Chelsea Transfers

[TheHulk 1,896]

 

[TheHulk 1,896]

Stay clear of this guy.

[TheHulk 1,896]

No one is dumb enough to buy this guy.

[TheHulk 1,896]

 

[Vesper 29,076]

10 minutes ago, TheHulk said:

Let's hope it doesn't happen, what a waste of money this would be.

oh, ffs!

NO

[Vesper 29,076]

10 minutes ago, TheHulk said:

No one is dumb enough to buy this guy.

The Saudis!!!!

[Vesper 29,076]

How do Chelsea solve their Wesley Fofana problem? Acheampong, Chalobah, Guehi and more

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6043980/2025/01/08/Chelsea-wesley-fofana-injury-analysis-options/

No one knows exactly when Wesley Fofana will be fit to play for Chelsea again.

Enzo Maresca fears he could miss the rest of the season with the hamstring injury he sustained against Aston Villa on December 1. Fofana himself is hopeful of a shorter recovery timeframe than that, possibly positioning him for a return to match action in late March or early April, amid Chelsea’s final push to secure a Premier League top-four finish.

In the meantime, Maresca has been open about the fact that he is searching for solutions. His preferred plan B, Benoit Badiashile, suffered a thigh injury in training two weeks later. Tosin Adarabioyo was then drafted in to partner Levi Colwill in the heart of Chelsea’s defence against Brentford, Everton, Fulham and Ipswich Town, a run of games which steadily dissipated the positive momentum built at Stamford Bridge in the first half of the season.

Not that there has been some spectacular defensive collapse: Chelsea kept just three clean sheets in the 13 Premier League games Fofana started before his injury and have registered one in seven league matches without him. But his absence — and the unavailability of Badiashile — does change the way Maresca can set up his team.

“I’ve said many times I am in love with Wes because Wes is that kind of defender who gives you the chance to press and be aggressive and to leave him one-on-one with someone like Ollie Watkins over the whole pitch,” Maresca said of Fofana in a press conference last week.

“We did exactly the same when Wes was injured with Benoit, one-v-one with Dominic Solanke on the whole pitch, and they can deal with that. It is very difficult to find that kind of defender.

“Unfortunately, both are injured, but we are trying to find different solutions.”

The different solution Maresca unveiled against Crystal Palace on Saturday was Josh Acheampong, the 18-year-old Cobham product who signed a new long-term contract at Stamford Bridge in December after protracted negotiations that saw him exiled from first-team and development squad consideration for more than a month.

After the match, Chelsea’s head coach hailed Acheampong as his team’s best performer at Selhurst Park, but stopped short of confirming the youngster as the preferred partner for Colwill going forward. He remains one of a range of potential options open to Maresca in the coming days and weeks, detailed below.

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The upside swing: keep playing Acheampong

There is a reason why Chelsea fought so hard to get Acheampong to extend his contract beyond the summer of 2026, even to the point of employing the questionable strategy of freezing him out late last year — and it was on display in his impressive full Premier League debut against Palace.

Acheampong is regarded inside and outside Chelsea as a world-class defensive prospect. He combines a strong, mobile frame (he stands a little taller than 6ft, with plenty of room to add muscle as he matures) with a rare level of technical polish on the ball for his position.

He had plenty of opportunity to exhibit the latter against Palace: only Colwill and Malo Gusto registered more touches than Acheampong and only Gusto attempted more passes.

“One of the things I like to do when I play is be on the ball,” he said in a post-match interview with Chelsea’s in-house media channel. “Especially as I was getting more and more into the game, I got more confidence, so it helped to be on the ball more.”

 

Acheampong played against Palace (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

His most eye-catching moment came around the hour mark; only a couple of minutes after a rare loose pass presented the ball to Palace on the halfway line, he stepped up from defence again in an almost identical position and whipped the ball confidently through the opposition lines perfectly into the feet of Cole Palmer.

Acheampong displayed good defensive intelligence without the ball, adjusting his positioning as Palace attacks developed relative to where Colwill placed himself. The imposing Jean-Philippe Mateta caused him problems at times with his physicality, but the 18-year-old never allowed himself to be bullied and was not at fault for the Frenchman’s equaliser.

