Chelsea Transfers

[ulvhedin 525]

It's funny, that after all these spendings our midfield is still need to be hugely sorted out in the summer. Currently we have ONE sure option:

Enzo Fernandez

And then:

Mateo Kovacic - injury prone, contract status unclear, may leave in the summer

Ngolo Kante - could be finished, contract expires in the summer, not sure whether it will be extended

RLC - not Chelsea quality, would be gone if not for his massive wages,

Denis Zakaria - on loan, still would need to be bought, had good moments but still it's uncertain whether he is Chelsea level

Connor Gallagher - it's uncertain whether he is Chelsea level, and potentially could be sold for good profit

Mason Mount - contract status unclear, still not certain whether can play in miedfield constantly,

Lewis Hall, Carney Chukwuemeka - young and not experienced, both need a lot of playing time to further develop,

Cesare Casadei, Andrey Santos, Charlie Webster - too young to be sure what is their real level in senior football

[milka 3,392]

If everyone hates Chelsea again, then we're on the right track .

💙🏆✔️

[Vesper 30,122]

1 hour ago, ZAPHOD2319 said:

Perhaps @Vesper can post the entire article. It is a really good read on what Clearlake is trying to achieve. It is not as random as some people think.

What do other Premier League clubs think of Chelsea and their transfer spending?

https://theathletic.com/4138292/2023/02/03/Chelsea-premier-league-clubs-think/

It is far too early to judge whether Chelsea ‘won’ this January transfer window, but they unquestionably dominated it to a degree that might make even Barcelona — whose economic-lever-fuelled recruitment drive was by far the biggest story in football throughout the summer of 2022 — a little envious.

From hijacking Arsenal’s carefully planned pursuit of Mykhailo Mudryk to making Enzo Fernandez the most expensive Premier League player ever with minutes to spare on deadline day, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital’s spectacularly aggressive approach to strengthening Graham Potter’s squad has left no one in the football world indifferent to Chelsea.

After signing seven senior players for more than £280million ($340m) in the winter window, everybody is talking about them, and everyone has an opinion. To some they are the sport’s equivalent of the proverbial bull in the china shop, moving fast and breaking the transfer market for everyone else, fuelled by a huge appetite for risk-taking and seemingly without a coherent underlying plan. To others they are smart, calculated operators unafraid to go against conventional football thinking in their quest to grow Chelsea on and off the pitch.

Among their rivals, Chelsea’s spending has provoked a wide range of reactions: jealousy, bitterness, admiration, confusion and even fear about where this all could lead.

Chelsea’s spending spree certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed by the managers of some of their biggest rivals. Both Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp were asked questions about Chelsea’s January business at their press conferences on Friday — and both made their feelings known.

Guardiola was asked whether City would receive more criticism for spending what Chelsea have, and said: “Definitely, I know what would happen because we have in the last five or six years.

“What counts is winning titles. What Chelsea and the other clubs have done is not my business. You need good players like they (big spending teams) all believe but the market is just wow now. You have to spend to achieve. This is the reality.”

Klopp echoed his comments. “I say nothing without my lawyer,” he joked. I don’t understand this part of the business but it’s a big number. They are all really good players so congratulations. 

“I don’t understand how it’s possible, but it’s not for me to explain how it works.”

The Athletic has canvassed the views of officials across a variety of levels at other Premier League and European clubs — as well as a private equity specialist. They have been granted anonymity to enable them to speak freely without fear of impacting any future dealings with Chelsea or their owners.

One word that came up time and again during the course of the conversations was “disruptors”. There is a widely-held belief that Chelsea have deliberately set out to disrupt and distort the transfer market, particularly by spending so heavily in January — a market in which major deals are typically rarer as most clubs are very reluctant to countenance losing their most valued players in the middle of the season.

A senior official at another of the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’ blames Boehly and Clearlake for what they anticipate will be the “£100million midfielder merry-go-round” this summer — most likely to be headlined by Borussia Dortmund sensation Jude Bellingham — in light of the massive price that Chelsea were willing to pay to secure Fernandez from Benfica.

Chelsea, for their part, believe the market that develops for Bellingham and other coveted midfielders this summer will vindicate their strategy to go all out to secure Fernandez now, before a more active transfer window in which they — unlike the majority of rival suitors — may well not have Champions League football to offer the highest profile targets.

Elsewhere there has been consternation at Chelsea’s seemingly erratic approach to identifying targets and apparent fondness for gazumping the offers of others. Beyond the predictable lingering bitterness felt at Arsenal regarding the way the Mudryk situation played out, some clubs have been unable to divine much logic behind Boehly and Clearlake’s movements in the market. “They’re all over the shop, trying to do deals left, right and centre,” says another senior official at a Premier League rival.

