Pizy

It seems as though we made our intentions known to Benfica that we would be paying his release clause at some point many weeks ago. We then spoke directly to Enzo, convinced him to come and agreed personal terms, and then when it came down to actually negotiating with Benfica we submitted a bid way below the release clause. You can certainly why the coach and club reacted so angrily. Benfica is a selling club so long as you pay what they ask. They were probably resigned to reluctantly sell him because the release clause was too much to turn down. But when we instead lowball them and mess with the players head you get the reaction we saw.

I can see these all happening in the summer: Rice > United Enzo > Liverpool/City Caicedo > Chelsea Said before that I do rate Caicedo but can’t help but be let down if we eventually end up with him instead of Enzo. I want our midfield revamp to be built around someone who is first and foremost highly gifted technically and can also do the dirty work. Not someone who is all about the dirty work first and is simply okay with the ball. Caicedo looks like a poor man’s Kante to my eyes. Very solid but limited.

Enzo deal absolutely has the feel that he’s going to end up at a PL rival and haunt us for years to come now. My guess is either Liverpool or United. So unless we somehow rebuild the bridge with Benfica and pay the release clause this month this could be one of the worst mistakes we’ve ever made. And after the angry reaction from their coach and last night’s defiant celebration from Enzo himself I’m guessing this is 100% dead forever. That quote from last week that I’m not sure was accurate or not from the Benfica President really annoyed me and stuck out because it’s sadly where we find ourselves now. That Enzo should wait until the summer for “a more organized and higher level club” or something like that. Normally, a move from Benfica to Chelsea would be considered a massive step up but we’re in such a mess now that other clubs view us as a place to avoid.

Yeah, you look at that Newcastle squad and there is still maybe 1 player of theirs I’d have at Chelsea and that’s Bruno. They really don’t have that much quality. Just extremely well drilled and everyone who was shocking last season is now somehow in the form of their lives. Basically the opposite of us. They would comfortably be the least talented club to ever finish in the CL places if they do so this season.

Think you’re right about Odegaard but I think Kovacic did have one at around 40m, didn’t he?

Felix can control and dribble a football. Automatic Improvement on Lukaku.

So we are essentially allowing ourselves to be a training center for Felix for 6 months since there’s no buy option. If he does super well here Atleti (having just now extended his contract) can demand £100m or more for him in the summer. Or just not consider selling him at all. I mean, with Boehly in charge I have no doubt that he would pay what Atleti ask for if he wants to stay, but with the previous regime in charge we would’ve insisted and likely succeeded in agreeing a buy option for something reasonable. Injuries made us desperate, clearly. We agreed to a pretty shit deal out of desperation.

I wasn’t high on the Badiashile signing either but I’ll give him 5 or so games before judging him. Same goes for Felix. I’ll reserve judgment until I see how he is used. Since so many attacking players are injured I would play him together with Kai in a 2 striker system.

We literally just signed a 20 year old striker a few days ago and still have 21 year old Broja. And have Havertz + soon Nkunku as striker/second striker type players. Plus, who knows what happens with Felix. That’s 5 striker options and not even mentioning Auba. Don’t know what sense bringing in another super young forward like Moukoko makes. At his age he’ll be looking at all these players we have and think “will I actually get in the team?”

He’s a fantastic footballer who’s exciting to watch. He had all the hallmarks of your usual wonderkid back then so that explains the fee. Feels like he just chose to go to the exact wrong club. But much like Havertz he hasn’t lived up to all of his huge talents.

Wonder what the Felix move means for David Fofana, btw.

If we were like….idk, 4-5 points off of top 4 and in with a genuine shot to make a run at it I’d be super excited about signing Felix. But since we’re miles behind and the squad’s mentality is likely down in the dumps him arriving may not make a splash. I genuinely don’t know where he will be played. With the injuries I suppose he’ll play on the left. Or perhaps a genuine 2 striker system with he and Kai up top.

