Chelsea Transfers

[TheHulk 2,647]

 

[lucio 5,418]

Offer them mount 

[Vesper 31,105]

2 hours ago, Reddish-Blue said:

I feel a mix of Silva, Fofana, Badiashile and Colwill will be solid next season. 

you forgot KK

he is almost impossible to move on due to that 4 year contract at an insane £295K PW

[TheHulk 2,647]

 

[Vesper 31,105]

48 minutes ago, TheHulk said:

 

hard pass on both, especially the shortie Raya

Edited March 21, 2023 by Vesper

[Vesper 31,105]

7 hours ago, TheHulk said:

 

Boavista F.C. FTW

[Vesper 31,105]

Fabrizio Romano's Daily Briefing

 

🚨 the Daily Briefing - Liverpool out of the Bellingham race? Man Utd takeover latest, Carlo Ancelotti's future, and more

Tuesday's transfer round-up, featuring Lionel Messi, Joao Cancelo, Jude Bellingham, and more.

Good morning! Welcome to my latest Daily Briefing - an exclusive round-up of the biggest stories and headlines, brought to you ad-free and straight to your inbox. Thanks for reading, and enjoy! 🙂

Today’s top stories

• Liverpool’s status in the Jude Bellingham transfer race

• New bids expected soon from Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Qatar

• Who Tottenham could replace Antonio Conte with in the short-term

Barcelona

Barça have an excellent relationship with João Cancelo’s agent, Jorge Mendes, but nothing will be decided at this point in time. Bayern and Cancelo will discuss things at the end of the season, and in the meantime, the fullback is now 100% focused on FC Bayern.

📰 Barcelona are interested in resigning their former striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (The Evening Standard via CaughtOffside)

Christian Falk to CaughtOffside: “I talked with Julian Nagelsmann about João Cancelo and he said that the defender is doing well but he isn’t a player for his system, which involves three defenders behind two wing-backs. So that’s the problem.

“If Pavard is fit, it’s getting difficult for Cancelo and time is slowly running out. It’s not a perfect situation for both sides and it’s worth considering that the clause of €70m is too high for Bayern Munich. I heard they’ve already informed the player and his management that they can’t pay this amount.”

Gift Orban

Wesley Sonck (Belgium U18 coach) on rumours of possible Premier League transfer [Sporza via CaughtOffside]: “I think it’s great that he is so ambitious. He is also fast, he adapts well. I must also admit that he easily scores goal. He is often in the right place.

“But the Premier League or the Bundesliga? That is still a few steps higher. Even with teams like Borussia Monchengladbach or Eintracht Frankfurt you have guys like (Marcus) Thuram and (Randal) Kolo-Muani in front of you.

“They are still on a different level.”

Inter Milan

📰 The Italian giants are unlikely to re-sign on-loan Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku following a disappointing season in Italy (Football Insider via CaughtOffside)

Liverpool

Jude Bellingham has not made a final decision yet. The situation remains open; it was not done with Liverpool in December and January despite many rumours, and it’s not off now.

Real Madrid are pushing a lot as they really want Jude, same for Manchester City. Of course, Liverpool’s uncertainty in their ownership situation is not helping but the club is still there in the race.

Christian Falk to CaughtOffside: “I heard that because of Liverpool’s experience in the Champions League this term, Jurgen Klopp made his thoughts very clear: Bellingham is now the top, top target. He said that every other transfer should be pushed down the pecking order; names like Randal Kolo Muani aren’t as important at the moment - there’s just one name and this is Bellingham.”

Manchester City

📰 Manchester City are said to have tabled their first offer for Croatian defender Luka Vuskovic as they look to steal a march on their rivals for the defender (The Athletic via CaughtOffside)

Manchester United

New bids are expected soon from Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Qatari group, for sure they are both in the race at this stage. The next few days will be crucial; details of this negotiation are still private as of now but there are going to be some crucial days/weeks coming.

[Sir Jim Ratcliffe (left) attends AS Monaco v OGC Nice (Photo by VALERY HACHE/AFP via Getty Images)]

PSG

From what I know, PSG have already made a proposal to Lionel Messi - and he’s waiting to make a decision based on PSG’s project, coach and more key details for the next season. It’s up to Messi, and his father Jorge.

💬 Is it time for Lionel Messi to return to Barcelona? What’s the next best step for the legendary midfielder? Let us know your thoughts below!Leave a comment

Real Madrid

Real Madrid are still protecting Carlo Ancelotti as they hope to do great things in the Champions League again. No decision will be made now; but only at the end of the season. For sure, winning trophies at Madrid is crucial to keep the job and Ancelotti knows that too.

