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I still believe staying is his preference. If he can get a good contract from us, which to be fair he has fully justified in the last 18 months, then I don't see any need for him to move when he's settled and part of a successful team challenging for trophies with a manager and fans that adore him. You have to believe that the prospective owners whether through Marina and the Chelsea board or directly with Rudiger's agent have held some form of discussions or at least confirmed their intention to keep him and tie him down to a new deal when sanctions are lifted. If I was one of them, it would certainly be something I would definitely have attempted to appease the situation as otherwise we're losing one of the best defenders in world football right now for free.

Never happening. Long term contract, almost certainly will end up being in the shout for future captain of the club. There are some 'pillars' we need to be building the long term future of the club around and he's arguably the number one of them all.

It remains to be seen and to be honest City create so many chances I'm sure he'll score goals, but I do get the feeling Haaland is more of an opportunity that City have sensed and is perhaps with an eye beyond Pep's tenure at the club. His track record with out and out strikers isn't too great besides Lewa. He bombed Eto'o out of Barca, couldn't get Zlatan to work and there was always reported needle between him and Aguero, especially in the early years at City. I can completely see why he'd think Kane would suit City as he is capable of dropping deeper and playing as a false 9 and allowing players to run beyond him. I'm not as sure Haaland fits into the style of play Pep likes to play but I guess we'll see. I completely agree regarding the wage packet though and ultimately it will cause City problems down the line. There will be a number of players in their squad, regulars who have been a huge success getting between £100-200k a week. Haaland becomes the new benchmark at City, and a lot of those players will suddenly be in a position where they are being paid barely a quarter of the highest paid player at the club. It'll immediately cause all new contract negotiations to rise. It's the same reason why Liverpool are so reluctant to pay Salah £400k a week because it blows their whole wage structure out of the water. It's also another reason why we should be looking to move Lukaku on in the summer and bring that wage ceiling at our club down a bit. It'll be interesting how UEFA implement this new iteration of FFP. I'm sure there will be some form of loopholes, there almost always is, but the idea of keeping transfer and wages within a percentage of a club's revenue makes more sense as a cost control mechanism within football and should also be a lot easier to "police". If UEFA take a hard line with this, then this move could spell problems later down the line for City.

Completely agree. One only has to look at what our perceived strike rate is for, say the top 20 most expensive players in the Roman era vs the rest. Maybe sometimes you get players like an Azpi or an Ivanovic who are bought in for much less money and hype and as a result they can sit out the side a little longer and develop and adapt, but we've generally done pretty decent business when we've been "finding value" in our buys, and such shocking business more often than not on big money signings it's puzzling why we'd go back to that well time after time. It's a difficult one and I feel the club needs to find a balance. I agree with you on Fergie and Wenger but look at the trouble both clubs have had since then to replace them. I think there still needs to be some accountability with a manager if things aren't going well or signings are poor. I would love Tuchel to be that manager that breaks the short term mould at the club and stays here another 3, 4, 5 years building on what he has done so far. But Tuchel's track record in the transfer market across his clubs is hardly something for him to crow about (although again we come back to what influence he had at these clubs with regards to recruitment - especially at PSG and here with Lukaku), so we do have to still be careful with giving someone that much power and carte blance within the club. Ultimately I think it boils down to the job spec of the director of football. If they are someone who heads up the scouting department, and can bring in new ideas (the moneyball idea that seems to have served Liverpool pretty well as an example) is definitely a positive. As has just been mentioned above, our recruitment hasn't exactly been efficient and that's based on bigger budgets. Can our scouting department and someone like Scott McLachlan operate under stricter budgets or possibly identifying a different profile of transfer prospects? However, I still feel the director of football shouldn't be headed above the manager, and in many situations they can be given far too much power. What we need is someone able to shake up and sort out our scouting and recruitment but work alongside Tuchel. Tuchel should always get the final say on, and be in full agreement with who comes in and out of the club. I don't want someone sat above him making decisions on who is brought into and moved out of the club. There has to be a balance - it's a fine balance, but it's one the club should strive towards.

