Chelsea Transfers

[Mário César 1,246]

9 minutes ago, Mhsc said:

Very very many shit windows tbh. The unbelievable lost opportunity of the final 10 years of Roman's reign, when we still had spending power + wage power but overwhelmingly no clue how to do it or consistent approach with a proper director of football, repeatedly letting managers pick players instead etc.

That approach looks almost hilariously prehistoric now but when it worked it was pretty great in those little flashes.

no doubt about that 

and city become too stronger

I think that UCL 2021 victory camuflated several years of bad management 

since carlo ancelotti title, we only archive 3 times (2014, 2015 and 2017) at least 80 poins in the league. this says a lot 

[Vesper 30,106]

Chelsea make further checks on Portuguese international defender Tomás Araújo

Chelsea want an out and out centre back

https://siphillipstalkschelsea.substack.com/p/sources-Chelsea-make-further-checks

Chelsea are certainly not getting things done in the summer transfer market so far, but the plans continue.

One of those plans is a new out and out centre back, and after missing out on signing Dean Huijsen, and Everton slapping a price tag that is still currently too high for Chelsea to pay to sign Jarrad Branthwaite, the club are looking into other options on the shortlist as well.

Branthwaite is still a target, and we’re also still told not to rule out Marc Guehi yet even though he is now being courted by Liverpool as well.

But per our SPTC sources, Chelsea have been making further checks on centre backs on their shortlist this week, and one of those names is Portuguese international Tomás Araújo of Benfica, although the 23-year-old only has 1 senior cap to his name so far.

Araújo has been on Chelsea’s radar for some time now and the club have been scouting him this season.

They’ve been drawing up those reports and making some more checks on the defender ahead of a potential move this summer.

However, the conclusion reached was that Chelsea do not like the fact that Araújo has been playing a lot as a right back or a right wing-back - Chelsea want a pure centre back and have some concerns as to whether he fits that profile.

In the season just gone, Araújo has played as a centre back 21 times, as a right back 20 times, and as a right wing-back 3 times.

Chelsea do really like the player though, but we’d be surprised if they moved on him at this point due to this although he does remain an option.

We’ve also heard about Murillo from Nottingham Forest coming back on our radar with The Blues making checks on his availability this summer. He’s been a long-term target on our centre back shortlist as well.

Piero Hincapié of Leverkusen and Jorrel Hato of Ajax are also still on Chelsea’s shortlist, but we are not sure at the moment if any of those are being considered for a centre back role or more for the Marc Cucurella competition role - the latter is more likely.

[Vesper 30,106]

What’s going on with Rodrygo at Real Madrid?

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6445808/2025/06/24/rodrygo-real-madrid-transfer-future/

Rodrygo’s name has rarely been out of the headlines in recent weeks.

When the 24-year-old Brazilian started Real Madrid’s Club World Cup opener against Al Hilal on Wednesday — and assisted Madrid’s only goal in that 1-1 draw — it was his first appearance since being replaced at half-time of the Copa del Rey final against Barcelona on April 26.

In those 53 days, speculation about Rodrygo’s situation and future escalated. There were doubts over the reasons for his absence along with rumours about a potential move to the Premier League, with Arsenal one of the clubs closely monitoring him.

New coach Xabi Alonso seemed to bring some clarity last week — but then Rodrygo played no role in Madrid’s 3-1 win against Pachuca on Sunday.

With his future up in the air, The Athletic explains what we are hearing about Rodrygo.

---

After the Copa del Rey final, which Madrid lost 3-2 to Barca after extra time, a report in Spanish newspaper Marca suggested that Rodrygo had told Carlo Ancelotti’s coaching staff he “did not feel strong or in the mood to play” before that game.

Multiple sources close to the club — who, like all those cited in this article, asked to remain anonymous to protect relationships — told The Athletic last season that Rodrygo sometimes lacks for motivation in training. The player’s entourage have always denied this.

But it was those concerns which led to Ancelotti and Rodrygo agreeing that the winger would not be called up to the Italian’s first Brazil squad for World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay this month.

 

Rodrygo and Ancelotti after the Intercontinental Cup final in December (Noushad Thekkayil/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

After the Clasico cup final, Rodrygo was absent for the next game, against Celta Vigo in La Liga. Both the club and the player’s camp said this was due to a fever.

A week later, Madrid visited Barca in their last attempt to keep Spain’s title race alive. Rodrygo travelled to the Catalan capital but did not play. Instead, the club’s reserve team winger Victor Munoz was given his senior debut in the 88th minute — which was particularly noteworthy given Ancelotti was not known for giving academy players many chances during his time at Madrid.

Asked how Rodrygo was doing and how the situation was seen within the dressing room, one player told The Athletic, “I don’t know, he’s such a quiet player for his things.”

