when breaking the British transfer record twice in consecutive windows to acquire Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo, all they were really buying on an individual level was a relatively marginal talent edge over most of their direct opponents on a weekly basis. That alone does not yield much of a margin for error. Caicedo’s loose touch that initiated the sequence directly leading to Elanga’s winner was not befitting of a £115million midfielder, because £115m is an arbitrary price that Chelsea decided to pay in order to avoid losing him to Liverpool. It provides very little by way of insurance against a moment of hesitation or misreading of Conor Gallagher’s intentions, particularly when the two have been team-mates for less than three weeks. Only when these highly skilled individuals are put together in a stable environment and coherent system that maximises their best qualities is a gulf created with rival sides that delivers consistent results. This is why Manchester City and Liverpool have been the gold standard for the last five years and it is why every top modern coach, Mauricio Pochettino included, is so fond of talking about ‘processes’. No amount of transfer spending can skip the time needed for coaching, adaptation and development to run their course. This is not the Premier League of 2003, when Roman Abramovich’s deep pockets elevated Chelsea to perennial contender status almost overnight. Progress is a slower burn now, even more so when your recruitment strategy consists of assembling the youngest squad in the division. Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital believe youth is underrated in football, but it is also by nature relatively untested. Jackson, despite frequently flashing elite talent, is not currently displaying the composure in front of goal that he will likely find with greater experience. Caicedo has the look of a superb midfielder feeling his way in a new team while saddled with a huge price tag. The scale of Chelsea’s transfer spending over the past year has created external expectations that are impossible for this squad to meet right now, and the prevailing “£1billion spent” narrative cares nothing for the context of almost £300m raised through player sales, or the fact that most of the new signings are players aged 23 or younger regarded internally as investments rather than costs. GO DEEPER Chelsea's transfer window: Heavy spending, significant sales and bargain Jackson West Ham and Forest have already beaten Chelsea in familiar fashion. There will be more days like these, more symposiums of schadenfreude on social media, more gleeful chants of wasted money on miserable matchdays, as Pochettino’s shiny new team learns through its growing pains. The key question is whether the outside noise will be allowed to cause internal strife. Boehly and Clearlake have utterly remade every aspect of Chelsea in the space of a little more than a year, driving a squad overhaul unprecedented in its speed and spend. For the last three months in particular, the club has been a transaction machine, buying and selling at a bewildering rate. That is over now. For the next four months, Chelsea have to become a football team that maximises the talent they have amassed, a cohesive squad of footballers as well as a human investment portfolio. That path will be far from painless, because winning in the Premier League is much more difficult than winning in the transfer market.

Chelsea’s summer of sales was unprecedented – but have they improved? https://theathletic.com/4833721/2023/09/06/Chelsea-sales-pochettino-boehly/ There was a feeling of satisfaction at Chelsea as the transfer window in England closed at the end of last week — and not because, for the third time in the space of 12 months, their relentless recruitment had dominated the market as well as the conversation. With north of £400million ($503m) committed on transfer fees to bring 12 new players to Stamford Bridge, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital managed to scale up the expenditure even from the first two jaw-dropping windows of their ownership. But club officials were more keen to draw attention to another figure: £295million. That is how much Chelsea claim they raised through player sales and loan fees this summer, offsetting the amortised transfer costs accumulated in the previous two windows and creating room to reinforce Mauricio Pochettino’s young squad with Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia, Christopher Nkunku, Nicolas Jackson and more. Transfermarkt lists an incredible 25 departures from Chelsea this summer, and that only includes players who were either in the first-team picture or had previously been out on loan. The scale of the exodus was nothing less than what was required after a season in which January signings found themselves unable to fit into the dressing room at Cobham and