Chelsea Transfers

[mkh 324]

Chelsea have been linked with Deportivo La Coruna winger Yeremay Hernandez, however it is their French sister club Strasbourg who want to buy him.💪

🙂‍↕️Chelsea are looking to loan out or sell Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Ben Chilwell, but nothing has progressed with either yet.

(@SJohnsonSport)

Edited 13 hours ago by mkh

[mkh 324]

Chelsea are now prepared to loan Chukwuemeka to Dortmund, albeit under the proviso that strict playing and economic conditions are agreed to. They also only want it to be a straight loan, with no option or obligation to buy included.

(via@TheAthleticFC)

[TheHulk 1,912]

Sell the fuck this Bakayoko defender already.

Edited 12 hours ago by TheHulk

[TheHulk 1,912]

31 minutes ago, mkh said:

According to @lequipe; Mathys Tel wants to STAY at Bayern Munich. As of yesterday, the player has not changed his position. He remains committed to Bayern and his decision is to stay despite all the enquiries.

 

Freund on Mathys Tel: "Mathys Tel is a very important player for us, we are in very good contact because he's a great talent and should play an important role for us. We have had many discussions. Our clear goal is for Mathys to make his breakthrough with us. We are very happy with our squad, quality and quantity wise. Of course if a player is unhappy, we can talk about it. Our clear plan with Mathys is for him to make his breakthrough here"

 

Stay there man, what a waste of money he would be, another overrated fraud in the same mould Zirkzee was, Bayern seem to be collecting these guys every few years before was Renato.

[Fernando 6,494]

11 hours ago, TheHulk said:

Tel are you fucking kidding me, should be Musiala not this nobody.

The same was said about Gyokeres and Duran when the board where after him. 

And almost everyone here was wrong. 

 I will trust the board on this. What I don't trust on the board is defense, they have not done good on that yet. 

[Vesper 29,114]

we better get a damn good low price on Guehi

not happy about this

he is overrated IMHO

I was happy to see him sold

[TheHulk 1,912]

1 minute ago, Fernando said:

The same was said about Gyokeres and Duran when the board where after him. 

And almost everyone here was wrong. 

 I will trust the board on this. What I don't trust on the board is defense, they have not done good on that yet. 

They themselves backtracked on Duran and instead got some ginger kid from Aston Villa who has a value of 0, let's stop pretending they know what they going because of a couple hits, they largely sucked hard until now in recruitments. The only place they got it really right is midfield yet again if they want that overrated kid Mainoo i'll take that back as well.

[TheHulk 1,912]

5 minutes ago, Vesper said:

we better get a damn good low price on Guehi

not happy about this

he is overrated IMHO

I was happy to see him sold

We won't, we will get rinsed by Crystal Palace over an mediocre player.

[Special Juan 27,470]

Scratching around especially with ex players making themselves look like absolute amateurs is what they do.

It's embarrassing in all honesty, especially the Chalobah situation as he should still b here anyway as he is better than the fucking two donkeys that are here now.

There is no plan, business strategy, it's all hit and hope

 

[Mário César 1,017]

after the way we humiliated chalobah, trying to get him back is one of the most humiliating things for the club.

if I were chalobah, I wouldn't even want to come back, and rightly so

[Pizy 18,469]

Us not signing Tel would be a good thing. Not because of the quality of the player but because it stops us signing someone who isn’t needed.

Nkunku should still be sold regardless of Tel coming in or not. But replace him with an actual fucking #9! The primary reason Nkunku failed to take off here is because we have been shoehorning a player who isn’t a natural striker into that role. So why would we then replace him with another player who is much the same? Someone who can technically play as a forward but isn’t natural in the role?

[mkh 324]

Chelsea were comfortably compliant with the Premier League’s PSR rules. [@JacobsBen]

Remember all those “experts” who said we were DEFINITELY in PSR trouble for 23-24?  🤣💪✅️✅️

Edited 12 hours ago by mkh

[Milan 17,863]

Just splash the cash on Gyokeres or Isak.

[Special Juan 27,470]

3 minutes ago, Milan said:

Just splash the cash on Gyokeres or Isak.