💬 Who should Real Madrid replace Carlo Ancelotti with if the club decides to sack him in the summer? Share your predictions below!

Tottenham

Tottenham’s final say will be up to Daniel Levy. The process is ongoing, Spurs are not happy with Antonio Conte’s comments so they are seriously considering parting ways with their manager after less than two years in the role. For the replacement, it could be Ryan Mason as a short-term solution; they haven’t decided on a long-term option as of yet.

Edited March 21, 2023 by Vesper

[Vesper 31,105]

Fabrizio Romano's Daily Briefing

 

Exclusive: Ben Jacobs Takeover - Man Utd due for big day in takeover saga, Pochettino to return to Tottenham? Ruben Neves latest, and more

This week's exclusive transfer news column, featuring Liverpool, Barcelona, Chelsea, and more.

Big Wednesday ahead for Manchester United - the latest on the takeover front

Wednesday is a big day for Manchester United. As many as six second bids could go in as part of what is being termed stage two of the process. The deadline for new offers is 9pm UK.

Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani and Sir Jim Ratcliffe are the two publicly-declared bidders and are both expected to place improved offers. It’s also important to point out that other groups, including minority investors, are still in the process.

If a standout offer emerges then the Raine Group – who are handling the sale on behalf of the Glazers – could name a preferred bidder and put them through to a period of exclusivity. However, sources say it’s “very possible” there will be an extra bidding stage to create “competitive tension”.

Sheikh Jassim and Ratcliffe were both left confident a full sale is possible following a day each of long meetings and presentations last week at Old Trafford. But who is put through next will really show the Glazers’ hand and whether they are truly intent on staying or leaving.

Both Sheikh Jassim and Ratcliffe are clear they won’t overpay or be sucked into a bidding war, or be made to “ghost bid” against mystery groups. But there is an appreciation that it is going to take a record-sale price for a sports club in order to succeed.

The Denver Broncos sold for $4.65bn (£3.8bn) in August last year. Many of the indicative offers are already above and in all likelihood if Manchester United is sold the final figure will be at least £1bn more than this.

The ‘overpaying’ aspect comes from the fact all bidders are already prepared to go much higher than the club’s enterprise value – their indicative offers show this. That’s currently £3.75bn, which is pretty high due to the buzz of the process. For much of 2022 it’s been under £2.5bn.

But there will be no reckless bidding. This is all still about business value not vanity. As Ratcliffe put it when speaking to the Wall Street Journal: “How do you decide the price of a painting? How do you decide the price of a house? It’s not related to how much it cost to build or how much it cost to paint. What you don’t want to do is pay stupid prices for things because then you regret it subsequently.”

 

[Sir Jim Ratcliffe (left) with Mercedes’ F1 team principal Toto Wolff - Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images]

Last week, Sheikh Jassim and Ratcliffe both held what has been termed by sources as “productive” talks in Manchester. They received presentations essentially showing off the club in its best light from a strategic, operational, business and commercial perspective. It’s a bit like a takeover equivalent of an open house.

And what was interesting about the meetings is we now know a lot more about the two publicly-declared bid teams. Ratcliffe is very much keeping his team in-house at INEOS with a split between business knowhow and football knowledge. The latter comes from Sir Dave Brailsford, INEOS Sport chair Rob Nevin and their CEO Jean-Claude Blanc (who interestingly is ex-PSG). 

Ratcliffe also felt it important to attend in person since the day was not only about information gathering but also relationship building. Sources also stress that Ratcliffe doesn’t want to leave this process “empty-handed” making him potentially inclined to partner with other groups if not successful.

Sheikh Jassim’s delegation was led by Shahzad Shahbaz, who is president of the Nine Two Foundation. He is an experienced and highly-respected banker and has been earmarked for a key long-term role rather than only parachuted in to drive the bid or help value the club. He’ll be an important part of the leadership team at Manchester United if the group is successful.

I understand Shahbaz will likely represent the Nine Two Foundation, a bit like Behdad Eghbali at Chelsea on behalf of Clearlake Capital. He’ll then directly advise Sheikh Jassim, who is expected to be highly engaged but slightly less day to day. We could also see Sheikh Jassim come to London soon if things progress where many of his bid team are working from.

Overall, the Nine Two Foundation plan is to build, as one source put it, “The best bench in football administration and expertise, including experienced current and former Manchester United people of history and influence.”

The first task will be to bring on board a football lead with multiple candidates currently being considered. And don’t rule out ex-players being involved as well. A number of high-profile ones are waiting to see who succeeds before committing, but there is an openness by many to be a part of the successful group.

