Chelsea Transfers

[MoroccanBlue 5,322]

6 minutes ago, LAM09 said:

Playing in a FA Cup semi-final and starting a CL quarter-final. Those are two that come to mind.

I'm not disagreeing with you about your concerns about our midfield btw, as I have similar ones. It's the doom and gloom surrounding some of your posts regarding certain things.

Do you want us to spend £100m+ on Rice, as there ain't many notable improvements on the market for that position?

RLC being promoted to a utility player despite looking shocking 90% of the time isn't enough evidence for me to suggest Gilmour and Ampadu can successfully be the DM we are looking for. Particularly when one can't get into a Norwich midfield and the other is extremely limited as midfielder. 

Fact of the matter we suffered immensely this season because of our midfield. Wingbacks played a part, but I will not pretend our midfield wasn't incredibly unreliable for the majority of the season, whether it was performance related or injuries. Kante is blatantly losing his athleticism, Kovacic is injury prone and Gallagher doesn't work in a midfield two. To add to that, I just saw De Paul and Paredes run circles around Jorginho last week with no effort. It was embarrassing. 

I don't want Rice. Tchouameni was the answer and its sickening we missed out on him when he was genuinely in our hands. Best we can hope is a mysterious quality DM is available we don't know about or we will go into next season experiencing the exact same problems as last. Doesn't matter what attacker comes in. Unless the midfield is sorted we will experience the same inconsistency and dull football. 

 

[King Kante 1,540]

2 hours ago, MoroccanBlue said:

It was disastrous this season, why wouldn't it be next? Kovacic is injury prone, Kante is losing his athleticism + is injury prone, we've gone about as far as we can with Jorginho and the best of Gallagher isn't suited in a 2 man midfield. 

I would say what was more disastrous was losing Chilwell, having to ask an Alonso with no legs left (if he ever had them) to play essentially a full season as LWB1 and then having no adequate replacement for Reece who we can drop in. After that, I would say a AM and/or a CF who can be relied on to score consistently apart from Mount (who does a shed load of Donkey work he gets absolutely no credit for) was also more problematic. That is also before we get to losing our 1st and 3rd most important CB's. So, yeah, I have CM as a bit of an afterthought atm, simply because we cannot solve all our problems in one window and the other problems are more pressing.

2 hours ago, MoroccanBlue said:

I would hope not. Massive limitations as a midfielder which is why he played CB at both Sheffield and Venezia, to which he contributed to both of their relegations. 

 

Not really fair. Yes, he isn't a world beater where he can go in and drag those teams to safety by himself (especially as both those teams where of a standard that meant they should be relegated.) However, equally I would say Ampadu is someone we can use as a means to fill a squad place if we flush Sarr and RLC to get some capital to fill the holes we have. 

Edited June 6, 2022 by King Kante

[blues.bridge 343]

F. De jong is that bad? selling maybe  Jorghi, RLC and the others deadwoods

[King Kante 1,540]

2 minutes ago, blues.bridge said:

F. De jong is that bad? selling maybe  Jorghi, RLC and the others deadwoods

FDJ is a premium player. If we actually have a chance of signing him, then he has to be signed even if I don't think (as I've explained above) CM is a pressing issue. 

Only CM's I would be interested in are: 

Bellingham 

Rice

FDJ

However, the first two are impossible this Summer and FDJ is questionable. 

[Pizy 18,538]

I think Frenkie De Jong is massively overrated but I do think he’d replace Jorginho’s role quite well.

But if he leaves Barca (which looks increasingly likely) I can only see it being to reconnect with ten Hag at United where they’re also desperate for CM’s. We can probably offer him similar a salary and obviously CL football which United can’t but I can’t see us doing anything in midfield until we see what happens with Jorginho and Kante. And De Jong will be off the table by then. He may move within a week or two.

[MoroccanBlue 5,322]

7 minutes ago, King Kante said:

I would say what was more disastrous was losing Chilwell, having to ask an Alonso with no legs left (if he ever had them) to play essentially a full season as LWB1 and then having no adequate replacement for Reece who we can drop in. After that, I would say a AM and/or a CF who can be relied on to score consistently apart from Mount (who does a shed load of Donkey work he gets absolutely no credit for) was also more problematic. That is also before we get to losing our 1st and 3rd most important CB's. So, yeah, I have CM as a bit of an afterthought atm, simply because we cannot solve all our problems in one window and the other problems are more pressing.

Not really fair. Yes, he isn't a world beater where he can go in and drag those teams to safety by himself (especially as both those teams where of a standard that meant they should be relegated.) However, equally I would say Ampadu is someone we can use as a means to fill a squad place if we flush Sarr and RLC to get some capital to fill the holes we have. 

I for one am not fickle enough to believe our season went to shit because we lost Chilwell and James for the majority of it. Issues were there from the get go. Our system is entirely depended on the wingbacks being 100%. That in itself shows you how unsustainable it is. 

Again, you can blame our attackers all you want but it doesn't dispute the fact all of them were prolific at other clubs. The football we play is far too pragmatic and slow for any attacker to shine here. By the time an attacker gets the ball, two defenders are on him. 

I really hate doing this but I am keeping receipts on the members who feel there isn't an issue going into next season with the same midfield. They are well in for a massive, massive disappointment. 

[Superblue 6,372]

I'd like to see us address the midfield this summer but when you have to start questioning who really is out there who can come in and be almost a guaranteed improvement on what we currently have, there has to be concern.

There are a number of positions we need to improve in not just this summer but likely a project over the next 2 or 3 years. 

What we cannot afford to do is fall into the same trap as last year where we went and spent a fortune on Lukaku who wasn't the elite player we wanted for that position but was the best available player for that position at that time. The sanctions not withstanding, had we not bought Lukaku last summer we may have had a really good chance at Haaland this summer having done some leg work into the transfer last summer.

