Vesper

I love Linzer Augen 💙💙💙💙

ah, you are a Salzburger?

post of the day, roflmaooooooooooooooooooooooo I am sure there are some plonkers on twitter who are saying this! 🤡

there is financial investment smart and then there is footballing smart sometimes the two do not overlap, especially for a yank with no footballing culture in his blood

do you even do the slightest amount of research before posting? Panzo only played THREE topflight games ever for Monaco Two Ligue 1 games in 2019/20, one as starter where Badi never came in, and then a 16 minute late defensive LMF/LW sub (for Henry Onyekuru), and a game where Badi (as an 18 yo) was the starting LEFT CB and one Coupe de la Ligue game in 2018/2019, where Badi (17 years old then) was the LEFT CB and Panzo was the LB

many CBs are very used to playing on a side dictated by their footedness, and if you go look at performance charts, many often suffer when they are played on the other side not every player is a Maldini or a Terry when it comes to flexibility and talent to perform at extraordinary levels no matter where you place them Badi, for instance, is far better on the left an on the right if footedness meant nothing, then why is there an extraordinary premium on classy left-footed CBs? there just are not that many lefties out there the bottom CB on the first page (so top 25 on planet in terms of valuation) for left-footed CBs on T-Markt is only valued at £18.9m the bottom of the second page is only £8.6m massive drop offs for right footed CBs, the bottom of page one is £30.1m, and page 2, the bottom (£17.3m) is almost the same as the bottom of page one for lefties footedness is magnified when you play a back 4 as well, versus a back 5, as there is no middle CB to cover if a wrong-footed player who is playing in an area they are not comfortable with gets burnt

you are the only other poster who has ever mentioned Nicolò Casale as a right-footed CB option welcome to the club

summer 2022 buy (speaking NON YOUTH) window may well go down as one of the worst ever for an EPL club, it really looks like may be the case hopefully Enzo and Muddy and Noni and Badi can save it from that if Rom had also been bought in 2022 instead of 2021, it would likely have been the worst window in football history

I am super stressing now 😟 not gonna lie I am terrified of our injury record it's a fucking curse Badi is injured too (nothing like Fofana, but still, hamstrings can turn into recurrent problems) Reece has had a bad run with injuries (hamstrings as well) and now the pressure on a soon-to-be 39yo Thiago and a player we were (are?) willing/want to so sell (Trevoh, who has been spotty AF at times the past 2 seasons) is immense also pressure on Malo Gusto as well, if Reece injury record haunts him/us again this year plus, so far, T-rex-armed Kepa looks to still be our number 1 GK and Chilly has had injures galore and CuCu was shite on defence far too often our defence has semi-collapse potential atm

this may sound strange, but one of the things I never liked about Fofana is how utter narrow his body is (look at now narrow his shoulders are), and his very awkward looking knock-kneed, pigeon-toed gait he just always looked like he was an injury waiting to happen

the difference is that Fofana never should have been purchased, and especially not for £75m

I warned! If little amateur me can clearly see these things I REALLY have to wonder WTF is going on although this buy was before we had a fully assembled management team

pretty much agree pretty comprehensive list of right footed CBs (I did not list former Chels) Ronald Araújo (hard as hell pull) Min-jae Kim Bayern (almost done) Milan Skriniar PSG António Silva Jurrien Timber Arse Giorgio Scalvini Bremer Robin Le Normand José María Giménez (last summer on any of my lists as he turns 30 in 18 months, plus he has a poor injury history) Jean-Clair Todibo Pierre Kalulu Mohamed Simakan Taylor Harwood-Bellis (IF Citeh sells him) Edmond Tapsoba Roger Ibañez Axel Disasi Perr Schuurs Nicolò Casale Ilya Zabarnyi Malick Thiaw Anel Ahmedhodzic Merih Demiral Josip Sutalo Danilho Doekhi Armel Bella-Kotchap (not quite sold on him atm, he started great but then reverted a bit) Odilon Kossounou Maxence Lacroix Zeno Debast Ousmane Diomande Leny Yoro (17 yo) Luka Vuskovic (16 yo)

oh, for sure my list of left footed CBs was only IF we (stupidly) sold Colwill

FUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

I warned on buying him. I rated the hell out of him before his massive injury, but one of my fundamental beliefs is that you you never buy a player after a massive injury until they have a least two or so healthy seasons after that, seasons where they are at least back to the level they were before the massive injury.

