Jype

No. Courtois - Cahill, Luiz, Rüdiger - Alonso, Cesc, Kante, Azpi - Willian, Morata, Batshuayi As it stands that would be the most likely starting lineup. Leaves Caballero, Christensen, Musonda, Boga and Tomori on the bench out of players who can even remotely be considered a part of the first team squad and then maybe filling the rest with U18s. If it were up to me I'd replace Morata there by Musonda or Boga to start which would allow for a better impact sub later in the game with Alvaro coming on, not to mention actually getting to play him in his preferred position up front instead of on the wings. Either way it's fucking ridiculous, the starting lineup will have two league debutants for the club and apart from the backup goalie the bench will have zero PL appearances prior to today.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/08/11/danny-drinkwater-dark-future-chelsea-fail-return-improved-offer/ £15M bid rejected few weeks ago, no improved bid made as of yet. While the rumoured figures of £30M are inflated, did the club seriously think £15M would get it done in a market where likes of Gylfi Sigurdsson are being sold for £50M?

Not bothered one bit if he goes to United, never wanted him in the first place. Also he's not really an improvement over what they already have in Valencia so at best it's just a depth signing and one for the future.

I don't see why structured payment should be a huge problem as long as the money is coming at some point and I don't see Atletico going bankrupt anytime soon. As far as I know paying transfers in installments is pretty common when talking about figures as large as that. Just get it done ffs, I'm sick of this saga already.

Don't know about you, but FFP or no FFP I still prefer the club being self-sufficient and not overly relied on the owner's money to cover the massive losses like it used to be in the early years of the Abramovich era. The club is growing in a natural way these days and people in general are starting to take it more seriously, instead of just being ridiculed as a bored billionaire's plaything. That being said, it is absolutely necessary that new signings are made to the current squad but that can be achieved without Roman going apeshit with his cheque book. The club have managed to sign wonderful players like Hazard, Kante etc. without PSG-like spending and only some slight improvements are needed to make the squad competitive in all fronts. Hell, look at Real Madrid. Even they have pretty much ditched the 'Galactico' approach and make sensible value signings nowadays. After James in 2014 I don't think they've bought any huge players and they've still got the best squad in the world. Players like Casemiro, Vazquez, Asensio, Kovacic and Ceballos are wonderful talents and none of them were expensive, that's the kind of signings I'd like to see Chelsea making too instead of splashing £200M of Roman's money on some elite players.

True. I'm feeling really optimistic for him though, only seen him play a bunch of times but seems a real talent which is something I didn't really feel for Bamford. There was so much hype around Abraham in the summer that he had his pick of bottom half PL clubs to go on loan to so I'm guessing Swansea convinced him he'd get enough games and have a chance to score lots of goals. I trust Paul Clement & Claude Makelele to take good care of Tammy.

Patrick Bamford is exactly why a Premier League loan can sometimes be a huge risk for a young player. Bamford had a great 14/15 season with Middlesbrough in the Championship and after that he got loans spells at Palace, Norwich and Burnley to test his level in the Premier League and he failed at all of them. Maybe if he stayed at Boro for another season, even if it was in the Championship, his development would've been a lot better suited. Going to a PL club too early can really harm a young lad's career. And yeah, either way by leaving it this late to go on loan there aren't enough suitable Premier League clubs left for Baker. All of Brighton, Huddersfield, Swansea, Stoke and Palace already have one loanee from Chelsea and can't take another. There's Bournemouth who play the kind of football Baker would probably be well suited for but I don't know how stacked they are in midfield already.

