Mhsc

Two players that would cost more than some PL squads I imagine. Still, not beyond the realms of possibility...

I guess the club must either not like Zubimendi or know from the player that he is not interested, because given our need in CM and his release clause being pretty "reasonable" I'd have thought we'd just go and get him tbh. Maybe they still expect Enzo to be that player.

Agreed, wasn't sure if he would even make it into the XI tbh but looks like an astute buy and getting time being personally developed by Thiago Fuckin Silva cannot be underestimated, think this guy will be amazing for us. Curious what happens when Fofana is fit again, I guess he is just rotation for Thiago to manage his age a bit.

Agreed. I think Potter ball will only really emerge at the beginning of next season but I think he has done more to transition us than people are giving him credit (e.g. no longer playing 3 CBs in every game) and this time with the whole squad together will be amazing for him, we've created a little positivity with results improving and new players joining. I'm genuinely excited for the rest of the season now.

This is more normal for clubs that are not going deep into all competitions I think... There is an FA cup round coming up we wont be taking part in.

Good we'll have some training time, but really makes Felix's suspension feel like a long one.

With all the new boys maybe Mount wont even make the bench in a couple of games time. Still think he can be a real player in the future but he is way off of it at the moment and needs a rest and a reset imo. Thrive and beat the competition to prove yourself or move on, in the typical way that always happened at successful Chelsea sides.

Thought it was Cucu's best game for us btw

Fofana must have turned out to be really shit in training if he is not getting on the pitch because there is such a huge chance here for players to get into the lineup. The only plus side recently has been seeing so many young players get their shot, Gallagher has more or less pissed his away. Hall & Carney don't look ready tbh, a loan move to play every game would do them both good but as it happens we're so desperate we need them both right now.

Would have taken Mount off instead of Kai but ok let’s see edit: both off, excellent

Got to be something wrong with the way we are preparing the players

Jorginho starts wtf absolute last man I want on the field vs Liverpool

Oh God, you made me realise he might start Koulibaly

Bit of deja vu about us signing loads of wingers and not sorting out other positions, but tbf if Kante comes back and somehow stays fit and signs a new contract, between him and Kovacic it would be a solid 4-2-3-1 all of a sudden with plenty of creativity and danger from the front 4. My gut says based on what we've seen so far though that we don't end this transfer window without signing some kind of CM.

People saying sell Kai and Mason are the same people that wanted us to sell KDB and Mo Salah Can’t expect every young player to have a linear or exponential rise, it can be a bumpy ride and you have to have long term vision and faith

I ignore it entirely, and am extremely skeptical of what is said on Twitter and other places too by so called ITKs. Seems like I am a lot more cynical than a lot of people but I really don't trust that any of these people know what is going on inside our club or between our club and others, easy to make up stories with no proof that sound plausible and profit off of it for these fakers IMO. No standards for journalistic integrity in the world today.

Also blatant undercurrent of xenophobia against Americans imo, a lot of it is pure "these fucking Americans don't know how to behave like us classy Brits"

Just me kind of hoping we don't go and spend loads of money on Caicedo? Surely we can find our own man without just raiding Brighton over and over again for big money. Is he really significantly better than Zakaria? Will he even play if Kante comes back to fitness? Would be a very limited midfield if so, albeit hard to imagine us losing many games... Obviously if we can get him for £40m then it is a no brainer but £60m+? I'm not convinced at that price.

Ziyech will bang for whoever we sell him to, absolutely guaranteed. Need to sell him abroad if we can. Sell Pulisic to any team in any league because he'll only play a few games a year anyway.

Probably because BOTH of the actual CFs we bought to play there are finished physically and mentally (Lukaku + Auba). Desperate times. I know we are all hoping Fofana is the answer but he might be quite raw still, they will be seeing a lot of him in training that we haven't had a chance to yet and maybe he isn't really ready yet.

The nice part about it is that in years to come 150k will become increasingly cheap due to football inflation.

That is a shame, I didn't know about that rule. Cruel for any new player not to get to play while everyone else does, if we sign any more top players.

£150k a week is very reasonable if true. Certainly lines up with the rumours we're offering contracts at reasonable base salary with high bonuses for performance.

Exactly. Word is that the vision for the new Chelsea was relatively modest base salaries with very high performance based income on top. If that is what we are doing then great.

I am always dubious about these lists. I cannot believe that Rudiger is faster than Traore, but maybe it is a matter of acceleration that separates them (perhaps Rudiger has a higher top speed if given the entire length of the pitch to get up to it?)