Spurs exploring Antonio Conte solutions 

Tottenham are set to part ways with Antonio Conte, although at the time of writing nothing has been officially communicated. Conte flew back to Italy after the 3-3 draw at Southampton, having given an explosive post-match press conference in which he called his players “selfish”.

Conte has had to clarify directly to Levy that he wasn’t criticising the ownership since he appeared to allude to Spurs being serially unsuccessful over the past 20 years.

Levy is taking his time to come to a formal decision, largely considering what is the best move to try and finish in the top four. The most likely scenario is Ryan Mason will be put in temporary charge, but the international break does allow Spurs some time to explore different options.

Mauricio Pochettino, Luis Enrique and Thomas Tuchel are all out of work, although they generally aren’t the type of managers who like to come in mid-season.

Pochettino is extremely open to a Spurs return and retains a strong professional and personal relationship with Levy. But Levy isn’t the only decision maker, even though his opinion carries huge weight. Fabio Paratici will lead on any appointment and he views Enrique as a strong candidate. Both options would be popular choices amongst the fanbase.

Pochettino has taken his time despite receiving lots of offers since leaving PSG. He was under consideration from Chelsea, even though Graham Potter was always the leading candidate. But he was not entirely sold on the vision. If Poch is to go back to Spurs, he’ll want to understand the dynamic between himself and Paratici first.

My understanding has always been Thomas Tuchel is not a leading candidate. He is obviously a top coach, but not seen as quite the right fit by the senior leadership team at Spurs. And after Conte’s outbursts, finding the right type of personality, not just coach, may well prove important.

Brentford’s Thomas Frank and Fulham’s Marco Silva could also be considered. Roberto De Zerbi has also impressed since joining Brighton but hasn’t even been there for a year. Brighton CEO Paul Barber told talkSPORT the club want to keep hold of him for as long as they possibly can, and with the Seagulls pushing for Europe it’s not thought De Zerbi would consider leaving mid-season.

First, Spurs have to resolve matters with Conte, who was always expected to leave at the end of the season. Again, at the time of writing, nothing has been officially communicated (perhaps that will change by the time you are reading this!). Thereafter, the key decision is whether an immediate appointment is made or Spurs wait until the end of the season.

💬 Who would your preferred managerial candidate be for Tottenham should Antonio Conte depart the club? Let us know your thoughts below!

Chelsea want to extend Mateo Kovacic as Man City ‘aware’ of situation

Although there has been some doubt over Mateo Kovacic’s future at Stamford Bridge over the past few months, and his contract ends in 2024, Chelsea are keen to extend his stay.

Chelsea are putting a high premium on leaders right now, and Kovacic has also been captain with others missing, including in the win over Dortmund in the Champions League at Stamford Bridge. And Kovacic scored a spectacular goal in the victory over Leicester in the Premier League. 

Jorginho’s departure to Arsenal was a great deal for all parties, but Chelsea nonetheless lost an experienced and well-liked player. Now, the owners don’t want to fall into too many repeat scenarios where they are selling players whose contracts are winding down. That’s why cashing in on Kovacic this summer has been discussed. But right now I understand things have changed a little.

Kovacic has been linked with Liverpool, Manchester City and Milan, and with new Chelsea midfielders incoming this summer he must understand how many minutes he’ll get, especially with N’Golo Kante back. Kante is expected to sign a new deal, too. Plus, Kovacic could have options that include Champions League football. It's a tall order for Chelsea to now qualify for the competition in 2023/24. 

[Mateo Kovacic (right) in action for Chelsea - Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images]

But from Chelsea’s perspective they’d like Kovacic to extend, especially with him being 28, which makes a bit of difference compared to others (like Jorginho, for example) in their thirties. Chelsea’s owners want to get the average squad age down.

A renewal is not yet a given, but there’s been a clear shift, with Kovacic now someone Chelsea ideally want to keep. The broader challenge for Chelsea’s American owners is players like Kovacic, Mason Mount, Christian Pulisic, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Cesar Azpilicueta and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are all approaching the final year of their contracts. This makes it harder to get value from departures. And Chelsea want to stop contracts just ticking down because it puts them in a weaker position in the market.

To get Kovacic to sign, he’ll have to agree to the new incentive-driven wage structure. This will include handsome opportunities to earn, but also a decrease if Champions League football isn’t achieved.

Manchester City, in particular, are well aware of Kovacic’s situation. Let’s not forget they also tried to sign him in 2018 from Real Madrid before his move to Chelsea. Although City’s top midfield target is Jude Bellingham, Guardiola may push for more than one midfielder especially due to other potential outgoings, including Ilkay Gundogan, whose future remains undecided.