I am absolutely convinced both Fofana and Cucu will be very good Chelsea players long term. Not worried in the least about either at this moment. Sterling may not turn out to be the world class wide player we were all hoping he would be but I think he’ll at least be very good. Koulibaly was coming off of a Team of the Season level year at Napoli from what we were told. The contract length we gave him was a mistake but signing a veteran CB to combine with young ones like Fofana and Chalobah seemed like a no brainer at the time. Nobody could have foreseen him being THIS big of a letdown. Auba is the only truly unforgivable and stupid move. Totally desperate signing that raised every red flag.

Nothing would sort us out this season short of Enzo, a new striker instantly hitting the ground running, AND (most importantly) key players like Wes Fofana, Kante, James, and Chilly all being 100% at the same time. In other words, basically impossible. But getting Enzo in now would've sure set us up nicely for next season.

Really don’t get the constant bashing and shitting on Boehly. For me he has made 1 massively terrible decision (possibly 2 with the Enzo disaster) and that was the sacking of Tuchel rather than sticking with him through the bump in the road. About 95% of clubs in the world would swap owners with us if they could due to the willingness to spend a gargantuan amount in transfers. I’ll give him a couple of years to see how this planning works out before passing judgment. Not his fault that all these supposedly top class players he spend a fortune on have all been poor simultaneously. These were mostly all players we were happy with entering the season, remember.

Don’t sign a midfielder this month, PLEASE Chelsea. Since Enzo is off the table do NOT go and settle for our 3rd or 4th choice alternative. That’s how we’re in this mess right now as it is. Settling instead of waiting for the right player.

Maybe he’s being viewed as someone to provide a bit of a spark for us in the CL? Idk… If we made this signing this last summer I’d actually be excited just out of hopeful curiosity. But now it just feels like an aimless, “any big name will do” sort of move.

Pretty strange signing and fit, ngl. I’ve said here before that I like Felix as a player but he’s an odd fit in this team. He’s not a wide player and he’s not a classic striker. So where exactly does he play for us? Anyways, he must have been TRULY desperate to leave Atleti if he agreed to come to this dumpster fire.

Short of Boehly begging and apologizing like a cheating husband at his wife’s feet to get Tuchel to come back I don’t see anyone out there that’s an obvious choice. Luis Enrique would be a huge risk just like Potter was. Getting some other up and coming manager is not going to cut it. Poch seems like a safe choice given his PL experience, I guess. Maybe we can hope Conte goes full Conte at Spuds and we can get him back? 🤣 He’s the sort of take no shit manager this lot need. Plus, there would be no clashing with this hierarchy about spending since Boehly will clearly spend whatever it takes.

I think Potter is safe no matter what this season. He’ll be given every opportunity to turn things around because to sack him would humiliate and embarrass the ownership who invested so much in him. If he starts next season poorly then they’ll have no choice. Sacking him now (or anytime this season, really) isn’t going to do us any favors. We’re miles off top 4, out of both domestic cups, and are ravaged by injury. I can’t see any manager coming in and giving this current group a new manager bounce. They’ve given up. We have to suck it up, take the medicine, and hope there’s some serious surgery done in the summer on this squad. That includes getting rid of quite a few players I’d be sad to see go.

At this point I’m well past caring about the rest of this season. I’m already looking towards next season with positivity. If we can bring in someone in January that helps us in the rest of our Champions League run then great. If not, whatever. Top 4 is long gone. May as well start Chukwameka & Hutchinson the rest of the way to get them experience. They might be impressive enough given regular starts that they’ll save us money come the summer.

Wonder why we aren’t really being linked with Joao Felix at all anymore. Just Arse and United.

True. Thuram has the physique of your classic #9 but is still saucy on the ball so I wouldn’t be terribly upset if we got him for a decent price. But on the other hand I wouldn’t be mad either if we didn’t play with a traditional striker and brought in another winger who can score.

Tbh, there really isn’t any standout, no-brainer CF to target right now. Hence why I’m seeing United linked with Wout fucking Weghorst today 🤣🤣🤣

Thuram is definitely interesting. Pretty unusual to see a striker as big as he is with great technical ability and dribbling skill. Has the physique to cope with the PL. But since it doesn’t seem at this point like David Fofana will be going straight out on loan I’m not sure how we sign another striker when we now have Fofana, Auba, and Havertz. Auba is in horrendous form but we just signed him months ago. We gonna terminate his contract or something? Having 4 strikers in the squad makes little sense.