Mhsc

Guess as long as Caicedo is training well and being professional they’re content to ride til deadline day and see if we come with a bigger offer, gives them time & a strong negotiating position both in terms of selling him and buying his replacement. Wonder if the club is genuinely looking at Maatsen, Cucurella, Reese and Colwill and saying actually a lot of these guys can play in midfield with Enzo and Santos and we shouldn’t feel the pressure at all? Meanwhile Poch has clear public stance we need at least one senior player for midfield…

All goes back to how PSG pulled our pants down and slid it home on Ugarte which we did not see coming. That was the cock up that has led to all other cockups so far, I think. Hopefully we just get something done this week or mostly done, I know everyone has somehow formed into a Caicedo or bust policy (sunk cost fallacy) but I myself just want us to get Enzo a good partner that frees him up and covers his weaknesses. Someone athletic, strong, tall, who can slot into the backline if needed and is a high level tackler / interceptor while being a capable passer would bring us enough team balance and quality to at least give us a real shot against Liverpool in our first game of the season. I think there are a bunch of sensible options and we should just fucking get one. We can go for Caicedo later or never if the price will never become sensible.

Fmpov Kudus > Olise > Cherki. I am beginning to think Kudus is a more important target than Caicedo because we need goals more than we need Caicedo IMO, an athletic, boundless-energy, ball winning DM partnering Enzo is what we need and Caicedo would be the perfect option but there are others that would be more than enough to get us top 4 IMO, but we are still potentially light on goals which Kudus can fix (Jackson, Mudryk, Nkunku and Kudus if you imagine they fulfil their potential then it is not just top 4 but title contention for years).

Liverpool put in £37m for Lavia apparently. Probably a sensible valuation, but the world isn't sensible anymore. Hard to imagine what will become of transfer fees and wages with the growing influence of Qatar + Saudi. Perhaps splurging on players and putting them on long contracts now at today's rates will look like a bargain in the future.

Enjoyed this whole thread.

The idea of him not playing for a whole year in his prime and going into Euro 2024 without play under his belt is unfathomable, but you'd assume if he stays calm eventually PSG will back down and let him play - they'll come under crazy pressure from fans and everyone as Mbappe's only crime is wanting to honour his contract.

Experience is supposed to help us in tough situations but Sterling has folded in every instance for us, so I don't think we can count him as one of the experienced helpful heads. I think Thiago and Kepa are the only players we might consider experienced heads that bring some kind of actually useful experience to the table. It is a little light for sure and if Thiago was out of the XI we'd definitely be lacking. I don't think we'll add much experience due to the salaries such players would tend to demand, until possibly replacing Thiago with a similar mould when it is finally time for him to hang up his boots.

There is a lot to digest here but you want Ziyech in the squad?

If even 1 becomes a Chelsea level player and we sell the rest for similar or more than we paid, it is good business and squad building. Unrealistic to expect they all make it, for sure they will make it at PL level but the reason most youth don’t make it at a club like Chelsea is that we are trying to be the elite in the PL, not just another PL club.

I meant in a years time we may loan or sell them, this year they should all go on loan except for Santos imo. A good loan in PL or any top flight league, hell even the Championship, is what they need for next year. We should just think to try to put these players in clubs where the style of football is the style we want them to develop with. Clubs managed by ex-Pep players, like Burnley, or ofc our satellite clubs.

Would imagine we would loan or sell several of the kids, very unlikely they make it at Chelsea, as we know from many years of experience

We have sold a lot of it though, and Gallagher out next. Personally I think several of the kids need good loans (Chuk, Hall, Casadei) and Santos is the one who looks ready to perhaps stay with the squad. That gives us Enzo and Santos currently, and some youth that might break in if they do well on loan at a top flight club - but next year. And some possibilities for people like Reese to play there too. Personally I’d like to add some height, power and pace in DM to 1. Balance Enzo and 2. Cover Thiago. The main advantage of Caicedo is that if Enzo gets injured or rested, Caicedo can fill his role. Without Caicedo we have big dependency on Enzo and our quality will drop noticeably without him.

