Superblue

I haven't really looked into too much detail with this, but the general theme I'm getting from the charges relate to (1) over inflated sponsorship deals from 'related' parties or sponsorship deals from fictitious parties, and (2) treatment of certain operating costs in their books which looks like it includes how certain remuneration to players and staff is treated and I am also assuming how they have treated certain operational costs as some are dismissed for the purpose of passing FFP and Premier League financial rules. If this is the case, this isn't simply breaching FFP rules and a slap on the wrist. This is high level fraud, with over 100 charges made against them. I don't follow rugby but I understand a couple of years ago that Saracens were found guilty of something similar where they were treating salaries in a different way to 'beat' the salary cap rules. Despite being one of the best and biggest teams in Europe with a number of England internationals, they were relegated to the second tier. Depending on just how serious this digs, and if the Premier League want to make a real example out of a club in order to prevent similar happening again (especially with Newcastle's ownership now and potential talk of further Arab investment in the future), it isn't beyond the realms of possibility that they are relegated or hit with a points deduction severe enough to relegate them. This isn't United or Liverpool, or even Chelsea or Arsenal. Despite the wealth and recent success, City aren't much bigger than Spurs as a worldwide brand which is why it's been so ridiculous to see them topping turnover tables recently ahead of the likes of United and Madrid. There is absolutely no way their turnover should be that much higher than ours either, simple common sense should tell you all of this.

Completely understand all of that but add Nkunku to that mix and you're looking at another £300m or more. I think if we can move players out, I could see Nkunku plus two, maybe three of those positions being filled so with that being said what would the priority be. I would say a keeper and central midfielder are the obvious two and above everything I can see these being filled. Striker is then the next one but I think a lot will depend on what the plans are with Nkunku and Felix. Hopefully the club now has more time with the new staff to start scouring the world and scouting a couple of players perhaps less known who could come here and do a job.

For me personally, I still think we need to upgrade Kepa as one of the priority positions. Centre back I personally think we can pass on for a season, so long as Fofana comes back this season and gets a run of games and stays fit. We could sell Koulibaly potentially in the summer and still have Thiago Silva, Badiashile, Chalobah, Fofana and possibly Colwill. I get the idea of long term replacing Thiago Silva but I do still feel if he can stay fit then Fofana is that guy and given the investment made in him and his age, he still needs to be given every opportunity to come good. It's a very different situation to KK who really needed to hit the ground running with his age. Centre mid for me is the priority position to find a partner for Enzo and whilst I personally wouldn't be against Rice, I think Lavia (assuming Southampton get relegated) and Kone would be much cheaper options for that role. Having bought Enzo and sold Jorginho, I'd be more inclined now to keep Kante for a year or two more and just manage his game time. I still wouldn't discount buying Zakaria for the right price either. I'd like to get Zakharyan but as mentioned earlier I think the club will explore extending Felix's loan. Bearing in mind Nkunku is also set to join. I get the right wing want but I don't think it's as high on the list as other positions. Striker, I don't see anyone currently better than Osimhen but he'll cost an absolute fortune. I think he'd very much depend on both outgoings and what other players/positions we'd be looking at. It may also depend a little on where we plan to play Nkunku and if Felix is retained. I think if a keeper and centre mid could be picked up at a reasonable price, we could look at him as our one 'big' transfer of the summer in terms of price (well number two I guess if including Nkunku).

I personally wouldn't play Enzo that high up. What he just needs is a midfield partner who is willing at times to sit deep when he decides to roam forward and vice versa. That didn't happen last night - he was left to hold it together on his own and in doing so left him restricted with what he could do. Even Ruben in this situation would be better than Gallagher or Mount as he's far more understanding of that position and at times the need to drop and hold. But the quicker Kova and Zakaria can come back to full fitness the better.

I'm interested to see how Felix does over the next few games here. I know he's not a natural striker but I do think he's probably a better fit than Havertz currently, or even operating as a high 10 almost alongside him in attack. I get the impression if he does well here, and Simeone stays on at Atletico, we'll try and take him on loan again next season.