I think for his development Middlesbrough is a good loan. For some of the promoted / bottom half PL teams he might have been a good punt too, but there's always the risk of not getting enough games like Chalobah at Burnley couple years ago so it's better to play more at lower level than watch games from the stands at top level. Also there aren't too many suitable PL clubs left who haven't already got themselves a loanee from Chelsea and the PL rules allow only one loanee from the same parent club. Baker's only really played at professional level footy in Eredivisie and while his performances there were great it's still a massive step up to go straight from there to the Premier League so maybe for him it's better to commit to a long term loan at a top Championship side and if they get promoted then he's already an integral part of their squad so there's a good chance he'd get a lot of experience from PL level next year. Long term loans seem to be the new trend. Courtois was obviously the first to do that but he was bought for a decent amount of money so doesn't really count, but after that we've seen two year loans for Christensen, Baker (Vitesse), Kalas, Piazon, Van Ginkel and now again Baker at Middlesbrough. For the players these long term loans are great, they get a sense of belonging at their loan clubs and can focus on developing their game instead of always having to adjust to new surroundings at a new club which takes is obviously bound to take it's toll on the youngsters.

A lot of money for a player in the last year of his career who's not even been a starter for his team. But what the hell, he covers many positions in Conte's formation and is HG which Chelsea needs right now so I'd greenlight £35M. In the last half year or so he's shown real promise as a wing-back after Wenger finally caved in and started using a 3-4-3.

Barkley has more potential but as a player type I'd say something in the Drinkwater mould is more what the team needs right now. Barkley is in no way suited for a midfield two so if he came some adjustments would have to be made to the tactics whereas Drinkwater could fit in next to Kante without any changes, and already has experience from playing with the little Frenchman. If Barkley were to be bought I'd say 3-5-2 with a three man midfield would be the way to go with Fabregas/Barkley rotating for the furthermost CM with Bakayoko and Kante to cover defensive duties. In such formation a need for one more defensive-minded midfielder to play backup for Bakayoko/Kante would still exist, and a player like Drinkwater or someone similar would still have to be bought. Either that, or Barkley would be playing only as one of the AMs / wingers in the 3-4-3 and compete for a place with Hazard, Willian, Pedro and Musonda but that doesn't change the fact that Barkley coming would have nothing to do with the team still needing one more defensive type midfielder too.

€25M for a loan fee is unprecedented so I can easily imagine any buy option being really high too. Real Madrid see the potential in Kovacic and don't want to lose him so they're not gonna let him go for cheap, I think they even paid like €40M for him a couple years back. Pretty sure they see him as the long term successor for Modric who's 31 now so unless Kovacic puts in a transfer request to go elsewhere I can't see them selling. And I certainly can't see us getting him with no clear starring role on offer, as Conte would have to alter the formation to make room for him as a starter in a three man midfield alongside Kante and Bakayoko.

Really? That €25M is just the loan fee, buy option would take the price to a whole different level. For a loan that's expensive as fuck. https://za.as.com/za/2017/08/08/football/1502216493_928867.html

Yeah, and Mourinho probably didn't even need that good of a salespitch to convince him. United are playing with a three man midfield which suits Matic's strengths much, much better than the 3-4-3 so getting a starting role there in a competitive team sounds pretty good compared to fighting for a place in the squad at Chelsea in a role he's not at his best in. As much as the board have fucked up this summer, selling Matic is not even close one of the things I'd hold against them the most.

What makes people automatically think those Matic comments are a dig at the board? It might just as well be that Conte wanted to keep him but the player insisted on going with increased competition for his place so the club didn't want to keep him against his will.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/08/09/ross-barkley-could-go-25m-spurs-face-chelsea-threat-evertonmidfielder/ For £25M I wouldn't say no.

Yeah, that's right up there with a seriously inflated price too but honestly I don't see many better options out there because Chelsea need homegrown players to fill up the numbers. At the moment there are just three HG players at the club (Cahill, Cesc, Moses) and the remaining non-HG places are better filled with higher priority signings than a backup CM. Drinkwater is not a bad option for a squad player but he's not a £30M+ player either, it's a dilemma.

