Superblue

I can't argue that there are question marks regarding his potential fit into a Sarri-style system but with the exception of Kante, I would say the same about all the rest of our current crop of midfielders. What I keep reading however is the quality of Sarri's coaching and he'll work with what he's given and make it work. Koulibaly was apparently a prime example, somebody who wasn't comfortable on the ball and didn't look good enough and look at him now. I'd love to see a positive coach get hold of him and make him believe the hype and make him realise just how good he can become. I just find it amazing that RLC is being pushed for England to start ahead of Alli who is one of Spurs most important players, and is playing in the England team alongside players who are regular starters in the Liverpool, City, United and Spurs teams. Yet he's a struggle to get a look in out squad, let alone the first XI. And on top of that you look at Fabregas, Bakayoko, Drinkwater and Barkley who have been chosen ahead of RLC for Chelsea, all of which failed to make their respective country's World Cup squads. With regards to Mount, I feel Chelsea will consider him perhaps a year behind RLC and want to see him play at a higher level for one more year. In an ideal world though, who's to say we can't have Mount and RLC within our squad ranks in the future? In a group of 5-6 midfielders, there should be sufficient space for both. With the aim to become self-sufficient alongside the stadium issues, it's even more important to spend money wisely on our squad. Promoting the likes of Christensen, Mount and RLC into the squad ranks will hopefully reduce the needs in the future to buy players like Drinkwater, giving us more leeway in our budget to compete for the top end group of players. It needs a whole culture shift to be honest. Christensen I am hoping is the start of something far larger.

I feel he's a 4-3-3 midfielder given licence to push forward but also responsibilities to defend properly too. Don't get me wrong he still has a lot to learn and needs to add more to his game but the talent is clearly there, as is the physical attributes. I look at the midfielders currently at the club and to me he should be ahead of bakayoko, drinkwater and barkley for starters and as such should be given his fair chance over these.

And in my opinion he won't fully get this until Chelsea themselves start showing confidence and belief in him.

This boy needs to be given a chance next season. He's still raw in certain areas of his game which is understandable given the lack of first team exposure he has had. However he has the potential in my opinion to be an absolute monster in time and would add some physicality lacking currently in our midfield. He strikes me as someone who will raise their game and get even better around better players. It would also be a huge statement. The second player in 2 seasons to establish themselves in our first team squad and continue to break down the barriers between our academy and first team.

£60m could well be the starting point with regards to net spend. It would fall in line with the club's stance over the last couple of seasons. The club though has a number of players that could be sold for decent money that will soon inflate that budget up. Nothing to start getting worried about.

I'm pretty sure everything has already been completed with both Sarri and Napoli, and Chelsea are just trying to negotiate the best possible deal with Conte for the club. That is why I think it is taking so long because the club know it's all in the bag and they're just exploring any opportunities to save some extra money before pulling the trigger. If it leaked from Sarri or Napoli that it was done or even Chelsea had been negotiating then Conte could potentially have a case for constructive dismissal which may mean a higher level of compensation. This is also why I believe ADL keeps playing up to the media that Chelsea haven't approached him for Sarri. I am speculating like everyone else, but it seems like the logical reasoning at this point in time.

I'm sure that the club is laying the groundwork for deals, etc. It is important this summer that we get things right. If Sarri is coming in it will require a significant shift in our style and likely a move away from the formation we have become used to the last couple of years. Some players will adjust, and other players will struggle and for Sarri and the club to make decisions on some players or areas of the squad, he may need the chance first and foremost to see them in training and speak to them in person. This cannot be done until we're back in pre-season anyway. A perfect case in point could be Morata. Sarri ripped Higuain to shreds when he first joined Napoli and he was arguably the best striker in Europe that following season. He may want to see if he feels he can get more out of Morata first before discarding him or bringing in an expensive striker that uses up a large proportion of our transfer budget. I know people are getting nervous but we are going to know in the next week or so for certain the manager situation with everybody coming back for pre-season and thereafter I'm sure we'll see some deals take place. I personally would rather see 3 top drawer signings than 6 or 7 good but not great ones anyway. We've also got loan players like Loftus-Cheek, Batshuayi, Kenedy, Mount, etc who could potentially come back into the fold much more confident and experienced to make an impact on the squad, and the likes of Barkley and Emerson who joined the club lacking match fitness and sharpness in January. It would be expected for the likes of United, City and Liverpool to be pressing on with transfer plans quicker than us because their managers are set in place and already have a full assessment of the squads at their disposal and likely drew up transfer plans for this summer potentially months ago. Ok, Arsenal are in a similar boat to us but let's be honest so far their signings and/or potential signings seem fairly underwhelming for a squad that the last couple of seasons has been miles off the pace. I still don't think we're far away at all from being comfortably back in the top 4. Despite all our problems last season and a woeful run of form we took Spurs and Liverpool all the way for the top 4, despite us not having a recognised goalscorer all season and they having the top two in the league between them, Have faith.

It's extremely difficult. On one hand a top drawer centre back and deep lying play maker would hugely improve our team and the overall ability and quality of performances. But at the end of the day we need to score goals and being able to replace the goals that Diego Costa scored in both title winning seasons is the most important requirement this season. We no longer have a Lampard type from midfield to guarantee 15-20 goals a season and whilst the likes of Hazard, Willian and Pedro will all contribute they have never shown they would be able to take the goal scoring burden like Salah for example did for Liverpool this year. I agree with you on everything with Morata and I'm also intrigued whether there would be more to come from someone like Batshuayi who is a natural goalscorer but lacks with his all round general play. However in a more offensive system, where chances are being created by others he may thrive as the person to get on the end of chances.