Definitely a move that needs to be made, there needs to be a much more joined up approach at the club and if we start to move away from the profile of player we usually look at and instead are maybe looking at players still to be moulded and developed but with a lot of potential I think we have the right manager in place to develop such players. The obvious example of that would have been grabbing Tchouameni last summer when he was a much rawer prospect but in a much cheaper deal. This season he has gone a way to fulfilling the potential he has and has developed further but he'll cost an awful lot more. We may need to start identifying some players at an earlier stage moving forward if transfer budgets won't be potentially as high or flexible as they may have been previously. If we were to bring in a technical director though they have to work with Tuchel and not against him. For all the benefits that some of these people can bring there can also be power struggles, blaming for bad signings, etc when things go wrong. I'm not expecting Tuchel to get carte blanche but he needs to be an important voice within any transfer committee and the signings need to suit around his style and philosophy. We may never know the true in's and out's of Lukaku's transfer but the key take is that he is such an ill fit for a Tuchel team and we can't afford to make mistakes like that. Tuchel does need some freedom as to who he wants to keep or sell from the current squad. Some of that may be working alongside the board as may be dependent on alternatives (for example say selling Jorginho, to bring in a new centre midfielder like Tchouameni), but he needs to be backed with who he does and doesn't want in his squad makeup for next season. If he wants to keep Timo, then keep him. I get the impression he thinks highly of RLC and feels he can unlock something inside of him. If he wants him as an option within the squad then back him and keep him. If he wants Lukaku out, then cut out losses and sell him for as much as we can.

That plan would also cost a ridiculous amount and leave us probably away from Stamford Bridge for at least 5 - 6 seasons. It's not like Spurs where they were able to lay groundwork and build half their stadium before they moved to Wembley temporarily. Absolutely nobody wants to be stuck playing at Wembley for that amount of time. I don't see moving away for an extended period as a viable option unless it is the absolute last option available.

Personally if we can get Rudiger signed up, I don't think we are in desperate need of a new centre back. Losing Christensen will be a blow but Chalobah will benefit from the experience of this season and I wouldn't be surprised if Tuchel kept Colwill to then play the Chalobah role next season. Across Rudiger, Silva, Azpi, Chalobah, Sarr, Colwill and James if needed too we have more than enough options to roll with. I personally would prefer to bring in a top centre midfielder this summer to facilitate the transition from Kante and Jorginho, and look at a centre back the following summer.

This might sound incredibly basic because I've never done anywhere near enough research on the topic and I know there are other issues with regards to light access for nearby residents, and access in and out of the stadium but if it's only the East Stand which poses the above problem in the eyeline of St Pauls Cathedral, would it not be possible to try to extend the other stands and just leave the East Stand as it is? To be honest even if someone can get the Bridge capacity up over 50k it puts us at least in the bracket alongside other club's capacities.

Whatever we all think of Lukaku, he still holds a lot of weight across the continent as a top striker and goal scorer still in his prime. I think the only thing which may deter some suitors is his wages. I guess in the grand scheme of football his wages aren't beyond a joke, but they do eliminate some options unless Rom himself is prepared to forego some of that pay packet to move on. I think it's clear as day now he isn't going to be first choice over Havertz whilst Tuchel is here and I don't see Tuchel leaving any time soon unless there is a monumental cock up in the new ownership so it really will be in his court in a world cup year and probably with another 3, maybe 4 years left at the top level does he accept being backup or does he accept the Chelsea move hasn't worked out and he moves on. I think one way or another he'll move in the summer.

A lot of people in the last couple of days on social media seem to have been souring on Boehly because it's being speculated that he'll only have a minority stake (20%) and Clearlake Capital will be the majority holding at around 50%. Firstly the idea of these private equity firms, etc coming on board and asset stripping us or milking the club I think are way over the top. Boehly already said in an interview a few years ago, no one buying a football club should be expecting 30% returns a year but instead it's a stable investment which has capacity for growth. These firms backing bids will know the situation and surely be going into such a deal with their eyes open to this. There's a reason why all the parties still in the running for us are American led and it's because the view in America is that Chelsea at the current price could be viewed as a steal in another 10 - 15 years time. With the greatest respect to the NBA, NFL, MLB they and their clubs pale in comparison to the wider world of football but in particular the Premier League and Chelsea in general with regards to social media following, worldwide exposure, etc. The Premier League still needs to truly "make it" in America, and it will in time. And the league will continue to boom further as a result. Asset stripping us is pointless because the value of our squad would barely be worth a third of the sale price and the stadium isn't owned by the new buyers either. Not investing in the future of the club and leaving it to stagnate will completely batter the value of the club. I believe for these PE firms, a deal like this will be viewed as much more of a long term but steady investment. A bit like someone wanting their investment or pension portfolio to invest into property. It's a longer term, steadier investment than for example, the stock market where they'd be looking to make quicker but riskier gains. The returns on this investment in Chelsea will be in years to come when they may look to divest their shareholding over time. The main things within Boehly's bid will be that it's 100% equity and no debt. If there's a commitment for a further £1bn of investment in the club too then that has to go some way to furthering the club, particularly if any stadium expansion/redevelopment is done in stages, that will end up being a far cheaper option in the longer term which hopefully then doesn't impact into investment in the playing staff. And the final point of confirmation on the Boehly bid is that he'll have operational control. Think Levy at Spurs with his minority stake in Enic (and therefore Spurs) compared to Joe Lewis, but he is given operational control to run the club. Boehly should get the same free reign to do so, and I feel confident from what I've heard from him and what I've read about him that he would do that well.

