Chelsea Transfers

[DDA 9,703]

I don't think Haaland was ever realistic to begin with... I hope I'm proved wrong but I just don't see it happening... never have. 

[Blues Forever 1,232]

Rumours about Hudson-Odoi to Bayern were spread by his entourage in order to put pressure on Chelsea as he hardly plays under Tuchel.

[Superblue 6,372]

37 minutes ago, Pizy said:

Spot on. We are nowhere near challenging City over a 38 game season without serious investment in 2-3 positions. Never mind a much improved Liverpool and Man United. And then there’s Leicester who have already made 3 excellent signings and aren’t going anywhere.

We simply don’t have the clinical goal scoring in our side to compete for the title as we are currently constructed.

We may not need to plug as many holes as United do but the few holes we do have are much more glaring and important.

So who would you suggest then fills this clinical goal scorer position that we need?

Because beyond Haaland and Lewandowski (and maybe at a stretch Lukaku), I don't see a striker available on the market that looks a shoe-in to fill that void. 

So with that in mind, do we just buy someone for the sake of buying and hope they fill that void or do we take stock of what we already have at the club and assess whether we can get more out of what we have. 

Given his struggles last season it's easy to forget that Werner scored 28 goals in 34 games in the Bundesliga the season before. And whilst that was a 'banner' season for him, it was hardly a one off as the three seasons for Leipzig before that he had 50 goals in 93 games in the league. The players I mentioned before aside, that goal record in one of the top leagues is significantly better than anyone else on the market. I struggle to believe that Werner will have as bad a goal scoring year next season. His pace and willingness to make the runs almost guarantees chances will come his way.

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

Edited July 1, 2021 by Blues Forever

[Pizy 18,516]

1 hour ago, Tomo said:

If someone said in February we'll win the UCL going toe to toe with our opponents without relying on any real luck along away they'd have been laughed at, this a very very talented squad that was made to look poor by Frank's meltdown/unableness to fit the star signings into a system.

If we had a team of players with no (or a long distant) proven goal record I would agree (ie when Costa left and we only had Hazard) but we have a lot of scorers in our side who for many mitigating reason's all had poor season's at the same time. And the thing is, we don't even need one to improve by 20, we need all to improve by 5 on average which is very much doable.

The reality is we invested hundreds of millions into top class players who are a lot better then they looked/were made to look for most of last season and we've brought in one of the world's best coaches to find a way to get the best out of them, which I'm confident he will. If we're just going to keep throwing shit at the wall whenever signings don't hit the ground running we may aswell just get ourselves a man manager type manager.

Yes they "could" all carry on struggling but they on the flip side also "could" all have a Drogba esque 2nd/3rd season improvement now they're more settled into the country and are riding the UCL (and possibly for some the Euro's) wave.

Under Tuchel, we had a side that was set out tactically to excel in the biggest matches against the best opponents. Opponents who like to play football and allow space for our players to exploit. But as we saw time and again (and as we’ve seen for years now) there are loads of matches in the PL where we play deep sitting defenses or teams that set out solely to nullify and negate our attacking play. Or we create chance after chance only to not score and get sucker punched by some horrendous team. Don’t know what exactly changes if our personnel is the same.

If Werner returns to his Leipzig form that would indeed help and if Ziyech pulls his finger out and steps up that’s another huge bonus that would be like a new signing. But surely we can’t start a new season merely hoping that these things happen. If every one of our rivals also stood still and didn’t improve maybe. But they aren’t. They’re all going to be making massive signings.

51 minutes ago, Superblue_1986 said:

So who would you suggest then fills this clinical goal scorer position that we need?

Because beyond Haaland and Lewandowski (and maybe at a stretch Lukaku), I don't see a striker available on the market that looks a shoe-in to fill that void. 

So with that in mind, do we just buy someone for the sake of buying and hope they fill that void or do we take stock of what we already have at the club and assess whether we can get more out of what we have. 