Cohesion in midfield and attack clearly wasn't there tonight. We looked like an international side with about 6 debutants to be honest. Having said that, I do like to try and find positives and building blocks out of games and it is now 3 clean sheets in a row and defensively we're looking solid with the two centre backs. Mitrovic barely got a touch tonight. Silva has now just come to be expected to drop 8 or 9/10 performances every game now, but Badiashile looks a really good signing who should only continue to improve with age and experience. I thought Enzo was very good considering he's been ultimately thrown in at the deep end tonight with next to no training. Tonight could easily have seen him put in a deer in the headlights performance like Saul did on his debut, which would have people ridiculing immediately but he looked assured, confident, incredibly comfortable and in typical Argentinean style, isn't afraid to put his foot in. The biggest issue tonight was he isn't a holding midfielder. He can play there if needs must like tonight but he's already been pigeon holed into that type by the media over here who as usual are clueless. He was crying out for a midfield partner tonight - someone who at times would allow him to push forward from deep and make things happen. You'd like to think Mount or particularly Gallagher at times would spot that and just sit in that transition to let him push up but it never happened. Hopefully Kova is back next week and Zakaria isn't too far away as I think that suddenly will give us a different look. Offense was disappointing. I'm not sure why Mount and Gallagher pushed so high up regularly as it not only left such big gaps but Mount in particular was eating up any space you'd have liked Mudryk to take up, leaving him completely starved in that first half. Also by both looking to sit in the half spaces between the wide men and Havertz there was no one centrally to drop in the hole and create. I know Gallagher is pretty limited technically so needs to go ball hunting to get the best out of him but today he really needed to show a disciplined side to his game which wasn't there to play a bit more conservative and deeper and Mount needed to operate centrally. I think if Kova and Felix are back next week to take those two spots you start seeing a bit more of a cohesive and creative attack in our game to be honest. Having said all this and from an attacking perspective we were disappointing, we came up against an incredibly dogged and organised team who have kept games close with all of the big teams this season, and despite the lack of chemistry in our game we created three very good chances in Havertz one across goal, hitting the post and Fofana in the second half off the line. Another day you score a couple of those and we're not really conceding at the moment and it looks a comfortable and good win. It's fine margins at a period where the side just needs a bit of confidence and a little run of luck and fortune to kick on a bit. It'll come but like everything, it'll need a bit of time and won't be an immediate and over night fix.

Agreed. All you have to do is look at City in recent seasons and their ability to rotate the squad regularly without an obvious drop off in quality. There were similar elements for ourselves in the early Abramovich/Mourinho years too. People can lazily point to whether a player is happy playing only half the games but it never pans out this way with injuries, suspensions and loss of form. Add in the ability to select 9 subs now, 5 of which can be fielded and there are plenty of opportunities for everyone to contribute. It's far easier to keep a squad happy when the side is successful and that is what we need to be aiming back for first and foremost.

It was reported yesterday too that all the new signings over the last 2 windows and the players that have signed new deals like Reece have clauses where their wages drop without Champions League football. There's always been talk of the owners wanting to move towards a much higher incentivised pay scheme for the players so hopefully this is really taking fruition. Some of the wages being mentioned for the new signings like Enzo and Mudryk seem very reasonable, especially considering the length of the deals too.

Yeah, one year extension I think isn't happening. 2 year extension though could be possible if we get it thrashed out this season. It would give him still 3 years here, and at 32 he's still going to find a good club prepared to pay him a good wage, particularly with no transfer fee involved. I've just seen GP's presser and he's injured again. There is that concern alongside Kante, that you've got two top midfielders there who should and would be involved regularly when fit but the reliability of keeping both fit is a massive concern. I think with Kante, they're hoping to see his recovery from surgery to assess if it's sorted a lot of his issues out. If we can get him back to full fitness and just manage his minutes moving forward then I think the club would definitely want to try and get him signed up for another couple of years. This for me, would spell trouble for Kova because I cannot see Chelsea wanting two central midfielders that are injury prone and needing their minutes managed throughout a season.

I don't want to pigeon hole someone who's 18 years old, as I'm sure the club has it's own plans for how to develop and eventually utilise him. For me I don't see an out and out defensive midfielder. I know he's operating for the Brazil side at present in a deeper role and has fulfilled similar at club level (I've seen clips where he's even taken goal kicks, etc to bring the ball out from the defence) but I wonder whether that has more to do with him just being the best they have for that role to anchor the whole side down. I actually see his game being more suited to a box to box role, perhaps more on the defensive side than the offensive side, but given the licence to hunt the ball, win the ball, and use that energy and athleticism. I'm thinking along the lines more of a Kante, or as a Brazilian equivalent, Ramires. I think a player like that could work pretty well with someone like Enzo who can dictate the game.

I think a lot of this will stem from the fact that he has only a year left come the summer and will turn 30 in 2024 when his contract is up so it's likely a difficult one for the club to try to sort out here. Having said this, I've read nothing in recent times to suggest that there has been any discussions for a new contract with Kova. I can remember reading a while back that he was considering his future towards the end of his contract and that he might be receptive to a new challenge so he may have already put something like this out to club already? For me personally, we don't want to go too young, too quick and unless we can get £30m+ for him in the summer to help fund a replacement and/or he's pushing to leave, I'd be inclined to look at seeing if we can get his contract extended by a year or two.

