Mhsc

His famous man management came down to just being really nice to the players all of the time, hosting BBQs, playing them even when they're in shit form (if he likes them, like Chilly and Sterling), reading players auras/chakras by touch and looking into their eyes (his words not mine), and of course using a bowl of lemons to absorb the negative energy from players. No understanding of tactics or strategy. Pre historic views on fitness and injury management. No in game management whatsoever. I am thankful at least he let didn't get in the way of Cole Palmer shining (his chakra must have felt alright), and he gave Gallagher a chance to show he can have a serious role at Chelsea.

We're going to win the league

Is it a Joe Shields signing? That's all I need to know.

I am just assuming he's cheap (didn't even check) and they think they can spin him around after a few years and sell him for a bunch of profit in the future. That also puts them in a position to consider selling Reece in the next 1-2 years for huge profit too, if he has enough of an injury free run to get clubs interested. Not saying it is what I want, but the kind of cold reasoning I've come to expect from them.

In situations like this imo they should just sign him for Strasbourg and stick a release clause in his contract we (or anyone) could trigger in the future for a healthy markup on whatever they pay now. What the fuck is the point in the multi club model otherwise.

Yeah I really like him too, lots of amazing attributes but he also has big limitations and it is way too big of a risk for the money being discussed (~£115m+, ~300k+ pw?) For reference Nicolas Jackson is on £65k per week and cost £29.8m.

Conor is world class off the ball and at leading the press, as well as being a leader on the field, two things managers often prioritise despite fan expectations. I do think it is certainly not guaranteed he will be a key player anymore without Poch (and may get sold) but after thinking about it, wouldn't be surprised at all if he actually ended up being a key player, simply seen it so many times that managers will stick by players who have qualities like Conor's even if they're lacking in other areas, it is because they help so much out of possession that we get our chance to be in possession and that is ultimately what this guy wants.

Signing him for £100m+ on huge wages would be bonkers. The whole point of the setup is that the club should be able to find an Osimhen before he's at Napoli for £125m and wants £300k+ pw. The signing could very feasibly backfire horribly, leaving us crippled again. We have to learn and do better. Personally I think NJ could have a breakout season and become the player we need, and think he deserves the chance. We need to be giving players more of a chance than this before we write them off for a more expensive option. If we go for a striker, I would like to go for a very different profile to NJ to give the manager variety, and certainly be spending max £60m / 150k pw. You could argue only City don't need a no.9 in the PL, but only we are constantly linked with Osimhen for insane money. Wonder why?

When they first bought the club they told Tuchel immediately they had a vision to build a club/squad around an attacking 4-3-3 possession / positional play system. Weird that this is the first manager appointment that actually fits the strategy they said they had all along. Feels like every previous manager was basically guaranteed not to last. Maybe they thought managers were more adaptable than they are, and they would just play that way if asked?

No, but it feels inevitable, as we need to generate income and clearly selling HG talent is a core strategy. If we get good money for him, I am at peace with it, although its sad. I don't think he has the technical skill to continue with us with the new manager. I think Poch was his perfect manager and not sure we'll ever get his transfer value this high again, so if we're going to sell, sell now. If Poch had stayed and therefore Gallagher would remain a key / vital player, plus being a Chelsea lad, I would have lost my mind if we sold him. Now it just feels sensible for him and us.

If Poch got the Utd job surely we can sell him to them for 60m

With his physical assets he could certainly develop into a beast of a player... But so could lots of people. It is not like he's going on a £30m release clause like when we took a punt on NJ. We could certainly do a lot worse, I'd certainly be much happier if we got him than if we got Osimhen, I just don't really see it as an improvement to the squad if the tactical setup is what I think it is: holding midfielder, two 8s, wingers hugging the touchline, and a 9 who stretches the backline, with at least one fullback inverting for numerical superiority in midfield. In that setup when we have NJ (who I would see as really great for that role) we also have Nkunku who suddenly has to also probably compete for the 9 spot as we wont be playing with a SS. Dunno then why we need to go for a striker at all unless there is a very special opportunity in the market - but people might think I'm crazy...

