Chelsea Transfers

[LAM09 7,091]

If we only make one signing this summer, it has to be him - 

 

[Pizy 19,280]

22 minutes ago, LAM09 said:

If we only make one signing this summer, it has to be him - 

 

Imagine the curse of the Chelsea striker hitting someone we spend £150m on….

😬😬😬

[LAM09 7,091]

14 hours ago, Pizy said:

Imagine the curse of the Chelsea striker hitting someone we spend £150m on….

😬😬😬

Curses are there to be broken. Also, I'm sure we could get him for significantly less.

[HEREIAM 83]

If we can afford to waste all that money on Neymar then we should be going all out for Harry Kane

[NikkiCFC 8,516]

Nkunku got assist on his first game back after injury. 

[ulvhedin 526]

If we only can make one transfer it should be someone to partner Enzo in the miedfield.

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

Unpopular opinion but we should not sign Felix. He has already shown he is not worth 100m+. He is clearly a talented player and technically superior to most of our AMs but he also is exactly what we do not need. Another fancy second striker/pseudo no.10 with no real output, terrible finishing and squishy confidence. He embodies everything that is wrong with our attack. We need to get rid of all those fair weather players, nearly-scorers who like to play it easy on the eye and just don't bring it in front of goal cos the ball bounces unluckily last minute or there is a breeze or the fans are too loud. Even if we managed to dump Mount and Havertz, we would be replacing them with a player with the exact same shortcomings. There is also no need to sign a backup for Nkunku for 100m+. They will not fit into the same formation. Nkunku has to be flanked by pacey, direct wingers like Madueke and Mudryk, who hopefully are the future.  Felix is not.

[shrenshah 186]

I would sign felix and sell havertz...also buy a 9 like oshimen or vlqhovic if they are willing to join a mid table club 😞

[Vesper 31,104]

1 hour ago, Magic Lamps said:

Unpopular opinion but we should not sign Felix. He has already shown he is not worth 100m+. He is clearly a talented player and technically superior to most of our AMs but he also is exactly what we do not need. Another fancy second striker/pseudo no.10 with no real output, terrible finishing and squishy confidence. He embodies everything that is wrong with our attack. We need to get rid of all those fair weather players, nearly-scorers who like to play it easy on the eye and just don't bring it in front of goal cos the ball bounces unluckily last minute or there is a breeze or the fans are too loud. Even if we managed to dump Mount and Havertz, we would be replacing them with a player with the exact same shortcomings. There is also no need to sign a backup for Nkunku for 100m+. They will not fit into the same formation. Nkunku has to be flanked by pacey, direct wingers like Madueke and Mudryk, who hopefully are the future.  Felix is not.

I was starting to move in this direction midweek.  Not fully there yet but not at all..'OMG we must buy Felix even if its £80, 90m!!' either

[Hashishi 148]

My take on the January buys:

Enzo - Good player but we overpaid for him. I would've been chuffed had we got him for 60m as I think it's what he's worth)

Mudryk - may be fast but we come up against a lot of low block teams, so what can he do with that pace. Not much it seems but time will tell.

Felix - Our best player is someone on loan from Atletico. I don't know what to say about buying him because I don't know if he or Nkunku is better. 

Badiashile - Has potential to lead the back line in the future. Its a toss up between him and Colwill but both will be UCL level.

Madueke - Bit of a donkey. Has very good physical attributes which I'm sure served him well in Eredivisie. Unfortunately does not have the tekkers that Gakpo has.

DDF - A massive Donkey. I don't know what this guy offers to the team. I think he plays on the shoulder and Potter is using him to link up play. He also relies on pace in a league where he won't get space against low block teams.

Gusto - Damn shame he got injured. Hope he's good as new by next season. This is the danger of loaning back and giving out long term contracts.

Santos - I'm wary of a player who has only proven himself on the south American stage. But a loan to Portugal next year would be good, after that we can assess.

[Vegetable 830]

I still have a gut feeling that Mudryk may have more problems with his mind, than his skill. He looks super dense, stressed and chaotic in everything he does on the pitch and the more it doesn't work, the more he is pushing, leading to more chaos. Funny, given we have just hired the super deluxe mentality coach. 

[Reddish-Blue 2,674]

24 minutes ago, Hashishi said:

My take on the January buys:

Enzo - Good player but we overpaid for him. I would've been chuffed had we got him for 60m as I think it's what he's worth)

Mudryk - may be fast but we come up against a lot of low block teams, so what can he do with that pace. Not much it seems but time will tell.

