Superblue

Probably about the same as what it was pre-World Cup for me. Showed his obvious talent and explosiveness with the limited minutes he was given, but when I did see him I still don't like the attitude and work ethic he portrays. It was the exact same against us, clearly offers a threat but he leaves his team effectively playing with 10 men when they don't have the ball.

3 years from now we'd be in the middle of this 2025/26 season you've mentioned. That's a huge amount of time in football.

This all looks fine and well in principle but 3 - 4 years away is a long time in football. Some players will lose form and drop off, some players will get injured, and between now and then there will be other players that develop in their own time into top talents which might not be so obvious right now, and new players that come through academies. It'd be interesting for what a list similar to this might have looked like 3, 4, 5 years ago compared to reality today. Would it have included someone like Dele Alli? Rashford? Sancho? Havertz? At this moment in time we just have to focus and worry about ourselves and not what anyone else is currently doing. Get our house in order and the rest will follow.

But United have still retained their 'pull' for big players and look at where it's got them. I'd even argue the likes of Pogba, Schweinsteiger, Varane, Ronaldo, etc have damaged the balance of the team at times and been more of a hindrance than a help. I was a huge fan of Ballack, but it must also be noted that bringing in him and Shevchenko at the time did provide more questions than answers as to striking the right balance to the side and how to fit everyone in. Both joined a double title winning side, and we then didn't win it again for 4 years after this. The key is good, clever recruitment, rebuilding the team from the ground up. There are players out there that will jump at the chance to join us and in turn have the right attributes to benefit us too. The bulk of players that Liverpool and City have recruited in recent years under Klopp and Pep are ones which would be achievable to sign for us, with most coming from 'mid-tier' clubs, but our recruitment/scouting has been poor for years and regular managerial changes has always left our squad completely unbalanced and strengthening in the wrong areas at the wrong times. Players like Bellingham and Endrick wouldn't have joined us even if Roman and Tuchel were still at the club. The lack of stability here makes us unattractive to top young talents compared to alternatives. The key as @OhForAGreavsiementioned the other day is to lay the groundwork for us in 3, 4, 5 years' time to be in a position to attract that type of player in the future, and I don't necessarily mean the Bellingham now but the Bellingham at Birmingham before he moved to Dortmund. I do believe, given time, that the new ownership has a more structured long-term plan than Roman ever had or even desired, which will hopefully serve the club well in years to come.

Absolutely spot on. It is imperative that we position ourselves to be far more attractive for future top talent coming through. It's not an overnight fix, we will need to build a reputation of developing young players and giving them opportunities, which to be fair some groundwork has been laid here with the likes of Mount, James, Chalobah, Gallagher, etc coming through into the first team set up. But we also need to show ourselves to be a much more stable club which we simply haven't been under Roman's tenure. Players will see and believe in a development plan much more in a stable club and set up. The bonus to getting this right is we're much better placed than teams like Dortmund and Leipzig to not be treated merely as a stepping-stone. Granted, it's always going to be a problem if Madrid come calling for a player but I think we have a much greater chance of being able to convince top talents to commit to us long term if we get it right and sign them up in the first place.

The assist tonight was a joke but is it concerning that I'm not sure anyone else in our current squad could have produced that. He's a 38 year old centre back and could probably be our most effective playmaker for crying out loud!

I understand where you're coming from with this, but at the point of contract expiration there's no loss on investment because the investment has been amortised over the length of contract so by the end of this the investment is worth nil anyway. Slightly off topic but I do think with the continuously rising costs of transfer fees and wages, you'll see an increasing number of players in the future moving on free transfers. We just have to get cute and clever with this, and hopefully we'll get our own back losing out on Rudiger sometime in the future. Having said that, we took Ballack back in the day who at the time was one of the best midfielders of his generation and was worth millions so I guess it boils down to "you win some, you lose some".

They've done well overall with their investments in recent seasons but I do still think when the pressure starts increasing they may struggle because overall they lack big game and trophy winning experience throughout their squad. They can perhaps lean a bit more on Zinchenko and Jesus compared to previous seasons, but even them I'd argue were more peripheral and less integral in City's success, and there's talk of Jesus being out for 3 months now anyway. It's what I'm a little concerned about with Chelsea. They have to get the balance right in a rebuild job. We're maybe in a bit better spot from some of our players like Mount, James, Havertz, etc having won the Champions League and been involved in far higher calibre games in recent seasons, but I don't think you can just simply cull all of your older, more experienced players. Some will need to be phased out over the next couple of years. We're in a difficult spot in the summer because not only do we have Jorginho and Kante out of contract, but Kova only has a year left then too and if he doesn't extend it may be the last chance to move him on and recoup some money for him. The midfield clearly needs a revamp but that doesn't mean I'd want to lose all 3 in one swoop. Similarly in defence. We're in a situation where Thiago Silva and Azpi aren't long term options and Koulibaly will be 32 in the summer too and hasn't yet settled. Is that again a similar circumstance, where all 3 are moved on in the summer? So that could end up being the 6 most experienced players within the squad all potentially moving on at once. That wouldn't sit well with me but it's definitely a realistic prospect.

