Chelsea Transfers

[Vesper 30,195]

22 minutes ago, Tomo said:

Wouldn't make any sense given the type of players we're building our midfield round.

Only way he would fit in this setup would be at CB.

yes CB

that is his best position I think, but he offers flexibilty if the injury reaper comes calling at DMF

[King Kante 1,643]

I do not think we will be buying anyone of significance this season i.e. Harvetz/Sancho etc. In my opinion, all the top tier talent is out of bounds now because no club will want to finance it and the players will not want to sign long term contracts when the market is depressed. 

The only players I do see moving are: 

1) Players out of contract

2) Players with reasonable buyouts and lowish wages. 

For me, that only leave Telles, Upcaameno, Werner, Cavani, Mertens and Boga as players we have been linked with that could still be possible. However, of those players, I think Werner will either stay at RB and look to move next Summer (or only move to the Dippers), Telles will go to the highest bidder in wages (we are also going to have an issue with shifting Emerson and Alonso now which I think may mean no LB) and Upcameno will stay in Germany and move to Bayern on a free next Summer as Bayern always do that to there domestic rivals. 

That then leaves Cavani and Mertens, however our problem with those players are their age and our contract policy for over-30's, which makes me think they will not happen either as both of them probably can pick up 3 year contracts elsewhere. 

For that reason, I can only see Boga and may be a GK that is out of contract that is decent i.e. a Foster type signing. 

After that, I think we will just add more youth players. That would mean Ampadu, Maatsen and possibly Gallagher. 

After this, I think our only chances are teams that have to fire sale. However, the only team I see with top rank players that could fall into this problem are Atleti and Lazio. That would then potentially open up options in SMS, Immobile, Gimenez, Oblak and Partey. However, this would be a big maybe. 

[Pizy 18,927]

1 hour ago, Vesper said:

I am the only one on the board that I can recall who rates him, lol

I saw him have some dominant games for a really shit team

and I think he would be a great CB for us down the road (he has played there in the past)

I also recall saying a few months back that if we are looking for a midfielder who just sits and shields the defense Rice would be a good buy. But if I remember correctly he kind of went off the boil before this whole coronavirus stuff.

I think we could probably do better.

[Blues Forever 1,232]

Damn... now Nizaar also confirmed our interest on Rice.

[Vesper 30,195]

Chelsea 'call Mertens every day'

https://www.football-italia.net/152643/chelsea-call-mertens-every-day

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard is “calling Dries Mertens almost every day” to encourage the Napoli striker to move, claims transfer intermediary Vincenzo Morabito.

There had already been multiple reports of strong Chelsea interest in the Belgium international in January, and he will be a free agent when his Napoli contract expires in the summer.

“Mertens had originally said he wanted to stay at Napoli, but then his lawyer started offering him to various international clubs, meaning something changed between the player and the Azzurri,” Morabito told Radio Kiss Kiss Napoli.

“I know this because I was working on the Olivier Giroud issue when he was meant to leave Chelsea in January, with a lucrative contract line up for Mertens.

“Chelsea have now extended Giroud’s contract as a precaution, but they are very interested in Mertens and Lampard is calling him almost every day. I can see Mertens going to Chelsea.”

Inter, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool have also been mentioned when it comes to the Belgian striker.

Meanwhile, Morabito also gave an update on the Edinson Cavani situation.

“I spoke to the people who are looking after his interests and it seems to me he will sign on for another year with PSG. The alternative would be Atletico Madrid.”

[NikkiCFC 8,326]

7 hours ago, Vesper said:

Several points

1 No way can I rate Giroud over a healthy Tammy in terms of overall starting CF

2 We all have no idea how RLC is going to perform post injury. His Achilles rupture was really bad, as in a level that has ended or forever damaged many athletes' careers across a wide variety of sporting endeavours.

3 Kante. Lampard had better spent a tonne of time studying how to work him into his system. The team was overall worse off when he came back and was rammed onto starting linep.

4 Where is Tomori? You do not even list him as a backup. Emerson as well (hopefully both are sold)

5 Mount. Where is he as well? Barkley I assume the limits of the software (no double backups) block, but you could type in Mount/Barkley perhaps

6 Ziyech, not Ziyach  Sorry as I am really not having a cheap shot go, just correcting a misspelt name 

 

I put our best team for next season IMO of players we have at the moment. On the bench I put only players who I think can be maybe starters as well or are close to that.

