Superblue

Above all else it should quell the worry or uncertainty post Roman that we'll have owners not prepared to push the club on. Chelsea, as an investment for Boehly/Clearlake, etc, becomes a far more valuable brand and asset if it's successful. I don't expect summers like this every year, but taking away the money aspect, the transfers so far have been very strong and if we did manage to also bring Fofana and De Jong in, it should go a long way towards making ground up on the teams in front of us and getting back to where we should be.

I think if anything it's the club spotting an opportunity to upgrade the midfield department with a quality player and also get some planning in ahead of Jorginho's and Kante's contracts expiring in the summer. What we don't want is a similar situation to this summer in the defence where a position in our team is suddenly gutted by players leaving. There is a real possibility that both leave next summer, and I think their futures may hinge on how the first half of this season goes. If either or both struggle for form and injuries then I can see the club moving on, and already having two high quality midfielders at the club in FDJ and Kova, alongside some of the younger talent we've been buying up or have here already may need us to only look for one replacement in the midfield rather than two. With the world cup in the winter and introduction of more subs, etc this season, I don't mind having a couple of extra players in the squad to what we'd perhaps normally have - that might play to our benefit in the second half of what is almost certainly going to be a draining season.

If there was a player who was undisputed first choice target, but he wasn't available for a year I would say the club needs to wait rather than buying an alternative that may not be as good or suited. I can't help but feel this falls into the same bracket. You can't always look too far ahead into the future as the club needs to look after themselves today, but for the new ownership they've committed a minimum of 10 years to the club and as a project therefore, can afford to take a longer term approach to some areas. They need to assess whether Michael Edwards is that much better than everybody else that they discuss the role with. If he is then he should be worth the wait. It's not an ideal situation but Boehly has done the very best he could do this summer and if he needs to front that area up still for another 12 months then so be it. We hopefully won't need to have such a hectic summer window next year anyway. If the club committed to him now to start next summer the likelihood is that he'll start putting some plans in place in the background and do some light work ahead of that time anyway.

Manage Spurs and sire Jamie Redknapp would be pretty high up a list.

Couple of reports today that Leicester are trying to tie Maddison down to a new contract which would hopefully dispel such an issue. I still think Fofana is going to be incredibly difficult, and like you said, I think it will hinge on just how much he pushes for this himself.

Redknapp I think is saying this from a United perspective that it's Chelsea over United for De Jong. The bigger question is whether De Jong would come here over staying at Barcelona.

Tuchel has pretty much confirmed that Chilwell isn't where he needs to be yet and will take time. Alonso won't play if his move to Barca is nearly done. I'd much rather him play than Emerson or Kenedy.

I think it'll be predominantly wing back but with the knowledge that in a situation where the team needs to rotate or due to players missing he can also fill into the back 3.

Looks like Chelsea twitter admin is trolling Brighton a bit here.

I think he needs to be registered by noon to be able to be in the squad tomorrow. Tuchel's comment suggests that is in their thought process, even if it's as an option on the bench.

I'm happy with Cucurella, ended up a little steep on the price but I think he'll prove to be an excellent player here. As been mentioned a few times, it's dangerous territory to rely on Chilwell to just slot back in like it's nothing after a serious injury. I know it's pre season and everybody looks somewhat rusty but he is one in particular that has and Tuchel has also used him fairly sparingly which would tell me there's still a way to go in his full recovery. Would have been pointless just looking at a reliable back up for Chilwell as we already have about 15 left backs on the books that could fulfil that role at wide ranging effectiveness. The only solution was to get someone starter quality and I fully believe he's that player. The best run Chilwell has had here was last season when he seemed to have a point to prove because at the time he looked like second fiddle to Alonso and had been shunned by Southgate in the Euros. For all we know, that extra competition and point to prove was a driver for him and this should do the same. If we now have two left wing backs that if playing to their potential, are both starting quality here then it'll hopefully push both on and we reap the benefits of that. Happy a deal has been struck to keep Colwill too. I wouldn't have been opposed to the sell and buy back if the buy back was as fair as had been mentioned in the media. But from the outside looking in, so far Chelsea look like they've gone to a lot of effort this summer not to lose the likes of Broja and Colwill, and then also made some significant investments in young players also. There definitely looks to be a plan there that the new ownership wants young talent to thrive here and be seen to get opportunities if they earn them. I've been a massive proponent for years that the academy should be providing the first team with players capable of filling backup squad roles in the team, rather than the need to go out and buy these players which is becoming a progressively worse situation when the most average of players now seems to be upwards of £20-25m. The transfer budget each summer should be put aside for improvements to the starting XI or at worst, a top 15 player place within the squad. Aside from the younger players we've purchased, so far our signings have at least fallen into that bracket in my opinion which is a positive as it would have been easy this summer to fill some holes in the squad with essentially 'squad' players.

I agree, I think they'll try and spend quickly to catch up over this summer and next before looking to maintain that position. Remember that Pep spent around £400m across his first two summers at City to reshape a squad that already had a strong, title winning core. In theory so long as the club is successful, it should be able to sustain a transfer budget of roughly £100m each summer, which should be ample if used correctly to bring in one or two players each summer to freshen the squad up.

