Mhsc

Imagine the signing fee he can get if he forces them to keep him for the last year of his contract.

Anyone been watching Santos? Any chance he can realistically play this year for us?

We should be offering Lukaku to Saudi tbh. Try and get him a similar deal to Kante to turn his head, and get rid of him for good.

Signing a top striker immediately is also probably the number 1 thing we can do to incentivise other players to join, seeing that we've fixed what they may perceive to be the big flaw in the team and give them a clear view that next year could be a great year to be at Chelsea. That said, don't really know what the answer is!

He could play deeper but not convinced he would be a good partner for Enzo in a 2. Better in a 3 probably. Has he been on your lists Vesper? For myself I want to see a DM that can slot into the back line. Unless Poch has plans to convert a defender (who?) feels like we need one for his system. Don’t feel like this guy is that player but we need numbers in midfield if we are letting virtually everyone except for Enzo go

Gonna be a roller coaster window this one eh. Sort of wish it would just all be over but also enjoying that there is regular news and it might actually all be real instead of people just fabricating stories - you don't need to fabricate stories about this mess.

China was doing a good job towards it, many surprising transfers there started to happen before they banned it. What if Saudi doesn’t do the same? Money always wins over time. That’s also why PL has become somewhat dominant over time.

Wonder if Saudi league is going to become a legitimate threat to the PL and other top leagues. If they are able to regularly offer salaries that are an order of magnitude larger than here then you’ve got to assume a lot of players will go, and not just players coming to the end of their career.

I have the same feeling. This is the two Directors in charge of transfers IMO. Boehly probably would have caved and just paid all the money to match PSG's bid. Debatable which approach is right. I think the biggest issue here is salaries and what we pay people has to be standardised into a fair scheme for all. We need to drop off the high earners who aren't performing and bring everyone else to a sensible salary range that they can all comprehend as fair based on results + performances. Making any signing, aside from perhaps a top CF, who goes outside of this would be self defeating imo.

Depends if Poch sees the potential in him. If he’s told Boehly to get rid then we should just get rid at 60

Eh. Couldn't imagine walking away from this club, sure it has changed a lot repeatedly in my life time but fundamentally it is still Chelsea, extreme highs and lows is part of football.

Who are we even linked to for CF?

Eh, you would wait to start the clear out? I think the club is doing exactly the right thing tbh. Poch has no doubt giving his assessment of who he wants to keep based on what he can see (which I'm sure is plenty, combined with conversations he will have had with people at the club), and if they are willing to stay they will stay. Everyone else is gone. We can already make signings if we know fundamentally we are guaranteed to have gaps, per Poch's desires on who he sees as his type of player. No doubt some of the people he thinks he wants to keep he'll see and change his mind on eventually when he gets to know their behaviour / personality better, but I doubt he is casting out anyone he will later think "turns out he is the kind of player I like after all." And more important than all of this is it could take a long time and a lot of work and negotiation to get this many players shifted without just doing a last minute desperate fire sale for cheap, so we simply have to start now.

In practice we have seen this is not really the case though, players when told to go do go - he would still be a player lots of clubs would want, and he would probably still get extremely good wages somewhere - just not as good as here.

You cannot force them but he can do it if he wants to stay, otherwise find a new club either on loan or a sale. Would imagine he'd leave but you never know.

Fortunately for us that is not how football or business works.

Could pull a Barca and tell KK he either goes or moves onto a new contract on reduced wages in line with the other players.

Declan should only ever be joining us as a possible future free transfer. Good player but absolutely bonkers to spend big money on him with the options in the market, and comparatively just not that important in the scheme of things we need to fix in this squad.

I guess that injury Thiago got was finally what pushed him over the edge. Age was always going to catch up to him eventually, if it is the end of top-level days then that is very sad, in my mind he is a legend and I'll always think of him fondly. Shame we couldn't have got him 10+ years ago.

Depends on the price and whether this betting problem is behind him. I wouldn’t be against us getting him, long term strategy trumps short term strategy. But of course, depends on the price. IMO he’s a player Poch would love and nearest thing to Kane that is actually doable.

Interesting that he wants more "control", what does that mean exactly? Boehly and owners staying further from squad (not coming to dressing room)? Surely can't be direct decision making power in who we sign as otherwise what's the point in all the staff we've built there?

Poor DDF must have had his confidence absolutely incinerated at this point.

Remember when we had Graham Potter and thought he was the problem?

Finally tuned in and we finally win. Maybe I'm our lucky charm? Still can't wait for Frank to be gone and Poch in, this team has potential honestly.

Didn't think it was a clear and obvious error from the referee so right decision not to intervene.