Chelsea Transfers

[Vesper 30,201]

Moussa Diaby in the €40-45m (£35-39m) range would be a STEAL

and we would (after we sell off the turgid Ziyech and Pulisic) set at RW for ages, with Diaby and then Noni as backup/alt

[OhForAGreavsie 6,076]

12 hours ago, Vesper said:

Moussa Diaby in the €40-45m (£35-39m) range would be a STEAL

and we would (after we sell off the turgid Ziyech and Pulisic) set at RW for ages, with Diaby and then Noni as backup/alt

I'm really not sold on Noni, but Hakim and Chris have got to go. They are serving no purpose in the squad, and being here is serving no purpose for them.

[shrenshah 186]

Get kvaratshelia, oshimen, bellingham, gvardiol and diogo costa

Then hide under a rock so ffp cannot find us

[Vesper 30,201]

Fabrizio Romano's Daily Briefing

🚨 the Daily Briefing - What next for Conte after FURIOUS outburst? Plus the latest on Chelsea midfielder's future, Arsenal, Barcelona, and more

My latest Briefing, featuring Spurs, Chelsea, Arsenal, Barcelona, and more.

 

Good morning guys and welcome to my latest Daily Briefing! Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy today’s ad-free round-up straight to your inbox 🙂

Today’s top stories:

 

• Conte looking likely to leave Spurs

• Zakaria to be replaced at Chelsea

• Plus more from Arsenal, Barcelona and Brighton

Arsenal

Arsenal fans are understandably concerned about the William Saliba injury. Honestly injuries are not my area, so I prefer not to comment on things like the Saliba case until I have 100% info. It’s better to wait for Arsenal’s statement. The upcoming international break will help in this sense, but I think Arsenal will fight for the title at the best level in any case. They’ve coped well with injuries all season and so I don’t expect another setback to have a huge effect.

Barcelona

Ronald Araujo is not hiding that he’d love to see Lionel Messi back at Barcelona: “I’d love Messi to return. He is the best player in the world and Barcelona is his home. His return would help us to try to win another Champions League. I hope there are every chance to have him again. We all want him by our side.”

Brighton

Kaoru Mitoma is the latest name being linked with the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United, but Brighton will not sell the whole squad! We always have rumours on their players, I think it’s most likely to see at least one midfielder gone as they will try to keep Mitoma, who is really appreciated by Roberto De Zerbi.

Official, signed. Brighton confirm Solly March has signed a new contract that runs until June 2026, as announced in an official club statement. There will be also an additional one-year option for the club. Good news for Brighton as the 28-year-old continues to be a key performer in Roberto De Zerbi’s side, with seven Premier League goals this season.

Ukrainian centre-back Mykola Matvienko is set to sign new contract with Shakhtar Donetsk valid until June 2028. Brighton had a €20m bid rejected last January, when Shakhtar were asking for a €30m fee, and my understanding is that Brighton remain among the clubs still tracking Matvienko ahead of summer. We’ll have to see how this new deal affects his situation, but it looks like suitors will still be there for this talented defender.

Chelsea

Denis Zakaria is not a regular starter so honestly I think there were never many chances of him staying on permanent deal. For sure Chelsea will go for new midfielder in the summer; I really appreciate Zakaria, I think he’s underrated but probably Chelsea want something different to play next to Enzo Fernandez.

Mason Mount has now appointed Neil Fewings as new agent, agreement done weeks ago — understand it’s very likely that he will leave Chelsea in July. Fewings will now help Mount in talks.

Ben Chilwell has made it very clear where he stands on Graham Potter after a difficult start to life at Chelsea. For all the talk about Potter’s job safety, Chilwell is backing the manager: “I’ve been in dressing rooms before where you know in your head that there's a bit of a divide between staff and players... and for sure, this isn't one of them. Potter has dealt with it all brilliantly the past few months.”

Borussia Monchengladbach are resigned to losing Manu Kone amid links with Chelsea, according to Christian Falk - click here to read more!

