Jype

Ahh, right. Makes more sense now.

Rüdiger is not injured, he's still on holiday but will join the squad in Singapore next week.

Looks like it's finally happening. So many twists and turns in this however that I won't believe anything till I see it with my own eyes. Morata is an immense risk but an 18-year-old Mbappe for Real Madrid at a world record price is not? Really? From what I've seen most Real Madrid fans are gutted if Morata goes.

Stupid move by Danilo if he indeed ends up at City. Rumour was that he's looking to quit Real Madrid to play more instead of being just Carvajal's backup and then he goes to City after they just paid £50M for Walker who is guaranteed to play every game when fit. At Chelsea he'd be challenging Moses and would have a real chance of breaking in the Starting XI if he did well. Wasn't that convinced by this guy to begin with, but don't really see many better options out there either.

Well to be fair signing a contract with improved terms but same contract length is hardly amazing, only confirms he's finally getting that long overdue pay raise and won't be going anywhere this summer if there was ever any doubt about that. Of course Conte being allowed to bring in more of his own guys to the backroom staff is great so in a way giving the man more power at the club goes some way in making him more committed even without an extension. However, not agreeing to the previously offered 2021 extension does spin the story quite nicely to fit the narrative that Conte is not satisfied enough with the board's efforts in the market this summer to commit himself for longer than two more years. If all turns out well he can sign the extension later but if he's not happy with the club next summer he can easily jump ship to Milan or something. Anyway I'm just happy it's finally out in the open that he's staying so any silly rumours about him walking out will be put to bed. Now just need to make some long overdue player signings and all is good.

1) No, the narrative was that Chelsea matched the bid but not Raiola's agent fees. If Lukaku wanted to come he could just have told his agent to suck it up and take a smaller fee but he didn't, and I would think a key reason for that was Chelsea's bid being so late and everything being agreed with United already. Morata is most certainly not 'closer to Chelsea than Milan'. If that were the case the betting companies wouldn't offer 5/1 odds on Morata to Chelsea and 1/5 on him ending up at Milan. 2) Not really seen much of Telles last season, but I did get to know the player 1-2 years ago when he was previously linked with the club (before he moved to Porto). Saw a bunch of games from his time at Inter in 15/16 and back then he didn't do enough for them to use their option to buy at €9M. Maybe he's developed a lot since then but I'm not sure. 3) Either way it means the club are one midfielder short and seeing as Bakayoko is injured we're going in the season with Kante and Fabregas as the only two first team central midfielders and for me that's a huge worry. Signing another midfielder should be just as big a priority as the Costa replacement. Without the sale of Chalobah all would've been good but now a new signing must happen fast. As for the lack of spending, could be many reasons. Preparing to pay for the new stadium could easily cause the penny pinching like it did for Arsenal, or maybe some people in high places at the club just think the squad is already good enough because of the title win. If latter is the case, they've learned nothing from summers of 2010 and 2015. To me the facts are following: We have 14 senior outfield players in the squad and two of them are out injured till at least September. Even with the addition of a few highly rated youngsters in Kenedy, Musonda and Baker it still leaves with just 15 players at most available for selection in the first month or so, assuming we have luck on our side and there will be no fresh injury problems during pre-season and/or the first few games going into the season. Name one Champions League level team with a squad so thin only few weeks before the new seasons starts, I'll wait. Newsflash, there aren't any. If the club didn't want to be taken to the cleaners in transfer negotiations, maybe they should have thought twice before letting go of every single squad player without any replacements confirmed and maybe Conte should have waited before telling Diego Costa he's no longer welcome at the club. Now that they've done that everyone knows the desperate situation the club are in and that makes the negotiations twice as hard as they normally would be and with each passing day it becomes even harder.