Given his struggles last season it's easy to forget that Werner scored 28 goals in 34 games in the Bundesliga the season before. And whilst that was a 'banner' season for him, it was hardly a one off as the three seasons for Leipzig before that he had 50 goals in 93 games in the league. The players I mentioned before aside, that goal record in one of the top leagues is significantly better than anyone else on the market. I struggle to believe that Werner will have as bad a goal scoring year next season. His pace and willingness to make the runs almost guarantees chances will come his way.

That’s the thing. We have to try to force the issue. With such limited options we have to at least go big at one of these strikers and make their clubs say no. If that fails then I think we scramble until the very end of the season desperate for 4th place again. Simple as that.

[ZAPHOD2319 4,538]

Another rumor dies

 

 

[Jase 43,479]

 

[Styl1994 188]

6 minutes ago, Jas said:

 

Seems  like he just wants a new contact from Madrid 

[laura90 556]

Those who think we are fine with this attacking options are deluded. Simple as. Like they never saw our coach sacked 6 months after wining big trophy. The history will repeat itself, it seems

[Tomo 21,733]

2 hours ago, Pizy said:

Under Tuchel, we had a side that was set out tactically to excel in the biggest matches against the best opponents. Opponents who like to play football and allow space for our players to exploit. But as we saw time and again (and as we’ve seen for years now) there are loads of matches in the PL where we play deep sitting defenses or teams that set out solely to nullify and negate our attacking play. Or we create chance after chance only to not score and get sucker punched by some horrendous team. Don’t know what exactly changes if our personnel is the same.

If Werner returns to his Leipzig form that would indeed help and if Ziyech pulls his finger out and steps up that’s another huge bonus that would be like a new signing. But surely we can’t start a new season merely hoping that these things happen. If every one of our rivals also stood still and didn’t improve maybe. But they aren’t. They’re all going to be making massive signings.

That’s the thing. We have to try to force the issue. With such limited options we have to at least go big at one of these strikers and make their clubs say no. If that fails then I think we scramble until the very end of the season desperate for 4th place again. Simple as that.

If the title was won in the market we would have pissed the league last year. Yes there are some examples of a team having the best window going on to win the league largely because of that (us in 14, both times under Mou, City in 17) but there's also examples of it not working out the way it should (us last year, 2012 and 06, United 01, Arsenal 13, City 15 and 16 to name a few) and teams winning the league after underwhelming windows (United 06 and 10, Chelsea 09 and 16, Arsenal 03, Liverpool 19).

Also what striker is there that's a safe bet? We of all fans should know that that doesn't exist, infact if Havertz or Werner were still in Germany they'd probably be the two first two rolled of the tongue. What if we get one in, overhaul our entire style for him because he "guarantees goals" and he still struggles to score them, then what?

What if our new expensive striker struggles to score and Havertz and Werner suddenly can't stop? We'd have an expensive weight around our neck atleast temporarily and won't be able to drop him even if that's what is best for on form Timo and Kai.

If, buts and maybe's can work in both directions and it's hard to fully tell what's the right solution here but I'm struggling with the narrative/assumption that not a single one of our players will further improve next season (I mean if nothing else have we learned nothing from Rudiger and Christensen's resurgences? I remember saying last winter that the latter should get a chance to play with Mendy behind him and was laughed out of the room). If we were playing dogshit most weeks but getting by because we had someone like Aubameyang that will finish any half chance to get us undeserved points this place would be littered with posts (largely from many refusing to open their mind of the possibility of our current players improving) about how are luck is going to run out soon and we will start getting the bad results our performances deserve, so why can't that logic work in reverse?

[Jase 43,479]

3 hours ago, Pizy said:

Under Tuchel, we had a side that was set out tactically to excel in the biggest matches against the best opponents. Opponents who like to play football and allow space for our players to exploit. But as we saw time and again (and as we’ve seen for years now) there are loads of matches in the PL where we play deep sitting defenses or teams that set out solely to nullify and negate our attacking play. Or we create chance after chance only to not score and get sucker punched by some horrendous team. Don’t know what exactly changes if our personnel is the same.

