Pizy

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.

It’s bad news all the time for Chelsea this season. Awful on the pitch, manager situation, a dozen different injured players, almost all the new and super expensive signings being disappointments, incompetence in the current transfer market, and some of our primary targets dreaming of moves elsewhere. Our new scouting and sporting directors are going to REALLY have to earn their money and reputations now and in the summer. Because at this point it looks like we’re going to have to sign more David Fofana’s and random teenagers as our primary transfer business and hope they turn into stars. We aren’t going to be in position on or off the pitch to be attractive to ready made superstars for a while. It’s a miracle we managed to convince Nkunku to choose us. If indeed it’s actually signed and done. No idea why it hasn’t been announced if so.

This is why I pray we haven’t totally burned the bridge with Benfica and are still trying. Smooth things over and go back to the table with them. We have a top class player whose head has been so completely turned and has been so convinced to come to Chelsea that he has skipped training and will now miss a match. How often do we see a player that eager to come here? We HAVE to pay the money and get him, ffs.

As lukewarm as I am on Badiashile as a player, I would hope that he’s instantly ready to go within the next few days if Koulibaly struggles against City again today.

Turned the players head which clearly pissed Benfica off and were then deceptive in negotiations which also which pissed Benfica off. Wouldn’t be surprised if they refuse to even take our call again. And also wouldn’t be surprised if one of our rivals takes advantage and gets him for cheaper than the release clause just to fuck with us. Only way to salvage anything here is for us to just pay the clause like we originally said we were going to apparently.

Spot on here. Caicedo is essentially a poor man’s Kante. Covers a lot of ground, breaks up play, presses well. But he’s not classy on the ball and isn’t a string puller. He’s not going to keep the team ticking over and breaking lines with his passing. Caicedo is the type of midfielder we should eventually target in addition to Enzo in the next couple of windows once Kante and Jorginho leave. He’s the type you pair with Enzo in a midfield 2.

It’s done and fucked. And I keep seeing Ben Jacobs retweet his tweets from days ago saying we should keep an eye on Caicedo and Alvarez as alternatives. Fucking depressing if we settle for either of these who are vastly inferior. Then Enzo will end up at a rival in the summer whilst we’re stuck with more deadwood. Useless fucking board.

With the form we’re in, City game should be fun tomorrow. Losing out on a key target that the whole fan base had been convinced was coming and then getting smacked by City will make the mood around the club toxic.

Absolute amateur hour. Trying to lowball the release clause by tens of millions of pounds. Wouldn’t blame Benfica at all for being annoyed and dismissing this out of hand. And now if we walk away we risk pissing off the player himself after his head has clearly been turned. PAY THE DAMN MONEY

I suppose there’s still hope until we get an Ornstein or Law tweet saying we’ve walked away. Those are the two ironclad, most trustworthy guys.

Genuinely thought today was the day we’d get a briefing from all the usual reliable sources that a deal had been agreed. Not the full, official club announcement but the likes of Ornstein, Fab, etc saying everything was done but the medical. Instead it looks to have imploded.

Just pay the fucking money, Todd. This is a player that can completely change our midfield fortunes. And we have essentially a free run at him this window. May never get this chance again. Especially if we finish bloody 10th or something!

Would add insult to injury if Liverpool or United suddenly decide to swoop now that our move looks off.

Would be really rotten if you get the players hopes up, convince him to join, and then balk at the last minute at paying the release clause. Any other midfielder we may sign from here is a pretty substantial downgrade on Enzo. None of Alvarez, Caicedo, or Rice (in the summer) offers the complete package.

That would be hugely embarrassing. Alvarez doesn’t have a tenth of the ability and class that Enzo has.

Yep, it’s off. We probably tried to offer some small upfront amount and Benfica stood firm. We bottled it.

The fact that we’ve reportedly been locked in meetings with them for days now and there’s been no advancement makes the deal hitting a snag believable.

Especially since several supposedly reliable Benfica/Argentina sources have said it’s done. Wish we could just know specifically what the snag is. Is it on our end or theirs?

Haven’t been this impatient about a signing since summer 2020 when we were desperate for a striker. That’s how badly I now want the Enzo deal to go through. He can be that important to the team in the future. So this lack of updates is killing me.

I’m sick of playing our players in strange positions like that. Chalobah or RLC at RB can work for a game or two in emergency situations but our system relies SO heavily on the wingbacks or fullbacks being key parts of the attack. When our forwards are already struggling mightily to score goals, adding a fullback who gives us nothing going forward like Chalobah sounds miserable.