Pizy

Seeing Sterling and Gallagher starting still makes me wince a bit. I’d love nothing more than to see Sterling play his way back into Man City form but he’s been awful in preseason. Hopefully he looks sharper today? Gallagher will hopefully be made a squad player soon enough if we ever fucking sign a midfielder.

Actually, he’s a pretty neat and tidy footballer. Good first touch, looks good receiving the ball under pressure, can dribble a bit. Doesn’t appear to offer much in terms of forward passing, though. Those traits sound an awful lot like Kova. He’s basically a knock off version of Kova.

You guys really need to get over Gvardiol AND Fofana. We’re just about to replace him in the long term with Disasi. Fofana has nothing to do with Gvardiol anyways because they play on opposite sides. Yes, the massive transfer fee will hurt us but it’s not like that signing has prevented us from signing someone else. We now have Colwill on our books for £0 and Badiashile for £32m. Those are who you should compare to Gvardiol. Is he worth more than double what Colwill and Badiashile are combined? No, and I love Gvardiol.

Tyler Adams doesn’t even look like a DM to my eye, btw. He looks more like a Kova type midfielder aka a #8. Playing him beside Enzo in a 2 would be terrible.

To me it feels a LOT like the Zakaria/Drinkwater/Barkley moves. We wanted someone way better but then panicked right at the death and pulled the trigger on someone average just to have a body in midfield.

Tyler Adams is a tidy, solid midfielder. The type that I wouldn’t mind having in the squad for midfield depth. But as the first choice DM and the main player preventing teams from blitzing through the middle of the pitch? HELL no! If we signed him IN ADDITION to Caicedo that’s one thing. Someone needs to be sacked if he’s bought instead of Caicedo.

If it’s United or Liverpool I think we’d have a chance at convincing him to choose us. We’ve been after him hard and have shown our determination to get him by bidding again and again. That has to mean something to the player. But if it’s City I don’t think we have a chance. you don’t say no to Pep and City are as close to a trophy guaranteed as you can get these days.

Liverpool have been haggling and struggling to afford Lavia at £50m. The idea that they could then move to Caicedo and spend £85m-100m seems super sketchy. But if they do somehow match our bid and goes there we BETTER get Lavia. He’d be the only acceptable, face saving move. Tyler Adams and Edson Alvarez would be a disgrace.

My guess is one of the Manchester clubs. Both could really use him. It would be completely unforgivable if we lose out on someone we’ve chased ALL summer to a direct rival.

I literally couldn’t care less about Gvardiol anymore. I would’ve loved him here 1 year ago when we almost got him. But we’re now set at CB for the foreseeable future so I’m not bothered. I’m very keen to see how he and Colwill stack up when compared directly in the PL. Gvardiol is quicker but Colwill is better at actual CB things like winning aerial duels and defending. Both are great passers and users of the ball.

Bayern have been dominating the run of play and look their usual super neat and tidy with the ball but damn, do they look shit defensively! Liverpool haven’t even had to work for their 2 goals here. Bayern have looked like amateurs at the back.

You’re right, I forgot they just bought a new CB.

As good as Humphreys looked in preseason he’s another player we should be trying to use to soften Brighton’s stance with Caicedo. Extend his contract and offer him on loan there. His game looked very similar to Colwill’s. Left footed, calm and composed, and the sort of young talent De Zerbi loves. He could fill the exact same role Colwill did for them.

Feels like it’s all lining up for us to have every other signing done and in place and then we’ll make one final bid for Caicedo nearer the start of the season. Which is super risky because if Brighton say no AGAIN we’re fucked.

Just fucking end this saga, please, Chelsea! Get Poch his damn DM! Sick of this dragging on.

That’s what I said! Wtf was he thinking? He couldn’t just ignore the bump in wages for a few months when he’s be getting a MUCH bigger bump anyways at his new club? A competent agent would’ve quit if his client did that.

I just figured it would be one of those announcements that included immediate news that he would join up immediately with Strasbourg. You guys are right that it doesn’t really hurt for Poch to have a look at him. And judging by the quotes now coming from Poch’s press conference it sounds like it’s possible he stays. This is definitely sounding like the player who could be our DM if Caicedo doesn’t come in.

Ehh. Train with Chelsea for just a couple of weeks and make a bunch of new friends only to then leave for a year doesn’t sound great to me personally.

So in his announcement it says Lesley has flown to the US and joined up with the team to “quickly integrate with the squad.” So….is he not actually going out on loan? Why fly out to the States when there’s only 1 match left that he won’t be ready to play in?

Edson Alvarez is the level of player that clubs like Everton, West Ham, or Wolves would do well to sign. He doesn’t look near Big 6 club quality. He’s a very “basic” looking DM who doesn’t do anything special, just does a decent job with no standout traits. If he were theoretically a free transfer with the idea of being Caicedo’s backup I’d have him. But no chance should he be considered a Caicedo alternative. We aren’t challenging for the top 4 with Edson Alvarez as our first choice DM.

Yeah, reading comments from Juve supporters in multiple places this isn’t the usual case of a fanbase gladly calling for a player who hasn’t lived up to the hype to be sold. Many of them think Vlahovic is really good and was the victim of Allegriball.

With De Zerbi being Italian, with Brighton playing great football, with them losing Mac Allister, AND with us after Caicedo I don’t get why we aren’t trying to include Casadei on loan as part of the deal. He would be absolutely perfect in that side and would develop beautifully. That way they don’t have to spend a penny on replacing Caicedo this summer. I guess Brighton don’t want to do us any favors after Colwill?

Dead silence since that Ornstein tweet. Cherki talk has totally evaporated as well. Feels like Olise is now the primary attacking midfield target and Kudus may have just been sounded out as the fall back option. If I remember the wording Ornstein said, it was something like “Chelsea have explored the conditions of the deal” with Ajax. To me that sounds like the groundwork has been laid and if we cannot get Olise we can quickly move to secure Kudus. Which is a shame in my opinion since I think Kudus is far superior.

“Talks continue for Caicedo” may be the single most repeated phrase from Fabrizio ever. Feels like he’s tweeted that line 60 times since the window opened. What tf could the clubs even still be discussing at this point?

Tyler Adams? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Edson Alvarez and Veiga would both be MASSIVE steps down from Caicedo. Lavia is the only solid DM link who I’d be happy to sign if Caicedo proves impossible. He’s not the more experienced midfielder Poch ideally wants but he’s at least got world class potential. Unfortunately, it’s likely too late to snag Lavia as he seems to be eager to join Liverpool.