training sessions with two 11-vs-11 matches on adjacent pitches became a regular occurrence. But it is nonetheless an impressive logistical achievement, even for a club with two sporting directors and owners who remain actively engaged in transfer and contract negotiations. How does the sales push look in football and financial terms? To consider that question properly means setting aside the fact that Chelsea have lost two of their first four Premier League matches this season to West Ham United and Nottingham Forest, beating only relegation favourites Luton Town at home. It is far too early to know if the squad Pochettino has now will end up stronger or weaker than the one Thomas Tuchel oversaw in the summer of 2022. But there are other assessments we can reasonably make right now. Namely, how Boehly and Clearlake fared against the three main aims they set for themselves in this window: to raise funds to offset further recruitment, to drastically trim the size of the squad and to lower the wage bill by offloading high earners from the Roman Abramovich era. Every sale is different, and beneath the headline £295million figure lies a nuanced picture. Extracting £65million from Arsenal for Kai Havertz can easily be seen as a win, given that the German failed to fully justify the fanfare that surrounded his arrival at Stamford Bridge in 2020 — or even find his best position on the pitch. Chelsea also negotiated Manchester United up from a £40million opening offer for Mason Mount to a final package of £55million with a further £5million in add-ons. That said, it should not be viewed as particularly difficult to garner a juicy transfer fee for a 24-year-old England international who has been your club’s player of the year twice, even if he does only have one year remaining on a contract that pays him significantly less than he is worth. GO DEEPER Mason Mount and Chelsea - how the perfect marriage fizzled out in divorce Securing good value for players on what the new owners call “legacy contracts” handed out in the Abramovich era — deals with above-market salaries — is a bigger challenge. Within that context, bringing in £25million for Mateo Kovacic, around £18million for Christian Pulisic and £15million for Ruben Loftus-Cheek is reasonable, even if it is likely that all three perform well for Manchester City and AC Milan. Chelsea believe all three took pay cuts to leave Stamford Bridge, as Callum Hudson-Odoi did to complete a deadline-day move to Nottingham Forest. In the cases of Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Hudson-Odoi and several others who departed in this window, Chelsea also insisted on the inclusion of sell-on clauses that could net them further income in future years. They already benefited this summer from one such agreement initially made by Marina Granovskaia, banking up to £15.5million from Cobham graduate Tino Livramento’s £35million transfer from Southampton to Newcastle United. The most controversial aspect of Chelsea’s sales were the deals that took Kalidou Koulibaly and Edouard Mendy, two unwanted first-team players without lucrative markets for their services in Europe, to the Saudi Pro League. Boehly and Clearlake were certainly more alive than some of their rivals to the opportunities presented by the recruitment drive of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and offloading Koulibaly and Mendy — and their salaries — for a combined £36million did the club a big favour. But further deals for Romelu Lukaku, Hakim Ziyech and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang never came to fruition, while Al Ittihad also signed N’Golo Kante, a free agent Chelsea wanted to retain. The Frenchman’s injury record since 2019 suggests they might have been saved from themselves on that front, and the club subsequently re-stocked their midfield cupboard with several young players they regard as better long-term assets. Some of Chelsea’s uglier outgoing business suggested a greater willingness to recognise a lack of market leverage than in the past, or simply to acknowledge their own transfer mistakes. Nothing in her track record suggests Granovskaia would have agreed to loan out Lukaku, Ziyech or Kepa Arrizabalaga on such modest terms, or terminate the contracts of Aubameyang or Tiemoue Bakayoko. More likely there would have been disillusioned players kept around for the new coach to deal with, or top-up contract extensions handed out to preserve some hypothetical notion of “value”. Boehly and Clearlake’s priorities this summer were very different. Almost all of the players still on contracts agreed under Abramovich and Granovskaia have either been sold or loaned out and, in the current squad, only three players are inside the final two years of their current deals: Thiago Silva, Ian Maatsen and Conor Gallagher. That is one area where Chelsea’s sales drive ultimately fell short. They were open to offers