Vesper

I think that is still TBD especially if we offload Gallagher

2 years ago they finished higher (11th) in the EPL than we did last year (12th) they were 7 points off qualifying for European footie we were 17 points off qualifying come on at least look before you post m8

that team was/is loaded with mad experience including a lot of international Sr national teams players smdh

are you having a laugh? # Player Date of birth / Age Nat. Current club Market value 22 Nick Pope Goalkeeper Apr 19, 1992 (30) €20.00m 1 Martin Dúbravka Goalkeeper Jan 15, 1989 (33) €1.50m 18 Loris Karius Goalkeeper Jun 22, 1993 (29) €1.20m - Karl Darlow Goalkeeper Oct 8, 1990 (31) €1.00m 29 Mark Gillespie Goalkeeper Mar 27, 1992 (30) €300k 4 Sven Botman Centre-Back Jan 12, 2000 (22) €45.00m 5 Fabian Schär Centre-Back Dec 20, 1991 (30) €10.00m 6 Jamaal Lascelles Centre-Back Nov 11, 1993 (28) €4.50m - Federico Fernández Centre-Back Feb 21, 1989 (33) €700k - Ciaran Clark Centre-Back Sep 26, 1989 (32) €600k - Kell Watts Centre-Back Nov 3, 1999 (22) €300k 13 Matt Targett Left-Back Sep 18, 1995 (26) €13.00m 33 Dan Burn Left-Back May 9, 1992 (30) €10.00m 12 Jamal Lewis Left-Back Jan 25, 1998 (24) €6.00m 3 Paul Dummett Left-Back Sep 26, 1991 (30) €1.00m 2 Kieran Trippier Right-Back Sep 19, 1990 (31) €11.00m 17 Emil Krafth Right-Back Aug 2, 1994 (27) €3.00m 19 Javier Manquillo Right-Back May 5, 1994 (28) €2.50m 30 Harrison Ashby Right-Back Nov 14, 2001 (20) €1.00m 39 Bruno Guimarães Defensive Midfield Nov 16, 1997 (24) €70.00m - Isaac Hayden Defensive Midfield Mar 22, 1995 (27) €3.50m 28 Joe Willock Central Midfield Aug 20, 1999 (22) €38.00m 36 Sean Longstaff Central Midfield Oct 30, 1997 (24) €25.00m - Jonjo Shelvey Central Midfield Feb 27, 1992 (30) €5.00m - Jeff Hendrick Central Midfield Jan 31, 1992 (30) €1.50m - Matty Longstaff Central Midfield Mar 21, 2000 (22) €1.00m 11 Matt Ritchie Right Midfield Sep 10, 1989 (32) €1.00m 7 Joelinton Attacking Midfield Aug 14, 1996 (25) €42.00m 32 Elliot Anderson Attacking Midfield Nov 6, 2002 (19) €8.00m - Lewis Miley Attacking Midfield May 1, 2006 (16) 8 Anthony Gordon Left Winger Feb 24, 2001 (21) €35.00m 10 Allan Saint-Maximin Left Winger Mar 12, 1997 (25) €32.00m 21 Ryan Fraser Left Winger Feb 24, 1994 (28) €6.00m 24 Miguel Almirón Right Winger Feb 10, 1994 (28) €32.00m 23 Jacob Murphy Right Winger Feb 24, 1995 (27) €15.00m 14 Alexander Isak Centre-Forward Sep 21, 1999 (22) €70.00m 9 Callum Wilson Centre-Forward Feb 27, 1992 (30) €16.00m - Chris Wood Centre-Forward Dec 7, 1991 (30) €8.00m

not seeing calls to sell Kepa, just calls for a better keeper to make Kepa the backup as for the other 3 they are all mega busts £260m in transfer fees for the 4 plus crazy salaries

of course they need the money they are subject to FFP just like everyone else, and Mbappe's total cost for Real will likely be (for 5 years) well over €300m (easily could be much more, if he is paid anything near Messi money it's over €400m) if they have to pay a monster transfer fee now those numbers are conservative compared to the Saudi offer (€300m transfer fee and €200m per year salary, IF it was for 2 years, they said they will pay him a €100m signing bonus, so total 2 years cost of €800m, €1 billion if 3 years, which is drop in the bucket for them as they have what is likely closing in on to 2 TRILLION usd backstopping them) Real have other needs as well and are also going to (I have always said Håland ends up at Real) go for Håland in summer 2024 (perhaps) or summer 2025 (very likely)