FUCK by far the biggest fail in terms of management hiring we had he will take Bayern back up to monster level, the bloke is a genius

Valid point, and it really sucks that the natural alternative to Caicedo (Barella) is also Inter plus the next two, below them, Schlotterbeck (Dortmund) and Botman (NUFC) are hardly easy pulls either left footed, top class CBs are like hen's teeth

After Gvardiol and Bastoni (Alaba, who is too old to buy and would never come here is the only other truly proven WC left footed CB besides those two atm), the only other left footed CBs of high enough quality who are remotely availlabe and who would be ready to go and start some games are, IMHO (and the last 3 of these are dice rolls). The market is tight AF The best options by far after Gvard and Basti: Sven Botman Nico Schlotterbeck Then Presnel Kimpembe (last summer to buy him, as he will be 29yo a little over a year from now, on August 13, 2024. He has probably 4 max top seasons left NOW) then dice rolls, all with huge potential Micky van de Ven (Pool want him badly, he could easily end up the best of these 6, but tgat is not a lock) Piero Hincapié Gonçalo Inácio

Greedy cunts. £80m is more than fair.

Agree

We are insane if we sell Colwill unless (and this is simply not happening from all I can see) we have Gvardiol on the books. Only other left footed CB who is at a truly acceptable level as Levi's potential AND is remotely available is Bastoni.

Think we do not not need a CB? https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/article/Chelsea-take-29-man-squad-to-the-usa Wesley Fofana has also not travelled due to a knee injury, which is currently being assessed. Marcus Bettinelli, Benoit Badiashile and Armando Broja will too remain at Cobham as they continue their respective recoveries from injury.

Chelsea duo Omari Hutchinson and Harvey Vale miss pre-season tour to concentrate on loan deals https://theathletic.com/4694613/2023/07/16/Chelsea-hutchinson-vale-tour-loan/ Chelsea duo Omari Hutchinson and Harvey Vale have both been left out of the traveling squad for the U.S. pre-season tour next week to allow them to concentrate on securing loan moves away from the club. Hutchinson, 19, joined the club from London rivals Arsenal last summer, while Vale, 19, has progressed through the youth academy and spent six months last season on loan at Championship club Hull City. Both players are looking to secure loan deals to get regular first-team football this season and continue their development. In his first season since moving to Chelsea from Arsenal, Hutchinson, featured predominantly for the club’s under-21 side, making 25 appearances in total, scoring eight goals and providing 10 assists. He also made two first appearances. Hutchinson also became a Jamaica international this season, making his senior international debut in March. Vale has also made five first-team appearances, three coming in the FA Cup and two in the League Cup. During his loan spell at Hull, Vale made three appearances for the club, before the loan was cut short in January. Chelsea’s development squad are set to face Boreham Wood at Meadow Park on Tuesday, where both players could be involved.

Leeds United agree deal to sign Ethan Ampadu from Chelsea https://theathletic.com/4695931/2023/07/17/ethan-ampadu-leeds-Chelsea-transfer/ Leeds United have agreed a deal to Chelsea defender Ethan Ampadu. The Championship club will pay £7million ($9.1m), plus additional add-ons, in a permanent deal for the 22-year-old centre-back, who can also play in defensive midfield. A medical will follow in due course. Ampadu has had four loan spells from Chelsea since joining the club from Exeter in 2017. He spent last season at Spezia — making 31 Serie A appearances for the relegated side — after previous temporary spells with RB Leipzig, Sheffield United and Venezia. But the Wales international, who has made just 12 senior appearances for Chelsea, is now set to leave Stamford Bridge on a permanent basis this summer. Leeds are undergoing a summer reshuffle under new boss Daniel Farke following their relegation to the Championship last season. GO DEEPER Farke: Trials, tactics and how he landed as Leeds United manager (without a horse) USMNT international Brenden Aaronson has made a loan move to Union Berlin, Diego Llorente has re-joined Roma for the 2023-24 campaign, and will be joined on loan by Rasmus Kristensen, Robin Koch has temporarily signed for Eintracht Frankfurt and Marc Roca has sealed a loan switch to Real Betis. Forward Rodrigo, meanwhile, has completed a permanent transfer to Qatari side Al Rayyan.