Superblue

Everyone mentioning the RCB slot but could Kounde potentially cover Rudiger too in the LCB spot? Surely he'd be more comfortable there than Zouma is.

I would tend to agree with this if we stick with a back 3. Not so sure if we wanted to play a back 4, however (I haven't really seen enough of him to make a judgement) I have read that he has a very good leap on him and he does have a good success rate of winning aerial balls.

He's also a backup player for us, compared to an important player like White is for Brighton or Rice for West Ham.

I think it's important that Kante continues to be managed so you're possibly right with another quality midfielder to add. From what it sounds Tuchel seems to like Sterling at RWB so if he can stay fit it could very well be Azpi, James and Sterling across those RWB and RCB roles. Silva and AC for the central role and then Rudiger and Zouma for the LCB role. I would prefer a better fit there than Zouma, although as backup we could have far worse. I agree with the attack. I just don't see the players out there on the market beyond a Haaland or Kane that we can be confident will add and improve to what we already have. Given Tammy didn't really feature last season though, could it be argued that Broja would fill the Giroud role and Tammy is therefore still dispensable, even without a replacement?

That's interesting, I definitely think we need a plan B next season even if it's to change mid-game when either chasing the game or trying to find a winner. With the variety of attacking options we have something like a 4-2-4 or 4-2-3-1 should definitely be considered. It shouldn't be forgotten that last season under Lampard we were beating the bottom half teams pretty convincingly and scoring goals. It was as we went higher up the table we experienced problems. Tuchel seems to have flipped around that form so it may be a case of having a couple of different approaches depending on the opposition, in order to put it all together next season.

The same reason why Rice is being quoted at around double the price of other midfielders like Locatelli, Camavinga and the Monaco lad.

Will be interesting to see tonight if Tuchel sticks with the back 3 or tries any other formations out during pre-season. And if he does stick with the back 3 how he sets up with what is still going to be predominantly loan army players. I'm particularly interested to see how he makes up the midfield because there's the real possibility that one of these players will be the 4th option in midfield for us this coming season.

I mentioned on the forum a few days ago that in the Premier League, the six of Werner, Havertz, Ziyech, Pulisic, Mount and CHO scored 24 goals between them. An average of 4 each. I just cannot see how they don't improve on that number this coming season. Even if they could double that outlay to an average of 8 each which I don't think is unreasonable considering Pulisic scored 9 in his first season and Havertz and Werner have multiple double digit scoring seasons in Germany, then we'll be in better shape. One other possibility that hasn't been mentioned much regarding Haaland is whether we can negotiate a deal now with Dortmund for next season. If his release clause is £70m or whatever, offer them £15-20m above that as a sweetener to negotiate early and look to lock him up for a year's time. Lot's of risk attached to this given the numbers but I'm sure some potential clauses could be factored into the deal if he picked up a serious injury for example. Haaland might not be prepared to go for something like this but it could be worth the consideration, we haven't been against doing similar deals in recent years with Pulisic and Ziyech where we've agreed a deal mid-season for them to arrive at the end.

I think a centre back becomes vital if we don't manage to tie down Rudiger and Christensen to new contracts. If they both commit (I assume Azpi will too) then I don't think it becomes an area of urgency. However if the right bid came in for Zouma I wouldn't be against selling him and looking at a younger centre back to come in and probably be backup initially but grow into a role that will need filling with Silva and Azpi not getting any younger. Someone comfortable to challenge Rudiger on the left side would be ideal, could Lacroix do this? Centre midfield does seem an area that will need something unless Tuchel sees one of the loan army filling the role. The problem with that is I don't see any of them being comfortable playing in a 2 man midfield, so the market maybe where we have to enter for that. Could we conceivably run though with 4 centre midfielders who are all the profile whereby they would probably feel they should be starting regularly? What would be your answer then for the attack? Keep Tammy or Broja and just roll with what we already have?

Let's take the Haaland deal off the table. What would people want to see the club do in the transfer market this summer?

This idea too that we're throwing Tuchel under a bus I find laughable. All of the reports suggest Tuchel wanted the opportunity to run the rule over all the returning players before making decisions. A number of reports also suggest he's been impressed in particular with Sterling, RLC and Broja. It isn't unreasonable to suggest Tuchel has told the board only the absolute top targets or don't bother, he'll utilise the loan army to fill missing spots. Hopefully we can hit him one of his main targets but I don't see it creating an issue between him and board if we don't.

I do wonder whether this is the reason for the links to Rice. I think in our current system, he's too defensive and not technical enough but in a back 4 he does become a possible option to shield the defence and in doing so add an extra attacker to the side.

How exactly does that answer anything I posted?

Every club is looking to always strengthen, I don't believe in the idea of the board being content. But give us some insight then into who we should buy to strengthen and why/how they could strengthen us. It's boring hearing this statement on here constantly and across social media without people providing realistic suggestions. Take Haaland out of the equation, name me a realistically attainable striker who will strengthen us? Is there a specialist wing back out there that can significantly improve on Chilwell and James? Is there a midfielder who can improve on Kante and Jorginho? If we want to strengthen our "strongest XI" then the pool of players shrinks significantly. Or by strengthen are you happy with a couple of squad players so long as we've been seen to spend some money, back the manager and appease a fan base who have become too accustomed to having it all now?