📰 Chelsea are considering Leeds United goalkeeper Illan Meslier as a potential candidate to replace Kepa Arrizabalaga and Edouard Mendy this summer (Football Insider)

Fulham

Marco Silva sounds committed to Fulham despite links with Tottenham: “I’m really pleased and happy in this football club, I’m happy with Fulham project. We have the ambition to do better, to improve, we want this club to keep growing. I trust this project.”

Liverpool

I’ve had Liverpool fans asking me about Jose Enrique’s surprise comments, when he seemed to ‘leak’ the fact that Ryan Gravenberch would be joining the Reds.

Honestly I’m not aware of this deal. Bayern wanted to keep Ryan Gravenberch in January despite lot of interest and nothing has changed at this stage, we will see in the summer. He’s a fine player who surely has a big future, but it’s too early to say right now where his future lies.

Manchester City

Another hat-trick for Erling Haaland as Manchester City thrashed Burnley. An unbelievable player in the form of his life!

💬 How many goals can Haaland finish the season with? Give me your predictions in the comments!

PSG

Lionel Messi already received a proposal from PSG to extend the contract — Leo didn’t ask for the same salary as other players, despite some reports to the contrary. But Messi wants to understand more about how the PSG project is going to look before making his final decision, after initially agreeing a verbal pact in December.

Real Madrid

Carlo Ancelotti: “Eder Militao’s the best centre back in the world. He’s not perfect because sometimes he is not 100% focused, also he is not that handsome!”

Carlo Ancelotti on his future: “The club has to decide. I’d really love to stay at Real Madrid for my whole life, but it’s impossible. I want to continue here. If they want me to stay 3 months, I’ll enjoy 3 months. If they want 3 years, I’ll enjoy 3 years.”

Shakhtar Donetsk

Ukrainian centre-back Mykola Matvienko is set to sign new contract with Shakhtar Donetsk valid until June 2028. Brighton had a €20m bid rejected last January, when Shakhtar were asking for a €30m fee, and my understanding is that Brighton remain among the clubs still tracking Matvienko ahead of summer. We’ll have to see how this new deal affects his situation, but it looks like suitors will still be there for this talented defender.

Tottenham

It’s very clear - Antonio Conte was furious after yesterday’s game and he didn’t hold back with his statements against the players. He said the players needed to stop their excuses, and that they had no fight or desire. Conte was already furious weeks ago and this is one of the reasons we’ve had rumours about his future, but he never had any concrete or advanced negotations over a new contract.

It’s up to Tottenham, but for sure the feeling around sources is for Conte not to be Spurs coach next season – it was already like this after AC Milan UCL clash. It’s also partly because of personal reasons, as well as his expectations of the players. He’s not happy with many decisions, he wanted to decide at the end of the season but the feeling now is that he won’t still be their manager next season, the plan is to change. We’ll have to see when he will communicate this, or if the club will decide something before then.

I’m not sure there are issues with the ownership, he’s not happy with the players and their attitude more than the ownership. He wants to see different attitude, this is why he’s really unhappy with the current situation.

A reminder of some of those explosive Conte quotes again:

“They are used to it here at Tottenham. They don’t play for something important. They don’t want to play under pressure, under stress. It is easy in this way! Tottenham story’s this for 20 years, there’s the owner but they never won something. Why?”

“I see selfish players, players that don't want to help each other and don't put their heart into this. There’s no fire, no desire. You need to have this in every moment. When you are NOT a team, you can’t improve. Here we play for the badge. We play to make Tottenham fans proud of us. You need fire in yours eyes. This is unacceptable also for the fans. They follow us, pay for the ticket and this performance is unacceptable.”

We’ve had many rumours, but Tottenham have not started the process of hiring a new manager yet. Pochettino wants to return to coaching and Luis Enrique too but it doesn’t mean they will join Spurs. I think the best solution would be Pochettino’s return or modern, young, new coach like Ruben Amorim.

