Reddish-Blue

Wouldn't be the worst buy for City, especially if he comes in on a minimal fee (as his contract is set to expire and apparently he is reluctant to sign a new deal at Chelsea). He could ride the bench and be a squad player for them just like Kalvin Phillips and whoever else they have these days. Having seen a bit of him at Burnley, he's got the raw attributes of a player that would do well under Pep's coaching. I'd be surprised if Maatsen is still here after the January window, same probably goes for Chalobah (as the club would look to cash in and get some profit on the board to balance the summer expenditure)

Its either Mudryk or more of Chilwell being asked to play as a LW. Don't see Maatsen getting much game time as he's probably just waiting for City to put in a bid for him.

The high level strategy is obvious, get all the wonderkids and top level talents and let them develop together. The problem is, we have zero experience in the squad and I don't see how we're going to be in the UCL race for the next 2 seasons....by which time some of the better youngsters will have plenty of offers across Europe to go and be involved in title challenges/UCL games etc and we will be stuck as a mid table side.

Didn't he go on an interview recently and suggest that his preference would be Arsenal/Liverpool or something along those lines. Not sure we need another player who doesn't want to be here.

You would think there would be enough data out there to find those "creative" players. Even when us and a whole host of other clubs were keen on Hazard, it was pretty clear from watching him and seeing his data/stats at Lille that he was on his way to becoming a top player. The real concern is that there was only 1 plan heading into this season and that revolved around Nkunku, Reece being fit for the most part. With both players out for an extended period of time, we have no cutting edge in attack and we're sort of crossing our fingers and hoping that Sterling scores a goal or Jackson finally takes a chance in front of goal (had two massive opportunities to get goals against West Ham & Forest....both games we should not have lost).

For me personally I just don't get where the Palmer signing came from on like the last day of the transfer window...surely the priority would have been to get that experienced attacker to come in and play alongside Sterling/Jackson/whoever else we plan on throwing up front until Nkunku recovers. It's just a shame that with all this investment we seemed to jump after all the wonderkids hoping they pan out rather than going after players with 2-3 seasons of football in them. If the directors made signings like Gabriel, Washington, Ugo among others at their previous clubs they'd be absolutely delighted at getting top young talent through the door as they'd be able to develop and essentially flip the asset for a massive profit in 2+ seasons time but that doesn't really work for Chelsea unless our model has changed from going after titles to being a talent id factory.

I do wonder how this sporting director setup actually works. Surely there is someone in that group with previous experience at a top club who would push for experienced players (i.e. players in that 25-28 age group) to be signed to help these youngsters.

That's what happens when you keep signing players like a FIFA save and not worry about positional needs and experience. Is there really no-one with a footballing brain at the club? Did they really expect Jackson/a kid from Brazil/Mudryk/Madueke/Broja to become world-class this season and get us top 4? We are going to get a few thrashings this season, that's for sure. Had the chance to ease into the season with 1 really tough game and we end up dropping 6 points to Moyes & Forest.

I really do wonder if we will get higher than 10th place this season.

Hope for Poch's sake that the players actually turn up today! If we lose here, we're in for a world of pain with the tough fixture list coming up.

To be fair to Werner, he wasn't that bad, he at least worked hard and had a good record at Leipzig to suggest that the talent was there. Mudryk was linked to Everton for under 30 million when Lamps was over there and that's probably what he was worth. Putting down a 70 million investment in a player that doesn't really offer anything other than running in a straight line was a stupid idea to begin with. Compare that to Liverpool getting creators/goalscorers in Diaz, Jota, Gakpo. No wonder why we're in the midst of a mid table battle yet our rivals are all trying to get European football next season.

The point is Pep would never agree to sign 20 youngsters and babysit them for 2-3 seasons hoping they become class. When Pep wanted a GK, he got Ederson, when he needed a CB to lead the defence, he got Dias and now Gvardiol, when he needed a class midfielder, he got De Bruyne, Silva, Rodri and then topped it all off with the alient up front and his Argentinian sidekick in Alvarez. Feel like Poch didn't have a strong enough voice to tell the board that he needed some experience in midfield/attack to help push these youngsters and get some immediate wins.

Best players in the world at their positions? Are you a FM Manager by any chance? Apart from Sterling, which 'attacker' at the club would start for a top 4 side right now? Which top 4 side is putting Sanchez as their starting GK? It's not about getting it right or wrong, it's about having an unhealthy balance of youngsters in the team and expecting them to go out there each week and win immediately. Some of these players may not come good until they've played 2 seasons here and by that time, they will probably be keen on jumping ship to another side that can offer them immediate path to success.

As if that matters, we'll do most things right, then Bournemouth will get 2 chances on the counter, bury both of them, and they'll win 2-0 or 2-1.

Seems like whoever wrote that article made a mistake, the player is Diego Moreira, was signed from Benfica, 19 year old winger and he's currently on loan at Lyon.

Makes you wonder just how much Brighton fleeced us for their players. The top teams are taking the best of the best and we're playing Football Manager in real life 😆

Was a good player on his day, under-rated midfielder, did the simple things well.

Maybe that's why he didn't join Burnley on deadline day, probably had better offers on the table.

To be fair, they've made some good young signings in recent times. Udogie, Sarr, that Argentinian young striker, Vuskovic...

Still makes no sense as to why we needed Caicedo/Lavia/Ugo in the same window....not to mention Santos being wasted at Forest. Lack of planning from the club, seems like someone is playing FM and hoarding all the wonderkids and hoping a few of them come good.

That's the reason why he wanted the Arsenal transfer as he wanted to play alongside Zinchenko (his friend and buddy on the left flank). It's a shame but I just don't see where the improvement is going to come from. Feels like another Kepa situation where you hope the player comes good eventually.

Why use Salah as an example? He had to go to Serie A for 2 seasons, prove himself as a goalscorer before eventually being bought by Liverpool. It's not like Salah left Chelsea and immediately joined Liverpool, he actually had to go to another league to develop his game, same can be said about KDB, he went to the Bundesliga to develop his game.

Unfortunately, time has never been given to any Chelsea manager....especially when they can't get wins on the board. I doubt it's going to be any different for Poch. We saw what the American ownership did with Potter and if Poch can't get a tune out of this group, it's hard to say if he will still be manager next season. I actually like the rebuild that was undertaken (for the most part)....not sure why we needed 3 midfielders who essentially play the same role (on paper) but other than that, pretty happy with the youngsters we've got.

During his time at City, absolutely. If his numbers were that good at Chelsea, we wouldn't have struggled that badly last season. You can't honestly be comparing a 25+ goal a season striker with Jackson? And that is the problem. Jackson barely had 1 season of top flight football under his belt and now he's expected to lead the front line and score goals on a regular basis for a club that should be fighting for a top 4 place in the PL. In 2 seasons time, Jackson may become the striker we are all hoping for....but we needed someone to ease the pressure right now and that's not Jackson.

Who are you expecting to attract to the club? Funny thing is, we probably needed that Forest striker more than Jackson right now....i.e. someone that can come in and be that physical presence up front. We signed a project striker for our 'rebuild'.....when all of our traditional rivals for the top 6 have top class players up front. Haaland - Alvarez/Foden, Bruno - Rashford, Salah/Jota/Nunez, Jesus/Saka/Martinelli, Son.