Felix - Our best player is someone on loan from Atletico. I don't know what to say about buying him because I don't know if he or Nkunku is better. 

Badiashile - Has potential to lead the back line in the future. Its a toss up between him and Colwill but both will be UCL level.

Madueke - Bit of a donkey. Has very good physical attributes which I'm sure served him well in Eredivisie. Unfortunately does not have the tekkers that Gakpo has.

DDF - A massive Donkey. I don't know what this guy offers to the team. I think he plays on the shoulder and Potter is using him to link up play. He also relies on pace in a league where he won't get space against low block teams.

Gusto - Damn shame he got injured. Hope he's good as new by next season. This is the danger of loaning back and giving out long term contracts.

Santos - I'm wary of a player who has only proven himself on the south American stage. But a loan to Portugal next year would be good, after that we can assess.

Bit harsh on DDF, the kid hasn't even had a chance to develop on loan. 

As for Mudryk, I still don't get why we signed him.   Could have spent that money on a midfield partner for Enzo in the next transfer window. 

[Reddish-Blue 2,674]

15 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

Nkunku got assist on his first game back after injury. 

Should have buried that 1 on 1 chance he had in the game, even the commentator was shocked saying that Nkunku normally doesn't miss those, but we'll give him the benefit of the doubt on this occasion. 

[Blues11 213]

We've made a lot of signings but not in areas of our most glaring needs. If you have a proper #9 and shore up the midfield then what we had on the wings was solid enough. 

Sterling, Pulisic, Mount, Ziyech, etc, would have all benefited from better signings at striker and an actual decent midfield. 

Instead we just keep overpaying for the same positions and none of them look like huge upgrades atm. 

Seems like we're getting hustled financially because we're desperate to improve instead of spending more wisely. Not a good look for the new ownership.

Cucu might go down as one of the worst signings for Chelsea. A depth wingback who offers nothing going forward for over 60m....yikes. 

 

[Vesper 31,104]

we need to recruit him as a GKer, lol

(or imagine him on free and corner kicks or crosses into the box)

(he is 1.93m too)

 

Edited February 20, 2023 by Vesper

[Vesper 31,104]

On 18/02/2023 at 22:01, ulvhedin said:

If we only can make one transfer it should be someone to partner Enzo in the miedfield.

and a CF too!

2 most pressing needs by far

[Vesper 31,104]

Josko Gvardiol suggests he is eager to follow Christopher Nkunku to Chelsea after failed summer move

Josko Gvardiol has suggested he wants to follow RB Leipzig teammate Christopher Nkunku to Chelsea and ‘struggled’ after failing to get his move to Stamford Bridge last summer. 

https://metro.co.uk/2023/02/19/josko-gvardiol-suggests-he-is-eager-to-follow-christopher-nkunku-to-Chelsea-after-failed-summer-move-18310835/

Chelsea were eager to sign the Croatia international during the summer and reportedly saw a huge bid of £77million rejected by Leipzig in the final days of the window.

Leipzig refused to sell however, with Gvardiol going onto enjoy a superb World Cup campaign where his reputation grew further after a string of excellent displays in Qatar.

In an interview with The Times, the 21-year-old explained he was initially comfortable with Leipzig’s decision to keep him at the club for another season.

But interest from Chelsea in late August left him unsettled with a move to the Premier League his goal later down the line.

‘I was really confused because one month before the window starts I was upstairs with the sporting director and he says, ‘Yeah Josko, we are not going to sell you, we need you, we believe in you,’ and I was like ok I am fine with this, I can stay here, I like it here, all I need is to work on myself, to play, to win something else. It was like this until the last two days,’ he said.

‘My agent called me and said that Chelsea is extremely interested and, of course, you definitely think about a serious offer from a huge club like Chelsea. Leipzig said they didn’t want to sell me.

‘In the end I really struggled with that decision but we didn’t make an agreement. It is what it is.

‘I am here and I am fine with this because my idea had been to stay here. One season was not enough. This is my second season, even one more season would be great but we will see.”

Chelsea have already done business with Leipzig this season having agreed a deal to sign Nkunku this summer in a deal for a reported £52million.

Having played alongside the ‘unbelievable’ Frenchman, Gvardiol is eager to continue playing alongside him.

