Superblue

Even the vibes coming out of Spain now seem to be suggesting Barca will drop out of the Raphinha race if they get Dembele tied up. Hopefully there will be some clarity on this over the next couple of days. Would be nice to get that and Sterling tied up, and we can just fully concentrate on the defence now. I don't see a midfield move unless something unexpected develops. I think it'll be a pair of centre backs and maybe a wing back if the above two deals get closed.

Probably not yet. I think Tuchel will place faith in the current hierarchy even if Azpi goes, i.e. Silva, Jorginho and Kante. However there's a real chance all three of those are also gone next summer. I think Sterling will immediately take on responsibility and a leadership role within the group, especially for the younger English contingent we have at the club and he could very well be in line to being in the mix for the captaincy in a years time.

I think it'll become something you'll start to see with much more regularity moving forward as more and more players seem willing to run their contracts down to within a year or even down entirely, it adds a lot more protection and flexibility to the clubs. Not quite sure how it works in other American sports but I know in the NFL teams have the option to franchise tag a player to protect their value but in doing so, usually having to pay a bit of a premium in wages to keep them that season. Not sure if there's something in this to be explored to try and help football clubs not get completely abused by a bosman deal?

I see this comment and loads on social media claiming Chelsea, Tuchel, Boehly, etc have no "pull" etc and it's laughable. People seem to think a club just decides to buy player A and within a couple of days it's done. In the same way any one of us would want time to decide on moving home, changing jobs, etc don't think that football players don't want similar, particularly the top level ones that may have multiple options. For many, they have to decide on moving cities, or even countries. Many have young families to also take into consideration. For some they like to find out about a club interested, maybe speak to other players there. Many of the top clubs will make initial moves for players months in advance. City will have laid the groundwork to sign Haaland for a few months. Barcelona laid the groundwork to sign Raphinha reportedly 4 or 5 months ago. Bayern have likely shown an interest in De Ligt for a while now themselves. We've gone immediately into a transfer window cold and we're mostly competing with other top clubs for players we want, some of which will have already shown their interest and made their pitch to these players way before now, and given them time to think about such moves. It's reported that Sterling was really appreciative of Tuchel and Boehly giving him time to consider moving to Chelsea, and if something positive comes out of Raphinha I would expect he will similarly feel appreciative too. Some of this window is going to have to result in the club being a bit more patient to work on deals. Hopefully in future windows a structure can be put in place and the right personnel to be able to be far more efficient in identifying and securing targets much earlier in a transfer window, but for this summer we just have to accept how much we've been hindered by the sanctions and the fall out within our ownership and hierarchy at the club.

There might be a couple more but the only game I can really think of where we played well with Lukaku was his debut against Arsenal and they were an absolute shambles at that stage. Even the game at the start of the season at home to Villa where we won 3-0, we got completely played off the park and were far too easy from front to back to play against and in hindsight it was a pre cursor to what would follow. I know there will be games where it doesn't happen and the usual question marks will come up about having a genuine out and out goal scorer but I'd rather see Tuchel go back towards that. If he wants to evolve us into a 4 atb system or stick to the back 3, that's for him to decide but in my opinion we are currently much better suited to playing with a more fluent attacking unit without necessary a more focal, static point, but with the ability and willingness of all to press together properly as a unit. Sterling I think fits what Tuchel wants us to become like a glove, and I feel Raphinha does too if we managed to get him. If we could bring those two in, possibly alongside Broja in exchange for Lukaku and Ziyech I'd be delighted with those moves.

For me I'd be against Lewandowski for the same reasons I'd be against Ronaldo. Whilst it was far from perfect, in Tuchel's first 6 months he didn't just make us solid but we were playing some really effective football, it just wasn't being reflected in score lines. We played Liverpool off the park at Anfield, deserved our wins against City and really should have won by 4 or 5 against Madrid in the semi amongst others. What we should have done last summer is continue to follow that path but improve the quality of what we had. In buying Lukaku we moved completely away from what brought us that initial success under Tuchel. Lukaku's attitude was wrong, and his ability on the ball hampered us, but his lack of both ability and willingness to press created significantly problems in my opinion last season for being able to win the ball higher up the field and build sustained pressure on opponents. Add to that his price tag and perceived notion of a big player who becomes difficult to drop just adds to the overall issue. In my opinion the best three performances last season were at home to Juventus, away to Southampton and away to Madrid. They felt more like the Chelsea from the season before and how Tuchel wanted us to play. Lukaku didn't play in any of them. I feel adding Ronaldo or Lewandowski to this squad will have some advantages. Let's not forget that Lukaku still finished top scorer last season so someone or some players have to step up and replace those goals and one of the above would certainly fill that spot. But at the age that both are, neither are going to allow us to play with an aggressive pressing game and both have a status that makes it difficult to drop them or utilise them as squad players like the rest of the attack. As I alluded to, it's a risk because can our attack give us enough goals to win most games and compete for trophies. But I definitely prefer the moves we seem to have been going for in Sterling and possibly Raphinha, as they suggest moving away from the Lukaku experiment and back to a more energetic and fluid attack, but hopefully with a bit more quality and clinical edge in front of goal.