Neither happening mid season, especially not Isak, he has the pick of the football world come the summer.

Gyokeres will be Man United bound but we need to make our move now and sound it out

[Special Juan 27,470]

SKY Germany reporting the board of Bayern saying that Tel is staying and he is their star of the future.

We need to now move on

[Reddish-Blue 2,372]

1 hour ago, TheHulk said:

We won't, we will get rinsed by Crystal Palace over an mediocre player.

Mediocre and he would be the best CB at the club 😄

[Vesper 29,114]

A curated shortlist of left-footed centre-backs ripe for transfer rumours

https://www.scoutednotebook.com/p/u23-left-footed-centre-backs-shortlist-mns

As I watch players, sort spreadsheet columns and create custom Stathead searches, I find myself building internal shortlists for particular positions, roles or even specific player replacements.

The reason I want to develop different formats for MNS is because, sometimes, no one breaks any single-game records and I find myself forcing the issue for the SCOUTED Stats section. Inspired by the January transfer window, this is what I came up with.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I find myself editing and updating a Saka Understudy database that still does not have a physical form. More recently, however, I keep stumbling across players that all fit the same description: left-footed centre-backs.

I am not even looking for them. Admittedly, my next massive SkillCorner piece is based on centre-backs, but not specifically the left-footed variant.

Earlier this season, I suggested the future of football is left-footed. This was loosely based on the disproportionate number of left-footed players that made up the top 15 for Shot-Creating Actions: 73.3% of them. This is remarkable when you consider that, according to Mark Thompson’s quick check in 2023, just 27% of players from a pool of 2,800 were left-footed.

As for centre-backs, I imagine the rise in demand for left-footers has coincided with the increased responsibility in build-up. While it doesn’t matter which foot you use if you’re heading away ten crosses each game, it does make a difference when receiving the ball on that side of your own six-yard box.

I also believe demand has increased yet again due to the inversion of full-backs and other in-possession shapes. At the very least, you might see a left-footed centre-back deployed at left-back to fulfil a similar role. Essentially, the left-sided centre-back has never been more left-sided.

Get to the fucking shortlist, Jake.

Yes, I know I waffle. It is how I get from brain to paper.

When reviewing my list, I noticed that they were born in ascending years: 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2005. So, it made sense to find a representative for 2004 and present a five-player shortlist based on these age groups.

I also want to emphasise that the scouting process for these players is not yet complete. I simply wanted to share names I am looking at more closely than others and explaining the reasons why.

Mika Mármol

2001 — Las Palmas, Spain

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For a Squawka video at the start of the season, I suggested Mármol as an alternative for clubs competing for the signature of Jorrel Hato - you will see why he is in-demand later.

A year earlier, Llew analysed Mármol’s move to Las Palmas and got it spot on. Again. Read the full thread.

In his debut top-flight season, Marmól completed more take-ons and made more successful tackles than any other centre-back in LaLiga.

 

This season, like Hato, he’s been deployed at left-back most often. Due to his height, LB or LCB in a back three is most likely his best position at the elite level. It reduces the potential for his weaknesses to be exploited, mainly his lack of aerial prowess, while maximising his strengths: ball-playing, aggressive defending, mobility and speed.

Otávio

2002 — FC Porto, Brazil

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Within a year, Otávio was signed by Famalicão for €500k and sold to Porto for €12m.

 

Like Marmól, the Brazilian seems to be an extremely aggressive, front-footed defender. Despite standing at 188 cm, he also shares a weakness in the air. On the ground, however, he is a force of nature, making him the perfect cover for an extremely attacking full-back.

In recent games, Wenderson Galeno, one of the most productive players during the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League campaign, has been deployed at left-back; he was playing left-wing during that UCL campaign. Of course, Porto are one of the most dominant teams in the Primeira Liga so can take more risk, but Otávio’s ability to cover large spaces makes it an even easier decision to rationalise.

I will not say too much more as he features heavily in the upcoming SkillCorner piece I mentioned. For now, trust me.

Konstantinos Koulierakis

2003 — VfL Wolfsburg, Greece

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Frequent MNS readers will not be surprised to see this pick.