Marco Silva is another name linked with the Tottenham job, but when asked about the links he made it clear he’s happy with the Fulham project: “I’m really pleased and happy in this football club, I’m happy with Fulham project. We have the ambition to do better, to improve, we want this club to keep growing. I trust this project.”

 

 

[TheHulk 2,467]

 

[TheHulk 2,467]

Pereira is fucking trash.

[LAM09 7,056]

2 minutes ago, TheHulk said:

Pereira is fucking trash.

Flamengo didn't even want to sign him permanently a few months ago. I'm hoping it's just the usual Twitter gossip that holds no truth.

[NikkiCFC 8,327]

5 minutes ago, TheHulk said:

Pereira is fucking trash.

Then why share such a horrid source like ESPN? 

We do not need replacement for Mount. Mudryk, Felix, Nkunku, Havertz, Sterling, Gallagher are all already here. 

[Mário César 1,280]

We simply can't have other season with Kepa as a number 1

if we will sell mendy, I hope Kepa goes in the same way

I think we will try tu buy diogo costa from porto

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

If we keep Kova and Kante gets fully fit again we only need a GK and a CF in summer, that's it.

Replacement for Mount? We have enough players to sit on the bench.

Will be way more important to get rid of the deadwood than to make another acquisition wave in the market.

[Mário César 1,280]

24 minutes ago, Magic Lamps said:

If we keep Kova and Kante gets fully fit again we only need a GK and a CF in summer, that's it.

Replacement for Mount? We have enough players to sit on the bench.

Will be way more important to get rid of the deadwood than to make another acquisition wave in the market.

and about felix situation?

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

31 minutes ago, Mário César said:

and about felix situation?

I would pass on him as things stand. He is exactly what we don't need and already have plenty of, a technical but inefficient and wasteful player.  If we intend to keep Havertz who is currently our best attacker, we have no place for the similar Felix esp when the superior Nkunku joins us. We have an abundance of AMs already.

[milka 3,393]

 

Edited March 20, 2023 by milka

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

6 minutes ago, milka said:

 

Can sign him permanently but, regardless of who we sign, we are not going to make any real progress with GP as manager.

Pereira would be a ridiculously bad signing also. Joao Palhinha for me is the only player we should be looking at from Fulham as his style of play/profile is what we need.

[milka 3,393]

Out of 11, there are only 4 positions that are certain for the next campaign - James, Silva, Enzo and Chilwell.
Everything else is questionable or to be decided in the summer.

The goalkeeper post is also in question. There the options seem to be far more limited -  Costa , Raya , Meslier , Kobel .

[Mário César 1,280]

we need a goalkeeper, center forward and a midfielder 

only 3 or at least 4 signings 

and sell deadwood 

[Vegetable 830]

Kepa & Mendy are far from perfect, but somehow synergic duo. The GK market is similar to strikers right now - no robocops exist and actually, Mendy was closest to be one for a while. If people think that getting another GK will magically cause us to stop conceding goals, well, think again. Feel like it's the least of our worries and some FFP millions to find better use elsewhere. 

[Vesper 30,201]

3 hours ago, Vegetable said:

Kepa & Mendy are far from perfect, but somehow synergic duo. The GK market is similar to strikers right now - no robocops exist and actually, Mendy was closest to be one for a while. If people think that getting another GK will magically cause us to stop conceding goals, well, think again. Feel like it's the least of our worries and some FFP millions to find better use elsewhere. 

I cannot disagree more, with most every point

de rec

[Vesper 30,201]

Felix and Fernandez are Chelsea’s new attacking brain – but defensive frailty remains

https://theathletic.com/4323005/2023/03/19/Chelsea-enzo-felix-everton-potter/

With the benefit of hindsight, perhaps Graham Potter tempted fate when, abandoning his usual slavish devotion to measured statements and emotional stability, he allowed himself to indulge in a little populist rabble-rousing at an event for Chelsea members on Thursday.

Having thanked the fans for being fair with him, he ended his message to them with a bang:

“We will try and beat Everton, take the draw and then we will try and win the fucking Champions League!”