And then there were three then. I actually thought the Ricketts bid was probably the favourite so this is quite a surprising turn up. I just hope this gets sorted out asap.

No one has an idea yet how the new owners will approach transfer windows moving forward but I do expect whoever of the 4 to win to invest this summer. There will be immediate scepticism over new ownership given how spoiled the club has been by Roman's investment and I think from a PR perspective, new owners will want to look at bringing in one or two players to help push the team on. New contracts for Tuchel and Rudiger I would expect to also curry favour with the fanbase. Perhaps if some players like Lukaku can be moved on too, then even bigger investment may take place.

For now, in my opinion, the last 2 games and performances have got him his place back in the side and let's see if it can be built on. If he goes and scores a few goals between now and the end of the season I think it does pose questions, especially when Pulisic and Ziyech are equally as inconsistent and streaky with their performances. Lukaku over all though definitely has to be addressed first in the summer.

This doesn't relate to the Chelsea bid, it's part of a story relating to how they convinced him to join their bid for the Dodgers.

We've lost the ball in midfield which has left us a little stretched but where Modric is and the options available to him, it's taken an incredible pass to get Rodrygo in behind and his finish also needs a lot of credit because it was very well taken. I personally don't think you'd get the same outcome in 10 more attempts in that situation. But ultimately what this does highlight is why sit back and defend and give time and space to players like Modric for the last 15 minutes when he's capable of that? Why give them more opportunities to get Benzema the ball in and around the box when he'd been starved of service for the first 75 minutes? I think the tactics and approach employed were right and we got a sucker punch. It happens, it's not the first time we've been knocked out of europe when it feels underserved and I'm sure it won't be the last. Silver lining should be we're back at that point again where we are disappointed being knocked out in the latter stages by a Real Madrid, it'd been too long before Tuchel joined we were in that bracket.

I might be minority over majority but ever since I was a kid and even now in my mid 30's I find it incredibly difficult to support and get excited about England being successful. And the only reason for that is because I expend so much energy through a season supporting my club and hating all of these players from rival clubs, it's difficult to flick a switch and suddenly cheer them on. Why do I want to see England's captain do well when he's a Spurs legend? Because of their pitiful existence, if England were to win something under Kane's captaincy, Spurs would probably make some monumental thing about it in the same way West Hams most glorious moment in history is their 3 players that won the World Cup with England.

It's because armchair fans love something flashy. There was huge clamour for Grealish to be playing more regularly for England because he played in a way to entertain fans. Pulls out one or two tricks and that's all everyone talks about. It's the era we're in with youtube, twitter, etc. Foden, although a better player than Grealish is somewhat similar where he was being hyped as this era's Gazza and as a result fans are pissed that the more solid, efficient player is in ahead of him (and for the record except one goal against Liverpool, Foden's other 6 goals and 4 assists this season have been against teams in the bottom half of the league which seems to be a stick to beat Mount with). These players may be more technically superior to Mount but neither have the work rate, off the ball movement, defensive discipline and reliability that Mount has. It's why he's trusted by Southgate over them. It's why despite what these opposition fans might say, all of the managers at their clubs would snap him up if Chelsea made him available, including Klopp and Pep. Now does he get more leniency from the fanbase because he came from the academy? Yes that's probably a fairer statement but it's also probably because even when he is playing poor and things aren't happening, people can still appreciate that he puts a full shift in. Ultimately though despite all the Lampard's pet rubbish, Tuchel has no previous ties to the club or the players and he's still been an integral part of the team under him for over a year now. Anyone who believes we're a better side without him in the team rather than with him must be watching a different game to me.

No one is going to truly know until the new owners come in. I would expect all of them will want to do everything to keep Tuchel. Unless any of them have been living under a rock, I think they will all see re: Tuchel (1) how successful we've been under his tenure and where we're potentially heading under him, (2) there's nothing better out there (arguably beyond Klopp and Pep there's nothing better full stop whether available or not), (3) he's represented the club on and off the pitch incredibly well in a difficult period, and (4) the fan base love him so replacing or losing him would be a hugely unpopular decision. With Tuchel in mind, I would also expect them to look at keeping Cech at the club as Tuchel has explained a number of times how helpful it is to have that link between boardroom and the coach but without him having to get involved in things he just doesn't want to like he did at PSG. I don't see any reason why Cech still can't fulfil that role. Marina will be the one least unsure about. She may not even want to stay under new owners because things will change in the boardroom. I think new owners coming in may well try and see if Marina and Buck can stay short term just to smooth the transition. Marina has the contacts with clubs, agents, etc and it would be easier I think for her to continue to operate in her role negotiating contracts and transfers this close to the summer window. Similarly a new chairman coming in may want to shadow Buck for a few months. I could see them staying initially through the summer and potentially leaving in the autumn or winter next season.

