Chelsea Transfers

[killer1257 3,282]

Everton going for Reguilon apparently? Is Digne off or what's going on?

No, they want more competition

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[Pizy 18,937]

Drinkwater always seems to be in a happy, positive mood despite his career just coming to a complete halt for years now. Guess he's got enough paper for it not to matter?

[Vesper 30,207]

8 hours ago, Jason said:

No chance of Kante being sold even with all his injury problems. 

doom move

[Vesper 30,207]

1 hour ago, Pizy said:

Drinkwater always seems to be in a happy, positive mood despite his career just coming to a complete halt for years now. Guess he's got enough paper for it not to matter?

hell, on his pay he could buy his own microbrewery and drink away any cares he might have for free

DrinkAle Ltd.

[milka 3,393]

Chelsea ... after Morata and Kepa  JUST STOP PLEASE 

 

 

[Vesper 30,207]

What Chelsea need to do now

https://theathletic.com/1967670/2020/08/02/chelsea-summer-chilwell-kante-defence-werner-havertz/

There is one positive Frank Lampard can take from losing his first FA Cup final as Chelsea manager: it has strengthened his case for the club to get even busier in the transfer market.

A disappointing 2-1 loss to London rivals Arsenal at Wembley should not take away from what has been a positive campaign overall. Few gave them a chance of qualifying for the Champions League but the Cup final defeat did highlight just how much work there is still to be done.

There are a few notable managers from Chelsea’s recent past who would have looked to deflect from their team’s problems after that final, focusing on some controversial decisions by referee Anthony Taylor or the injuries sustained before and during the game.

Lampard naturally gave his opinion on those issues when asked, but the main message he wanted to get across to the team, as well as the viewing public, is that there were no excuses. Chelsea had simply not been good enough.

“That sums up where we are at,” he said afterwards. “People are getting excited that we got top four. Yes, we are happy because that was a big challenge for us. We have places to go. But we weren’t ourselves, we weren’t at our best. Inconsistency has been a problem. Many things went against us, but we just have to be brutally honest. We weren’t at our best to win the game.”

Lampard has been the voice of reason at Stamford Bridge all season. He has never got too carried away when Chelsea have been winning games or too negative after a setback.

Perhaps Lampard can see similarities between the side he now manages and the one which lost to Arsenal in what was his first FA Cup final as a player in 2002. That group had a lot of talent too but also struggled to sustain their form throughout the year and weren’t ready to challenge for a Premier League title.

It took another year and Roman Abramovich’s arrival as owner to build on that potential by spending heavily in the market. The Russian is still prepared to invest and this summer could end up being as significant as 2003 and 2004 proved to be.

For all the excitement the acquisitions of Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner have generated, plus the strong possibility of Kai Havertz joining them, some key areas need to be addressed. Chelsea won’t be able to fulfil Lampard’s ambition of taking on Liverpool and Manchester City for first spot in the Premier League until they do.

The goalkeeper

No title-winning team has an average goalkeeper. Alisson, Ederson, Thibaut Courtois, Edwin van der Sar, Petr Cech and Jens Lehmann are just some who have lifted the trophy over the last 20 years.

Some may suggest Joe Hart or Kasper Schmeichel weren’t quite at their level, but both were very important for Manchester City and Leicester City in their title-winning seasons.

Everyone knows Chelsea can’t afford to go into 2020-21 with Kepa Arrizabalaga and Willy Caballero as their main choices for the position. Every opponent will go into a match against Chelsea thinking they can score.

Lampard has sent a very strong message to the hierarchy by leaving Kepa out of the final Premier League match against Wolverhampton Wanderers, when Champions League qualification was on the line, and then the FA Cup final.

He is not the only one to lose faith in the 25-year-old. An insider has told The Athletic that some of the players don’t have confidence in the Spain international either, not that anyone would say such a thing publicly.

However, there are no easy solutions. Former Chelsea left-back Ashley Cole, who now coaches the club’s under-15s, covered Saturday’s contest as a pundit for the BBC and was asked if a replacement is going to be signed: “It’s tough. There is that price tag on him (Kepa). He came in for £70-odd million (£71.6 million). It’s very high, so what do you do? I can’t see there being too many buyers, not for his quality but in terms of that price. It’s going to be difficult.”