Tomori, Emerson, Mount and Barkley are way below quality of listed players and that is why they are not mentioned. Same goes for Michy, Willy and I assume (hope) these two will be sold.

1. Overall I still think Giroud is better player than Tammy. He used his chance really well after Frank finally realized he should play more. I remember many saying on this forum as well that Oli is our best striker. But yeah both do not have quality to be our first striker.

2. We never know what future holds. If he is on 18/19 level again than great! If not, I am open to ZiyEch playing AM with CHO and Puli as wingers. Still better than Mount/Barkley starting. Assuming we play 4-2-3-1 ofc.

3. This season we looked better without Kante true. Lets hope he is back again next season. I think in 4-2-3-1 he would look much better than in 4-3-3. But lets see... I am open to selling him for a lot of money.

4/5. I answered this in first sentence.

6. Thank you. Wont happen again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[NikkiCFC 8,326]

He turns 31 in June and one year left on contract. Plus COVID influence on prices...

This should be right price even coming from THE SUN.

And it is no brainer for us for this kind of money.

Also...

I think he wants Real/Barca so if they somehow fail we should at least try!

[Vesper 30,195]

5 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

I put our best team for next season IMO of players we have at the moment. On the bench I put only players who I think can be maybe starters as well or are close to that.

Tomori, Emerson, Mount and Barkley are way below quality of listed players and that is why they are not mentioned. Same goes for Michy, Willy and I assume (hope) these two will be sold.

1. Overall I still think Giroud is better player than Tammy. He used his chance really well after Frank finally realized he should play more. I remember many saying on this forum as well that Oli is our best striker. But yeah both do not have quality to be our first striker.

2. We never know what future holds. If he is on 18/19 level again than great! If not, I am open to ZiyEch playing AM with CHO and Puli as wingers. Still better than Mount/Barkley starting. Assuming we play 4-2-3-1 ofc.

3. This season we looked better without Kante true. Lets hope he is back again next season. I think in 4-2-3-1 he would look much better than in 4-3-3. But lets see... I am open to selling him for a lot of money.

4/5. I answered this in first sentence.

6. Thank you. Wont happen again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mount got a shedload of minutes under Lamps, so I highly doubt he disappears back to an Emerson level of minutes role, unless we do buy Havertz and no other winger (which then would mean, I assume, Ziyech is thus locked in at RW mostly and not AMF nearly as much)

 

btw (nothing to do with your original post, but it is germane to your reply)

it looks like we are massively pushing for Mertens (per Italian sources) so if we keep Giroud, and Tammy, then Mertens makes 3 (Michy HAS to go) so that would preclude a truly long term great striker coming in this summer

so two of our 3 strikers will be 33 and 34 years old, eeeek (technically both 34 at the end of the coming season, as Mertens turns 33 in 8 days)

[King Kante 1,643]

1 hour ago, Vesper said:

Mount got a shedload of minutes under Lamps, so I highly doubt he disappears back to an Emerson level of minutes role, unless we do buy Havertz and no other winger (which then would mean, I assume, Ziyech is thus locked in at RW mostly and not AMF nearly as much)

 

btw (nothing to do with your original post, but it is germane to your reply)

it looks like we are massively pushing for Mertens (per Italian sources) so if we keep Giroud, and Tammy, then Mertens makes 3 (Michy HAS to go) so that would preclude a truly long term great striker coming in this summer

so two of our 3 strikers will be 33 and 34 years old, eeeek (technically both 34 at the end of the coming season, as Mertens turns 33 in 8 days)

Yeah, it seems slightly odd that we will go into a season with Mertens and Giroud with both being 33/34. Mertens I do kind of get as he is similar to Werner in that he can play both as a WF and a CF which would be handy. However, it is odd we want him at his age when he has no experience of the league and we do not offer anything but 1/2 years to over-30's. 

That said, I have a little theory with Giroud re-signing that probably has no basis in reality. The theory is that he had his clause activated as we intend to use him as a part of a package to sign Martinez from Inter, with the package being something like, Giroud/Moses/Alonso plus £45-55m for Martinez.

I think this could be possible as Inter's squad is fairly thin but they do not have much cash and Barca can not afford Martinez. Personally, I am not completely sold on Martinez but I think a deal like that may suit all parties as Chelsea would get a CF, Inter would get three players that fit their system, the Chelsea players would get decent extended contracts and Martinez would get more money.

 

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

[ulsterchelsea 3,221]

I take it mertens is the Pedro replacement? 