I think with Gvardiol we have to sell him potentially on that prospect, i.e. come to us which is a move upward from Leipzig where we're looking to build a young, dynamic team with a lot of potential upside but in 4, 5, 6 years time the option could be there for you to move to Madrid if you chose to. Some of these players we may need to approach in the same way as Hazard - for how long you can keep them great but if they move on in the future and you've enjoyed 3-5 years of them playing at a high level and a good return on their transfer then so be it. Hopefully once they're here and perhaps if we start building and progressing ourselves back to challenging for the major trophies, it may be easier to keep players like him for longer or the bulk of their prime years like we managed to largely do with Hazard.

I thought Zakaria's cameo tonight for Switzerland was very good. Came on when they were truly under pressure and he just managed to relieve a lot of that by acting as a screen in front of the defence and blocking a lot of space and opportunities which had previously been there in the middle of the pitch. I'm still pretty baffled how he hasn't played more for us when we're currently crying out for a player of his profile in the centre of our midfield. We're being linked with someone like Bennacer for £40m and there's talk of Rice for £70m+, but I'd love to really find out just what we have with Zakaria this season first. With Juventus' issues and seemingly desperate to get him off their payroll anyway, I'd be looking at spinning the usual Italian trick back on them (reject the buy clause in the loan contract, and try to negotiate a cheaper deal). I'd be inclined to throw a £10m bid at them "take it or leave it" and see what happens. Although of course this is completely pointless if Potter just simply doesn't fancy him.

It's all fine and well Benfica pointing to his release clause and it will give them some time and flexibility to sell him on their terms (i.e. I think they would look to keep him one more season after this one) but I'm doubtful they'd get that fee for him. I think if someone came in and offered them upwards of £70m they'd consider taking it.

Anyone know anything about this player? Combine this with Zakaryan and I must admit I'm delighted to see us looking to be more proactive when it comes to identifying and buying players much earlier.

It'll be interesting to see how Chiesa does the second half of the season as if Juventus have the book thrown at them (relegation, etc) then their most valuable assets will be on the market. Would have to see that blinding pace is still there for Chiesa first as I'd worry about him if he's lost a yard or two. Vlahovic and Miretti could be interesting options too.

Completely understand that. It's the result of transfer activity over a number of seasons with no clear strategy to build out the squad. Mount is still serviceable in the role he currently plays, hence why he's usually preferred to the likes of Pulisic and Ziyech in there. But I would like to see him playing in a deeper role in midfield at some stage for an extended period to see what we might have with him and if it's something that could work moving forward. Regarding Potter in the 2nd half of the season, I disagree. If we don't get out of the traps early from the restart, I think we'll leave too much to do to make top 4 this season. For me this needs to be the time where he is looking at making drastic changes whether it's tactical or personnel and start deciding and building towards what he wants to do in the long term with this squad. We can't keep churning wheels for the second half of the season just to get through it, because recently it's been awful.

For me, I think Mount is best suited as a midfielder in a 3, in a number 8 style role. I think, like you mentioned on a previous post, too many things that Mount tries don't quite come off and there are definitely situations where this hinders our attack. Having him as part of an attacking three doesn't benefit him or Chelsea. But he's also had the misfortune of playing in a team set up that doesn't really have his best role available for him. A lot will depend on Potter and what his longer-term plans are for the team and whether he looks to move away from the back 3 and instead use a back 4 regularly. This might unlock Mount and answer a lot of questions with him. I wouldn't actually be too surprised if part of his contract talks centred around his role long term in the team. I'm not comparing Mount and Modric, but Modric played predominantly on the wing when he was younger and initially for Spurs. We only really saw just how good he truly was, like you said, when he was deployed correctly for his abilities and skillset. I believe Mount is more of a 'connector' than a 'creator', and needs to play that bit deeper. Can he kick on alongside the club if we can start challenging again over the next couple of years? I guess that's something we'll see if, hopefully, we do start progressing well but I would definitely like to see him operating in a different role in the team first before making that judgement.

Reports coming out yesterday were that Vivell is close to being done as technical director (seemingly another important piece in the puzzle) and that Chelsea still want a sporting director but willing to wait for that one. This still all points towards Michael Edwards, that Chelsea don't seem as urgent to appoint someone in that role. It was mentioned a while back that he was adamant about having this break but listened to Chelsea and was intrigued about the project. It was also reported the other day that Liverpool's head of data analysis has also handed in their notice to leave in the summer who worked heavily alongside Edwards (and also I believe got his first break from Daniel Finkelstein in the area of data analysis). It does feel the stars are aligning a little on that one and an opportunity may be there for Chelsea to really round off what looks, on paper, to be a very promising scouting and recruitment set up. This for me is one of the biggest reasons why I'm genuinely intrigued about the long term with the club under this new ownership, and willing to give them substantial time, because they've identified an area of the club which fans have been questioning for a long time now, and are trying to put down long term roots for success in these areas.