Maresca was keen to stress that Chelsea must be careful with Acheampong’s development, but this seems a good moment to find out exactly how ready he is for regular Premier League football. There will likely be mistakes along the way, but not necessarily any more than Maresca would endure with the more experienced alternatives who have left him unconvinced — and the long-term benefits of giving him first-team exposure now could be huge.

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The stick: persist with Tosin or Axel Disasi

This is the option many coaches would take. Not only does it help maintain dressing room dynamics, but Tosin and Disasi are experienced, known quantities and neither are bad Premier League players, even if they are not what Maresca would ideally want next to Colwill.

Tosin’s performances for Chelsea have been a mixed bag. There have been vital interventions like the brilliant block which denied Iliman Ndiaye a certain goal in the goalless draw with Everton last month, and costly lapses like the failure to spot Curtis Jones’ late run into the box to score Liverpool’s second goal in their 2-1 win over Maresca’s team in October.

He and Disasi both help replace the aerial force and overall physicality Chelsea lose without Fofana, as well as some much-needed personality and leadership on the pitch. Neither, however, is anywhere near as fast across the ground, and their athletic limitations might force Maresca to further drop his defensive line or risk giving opponents too much space to exploit in behind.

That would have potential implications for the effectiveness of Chelsea’s press, as well as the amount of ground that Moises Caicedo is required to cover at the base of midfield.

Distribution is another issue. Tosin is a fine passer out of defence but no more than that, while rumblings about Disasi’s poor fit for Maresca’s possession build-up began in the earliest days of pre-season. He has only been trusted at right-back rather than centre-back in the Premier League, where he has had huge difficulties defending in space against more agile wingers.

Maresca persisting with either in the current circumstances would be defensible, but his decision to elevate Acheampong above both against Palace makes it seem an unlikely path.

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The return: recall Trevoh Chalobah

It is something that Chelsea are considering — a remarkable development given the lengths to which the club went to encourage Chalobah to find a new permanent home last summer.

Chalobah has done well on loan at Crystal Palace after an injury-disrupted start, forming a productive defensive chemistry with Marc Guehi and Maxence Lacroix at the rear of Oliver Glasner’s improving side. He has even chipped in with three goals in his 12 Premier League appearances, including one against Brighton that endeared him to the Selhurst Park faithful.

In short, he has added to the significant body of evidence that he is a fine Premier League player, capable of being a squad contributor at Chelsea or a starter for a team lower down the table.

 

Chalobah is on loan at Crystal Palace (Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

Chalobah cannot provide exactly what Fofana does alongside Colwill. But he is flexible enough to provide a solid option at centre-back or right-back, where Gusto continues to soak up the bulk of the Premier League minutes due to Reece James’ unavailability.

But recalling him would raise immediate questions about why Tosin was signed on a free transfer last summer, and about the level of faith in Acheampong — who was taken on Chelsea’s pre-season tour of the United States at Chalobah’s expense.

It would also undermine the point of the Palace loan, which is to rebuild Chalobah’s transfer value to the point where a credible buyer emerges for him.

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The wild card: take a look at Aaron Anselmino

This would constitute a rapid elevation for Anselmino, who only became a first-team regular in the Boca Juniors defence after signing for Chelsea in August 2024 and returning on loan.

Now he has been recalled to Cobham, and Maresca has already made it clear the 19-year-old will be given an opportunity to impress him in first-team training sessions. “He’s another talent, another good player,” Chelsea’s head coach said in a press conference last week.

“Now the most important thing is that he arrives here, adapts himself, finds a house, and settles in the right way. Then we need to give him time because when you come from another part of the world, you need to adapt. You need to see a new world, a new culture. For sure we are going to try to help him to adapt as soon as possible.”

Anselmino projects as an option at centre-back or right-back in Maresca’s system, and Chelsea are excited about his long-term potential. He has more professional seasoning than Acheampong, but that only extends to 20 senior appearances for Boca in a significantly lower calibre of league with a very different style of football.

