Jype

Think he could have done a job as a rotation option in midfield where the team is severely lacking numbers right now. He's got like 100 games worth of experience from top level football after his loans at Elche, Monaco and Milan so why not keep him and see what he can do? Surely some fancy CM signing must be coming in now with the club letting this guy go too even after Matic and Chalobah sales.

Pretty sure the Atsu fee was reported as £6M at the time of the transfer. edit - yes, look here: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/may/16/newcastle-agree-fee-chelsea-christian-atsu

Quiet market? Three big signings have been made, that's more than most teams in the PL apart from City. Of course there's a few outgoings too, but overall it's been far from a quiet window. Then there's also the club being linked for the likes of Renato Sanches, Ross Barkley, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Alex Sandro, Antonio Candreva, Fernando Llorente, Ryan Bertrand and lots of other players. Still more than a month left to sign players. Before Morata I was kind of pessimistic too because without the striker signing there was a huge problem, but now that's settled and we see the club linked for many more players than couple weeks ago and I think something is really happening behind the scenes. I have no doubt we'll see 2-3 new incomings before the end of the window, who those will be is still very much in the open.

I know. Ever heard of loan fees? Milan are offering €1.5M for one year loan and Bayern asking for a fee in excess of €5M. For Chelsea I can't see loan fee being a problem. The only obstacles for move to Chelsea are the question of whether a buy option is included or not, and the player's own willingness to join if he has bigger roles offered elsewhere. At age 19 I can certainly understand if he prefers going somewhere he will actually play every game, like Milan probably would, seeing as he has already wasted a season being a benchwarmer.

"AC Milan chairman Marco Fassone has admitted that Bayern Munich's asking price for Renato Sanches is too high." (Source: Daily Mail)

Really rate the lad, would love it if he was signed. Loan with an option to buy at £40M max would be great, but without a buy option I'd not bother. Kante/Bakayoko/Cesc/Sanches/Baker would be amazing in both quality and quantity. Enough legs to deploy a three man midfield at times (like 3-5-2) and Cesc/Baker can also play further up in the usual 3-4-3 so I think there would be enough games for everyone, except for maybe Baker depending on whether Conte sees him as a part of his plans or not. Don't believe it till I see it tho. All that talk about "Conte discussing a transfer with Ancelotti" just seems kinda fishy to me, the managers are not the ones involved in transfer negotiations ffs

Just says there Juventus are trying hard to bring back their loanee left-back Leonardo Spinazzola from Atalanta a year earlier than agreed. Here's the English version of Di Marzio's report: http://gianlucadimarzio.com/en/juventus-push-to-bring-spinazzola-back-to-turin-the-situation If it's true then the timing is kinda weird because surely they'd have brought him back earlier in the summer if that was their plan all along, so now people think it might have something to do with Alex Sandro potentially being sold. I have to admit, I'm starting to get more optimistic about the chances of signing Sandro. For a while it looked like the deal was dead, but recent reports have got me hopeful again.

Yeah sure, but Kieran Trippier is not an established first teamer as of now so if they get Toljan he will have a real chance to make the position his own. The fact they're after another highly rated young RB kinda tells me Pochettino doesn't trust Trippier as much as their fans do.

Mourinho does.

I also rate the guy from his performances at Aston Villa but that seems like a lifetime ago and for the last couple of years he's hardly played a game so not sure how good he'll be now. Would assume he'll want to actually play more games when he eventually leaves City so a move to a mid-table side will probably be best for him, last I saw Stoke were being linked.

Yeah, and it's not like Nasri is even going to stay. Fabian Delph most likely also on his way out and Gündogan is a huge question mark due to his injuries. Not everything is what it seems like. On paper City have 9 midfielders but take away Nasri and Delph it's only seven guys for three positions with one of those a severe injury crock. Of course KDB, 2x Silvas, Fernandinho, Fernando, Yaya and Gündogan is still a cracking set of midfielders but with just one more addition I'd say ours are pretty strong too: Bakayoko, Cesc, Kante, Baker and one new signing would be five players for two positions. Most teams would be envious of that in both quality and depth but I guess 'the grass is always greener on the other side' mentality rules these days.

From what I've seen of this guy (albeit not that much) he has mostly impressed me. Versatile player, being able to play RWB and CM which are both positions of need at Chelsea so €40M doesn't sound too bad. Can't see them letting him go easily tho, we're talking about a 25-year-old player who's featured in almost 100 games over the past two seasons for Barcelona. Of course there's the release clause so if he wants to go then there's nothing Barca can do about it, but why would he want to leave if Barcelona still see him as a key player? Improved contract with a bigger release clause the most likely scenario here.

This guy was great for Germany at the U21 Euros, at £3M it's pretty much a no-brainer. Capable of playing both flanks to provide a squad option for both wing-back positions, what's not to like? I've heard he's really highly rated in Germany and only going for peanuts because of his contractual situation. If he cost £30M I'm betting people would be more excited about the prospect of signing him but at £3M it's like "meh, he's cheap so he must be shit". Think he'll end up at Spurs tho, they will offer him more game time after selling Walker.