The one thing he's definitely proven is he's capable of playing in a back 4 which was definitely a question mark before this season. Whether long term he's good enough to be part of a first choice pairing remains to be seen but he's shown more than enough to at the very least be a reliable and capable player in the squad for the long term who as you mentioned comes with the other niceties such as home grown, academy. I think Silva's experience still helps a lot currently which is completely understandable, but I would quite like to see at some stage how him and Fofana would fare in a back 4 and if playing two athletic and mobile centre backs would help to play a higher line and push the whole team as a unit 10-15 yards further forward.

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/article/new-long-term-contract-for-chalobah New contract to 2028, with club option to 2029.

I certainly wouldn't advocate signing a player purely off the back of a World Cup, but I do think what the tournament has shown so far is there's talent in all far reaches of the globe. The Arab and North American countries in particular are developing a much better standard of player than they ever have. Some of these countries and regions should no longer be dismissed probably in the way in which they have in the past. It's going to take time, but if the club gets this scouting network and data analytics set up correctly, and potentially in the future a network among clubs which could provide a suitable pathway towards playing for this club; then the talent is out there to go and find, and more importantly, find early.

I think that's a pretty impressive effort for a 19 year old and above anything shows there is some raw creative abilities within him. Not many Russian players are a success outside of Russia which is a little concerning but the top Russian players like Arshavin and Zhirkov made moves in their mid to late 20's to stronger leagues. I think given his age and a 6 foot frame for him to grow into, on top of his natural talent and potential and he has probably the best chance of anyone to correct the above.

We don't know the exact situation, but I think there are significant differences with both. With Edwards he's been steadfast that he wanted a sabbatical, whereas reports suggest that Freund had verbally accepted the job here and changed his mind. It did seem an embarrassing situation for the club as it appeared he just suddenly U-turned when it looked a done deal. From the basis of that, I'd be surprised if the ownership went back to him. And anyway, isn't the role that was earmarked for him the same one that is reportedly being offered to Vivell?

We lack physicality and mobility in midfield. Think back to the sides we had that were winning league titles and we had the likes of Lampard, Ballack, Essien, Mikel, and in later years Matic and Kante. We would regularly be capable of running over sides and particularly in the case of the former players we'd just bully teams. When we lose Kante from our midfield, which has been an increasing regularity in recent times, I do think teams look at our midfield as an area of our team they can get out. Unlike some, I'm actually a fan of Jorginho with regards to the technical aspect to his game and unlike a number of players in recent times, I think he leaves it out on the pitch and is a strong leader and character within what we currently have. But there's no ignoring that his physical limitations expose the team and defence behind him. A strong defensive minded midfielder that can physically impose themselves on the game and prevent us from being overrun is an absolute must. If the right profile isn't there in January, then something needs to be done next summer.

You also have to bear in mind the reported plan of the owners to buy a couple more clubs to sit in a group underneath us. This is where these appointments really stand out with Lawrence Stewart and Christopher Vivell having experience working within those group structures, Joe Shields having a very successful track record at youth recruitment level and now Winstanley having been head of recruitment at Brighton, a club which has built a strong reputation for excellent and smart recruitment, particularly with younger players, providing them with a platform to develop. For me, we haven't done enough work for years in recruiting players a couple of years earlier than perhaps they might be ready for Chelsea, and then plan and aid their development to reach our first team. Not really since we went through the period where the likes of Courtois, De Bruyne, Salah, Lukaku were bought. Similar to what you said, being able to identify players earlier than other top clubs and offering them a plan and platform for their development might just end up being our ace in the hole. With the group network, we can operate in similar ways to Leipzig/Salzburg where some of these players can go and play in Portugal/Holland/France for a couple of seasons before coming here for a reasonable price when they have developed further. If it's done right, it could be a real game changer long term and from what we can see so far with these appointments, the owners are laying some serious groundwork for this.

This could be quite a big thing as it appears he's moving immediately with no gardening leave. (I'm pretty sure Joe Shields for example has gardening leave with Southampton to fulfil first). It means that he has a few weeks now to have those discussions with the board, Potter, Macauley, etc to see if any work could and should be done in January. As head of recruitment at Brighton it's not like he won't have been doing work in recent weeks/months on scouting and recruitment at them. The goalposts may change coming here, but he's been recruited off the back of his work at Brighton so maybe he has a couple of gems up his sleeve that he was eyeing up when at Brighton that would be just as ideal here at Chelsea.

Not just centre mid, but this applies to pretty much any position. I suppose the World Cup break gives the club more time to try and sort deals out if there are some to be sorted but January has historically been a bit of a nightmare window where teams usually buy in panic more than anything else. You get the odd success and from our perspective, we could really do with a signing that gives the club a shot in the arm in a similar way to how Fernandes did when United bought him a few years back. What I don't want to see happen is the club make signings in January to chase top 4, only to be left with a bigger mess to deal with next summer. If the deals aren't there, then they shouldn't be made. There will be plenty of opportunities in the summer irrespective of finishing in the top 4. One that does appear to have started being mentioned again is Zakharyan - for the price being mentioned and from the clips I've seen of him he definitely looks to be a talent worth taking a chance on. Whether he could come in and hit the ground running immediately I'm not too sure, but if a deal could be done in January it would give him the second half of this season to bed in to the club and England in general.