You really are saying that BOTH Reece AND Thiago will each miss at least 70% of our games?

so now it appears we see Olise as more of a RWer than an AMF a straight Ziyech replacement I am still very wary of that bad hamstring tear and also Kudus can play RW too Kudus just seems more of an explosive athlete, plus scores more goals most games (including the WC) I watched him he looked a true threat

yes, thus my 'lol' I think they MIGHT take 45m, but likely will want the full 50m

lol Pool bid only £37m???

doubt what part?

well, PSG is not suicidal, they would not toss him on the reserves

£100m for Caicedo is madness IMHO the only 5 or 6 DMFs and/or CMFs on the planet I would pay £100m or more for are (atm) Jude Bellingham Pedri Federico Valverde Gavi Rodri Eduardo Camavinga (maybe) Joshua Kimmich turns 29yo in the winter of this season, so nope then the close but not quite £100m Aurélien Tchouaméni Frenkie de Jong Nicolò Barella Bruno Guimarães then Moisés Caicedo and Kimmich (due to age), below those 4 that's IT on the planet large drop off after all those down to Manuel Ugarte (grrrrrrrrrrrrrr) Declan Rice Sandro Tonali Alexis Mac Allister Leon Goretzka Romeo Lavia João Palhinha (if he was 3 or 4 years younger then he would be higher) Warren Zaïre-Emery (17yo) then even more of a drop off to more players who are more dice rolls like (no order) Manu Kone, Khéphren Thuram, Amadou Onana, Mikel Merino, Martín Zubimendi, Sergej Milinković-Savić, Vitinha, Marcos Llorente, Rodrigo de Paul, Rúben Neves, Adrien Rabiot, Orkun Kökcü, Seko Fofana, Gabri Veiga, Ryan Gravenberch, Teun Koopmeiners, Sofyan Amrabat, Manuel Locatelli, Danilo, Guido Rodríguez, Eljif Elmas, Youssouf Fofana, Maxence Caqueret, Carlos Soler, Franck Kessié, Frank Anguissa, Nicolò Fagioli, Wendel, Florentino Luis, Luka Sucic, Yves Bissouma, Arthur Vermeeren, Alex Scott, Fabio Miretti, Habib Diarra

absolutely We all know I tossed the toys from the pram when our board refused to buy him (fucking scouts said they had major doubts, the cunts) for £40m to £50m from Monaco the season before he moved to Real.

Cannot Mbappe just say fuck it and refuse to move until next season, so go to Real om a free and for massive wages/bonus as he can insist on a bump due to no transfer fee? He has €150m from PSG coming for this season due to the loyalty bonus plus his wages, so the lad is not hurting for cash at all.

it would not take £100m for Tchou I think £77m to £82m (€90 to €95m) would do it Real need cash for Mbappe Camavinga would be a harder pull, they rate him more than Tchou

well Hakim Ziyech Callum Hudson-Odoi are actually worse (how depressing is that!) , but BOTH need to be sold ASAP and I would sell Sterling too (Saudis want him badly) I wonder what Poch thinks of Nicolás González 14 goals, 5 assists as a LWer last season in only 2,663 minutes that is around 30 total goals produced per 4000 minutes 24 caps for Argentina Sr national team good size (5-11, ie. 1.80m) and pacy turned 25yo in April, so is in prime years

do this! why the hell would we buy a player (Michael Olise) who just ripped up his hamstring and had major surgery???? are we fucking that stupid to buy MORE damaged goods?????

