Strike

Was in favour of Maresca's decisions so far. But I agree with this. Seems like a misstep. Only explanation I can think of is there's a fund crunch to go out and sign someone when there's 3 senior keepers on the books. Also the reason for free signing at CB

any preference between Valles, Jorgenson and Marmadashvili?

Not number 1 for me. He doesn't have the influence on the game as someone like Guardiola does. Look at Guardiola's students managing Arsenal, Chelsea, Bayern and Leverkusen. He's changed the modern game more than Ancelotti imo as successful as he has been in winning trophies.

Carlo never let a CL final slip after Istanbul

Farewell Poch. Will barely remember you were at the club

Milan have been keen on Badiashile. There's a better market for him than Disasi.

5 is plenty in a 2 centre-back system and with Reece, Cucu and Alfie (if he stays) able to fill in.

I agree. If he's the only CB signing, we have problems.

As a replacement for Chalobah he looks good honestly.

2 years and he will rock up in the Indian Super League 🥳

It must be. Former CIty youth player till 2020

DiMarzio is saying that Chelsea haven’t followed up after one meeting with Osimhen’s agents. Wages and fee is the issue.

I don’t think age is the concern. They’re signing a 26 year old CB it looks like

Right call to get in a new GK. How are these two keepers with their ball-playing?

Yep - you're right. The patterns are up to the phase before the final part of the attack. But they are intensive and drilled into players till they are muscle memory almost. Few Guardiola players (Bernardo Silva among them) have talked about the repetitive drills. This is also why City keep scoring similar kind of goals - cutbacks from the byline to an attacker.

Tuchel did not prioritise drilling attacking patterns into the team. He always focused on a robust defensive setup. If Maresca can focus on the attack, he has creative players like Cole and Nkunku who are better than anyone in the group Tuchel had.

I think finding a coach to play repetitive attacking patterns football is a good idea. As boring as it may be, mirroring Arteta and Pep is the most pragmatic way to go about building a winning team. In a league where most teams will be playing a low block against us, its going to be important in most game weeks to have a team that controls the ball well and is able to build effective attacks.

His salary is less than half of Poch's salary. 4.2 million a year. Still don't get the eagerness to sign a 5+1 year deal though. 3+1 would be plenty of confidence shown in him I thought.

Not a very reliable source but first links for Diogo Costa

Looks like Dortmund are approaching Chelsea to negotiate without triggering the release fee. Maybe they can't afford it and need to make the payment in a different structure. Source : Fabrizio

I see the links for Osimhen have been cooling down for weeks. And I see Fabrizio and others saying keep an eye on Benjamin Sesko and Chelsea.