1) Lukaku was most certainly not beyond the club's reach as far as value went. They just thought United would get Morata, paving the way clear for Chelsea to get Lukaku and from a better negotiating position without any competition for the player's signature also shave a little bit off the price because Everton had to sell him (he wanted to go). They even matched United's bid at the last minute so clearly they were willing to pay it, so if waiting long enough to get gazumped is not an obvious case of dithering I don't really know what is. And for Aubameyang the narrative is that Dortmund set their internal deadline for the transfer months ago and everyone in the world knew it, Chelsea just decided not to act on it and Matt Law, the club's official mouthpiece in the media, wrote yesterday the club are taking things slow and not wanting to get bullied into paying too much for anyone. Well now the waiting game cost us the chance to sign Aubameyang because I wouldn't doubt Dortmund CEO's word on this. Maybe the club and Conte were never even interested in PEA to begin with but if that's the case then surely someone else must be coming in but who? Morata is very close to joining Milan and seems a pretty straightforward transfer for them because Real Madrid have a fixed price from which they won't budge and so far Milan seem to be the only club willing to pay it. There's still an outside chance of hijacking it from Milan but at the moment I wouldn't bet on it. Belotti will cost the full release clause too so if Lukaku was 'too expensive' then surely the Italian is too. After already missing out on the first choice target Lukaku getting one of Auba/Morata/Belotti was an absolute must but now looks like one is definitely off the market and another is getting close to joining another club. Benteke or Llorente next if Belotti will prove too expensive? 2) We will see, I don't really rate Alex Telles but if he's signed and Conte wants him then fair enough. Not heard anything of him for weeks now tho, all really quiet. 3) Doesn't really matter if Matic is being frozen out by the club or if the man himself is the one angling for a move, fact still remains that he's as good as gone and with Chalobah already being sold the club have two fit first team central midfielders (+ Baker) with no replacement for Matic yet lined up. Rüdiger deal came out of the blue for obvious reasons and that's Roma having to make a quick sale to balance their FFP books after Manolas to Zenit fell through. Most deals aren't like that and some journo close to the clubs usually gets a whiff of negotiations taking place but so far we haven't heard anything, which to me is pretty obvious that nothing concrete is being done about it yet and at most the club are 'keeping tabs' on different options like with the strikers. Good signings like Luiz and Alonso can of course be made late in the window, but the longer they wait the bigger risk of another 'Djilobodji' type panic buy. 4) Yeah, maybe. Like I said this one's not a huge priority because when Hazard is fit having one of Pedro/Willian on the bench is most times enough so the new signing will mostly be just for squad depth. One thing's for sure though, the club have the money available (tv deal, Nike, Yokohama etc. and especially the already completed player sales) but for some reason just really reluctant to spend it and have been for a few years now. The club's net spend in the market for the last three years is like £10M or something, it's impossible to keep improving the team closer to Europe's elite if all new signings must be equally funded by player sales despite the ever growing income from commercial deals. I just read news from Simon Johnson of the Evening Standard that the club have scrapped previously made plans to play another domestic pre-season friendly before the season starts. Would bet my house on the reason for that being the severely small squad with zero depth so potentially losing players to injury is simply unacceptable and it's better to have the remaining first team players somewhat lacking match fitness than being out injured. Question is, if they planned on playing one more friendly and having a bigger squad by then, what's the holdup with the signings?

Yeah. There's only a slight problem that getting in a new CF, RW, CM, LWB and RWB needs a HUGE amount of work to be done by the board, not to mention a lot of money which the club seem really reluctant in spending for some reason. So far the board have managed to pull off two signings (not counting Caballero because a backup GK on a free is as straightforward a deal as it gets) in two months and there's only a few weeks left till the season starts so I absolutely cannot see them getting in five players done in time and that's why letting go so many squad players is kinda moronic. If the club does indeed make five more additions to the team with at least the striker being a top class player and the rest of them at least adequate squad members then yeah all is good, but right now it doesn't really look like anything is being done about most of those positions. Here are the facts: 1) The club were already caught dithering with the striker problem and that caused missing out on Conte's first choice target. The second choice, Morata, is looking likely to slip away too and also Dortmund keep reminding everyone that potential buyers only have a few more days left to buy Aubameyang but so far not a single formal offer has come in and they have even denied being in negotiations with Chelsea. Something needs to happen and fast! 2) All the eggs were put in the Alex Sandro basket for LWB signing but that's not gonna happen now. The second best option, Mendy, is already going to Man City so who's next? I'd go and get Ryan Bertrand back from Southampton but won't be easy negotiating with that club. 3) Chalobah was sold and Matic is being frozen out without as much as a peep about a replacement so I'm having a really hard time believing anything is being done about that. This for me is even more worrying than the striker situation because Bakayoko is injured till September and it's a massive risk to go in with just Kante and Fabregas as the only available central midfielders. There's really important league games against top6 coming up already in the first few rounds and losing too many points there can really hurt the season so the club simply can't wait till September 1st to sign the central midfielder version of Papy Djilobodji. 4) Same as above for attacking midfielders. Hazard is still out for a good while and even after recovering he'll need time to get back to full fitness having missed out pre-season entirely so for the moment Conte is left with just Willian and Pedro as first team wingers. Not as acute an issue as the CF and CM departments but still one signing is needed here for squad depth. Only seen some rumours today about Yannick Carrasco but remains to be seen whether there's something real about those reports, would be a good choice tho. The last two title defenses in 10/11 and 15/16 were nothing short of embarrassing and the key reason for both those was the club's reluctance in making improvements in the squad through new signings. Go back two years to read this forum and people were just as concerned as now and they were right so it's more than understandable to raise questions now too. For most clubs this would be the time to try build up momentum by making some key signings and really go for the back-to-back title wins and a good European campaign, but Chelsea have history of resting on their laurels over the summer after a convincing title win and call me crazy but I'm honestly sensing the same kind of pattern here this time around. Will be really glad if I'm proven wrong though.