‘I have never seen before a player like Christoph, he is unbelievable,’ Gvardiol said.

‘Every time I talk with someone about him I always say wherever he goes I want to go with him.’

 

[Vesper 31,104]

Josko Gvardiol: I want to play in the Premier League

The Croatia defender was a star at the World Cup and tells Tom Roddy that he wants to play in the Premier League as he prepares to face Manchester City with RB Leipzig in the Champions League

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/josko-gvardiol-i-want-to-play-in-the-premier-league-7m9x5jhh9

Josko Gvardiol playfully rolls his eyes when the subject is raised of the video that went viral. Despite the RB Leipzig defender only turning 21 last month, he has many tales to tell — from a childhood in Croatia helping his father sell fish to almost quitting football four years ago, his troubles adjusting in the Bundesliga to the two occasions he came so close to a career goal of moving to the Premier League, first with Leeds United and then Chelsea.

But there’s only one place to begin with Gvardiol. Many in the football family knew of his huge potential, yet admiration truly widened at a World Cup in which the centre back excelled against almost every opponent; all but the one who departed Qatar with immortality.

“Of course I’ve seen it — many, many times,” he says of the footage, filmed by a spectator in the stands and viewed more than 70 million times on social media, of Lionel Messi jinking this way and that, shaking off Gvardiol before dribbling away from the young defender to set up Argentina’s third goal and a place in the final.

 

“Everyone does mistakes and it’s normal for me to make it. It was hard to stop Messi but we did it a few times. Of course we are trying to reduce this as much as possible but we are also 2-0 down, just trying to score a goal to get back in the game. We were defending with only me and [Dejan] Lovren so only two players.”

Growing up, Gvardiol pined to play in the Premier League after watching games with his Liverpool-supporting father, Tihomir, but he idolised Messi and Sergio Ramos, now team-mates at Paris Saint-Germain but for so long great rivals in Spain’s La Liga.

“I was a big fan of [Messi] growing up because when he has the ball it is just art. Whatever he does it looks so simple, but actually it’s not. I am afraid that we will not see something similar to this kind of player again in the future.”

Perhaps not, but European football’s next great rivalry may emerge this week. On Wednesday, Gvardiol will come up against Erling Haaland as Manchester City travel to east Germany for the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie. They have competed against each other once before, in the Bundesliga, and Gvardiol explains why he got the better of Haaland on that day while also naming the toughest striker he has faced so far.

But first, to training. We meet a week before City’s visit, at Leipzig’s state-of-the-art headquarters where some 600 fans have arrived to watch an open training session, feasting on steaming bratwurst while cheering on Marco Rose’s men during a frosty Tuesday morning. Gvardiol stands out. He’s the only one in short sleeves and still bears the bruising around his eyes from a broken nose suffered prior to the World Cup. “I was like a panda,” Gvardiol says.

He did not need any help standing out in Qatar. Gvardiol’s trajectory has been strikingly sharp, and so the fact that he almost quit the sport four years ago comes as a surprise. “I was 16 or 17 and still on the bench in the youth teams,” he says. “I was frustrated and, at one moment, I was thinking to leave football.”

Career options appeared limited. Gvardiol did not enjoy school and Tihomir’s work was tough, rising at 4am every day at the family’s small apartment to sell fish at market. “By the way, I hate fish,” Gvardiol says, laughing. “Imagine being 16 years old and there’s only fish to eat every day at home. I want to try something else.”

In his profession, that was not necessary. “I don’t know what happened then but afterwards I started to play and they finally saw something in me, my quality, and in one year I moved to Dinamo Zagreb’s second team. In six months I was in the first team with Dani Olmo.”

Olmo, a product of the Barcelona academy, turns out to be an influential figure in Gvardiol’s career. He made the move from Zagreb to Leipzig in January 2020, six months before Gvardiol, who had another tempting offer. “I had two options, between Leeds and Leipzig,” he says. Scouts from both clubs made a move for Gvardiol after fewer than five first-team games for Dinamo.

“[Marcelo] Bielsa was the coach and I don’t know if you know this but my goal in my career is to play in the Premier League,” he explains. “I didn’t speak with Bielsa but of course he sends a few people and they came to Zagreb. I met these guys and they show me it was something like a plan how they see me in their style of football. I mean, when they presented it everything looked good and you could maybe see yourself there in that moment.

