Reddish-Blue

Pretty sure a few other players also mentioned similar, saying that they were tired after the training sessions with Poch.

Wouldn't that rule out Spurs as well? Don't see how they are more 'appealing' than us This was the same kid that was heavily linked to Bayern Munich, him, Sane & Olise would be interesting to watch for sure!

We got mudryk because we ended up paying 20 million extra. We got Caicedo because we paid extra (after Liverpool jacked up the price in the first place). Lavia as well, we apparently allowed the deal to go through even though he had injury concerns.

That's interesting, the rival fans I've spoken with are delighted with the fact that we can't pull off top tier signings anymore (ever since Roman was told to sell the club). Particularly Liverpool, United and Arsenal fans love the fact that we are no longer a strong contender for a top 4 place. We used to be serious about being a competitive side and with quality managers at the helm, we managed to get a fair few trophies. Now we make it to cup finals and we look second best 😆

Would be good if you named the players. Other than KDH, I'm not sure which of our signings were seriously linked to Brighton/Benfica. There's a reason why City/Arsenal aren't going after these 'project' players and that will once again show at the end of the season when we are barely in the top 6 and they are 20+ points away from us.

Calafiori would have been a guaranteed starter, this kid will either be on the bench or go on loan somewhere for 1-2 seasons. That's not a fall back option. 😆

I'm wondering whether we can't pay that sort of fee due to PSR/FFP concerns. The only real sale we've completed is Maatsen and even then we wasted 19 million on Kellyman. I was expecting Broja and Gallagher to be sold to help fund a solid CB.

Don't worry, he'll fit right in at Chelsea's medical facilities. Fofana and Lavia can learn Italian this season! Definitely has that x-factor, shame about the injuries but I'd be surprised if someone doesn't take that risk at 25 million...

Agreed but he wouldn't be guaranteed starter over there with Saliba - Gabriel as first choice CBs. He'd walk into the lineup at Chelsea but granted we don't have UCL football for him.

Maybe that's true but I reckon they'll keep Guiu around till January and if he hasn't had enough playing time, they will find a loan for him. So who are the 4? Jackson, Nkunku, Guiu and possibly David from Lille (if it happens)? I'm not counting Broja as his sale would help with PSR concerns

Robben was from Holland and ended up being one of the best wide players we've had at the club over the years. I get the Bakayoko hate but nothing wrong with Holland (as a development league) if you sign the right players.

We bought Madueke for around 30 million...would think CHO would be around that sort of figure. Then there's Brighton who just bought that unknown newcastle talent for 30+ million. CHO would have easily netted us 25-30 million if he didn't have those niggling injuries and then for some reason being asked to re-train as a wingback.

Hazard was the exception to the rule. From memory we also lost Kovacic/Jorginho for low transfer fees as well.

If Fofana was fit, we wouldn't be buying CB's.....and Chalobah's been linked to moves for the past few summers but no-one seems that interested. To think at one point, we had Rudiger/Christensen/Tomori and even Guehi was on the books (might have been on loan in Championship). Fast forward 2-3 years, they are all gone and we have CB's who aren't really better than any of them.

Would think Calafiori is ahead of both of them at the moment. Colwill's injuries and lack of continuity last season didn't help his development as I expected him to kick on from his loan at Brighton.

That would be a very very nice signing. I don't expect us to get Calafiori but we desperately need talent at CB. Tosin isn't enough as there are still question marks over Disasi/Badiashile and even Colwill.

What academy talent do we have that is close to the level of Paez and Estevao? I'm more interested in seeing what the club do with guys like Ugo, Santos, Casadei as there aren't many minutes available in midfield. Maybe they get sold off just like Maatsen to help balance the books on PSR.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c4nge0l7e1po There will be more to this story. There's no way Kellyman is worth 19 million at this stage of his career. It will be interesting to see whether other clubs complain about these 'PSR' deals.

I think it's more to do with how Newcastle/Villa/Everton were run in previous years and that is catching up to them. I just don't see them selling their best attacker, would be almost as bad as Bruno G wanting to move elsewhere.

how many buy backs are actually used in the Premier league though? If Hutchinson wants to play for us and if he's in Maresca's plans, we shouldn't be selling him at all. But if he's not keen on being a bit part/squad player next season, good luck to him and hopefully we get a decent sell-on clause.

I'd be happy with David/Jackson up top, with the likes of Nkunku and Palmer in the support roles. I'd be surprised if United/Spurs don't bid on him though.

That Villa deal was just cooking the books, it seems like they only agreed to pay the fee for Maatsen as long as we 'paid' for one of their youngsters. I know a few Villa fans and they said Kellyman is definitely one of the better youngsters coming through in recent times from their academy but the fee should be more like 8 to 10 million + achievable add-ons (based on appearances etc).

As expected, looks solid already for such a young defender.

You also have to think about other clubs current striking options. United are after Zirkzee, Arsenal were close on Sesko before he signed the new deal, Spurs/us are sort of in the same position where we don't have an out and out finisher up front but there is quality in the attack.

Duran isn't a great option as he's untested. We don't need 2 developing players as our first team striker options. The preference would be David but he'll have plenty of choices for his next club, will be interesting to see if Chelsea can sell him on the project moving forward.