They might not be huge losses as far as the first choice starting eleven goes but to get rid of ALL squad players at the same time is just crazy. Don't forget there were already departures of Oscar, Mikel and Ivanovic in January without any replacements. At the moment, not counting the youth players there is just one striker, three attacking midfielders (one injured), three central midfielders (one injured) and two wing-backs (one suspended) in the squad. So without further reinforcements for the league opener against Burnley there's only six first team players available for seven positions and the bench would pretty much be entirely made out of youngsters who haven't made a single appearance for the club. Don't know about you but that doesn't seem enough for a team that supposedly has ambitions to compete in four different fronts and unless Conte somehow magically starts trusting unproven young lads like Baker, Musonda and Kenedy the squad depth problem won't be solved with just one or two new signings.

Yeah, I agree. But with his injury record I'd say there's a big risk he'll decline massively in his early 30s and there's been some signs of decline already. He's still scoring a lot of goals for City but it's clear by just looking at him that he's not as good as a few years ago, the goal instinct is still there but his movement has taken a hit with the injuries. I have no doubt he'd tear up the PL for couple more years if we got him but I think it's quite safe to assume he's not a player who'll age particularly well so I'd rather not have the club spend massive amounts of money on him and instead go for someone else. For a peak player Aubameyang is a much more lucrative option, at the moment I'd say he's the better player and has no history of injuries either. Of course there's the chance of making City look like mugs if we got Aguero and he leads us to a title or two like van Persie did for United, but I believe signing Aguero would only be a short term fix for 2-3 years max. For the right price why not, but pretty sure City would demand like £70M and it's a lot of money for a player who might only be good for a couple more seasons.

Would be the natural choice for Chelsea. Not because he's the best option out the but rather quite the opposite: 2006-07 the club had a choice between Torres and Shevchenko, decided to 'play it safe' by going after the more experienced bigger name striker who proved past it. 2010-11 the club had a choice between Agüero and Torres, decided to 'play it safe' by going after the more experienced bigger name striker who proved past it. 2017-18 the club have a choice between Lukaku/Morata/Belotti and Agüero. See where I'm going with this?

He made the 'bullshit' comment when everyone thought him playing five-a-side on a Chelsea sponsored pitch meant the move was confirmed. Nothing wrong with that and I'd say it's only fair to squash the rumours if not for anything else than respect for the club at the time still paying his wages, which was Everton. Pretty well trusted journos have said Lukaku and Conte had been talking on the phone about a possible move since last season ended so I'm guessing he did want to come. That, and all the talk about his supposed 'unfinished business' earlier in the year. Players rarely come out in public to discuss this stuff because their contracts obligate them to be loyal, and after getting the move to another club they're hardly going to say it was only their second choice. With Lukaku transfer Chelsea just didn't act fast enough so when United came in and had no problem paying all parties what they wanted, the move was completed very quickly. United spent all of June negotiating for Morata because even they thought Lukaku was destined to return to Chelsea and only entered the fray when Mino Raiola let them know that deal to CFC had stalled and they still had a chance to get Lukaku.

Yeah, that worked out brilliantly with Lukaku and that's even with him initially wanting to join Chelsea. Leaving it that late is just stupid and hijacking deals at that point is really rare. Of course there's always the odd Willian who will get their head turned at the last minute but usually if negotiations have gone that far the decision to join a club is already made.

Getting this guy is quickly becoming the only viable option with Morata close to joining Milan. Either him or Belotti is a must now. The board just needs to take their heads out of their asses and actually start getting something done about the striker problem, can't believe they haven't even bid for anyone yet except for that desperate last minute attempt for Lukaku which everyone and their dog knew was going to fail because he had already agreed everything with United by then. Aubameyang is on the market for only one more week and if it's not done by then it never will be, because Dortmund have set the deadline for Aubameyang decision for 24th of this month and that's been well known for months so absolutely no reason to leave it this late.