Wolves expecting Neves departure as Liverpool ‘still really like’ teammate

Wolves showed last summer they were able to hang on to Ruben Neves despite interest from Arsenal. But this summer things will be different. A bit like West Ham with Declan Rice, Wolves are pretty resigned to losing Neves. They know, with his contract expiring in 2024, selling at the end of the season is the only way to command a healthy fee.

Liverpool have certainly tracked Neves, but keep an eye on Matheus Nunes. He’s the one Liverpool still really like from Wolves.

Barcelona have also considered Neves, but it’s not a deal (financially speaking) they can pull off right now. Manchester United and Newcastle are looking for a player with a profile like Neves.

A lot of attention will be on Rice, with Arsenal and Chelsea pushing, but Neves will be highly-sought after as well and is available cheaper than the West Ham talisman (perhaps even around half his price). That’s the silver-lining for Wolves. They may lose the Portuguese midfielder but be able to drive up the price a little due to a high volume of suitors.

Let’s not forget last summer Neves was being valued at over £75m. His price has dropped due to the contract winding down, but Wolves would still ideally want closer to £50m than £40m.

💬 Would you prefer your club to sign Matheus Nunes or Ruben Neves? Share your ideal transfer below!

[Special Juan 28,765]

If not Oshimen it has be Ivan Toney, Toney is a quality player

[MoroccanBlue 5,399]

3 hours ago, Special Juan said:

If not Oshimen it has be Ivan Toney, Toney is a quality player

Going to be banned for up to 6 months it seems. 

[Special Juan 28,765]

7 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

Going to be banned for up to 6 months it seems. 

We will defo buy him now

[NikkiCFC 8,516]

For me if no Oshimen I want David. 

[Tomo 21,751]

I'm really not convinced an out and out striker is the way to go in this system.

[DDA 10,237]

1 hour ago, Tomo said:

I'm really not convinced an out and out striker is the way to go in this system.

Don't let this narative become an obsession. We don't have a top goalscorer or player with registered assists in the top 20 of the BPL. We need a goal scorer... Osimhen would be excellent in our system. Some players don't need systems, sometimes a player just fits the badge and it works... football can be weird that way.

[Tomo 21,751]

43 minutes ago, DDA said:

Don't let this narative become an obsession. We don't have a top goalscorer or player with registered assists in the top 20 of the BPL. We need a goal scorer... Osimhen would be excellent in our system. Some players don't need systems, sometimes a player just fits the badge and it works... football can be weird that way.

We didn't in 20/21 either which led to us panic signing Lukaku because he "guarantees goals". While Osimhen won't be a dickhead he's a big big risk for the price he'd command. 

I want us to do what we should have done then, source the right fit for the way we play and if there's no one avaliable wait. If we really want to centre our system around one player hopefully producing big numbers then I'd rather we played Sterling as an on the shoulder inside forward, hopefully we've learned from just looking at the top line without factoring the fit for the way we play as frankly that's a big part of whats got us in this mess in the first place.

[TheHulk 2,647]

2 minutes ago, Tomo said:

We didn't in 20/21 either which led to us panic signing Lukaku because he "guarantees goals". While Osimhen won't be a dickhead he's a big big risk for the price he'd command. 

I want us to do what we should have done then, source the right fit for the way we play and if there's no one avaliable wait. If we really want to centre our system around one player hopefully producing big numbers then I'd rather we played Sterling as an on the shoulder inside forward, hopefully we've learned from just looking at the top line without factoring the fit for the way we play as frankly that's a big part of whats got us in this mess in the first place.

I agree, he is no way near worth 150M and the risk he carries with it, I read comments his technique isn't even that good many saying he is a more polished Lukaku. I'd rather play 2 of Felix, Havertz, Nkunku up top and work with that, I think under a good attacking coach all would improve the numbers drastically.

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

53 minutes ago, TheHulk said:

I agree, he is no way near worth 150M and the risk he carries with it, I read comments his technique isn't even that good many saying he is a more polished Lukaku. I'd rather play 2 of Felix, Havertz, Nkunku up top and work with that, I think under a good attacking coach all would improve the numbers drastically.

He is definitely more mobile than Lukaku and runs more off the ball, presses more (less is hardly possible tho). But he is not technically clean either. If we continue 3-4-3 and sacrifice Sterling/Felix/Kai playing in the middle of the three als false 9 and plug Osimhen we will indeed lose some technical ability in attack.

Moreover, I do not think we should pay 150m for him esp if we still have Donkeykaku on the book who will continue to cost us almost that much in wages as well. But he is the best striker on the market and probably top 5-10 overall. However, like you say, we need to be aware of his limitations and consider what type of striker even fits us. He will not score as many goals as in Italy and he does not have the positional instincts and reliable finishing of a Haaland, so we should not expect him to become a wonder striker here. Osimhen is good but he is pretty much a finished product. He has improved his output gradually but not really developed his game this season anymore.

