King Kante

That sounds like an awful deal. So, we could've brought a player that is currently valued at €25-€30m for €15m but we said, nah, just give us 10% of a sale?

Agree with every single word in this.

My money is on: New GK Dave/James Silva. AC. Chilwell Kante/Kova Harvetz. Mount Ziyech. Werner. Pulisic Bench: Kepa/Willy, Rudi, Dave/James, Kante/Kova, RLC, CHO, Tammy/Giroud

The more I read about this Chilwell deal the more I dislike it. Hope I am proved wrong.

Personally I reckon Messi goes to Italy. That seems the most logical step for him as it is the easiest for aging players to play in owing to its tactical nature. My money is actually on Juventus. They are absolutely desperate for a CL, have money (even in a Covid world) and there have been rumours they are looking to shift Dybala again.

To be fair, their manager has worked with him before so will know why we call him Batsh*t.

I would live to see Messi leave Barca. I reckon this is just a powerplay, but the banter would be beautiful.

Lets hope soon, otherwise we're going to have enough players at Cobham to fill three teams.

What happens when Oblak signs too? 😅

The way I see the CB situation is as follows: 1) Last season AC, Rudi, Zouma and Tomori as a unit where not good enough. For sure, they have there individual qualities but each and everyone of them have serious flaws. 2) We desperately lack any sort of organisation at CB and none of the four are a leader. Thus, for me with the current four, it is kind of a 'pick your poison' choice. If you value positional sense and reading of the game, you like AC. If you value strength and speed, you like Zouma. If you want someone that will rough up players off the ball and try to intercept high up the pitch, you like Rudi. If you like a quick covering defender, who is fairly good at attacking the ball, you like Tomori. Either way, Silva is coming in and starting and going to act as ringmaster. At this point you have to question who can actually be controlled/is going to benefit from such a player. I would personally say Rudi is the least likely one to listen as he just seems to do his own thing, whilst I also question who much Zouma can as well, owing to him still playing exactly the same way as he was five/six years ago and he had the opportunity to play/train with players like JT and Cahill. That for me is why Zouma gets sold, probably got the best rep out of the four/has highest transfer value but shown he cannot play in a team that plays out from the back. After that, we may have a situation were Sarr is brought in and is going into the first team. At that point I think all bets are off on who leaves. My money would be on Tomori via loan or sale with buyback as he is probably the easiest to shift. AC could possibly go if Gladbach still like him and need a CB. Either way, last season all four of the CB's played like utter arse clowns on numerous occasions, so if two are culled, lets not cry too much as they were all pretty much equally to blame.

When you put it like that, I wouldn't be surprised to see Tomori sold with a buyback like Ake. Maybe Silva and Sarr are being brought as a way to balance the books i.e. stock up on expensive attackers, sell a two of the four CB's that have hardly covered themselves in glory this past season and then get two on frees that are either better or close to the same level.

Yeah, but I do not get it. One minute he is being heavily linked with Barca (pre-Covid) then Covid hits, Barca's finances go to shit and suddenly he is joining the loan army for a stint at Vitesse. I haven't seen him play so I cannot tell, but it seems odd to me that a player that was deemed as one of the best young CB's in France, who is on a free, and had over 100 games for Nice before hitting 22 is going to come here and join the loan army. It doesn't add up.

If we do sign Sarr and he is intended for the first team squad I would say that is almost certainly Tomori out on loan and Zouma sold. My feeling is Zouma will go as both Everton and Spuds need a CB and he will be wanted by both. Could end up with something like £35-£40m. I know most would prefer AC or Rudi gone but we are going to have to start shifting some players soon and he is one of the most saleable. I mean, look at the current first team squad: GK: Kepa, Willy, FB: Dave, James, Moses, Baba, Zappa, Alonso, Emerson CB: Silva, AC, Tomori, Zouma, Sarr, Amapdu CM: Kante, Jorgi, Gilmour, Barkley, Mount, Drinky, Baka, Kova, RLC, Van Ginkle AM: CHO, Ziyech, Puli, Havertz CF: Werner, Giroud, Tammy, Batshit That's 33 players if everyone signs, it is madness.