I had one as a kid when we signed Ruud! Will have to speak to my mum and see if it's still around in her house somewhere, I can hand it down to my boy haha.

My thoughts on the potential Ake deal are that I think on paper it looks an underwhelming signing. However, I am willing to give him a chance and not jump to conclusions first. He's not let City down at all in the games he's played, the question now is can he take that and apply it consistently across a season. He's the sort of signing I want to see the club be able to move away from in time, i.e. an expensive squad fill. I understand firstly that will take time, and secondly the situation is a little different this summer given our defensive options. What Ake I think can and should bring as a minimum is a solid player, and one that should be good enough to maintain us where we are currently which is ensuring we get into top 4. We don't know if Colwill can do that yet, and I think we're all pretty sure Sarr can't. In the longer term if Colwill was to step up over the course of the next year or two, or another defensive option came up on the market next summer or beyond, then Ake becomes a solid squad player like the one he is and has proved he can be at City.

You have to believe Raphinha has been discussed amongst other things. It feels like Barca are posturing at the moment - they'd like to buy him but they know they haven't got a chance. They laid the groundwork during last season on the basis that they could buy him if Leeds went down, now they stayed up they can't afford him. I wonder if part of negotiating with Azpi and Alonso includes Barca accepting being unable to buy Raphinha, and smooth the chance for us to get him. We'll see.

This is where someone like Clauss might be worth a punt, especially for the price being mentioned. Seems to be a bit of a late bloomer but his form in France has been very good across the last season or two. Apparently he's a Chelsea fan based on an old video about his dream move, and coming from a smaller club he'd probably be content with a squad role. He's nearly 30 so isn't going to be a long term option but like you mentioned regarding Livramento, he could potentially give us a couple of seasons grace period to see how Livramento recovers from his injury. In the example of Cornet, that would probably depend on his motivations - a squad role in a team competing for trophies (and given the amount of games likely to still play a good number), or much more regular game time for a lesser side.

Yeah I agree re: Spence, it'd be hard to sell to him if Spurs want him as first choice. And agree with the 4-3-3, with a genuine DM you could in some games potentially play Mount and Gallagher as twin 8's. The problem is the makeup of our midfield currently doesn't really allow for this and it might end up being next summer that this is worked on properly if Kante and Jorginho leave. I don't think De Jong would happen personally, although I wouldn't turn him down.

We'd need an extra body in midfield but that could always quite easily by RLC. To be honest in the case of Gallagher I don't really know where he fits in our current formation. We definitely in my opinion need to find better options in the full back/wing back roles after how our season fell apart last year when James and Chilwell got crocked. Having a genuine right back option also allows James at times to play in the back 3 or even in midfield too. I'd worry if James and Chilwell were missing for an extended run, that those options above would not suffice. Some of the players that do look possible in those positions don't cost a fortune either. Personally my choices would be Djed Spence and David Raum and I still don't think the two combined would be much more than £50m. But given the figures being reported Clauss and Cornet could be bought for roughly a combined £25m and they would present a significant upgrade on Sterling and Emerson.

I'm a big fan of De Ligt because I think he ticks a lot of boxes for us and is a real long term buy. But if we're talking someone who should be able to just make an immediate impact over the next year or two that is attainable then Koulibaly would be the one for me. If he can be 'got' for a good price even at his age I think we'd still get 2 or 3 years of real high quality out of him and he'd probably be the perfect transition away from Thiago Silva to take over that mantle as the experience in the backline the following season. Kounde I've said since the start, I think if we're planning to stick to a back 3 he makes a lot of sense as I feel his game is suited to that role on the side. If long term, back 4 is the plan I have a lot more concerns about him.

Whilst reports may suggest De Ligt's preference is Bayern, all reports that aren't from Germany seem to suggest he'd happily join us so I can understand why we're made a move on him. Let's be real, this wouldn't likely be a move under the old ownership. It's pretty certain Kounde would have been wrapped up. And, at present, it's difficult to look at any of the defensive options we're looking at as downgrading. If compared to Rudiger then yes, but he's gone. The comparison now has to be on what we currently have at the club. I certainly don't want us buying players for the sake of it, but I also don't fancy watching Malang Sarr play a significant amount of games next season because we've been left so short of options in the backline. Let's see who we end up with and can then make opinions then. I think Sterling is an excellent start, and hopefully the ownership/Tuchel can pull another couple like him out of the bag.

It seems ironic that the club went through what felt like a lifetime of uncertainty and in no uncertain terms threats from Government and its media sources about our future existence, to now see just a few weeks after our future being secured, that same Government going down in the smoke of its own disgraces. What goes around, comes around.