I don't fully get the hype around Sesko, but I guess he is a decent finisher, tall and athletic so it is always good to have an option like that in the squad if you look at it from a squad building PoV. Maybe I'm harsh but to me he reminds me of Morata and we all know how that worked out here.

I dread the idea of getting Osimhen for lots of money. Literally dread.

I agree, especially with a whole transfer window to go to sort out a squad that if it had been managed properly may well have got top 4 this season. If we are not top 4 next season then everyone from the owners and directors should take a serious look at walking away and admitting they don't know how to run a football club. One thing I 100% think is a realistic target and demand everyone should be making is to stop the losses. The 11 losses in PL we had this year need to be more like 5. No point in bringing in a possession based manager to control games if we will lose more than that.

I am not reading anything into this - Leicester do not have the squad to really play the style effectively, and they were worried that they would not be able to survive in the Premier League playing that style of football against a better quality of footballer. They want someone pragmatic that will play on the counter, or sit deep and park the bus, if it is a way to steal a result against a top 10 club. I understand their point and agree. Clearly you need money and time to make the style work and dominate. We have both and they have neither.

It depends if you assume Fofana's career is simply over or not, in which case he is perhaps worst signing in premier league history. If he can recover finally and still have a serious career, I'm not sure we need to sign anybody at all. Certainly in the old days when we were winning with 4 ATB we would never have stacked so many CBs as far as I recall. But what we did always have was one senior experienced pro who was the leader in the backline, which we don't have right now, so you could argue we need 1 CB in his prime who is 25+ and I would buy that. Could certainly argue suddenly signing VVD transformed and kicked off Liverpool's turnaround and era of success and that we are missing such a player. But for me it should be 1 CB max unless we're clearing house, which I don't really want us to do (as I mentioned, we've done so much chopping and changing I see real value in holding the group together as much as possible) Also, I think our CBs will look transformed under Enzo. Poch-ball left them exposed a LOT more than Enzo will.

Hahah there was some geezer posting that it was all a PR conspiracy by Chelsea, spoke with great authority, it was all done under NDA and De Zerbi was signed 100%, and we all had to open our eyes just to see. Every news link was just to psychologically make us happy when De Zerbi is announced. Then he dropped some random replies to Tweets saying he was a physio and people found them and decided this was some random ITK physio at Chelsea. Turned out just to be a hard working, intelligent internet troll. I appreciate a fine bit of trolling so I'm pretty impressed by the lad tbh The guy signed off with this too which is hilarious cause he is obviously talking about himself

Also, if you know you know

Definitely, until a club comes in to buy him. Surely he's never playing for Chelsea now unless he becomes literally world class, given what we've spent in CM.

If we're going to insult the man (which I don't think he's done anything to deserve - we should aim our hatred at the Directors) then I would call him a bald Brendan Rogers not a Discount Pep.

I agree, definite similarities with Tuchel in terms of the slow build up play and patience, but Tuchel played with a different formation / setup which is slightly old school now. The thing I loved about Tuchel was his prep for individual games and his ability to change the game while it was going on, if Enzo can do that with his modern positional approach he will be world class. If not, maybe he will be another Brendan Rodgers. Time will tell.

Random thought: this is surely the end of Conor Gallagher.

£12.5m for Petrovic, £25m for Sanchez, neither of these guys is a serious long term signing, they're stop gaps.

What do we even need aside from a Gusto-esque find for LB and a ball playing GK if you (bravely) ignore injury records of our players? I don't really see much need anywhere. Squad is pretty built out. Would be nice to not go crazy and just make 1-2 signings for the XI, keep the group together and go into next year with a group of players we can continue to bond with and see as Chelsea lads. All of the chopping and changing at the club has left me feeling quite disconnected with it compared to the old days.