Onana would absolutely lift our team levels, because he is a serious premier league quality DM who fills a hole for us. I do not think we should subsequently NOT sign Caicedo, if it can be done for sensible money. But Onana would bring something totally different to our midfield that we need, is affordable and versatile.

I will be disgusted if that happens. If we were willing to go there, we should have done it already and given him a proper preseason with us. That would be ultimate shameful panic that would prove our staff don't know what they're doing. I don't believe it will happen.

Yeah, I assume Lavia and Liverpool have actually had an agreement for a while which is why no one else ended up going for him. Painful we've not got someone in by now. I reckon we should just get Amadou Onana, he is versatile AF and a big beast of a man, and likely to be vastly more sensibly priced. Even if we get Caicedo later, a midfield of Enzo, Caicedo, Onana and Santos would be a really good mix, and getting him (or someone similar) sorted takes us from a position of weakness to a position of strength in these negotiations so we can let this run til deadline day if needed.

Tbh 100% agreed it is time for our scouting team to earn their money. Caicedo is brilliant but come on, there is another 2 or 3 people like him at least who have not been discovered and brought to a top team yet for sure - and more arriving every year as new talent appears. Don't know about Boudaoui but I 100% guarantee there are many players that are affordable and bring us everything we need in the aggregate (running, pressing, tackling, interceptions, passing). A <£50m player should be more than enough given Enzo's presence. Remember our first pick was Ugarte, Caicedo was our backup option.

Imagine taking the time to fabricate something like this LOL

Unfortunately all academy players that aren’t guaranteed starters are essentially FFP money printing machines. If we sell him and buy a replacement it looks good on the books as amortisation splits up the buying fee but selling fee is 100% profit in the window. So it only makes sense not to sell if 1. We think we can’t replace or upgrade for similar money or 2. We can’t replace with HG and are worried about having enough HG

Well, surprised we’ve not gone in with the final bid yet - maybe we are waiting for Caicedo to get more angry and public about this BS. Maybe the rumour that they had agreement he can leave in summer was all BS, in which case this deal is likely not happening as he’s just signed a massively long contract and they’re under no pressure to sell UNLESS that agreement was real. Honestly just get in Lavia or another player and let’s approach this from a position of strength. The depth in MF will be good.

Pys absolutely losing his mind saying we should pay 100m or whatever it takes to get Caicedo done. Gonna be hard to keep following him.

Mbappe would obviously be amazing (willing to believe his problem behaviour is genuinely down to PSG being insane) but I just can't bring myself to get onboard with us having 1 player making so much more than the rest of the squad, if it were feasible he could play here at 400k-500k a week I'd be down for it but the lad will be after millions per week not hundreds of thousands. A one year loan deal just to give him a home before he goes to Madrid feels like the only VAGUELY possible scenario, which still feels extraordinarily unlikely.

I think the best paid player in the league is De Bruyne at 400k pw base, so if we offered Mbappe a ludicrous 500k per week lets say and pay some huge fee to sign him then yes we would be fine with the clear out that's happened / happening. But Mbappe wont be happy with what we call superstar money in the PL after what he's been on at PSG and is being promised elsewhere.

Maybe if our stance was that he is staying, if he is not being offered a new contract (2 years on his deal left) and we're shopping him around... Only way is if clubs get into a bidding war over him, I guess.

How much are we really going to get for him if we are broadcasting he is for sale? Maybe £40m? Still will be good in the FFP books, but I was expecting him to stay at this point - he has done alright in preseason, albeit filling a hole in CM that shouldn't exist. Have no doubt he will have a good PL career, was just never clear if he is at the calibre we need if we want to win titles again.

He is no where near the level of Vini Jr or Mbappe and I've not seen anyone talking like that, but I've made a couple of posts on here about why I am overall positive about the move. He is an assist machine and look at his defensive quality, which apparently no one cares about here but you just KNOW Poch does, he is also pretty rapid. I honestly think with his work ethic and his wizard left foot he would become fan favourite here. I also think he would be first choice set piece taker by quite a way, unless any of the new boys have talents I'm unaware of (possible). My only concern is his injury and whether now is the right moment. I wonder if Gallagher is on his way out if this is actually his replacement in the squad?