I doubt that very much. They already got Andre Silva last month for €40M and if they get Morata now too I don't see them going for a third new expensive striker in the same window. Then again I didn't really see Milan buying this many players to begin with, so anything's possible. No smoke without fire, Morata's off to Milan. Wouldn't even surprise me one bit if the fee was something like €50M + bonuses while English clubs got quoted €80-90M up front.

I fail to see why Conte would/should care about the likes of Piazon and van Ginkel getting contract extensions, it's just a part of the club's business plan and decisions made only to maximize the revenue from when players like this ultimately get sold. With Conte being Italian he's surely used to it and knows what's up, since many clubs over there own almost as many players as Chelsea do and dump them out on loans and up until a few years ago they even had co-ownerships allowed which made clubs have a ridiculous number of players on their books. Selling a lad with couple hundred senior games under his belt and nearing his peak years as a player will fetch a significantly larger fee than selling an unproven youngster who just didn't cut it at a top club so it kinda makes sense to keep them because the loan clubs cover most of their wages anyway and for some players even loan fees could be involved. Apart from the financial perspective I just don't see what the players themselves get out of it because surely their development would be best served by making a permanent transfer elsewhere, much like we have now witnessed with the likes of Ake, Traore and Chalobah. Of course there's always the odd Victor Moses who got a similar contract extension when he went to West Ham and he got out of the loan limbo to make an unexpected return to Chelsea as an important player but at least he was a PL level player for many seasons, unlike Piazon. Van Ginkel has been unlucky with injuries but had big potential so I guess there's still some hope for him to make himself a good career but probably not with us.

They're asking for a lot of money because they can. Real Madrid are one of the richest clubs in the world and they don't have to sell him cheap when English clubs come calling, most importantly because they really prefer to keep him and secondly because the market for top class strikers is really thin right now. I think it's arrogant to think that clubs should somehow be honoured to have someone like Chelsea interested in their player and just accept to sell for a reduced fee. They successfully held United ransom over the fee and were so close to getting them pay the full asking price so why wouldn't they do the same when Chelsea call them. They also see what everyone else sees, a young 24-year-old player with an amazing scoring record for a bench player and great performances in big games (CL 14/15) not to mention being a regular for Spain NT. If Real sold him for like €50M and as Chelsea's main striker he turned out a world beater they'd look like absolute mugs but at €80-90M they could at least say to have received a massive fee and blame the player for wanting to leave. Of course there's a risk he would never live up to the price tag but that's the case with every transfer. Not having completed a single season as the main striker really comes down to the only teams he's been playing at, Real Madrid and Juventus. Would you really believe for a second that if someone like Lukaku had played at those teams for the last few years he'd have got any bigger role?

I'd like to just dismiss it as the clickbait it most likely is and Daily Star rank as one of the lowest when it comes to transfer news, but with everything that has been going on lately I simply can't shake the fear there might be something in it. The whole Lukaku case was a huge embarrassment and Bakayoko has been 'having his medical with signing imminent' for well over a month now without anything actually happening so as long as I don't see the player holding a blue shirt I still have some doubts. Mourinho is so bitter that a part of him probably wanted to make the Lukaku hijack just to spite Chelsea and Conte, so I could easily imagine him at least trying to do another one with Bakayoko too. I remember Jose being interested in Bakayoko before he supposedly chose Chelsea as his new club so he might still be willing to give it a go if the player's camp gave any indication of a deal still being possible. Rüdiger was at Confederations Cup and his transfer negotiations started weeks later than Bakayoko's but it was still completed first. There's a reason this signing hasn't yet been finalized and I don't really believe it's because of an injury problem. Maybe they've still been haggling over personal terms or something like that, so if United came in with a late bid and offered more wages he might still be swayed if nothing is signed yet. This transfer window is not good for a Chelsea fan's sanity, that's for sure.

