Mhsc

Is anyone reliable peddling the "Alvarez has decided to leave" story?

Been saying since the day Maresca was appointed the new number 1 priority has to be a GK, I don't really believe that Sanchez is perceived to be the answer. He would be a high quality no.2 if he is happy to do that role. I do think he is a good shot stopper and could have found form as a traditional GK and won fans over, but I just don't see him playing the role of a GK we need who can slot into a back 4 in possession and look totally composed and relaxed like a CB. I guess our goalkeeper coach who worked with him for years would know better what the guy can do in training but I never saw that from him on the field. He is not calm enough.

I assume Conor has to be off, but who knows. I could imagine in big games we might go very solid and put KDH, Caicedo, Lavia and Enzo all on the field at the same time by moving Caicedo to RB (as De Zerbi sometimes did with him) and having him come into midfield from there with either Colwill or Renato playing LB / tucking into CB. But I would expect against mid/lower teams it will be a problem because we will want to get a lot more forward players/goal scorers on the field and have Palmer play either as a 10 or a right sided 8 but either way it leaves just 2 spots for Caicedo, Lavia, Enzo, KDH, possibly Conor, and a crop of promising youngsters like Carney. Fully fit the team will be very hard to manage and keep happy.

Calafiori does look like an interesting player, and apparently he might be taking £65k per week at Arsenal. Last year Eghbali and Boehly would have boarded a private jet to personally persuade everyone involved that he is coming to Chelsea but now we just quietly buy another player that we think is better value without the need to start a bidding war. Not sure what to think on that but to be fair we have a good record at these kind of signings and I'll wait to see this lad before judging. Been an underwhelming transfer window so far but the thing is it always will be if we are going to pick up players before they make a big name for themselves, so I guess we should just get used to it. Most baffling thing to me at the moment is what is going on with the new manager? Why isn't he giving interviews and getting us excited about what he is going to do with our players?

In the old days I would be quite against this signing, thinking it was just a manager being allowed to buy their mates. I do trust the talent ID of our current crop of scouts, more or less. I will give the guy a chance. It is not inspirational but could well be that he's a bit under-appreciated and could do well in a better team. He is not going to be worse than Gallagher imo. I also think him knowing the system well already will be a big help.

Dewsbury-Hall is a weird target but I guess I can kind of see the logic, if we can sell Gallagher for decent money (£45m+) and get Deswbury-Hall for £25m it is immensely helpful for the books. He would not be an exciting signing but he has just had a good season, knows the system and I can see an argument that he will look like an even better player with a better team around him. Definitely feels like a move old Chelsea would make more than new Chelsea though.

Got to be a specialist in niche random children to know anything about our transfer targets. Barely seen an exciting transfer rumour this summer. They might turn out to be exciting with the benefit of hindsight in 3 years time, but in the here and now only Olise, Alvarez and Sesko have been somewhat interesting rumours this summer for XI candidates.

Feels like a massive upgrade on Broja. Could be a nice bit of business this.

🚨🇳🇬 Antonio Conte on Victor Osimhen: “I’m aware of his situation, I know there’s an agreement with the club so it’s a different case compared to others”. “There’s a pact between Victor and Napoli on his future and I accepted that”. I guess this is why the Osimhen rumours have been circulating so hard, with his agent trying to drum up transfer speculation on him <> Chelsea. Napoli obviously agreed they would sell him this summer. I wonder if as the window goes on if by playing hard ball about not being interested at the price they're quoting if they'll actually come down to the kind of territory we might be willing to do a deal at? (£50m+Lukaku?)

We should definitely get Jonathon David if he wants to join on <= £200k. Problem really is does he want to? Going to have endless options at that transfer fee + goal record.

Personally I do not find anything about the £19m signing of some random Villa youth suspicious. Probably Joe Shields liked the look of him and he gets money to spend where he wants. Doesn't even come close to being a bizarre signing by our standards over the last couple of years. Maatsen fee also perfectly normal imo, given what we got for Lewis Hall who was not even close to accomplishing what Maatsen has (CL final, wanted by multiple top European teams, etc)

This is the most ChatGPT looking scouting report I have ever seen https://khelnow.com/football/2023-10-world-football-marc-guiu-profile-scouting-report Obviously, I don't know anything about this kid and he has basically no stats due to lack of playing time at top level. Anybody who watched him play and has something to say about the lad?