for Cobham graduates Gallagher, Maatsen and Trevoh Chalobah all summer, but suitors were slow to meet their valuations. When acceptable bids were finally received for Maatsen and Chalobah on deadline day — from Burnley and Nottingham Forest respectively — they came from clubs the players had no interest in joining. Now the challenge is to re-assimilate players who have been made to feel unwanted and expendable — ideally, in the cases of Gallagher and Maatsen, to the point where they agree to sign new deals — or at the very least to get to January without some or all of them suffering precipitous declines in their transfer value due to a lack of game time. Selling all three would have meant losing three talented home-grown footballers, and one in Gallagher who is valued highly by Pochettino and has worn the captain’s armband this season. It would also have meant banking almost £100million more in sale revenue — all of which would have been recorded as profit on the accounts — and left the squad closer to Pochettino’s desired size. Chelsea took the other path with Lewis Hall, loaning their academy player of the year to Newcastle with an obligation to buy for £28million plus £7million in add-ons. The deal was greeted with understandable dismay among some supporters, and could end up looking cheap if he fulfils his potential at St James’ Park. But it was also a smart way to lock in a significant return for a player who was unlikely to see his value rise this season had he remained on the fringes of Pochettino’s plans. Instead, his sale price will go towards offsetting next summer’s chunk of the amortised fees of signings already made. There are still 31 players on the first-team page of Chelsea’s website, though this includes academy goalkeepers Lucas Bergstrom and Eddie Beach, as well as teenage signing Deivid Washington, who is being used as short-term emergency striker cover while Armando Broja completes his recovery from an anterior cruciate ligament injury. It also includes Malang Sarr, whom Chelsea’s new head coach does not appear to have met or heard of. Pochettino admitted prior to Chelsea’s loss to Forest that his squad may prove too big once the bulk of the club’s injured players return, but the situation does not appear to be anywhere near the unmanageable mess that was created in the second half of last season. Boehly and Clearlake are also convinced they have lowered the club’s wage bill by tens of millions, even as they have used this summer’s sales to maintain a relentless stream of new signings. By their own metrics, then, this window was a largely successful one. The big question no one can yet answer is whether Chelsea have emerged from it with a squad capable of returning to the club’s modern standards of trophy contention, now or in the near future. GO DEEPER Why Chelsea believe their £900m transfer spending is within FFP rules

Transfer deadline day: Joao Palhinha's Bayern Munich move off after dramatic Fulham about-turn https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2023/09/01/transfer-deadline-day-2023-live-countdown-premier-league/ Joao Palhinha’s move from Fulham to Bayern Munich collapsed in dramatic circumstances on transfer deadline day, with the deal falling through despite the midfielder having a medical in Germany. Palhinha flew to Munich in the hope of completing a transfer that could have been worth around £60 million to Fulham. But the Premier League club struggled to identify a suitable replacement at such short notice and ultimately an agreement could not be reached over a player who is widely regarded as the most important in their squad. Palhinha will now have to return to Craven Cottage and continue his career in English football, although it seems certain that he will once again be the subject of serious interest in the January transfer window. Palhinha’s departure would have represented a record sale for Fulham but, with star striker Aleksandar Mitrovic already leaving the club earlier this summer, there was reluctance to allow another key figure to depart. Negotiations were led by vice-chairman Tony Khan, who is understood to have battled hard to keep Palhinha at Fulham despite the 28-year-old’s desire to join the German side. The German transfer window closed at 5pm, which made the task of finding a top-class replacement for Palhinha even more challenging for Fulham. Deadline day is often busy at Craven Cottage and Friday was no different, with the drama involving Palhinha and also their pursuit of Everton winger Alex Iwobi. On Friday night, Fulham were working to finalise Iwobi’s transfer from Everton in a deal that could be worth around £20 million. Fulham have been keen to strengthen in wide areas this summer and Iwobi, a graduate of the Arsenal academy, can play on both flanks. One player who has left Fulham is full-back Kevin Mbabu, who has joined Augbsurg on loan for the rest of the season.