Exactly and that's why Van Dijk is going for £60-70M when he gets sold. Smaller clubs just can't get decent replacements at reasonable prices, unless they take a gamble on an unknown youngster or get lucky with the incoming player's contract situation but most PL players cost a fortune these days. Domestic transfers between PL clubs have been crazy this summer with players like Michael Keane and Ben Gibson moving for tens of millions and Swansea fleecing £50M for Sigurdsson. I can see transfers inside the PL becoming even more rare because there's just no value anymore, much better options for cheaper prices around the continent. This, in turn will raise the prices of homegrown English players even further so it's a big problem.

£30M for Ben Gibson, football has finally gone mad.

What makes you think Rüdiger is the one for RWB? Against Arsenal he came on for Alonso but it was Azpilicueta who got shifted from RCB to LWB and Rüdiger replaced Azpi in the back three. Anyways, with the increased amount of games coming up this season there should be more than enough chances for Christensen IF the manager rates him, but right now the jury is still out on whether he actually does or if Christensen will end up the same as Ake in Conte's books. I hope he does make it but with all the rumours of Conte still wanting to bring in Van Dijk I shall have my doubts.

Community Shields in 2017, 2015, 2012 and 2010. UEFA Super Cups in 2013 and 2012. Club World Cup 2012. Think that amounts up to seven.

Mate it's not just the transfer fee, you need to look at the numbers beyond the €222M fee to understand why people think PSG won't comply with FFP. The transfer fee, signing on bonuses, agent fees and most importantly the player's wages all combined make up for a pretty hefty total sum and on their books it will show as around €100M per year with all costs amortized over the contract. He's being paid almost a million euros per week before taxes for crying out loud, that's absolutely bizarre. To put these figures into context, the previous world record breaking transfer in Paul Pogba costs altogether maybe around €30-35M a year on the books at Manchester United so the numbers we're talking about with Neymar are a completely new territory in world football. You can't compare just the transfer fees and say City spent a lot of money too because by doing that City have pretty much completed their squad and filled all positions of need. The total costs of their five new signings won't even remotely touch Neymar's figures. And also at Chelsea the books have been well balanced with player sales, amounting to around €120M even before the impending sale of Diego Costa. Maybe paying €70M for Morata was somewhat overpriced as far as the transfer fee goes but his total costs for the club will be less than a quarter of a Neymar so while he may not be even remotely as good a player it still allows the club to stay within a healthy financial status and keeps the wage budget in line. If it were Chelsea getting Neymar at €900K a week how long do you think it would take for players like Eden Hazard, who's on less than €200K a week, to knock on Abramovich's door and ask for at least triple his current salary? What PSG have done is simply not sustainable in the long term. Also PSG weren't exactly in clear waters with FFP to begin with, so lavishing out €100M a year book costs on a single player won't help them at all. My guess would be that they just don't give a fuck because they know UEFA will never ban a team with Neymar in it from competing in the Champions League and if it's just multi-million fines that they get for breaking FFP there's plenty of money in Qatar to pay it with.

As good as he is, I don't even want him. Way more pressing concerns in the squad at the moment and there are just three more squad places available for foreign players so I think making a big signing for the only department aside from goalkeepers that doesn't need reinforcing is kind of stupid. Would also mean the end of Christensen which again would be really short sighted from the club, I think for Conte it's way too premature to dismiss his qualities based on a couple weeks of pre-season. Van Dijk's also made a proper cunt out of himself by going on strike and refusing to train with his team, less than a year after he signed a six year contract at Southampton and was more than happy to accept the massive payrise he got in that deal so I'm not sure if that's the kind of player I want associated with the club.