Klopp in dreamland as midfielder Roméo Lavia chooses Liverpool over Arsenal, Chelsea; agreement reached https://www.teamtalk.com/liverpool/klopp-in-dreamland-midfielder-chooses-liverpool-over-arsenal-Chelsea-agreement-reached

Chelsea shortlist two new midfielders as Moises Caicedo talks stall https://thetopflight.com/2023/07/24/Chelsea-shortlist-moises-caicedo/ Chelsea have seen recent outgoings in their midfield this summer. Big names include Mateo Kovacic departing to Manchester City, and Mason Mount making a controversial switch to Manchester United. While he rarely played in the Chelsea midfield, Kai Havertz has also left, as has N’Golo Kante, joining Al Ittihad on a free transfer. Midfielder Omari Hutchinson has joined Ipswich Town on a season-long loan, while Cesare Casadei is expected to also secure a loan move. Conor Gallagher is also likely to find a new club this summer. So where exactly does that leave their midfield situation? Chelsea are desperately trying to add Brighton’s Moises Caicedo, but discussions have stalled in recent weeks. The Top Flight has reported recently that Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi stated Caicedo will stay until the owner changes his mind. Now while it is too earlier to say Chelsea’s talks for Moises Caicedo are over, it certainly feels like there’s growing frustration between the two clubs. The Guardian is now reporting that talks have fully stalled because Brighton insists on wanting Levi Colwill in a Moises Caicedo deal. Additionally, Chelsea is not willing to meet Brighton’s locked-in transfer price of £100m for Caicedo. Evening Standard is reporting that Mauricio Pochettino is willing to have two more midfielders added to the squad. Enzo Fernandez, Andrey Santos, and Carney Chukwuemeka are the only midfielders currently expected to start the season with the club. While Moises Caicedo is the number one priority, two young midfielders are shortlisted as transfer targets for the club. Southampton’s Romeo Lavia is once again seen as someone they are keeping a close eye on. Chelsea had a £50M bid for Lavia rejected back in January and could circle back on the Belgian if a Caicedo deal cannot be completed. The other listed midfield target is Celta Vigo’s Gabri Veiga, who has a £34M release clause. Veiga is much more of an attacking option than Caicedo but provides immediate help in the Chelsea midfield. He could be a like-for-like replacement for the departed Mason Mount. What’s next for Chelsea is seeing how far Brighton are willing to go on standing still on Caicedo talks. If things don’t budge before the season starts, the Blues may move towards the likes of Lavia and Veiga.

