Jase

Just saw that on Daily Mail and err, are we supposed to believe the German media stories on English players?

Sounds like Kante was back to his best against Sweden tonight.

@Vesper is the person for it. But I have picked out the key info of the article above. There are also some bits on Havertz's stats and how he will fit in but nothing too extensive.

https://theathletic.com/2044050/2020/09/05/havertz-transfer-mclachlan-marina-phone-call-lampard-real-madrid/ Some inside info from The Athletic on our pursuit-purchase of Havertz... - Club started making transfer plans over a year ago when the transfer ban became a reality. - Havertz had already been watched on several occasions. Scott McLachlan, the head of international scouting, championed Havertz to the board from a very early stage. - Club have followed Havertz for several years. Same case with Werner but more extensive with Havertz. - Bayern, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool, Man United all reached to Havertz's representatives over the last 18 months to gauge whether they could be at the front of the queue to sign him - Contact with Havertz's representatives were initiated around late April/early May 2019. Club had wanted to spend big and Havertz was very much in the forefront of that. - Bayern never made any offer. Man United gave a noteworthy presentation of their own last year but didn't go any further. - It's believed Real Madrid were Havertz's preferred destination because of their glamour and one of his idols Toni Kroos is playing for them. Even when Chelsea began stepping up the efforts earlier this year, there was suspicion he was waiting for Real to make a move. - Chelsea benefited from the COVID-19 pandemic because it impacted Real's and Bayern's finances. They had hoped Havertz would stay another year at Leverkusen before making a move next year. - But Havertz had decided to leave Leverkusen this summer because he felt he had outgrown the team, they didn't qualify for the Champions League and he needed a new challenge. Leverkusen also weren't willing to wait and risk decreasing his value. - Wrong to suggest Havertz merely settled for Chelsea because it was the only option. Chelsea went from being just an option to something very desirable to Havertz. - Club sent a message to Havertz with the signings of Werner, Ziyech etc to highlight their ambition. - Lampard reached out to Havertz at the end of the Bundesliga season and laid out his vision of attacking football with young players at the fore. Lampard explained how he was building a new team and Havertz was going to be one of the key players. There was a feeling of freshness and momentum and Havertz wanted to be part of it. - In contrast to the ageing squads and disarray of Real Madrid and Barcelona, Chelsea came across the more enticing adventure at this stage of Havertz's career. - Havertz was reportedly impressed with Marina, the way Chelsea stepped on the gas and went for the deal. Stature of the Premier League helped and the challenge of winning with Chelsea is seen as a bigger thing because it's harder to do. - Chelsea have made their intentions clear to sign Havertz before Lampard took charge. - Havertz made up his mind to join Chelsea at the end of July. - Agreement with Leverkusen was only finalized earlier this week. The Athletic were told on one hand, Chelsea will pay an initial figure of 62 million pounds but on the other hand, Leverkusen are confident they will receive the full asking price in time. - Inevitably, there are questions of what his arrival will mean for some of the younger players in the squad, who fear they may be sidelined. While that is a factor, there's a lot of positive talk in the camp about Havertz and the other signings. There is acceptance that Chelsea will always make signings and signing players like Havertz will help the others raise their game and win trophies.

Hardly wow I guess but have also noticed Arsenal, Spurs, Brighton etc played friendlies today.

Doing fitness work today...

Wonder if we'll have some kind of friendly in midweek just to get the match fitness up for some players. Liverpool are playing a pre-season game right now against Blackpool despite not having their full squad.

Well, there is a difference between being our record transfer signing and not being our record transfer signing. We fans might not care but you can bet the talk of pressure of being our record signing will be mentioned a lot. And also, it would be just kinda nice to know how much we are actually paying upfront for Havertz...just for information sake.

This CarefreeYouth fella is a funny one. On one hand, it does look he knows his stuff because he has some inside info but on the other hand, it always feels like he's reacting to after the fact, pretending like he has inside source when he actually doesn't.

The point here isn't about the fee but the quality of players he wanted. We would still have ended up with duds, just like we did with Drinkwater, Zappacosta etc. You complained about the piss poor players that we have but are okay with what Conte wanted back then? Let's face it, Conte is a pain in the arse to deal with. It's always either his way or he'll go on a "riot" and start moaning about everything, including the club, in the public. You only have to look at some of the recent nonsense he did at Inter when he didn't get what we wanted. And oh, you also have to look at some of the duds he's signed since he's been there.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8699149/Timo-Werner-rejected-Manchester-City-Pep-Guardiola-PHONED-making-Chelsea.html?ito=amp_twitter_share-top According to Bild, Guardiola called Werner to convince him to join City but was turned down because we could offer him more game time.

Pretty sure Pulisic won't be back in time for this game.

He did win the PL title but trust him when he's asking players like Candreva, Llorente? That's very difficult. Furthermore, this is a manager who refused to work with the board properly on transfer targets and reportedly turned off his mobile in 2017 off season to avoid being contacted by the club.

Conte had better targets? That's extremely debatable. The guy was asking for players like Fernando Llorente and Antonio Candreva. They might not be Drinkwater or Zappacosta but we would have ended up with duds too. I know we fans always say the club should back the manager but on hindsight, am glad the club didn't do that with Conte because a lot of the players he wanted were old, bang average players or worse.

In the description of the video: "Go behind the scenes as Chelsea's record transfer signing Kai Havertz signed his Blues contract and took a tour of his new home, Stamford Bridge!" Record transfer signing???

FIRST INTERVIEW KLAXON!! https://www.chelseafc.com/en/videos/v/2020/09/04/kai-havertz-s-first-chelsea-interview-PcBYQKkq

Seems like our fans even "harassed" the Chelsea Women players over this transfer. lol

Best agent in the world by the way.

Werner is happy...

Havertz added into the list.

LOL

The announcement video...