Superblue

I don't see any reason why he'd want to leave Madrid when he's so important to them, and similarly why they would be willing to sell him but if there was a shred of him being available and willing to move, he'd be right up at the top of the list of midfield targets.

£55m is way too low. Brentford want £40m for Raya in the last year of his contract. Pushing our luck with £85m but I wouldn't be surprised if we could get someone to pay somewhere around the £65-75m mark, especially if some realistic add ons help make the fee up.

We can all debate which players should or should not be sold (although I think the majority are in agreement over most players), but one big positive is the season has barely finished and we're already making some serious inroads into moving players out of the club. The last thing Poch is going to want is to be taking players over to the pre season in America that don't want to be at the club.

Yes some of them would be very ambitious, hence why I said instead of the £280m posted, if we got anywhere within the £200-250m range I think we'd have done well, assuming that list is correct for players to move on. As an example, there's rumours this morning that an agreement for RLC might be close for around £15m + bonuses. A few of those suggestions could easily have £5 - 10m shaved off their prices, especially if the players move abroad. If we can find buyers for some players in England, a few of those prices might not be too far off.

I don't mind this. It's something the club should have got a hold on years ago. There will always be a transition period with something like this but by the end of this summer, given the number of new signings, players agreeing new deals, we might find there aren't too many players left on 'old' contracts. It's hardly like we're going to be poor payers, but I think having much greater incentivised contracts is healthier for the long term. Like you suggested, his contract probably isn't too dissimilar to the one PSG are offering if targets are met.

Would do very, very well to get those sums in. But I think if we could get somewhere within the £200-250m bracket would be a very solid achievement. I don't think that list is particularly controversial - could easily see most, if not all of the above players being moved on this summer.

I believe the fee was £56m + £7m in add ons and would assume none of those add ons have been activated yet. So his remaining transfer fee from an accounting/amortisation perspective should be around £47m. I know it's far from ideal, but he'll have around £9m amortisation again next season if he stayed, so if we were able to move him on for anywhere around £40m I do think it should be considered. However it'll come down to Poch and what he thinks he can do with which players.

Atletico are reportedly interested in Cucurella. They've done us a solid a few times previously, so would be ideal if they'd be prepared to take him off our hands for an acceptable fee.

I'm interested to see how well Broja returns to full fitness. Certainly raw, but I think he would have found himself playing a lot of minutes in the second half of this season as the alternative to Havertz in attack. I think there are characteristics there that Poch will appreciate with him, but ultimately he's still an unknown quantity due to being injured last season. I could certainly see him providing the backup/second choice option to a new striker though. If Havertz stays, I could see Poch dropping him into the number 10 role to compete with Nkunku.

Lampard was spot on with his assessments of Enzo last week when he said he was playing as a number 6 out of necessity but there's so much more to his game and with the investment made in him, it's crucial the club looks to get the most and best out of him. Pair him next season with a genuine defensive midfielder who will allow him to perform more of a hybrid role and give him the opportunity to push forwards at times and I think his influence on the team will only continue to grow. For me, despite everything around him falling apart, he's kept his own standards up the last few months, and shown some personality and character to suggest he'll become a real leader and talisman here for years to come. I was convinced watching him at Benfica and with Argentina that he was 'the' midfielder we needed to get and build around and I'm still convinced that he was the right signing we made in January regardless of the price that was paid.

He's reportedly still being paid by PSG until the end of this month and if we'd brought him in sooner, we'd have had to agree compensation with PSG. This more than likely explains the delays, with Lampard in situ anyway. Reportedly due to start next week though...

It's a difficult one. I think there are a lot more players in the squad who should be shown the door before he is considered, and I think in an all round fitter, more aggressive team which I hope Poch is going to bring, he could well be a great fit. However, if everyone was fit, does he still get in our strongest XI? I think with Nkunku coming in, I'm not so sure. Ultimately though this boils down to being unable to tie him down to a new contract. If the two options are selling him now for £60-70m or lose him for free in a year then it's a no brainer for the club to make that decision.