Conor Gallagher: The midfielder rated higher by rivals than he is at Chelsea https://theathletic.com/4716154/2023/07/24/conor-gallagher-Chelsea-tottenham-west-ham/ Time for a little pre-season quiz: who is Chelsea’s oldest current central midfielder? If your answer was Conor Gallagher, a) you are correct, and b) this might be the moment to admit you are paying too much attention. It is a remarkable, surprising fact that underlines the exodus of experience from that area of the squad over the last six months and the strength of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital’s desire to build around young talent. A little more than three weeks into Mauricio Pochettino’s tenure as head coach, it remains unclear which of those two camps Gallagher will end up in. He was the only outfield player to last the full 90 minutes against Brighton & Hove Albion in the second match of the club’s five-game U.S. pre-season tour in Philadelphia on Saturday, yet he continues to be linked relentlessly with a move away. Chelsea are yet to offer Gallagher an extension to a contract which runs until June 2025, and it has been made clear to interested clubs that he is available for the right price. A package worth in the region of £50million ($64.1m) would certainly be enough to get it done, but a market at that level has been slow to develop despite the esteem he is held in across the Premier League. A source close to Chelsea, who will remain anonymous to protect relationships, said on Monday that West Ham United submitted a bid worth £40million for the Cobham graduate. However, Chelsea later rejected the bid. With such a lofty asking price, Chelsea are essentially telling his potential suitors they value Gallagher as a premium asset: a 23-year-old, proven Premier League performer and senior England international with considerable positional and tactical versatility and potential for further improvement. All of which begs the question: why they are entertaining the notion of selling him? Gallagher is not pushing to leave. Coming from a family of diehard Chelsea supporters, his preference has always been to pursue a long and successful career at Stamford Bridge. That mindset has not been shifted by the endless speculation about his future, nor by the explicit acknowledgement by the club that he is regarded as expendable. In the final days of this year’s January transfer window, Gallagher was the subject of a £45million bid from Everton. Chelsea made it clear they were amenable to this offer, much to the bemusement of the player and his camp. Gallagher had zero interest in joining a team fighting for their Premier League survival, and the perception that he was being nudged in that direction did not go over well. Gallagher is from a family of Chelsea fans and in no rush to leave (Photo: Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images) Newcastle United indicated they were prepared to bid at a similar level, and Chelsea did not encourage interest from a club who, with their unexpected charge towards a top-four finish, were establishing themselves as one of the west Londoners’ serious long-term domestic rivals. The apparent concern about what he might achieve at his former club’s expense in a more talented Premier League team jarred with their willingness to sell. Gallagher quietly went on to crack 2,000 minutes of play for Chelsea across all competitions last season, ranking him ninth among outfielders in the squad. He maintained a record of featuring in at least 30 league matches in every season of his professional career — a reflection of the fact he almost never gets injured, as well as his impressive knack for winning the trust of his coaches. He has had enough practice, with Pochettino being his fifth different one to impress at Chelsea after Frank Lampard (twice), Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter. GO DEEPER Colwill can be 'one of greatest centre-backs in England' — Pochettino England manager Gareth Southgate is a fan too, offering an effusive assessment of Gallagher’s game when explaining his inclusion in the squad for last year’s World Cup. “He’s fantastic at pressing the ball,” Southgate said. “There are going to be moments in these (World Cup) games where we need certain attributes and we feel he could be that sort of player. He’s not as experienced as some of the others but he has an impact in games and has a goal threat. “When you look at midfielders you often ask: ‘Do they stop goals, create goals or score goals?’ He does a lot of all of that.” Gallagher’s technique does not pop in the manner of fellow midfielder, 2022 World Cup winner and January signing Enzo Fernandez; the majority of his contributions on the pitch are not glamorous and not always even that obvious. But he is adept at finding space in which to receive the ball, looks to move it on quickly and is a real asset in a modern pressing system. He also offers a genuine goal threat from midfield and his commitment is never in doubt — two things recent Chelsea history suggests cannot be taken for granted. He may not be quite good enough to be an automatic starter in a team with serious aspirations to win the title or Champions League, but at the very least Gallagher profiles as the kind of homegrown stalwart that Sir Alex Ferguson frequently utilised to keep Manchester United winning on the pitch while maintaining a culture and standard of accountability off it. GO DEEPER Pochettino urges Chelsea to continue clear out: 'We don't need 30 players' That is not the sort of player to dispose of lightly, even for a juicy transfer fee. Chelsea’s first-team academy core feels more fragile than ever with Mason Mount and Ruben Loftus-Cheek gone leaving summer, Reece James’ knee a continuing cause for concern, Levi Colwill not yet fully convinced of his importance to this rebuild, Armando Broja feeling his way back from an ACL knee injury in December, Lewis Hall facing a challenging path to consistent first-team minutes and Trevoh Chalobah viewed internally as another saleable asset. The early indications are that Pochettino recognises Gallagher’s ability to be a valuable contributor. He can barely afford to think otherwise with the Moises Caicedo negotiations with Brighton stuck at a £30million gulf in valuations, Fernandez being carefully load-managed after a 2022-23 season that saw him rack up more than 4,500 minutes for club and country and Andrey Santos, Carney Chukwuemeka and Cesare Casadei all still more promise than proven pedigree. Banking £50million or close to it for Gallagher from West Ham, Tottenham Hotspur or another of his Premier League admirers might go a long way towards helping Chelsea shore up their central midfield options this summer — but would simply keeping him around not achieve a similar end?