Pizy

All these dominoes falling in a way that everyone gets what they want except for Chelsea. Raphinha and Dembele at Barca, which probably means De Jong to United. De Ligt to Bayern which probably means Koulibaly to Juve. Entering this window I felt so calm about our CB search because there were SO many high quality options out there that surely grabbing 2 would be easy for a club as big as Chelsea. Especially knowing our reputation of turning CB’s into top class players. But somehow we’re finding it impossible to get even 1 world class one through the door. Very difficult to understand.

The idea behind us being linked with Kimpembe (besides the obvious Tuchel connection) was that he’s left footed and suited to our back 3. But if Aké is arriving then there’s no point in that.

We’re going to have to get creative now then. Because I doubt our club expected that Barca would be able to stump up the cash when we initially bid for Raphinha. They probably figured that after we outbid Arse we had him in the bag. So what do we now that someone we wanted bad enough that we were willing to pay £60m for him is off the table? Being German, it would be lovely if Tuchel could have a chat with Gnabry or even Sané.

I thought I read that he wants some monster wage from Bayern in order to stay there?

The dangerous thing about some of these winger targets like Gnabry and Neymar is that their wages would be astronomical. Even Sterling getting over 300k a week puts us in a tough spot when we sit down for talks with Reece and Mount. If they then see Gnabry or Neymar or CR7 coming in and earning even more than Sterling we’d get into worrying territory. Why wouldn’t they then ask for 300k a week?

So is Neymar 100% staying in Paris now? If we’re missing out on Dembele and Raphinha as is looking cortina now, I’d rather we try for him before making a play at CR7.

It’s should be US that is signing the top CB’s, ffs. Not these other clubs signing them and us taking their castaways. 😩😩😩 Or worse yet, us giving City money that they immediately flip and use on a superior defender.

Someone explain to me what the deal with Upamecano is. I remember him being hugely sought after at Leipzig and we all really wanted him. But I haven’t heard a single thing about him since his move to Bayern. Has he been a giant bust?

You would think we’d start seeing links to other attacking players now as alternatives in case Dembele stays and Raphinha signs there. But we haven’t. It’s like we’re just waiting and waiting on Raphinha’s future to be resolved and are kinda screwed if he chooses Barca. Bit like United being 100% fixated on De Jong and then being fucked if he doesn’t move there. Wish we would just move on and target someone else. Who that would be, I have no clue. All I know is that if we go into the season with only Sterling added to the exact same bunch of ultra inconsistent attackers we aren’t closing the gap to the top 2 at all.

Great question. Nothing really good available for a winger unless he wants to take a weird number. Doesn’t appear as though Pulisic’s #10 or Timo’s #11 are getting freed up this summer. I think he’d ideally want that #10 shirt.

No, but he’s perfect for the way Tuchel wants to play. An aggressive, direct, hard working winger who can score and create at a very high level. If we strike out on both he and Dembele, where do we even turn? Who are these high quality and better attacking players you referenced that we can get instead?

Such as?

Can see us turning to a striker then if both our primary wing targets after Sterling are off the table.

If the club are somehow in the position to choose between CR7 and Lewa, I’d 100% take Lewa. I think he’d slot in our team much more seamlessly. And he doesn’t consume all of the oxygen and demand all the spotlight that Ronaldo does both on and off the pitch. He would never be a distraction or dressing room controversy. I still have a faint hope or feeling that Barca’s incompetence will somehow play to our advantage with one of these dominoes. Whether it’s Raphinha, Dembele, or Lewandowski. Still be shocked if they can afford all 3 whilst also adding the wages of Azpi, AC, Kessie, and Alonso to their books.

More impossibly stupid vaccine misinformation as usual.

Evidently, transfers for Azpi, Alonso, and Ziyech aren’t close if they’re part of the squad flying over here to the States.

Kante and RLC refuse to get the vaccine so aren’t traveling. Love Kante, but damn. Super disappointing that he’s apparently anti-vax. As for RLC, imagine making this decision knowing your status at this club. You need every chance and opportunity possible to prove that you belong at Chelsea and you now miss 2 weeks of preseason because you refuse to get a simple shot. I’d sell him now. And I’d be annoyed as hell if I were Tuchel.

Fabrizio and others have literally tweeted that same thing everyday for like a week and a half. “Final details being sorted out for Sterling.” Is the contract as thick as a dictionary or something? 🤣

After being so-so on Aké and trying to see the positives over the past couple of days, I too now think it’s a bad move. Oddly, if this was a typical deadline day panic buy for like £25-30m after we’ve exhausted every other option I think it would look better. And at a reasonable price like that he wouldn’t expect to be an every match starter. But for him to be the first CB we buy and to do so for potentially MORE than City paid for him is kinda mad. I really hope that we quickly follow up his signing with another CB of higher quality so we can at least get an idea of what Tuchel is thinking. If it’s Aké and Koulibaly/Skriniar/De Ligt on either side of Silva I can comfortably live with that. If it’s Koundé & Aké I’ll be a bit worried about the extreme lack of height.

Nah, we def don’t want that. Then those Gooner bastards get a free run at him and we’ll never hear the end of it.

Still have no clue how Barca are paying for Dembele’s wages, adding Raphinha’s wages on top of his huge transfer fee, potentially adding Lewa’s wages on top of huge transfer fee, want Azpi + Alonso who are on big wages, and then also want Koundé who will be on big wages + big transfer fee. For a club up to their eyeballs in debt and begging their current players to slash their wages. Economic “levers” or not, it’s all so fishy.

Yeah, I just got done watching some footage of him at City from last season and it was VERY underwhelming. He looks like your average PL defender who you’d see at a midtable side. Nothing standout about him at all. He’s not quick, he’s not physically dominant, he’s just average on the ball, I didn’t really see any passing range or distribution in his highlights so it must not be particularly good. I guess we just have to trust Tuchel’s judgement here.

Imagine if we sign Aké and fund their move for the vastly superior Gvardiol who WE should be after. 🤣🤣🤣

Aké in a back 3 with a marquee CB brought in on the right side? 👍🏼 Aké in a back 4 as the only CB we bring in? 👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼 But surely Aké would only fancy returning here to Chelsea if Tuchel has assured him of a prominent role? He’s not going to hop from one bench to another. Which to me means that he has been sold on becoming our starting left sided CB in a back 3.

So Sterling isn’t actually done yet then… 😒