Lampard has already admitted that he hasn't bothered working tactically on the team and has just tried getting them fitter and changing the mentality but that seems pointless to push at this stage of the season. We've been defensively solid all season, which is a solid base that Poch can start working from next season. That should have been our focus the rest of the season, remaining tactically solid and hoping we can nick a goal or two and gain some confidence that way. The fitness aspect has been a problem since pre season, I completely agree with Lampard on that, and our team has looked since that point all season under cooked and unfit and it's shown with the lack of intensity in our play, pressing, being able to sustain periods of attacking play, etc. But that's something we can't really work on properly until pre season, and should have adapted. We can all talk about pride, but when games have nothing on them and everyone, fans included, just wanted to write the season off, it's difficult to pick up for that. The mentality point also comes with confidence and Lampard has shattered what was already brittle from us losing so many games under his watch. Roll on Monday...

In fairness to him, I was at home last night and chose to play Mario Kart with the kids than watch Chelsea. I wouldn't be surprised if he even knew we were playing or losing in a nothing game for us, if he's out for the night partying and drinking as a celebration. And if he did or was told, he's probably been naive more than anything as the bloke messaging him probably knows where he was and what he was doing. If he has a bit of a chip on his shoulder, then I'd probably have one too if I was him, given how he was pretty much discarded in the summer without any real chance or opportunity. Ultimately we hold all the cards here. If he did want to leave and pushed a move, then I don't think Brighton could afford him because after fleecing us for Cucurella, we would be looking at £80-100m to sell him I'd expect. I think the important thing is to show him the pathway next season. If he comes back and is integrated in the squad, he'll want to stay here because with the greatest respect to Brighton, the difference between the club's sizes is night and day. We just don't look the most appealing option at present until we get this week out of the way and start putting summer plans in place with a new manager and gaining some stability.

What's peoples thoughts on Ugarte who have watched him a reasonable amount? I read somewhere that he is very press resistant but when I've watched clips of him he doesn't strike me as someone who looks the tidiest and most composed on the ball.

I think in all honesty every one of us needs this weekend to roll around, Poch confirmed and then to just switch off for a couple of weeks and take a break. If you add the second half of last season on to this one, it's been 18 months of instability, scaremongering and dross football. Frankly it's been downright miserable. The owners have to take a lot of responsibility for how they've approached things and they've made a lot of mistakes and rash decisions over this last year, but this summer really does feel like it should be the time in which to start truly judging them. They'll have "their" football people in the boardroom and "their" manager at the helm, with a full summer for transfer activity amidst the backdrop of the experiences of this last season. If they can significantly trim this squad down to a realistic size and add a couple of key signings this summer, I think they'll certainly be on the right track.

It will be.

Colwill has 2 years left on his contract and reportedly there is a year extension trigger if he plays 15 league games next season so there should be no panic with him. If he comes back next season and plays games he'll get that extension to give us some breathing space and I'm pretty sure he'd be happy to commit to a long term deal knowing he's broken through into the first team setup. It should be noted that Colwill has only started 12 league games for Brighton this season, it's not like he's been playing every week for them. I think he just wants a clear pathway available to him for the squad. At present with him coming back we'll have 6 first team centre backs on the books so there does need to be some work done to make sure he sees that opportunity here.

I do think a manager can make a big difference in some player's decisions on moving clubs. The lure of Man City is very much down to Pep in my opinion, and I think City know it too.

I agree I don't think either is ready, but with the investment made in both, you would assume there is an expectation that they are capable of reaching a Chelsea calibre level in time but for that the club also has to plan a pathway for them. Does the club continue down the route of bringing in another young player who still needs to develop, or do they look at one or two additions this summer of players that are more in their prime years or a bit more experienced? Like you mentioned, next season is critical to get back amongst the top 4 and not find ourselves another year outside the elite, so do we move on someone like Lavia for example, or someone with a bit more experience?

