Mhsc

That is really insane, no where near Conor's level

Definitely priority number 1. Don't want to go into the season carrying an upset group in a bomb squad. Get them all out on loan deals at minimum, us covering part of wages, whatever it takes - deal with it in next transfer windows when we have more time. But don't enter the season with a toxic problem in the club.

In terms purely of the ability to sign the players they want to sign, I meant. Very few players have turned their nose up to us (which has surprised us all a bit, I think)

The clubs approach has worked pretty well so far, sure Michael Olise picked another option but that was not just based on wages, also guaranteed titles and CL football, biggest team in Germany etc. Didn't stop Felix or others signing and taking pay cuts. Sancho going to do the same. Club has reduced wage bill drastically and has a clear philosophy on wages that nearly all players buy into, only those with a weak mentality (don't back themselves to deliver) or want to join purely for money object to it. At any rate, as far as we can see at the moment the blocker is more Napoli than our negotiation with VO.

I'm glad you're not in charge of negotiations, I'll say that much!

Have we? It has been a half hearted search at best. Now we're seeing if we can pick up a good deal on deadline day. Club clearly doesn't think it is priority / urgent. Just nice if we can get a good deal.

I feel this

I agree with the clubs approach of offering sensible base salaries with lucrative add ons based on personal + team performance. No doubt if we qualify for CL and he scores lots of goals he becomes one of the best paid players in the world. If not, he earns a sensible base salary for a player that is not as good as he thought he was. If you back yourself to perform, you take the contract. If you don't, you've got a weak mentality and aren't joining for the right reasons.

Its not a failure to not do deals that turn out to be bad deals. It is a failure to make a bad deal just to get a player in.

If I were Man Utd I would offer to loan Sterling with option to buy if we'll loan Sancho with obligation to buy. Then send him back to us in 12 months and find someone actually good.

I just posted to explain please read a few posts up. We made a promise to him that he will get some portion of money (the sign on fee) as long as he does not request a transfer. Simple as. We promised it and we should pay it. That's how contracts work and the right thing to do. The rest he will obviously lose and will be on him to get from his new club.

I feel the same. VO would be nice if the deal is right - I'm not convinced he is 100% nailed on starter for us, but good competition for NJ and improves the squad. Duran for similar reasons would be nice, any number 9 who is physical and a bit of a bully would add some nice variety to our squad of Mr Nice Guy forwards. We could use someone with a bit of an edge to them. TBH a world class CB would make more difference than a number 9

Remember that VO's salary at Napoli is a fake salary. He was given this deal to shut him up and they never expected him to make that money for more than a few months. It was to inflate the salary he'd get next, as he assumed he would never be asked to take a pay cut. Its far more than he's worth and they & we know it. The only place that will pay him ridiculous money will be Saudi. If he wants that, it is his choice and I wont blame him - that's a different level of wealth. Depends on his motivations and life ambitions. Obviously either way he is sorted for life financially. But that is clearly a one way road: no one is going to buy him back out of Saudi and put him on any kind of serious wages when he's not played proper football in years. I don't blame the guy either way tbh.

The Sterling situation is very easy to understand. He got some kind of sign on fee for joining. Probably many millions. The sign on fee is not paid all at once but distributed over time. If as a player you hand in a transfer request then you waive your right to the rest of the sign on fee. If the club instead chooses to sell you then you are still entitled to it. We owe him whatever is left of his sign on bonus. That is all. Everything else is on him to negotiate with his new club.

Well that might just drive some panic into the owners/sport directors. Expect at least 1 signing that we massively over pay for tomorrow.

Ngl KDH looks like a fan in a charity match given a chance to play alongside some ex pros

Badi is just a poor man's Zouma

Worst ref I've seen in a while. Wants this to be an MMA match.

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/match/servette-vs-Chelsea-uefa-conference-league-qualifying-2024-08-29 I am watching it here for free now

Apparently we've made the stream free on the website/app now after problems with payments

Shouldn't be allowed to enter European competitions with a pitch like this. It looks worse than what I played on at school ffs

Terrifies me seeing this pitch. Can't play our game on that. Plus injury risk is huge.

Injured again. What a sale he was.

One of the biggest fumbles of all time

Eh. Not like we get to choose when other clubs make bids and we can't force anyone to take them. They're all advertised as for sale. Sterling and Chilly maybe we could have done sooner but clearly Maresca wanted to assess them first. Most or all will either get sold or go on loan before the deadline. Deals to Saudi for example I assume can still happen later (e.g. if Sterling finds himself with no realistic alternatives to continue making the money he wants + actually getting to play football).