King Kante

Cannot say whether the source is any good. However, this article says that the players think SFL is burning them out and responsible for some of the injuries. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.footballinsider247.com/exclusive-chelsea-stars-rage-at-lampard-behind-the-scenes/amp/

Emerson is the worst outfield over 23 paid player at Chelsea. He is reportedly on £40k, which makes me think he will be one of the easiest to shift. Moses, yeah, £80-90k is way too much for him.

Yeah, it is a shame he did not stay with Ireland. If he had, we could've got him for about £35m and paid him in potatoes.

Only way we get Rice for anything that resembles a reasonable fee is if he has picked up the Payet/Arnautovic play book and is prepared to go through with the antics.

Ginter is still possible. He only had an extension by a year to take him to two. That isn't massive as in 6 months time Gladbach are essentially in the position they were a week ago. Further, and this is no offence to Gladbach, but we probably have defenders they would be interested in for a swap. Personally I have not seen much of Ginter but know he is fairly highly rated and got into a number of teams of the season. Whether we are actually interested is another matter, but if we are I wouldn't say it is done yet.

According to the Mail (so likely to be BS) we have made an offer for Ter Stegen. This one for me makes a little more sense than Oblak as TS hasn't signed a new contract and we all know Barca approach the market not only as if they are on crack, but also injecting heroin at the same time. They for me are the only one cray cray enough to do a swap involving Kepa. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8577279/amp/Chelsea-make-offer-Barcelona-goalkeeper-Marc-Andre-ter-Stegen-face-Bayern-competiton.html

The problem isn't the fees. It is to do with wages and the Corona hit. We do not know the Corona hit, but lets look at the wages of just the deadwood: Kepa - £170k a week Zappa - £80k a week Baba - £60k a week Emerson - £40k a week Drinky - £100k a week Barkley - £100k a week Baka - £110k a week Moses - £90k a week Batsh*t - £110k a week Those are just on players we know aren't going to play much again. That is £860k a week/£44.5m a year on pure deadwood. With the exception of Emerson, none of those players are going to earn that money again either, so most will want to see their contracts out unless they can get similar terms elsewhere.

That is a crazy good deal. A lot of potential.

https://www.getfootballnewsfrance.com/2020/michy-batshuayi-intends-to-quit-chelsea-permanently-this-summer/ Dear God, please be true 🙏

Yeah, he is. However, I would take him at £27m over Chilwell. I honestly do not want to see us blow crazy money on him. If Chilwell can be had for the same price as the others' (£25-£30m) then fine, but anything above and just buy one of them instead as he isn't any better. As for the FB's. I am ok with the Dave/James tandem at RB. I would probably even go as far to say of all 11 starting positions, RB is bottom of the pile of concerns. For me, Dave is good enough where you will have less than 65% of the ball and James can be the attacking option for the high possession games/when we need a goal.

You can add Gosens and possibly Gaya (owing to Valencia's problems) to that list as well.

It is coming from Castles, that tells you it is 100% pure BS. I would trust any random member on here who said they were an ITK more than Castles.

Please god, do not let this be true.

Yeah, only way he comes back this season is if we can offload Dross and Batsh*t to them and he puts in a transfer request.

I think the problem atm is the amount of midfielders we have on the books. With Harvetz, we need to shift Baka, Barkley and Drinky as a minimum. To accommodate a Partey, you're then looking at least one of Kante or Jorgi. If we are interested then I would say we need to sell before we can buy.

Yeah, I kind of made a mistake there. I was meant to say Harvetz's work rate is better whilst it is his anticipation that is way beyond RLC. I know you're quite a big RLC fan, and I do like the player, but boy, whilst you are right that Harvetz isn't amazing off the ball, he is still a lot better than RLC who always does the bare minimum.

Good to know. Is there any chance this could be a Ginter for AC swap coming? Would Gladbach be happy with AC back?