His comments are noteworthy. While Cole may not work with the first team, one can imagine he has the occasional conversation with his old team-mates Lampard and Cech, now Chelsea’s technical and performance adviser.

Kepa has five years left on his contract and a loan is most likely. Valencia have been mentioned as one of the clubs interested, but they are not thought to be in a position to fund a deal, even if Chelsea pay some of the £170,000-a-week wages. Sevilla, who qualified for the Champions League, are more of a possibility.

Caballero has already signed a one-year contract extension so the Argentinian seems certain to continue his role as a back-up. But he turns 39 in September and Chelsea can’t put themselves in a position when they’re relying on him to win big games (not that there was much he could do with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s two goals).

The Athletic discussed some of the goalkeeping options Chelsea are considering in a piece on the eve of the Arsenal fixture but one has to question if they can bring someone else in before Kepa’s future is resolved.

Left-back

It was no surprise Marcos Alonso was in the first XI against Mikel Arteta’s side, but it wasn’t much of a compliment either. The other left-back at Chelsea — Emerson Palmieri — has played just 287 minutes of football in 2020, making only five appearances.

Emerson will be allowed to leave, meaning Alonso should remain, yet that is as good as it gets. Lampard has changed to a back three for the past four games, which allows Alonso to get forward as a wing-back.

Chelsea’s head coach prefers 4-3-3 for the long-term, though, and needs someone who has the pace and drive to cover both ends of the pitch. This is why Ben Chilwell is top of the wish list.

Against Arsenal, Opta’s average position map demonstrated just how reliant Chelsea were on their wing-backs to provide width. The starting front three of Christian Pulisic, Olivier Giroud and Mason Mount were all very central. But Alonso provided just two crosses in the entire match and, from a defensive point of view, made only one tackle.

Generally, Chelsea haven’t looked balanced over the past year and the left-back position is a major reason for that.

Centre-back

The issue won’t go away. Lampard is probably fed up of answering all the questions about Chelsea’s problems at the back and inability to keep clean sheets.

It’s not as if he isn’t working on things and advising players what to do. The 42-year-old spoke with great frustration about how he’d prepared his men to face Arsenal’s threat from long balls over the top but, with the way they dealt with the danger, you’d never have known.

Only Fikayo Tomori was blameless and that’s because he was watching from the sidelines again — a common occurrence over the last seven months after a bright start to his senior Chelsea career.

The four that did feature in the back three — Antonio Rudiger, Kurt Zouma, Andreas Christensen and Cesar Azpilicueta, who went off with a hamstring injury — struggled.

Chelsea need a domineering presence, a leader. A move for Declan Rice looks even more appealing.

Central midfield

As Hector Bellerin charged forward in the build-up to Arsenal’s winning goal, Chelsea’s midfield was nowhere to be seen. The right-back sprinted clear of Mateo Kovacic, while replays did not make good viewing for Jorginho as he jogged back in slow motion and made a half-hearted attempt to help Zouma with Aubameyang.

Had unused substitute N’Golo Kante been fully fit, it may have been a different story.

But that’s the point. Kante hasn’t been there as much as Lampard would have liked. He has been involved in exactly half of their games (27 out of 54). By taking the cautious approach and not playing him in the final, unlike Maurizio Sarri in the Europa League final, perhaps the hopes of next season were given priority.

Chelsea need Kante at his best. Even if that happens, Lampard has some thinking to do. What is the France international’s best position now? For the best part of the last two seasons, he has been picked on the right of a three-man midfield. However, after the restart, he was playing as the holding midfielder instead of Jorginho, who will be sold if a suitable bid comes in.

Kante did offer the backline more protection, but does he have the passing game to be a springboard for Chelsea’s attacks? Is it a role more suited to Kovacic? Two goals and three assists suggest that Kovacic does not contribute enough when fielded further forward but Lampard rates him and wants him in the line-up.