As you alluded to yourself, that issue was arguably more down to how Tuchel set us up against the smaller sides. Lest we forget, this team were still the same team that were able to score goals and put away the smaller teams under Lampard. His downfall was obviously the tactical and defensive side of things, which Tuchel has helped fix/improve. So, Tuchel needs to find the balance on how he has us play against the bigger sides vs the smaller sides. Maybe use the back 4 more instead or use more attacking personnel in some positions. This pre-season and early parts of the season might also give Tuchel more time to work on our attacking plays, attacking patterns etc. 

3 hours ago, Pizy said:

That’s the thing. We have to try to force the issue. With such limited options we have to at least go big at one of these strikers and make their clubs say no. If that fails then I think we scramble until the very end of the season desperate for 4th place again. Simple as that.

Are we really in a do-or-die situation if we don't get a striker this summer? I don't get this constant doom-and-gloom. I don't know if it's because people are used to us winning things every season in the past, used to having a team that's the finished article and hence don't have the patience but we should remember that this team are still relatively young mostly and have plenty of room for growth and improvement. There is still more to come from this current group of players. Yes, there are certain areas in the team that can be improved on but at the same, we are also not in a terrible situation like some have made it out to be if we don't sign this player or that player. 

If we can't get Haaland or Lukaku or whoever, then maybe the next best solution is to find a midfielder who scores goals and creates chances. Because right now, our midfielders are averse to passing the ball forward and can only score if it's from the penalty spot. We used to have midfielders who can score goals from open play - Lampard, Ballack, Essien etc. Heck, even Fabregas used to do it here and there for us, even when we played the back 3 under Conte, to go along with his chance creation. 

[Vesper 29,169]

2 hours ago, ZAPHOD2319 said:

Another rumor dies

 

 

cannot blame him at all

he is only 21yo

he lives in one of the best smaller cities on the planet (San Sebastián) with just insane food, culture, etc, plus beaches

and they just totally renovated their stadium to 40,000 and they have a great pipeline of young talent

Edited July 1, 2021 by Vesper

[LAM09 6,825]

5 hours ago, DDA said:

I don't think Haaland was ever realistic to begin with... I hope I'm proved wrong but I just don't see it happening... never have. 

It's seemingly down to Roman going by most. If he puts up Dortmund's asking price, he'll be in Blue for the coming season.

[Jase 43,479]

12 minutes ago, LAM09 said:

It's seemingly down to Roman going by most. If he puts up Dortmund's asking price, he'll be in Blue for the coming season.

Is that not generally the case? 😛

A reason why we were able to spend big last summer and got most of our signings in early was because we had the money from the sale of Hazard and even Morata. This time, we have no such money waiting to be spent. If we want to get Haaland, we might have to start getting money from selling the deadwood and then Roman might make up the difference in the amount. Otherwise, I doubt he's inclined to just throw 150 million in from his own pocket (different case, I think, if it's just 60-70 million) - and that's just the potential transfer fee. there's still the agent fees, wages etc to consider - when his aim was to make sure the club is self sustainable. 

[Superblue 6,372]

As @Tomo and @Jas have alluded to, earlier in the season we were pretty free scoring under Lampard but leaking goals. At that point how many people were complaining about our defensive and defensive midfield options and wanting major surgery on them? 

I'll happily admit I didn't think Christensen had developed as expected and should be sold but under Tuchel he looks a completely different player. I'd argue Christensen, Rudiger, Azpilicueta and Thiago Silva are all bordering on world class under Tuchel. Jorginho looks a far better player too with protection behind him and similar with Kante being freed up in a role to hunt the ball.

Tuchel has done wonders with the defensive side of the team in a short and busy period. With the summer to plan, along with pre season, why can't he find ways to get more out of this attack? I have full confidence that there's more to come from a number of players in our squad and that Tuchel has the capability of unlocking this.