Loaning him out until the summer or keeping him around to acclimatise to Chelsea and England both have developmental merit. Maresca’s public caution indicates that if he is integrated into the first-team squad immediately, it will be at most to earn minutes in the early rounds of the FA Cup or the Europa Conference League. No firm decisions have been made.

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The twist: buy a new centre-back

This is the course of action that many in football have come to expect from Chelsea under Clearlake Capital, though the club never intended to be particularly active buyers in this window.

They do have a list of possible defensive targets for 2025 and Guehi, the Cobham graduate with 18 months left to run on his Palace contract, is on it. In terms of age and skill set, he fits the profile of player Chelsea have prized for the last two years. Given his status within the Premier League and the England squad he is likely to be regarded by Maresca as an upgrade on what he currently has available.

Guehi is fast, strong, respectable in the air and classy on the ground, both in terms of how he reads situations defensively and how he passes around and through pressure. He is a leader despite his relative youth and has a very good fitness record — no small consideration for a club like Chelsea, who are already managing several persistent injury doubts in their squad.

 

Guehi’s deal expires in summer 2026 (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

He also has a natural preference for operating as the left-sided centre-back, despite being primarily right-footed. That does not necessarily rule him out as a suitable partner for Colwill, but it does mean there may be cleaner fits elsewhere on the market.

But are any likely to be available in January? The winter window is not typically the moment for making premium upgrades, not least because selling clubs tend to have different priorities during the season. Palace have plenty of reason to keep Guehi and ensure they maintain their Premier League status before addressing his situation in the summer.

The transfer market is always tantalising by nature, but Chelsea cannot expect it to solve their Fofana problem right now.

[Vesper 29,076]

27 minutes ago, TheHulk said:

 

Toss in Felix as makeweight

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Borussia Dortmund interested in January loan move for Chelsea’s Carney Chukwuemeka

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6046413/2025/01/08/carney-chukwuemeka-dortmund-Chelsea-transfers/

Borussia Dortmund have an interest in signing Chelsea midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka on a loan deal with an option to buy in the January transfer window.

In this week’s Transfer DealSheet, The Athletic reported that the 21-year-old has generated interest from clubs in the Premier League, Germany and Italy, but that Chelsea have made it clear that they would only consider a permanent sale.

The only loan that Chelsea would consider for Chukwuemeka would be to Strasbourg but that will require one of Caleb Wiley, Djordje Petrovic or Andrey Santos to end their spells at the Ligue 1 club because they can only take three loans from Chelsea. Both clubs are owned by multi-club ownership group BlueCo.

Chukwuemeka joined Chelsea from Aston Villa in the summer of 2022 for a £20million ($25m) fee. He made 15 appearances during his first season but a knee injury that required surgery limited him to only 12 games the following campaign.

His contract at Stamford Bridge runs until 2028.

He has found game time hard to come by at Chelsea and has been low down on the midfield depth chart. Head coach Enzo Maresca, who joined the club in July, said in September that he advised Chukwuemeka to leave the club in the summer to get more first-team football.

Chukwuemeka has only made five appearances this season, with four of those coming in the Conference League and one in the Carabao Cup. His sole start came in Chelsea’s 3-1 league-phase win over Astana in December.

He is yet to receive a senior international cap though he has made appearances for England through the under-17 to under-20 level.

Dortmund, who are sixth in the Bundesliga standings, return to action on January 10 at home to Bayer Leverkusen.

GO DEEPER

Chelsea Transfer DealSheet: What to expect in 2025

Freakish injury curtailed Chukwuemeka’s Chelsea career

It has been a bleak 18 months for Chukwuemeka, who appeared primed for a breakout Premier League season when he followed up a positive preseason with an excellent goal against West Ham United at London Stadium in August 2023.

Chukwuemeka sustained a freakish knee injury in the same game that sidelined him for several months and by the time he was fit to return, Chelsea had found attacking midfield inspiration elsewhere — chiefly in emerging superstar Cole Palmer.

Last summer Maresca made it clear that Chukwuemeka would be best served finding another club where he can play regularly. Chelsea’s preference to sell fits with their bigger push to extricate themselves from many of the signings they made in the summer of 2022, a window that the club’s ownership would rather forget.