Chelsea insist there has been a coherent plan underpinning their January recruitment drive and, in particular, a defined profile of player they targeted. All seven of their permanent signings in the winter market are under the age of 23, have flashed elite ability to varying degrees at their previous clubs and were prepared to commit to longer-than-standard contracts on sustainable, incentivised salaries reflective of playing time and Champions League participation.

A senior executive at another Premier League club says: “It has all been a bit bonkers since Todd came in and the project became owner-led, which is fine if there is a structure — but there doesn’t seem to be one. When Marina (Granovskaia) and Bruce (Buck) were at Chelsea, they were professional and the chain of command was obvious.”

Chelsea this week moved to clarify their footballing structure, with Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart appointed co-sporting directors empowered to lead the conversations on key decisions regarding transfers, talent identification and recruitment strategy.

Boehly and Clearlake co-founder Behdad Eghbali are now prepared to take a step back and while internally there is acknowledgement that last summer’s transfer dealings were conducted in less than ideal fashion, there is also a feeling that the process of finding the right executives to fill the void created by the swift departures of Granovskaia and technical and performance advisor Petr Cech could not be rushed.

Not everyone outside of Stamford Bridge is negative about Chelsea’s transfer tactics. Another senior executive at a Premier League rival says: “In terms of how they are spending, from the outside, it looks probably more scattergun than it actually is, because we know the people involved and they’re not silly.”

Shakhtar Donetsk CEO Sergei Palkin is more familiar with Boehly and Clearlake’s big ideas for Chelsea than most, having spent “nine or 10 hours” with Eghbali in Antalya, Turkey negotiating the eventual €100m (£88m) deal that took Mudryk to Chelsea rather than Arsenal.

“When they explain to you the whole story and you look for the next two, three, four, five years, then you see they have a serious project,” he said during an exclusive interview with The Athletic last month. “I believe they will build one of the best clubs in the world because I am telling you, they are very serious in all directions: sports science, the stadium side, the commercial side, on all things. For us, they looked very ambitious.”

There is also a broad understanding within the game of why Boehly and Clearlake have made a policy of handing out seven and even eight-year contracts to their younger signings — both of the potential rewards and the possible downsides.

One individual working in a senior recruitment role at another Premier League club says: “We all have different ideas. We are in an industry where nothing can stay the same, the instability is the stability!

“It’s different, but I just think they’re trying to be ahead of the game. You safeguard yourself to a degree because of the longevity of the contract but if it doesn’t work out, it could be a noose around their necks. If the player performs and stays throughout then it’s great for them.

“Chelsea have spent an awful lot of money in previous seasons but they seem to be a lot more strategic about what they’re doing. In previous years (under Abramovich’s ownership) I wasn’t sure there was much of a strategy behind it all.”

Boehly and Clearlake regard these ultra-long contracts as beneficial even without the benefit of the financial fair play amortisation loophole that UEFA will close from this summer onwards; as well as protecting the asset from the club’s perspective, the player gets greater security of income in case of serious injury. If some of Chelsea’s recent long-term acquisitions do not work out at Stamford Bridge, the hope is that lower base salaries will make them easier to sell on.

But what about the business case for Chelsea’s spending? One private equity specialist contacted by The Athletic recognises what he has seen in Boehly and Clearlake’s vast transfer outlay over the first two windows of their ownership — though he is sceptical of its suitability for the football industry.

“Private equity is largely about front-loading the cost in order to get a bit of rocket fuel in the asset, and believing — or hoping — that the asset succeeds,” he says. “Can you do that for a sporting franchise? I’m not sure.

“The purpose is to buy companies, invest in them and then sell them. This is a grow-and-sell model. Chelsea, sooner or later — three to five years is typical — will be sold. They’re investing heavily now to grow the asset so they can eventually sell it.

“It could go very well for Chelsea. They’re scaling up massively to invest in a lot of players and if they’re successful on the pitch, it’ll be vindicated. They’ll continue to grow and try to make Chelsea into a mega club. If it doesn’t work, it’s Leeds. At some stage, if the current growth strategy doesn’t work, there will be an enormous fire sale.”

Boehly and Clearlake have repeatedly insisted their plans for Chelsea are far longer term in nature than that, backed by wealth from funds that have a considerably extended life cycle relative to those of many other private equity firms. The bullishness in their business strategy has been unwavering, with no discussion up to this point of what happens if things do not go to plan for the club on the pitch in the coming years.

Nevertheless, what they are doing at Chelsea is vastly different — at least in scope, if not quite in principle — to the other private equity firms who have ventured into European football club ownership in recent years. That ensures the eyeballs trained on their medium and long-term fortunes will extend far beyond their own sport.

