Pizy

When we bought Strasbourg I figured the plan was to uncover inexpensive gems and develop them there with an eye to turn those inexpensive gems into Chelsea players, thus saving us money. I did NOT expect us to spend £20m+ sums for loan players. That’s the kind of money that small PL teams spend for their marquee signings!

God help us if this kid is the Caicedo alternative. I’m seeing now that we’ve agreed a deal of over £20m for him and that’s pretty pricey for someone who would go straight to Strasbourg, isn’t it?

Signing more players for our feeder club than our primary one… 🤦‍♂️

I was just thinking to myself, isn’t it strange that City have gone totally quiet when it comes to their midfield since they matched that £90m second bid for Declan Rice? Then there was that report weeks ago from Ornstein that they were after Gabri Veiga just like we were. So clearly they want someone. Could they be waiting in the wings for us to finally agree a fee formCaicedo only to match it and steal him from under our noses? He’s as good or better than Rice so I’m not sure why they’d fancy one but not the other. Man, I hope we settle this saga soon…

Mitoma will 100% be the next Brighton player all the big clubs will be after next summer. And if Brighton have another great season De Zerbi will probably get a job at a massive club as well.

Yeah, from what I’m reading on Twitter he’s looking very good already in his first start back. We HAVE to try one last almighty push to convince Brighton within the next few days. One last massive offer. This is a signing that totally elevates our team.

Nathan Gissing doesn’t know anything, even if what he says there ends up true.

Enzo had a poor season? Okay, that confirms that you’re trolling.

You sound like one of those opposition fans who think all our players are shit. Have we not seen James and Chilly be some of the most dangerous wide players in the league? We’ve watched it with our own eyes. That isn’t theoretical. We watched Enzo instantly become one of the best chance creators statistically in the league when he arrived.

Enzo + Caicedo would IMO be the best midfield pairing in the league. United have Casemiro and….? Liverpool have Mac Allister and….? Lavia is just 19 and a big question mark if they get him. Arse have Rice and may play Havertz in deeper midfield? No quality on the wings? I think Mudryk, Madueke, and all of Chilly, Reece, Gusto, and Maatsen if he stays provide quality in wide areas. No playmaker? That’s literally Enzo’s bread and butter. A string pulling playmaker. The youth and inexperience concern is overblown, imo. Arse fielded an extremely young side last season and almost won the league. Saka, Martinelli, Odegaard, Saliba etc If we add just a bit more in the window I’ll be very confident in top our top 4 chances. I can understand why you’re skeptical but I have faith in Poch. A bunch of these smaller clubs that aren’t used to being in Europe will work massively in our favor I think. Newcastle, Villa, and Brighton will be nowhere near as good this season when they have to focus on Europe. Us meanwhile having free weeks to train and gel will be a huge bonus.

If we get Caicedo I think we have the strongest first XI in the league after City on paper. Or at least in par with Arse’s. And our squad depth is WAY better than Arsenal/Liverpool/United never mind all the others. Again, assuming we get Caicedo our only true weakness will be depth up front.

United had a horrific, embarrassing season under Ole. Their worst in PL history. Yet they were still able to go out and sign Casemiro and Lisandro and they turned things around 180 degrees in a single year. Why lots of opposition fans seem to think we can’t do the same is pretty funny to me. And I think they’re in for a rude awakening and will be shocked at how much better we are this season. Assuming we complete our squad this summer, that is. They’ve all seemingly forgotten that the last time we finished midtable we won the damn league the following season. While that won’t happen this coming season, if we sign Caicedo and 1 or 2 others I don’t think there’s any way we don’t make a serious challenge for 2nd-4th.

I’ve also noticed that almost all opposition fans think that because we had 1 terrible season we’re suddenly undesirable and will be in the mud for the next 5 years or something. It’s pure wishful thinking. Supporters of small clubs like Brighton or clubs that have been midtable or worse for years and years like Villa who had great seasons last time out suddenly think they can talk shit about Chelsea.

Right, I’m sure Brighton will lower their fee because Caicedo asks nicely.

So what’s the deal with our keeper situation? I see Slonina is now going on loan. Poch is happy with Kepa as his #1 but what if he goes through a terrible rough patch or gets injured? We gonna trust Bettenelli for a run of several matches? Surely not? Yet there hasn’t been a peep about a potential backup keeper or competition for Kepa all summer. There was talk early on about replacing him but after that died down it has been silent.

United demanding sky high fees for players that are borderline useless is pretty funny. I saw the other day that they want £40m or more for Scott fucking McTominay. 🤣🤣🤣 McTominay is like a £10m player if we’re being generous, ffs. He’s a Championship level player.

Yeah, same feeling here. I think we’ve backed ourselves into a corner where we’ve put all of our eggs in this basket. He’s nowhere close to a £100m player but we cannot miss out on CL qualification again. If the club feel that Caicedo will make the difference between finishing top 4 or not then I guess we can justify the massive overpay.

Maybe you’re right but it seems out of character for Klopp to throw a 19 year old in in such a key position from day 1.

The thing with Lavia is that he’s still a kid. Which is why it’s probably better for him that he goes to Liverpool where he wouldn’t be expected to start every game and can be eased in by Klopp. That immense pressure to hit the ground running with top class performances week in and week out wouldn’t be there. Whereas if he came here he’d be thrown right into the fire and have a huge burden of being the primary defensive shield for a huge club. Asking that for a 19 year old is big. Doing it for a Southampton and doing it for Chelsea with our expectations is a massive difference.

I can’t even imagine who we’d panic buy if Caicedo doesn’t happen and Lavia then chooses Liverpool. I hope in that scenario we at least try to throw massive money at a world class player who may not even have been on the radar. Someone who may not technically be “available” but who could be sold if a huge offer comes in. If we panic buy Onana or that DM from Ajax who we were after Alvarez I’d be bitterly disappointed and worried that we won’t get near the top 4.

A good agent will know the market for their super desired client. Knowing that Caicedo would continue to have huge clubs interested in him, his agent should’ve told him “I would strongly advise you not to sign this deal because it will give Brighton all the leverage if a big club comes in for you.” Him signing a 4 year deal and getting a wage bump for the reminding 6 months of last season when he was going to get an even bigger wage bump at his new club in the summer anyways is mindbogglingly stupid. In fact, it’s extreme incompetence.

He should fire his agent for allowing him to sign that deal without a set release clause. And he should also be extremely pissed at Brighton for assuring him he could go if a reasonable offer came in in the summer and rejecting £80m.

So now we’re going to go after a player that has his head set on and has one foot in the door at Liverpool. So if we throw in a panic bid and he decides to go to Liverpool we look like clowns. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ I mean, how does that look from Lavia’s POV? ‘You could’ve signed me at any point this summer but only came back in for me after the player you really wanted fell through?”

We sadly just have zero leverage in this Caicedo negotiation. Brighton aren’t in a position where they need the money. They’ve just seen another PL proven midfielder in Caicedo’s exact position go for £100m+ and they rate him at Rice’s level or higher. And then perhaps most crucially Caicedo himself isn’t kicking up a fuss or forcing the issue. That third point is probably the only thing that can change the impasse. Caicedo has to start making things uncomfortable. Because I can’t see us paying £100m for a fucking DM.

Inter are always in terrible financial order. I doubt they could say no to £80m. Whether Barella could be convinced to leave Italy is another matter but I bet we could.