[DDA 9,941]

The notion of signing Rice is utterly mystifying. 🤔

[milka 3,393]

What signing Kai Havertz means:

° Commitment to 4-2-3-1 as he operates in similar zones to Hakim Ziyech.
° Tammy Abraham will be Chelsea's main striker next season.
° An emphasis on pressing and goal contributions from midfield remains.
° No purchases in positions without exits.

 

Kai Havertz would be a top tier acquisition for Chelsea, both in the long and short term.

He's only 20, but he had excellent form before the season was halted. I would rather him than Coutinho because he easily fits into Chelsea's long term plans.

[Vesper 30,195]

2 hours ago, DDA said:

The notion of signing Rice is utterly mystifying. 🤔

not so much if you look at him as a CB

[Vesper 30,195]

20 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

He turns 31 in June and one year left on contract. Plus COVID influence on prices...

This should be right price even coming from THE SUN.

And it is no brainer for us for this kind of money.

Also...

I think he wants Real/Barca so if they somehow fail we should at least try!

Barca makes the most sense for Alaba,  Jordi Alba is 32yo in 10 months, and Junior Firpo has not worked out in their system

Real is a possibility, as look 

Arsenal and Tottenham in talks with Real Madrid to sign Sergio Reguilon

https://metro.co.uk/2020/04/29/arsenal-talks-real-madrid-sign-sergio-reguilon-12625888/

snip

And the report claims that Arsenal and Tottenham are two of the teams who have asked Madrid about the defender’s availability along with Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain. It’s claimed that Arsenal’s interest in Reguilon could be linked with Bukayo Saka’s situation as the 18-year-old has not yet agreed a new contract with the club and his current deal is due to expire next summer.

snip

 

Real has Ferland Mendy, but Marcelo is gone, washed up, and they need another LB, although they may move for Saka or Rayan Aït Nouri

btw

Auba for £25 or £30m is a great price, he has 2 or 3 good years left, and lets us see if Tammy is actually the long term answer

 

 

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

16 minutes ago, Vesper said:

not so much if you look at him as a CB

But if the club actually realized we need a cb, why would the club go out, buy a dm and shoehorn him in to cb instead of buying a proper bc right away?

[MoroccanBlue 5,383]

50 minutes ago, Magic Lamps said:

But if the club actually realized we need a cb, why would the club go out, buy a dm and shoehorn him in to cb instead of buying a proper bc right away?

Because it’s just paper talk. A DM doesn’t have the same positioning sense as an experienced CB.

I refuse to believe the club are satisfied with our CB’s. Especially after that Bayern showing and the amount of bloody shit goals we’ve conceded. 

[Vesper 30,195]

1 hour ago, Magic Lamps said:

But if the club actually realized we need a cb, why would the club go out, buy a dm and shoehorn him in to cb instead of buying a proper bc right away?

Rice often played at CB before, and I see him starting there eventually for the English national team, so I do not see it as a shoehorn move, but people are probably going to disagree.

[Vesper 30,195]

4 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

Because it’s just paper talk. A DM doesn’t have the same positioning sense as an experienced CB.

I refuse to believe the club are satisfied with our CB’s. Especially after that Bayern showing and the amount of bloody shit goals we’ve conceded. 

Rice has played at CB almost 50 times in the past 5 years.

[Vesper 30,195]

West Ham star Declan Rice hints at possible future position change

https://tbrfootball.com/west-ham-star-declan-rice-hints-at-possible-future-position-change/

Declan Rice has suggested he could change positions at West Ham United in the future – or rather, revert back to a a role he once knew very well.

The 20-year-old has quietly established himself as one of the Premier League’s better holding midfield players in the space of the past year.

Rice has proven to be an effective defensive shield for the likes of Angelo Ogbonna, Issa Diop and Fabian Balbuena.

Before his days as a holding midfielder though, Rice was a central defender.

He told the Football Ramble podcast: “It’s a tough one. Because of my ability on the ball, I can play left foot, right foot, I’m big and strong so I can get about.

 

snip

 

Could West Ham's Declan Rice be the centre-back Chelsea need?

https://www.thechelseachronicle.com/premier-league/could-west-hams-declan-rice-be-the-centre-back-chelsea-need/

 

Jamie Redknapp suggests West Ham ace Declan Rice could be switched back to a centre-back

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-7569127/JAMIE-REDKNAPP-Declan-Rice-answer-defence-England.html