 

“I knew that I needed to take a few steps more before I get [to the Premier League] one day. At the end Leipzig is a really good club and I feel good here. It’s important I play almost every game. I am very grateful to Dani Olmo because he was here and I spoke with him a lot of times before I decided to sign.”

When Gvardiol arrived at Leipzig, Olmo was away representing Spain at the Olympics. “After two weeks I called Dani and I said I want to go back to Croatia,” Gvardiol says, laughing. “I knew the difference between the Croatian league and Bundesliga is huge . . . but oh my God! I came here, running deep, long balls, keep running, gegenpressing. It was too much. And then, after three weeks, it became normal.”

It was towards the end of his first full season at Leipzig that Gvardiol faced Haaland, who was competing in one of his final games for Borussia Dortmund. Haaland did not score and was on the losing team.

“We played there and won 4-1 but honestly it was this period when he wanted to leave so maybe he wasn’t happy,” Gvardiol says. “I believe he is much better than what he did in that game. We have seen this season in the Premier League what he has done already, and I’m looking forward to this game because I want to play against top-class players. I believe he is one of them and is going to be even better and better.”

Gvardiol’s most challenging opponent was one who failed to live up to expectations in England — Romelu Lukaku. “He’s really big, huge,” Gvardiol says. “It’s hard to see the ball. He was in front of me and you are trying to look for the ball. The problem is that if you get close he puts his hand out, turns you and you’re out of the game. He’s powerful, I don’t know his weight but I believe it’s 100 kilos and he’s even faster than me.”

Gvardiol could have followed in Lukaku’s footsteps by signing for Chelsea last summer. The Premier League’s big spenders made their move towards the end of a summer window in which Gvardiol had not planned to leave.

“Phwoar, I was confused,” he says. “I was really confused because one month before the window starts I was upstairs with the sporting director and he says, ‘Yeah Josko, we are not going to sell you, we need you, we believe in you,’ and I was like ok I am fine with this, I can stay here, I like it here, all I need is to work on myself, to play, to win something else. It was like this until the last two days.

“My agent called me and said that Chelsea is extremely interested and, of course, you definitely think about a serious offer from a huge club like Chelsea. Leipzig said they didn’t want to sell me. In the end I really struggled with that decision but we didn’t make an agreement. It is what it is. I am here and I am fine with this because my idea had been to stay here. One season was not enough. This is my second season, even one more season would be great but we will see.”

Gvardiol’s Croatian team-mates, the Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic and Tottenham Hotspur’s Ivan Perisic, have already told him about London and the Premier League. One Leipzig player destined for both is Christopher Nkunku, the France forward, who will join Chelsea in the summer in a deal which is yet to be publicly confirmed. Gvardiol is effusive in his praise of Nkunku.

“I have never seen before a player like Christoph, he is unbelievable,” Gvardiol says. “Every time I talk with someone about him I always say wherever he goes I want to go with him.”

For now, both Nkunku and Gvardiol remain, preparing to face a Pep Guardiola team determined to finally break the spell and triumph in the Champions League. The odds are against Leipzig, yet Gvardiol has learnt to ignore them.

“I always like to say in football that everything is possible. The ball is round and you see at the World Cup that Croatia, a small country with this team, got third place. In history, we have won already three medals in the World Cup. Imagine this, a country of 3.8 million people. In this game we have to be with positive thoughts and don’t be afraid of anything, believe in ourselves and our quality, and try to win.”

 

[laura90 556]

On 11/01/2023 at 00:39, Superblue said:

Pathetic

You still think so? Have you been aware of Potter's winless streaks during his career? His teams scoring records?  I have.  And that's why I said what I said. 

Other managers have trophies and good football backing them, Potter had winless streaks, low win ratio, no trophies and low scoring teams backing him. 

And yet 80+ millions were spent to hire him and his staff.  We sacked Tuchel and  hired chinese version of him for fortune.  

He is the  manager at the top club completely out of his depth. He is walking mistake. Players don't trust in him, fans don't trust in him. Only stubborn owner, obsessed with proving entire world he is not fool stands behind him.

There were other managers out of their  depth. But had something more than Potter. Ole was club legend and was respected. Lampard was club legend and was respected. Arteta in his worst days had respect.  Potter has nothing.

Come March, we will still be asking ourselves where the next point will come from. And that is truly  pathetic. Spending fortune on unproven manager and being stuck with him.

[TheHulk 2,647]

More like 15-20M.