Apparently it will be around £55m and £7m potential add ons.

Unless we bring someone else in, RLC for me is the best option we've currently got in the squad to backup Reece at RWB. Barkley and Gilmour will almost certainly move on, unless they're happy to sit on the fringes like Barkley did last year.

If we do actually hold firm interest in a couple of players from Barca, we're better off dragging that one out. Unlike teams like Brighton and Leicester who will want to bring replacements in so want deals done earlier, Barca want to move players on and off the wage bill to register their new signings. If they find there's a struggle to do this, they may become more desperate to move players out and be prepared to accept terms much more favourable to the buyer.

Yes but you're already assessing the transfer as if this will happen because you're mentioning it being a £70m+ transfer which is why you don't like it. If Colwill develops into a top centre back then buying him for less than £50m in a couple of years time will likely prove good value anyway. There's no guarantee that if he stayed here and only played 15-20 games that he'd progress in the way we want him too. If he goes somewhere like Brighton and thrives it's all worked out well. For now if he's helped facilitate us buying a very good player, and in doing so essentially driven down the net price with his own transfer value then that's a pretty good deal all around for us I think. Not directed at you in any way, but I'm pretty sure there were a lot of people who were rating Cucurella really highly on this forum at the end of last season and that we should go for him. Then when City looked like capturing him, again it was being talked about like a very strong signing for them. Suddenly we're in for him and looking likely to secure him and the feeling suddenly seems a lot more mixed. I think he could be a lot more important than people realise or think next season if Chilwell struggles to regain his form and fitness pre injury.

You can't look at it in that way because there is absolutely no guarantee that we buy Colwill back. For now it's effectively £25-30m + Colwill which seems pretty reasonable comparing where both players are currently at. I also believe he is being bought with the same view to Reece - he's predominantly a wing back that can play on the side in a back 3. Height isn't ideal but it's not the be all as he proved last season playing a number of times in the back 3 at Brighton. He was excellent against us at the Bridge in that position. His defensive awareness and positioning seem to be very good which will help him to some degree to mask any height issues. But the predominant position in my opinion will be left wing back competing with Chilwell. Chilwell hasn't played a huge amount in pre season and depending on when moves go through, I'd actually be more confident Alonso starting over Chilwell against Everton. It could take him quite a while to fully recover from his injury and regain his confidence. With that being said, would we rather Alonso or Emerson for a sustained period in that position? If we're talking the best left back/wing backs on the market who are realistically attainable, Cucurella has to be high on that list this summer, hence why he was City's main target in the area. It's clear that Tuchel has his eye on some players with Premier League experience which does unfortunately bump the price up a bit but also should give us confidence of a player that has performed very well last season in the league for a possession based side. I think it's a good signing, and an intelligent one that really covers us if Chilwell is struggling.

I actually wouldn't be opposed to getting in early now and make a deal but leave him to play in Salzburg one more season, which they may be more receptive to and also allow us to get him maybe a bit cheaper. He looks a very good prospect, like a lot of the Red Bull Group youngsters across Salzburg and Leipzig seem to always do, but he is still very raw and probably needs a good season of football under his belt this coming year to polish him up a bit before a big move. He should get much more game time there this season with Adeyemi gone. We also have Broja who's probably that bit further ahead in his development at present that can fulfil that squad role as striker this season to see how he continues to develop.

I think the players we've signed or seem to be signing this summer are tactically flexible and shouldn't have issues adapting to a back 4 if required. Perhaps even more so than the players Tuchel inherited. Koulibaly is more suited to a back 4 than Rudiger was and Cucurella similarly would be more suited than Alonso as examples.

Probabaly Grealish to round off the top 3.

Tuchel apparently met with him last week and their conversations convinced him to make the move so there is a very real chance he goes into the first team picture this season and with the 5 subs rule there could well be opportunities there. From what I've seen of him, his best position is probably a cross between an 8 and a 10. Some people have put comparisons to Bellingham but I personally think he's a bit more like a Pogba and could probably find a role and game time within the front 3 here rather than the pivot, certainly whilst he's still young. With Werner's foot half way out the door and question marks still over Broja, Pulisic, Hudson Odoi and Ziyech, there's the possibility a couple might move on whereas I don't see a lot of opportunities in attack out on the market currently. Could possibly see him being viewed as a replacement in the squad for one of the attackers.

15m + add ons with a 6 year contract apparently.

Apparently Spurs have a buy back on Walker Peters. I don't know the exact mechanics and legalities of doing a deal but I would assume just the mere presence of a buy back leaves Southampton somewhat restricted to what they can ask for in a transfer. If they ask for too much, what would stop the buying club like Chelsea having a discussion with Spurs to buy the player back and flip him over to us for a couple of million extra?

I really hoped that the covid situation and playing games for such a long period behind closed doors would go some way to correcting the transfer market and bringing prices down but like you said it's gone the other way and unfortunately teams continue to be prepared to spend the money.