The draw he referenced was the following day’s laying-out of the Champions League quarter-final and semi-final brackets, not the deflating blow Everton inflicted on Chelsea’s tentative recovery by snatching a late point at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. But it was at least conceivable for the football gods to hear Potter’s words and conclude that he and his team, a spring in their step thanks to three encouraging wins after three miserable months, were asking to be Dyched.

On the pitch yesterday evening, it was much easier to see exactly how Chelsea had contributed to their own undoing: both Everton equalisers were largely self-inflicted wounds, with this season’s ninth set-piece goal conceded in limp fashion to Abdoulaye Doucoure at a corner before startlingly poor individual errors from Kalidou Koulibaly and Kepa Arrizabalaga allowed substitute Ellis Simms to make himself this season’s Jarrad Branthwaite in the 90th minute.

Chelsea had twice edged themselves ahead, both of their goals just reward for one of the more convincing performances in possession of Potter’s seven-month tenure. Directed by the routinely excellent Enzo Fernandez at the base of midfield, they played through Everton’s press and then stretched and stressed Sean Dyche’s diligently-drilled low defensive block to its breaking point.

Fernandez’s long-range passing is particularly dangerous: he completed 10 of his 13 attempts, sometimes switching the point of attack to Reece James on the right but more often out to the left to Ben Chilwell, who touched the ball more (96 touches) than any other player on the pitch. One such combination yielded the first-time cross Michael Keane could only clear to the feet of Joao Felix for the opening goal.

Everton had come to west London imbued with the fighting spirit of Dyche’s most dogged Burnley teams; he has spoken in recent weeks about transforming the mentality of a struggling squad since replacing Frank Lampard at the end of January and, at one point in the first half, Amadou Onana let out a fierce yell of triumph in front of the away dugout after forcing the ball out for a Chelsea throw on the halfway line.

Led by Burnley alumni Keane and James Tarkowski, Everton also blocked 10 of Chelsea’s 20 shot attempts but in the 53rd minute, Joao Felix managed to squeeze one through the legs of the latter and into the only place it could evade goalkeeper Jordan Pickford’s desperate dive, kissing the inside of the far post before spinning across the line.

A first goal at Stamford Bridge was no less than the Portugal star deserved for a display of elegant menace that prompted his name to be sung resoundingly and repeatedly in the stands.

Starting in the No 9 role inhabited by Raheem Sterling against Borussia Dortmund in the previous home game and Mykhailo Mudryk away to Leicester City last weekend, he linked easily with the resurgent Kai Havertz and Christian Pulisic, who was making his first start in more than two months. The Atletico Madrid loanee’s movement between the Everton lines was a constant problem, punctuated by several skilful flourishes that dazzled the crowd — most notably one flick and spin around the corner that left Tarkowski pressing fresh air.

Until the final 15 minutes, there were plenty of signs of an exciting, dynamic Chelsea attack coming together.

James and Chilwell have returned to something close to full power following injury lay-offs, stretching opponents horizontally and giving this team back their old wings. Between them, January signings Fernandez and Joao Felix provide the Chelsea side with a new brain capable of creation as well as control. The first goal here was a product of Fernandez and Chilwell, the second a result of the panic caused by James combining with Joao Felix.

The broad reaction to Potter’s late-game decisions underlined the limited trust he commands with supporters, despite the recent upturn. The introduction of Conor Gallagher for Pulisic on the hour was widely interpreted as defensive, despite the change not actually changing Chelsea’s system at all (3-4-3 with the ball, 5-3-2 without it).

In the final minutes, he favoured the height of Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Carney Chukwuemeka to try to deal with Everton’s aerial barrage, with Chelsea’s game management undermined by the forced withdrawal of the excellent Wesley Fofana (“He was feeling his hamstring,” Potter said later). This was not the moment for N’Golo Kante’s long-awaited return — no point introducing the greatest midfield ball-winner of his generation against a team increasingly intent on bypassing their own midfield.