If our first choices are available for defenders, wing backs, attackers this summer then that's what needs to be concentrated on and midfield will need to be addressed in a later window when maybe we have a chance of buying someone like Rice or Bellingham who would be top tier targets on our radar. We have to start being smarter with our transfer activity. When Liverpool couldn't get Van Dijk they waited for him. When City couldn't get Kane last summer they didn't panic buy and now have Haaland. The last thing we should be doing is buying for the sake of buying.

[ZAPHOD2319 4,576]

This thread has more information than just the first tweet.

 

[MoroccanBlue 5,322]

2 minutes ago, Superblue_1986 said:

I'd like to see us address the midfield this summer but when you have to start questioning who really is out there who can come in and be almost a guaranteed improvement on what we currently have, there has to be concern.

There are a number of positions we need to improve in not just this summer but likely a project over the next 2 or 3 years. 

What we cannot afford to do is fall into the same trap as last year where we went and spent a fortune on Lukaku who wasn't the elite player we wanted for that position but was the best available player for that position at that time. The sanctions not withstanding, had we not bought Lukaku last summer we may have had a really good chance at Haaland this summer having done some leg work into the transfer last summer.

If our first choices are available for defenders, wing backs, attackers this summer then that's what needs to be concentrated on and midfield will need to be addressed in a later window when maybe we have a chance of buying someone like Rice or Bellingham who would be top tier targets on our radar. We have to start being smarter with our transfer activity. When Liverpool couldn't get Van Dijk they waited for him. When City couldn't get Kane last summer they didn't panic buy and now have Haaland. The last thing we should be doing is buying for the sake of buying.

Sadly the club seems set on Rice for what ever fucking reason. Chelsea through and through will always be a laugh to me when three years ago this lad told the Matthew Harding Stand to "fuck off" after they beat us at the bridge. Philips is a more natural DM than Rice is either way yet we aren't interested. 

I for one see the midfield as an absolute priority over others. At the very least I will take Bissouma + Gallagher into next season, and hope by some miracle Jorginho elevates his game with the time off during the World Cup. 

[milka 3,372]

true professionalism 😂

 

 

[Superblue 6,372]

5 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

Sadly the club seems set on Rice for what ever fucking reason. Chelsea through and through will always be a laugh to me when three years ago this lad told the Matthew Harding Stand to "fuck off" after they beat us at the bridge. Philips is a more natural DM than Rice is either way yet we aren't interested. 

I for one see the midfield as an absolute priority over others. At the very least I will take Bissouma + Gallagher into next season, and hope by some miracle Jorginho elevates his game with the time off during the World Cup. 

Personally I'd take a chance on Bissouma if he didn't have the sexual assault charges ongoing. He's a dominant, physical presence in there that is also very comfortable on the ball and has proven to be an important cog in a possession heavy side already. I think he'd be capable of making the step up and wouldn't cost the earth. Besides him though I don't see anyone standing out at the moment as an obvious and realistic option and the worry is reaching for someone because we've done enough of that in the past and we've been burned badly as a result. 

I agree with you the midfield does need to be addressed amongst other positions, but we're no longer in a position like we were under Roman to write off poor transfer decisions. Unless the club have someone scouted under the radar for this summer, I'm reluctant to see us spend huge money on someone who clearly isn't one of our top targets for that position.

[Stats 7,074]

14 minutes ago, ZAPHOD2319 said:

This thread has more information than just the first tweet.

 

I get he wants the move, but we need to be rigid and not just rid of him because he wants out. So we loan him out, want him to agree to wage cut but we still will pay him partly while at Inter? Come of it. Are we mugs?

[MoroccanBlue 5,322]

7 minutes ago, milka said:

true professionalism 😂

 

 

Just all the more reason to get rid what ever possible. 

Cannot have him sulking up the dressing room and training ground knowing he did well try and leave from the beginning. 

[OhForAGreavsie 5,904]

2 hours ago, ZAPHOD2319 said:

 

Sounds like they might just be playing everyone off against each other trying to push the price up.

[OhForAGreavsie 5,904]

1 hour ago, LAM09 said:

RLC "helped" Fulham get relegated and still had a notable role within the squad last season.

It's all just opinion of course but, as I wrote at the time, if Ruben suddenly looks a good fit for your squad then that's evidence of an issue with the squad. An issue borne out by the wildly inconsistent performances I'd say.

[OhForAGreavsie 5,904]

1 hour ago, MoroccanBlue said:

What notable role was that? [For RLC]

 

1 hour ago, LAM09 said:

Playing in a FA Cup semi-final and starting a CL quarter-final. Those are two that come to mind.

Again, I say this is evidence of issues with our squad, not evidence of Ruben's output. If our midfield was as strong as we all agree it needs to be then Ruben wouldn't be in it.

[OhForAGreavsie 5,904]

1 hour ago, King Kante said:

Not really fair. Yes, he isn't a world beater where he can go in and drag those teams to safety by himself (especially as both those teams where of a standard that meant they should be relegated.) However, equally I would say Ampadu is someone we can use as a means to fill a squad place if we flush Sarr and RLC to get some capital to fill the holes we have. 

If it goes that way then lets hope you are right but my own view, expressed during 2018/19, is that Ethan is not good enough at either of his positions.

[OhForAGreavsie 5,904]

58 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

I for one am not fickle enough to believe our season went to shit because we lost Chilwell and James for the majority of it. Issues were there from the get go.

Yep.

1 hour ago, MoroccanBlue said:

I really hate doing this but I am keeping receipts on the members who feel there isn't an issue going into next season with the same midfield. They are well in for a massive, massive disappointment. 

This is gonna be fun. 🙂