Fully agree, I would assume Azpi will move to full back in a flat back 4. Take Luiz and Cahill out who are both more than expendable (and proven to be liabilities in past times in a back 4) and we suddenly look thin. Zouma could come back in but his biggest weakness is his ability on the ball. For me, depending on Courtois' situation, we should be concentrating on the spine to our team this summer - a top class centre back option, central midfield partner to Kante, and a goal scorer.

At least he'll be well motivated to earn his bonuses given the cost of them over here. Wonder if he realises that yet!

He's definitely an option but Azpilicueta I assume would be the other full back. That would leave us with two defensive minded full backs and either of them playing left back would be a right footer playing there leaving us even more toothless on that left hand side. I would far rather we play Rudiger in the centre and use someone natural on the left hand side to give the team more balance, and a little more offensive minded too. Whether that means we need to buy someone I'm not too sure, would depend a lot on Emerson in pre season I guess.

I think for the most part it would be either rather than both. Rudiger in my opinion should be the first centre back this coming season. Quick, strong, comfortable enough on the ball, looks like he is on a continuing upward curve in his development and performances and one that strikes me will thrive off the responsibility.

Sarri's odds have shortened from 1/4 odds on to 1/8 this morning. Obviously not a guarantee but would suggest things are imminent.

Good to see that something as important as the World Cup still won't get in the way of the usual motormouths trying to talk their way out of the club.

Hopefully this is the most concrete thing so far to suggest something may be imminent.

Yes but am i right in interpreting that as he scored 21 goals with only 15 expected goals? I just feel the guilt edged chances that morata missed last season, someone like higuain scores most of those and those missed points get us top 4.

Agreed, we brought Zola, arguably the club's most beloved player at the age of 30. Key successes such as the Champions League relied on the likes of Ashley Cole, Lampard and Drogba pushing the team on well into their 30's. Not every player needs buying with the idea that he is young and will develop at the club and have a good resale value attached to him. We could keep Morata but over the next 4 or 5 years he may never hit the heights that Higuain might hit in 1 year, and then you assess which would be more important. At the moment Higuain is a better striker and goalscorer than Morata and 30 nowadays is not the end. He could easily perform well for 2-3 seasons which makes a move well worth it. It would remind me a bit of United's move for Van Persie (although I know it's not the exact same situation), looking to get the last peak season or two out of him in an effort to guarantee us goals. I would though still be surprised at a move due to the club's policy on 30 and over, although they gave some leeway to Giroud on this and that turned out well so they may have softened their stance somewhat.

There is a good chance that IF Chelsea have spoken to ADL and Napoli regarding Sarri they'll want negotiations kept confidential. Chelsea are easily one of the most secretive clubs with regards to their transfer dealings both before and after deals have been made. It is also made even more delicate by the fact that Conte is still in a job at the moment. I don't agree with it, but the club is obviously retaining Conte for the time being in the case that they can't find a suitable replacement for him. But also they have to negotiate his dismissal when the time comes and none of us have got any idea to the fine print and clauses within his contract. If Conte had proof that the club is trying to employ a new manager whilst he is still employed it could impact on his potential compensation in his favour, therefore the club need to do these dealings as secretively as possible. As some have said, until anything is officially announced, we are no better than the journalists - purely speculating.

Never really rated arshavin, he never seemed to fit in at arsenal. Kanchelskis was probably the biggest success from around those parts.

Reports in Italy that his release clause returns in July so if there is a cheap deal on the table we need to sort it this month.

Saudi Arabia make them look top class Agreed. Let's see how they, and Golovin, play against Uruguay who won't leave themselves open like Saudi Arabia. He looks a tidy player, but I've always felt the Russian players have flattered to deceive when they've played in the Premier League.

What makes you think that? The club gave mourinho every opportunity before sacking him and conte had all last season and still hasn't been sacked. The club is clearly far more stringent nowadays with its finances and therefore making a fairly sizeable investment in sarri (release clause, wages, conte pay off), the board will want to get value for their money and will give him every opportunity to make sure that happens.

Great post, and it really is helpful and interesting to get insights and interpretations from oppostion fans on topics that they will be in a much better position to give their opinions on. I am extremely intrigued by his way of football, because your club in the last couple of seasons have played some truly phenomenal stuff. What intrigues me possibly even more though is that he would rather coach and develop the players he has. No doubt we have the financial clout and pulling power to bring some players in, but I do feel there is a good chunk of untapped potential at the club already. I would love for somebody to come in and further the development of the likes of Rudiger and Christensen, help RLC become the dominant presence in midfield that his attributes suggest he can become, and I would love someone to get even more output from Hazard and more out of Morata if he stays. By the sounds of it, Sarri would be an excellent choice of manager and I just hope that the board make the tough and somewhat expensive decisions to make this happen.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44474415 According to BBC, PSG need to sell at least 60m euros of players by the end of this month to comply with FFP. Possible scope for getting a decent deal with some of their players. That, or Madrid come in and buy Neymar off of them!

How is keeping Conte going to be a good thing? He acted immature throughout the season, constantly complaining, subliminally criticising his players and looked unmotivated and undeterred when we were struggling and needed inspiration. If we got Conte back from his first year here then i would be open to giving him another chance. But he doesn't want to be at Chelsea, it's clear to see, and his primary motivation now is to be paid maximum by the club to walk. If we kept him, can we seriously risk the same Conte we have had this year leading the team and improving on last year's results? I'm not convinced.