IMO we need a striker who is fast but can also play with back to goal, is aerially competent and presses like mad but also at least reliably converts the easy chances. Tragically, the arguably best fit for this is our very own but possibly perma-wrecked Broja if only he was more clinical. Osimhen comes close enough, so I would not be mad at all if we bought him.

[Mário César 1,483]

mayb we can swap lukaku with oshimem 

80 + Lukaku 

[Clockwork 1,794]

We should try to replace Mount with Florian Wirtz.

[Vesper 31,105]

Fabrizio Romano's Daily Briefing

 

Jonathan Johnson's Mercato Magazine - Liverpool may have ideal Bellingham alternative, Martial's Man United future, Lloris' time at Spurs coming to an end, and more

Our French football expert with the low down on this week's big stories.

https://caughtoffside.substack.com/p/jonathan-johnsons-mercato-magazine-868

Liverpool have a possible alternative to Jude Bellingham and why they failed to sign Aurelien Tchouameni last summer…

This week’s big story came from The Athletic’s reliable David Ornstein, who reported that Liverpool are ‘unlikely’ to sign top target Jude Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund with Real Madrid and Manchester City both ahead in the race for the Englishman’s signature.

Even though a lot of fans have their hopes pinned on Liverpool signing Bellingham, all hope of the club making a good signing is not lost and that is because the next player that I can see a number of European giants turning their attention towards is Monaco's Youssouf Fofana.

 

(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Fofana is still only 24 years old and is already one of Monaco’s most highly-rated midfielders. He also has an attractive contract situation which is set to expire next summer or the following year if Monaco decides to trigger his one-year extension clause.

As for Real Madrid’s Aurelien Tchouameni and why Liverpool were unable to sign him last summer, the Frenchman’s replacement was ready and waiting at Monaco which enabled the principality club to move him on for a big sum and that is exactly what they did.

Tchoameni was wanted by a number of top teams when he was leaving Monaco and Kylian Mbappe was very keen that PSG tried to sign him as he rejected Real Madrid to extend in Paris. However, once Real Madrid came in for Tchouameni, he only had eyes for them and there was only ever going to be one outcome once the fee was agreed.

Spurs will be in the market for a new goalkeeper…

One of the positions Spurs will undoubtedly be looking to reinforce in the coming windows is their man between the sticks. It would not surprise me if Spurs look to move on from Hugo Lloris sooner rather than later and Mike Maignan would be a good fit. He has already replaced Lloris as France's number one and he showed his value for AC Milan in their recent Champions League tie.

 

(Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Top-quality goalkeepers are hard to find so he will likely be wanted by a number of sides, but Spurs could offer that guaranteed starting role that he would require. It is also a question of what happens with the project moving forward given Antonio Conte's situation and the club's need to change tack.

Ousmane Dembele’s injury history is putting clubs off…

Ousmane Dembele has flirted with the idea of a move away from Barcelona for a while and was being lined up by PSG before sporting director Leonardo was dismissed when Mbappe's future was secured.

His injury history puts many clubs off, but he is attractive as a potential free agent or low-cost signing when his deal runs down. Regarding the Premier League, it could be a destination that interests him, but I think that many clubs are wary that he can be difficult to handle away from the pitch.

A return to France is possible for Anthony Martial…

Expectations were sky-high for Anthony Martial when he arrived at Manchester United and made a fast start to life. He was in great form with Monaco and that continued at Old Trafford.

 

(Photo by Lewis Storey/Getty Images)

However, once that wore off, it was clear that he was perhaps not at the level many thought he was at based on his early form. Mixed with behavioural issues and injuries, it has been a tough past few years and he has lost his way at international level too. A return to Ligue 1 could be a smart move for him given that his La Liga experience was not a roaring success.

Taking charge of Lyon would make sense for Patrick Vieira…

I did wonder if this might happen a few months back. We saw something similar at Nice and now Patrick Vieira has lost his job with Crystal Palace too.

I think it was perhaps a little harsh based on where the team is right now and the fact that Roy Hodgson has come in once more. It is hardly progressive stuff.

What Vieira decides to do next will be critical to his coaching career given his two most recent setbacks and recurrent questions surrounding his management. It could be that he returns to France and takes a lower-profile job to rebuild his reputation before chasing a high-profile one. Lyon might be a good fit given John Textor's Palace and Lyon links and the fact that Laurent Blanc continues to underwhelm.