 

Potter watches his team twice pegged back by Dyche’s Everton in Saturday’s 2-2 draw (Photo: Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

Would weaponising the speed of Mudryk or Noni Madueke as Everton pushed up in search of an equaliser have been a better strategy? Perhaps, but encouraging the game to become more open and transitional comes with its own defensive risks. Potter took the more pragmatic approach — one perfectly aligned with the values of many of his more decorated Chelsea predecessors, if not quite so in tune with the current desires of many supporters.

Ultimately, two points were lost because of a disastrous cascade of individual errors: Fernandez leaving Doucoure uncontested to receive a pass forward from Vitalii Mykolenko and redirect it to the feet of Simms; Koulibaly opting to confront rather than contain a striker without a Premier League goal to his name at the time and only recalled from loan at Championship side Sunderland by Lampard at the turn of the year; then Kepa allowing a relatively tame shot to squirm under his left wrist.

Potter’s decisions did not let Everton back into the game primarily because they were never out of it, and never gave the impression of a team who believed they were beaten. They made Chelsea feel their physicality throughout — by fair means and occasionally foul, best illustrated by one crude Tarkowski neck-pull on Joao Felix — and made maximum use of their physical advantages to ensure they were never more than one opposition mistake away from salvation.

The result further cements Chelsea in mid-table mediocrity and dulls the optimism of a timely recent revival, but it could also provide an opportunity for Potter to spend the two-week international break that starts tonight (Sunday) thinking about the flaws in this team that he still needs to address with that quarter-final against Real Madrid on the horizon.

After all, defending set pieces and managing late-game leads are the kind of details a team needs to get consistently right if they want to try to win the fucking Champions League.

Edited March 21, 2023 by Vesper

[Vesper 30,201]

Liverpool ‘increasingly unlikely’ to sign Jude Bellingham this summer

A huge blow to Jurgen Klopp's plans.

https://metro.co.uk/2023/03/20/liverpool-increasingly-unlikely-to-sign-jude-bellingham-this-summer-18469515/

Liverpool are set to miss out on signing Jude Bellingham this summer with it ‘increasingly unlikely’ the club will not be in a position to fight for his signature.

Bellingham remains one of the most-sought after players in world football with Liverpool thought to have been among the front runners to sign him when he leaves Borussia Dortmund.

In recent years, the midfielder’s social media activity has been used to fuel suggestions he favours a move to Anfield while Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard recently backed the club to sign the England international, even offering his services to help get the deal done.

Liverpool, Manchester City and Real Madrid have been leading the race to sign the 19-year-old with latest reports suggesting Dortmund will be looking for a fee of at least £110million for their prized asset.

But according to The Athletic, a deal is now seen as very challenging for Liverpool.

A combination of that huge fee, the financial power of rival suitors and Liverpool’s reluctance to enter a bidding war has cast major doubt on Liverpool’s chances of signing the former Birmingham City starlet.

It is thought City and Real Madrid are in better positions to compete for his signature in the coming months.

Liverpool’s hopes are fading fast 

Liverpool are set to finish the season without a trophy and face a fight to finish in the top four, currently sat in sixth place and seven points behind fourth place Tottenham.

Roberto Firmino, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and James Milner are all out of contract at the end of the season and with Jurgen Klopp’s squad in need of a refresh, wider recruitment could also affect their chances of landing Bellingham.

Chelsea are also interested in signing the midfielder while Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag views Bellingham as a ‘generational talent’ and a future captain.

Former United defender Ferdinand meanwhile believes Liverpool’s Champions League elimination at the hands of Real Madrid will have left the player with serious doubts over a move to Merseyside.

‘If Liverpool get Bellingham then Stevie [Gerrard] and yourselves [Michael Owen and Peter Crouch] will have swam the English Channel to get him,’ he said on BT Sport.

‘I just think that if he watched that tonight he must be thinking, ‘if Real Madrid and Liverpool are in for me, there’s only one place to go!”.