I think that's always incredibly difficult in hindsight to judge. If we had gone ahead and gone into defence mode for the last 15 minutes and invited Madrid on to us and still conceded I think he'd be crucified more. We were in complete control and creating chances without going gung ho and I think it was right to carry on doing this. Ultimately the two Madrid goals have come as a result of us losing possession in transition and them punishing us. Anyone else in Modric position wouldn't make that pass and even then he'd struggle to make it that perfect again in 10 attempts. I think if there was a mistake it was the subs having no impact on the game whatsoever but again, easy to say this in hindsight with the effort the players on the pitch put in but I think taking Werner off for Pulisic gave some encouragement to the Madrid backline and with him off the pitch we no longer had a player running in behind to stretch them. Pulisic and Ziyech are very hot and cold players you generally get something incredible or something dreadful with no middle ground and both do usually seem more suited to starting games rather than coming off the bench to make an impact. Agree about Tuchel and the squad in general though. A number of our core group and more important players are a much younger age than City and Liverpool and are still evolving and developing. As I mentioned last night Pep got over £400m across 2 summer windows before he started seeing his vision and Klopp got 3 seasons (and spent a lot of money - that Coutinho money didn't last forever despite what they will argue) before his team mounted a title challenge. I'm not sure we'll really ever know the ins and outs of the Lukaku transfer and can all speculate. In my opinion he was presented with Lukaku as an option and took it despite probably knowing he might not be the right fit and I don't blame him for that because if we had a poor season this year because none of our attackers stepped up and were scoring enough goals he'd have been shown the door. That's the result of the short term outlook and mentality of this club under Roman. It's worked on the basis of trophies won and success under him, but there will always be question marks over what if we'd planned a little more long term with transfers and coaches. What Tuchel has done in the last 18 months both on the pitch and recently off the pitch representing our club has been incredible. You can see the players will run through a brick wall for him, the support is fully behind him, he just needs the new ownership to back him now too. Hopefully spending some money in the market and freshening up areas of the squad but also giving him the time and patience over the next season or two to plan and plot challenging for the league title and the biggest trophies not just as a one off but sustainably over the next few years.

It's not a coincidence that Tuchel reverting back to the Mount, Werner, Havertz trio these last 2 games has made us in general look a more fluid unit both in attack and with our pressing. We'll have to see where we're at in the summer but at least for now this should be our first choice attack through to the end of the season. Werner I think deserves the chances to resurrect his Chelsea career and make sure we're not giving up on him too early because that ability and willingness to make those runs in behind a defence is something the rest of our squad doesn't really offer enough of. We have to find a way to move Lukaku on in the summer, I think that's a given as he's a square peg in a round hole for Tuchel. Then anyone else in attack really depends on what we're looking to do in the summer and how big a priority a new attacker is. I wouldn't mind us taking a punt on Dembele if we can still get him on a free transfer, but someone needs to make way as a result. It's probably going to end up a toss up between Ziyech, Pulisic and Werner - all offer very different things but are all very inconsistent at times too.

I've seen a lot of reports suggest he's on around £150k a week and one of our highest paid players.

Above everything else this summer, the new owners have to sign Rudiger up to a long term deal and back Tuchel. Give him an extra year or two on his deal, listen to him to ensure he has the right management structure above him, back him in the transfer market - Whatever it is, just make sure this man is happy and committed to work under new ownership. There is no question in my mind he can continue to evolve and develop this group and coach us to more trophies under his management. Complete class act.

The team has definitely evolved a lot under Tuchel and that summers signings overall have proven to be hits over flops. One of the biggest lessons we need to learn is to build on success when at the top though. Maybe new ownership and a bit more planning longer term will help with that but really since Jose's first tenure at the club the only summer I can remember us doing well after a big success the season before was after the 2012 Champions League and we bought Hazard, Azpi, Oscar, etc. After winning the league with Ancelotti we got weaker and let a number of players move on. Winning the league under Jose we didn't strengthen sufficiently. Winning the league under Conte we spent but the buys were awful except Rudiger. And then last summer after the Champions League signing Lukaku has been a disaster.

As I've said in my opinion we're not far off either, it's some consistency over a tricky period and some real bad luck which has been the difference this year but we've made definite progression and one thing we have shown over Tuchel's tenure against all the top teams we've played (but especially those two who seem to be the measuring stick at present) that in those one off games against one another we can more than match up. Let people carry on gushing over the two of them, we could do this summer with a chance to fly a little under the radar.