It’s all very well having attackers like Werner, Ziyech and Pulisic up front, but someone has to get them the ball, while also providing a shield to ensure teams struggle to penetrate.

And finally…

Some of the fringe players need to move on. It’s no good having frustrated individuals around the place. Some are obvious, such as Michy Batshuayi, then there are players like Ross Barkley. He has been at Chelsea for two and a half years and is not showing the development required.

Lampard also needs to find a way to get Callum Hudson-Odoi to express himself on the pitch and Tammy Abraham to rise to the challenge of Werner’s arrival.

In saying all this, it is important to stress that optimism should be high. Losing to Arsenal will leave a bitter aftertaste, but Chelsea wouldn’t swap places with them.

They have the owner and the lure of the Champions League to attract more talent to the club. Perfectionist Lampard will do his utmost to make sure that happens.

[Jype 6,398]

11 minutes ago, milka said:

Chelsea ... after Morata and Kepa  JUST STOP PLEASE 

 

 

Reguilon wouldn't be a bad signing, especially if the price was that low. He looked really good for Real Madrid last season and I was surprised they loaned him out. Been even better for Sevilla from what I've heard, haven't seen much of him there tho.

I'd take Reguilon at £20M over Chillwell at £70M any day.

He recently switched agents to Kia Joorabchian who has a good relationship with the Chelsea board so I'm not surprised to see this rumor pop up. Whether it actually happens is still very much up in the air.

[killer1257 3,282]

Chelsea ... after Morata and Kepa  JUST STOP PLEASE [emoji3]
 
 

Would be amazing. Hope it is true

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[milka 3,393]

Looking like some faster young Azpilicueta 

 

[nyikolajevics 2,700]

21 minutes ago, milka said:

Chelsea ... after Morata and Kepa  JUST STOP PLEASE 

 

 

What does Regullion have to do with Morata and Kepa??

[MoroccanBlue 5,383]

1 minute ago, nyikolajevics said:

What does Regullion have to do with Morata and Kepa??

Spanish flops 

[milka 3,393]

Spaniard ,  Spanish market   Chelsea are not good there 

[lucio 5,418]

3 minutes ago, milka said:

Spaniard ,  Spanish market   Chelsea are not good there 

Azpi , cesc, mata , Diego Costa (I know he’s Brazilian but in football terms..) , all were good buys 

[Rapkun 668]

Reguilon for a third of Chilwell's price is a big yes for me. I feel he's a better option than Tagliafico. Use the rest of the money to buy Rice.

[ZAPHOD2319 4,819]

Chelsea transfer news, from decent sources, has really gone quiet on my twitter feed.

[nyikolajevics 2,700]

31 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

Spanish flops 

Still a joke. Every person is individual.. Different year, different background, different position.. We should avoid signing a Spanish left back because our basque GK had a bad second season? This is just stupid..

Why don’t we mention Azpilicueta, Mata or Pedro then? They were great deals.(mentioning these transfers would be just as irrelevant though)

[Jase 43,479]

9 minutes ago, nyikolajevics said:

Still a joke. Every person is individual.. Different year, different background, different position.. We should avoid signing a Spanish left back because our basque GK had a bad second season? This is just stupid..

Why don’t we mention Azpilicueta, Mata or Pedro then? They were great deals.(mentioning these transfers would be just as irrelevant though)

We should be fine as long as the Spanish player costs less than 40 million. 

[Ryan Fong 2,776]

Heard of this kid Xavier Mbuyamba? Looks very promising and could be our own VVD[emoji23]

[killer1257 3,282]

Heard of this kid Xavier Mbuyamba? Looks very promising and could be our own VVD[emoji23]

He needs to come to us. We rarely produce any top class CBs in our youth. Only Ake yet.

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[milka 3,393]

1 hour ago, lucio said:

Azpi , cesc, mata , Diego Costa (I know he’s Brazilian but in football terms..) , all were good buys 

Yep but ......  Del Horno , Oriol Romeu ,  Torres ,  Morata,  Kepa .

Spanish market are not good to Chelsea .

I think Marcos Alonso = Reguilon    -  no upgrade  on LB .