Personally I think there's a lot more to come from our attacking players, in particular those we brought last season. Werner and Havertz have already put up very impressive numbers in Germany, and the hope is this can be reflected given time. If anybody wants to question the quality of the Bundesliga then what is the point of going after Haaland. Ziyech too I think there is more to come from him. People will question his stats have come in the Dutch league but he's also done pretty well in Europe before joining. I actually think he could be someone who has the potential to unlock these type of teams with his passing and offers a different skillset to others. When he did have a purple patch earlier in the season it was against teams of this ilk (Burnley, Sheffield United, etc) where his passing was cutting them apart. His arrival against Villa on the last day I also think made us look a lot stronger and it was his pass that opened up the opportunity for our goal. Ultimately I think we have a number of different options in our attack and all have the potential to be very good. It's putting it together. Another year older, a season playing together, fans back in stadiums, the confidence of winning a massive trophy, performing under our expected goals stats. I do think we should realistically expect improvement in our attack next season even if we don't add to it.

Under Tuchel last season we beat City three times, including away, Spurs away, Liverpool away, West Ham away (who were on a big run at the time). We also went unbeaten against United, Atletico and Real Madrid, and beat Leicester in a big pressure game for the 4th spot. The games against the fellow big teams aren't the worry. We're extremely difficult to score against in the current system if it's maintained and we have pace in attack if space is given. The problems have been against the lesser teams who don't give much space. That's where we either need a new striker to put these teams to the sword, or hope that our attackers continue to improve and develop. There's a lot of potential there but ultimately that potential will need to be realised for the team as a whole to kick on.

For me the biggest and most important signing has already been made and that's Tuchel. Having one of the world's top coaches working with and developing this squad, particularly the younger element, can only be a positive. As long as the squad don't completely drop off a cliff, or he falls out with the board, I honestly think he will be given time and opportunity to put a stamp on this team which like Jose's first stint could leave his finger prints on the squad beyond his tenure. If we don't make any big signings I think we'll still be more competitive than last season regardless. Whether we have enough to kick on and mount a genuine title challenge will depend on the attack improving. There's a very real possibility that we see significant improvements in Werner and Havertz numbers next season - they have produced them before. Pulisic scored 9 in the league his first season too compared to 4 last. If a couple of these happen we'll have a great chance as I don't see us conceding many. It should be noted that even signing Haaland is no guarantee. Its probably as close as you can hope but let's be real, our track record of spending big money on strikers isn't the best. Even going back before Roman I can remember spending at the time big money in the 90's on the likes of Sutton, Casiraghi, Furlong and Fleck. I don't know the numbers off the top of my head but there's probably no more than 20 goals there for about £20m of money spent.

Easier said than done though when we're talking a pool of one striker

There's some rumours tonight we're favourites to take Moriba from Barcelona.

Played an in house game instead.

My brother in law is a hammers fan and is adamant the owners would find it hard pressed to reject anything in the £60m bracket.

Possibly but then it's also possible that they had reservations to certain aspects of his game that they've now seen improve and develop over the last 12 months. For me, I'll sit on the fence with Rice. He's clearly not as comfortable on the ball in a progressive team as Jorginho is but he does offer a different skillset which we don't have within the squad, i.e. an old fashioned holding midfielder with good pace and a good engine and a big physical presence. Tuchel maybe looking at having that alternative option to sometimes change the way we play. For example some have mentioned about the possibility of changing to a back 4 at times to help with the offensive side of the team and Tuchel may be thinking the same, but feels he needs a more defensive presence then in midfield to balance things. There is also the possibility that he can be viewed as an option for the defence which means we may be able to move someone like Zouma on to help towards funding a move. Or he does provide an option to change mid game between a back 4 to back 5 with him on the pitch, without needing to make sweeping substitutions. So he does bring a number of options and possibilities with him. It's a lot of money though for someone who I think still has areas of his game on the ball which need to continue to improve.

Sterling was highly rated himself before the injuries he's had. He is that bit older than Livramento at 21 and more developed physically, whilst he has also had the experience of playing out on loan. I just think it's probably a case of someone being further down the line. There are very, very few cases of an 18 year old breaking into the first team of one of the top European clubs with no previous experience out on loan.

Not sure, but from what I've read Tuchel had him training with the first team group quite a few times last season and really likes him. From what I understand he's back fit and is currently with the pre season group in Ireland.

There's talk of Tuchel possibly integrating Broja and Sterling into the first team squad next season so if that were to happen it hopefully continues to show that there is a pathway to the first team, but still ultimately very few players will break through at Chelsea in the coming years and it's no different to the other top teams around us. A few players have had chances in recent times under Lampard but so far ultimately only two have fully taken that chance in Mount and James, so it's not like some abnormal influx of players. Yes the likes of Tammy and Tomori had opportunities too but their futures won't be here. Therefore if you look back over the past 5 or 6 seasons it isn't hugely different to Christensen, Loftus-Cheek and Hudson-Odoi breaking through previous. Realistically if you managed to get one first team regular and one, maybe two squad player(s) through from the academy every 3 years at the top level where Chelsea are positioned, that's a pretty good achievement.