Pizy

Enzo’s not happening. Let’s just put that out of our heads for this month. Too late in the window, too important to Benfica’s season. We now pray that we’re still at the front of the queue in the summer and he’s by far our #1 target. We will need to roll out the red carpet and make him feel like he’ll be the centerpiece of the new Chelsea project in order for him to choose us over the many other suitors he’ll have.

Exactly. I’ve seen supporters from rival clubs asking why we’re signing so many quality players in positions we’re already well stocked in and I just point to Man City. For years now City have had essentially 2 starting XI quality squads. With the exception of De Bruyne, Pep has been able to rotate just about any player in his XI without any real drop in quality. This is what we’re trying to have at Chelsea and it’s what many of us have been begging for for ages. So that we’re never forced to watch our entire season collapse when we get 1 or 2 key injuries.

Every club that has a player we’re after is going to demand massive money going forward having seen the cash we’ve thrown around since Boehly came in. In this case he’s their star youngster and a key player so it’s only right they ask for a hefty fee. In my opinion, it’s kind of justifiable for us to pay this sort of money for him. We desperately need a rotation option for James, he’s only 19 and already very good, and has the potential to be top class. With Azpi surely leaving in the summer we may as well get ahead of the competition for him (which will be significant) and sign him now when he’s apparently super keen to join us.

Will be pretty awesome to have so many young French national team members in the squad building up chemistry.

Hopefully some Malo Gusto progress or update today. Be nice to get him in in time for Fulham so Reece can have even longer to rehab and be eased into the team.

Thank God it appears Newcastle will save us from stupidly signing Anthony Gordon. Btw, Newcastle shopping at this sort of level is why I’m very confident that once ourselves and Liverpool get our houses in order for next season we will send Newcastle back down to competing for 6th-8th. As rich as their club is now it’ll take a few years of sustained high finishes before they’re attractive to the top, top talent. They still can’t lure the same level of talent that the Big 6 do. Their fans should enjoy this dream season while it lasts. Once they have 4 competitions to juggle next season they will regress significantly. And mediocre players like Almiron, Joelinton, etc will eventually come back down to Earth to where they’ve been for their entire careers.

As long as we avoid the likes of Anthony Gordon, Weston McKennie, and other bang average players before the window shuts I’ll be good. Getting some DM like Alvarez or Sangare isn’t going to help us shoot up the table.

So no top class midfielder this month, then. Fair enough. Enzo IS worth the €100m price but we can’t pay it this right now due to all the other business we’ve done. Caicedo ISN’T worth anywhere near what Brighton want so hopefully we don’t do anything foolish there. Now this next week before the window closes will tell us how smart our club is now. Will we do the smart thing and sit on what we have and wait for the summer for a midfielder or will we do the dumb thing that the Chelsea of old had been doing and panic buy some average nobody who will be stuck on our books for years?

There is no “try again” for Enzo. It’s pay the clause or don’t pay the clause.

I mean seriously, what was the point in all these journalists yesterday reporting that the Enzo pursuit is back on when we’re LITERALLY at the same place we were a month ago? Benfica ONLY want the release clause and we are “reluctant” to pay said release clause. Absolutely nothing has changed. So all these people just getting Chelsea supporters’ hopes up based on nothing. The closer we get to the deadline the less and less likely Benfica are to even take our call.

At this point I think Gusto may be our final business this window and we’ll wait until summer when the midfielder madness will be in full effect. Every big PL club will be after the top midfielders and we’ll try to get one of them.

Was always a long shot to think we could go back to negotiating with Benfica for any price other than the release clause. One look at the Portuguese table tells you everything. Braga and Porto are in red hot form and right on Benfica’s tail. They lose Enzo and they may kiss the title goodbye. If we were going to pay the full thing it would’ve long since happened so I think this one is dead, sadly.

Just such a smooth and effortless midfielder. He would be such a game changer for us, man. The thought of him spraying those long passes over the top to Mudryk, Nkunku, etc is the stuff of dreams. We can compete for everything from day 1 next season if we can get him.

If we get Enzo and our key players back fit we can absolutely put serious pressure on those competing for that 4th spot.

He wasn’t kidding when he said he looked up to CR7 when it comes to dedication to fitness and his body.

Strange as they have Dalot who they all now love as well as a completely revitalized Wan-Bissaka in that position.

If the ONLY way to get those two is to loan them back until summer I’d do it. But Enzo and Gusto are two players that would help us massively in the Champions League this season. We get Reece and Kante fit, Mudryk and Félix settle well, and if we sign Enzo I’d fancy us against anyone. Winning the thing this seasons will be our only way to CL footy next year. May as well go all out.

Yep. The irony when their new ownership comes in and spends mega money just like us. Although then they’ll use the old “we actually earned our money unlike Chelsea” line.

How much do you want to bet that the chief complainant and whiner to UEFA was Arsenal, btw? They were 100% crying to the authorities after two of their chief targets Mudryk and Félix ended up here.

So this window well and truly may be the only opportunity for us to sign Enzo for huge money and take advantage of the amortization rules. Even more incentive for us to push like crazy to seal it. Getting him in on a 7-8 year contract and spreading the cost out can only happen this month.

Terrible squad number for an attacking winger 😬😬😬

This is pathetic 🤣🤣🤣 A smart business group finds a clever way of using the established rules to their advantage, a bunch of rival clubs around Europe who weren’t savvy enough to think of it themselves complain to UEFA that Chelsea are ruining everything, and now UEFA is changing the rules.

Seriously, where would Gordon even play? Even if we sold Pulisic and Ziyech we’d still have Sterling, Mudryk, Madueke, and CHO on our books. I’d rather bring CHO back than spend silly money on Gordon. Even the idea that he could be turned into a wingback makes no sense as we’re after Gusto who is a natural at the position and is way better than Gordon.

Says that we’re still interested in Anthony Gordon and also now Onana. Perhaps try to take advantage of Everton’s financial and on pitch turmoil.

Yeah, Onana at least makes some sense as he’s the type of player we need. Don’t think he’s nearly Chelsea quality, though. The Gordon ship should have LONG since sailed. It would’ve been a poor signing (that I actually reluctantly thought would be decent at the time) in the summer but now makes less than zero sense. We’ve just signed two vastly superior wingers and I wouldn’t even have him over any of the underperforming ones we already had. Hopefully we don’t panic at the deadline and sign some average jokers who aren’t anywhere near the required standard.