[LAM09 6,825]

13 minutes ago, Jas said:

Is that not generally the case? 😛

A reason why we were able to spend big last summer and got most of our signings in early was because we had the money from the sale of Hazard and even Morata. This time, we have no such money waiting to be spent. If we want to get Haaland, we might have to start getting money from selling the deadwood and then Roman might make up the difference in the amount. Otherwise, I doubt he's inclined to just throw 150 million in from his own pocket (different case, I think, if it's just 60-70 million) - and that's just the potential transfer fee. there's still the agent fees, wages etc to consider - when his aim was to make sure the club is self sustainable. 

Not necessarily; some players have their heart set on moving to particular clubs. I'm sure Dortmund would be more than happy if Haaland said no to us (providing we pay up) to join RM next summer for still a hefty profit.

I agree for the most part. However, we won't exactly get any notable fees for outgoings unless Werner shockingly leaves.

Edited July 1, 2021 by LAM09

[Jase 43,479]

2 minutes ago, LAM09 said:

Not necessarily; some players have their heart set on moving to particular clubs. I'm sure Dortmund would be more than happy if Haaland said no to us (providing we pay up) to join RM next summer for still a hefty profit.

If you wanna talk about players having their heart set on moving to a particular club, then I don't think we're Haaland's #1 choice based on some reports out there. I doubt he would mind staying for another year and then have the option to choose whichever club he wants next summer. He and Raiola can also get more money that way. 

2 minutes ago, LAM09 said:

I agree for the most part. We won't exactly get any notable fees for outgoings unless Werner shockingly leaves, but the current size of our entire squad is an issue.

Werner leaving is out of the question since he said he wants to stay and the club have no interest in selling him. And we're already trying to sell two other strikers this summer.

Based on the unwanted players list, it seems like Abraham is the one that will fetch the most money and that is only at 40 million. Otherwise, you're looking at way less income than that. Also debatable whether clubs can afford to pay for our unwanted players.

Another issue is that if we sign Haaland, it would likely mean we're gonna blow our entire transfer budget on one player when we arguably still also need a midfielder (since Gilmour is going on loan) and a defender. Tuchel, of course, is believed to want a signing for each area. 

[King Kante 1,525]

28 minutes ago, Jas said:

If you wanna talk about players having their heart set on moving to a particular club, then I don't think we're Haaland's #1 choice based on some reports out there. I doubt he would mind staying for another year and then have the option to choose whichever club he wants next summer. He and Raiola can also get more money that way. 

Werner leaving is out of the question since he said he wants to stay and the club have no interest in selling him. And we're already trying to sell two other strikers this summer.

Based on the unwanted players list, it seems like Abraham is the one that will fetch the most money and that is only at 40 million. Otherwise, you're looking at way less income than that. Also debatable whether clubs can afford to pay for our unwanted players.

Another issue is that if we sign Haaland, it would likely mean we're gonna blow our entire transfer budget on one player when we arguably still also need a midfielder (since Gilmour is going on loan) and a defender. Tuchel, of course, is believed to want a signing for each area. 

Tbf, Zouma should bring in £30m+, there will be plenty of PL teams that would take him, whilst I also believe he is one of the lower (if that is the right term) earners here. That will mean, if we sell Tammy and Zouma, around £95m (approx) income from sales, £100m if you include Moses. If someone like Ziyech, really is unsettled, you can maybe push that to £130m.

The issue the club probably has is the top earning deadwood. Baka, Drinky, Batsh*t, Kepa, RLC and Barkley, all earn over £100k a week, whilst players like Zappa, Baba and Emerson probably all earn over £50k. Those players drain around £800k (approx) a week or £41.5m a year. The issue we have is where we were able to farm those sort of players out before and maybe even get a loan fee, now we need to either cover their wages in full and/or part of them. 

Either way, I think Håland at £150m is possible for us, if there is a will on both sides. However, if he is brought, then I would say we may be scrapping around for other players and may have to accept a Zappa and Barkley/Baka back into the squad to fill holes.