Konstantinos Koulierakis featured in back-to-back editions earlier this season after posting monster ball progression numbers before a dropping a couple of impressive performances during the November international break.

 

Your new favourite centre-back, the U-21 EURO dream teams, and the cleanest sheets in South America

Read full story

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The Greek international is closer to the throwback style. He wins 60% of his aerial duels and makes plenty of clearances. When he does play the ball, it usually travels a long, long way. He averages 10.7 Long Passes and 1.3 Switches per 90 minutes; both tallies rank him in the top five for 2001+ outfield players in Europe’s Big Five Leagues this season (450+ minutes played).

His title as PAOK’s record transfer sale is under threat due to reported Liverpool interest in Stefanos Tzimas. I wonder how close he will get to Kevin De Bruyne’s €76m Wolfsburg record.

Bram Lagae

2004 — KV Kortrijk (on loan from KAA Gent), Belgium

---

This was the birth year I did not have an instant pick for. Generation 2004 includes soon-to-be Manchester City centre-back Abdukodir Khusanov and MNS regular Joel Ordóñez. But they are both right-footed. So Llew threw over some suggestions from Slack:

Your best bet for a 2004 lefty is probably Mikayil Faye at Stade Rennais (Diambars graduate who went to Croatia then signed by Barca). Alan Matturro is interesting, your classic Uruguayan CB, but isn't playing much at Genoa. Maxim Dekker and Dominik Prpic worth a look. Seydou Sano was interesting/eye-catching at U-20 World Cup but went to Qatar.

I already lean heavily on his insight to provide further evidence for the points I make in this newsletter but I did not want to completely nab the picks. So, I did a little search to look for some alternative names.

Football is not played on spreadsheets but I noticed that Koulierakis was the only player on this list so far with a aerial duel success rate above 60%. To fix that, I searched for players born in 2004 and beyond (to provide some context) that had won at least 20 aerial duels this season while maintaining a 65%+ win rate. That returned 12 players:

It’s a very cool list which includes another soon-to-be Manchester City centre-back, Vitor Reis, among names that SCOUTED fans will be familiar with.

From the five 2004 candidates, only Bram Lagae is left-footed. Brahim Traoré appears to be completely two-footed but in the clips I found he seems to be deployed on the right side most often. I made a note of his name, but he does not make this shortlist.

Lagae operates on the left of a back three and seems to enjoy a foray forward. Even though the Belgian gets the spot by default, it is not without merit.

If you add a 65%+ Dribblers Tackled threshold to the above list of 12, it shrinks to just four names: Bram Lagae, Jorrel Hato, Yarek Gasiorowski and Vitor Reis. That is very good company to be keeping. That warrants further investigation.

Nathan Zézé

2005 — FC Nantes, France

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At the moment, Nathan Zézé does not do much else but clear the ball. But he has done it more often than any other centre-back born in 2003 or later across Europe’s Big Five Leagues this season. Including 2001+ players, only Murillo, Botond Balogh, Nathan Collins and Illia Zabarnyi have made more.

 

Zézé has the telescopic athleticism we highlighted as Leny Yoro’s standout attribute ahead of the big move to Manchester United (and interest from Real Madrid). I wrote this for Zézé’s entry in SCOUTED50 2024/25:

“Zézé is very much a ground defender. He has the physical profile to compete and hold his own in the air, but thrives when covering large distances to sweep or making front-footed lunges to intercept the ball before it reaches the desired recipient.”

A transfer is inevitable. If not this window, expect to see his name a lot in the summer.

TL;DR

Here are five left-footed centre-backs I think we will hear plenty of transfer rumours about in 2025:

🇪🇸 Mika Marmól (2001, Las Palmas)

🇧🇷 Otávio (2002, FC Porto)

🇬🇷 Konstantinos Koulierakis (2003, VfL Wolfsburg)

🇧🇪 Bram Lagae (2004, KV Kortrijk (on loan from KAA Gent)

🇫🇷 Nathan Zézé (2005, FC Nantes)

[Vesper 29,114]

here is the CMF we should have bought instead of KDH

Lazar Samardžić

tracking to (in a full season's mintes) 20 goals, 16 assists

he cost Atalanta 16.5m quid, around half what KDH cost