”There is no way that he can continue to play for Chelsea, a message which has been communicated various times to those in charge there” - Diego Costa’s lawyer Ricardo Caraso Still think Costa is ready to fulfill his contractual obligations? After such statement by his lawyer I somehow doubt it. He wants out just as much as the club want him to get out, the only problem is that Atletico aren’t willing to pay and he’s refusing to go anywhere else. Why can’t players be frozen after asking for a transfer though? Clubs often decide not to field players who have asked for moves and sometimes even exclude them from training because their head is not in it anymore. If that move for one reason or another never materializes that doesn’t mean the club should be obligated to welcome the player back with open arms and play him ahead of more loyal and committed members of the squad, it’s just not how it works in a team game. Also Costa, by repeatedly asking for a move, alienated himself from the club to the point where he got replaced by another player in Morata. Signing the replacement most likely means that the club won’t have enough room for Diego to be registered in the squad lists for PL & CL, therefore making it impossible for him to even appear in the club’s official games. It was said that ’sporting just cause’ terminations are handled on a case-by-case basis with all facts taken into consideration from both sides. If Costa’s incident were to be tried in court, I’m pretty sure the outcome would be ruled in favor of the club. Aside from his transfer demands that have already forced the club to sign a replacement to take his place in the squad there’s also cases to be argued for disrupting team chemistry, lack of match fitness etc. as reasons for not playing him. This so called ’sporting just cause’ as grounds for termination seems to me something like crystal clear bullying and forcing a good professional out of the action without a valid reason, only that’s not what is happening with Costa because there sure as hell is a good reason why he’s not in the first team squad anymore. It’s his own toxic actions that got him frozen out and replaced in the first place so playing the victim card now would really be something to behold. Making a quick search I kind of found a precedenting case too. David Albelda, at the time club captain of Valencia who had just signed a new contract too, was forced out of the first team by incoming manager Ronald Koeman without an explanation back in 2007. He then later sued his club for termination of the contract and lost, being forced to stay and train with the youngsters. Of course in his case it wasn’t a full season spent on the sidelines but still, it’s at least some precedent to note that the clubs aren’t necessarily obligated by the contracts to involve the players in first team football. As history knows Albelda then stayed at Valencia for five more years having been welcomed back into the fold after Koeman got sacked so we never got to see if release from contract would’ve happened later. With Albelda I think there might even have been grounds for termination if it went on for a full season because there really was no other reason for his exile other than Koeman not liking him, but with Costa there are other factors at play too with his constant disruptive behavior and transfer demands. Anyway, not much point arguing further because we’re clearly never going to agree on this and either way there’s still a very slim chance of something like this even happening. If a move won’t be agreed in this window, it’s likely that Costa will be frozen out till end of the year and then sold in January at the very latest. If for some reason Costa is still at the club after the winter transfer window and still out of the first team we can talk about this more.

Make it the good old 'loan with an option to buy' and I'll bite. Otherwise too big of a risk. Zero chance of this happening, MARCA are just using the club's name for clicks.

What about Costa's previous history of asking for a transfer though? Surely the club have evidence of that correspondence to prove all this has started because Costa made his bed and now has to lie in it. Ffs the man even caused a fight with his boss in training because the club didn't want him to move to China and instead continue at Chelsea, stuff like that will certainly go a long way in ruling any case in favor of the club. And also like I said, and you so conveniently ignored, the club are not exactly denying him the chance to play football so that's "sporting just cause" thrown out of the window already. He's being allowed to leave the minute an acceptable bid comes in and after that it's all up to him. If he declines an offer from another club because he would rather sit in the stands at Chelsea if he can't move to Atletico, that's the case done and dusted for him and there's no 'sporting just cause'. If Atletico are so obviously lowballing because they know Costa will decline a move elsewhere, Chelsea sure as hell can't be bullied into accepting an offer well below market value or risk the player suing the club for termination of contract. Like I said earlier, sets a really bad precedent that would have huge implications on the transfer market as a whole. In the end this is all Costa's own doing, he's the one who's repeatedly thrown his tantrums and soured his relationship with the staff at the club. A little respect to the employer goes a long way in securing a move elsewhere, see cases of Matic, Mata, Cech, Lukaku etc. where the club have even sold to domestic rivals when the players haven't behaved like spoiled brats. Chelsea are not a club that has history of keeping players against their wills as long as the situation is handled professionally, but Costa's behavior has been anything but professional with all these public statements about Atletico, partying with Atletico shirt and so on.