Pizy

This lad Maddison looks class on the ball. Silky touch. Fred for United has looked really shaky so far. Given it away about 5 times already.

Yeah...that sounds like a goodbye rather than a see you later. Maybe rather than an option to buy we have first refusal. If he does well we get first dibs, if not Madrid sell him to the highest bidder.

I think we'll start with: ------------------Kepa----------------- Azp------Rüdi-------Luiz--------Alonso ---------------Jorginho--------------- -----Kante----------------Cesc------- Pedro---------Morata-----------CHO With Hazard and Willian coming off the bench in the second half.

People keep saying "Sarri didn't even get a look at him" but I think it's obvious that Michy had decided for himself that he wanted to go on loan again. He wants and needs to be a regular.

Does indeed look bad until you think about it the way Matt Law described it on the previous page. Batshuayi is far too good to be riding our bench for 80% of the time here. He would've got plenty of minutes here and there as a sub but from his perspective, why do that when you can go to another nice club and play a featured role? Tammy will be fine being a rotation option. The problem is, I don't think Tammy is nearly Chelsea quality yet.

I would bring Hazard off the bench as a spark. Give him another week of training before he starts.

Agreed. This is where the likes of RLC, Barkley, Cesc, CHO, Ampadu, etc will come in handy. We will have significantly better depth to rotate against lesser opponents. That way we can still afford to field strong teams in the Europa League.

Overall, I'm not only satisfied with our own business but I'm also happy to see that none of our rivals except for Liverpool improved significantly. City added Mahrez but I don't think he makes them any better. Their attack was already unstoppable. United signed only one player that goes straight into their XI. Spuds didn't do a damn thing all summer and they have several players (Dembele, Toby A, Rose) who were essentially forced to stay because Levy was being a greedy bastard. Arsenal, like us, are in rebuild mode but I think we've brought in a higher caliber of player than they have. If our players settle well and take to Sarri's system I feel good about getting a CL place.

This lad seems properly delighted and excited to be at Chelsea. He realizes that we've put enormous faith and trust in him.

Certainly don't think Hazard will start. Be very curious who he goes with as the CB pairing. Unfortunately we can be sure that Alonso will start. Even though they both arrived at the same time, I do actually think Kante will start here since he's a fucking machine. Biggest two question marks are whether he goes with RLC or Bakley as the third midfielder and which CB partnership he likes. Hazard & Kova will hopefully be ready for Arse next weekend.

Seems strange that all the talk of outs for us have gone silent. Are we really going to keep all of Baka, DD, and RLC? What's going on with Batshuayi, Tammy, and Zouma?

The big nosed ostrich wishes he was as handsome as Kepa! 😂

Any interest we had in Fekir probably ended when Kovacic became possible since they'd likely play the same position in Sarri's team.

Ideal world - Kovacic kills it in his year here while a new flavor of the month CM emerges for Real Madrid to go after. We can then hopefully convince them to sell him to us permanently while funding the move for whichever Galactico they're after.

I imagine this was a huge comfort to him. Some players come to the PL and are basically alone. Kepa gets to come in and be surrounded by loads of players he'll know and be able to communicate with. Should also help that Caballero is a Spanish speaker and plays his position.

I simply cannot imagine us spunking down mega money for Fekir when we've just made a big deal about Willian staying and being happy. Where would he even play with both Willian and Pedro there? Unless Willian goes to United this doesn't seem realistic.

He's a young keeper who has made mistakes. Not a big deal. I prefer to focus on the good highlights I've watched on YouTube where his reflexes look insane. Like, De Gea-like insane. Give him time and stay behind him even if he struggles initially.

Later, Courtwat. Try not to let Messi in between those legs of yours!

If you would've told me at the beggining of the summer that we'd be able to shift Drinkwater & Bakayoko and bring in Jorginho & Kovacic I'd have laughed and said impossible. Let us hope our board can work their magic some more here!

Seems now it's almost certain that he'll go on loan which is very puzzling considering we'd be left with only Morata and Giroud when we could play 60 games this season. If Morata gets injured early we'd have to ride a slow 32 year old Giroud as our main striker? In a Sarri system? I dread having to see us use Hazard or Pedro as the striker again.

Would be weird for a player like Fekir to reject us due to no CL. Chelsea is still a massive step up from Lyon.

Looks as though Real Madrid are absolutely adamant that no buy out clause is included. That's really disappointing. Would be pretty devastating if he settles in here and becomes an extremely important player but has to return to Real Madrid while we start from scratch trying to find a replacement.

From lining up with Kante & Bakayoko or Kante + Fabregas last season in Conte's defensively minded setup to Jorginho, Kante, and Kovacic in Sarri's high energy attacking setup. That is a colossal upgrade. Serious case to be made that we have the best midfield 3 in the league. Assuming they gel and adapt well, that is.

Our midfield would be completely sorted for years and years if we managed a buy option. All 3 of Jorginho, Kante, and Kovacic are at the perfect age. All 3 of Cesc, DD, and Bakayoko will likely be moved on next summer which will mean more minutes for Barkley and RLC assuming he isn't sold by then. I agree with others saying it would be very strange from our point of view to take someone on loan without the buy option. Doesn't seem like something we'd sanction at all.

We're effectively only paying around £35m for Kepa with Courtois going for £35m.