Difference between Harvetz and RLC is that Harvetz is able to anticipate the play, whereas RLC is reactive to the play. It is why you see Harvetz finding space a lot more frequently or arriving/ghosting in at the right moment like SFL did. Look at this video: This is why people talk about Havertz being generational as he can score all types of goals: first time volleys, chips over the GK under pressure, one touch then bang from outside the area whilst under pressure, headers, ghosting in on the shoulder of the defender. Further, he can finish with both feet. RLC I do like but his work rate and anticipation off the ball are nowhere near Harvetz level, whilst it needs to be remembered he is 3 years older as well.

Didn't Ginter get into the team of the season of virtually every German outlet and pundit? I did a little bit of research on him and he appears to be in every team of the season I saw. When it comes to Bundesliga teams, I only see enough of Munich/Dortmund/Bayer/RBL to really make comments on players so be interested to see what someone else thinks that knows the league better.

I think it is both. Kepa is crap but our defense is not much better. Both need to be overhauled. From my perspective this is how I rate the GK's and CB's; Kepa - Just poor. Sorry but he is fundamentally a poor GK. Poor anticipation, poor handling, poor technique, average distribution, poor command of his six yard area etc. Maybe he can redeem himself in Spain but I just do not see it. Contrary to what some people say, he wasn't much better last year but was protected by a much better set-up/had Luiz heading away danger balls crossed in. CB's AC - Fundermentals are actually there with him. He knows when to step up (unfortunately he is playing with Zouma and Rudi who do not, so they then play everyone on), reads the game well and isn't rash. Problem however is that he is physically and mentally weak. My feeling with AC is that if he goes aboard he will quickly be regarded as a top CB and if he had someone who was able to take control of the back line and he could just man up a bit, he would be good for us. However, this is all if, could, should at the moment and he is quickly running out of time. Rudi - Has the spirit but boy, he is very easily drawn out of position and rash. On top of this, he is also not that great at heading or intercepting. Really he should be the CB that is the leader but he makes too many fundermental mistakes (see the Bayern game for the best example of this.) Only saved due to his age profile in relation to the squad and because of the current out put of AC. Zouma - Rugged and athletic but really poor reader of the game and poor with the ball under pressure. Zouma is a funny one, as whilst he makes tackles like the one against Palace, everyone thinks he is amazing. However, when you actually watch the play fully that tackle only had to be made due to he awful positioning and even then he only then got away with it because he is a physical beast. If he loses a yard of pace, he will be in a lot of trouble. Further, any decent team that presses high will feast on him. That said, against the bottom half he is a very handy defender. Tomori - Good start and appears to be a little like Gallas. However, overplays in dangerous positions, is weak in the air and short. I think he may get loaned/sold with buy back because if you're wanting to push for top trophies he is too much of a risk at this point to play in a CB position. This goes double when the other three are so flawed. A further problem for him is that there is Gheui who is starting to look very good for Swansea now he has found his feet. Anyhow, yes, back line is also ropey and we will probably need two of them to go. Take your pick out of Rudi, Zouma and AC to leave permanently and then have Tomori loaned/sold with buy back. For me, if we do that, we then need a CB with experience who can play as a CB3 (which gives us a year or two to see how Tomori/Ghuei mature) and a CB1 who will come in and organize/lead the line.

That is a pretty amazing stat. I have noticed in the past 18-24 months that Dave has started to add a few more dark arts to his game and is now a bit of a sh*t houser. Also, did anyone else notice his cheeky grin after he had kicked that Wolves player? It was hilarious.

He is a much better finisher than RLC and has a lot better movement in the box.

Yeah, Oblak isn't happening unless there is some way Atleti haven't been paying any attention to Kepa and we can pack him off to them as a swap then only pay a vastly reduced fee to top it up.

Haha, indeed. I mean, with the way they go about business I just cannot fathom it. They brought the guy for £9m and ok he didn't settle or play that well last year on loan either, however to give a two year loan with no recall plus a £5.4m option is just a hiding to nothing unless he completely flops, but in that case the loaning club will just send him back. The more I think of how our team is shaping up for next season, the more I see the need for a Partey type player. Problem however is Kante, whose level is dropping off but would still command a good offer for us to sell. Also, he appears to be loved by the fans and the staff.

Anyone know of Ginter?