Liam Twomey

 

Chukwuemeka has found game-time hard to come by under Maresca at Chelsea this season (Daniel Kopatsch/Getty Images)

Chukwuemeka would fit Dortmund’s missing profile

There is no question that Dortmund’s midfield has lost some of its verve, or that the time is right to rebuild it around Felix Nmecha, who promises to grow into an outstanding No 6. Pascal Gross, who arrived from Brighton & Hove Albion last summer, is 33, while Emre Can turns 31 in a week.

Other parts of the side are decorated with developing talent. Jamie Gittens (20) has established himself on the left of Nuri Sahin’s attack, while Julien Duranville (18) recently started his first game for the club on the right, against Barcelona in the Champions League. Giovanni Reyna (22) has also re-emerged and is suddenly in favour with Sahin.

Chukwuemeka fits the profile of what they need — young, talented, only likely to improve and suited to a box-to-box role — but is just one of several options that the club are considering and at a time when finances are relatively tight.

Seb Stafford-Bloor

[mkh 310]

🔴Man Utd will reluctantly sell Kobbie Mainoo if £70m is bid

Chelsea are willing to make a move THIS MONTH if given encouragement from the player
 

via@FrazFletcher

[mkh 310]

𝘽𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙆𝙄𝙉𝙂: Manchester City has made contact with Vitor Reis and is preparing a million-dollar offer for the young Palmeiras defender. 

[Bruno Andrade[

Reis, Marmoush and Khusanov

City on fire😵‍💫

 

Chelsea are missing out on everything and are now only looking at Guehi not taking us to the next level!!!!😡

 

 

[DDA 9,689]

34 minutes ago, mkh said:

𝘽𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙆𝙄𝙉𝙂: Manchester City has made contact with Vitor Reis and is preparing a million-dollar offer for the young Palmeiras defender. 

[Bruno Andrade[

Reis, Marmoush and Khusanov

City on fire😵‍💫

 

Chelsea are missing out on everything and are now only looking at Guehi not taking us to the next level!!!!😡

 

 

This is the Chelsea way.

[LAM09 6,809]

On 07/01/2025 at 15:41, Special Juan said:

Like yo said, all shite. 

The main thing this team misses as well as a top striker, keeper and CB is leadership, young kids don't bring that, people like Tiago Silva do and we need more of those type of dressing room and pitch leaders.

We've lack real leaders for years & nothing has been done to address that. As things stand, the club have a wage structure and age limit in place where new players are concerned, so these issues will most likely remain for the foreseeable future. Money comes first with this board.

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51 minutes ago, mkh said:

🔴Man Utd will reluctantly sell Kobbie Mainoo if £70m is bid

Chelsea are willing to make a move THIS MONTH if given encouragement from the player
 

via@FrazFletcher

IF we dump fucking 70m quid on Mainoo I am done

DONE

not having a laugh

the only CMFs I rate at £70m or more (Bellingham is more of an AMF, but if you count him as a CMF, then obviously he is the top of the list)

are

Federico Valverde
Pedri  
Eduardo Camavinga
Nicolò Barella  (and time is running out, he turns 29 in the middle of next season)
Alexis Mac Allister   
Warren Zaïre-Emery  
Vitinha    

(Gavi is a no, he is chronically injured atm, I would need to see 2 straight healthy seasons)

below those would be

Pablo Barrios  
Fermín López  

 

these 4 are DMFs

João Neves   
Martín Zubimendi
Aleksandar Pavlovic
Carlos Baleba  

[OneMoSalah 8,797]

12 hours ago, Special Juan said:

Then this stupidity has to stop, as much as it makes sense at the time it is do nothing for us as a club or him as a player. By coming here it has stalled his career by 6 months and it's a waste of time, the lad as bad as he is deserves to be playing.

Just get rid

Exactly.

And if its true Maresca didn’t want any of the other lads (Tosin, Veiga & Felix) then that is even more ammunition for why those fannies running football ops should seriously be on the chopping board in the summer.