One of the things apparently mentioned today is that all of these new signings (including ones in the summer like Sterling) and those that have signed new contracts like Reece have all agreed to wage decreases in seasons we haven't qualified for the Champions League. If this is true, it's a huge deal, and makes things even more impressive that players have signed such long term deals. If the Champions League and a reasonable run in it were to bring in £70-80m but over time we have the bulk of our main players on something like a 20% wage drop, we'll be able to absorb the bulk, if not all of this loss of revenue. I am assuming there are some very attractive bonuses in the event of success and trophies! I know Marina would drive a hard bargain in negotiations, and we had to fall within FFP limits, but ultimately under Roman I don't think that push was there to drive extra revenues, cost cutting considerations, etc because we were always bankrolled. In time, I fully expect this ownership to have the club from top to bottom run in a more efficient manner.

It's a crazy stat!

I know we 'paid' for Kovacic a year later, but this is the first new, permanent signing in our first team midfield since Kova and Jorginho. 4 and a half years ago and 4 managers later. I find it incredible that we'd overlooked this department of the team for so long, hoping to see Kante staying fit for a full season, or Loftus-Cheek being reborn. A top midfielder can have a transformative impact on a team. I do believe we've just signed one for the long term of this club.

Whatever people might think of him, he's one of our more valuable assets and getting to a point where we'd have to consider selling him on the cheap because he only has 12 months left on his deal is not ideal.

Seen a couple of people on social media suggesting it's Lavia. I do think we'll target him in the summer, even more likely if Southampton go down and given the prices being bandied about for the likes of Rice and Caicedo, I do think Lavia offers potentially better value in the market at what would probably be no more than half the price of the other two.

I believe a deal sheet gives them an extra 2 hours.

Just a note Chelsea can only add three players to the Champions League squad from the January transfers. With Jorginho and Ziyech leaving I don't think anyone now needs removing but still only three can be added so who will they be? I'd assume Mudryk and Enzo are locks given they are the "star buys". I would think the last spot would be between Felix and Badiashile. I'm thinking they'll go with Felix, but if we do that we'll have to hope Fofana can get fit or Koulibaly starts to find some form.

Isn't the buy out style mandatory in Spain?

You'd like to thing a sensible approach to the context will be taken here. This isn't someone giving their opinion or being openly recorded using offensive language in general use, it's someone literally singing/rapping lyrics. It's dumb to be recorded doing it in this day and age but in no way should it be held up to the same degree as someone just caught using racial language in general. Even Kick It Out commented on it the other night and didn't use their usual strong worded approach to these sort of things, just really said Mudryk shouldn't have used that language even quoting something but appreciate he realises that he shouldn't have done so and has already apologised. I think in this situation, a warning and at very most a small fine should suffice. I wouldn't be surprised though if he copped a ban, it is a Chelsea player we're talking being dragged in front of the FA's kangaroo court about after all.

You'll get the usual lot on Sky Sports ripping into Chelsea and the ownership for spending so much money and scattergun transfers (despite them crying for their own clubs to splash money out) but people that know this club and watch us week in, week out know areas of the team that have desperately needed reinforcing. Raw pace and potential X factor in attack. A young ball playing centre back to add to Fofana Genuine quality alternative to Reece at right back A midfielder who the team can be built around These aren't scattergun moves. The club has identified areas of weakness and gone out and bought their top targets for those areas. Time and patience is needed but you can't help but be excited with the young talent we've gone out and bought to combine with some top young talent already at the club.

I'm guessing Boehly and the board are no longer too bad then 😂

Only two? You can't have been watching for much more than a couple of minutes.

Surely though he must look at our current predicament and assume that it is likely we won't be in the Champions League next season anyway, so I'm not sure if it's as big a problem as some people think it is. All the players that have recently joined have spoken about being sold on the long term project here, and I would say the proof is there by being able to get a number of highly rated younger players signing very long deals at the club to tie them down here long term. I assume that the club has spoken to Enzo, whether directly or indirectly and sold him on something similar. Now I agree, whether we get a free run in the summer will be debatable, although the numbers in question limit just how many clubs would be looking at him and there's also the likes of Bellingham potentially on the move in the summer too whom top clubs will be eyeing. But I don't see a situation where he'd be willing to come here now, but unwilling in the summer just because we're not in the Champions League for a season.