How do you know this? From what is being reported regarding Sterling, he was convinced Chelsea was the right move for him from a discussion with Tuchel so this being the case I would expect there to have been work done and contact made with De Ligt and his entourage, particularly as the links with him have now been around for a couple of weeks. That doesn't mean though that we've been given encouragement but in the meantime Bayern have also entered the conversation. Ultimately I'd rather we be in for De Ligt than not. I don't find it at all embarrassing if we miss out on him to Bayern, I'm glad we're ambitious to have a go for him because it's these types of moves we may need to make over the next 2 - 3 years to get back to where we're aspiring to and we'll get some through the door in time if we're bold enough.

Agreed, we may have to take risks with what we currently have on our books with this. We'll have to run the risk of Thiago Silva staying fit and at the levels he played last season despite not getting any younger. Chalobah we have to hope kicks on again this season. There were some times he showed a raw and rash side to his game but mostly I thought was a real bright spot last season and showed more than enough promise to be counted on moving forward. His recovery pace in particular could be vital alongside Silva next season - he just needs to work on the need to use that recovery pace less often! I think Colwill certainly has the potential this season of being the Chalobah of last and breaking out, and Tuchel may need to place faith in him to do such. Being naturally left sided will help him and in my opinion he's already miles better and more suited than Sarr. He's not going to replace Rudiger immediately, but he has the potential to long term. We definitely need at least one centre back but I don't fancy us just buying two for the sake of it. We do in my opinion though need wing back/full back options on both sides. If Tuchel deems Maatsen and Sterling capable then fine, but I think we may need better options than this to rotate with Chilwell and James. It's not a coincidence that our season started to nosedive when these two got crocked.

I know that Sterling is quite a polarising figure but I think it's an incredibly smart move we've made to bring him in. Firstly he's a significant upgrade in attack to what we already have, which should be first and foremost and I think his profile fits what Tuchel will want from his attackers. He makes our strongest XI stronger which in my opinion was important this summer that we could get at least 2 or 3 players falling into this bracket. But I'm impressed with his mentality and I think it'll be a positive rub for the squad. Everything I've read and heard, he thrives from responsibility and leadership and has been a huge presence in the England set up. I think a number of our players, particularly the younger ones will gravitate towards him and can benefit from that. If we lose Alonso and Azpi this summer, the last player we'll have in our squad is Kante with Premier League winning experience. It's been important that the group has won a couple of big trophies in the last 12 - 18 months but having a player coming from City with that mentality, desire and experience to go week after week pursuing the league will be a big coup.

What was impressive about Ben Jacobs was that he wasn't sensationalist with his news regarding the Chelsea takeover like a lot of media reporters were doing (Sky probably being the worst of the lot). He gained a lot of respect and credibility by just being as honest and open as possible and not painting it like the doomsday scenario it was never going to be. He's obviously as a result got a bit of a following amongst Chelsea fans now and it seems like an avenue he can follow down for himself and fair play to him. Will see how reliable he is regarding transfer news and reports moving forward but he's certainly one of the journalists I'm more willing to give time for.

Not a fan of Bayern but they are no mugs. The above is a bit OTT, but I would agree with this mindset. There has to be a huge worry doing a deal with Barca which involves multiple instalments in the future. The reports with our Raphinha bid at the time was that our bid included a large proportion of the bid up front and you have to wonder if that was a ploy to try and price Barca out of the market, not just in price but also the structure of the deal. You have to believe Leeds would hold similar reservations to Barca as Bayern seem to do. You reap what you sow in Barca's case. People with poor credit rating struggle to borrow money, so why should that be different in a situation like this. Barca have mismanaged their finances for years and their bleak picture has been laid bare for quite some time. Why would other clubs be willing to sell players to them with large instalments of the deal deferred and spread out.

The kit launch was supposed to be today (the club has already put up some of the boards to promote it out and around Stamford Bridge), but it's apparently been delayed until tomorrow now. There's been talk for a while that they've kept pushing back the kit launch as they'd like it to be alongside a new signing so delaying it a further day might suggest there is something close to being done. If this is true the safe money would be on Sterling as there's been reports for a few days now the deal is as good as done. Sterling I believe has been back to Jamaica which is why things might have gone a bit quiet with it.

We're being linked this morning in Portugal with Matheus Nunes from Sporting - anyone know what he's like?

Imagine the meltdown on here if we signed Lenglet. The new ownership would be ripped apart for a lack of ambition. The funny thing is this move will be used by Chelsea fans as a stick to beat the club with because Spurs are 'making moves'. I'd rather make no moves to be honest, we'd be better off giving returning loanees a chance.

At the end of the day if people want to see us compete for higher tier players then they're going to have to accept we won't get all of them done. But I would rather us try for De Ligt and Sterling because if we get them in my opinion they elevate the quality and mentality of the squad. There will be other Richarlison's if that's what people are worried about.

Neither of which it can be argued improve our strongest XI.