“We’ve never seen a private equity firm in football with this scale of investment,” the private equity specialist adds. “As a business strategy in English football, it’s never been done before. I think it will either go really well or really badly. I can’t see a middle ground.”

[Pizy 18,877]

1 hour ago, ulvhedin said:

It's funny, that after all these spendings our midfield is still need to be hugely sorted out in the summer. Currently we have ONE sure option:

Enzo Fernandez

And then:

Mateo Kovacic - injury prone, contract status unclear, may leave in the summer

Ngolo Kante - could be finished, contract expires in the summer, not sure whether it will be extended

RLC - not Chelsea quality, would be gone if not for his massive wages,

Denis Zakaria - on loan, still would need to be bought, had good moments but still it's uncertain whether he is Chelsea level

Connor Gallagher - it's uncertain whether he is Chelsea level, and potentially could be sold for good profit

Mason Mount - contract status unclear, still not certain whether can play in miedfield constantly,

Lewis Hall, Carney Chukwuemeka - young and not experienced, both need a lot of playing time to further develop,

Cesare Casadei, Andrey Santos, Charlie Webster - too young to be sure what is their real level in senior football

Think we definitely will be in the market for a long term partner for Enzo in the summer. We’ve got lots of young midfielders for the future but none of them are ready to be everyday starters.

The rumors a couple of days ago about Amrabat sound pretty good to me. We don’t have to completely break the bank again for another midfielder to significantly upgrade. We don’t have to go for Rice or Caicedo even though they’d be ideal.

[Vesper 30,122]

On 01/02/2023 at 19:28, ZAPHOD2319 said:

 

LOVE THIS MAN!!💖

[Vesper 30,122]

it is so fucking weird to look at our roster and see it littered with players I have SO wanted

long may this keep up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited February 3, 2023 by Vesper

[ZAPHOD2319 4,805]

7 minutes ago, Vesper said:

LOVE THIS MAN!!💖

I really hope he stays past his playing days.

[Vesper 30,122]

Winter Window 2023.............................

 

The Good

The Bad

The Ugly

[Vesper 30,122]

2 hours ago, ulvhedin said:

It's funny, that after all these spendings our midfield is still need to be hugely sorted out in the summer. Currently we have ONE sure option:

Enzo Fernandez

And then:

Mateo Kovacic - injury prone, contract status unclear, may leave in the summer

Ngolo Kante - could be finished, contract expires in the summer, not sure whether it will be extended

RLC - not Chelsea quality, would be gone if not for his massive wages,

Denis Zakaria - on loan, still would need to be bought, had good moments but still it's uncertain whether he is Chelsea level

Connor Gallagher - it's uncertain whether he is Chelsea level, and potentially could be sold for good profit

Mason Mount - contract status unclear, still not certain whether can play in miedfield constantly,

Lewis Hall, Carney Chukwuemeka - young and not experienced, both need a lot of playing time to further develop,

Cesare Casadei, Andrey Santos, Charlie Webster - too young to be sure what is their real level in senior football

good summary

hopefully it soon becomes more......................

The Darling Buds - Crystal Clear

 

[ZAPHOD2319 4,805]

CL squad complete 

 

[TheHulk 2,424]

2 minutes ago, ZAPHOD2319 said:

CL squad complete 

 

Was obvious, no way was Felix gonna miss the squad after paying so much for a loan and a handful of games. Good decision, I believe in Fofana to stay fit.

[ZAPHOD2319 4,805]

Auba was removed from CL,

[TheHulk 2,424]

1 minute ago, ZAPHOD2319 said:

Auba was removed from CL,

Nothing of value was lost.

[The_Drog11 2]

8 hours ago, ZAPHOD2319 said:

Auba was removed from CL,

Auba should be removed from the club in general.

[Vesper 30,122]

 

Quote

 

https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/Chelsea-fc-summer-transfer-targets-priority-b1057459.html

But new owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake are ready to sanction another spending spree for next season, with a new goalkeeper and striker high on the agenda. They could also target a midfielder and another central defender.

 

so

GK 

Jan Oblak  
Giorgi Mamardashvili
Illan Meslier 
Mike Maignan
Dominik Livakovic

 

CF

Victor Osimhen
Dusan Vlahovic
Jonathan David  
Ivan Toney    
Benjamin Sesko 

 

CMF/DMF

Jude Bellingham probably a pipedream
Nicolò Barella  probably a pipedream
Roméo Lavia  
Manu Koné   
Moisés Caicedo  
Alexis Mac Allister
Declan Rice

 

CB (Right-Footed)

Jurrien Timber 
José María Giménez  
Robin Le Normand  
Merih Demiral 
Nathan Collins 
Giorgio Scalvini   
António Silva 
Taylor Harwood-Bellis