I don't really buy this idea that Conte is desperate to get Lukaku. Osimhen is already his perfect striker, perhaps even more suited to his style of play than Lukaku, at a better age and without all the problems Romelu brings. Conte might back himself to get value out of Lukaku for a year or two, but I'm sure it wouldn't be his ideal setup. Much bigger risk than just continuing with Osimhen, and Conte very much likes a sure thing because he is a winner first and foremost.

Every Saudi take over is a good opportunity to flog some expensive stuff. Maybe we can get them to take on Sterling...

Sesko very different to the rest, totally different physique and athleticism and had upside potential that I don't see in the rest. In terms of squad building I do think Sesko was the most interesting player we've looked at so far as an alternative to NJ to play up top - maybe as a player he is not any better than the rest, but in terms of what he would add to our squad I saw him as more relevant than the rest. A lot of the other options I hear touted don't really impress me more than the idea of just letting Nkunku compete with NJ. The Alvarez option was the other interesting one to me. Of all the rumours I've heard all summer (for all semi believable transfer rumours for any position), only Alvarez and Olise immediately slot into our XI and improve us over night imo. Other than that its just players who might give us some extra depth in case of injuries and who knows, maybe over time could earn the right to be a starter.

It only makes sense if you assume that inflation of transfer fees will continue and not slow down. Then there is minimal risk and lots of upside potential in buying these players, as even if they don't improve you'll sell them for a profit in a few years. Continued inflation on fees can only really come from letting more and more Saudi billionaires buy football clubs though I'd imagine.

Jonathon David nice option to have in the squad, especially with the injury record of Nkunku. Not convinced he is an immediate starter or displaces anyone in our best XI though.

£200k+ base pw for Olise was too much imo, we have Sterling/Reece James on silly money but otherwise have done a fantastic job at bringing the wages in order. I agree with the clubs approach on wages. I have admired Olise for a long time but wouldn't break the wage structure for him. We are not desperate. Find it kind of hilarious how much everyone on twitter is panicking and saying the club is an embarrassment. They went after a good player and he chose to take early retirement on big money. It is what it is, can't blame the lad for taking the bag but personally I'm happy we're not that club.

Hence you'll see in my post I suggested he goes to Italy 😉

Just as Chilly only looked competent as a wingback when we played 3 ATB (even then imho he was overrated a bit), Cucu only looked competent when used as a fullback that tucks into midfield. Very different players with very different specialities and play styles. I don't really see Chilwell having a future with us and it is not really clear where he can have a future because who is playing 3 ATB with wingbacks these days? He is imo a poor LB and an atrocious LW, as he can't play or receive under pressure and he does not have the pace, acceleration, skill or intelligence to defend or attack effectively 1v1. He was only good when playing a very specific role that was sort of between the two where he could be a spare man with time and space on the ball, similar to Alonso when we had him, where defensive weakness was covered and both had good enough left foots they could be dangerous if allowed to pop up unmarked. Cucu I think genuinely can have a decent future with us, Chilly I don't know what he can do now, his career basically feels finished to me in England, maybe he could have a good run playing in Italy and still have a bit of a career.

Dortmund bottled that hard. Good luck Maatsen. Feels like about the right level for him.

Plus recent transfer windows have been insane with us over spending and being too desperate. We're in a different situation now with the squad mostly built.

The main argument against these no-names with minimal goal records imo is actually Broja, a player who I've argued is not good enough and probably never will be for Chelsea. I am no scout but I don't really see with any clarity that these targets are better than Broja. He also has amazing physical attributes. Duran to be fair looks like potentially an epic finisher on his left foot which might be an asset. But Fofana aint too bad at finishing is he, if that's all we want?

It is hard to imagine a worse player for a slow build up positional system where intelligence from the forwards is key. And what about how he betrayed the club and his teammates? And the manager? And that he is the least professional person we've ever had in the squad? Or that he is constantly overweight and unfit? Or that it has been years since he was any good, even then only in a very direct style of football? This is the worst idea we've had in this thread in the last 1000 pages or so imo.

So much disrespect on NJ as if top strikers always bang in their first season in PL Don't understand it myself. I've been humbled so many times by players that looked like they had something but weren't quite delivering, that I wrote off, that then turned out to be world class. Even Suarez had a frustrating start at Liverpool, being wasteful in front of goal, and people had basically written him off when he established himself as one of the most dangerous players in the world.