Yeah, have to agree with this. When I have watched Felix he has actually been pretty good but he is playing is a system that really doesn't suit him. When they played RB in the CL he came on and AM just kept giving the ball to him and he ran RB ragged. In about 15 minutes he had nutmegged four of them and then won and converted a penalty. After that, the system went back to normal and he never got given the ball. Odd situation.

Only way we get a Ter Stegen or Oblak is if Atleti or Barca have been hitting the crack pipe and think that playing in Spain will help Kepa. If Kepa were to take a slight wage reduction say to £120k a week, then something like Kepa plus £40m would actually make him very cheap for either as Oblak is already on £350k and Ter Stegan is looking at wanting that. However, even then, I just do not see how the club finance such a move. In my opinion, it will be a GK who we would normally consider as a decent GK2 that will come in and SFL will be told to try and get Kepa playing. I say this as even with a best case scenario as drawn out above, it would be something like this: Kepa + £40m = £91.5m (Kepa book value of £51.5m + £40m) Oblak/Ter Stegan wages = £91m Total = £182.5m for five years.

No it's not lazy. What was lazy, was last season everyone made out he was a better GK than TC because everyone hated TC and wanted to make out as if he wouldn't be missed. Apart from the Fulham save (which was close to him anyway) what did he do in his first season that was so amazing? Save a penalty hit right at him in the Ropey League? Also, if you go back over the season, you will see his stay at home style at set pieces, so this is something teams picked up and started to exploit rather than something he only started doing this season. Lastly, here is a statistical break down of Kepa for 2.5 years up to January. What you should find most concerning is that in the months leading up to January he was actually performing better than he was in his first season: https://www.google.com/amp/s/weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/platform/amp/2020/5/14/21257561/solving-chelseas-kepa-conundrum-part

I really like TA too. However, with Harvetz we already need to shift Barkley, Drinky and Baka as an absolute minimum from CM. If you include Ampadu as a DMF (as I do) then you're looking at needing to loan him and Billy too (both these players need minutes at this moment in time) as we have Kante and Jorgi in their position while Kova can play there as well. Tbh, I do think we could do with another No.6 but I reckon that is lower down the priority list and Mount is going to be tried there this season anyway. If Sarr comes in, I reckon he goes straight into the first team as 1) he is a highly rated CB, he is not someone you loan. 2 ) We need a left footed CB and he would be the only one on our books. Rice as you say will likely be next season. As for GK, I am expecting a free GK as Kepa cost £141m and we are stuck with him. No way do we shell out serious dollar on another unless we can shift Kepa permanently.

Well if you can find a buyer for both Kante and Jorgi then we may be able to do something.

We cannot sign anyone because we spunked £141m on Kepa. I wouldn't be surprised if the board are saying that Kepa has to stay and try to play his way into form. In my opinion, the best we will get is someone like Foster who is reliable. Also, just for the record, I have zero faith in Kepa and was saying months ago he will be seen as the biggest waste of money in Chels history bar none. So, I am not saying this as a Kepa supporter, I am saying it as a realist.

My money is on AC being his partner. I say this because a) AC is the only one of the three that knows how to play the offside trap and b ) it looks like the club think he has a lot of potential and don't want to lose him. Of the current unholy trinity of Zouma, Rudi and AC. My money is on Zouma being sold as he would still command a decent fee and I am not sure he has any chance of developing further as he has essentially been playing the same way since he was 19.

I think Merson as a person is actually all right, he obviously had his demons but I reckon if you met him in the street he is someone that you would be able to have a bit of a laugh with. However, he is a very bad pundit.

Not too sure about two years but on a free and if he is dropping his wages to circa 70k a week, it won't be a disaster.

Yeah, I think from our perspective it is not that Chilwell is a bad player, it is more that he is overpriced and there are a number of other players out there that could do a similar job for a lot less cash.

My policy when it comes to Paul Merson is to do the opposite of what he says. In other news some Italian sources are saying their may be some sort of Skriniar and Kante swap in the works. Not sure if it is BS but thought I would report.

Yeah, a few of us have watched him quite a lot and been on Foxestalk to see what LCFC fans think. This pretty much sums it up.