Just seems like every window we sign somebody, who is comfortably worse than what we already have, & 6-12 months later they are apparently not in the managers plans or were never wanted in the first place.

There is always going to be maybe one or two players max in a certain period of time that the club and manager compromises on every so often (generally managers/head coaches now a days seem to be consulted to a degree in recruitment and have some sort of idea/appreciation of the player if its likely to happen) but I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the case with Poch & Potter also.

Other than for PSR/profit reasons re signings/sales, I don’t get why Tosin was signed when we had Chalobah for instance or KDH when we had Gallagher. Or Veiga when we had Hall/Maatsen/Chilwell.

I mean what is the point in this low wages, progressively incentivised contracts which is reportedly saving us multiple millions per season if we are still having to dump players from the academy, better than squad players we are signing to comply with PSR? Some players which we are more than likely to take a loss on (KDH, Felix will definitely be for less than they cost if they were to go IMO). Surely nobody from a sporting perspective thought any of those were upgrades on what we already had, even as squad players? 

Edited 13 hours ago by OneMoSalah

[Pizy 18,453]

Mainoo for £30m and I’d say it’s a stupid buy for us. Mainoo for £70m and there should be protests at the Bridge. That would be malpractice. Andrey Santos is better than Mainoo and won’t cost us anything to bring back.

As for City, it seems they’re going to start their rebuild now rather than waiting for the summer. Looks like they’re going to completely refresh their squad in many key areas. All of the players they’re currently negotiating with are ones who would help us too.

[OneMoSalah 8,797]

35 minutes ago, Pizy said:

Mainoo for £30m and I’d say it’s a stupid buy for us. Mainoo for £70m and there should be protests at the Bridge. That would be malpractice. Andrey Santos is better than Mainoo and won’t cost us anything to bring back.

As for City, it seems they’re going to start their rebuild now rather than waiting for the summer. Looks like they’re going to completely refresh their squad in many key areas. All of the players they’re currently negotiating with are ones who would help us too.

It wouldn’t be malpractice at all, thats a huge stretch. And not only that, they are 2 completely different styles of players….

Doubt there would be protests if we got him at all - think he did pretty well for United and even England when he played last season/in Euros, altho struggled this season as have Utd - but yes we should maybe look to use that money elsewhere. £30m though would be a steal 😂 

I know Santos has scored some goals and maybe played a bit more box to box at times this season but he is still primarily more of a defensive/disruptive midfielder. Obviously he isn’t just that plain and simple but thats simplifying it. Mainoo plays a bit higher/advanced, drives forward with the ball, bit more forward thinking and more press resistant, sort of like a poor mans Luka Modric (not as complete or at same level obviously - likely never will be - but that sort of profile). They’d potentially be a good pairing in all honesty. I don’t think there is any chance we could make a deal for him anyway despite our interest - mainly because it would mean dealing with United. He definitely would be someone we would be interested in irrespective given his potential, profile, age etc. If he was playing in Spain, Italy, France or some South American league or in a team doing what he did last season, Clearlake would have signed him already.

And re City, it is frightening thinking that City may spend big on 2-4 players this January given how close they are to us now. And they generally tend to recruit well 80-85% of the time. 

 

Edited 13 hours ago by OneMoSalah

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28 minutes ago, Pizy said:

Mainoo for £30m and I’d say it’s a stupid buy for us. Mainoo for £70m and there should be protests at the Bridge. That would be malpractice. Andrey Santos is better than Mainoo and won’t cost us anything to bring back.

As for City, it seems they’re going to start their rebuild now rather than waiting for the summer. Looks like they’re going to completely refresh their squad in many key areas. All of the players they’re currently negotiating with are ones who would help us too.

all of the following are 30yo or older

Scott Carson
Kyle Walker 
İlkay Gündoğan  
Kevin De Bruyne 
Stefan Ortega 
Ederson 
Mateo Kovacic 
John Stones 
Bernardo Silva 
Nathan Aké  (30yo next month)
Manuel Akanji   (30yo in July)
Jack Grealish  (30yo in early September)

on loan

Kalvin Phillips (30yo in December)