Probably because negotiations for him aren't over yet and it's kinda disrespectful to talk about players from other teams your own club is in negotiations for. Couple days ago talks of the club targeting Alex Sandro, Antonio Candreva and Fernando Llorente was a pretty obvious media brief from either Conte or someone from the board so I'd assume they're still going to try for Sandro. If Conte wants he can comment on Sandro if/when negotiations don't lead to anything and he signs that extension at Juve, much like he namedropped Walker here. It does no harm to anyone at that time but to say something now might just piss off Juventus and cause them raising the price even higher.

I think the club captain role is given to Cahill based on seniority and him being English. I agree that on the pitch Luiz and Azpilicueta show better leadership through example but I sort of see where the club are going with naming Cahill the new captain. There's also approval for this from JT himself who said the following: “Gary has been brilliant as captain for Chelsea but the manager will decide. However, it’s not just on the field that he has led the field brilliantly, but inside the dressing room as well. No one really gets to see that. He has been a man-mountain at times. The way in which he was speaking at half-time during some of the games, like in the FA Cup Final against Arsenal, where he was leading the group, showed what a big character he is. If he gets the armband, he will fit it well." It's kind of like Carrick being United's captain now, he doesn't always play but when he does he wears the armband. I see no reason why Cahill being club captain would mean he always has to play, and when he's benched the likes of Luiz or Cesar will be captain. I think it's only a good thing to have many leader personalities in the team, it's one of the reasons the club was so successful in the past decade with the likes of Terry, Lamps, Drogba and Cech all being 'captain material' but sadly only one can carry the title of captain.

Last pre-season match before the Community Shield so would prefer to see the strongest team starting and play most of them for at least 60 minutes. Maybe something like this: Courtos - Cahill, Luiz, Azpilicueta - Alonso, Fabregas, Kante, Moses - Willian, Morata, Batshuayi Christensen, Rüdiger, Boga, Baker, Tomori to come on sometime in the second half.

^ Quite obviously a club briefing, no chance all the major newspapers in England got the same exact story at the same time without being briefed or leaked. Sounds promising though. Club still confident on Alex Sandro plus going after Llorente and Candreva as squad player signings. Land all those and it's a huge impovement overall on last season's squad.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/grzegorz-krychowiak/verletzungen/spieler/45184 This has him down having missed only six games through injuries but still he played just 19 games out of PSG's 57 matches in all competitions and only started 11 of those. Not really sure what went wrong with him at PSG because at Sevilla Krychowiak was one of the manager Emery's top performers and followed his old coach to Paris so it would be easy to assume he'd fit in pretty well there too but from what I've heard he had a pretty shocking season. For a reasonable price around €15-20m it could be a decent gamble to get this guy as fourth CM but I doubt he'd want to join if not given a starting role. Pretty sure he was just a backup alternative for Bakayoko and not quite convinced the club are still interested in him.

What is? If you mean City splashing £150M for full-backs in one window and still after one more player then yeah, it's hilarious. If you mean Chelsea 'missing out' on Mendy then no, it's not ridiculous. It's been clear for couple of months now that Mendy will end up at City and the only reports even remotely linking the lad to Chelsea were merely saying the club had asked to 'keep tabs' on the developments but no real bids were ever made, possibly because the player had his heart set on a move to City. Either way, something needs to be done about the wing-back problem. Club should make one last push for Sandro, even at £70M, and if Juve won't bite then simply move on and go after someone else like that Alex Telles lad or get Ryan Bertrand back before City get him too.

No idea if this lad is any good but as a player type he would fit in well, being capable of filling in two positions of need (striker / winger). If Conte knows the guy and it's him who wants the signing then I'm all for it.

Third best option would be former blue Ryan Bertrand.

Yeah, that's probably it. Still see him being linked to many clubs tho. Interesting to see who the club target if/when Matic gets sold to wherever. So far no rumours of the replacement but surely someone must be coming in now that only three senior midfielders in Bakayoko, Kante, Fabregas remain and Baker from the youth department. Chalobah would've been perfect for that role imo, but sadly he's gone and another set of legs will be needed.

Can't understand why the club aren't after Fabinho for Matic replacement. Would be killing two birds in one stone, as he'd provide another option for CM as well as RWB. Unless Monaco aren't willing to sell him after already losing a few key players.

I thought yesterday he said he doesn't care what Chelsea do. http://www.espnfc.com/manchester-united/story/3161014/jose-mourinho-not-interested-in-alvaro-moratas-pending-move-to-chelsea Truth is, he's still kinda obsessed. He's the one who always keeps talking about the club when it's none of his business anymore.

Probably more like being let know if City agree a fee so they can then decide whether to match it or not. Maybe the club are still holding onto the hopes of getting Alex Sandro so for the time being focusing their negotiations on him and only try to hijack Mendy if he gets closer to a City move while Sandro deal is getting nowhere, but it's a risky move because there's a really high chance of missing out on both. After City hijacking the club's move for Danilo it would be really sweet to get one over on them by signing Mendy, their number one pick for LB.