Yeah, like Man United are run by some amateurs who wouldn't make sure everything was agreed before making the announcement. Agreeing personal terms is just something they have to write in that media release but everything's been agreed since two days ago and the announcement is just a confirmation to their fans and stock holders that he's coming, something which Chelsea could take a note from, I'm talking Bakayoko&Rüdiger and how frustrating it is not having heard anything yet. They won the race for Lukaku as soon as they briefed the media about having reached an agreement with the fee two days ago. Everything that happened after that was just Chelsea trying to save face having missed out on the signing, and judging by the latest article on the Times it has even worked: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/sport/antonio-conte-betrayed-by-romelu-lukakus-decision-f9bx80xtn "Antonio Conte has made his peace with Chelsea after their failure to sign Romelu Lukaku, with the head coach blaming the player and his agent, Mino Raiola, for the Everton striker’s impending transfer to Manchester United, which could be announced as early as today. It is understood that Chelsea matched United’s initial £75million up-front offer for Lukaku, but were unwilling to meet the agent fee being demanded by Raiola, which they believe has been pivotal in the Belgium striker’s apparent desire to move to Old Trafford." Now in the eyes of Chelsea the official scapegoats for this shower of shit are Lukaku and Raiola, not Emenalo and Granovskaia. Making the late bid was nothing but a media play because by then everything was already agreed with Lukaku and United so there was never really a chance of hijacking it anymore, and making sure everyone knew Chelsea's offer included less money to Raiola was merely trying to paint him as the ultimate villain. Can't really say I'm overly sad in missing out on Lukaku the player assuming we now get another top striker (Belotti, Morata or Aubameyang) but the way this has been handled is what makes it so disappointing. Conte wanted Lukaku, the player himself wanted to come and he still ends up at a rival club because of the board's incompetence. This has been a massive embarrassment to Chelsea as a club and we'll keep hearing about it for years every single time he scores for United. The only way Chelsea will end up on top here is if Lukaku somehow flops massively at United or has a huge falling out with Mourinho and we get the last laugh but does anyone really believe that will happen?

Please fuck no. As good as Costa is at his best, I can't say I'd miss him. His antics are disgusting. And I'm not talking about being a thug on the pitch, I kinda liked that actually, but all the off-pitch drama with Costa is just boring and I can't wait to be rid. Three transfer windows in a row he has been unsettled and wanting to move and last January for me was the last straw. He had his head turned by Chinese money and wasn't the same for rest of the season, almost train wrecking the whole season for everyone at the club. Plus fighting with Conte in training about the Chinese offer too. Can't afford to have someone as volatile as Costa at the club. Even at the rumoured £22M, which for a player of his talent is kinda insulting, I'd say get him as far from the team as possible and fast. Last thing we need is for the club to reward him of all his bullshit with a new contract. Thanks for the goals, will never forget Costa leading the line for two title winning seasons but time to move on.

Nope, their rules are not same as the Premier League have with HG players. In Italy clubs can sign two non-EU players from foreign clubs every year, that number won't go up if they sell some of their current non-EU players. This summer they have bought some guy called Rodrigo Bentancur from Boca Juniors and can only make one more non-EU signing. They also signed Cuadrado from us and Benatia from Juve but I'm guessing those don't count because they already had them under loan contract and only extended that to a permanent transfer with the options to buy.

http://gianlucadimarzio.com/en/chelsea-join-the-race-for-real-madrids-danilo-the-latest Di Marzio saying Juventus are close to Douglas Costa of Bayern and he'd fill their last non-EU signing of the summer, leaving Chelsea free and clear to sign Danilo. Not really convinced by this guy from what I've seen him at Real Madrid but he hasn't been playing as a wing-back so that could suit him pretty well and that's what Juve are planning for him too. For €25M I'd get him.

Why wait till late tonight to match United's bid, why not do it immediately when it was confirmed yesterday they had agreed with Everton? As I see it now it's too little, too late and he's a signature away from officially being a United player and has probably been celebrating the move in LA with his mate Pogba so it's difficult to swoop in anymore, but if it was done right after United's agreement there might still have been a chance. And how convenient is it that Chelsea in their briefing to the media about matching the bid made a big mention that they refused to pay Mino Raiola as much as United are offering. Even mentioning that in the briefing is kind of petty and only makes it seem the club have already conceded a loss here but just want to set the the narrative to paint Raiola as the villain to distract attention from the board's own incompetence. That way they can tell the fans and Conte that they tried but in the end it was Lukaku's choice to go to United for a bigger payday for himself and his agent, when the reality is that if they had done their job a month ago Lukaku would be ours without United ever even making an offer.

Can't pretend I've watched him as much as the likes of Lukaku or Morata but seen a few games last year and watched a 15 minute compilation video of his season. Granted youtube can make Heskey look like Messi but I still liked what I saw, seems exactly the type of player I'd want to lead the line and his statistics look good too. Reminds me a little bit of Costa but without all the thuggish characteristics. Only question mark is the price. Only had one breakthrough season with asking price now set for £87M and they won't budge. Massive risk, massive reward type of transfer.

Fake news.