If you view it alternatively we've already got in earlier than everyone to get Enzo who, despite different profiles and characteristics, I think was the all round best midfielder on the market at the time we bought him and is better than all the other targets currently out there. I think if we hadn't got that done in January, we'd struggle to get him now as all the other top Prem teams would be seriously looking at him. We also invested in the likes of Andrey Santos and Casedei who whilst aren't currently ready for the first team, do have to be factored in if they are highly rated around the club. You have to believe that Poch is essentially a done deal and it's up to the club when to announce him. I believe this won't be done now until after the Newcastle game next weekend. But that doesn't mean discussions haven't already taken place with Poch with regards to incomings and outgoings. It's been widely reported already that we want to target a keeper, midfielder and striker this summer. Whilst it appears most of the big teams are targeting a midfielder this summer, I do think the depth pool of deep lying midfielders is pretty good. Ironically us potentially selling Kovacic and possibly Mount and Gallagher too might well have a knock on effect with regards to opposition clubs transfer targets. For example if City buy Kova to replace Gundogan, who then moves to Arsenal, that's two rivals spots filled. Arsenal may still target another midfielder but not likely two more.

I'd rather take that sort of level of bid and put it at Tottenham's door for Kane to see if Levy could resist cashing in.

I will slightly park my optimism until I see what decisions are made over the summer and how promptly things happen with regards to incomings and outgoings but I think we'll be fine next season. This season has been an absolute disaster with Potter and now Lampard, but it's also easy to forget we hardly looked much better at the start of the season under Tuchel. He was very vocal about the pre season and how it left us severely undercooked ready for the season and it showed. It's something we've never recovered from as we look the laziest, most pedestrian team in the league. I firmly believe that will be sorted over this summer under Poch who has always had his teams extremely fit, and play with high energy and aggressive pressing. Although the pre season is in America again, lessons do also seem to have been learnt from last year with more games being included during the tour and staying just on the one coast with much less travelling. I think the lack of European football will be a big help for us next season. It allows the manager to really work on the training pitch through the week and the squad can stay fresh. I think Champions League football will be a bit of a wake up call to Arsenal and Newcastle next season. Newcastle fans will love it, but I think the team could suffer with the league schedule, whilst Arsenal similarly cannot just put a shadow side out like they have been doing in Europa League football. It'll stretch both clubs that aren't necessarily used to that grind season after season. Naturally a smaller, more manageable squad will make a big difference next season, as it's clearly been a hindrance this season as for large portions of the season we've looked like 11 players thrown together and with the amount of rotation across the season, that has largely been the case. The striker situation is definitely the biggest question mark over us for next season and it is something that Poch and the recruitment have to get right between themselves. I think however if Poch sets us up in a similar way to how Spurs were, with Nkunku in a role similar to that of Dele Alli, he could add a significant goal threat to the team before even an out and out striker is added.

Needs surgery on his groin, will miss pre season and could be out until September.

I see similarities between Poch and Ranieri in terms of rebuilding the squad with a younger contingent and in turn overseeing the development of these players and their growth into leaders within the squad themselves. Ranieri was given the keys that first season to see if he could take that next level and couldn't. If Poch can stabilise the club for the next couple of years where we're back in the top 4 and challenging for trophies, whilst overseeing the development of a lot of younger players, he'll be given the opportunity to see if he can take that next level with us of winning the league back. I feel if the first bit is done right, he'll be given ample chance to prove his credentials in that regard - the owners showed more than enough patience with Potter to suggest Poch will be afforded time so long as we're not struggling in mid table again. Regarding the loss of dressing room leaders, I would agree but I think Poch will put a lot of emphasis on some of the younger boys at the club stepping up and filling that void like he did at Spurs. Players like James and Mount (if he stays) are at a stage now where they should be taking on more responsibility within the dressing room.