After Madrid lost that Liga Clasico 4-3, Rodrygo started training with the group the day before their midweek game against Real Mallorca. But he then left for the dressing room during the 15 minutes of training open to the media, officially due to a physical problem.

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“Rodrygo has a fever that has not allowed him to perform at his best,” Ancelotti said at that day’s news conference. “Today, during training, he had discomfort in his leg. I don’t know which leg. He was not feeling well and did not recover well from the fever.”

On social media, meanwhile, Rodrygo responded with a message that read: “Thank you for the messages and concerns. I will be back soon. Stop creating things.”

Rodrygo missed that game and the final two matches of La Liga, but Madrid did not issue a medical report — as they tend to do for players and which they did in October and November for two injuries suffered by the Brazilian.

Rodrygo took advantage of the end of the league season to recover physically and mentally, travelling to Brazil to spend time with those close to him in Santos, the city whose club he was formed at.

This is where his father and agent Eric Goes comes into the picture.

In recent months, Eric has complained about his son’s situation to the club, which has not gone down well at various levels at Madrid.

 

Alonso said his Madrid side would ‘need’ Rodrygo when speaking at his unveiling (Pedro Castillo/Real Madrid via Getty Images)

Rodrygo’s father received and rejected approaches from a number of Premier League clubs through intermediaries. Teams were interested to know about Rodrygo’s situation and Arsenal were convinced they could offer him a sporting project where he could be at ease, playing on the left-hand side of attack but with the freedom to move around. He has regularly played on the right wing for Madrid, which is not his favoured position.

Arsenal are prepared to wait to determine whether Rodrygo is definitely open to leaving or not — and whether Madrid are willing to sell. But the Premier League club are mindful they cannot afford to wait indefinitely. Rodrygo is one of several wide forwards who have been under discussion at Arsenal this summer, also including the likes of Newcastle United’s Anthony Gordon and Nico Williams of Bilbao’s Athletic Club — who The Athletic reported last week has agreed personal terms with Barcelona.

Rodrygo wanted to talk to Alonso and the club before making any decision. On the day of the former Bayer Leverkusen coach’s presentation, he was asked if he had already spoken to the player.

“No,” Alonso replied. “I’m going to have a conversation with all the players because they deserve it and we need it because we have to get to know each other. That he is a spectacular player is not for me to discover. We will need him.”

When Rodrygo returned to training, sources at Madrid’s Valdebebas complex said his attitude had changed for the better. They added that Alonso was being highly attentive to him, showing respect to the player while demanding a lot from him. Those sources said that did not provide any guarantees that Rodrygo would stay this summer.

On June 10, after Madrid’s first session with Alonso in charge, Rodrygo posted a message on social media which simply read, “HAPPY” in Spanish.

https://www.instagram.com/rodrygogoes/

With Madrid having travelled to the United States, Alonso was asked in his press conference before the 1-1 draw with Al Hilal whether he had spoken to Rodrygo and knew what had recently happened with him.

“I can tell you to a point,” he said. “I know what happened, that the end of the season was not easy for him. He took some time that was good for him, to reset his head. We talked from day one and I see him looking forward to enjoying himself with his quality.”

The next day, and with Kylian Mbappe out of the squad due to a fever, Rodrygo started in attack alongside Vinicius Junior and academy striker Gonzalo Garcia. He took his opportunity, assisting Gonzalo in an otherwise disappointing draw.

It was a quietly encouraging start for Rodrygo under Alonso, even if his right-hand partnership with new signing Trent Alexander-Arnold did create problems for Madrid in defence. And his absence against Pachuca only fuelled greater speculation over his future — Gonzalo, Arda Guler, Brahim Diaz and youngster Munoz were all given minutes ahead of him. Alonso was not asked about Rodrygo in his post-match news conference.

It all means that Rodrygo’s future remains as unclear as ever. What is certain is that his situation is worth monitoring this summer.

(Top photo: Rodrygo during the match against Al Hilal; Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)

[Thor 2,691]

6 hours ago, YorkshireBlue said:

Kinda feels like gittens is getting a lot of unjust hate and I don’t believe for a second most of it is from people who have spent time watching him play, more the fact he’s from Germany 

So much this. 

People were willing to see the club spend more on Nico Williams who is statistically worse in every category compared to Gittens. All this while Gittens has had a pretty intrerupted season all around. 

I'd love to see us get Fofana done as well, but lets see. 

Need a LW and a CB imo. A budget LB would be nice too. 

[Vesper 30,106]

1 hour ago, Thor said:

People were willing to see the club spend more on Nico Williams

no

most were against buying him

[bigbluewillie 1,930]

6 hours ago, Laylabelle said:

That would make sense...and how we used to do it. Just bit crap seeing clubs such as Liverpool who were strong enough as it was get their work done ASAP.

But way we seem to do it is drag it out then it falls through and then ooo window is closed now..or closing so its panic panic and end up with someone random who adds sod all for a stupid price

Three of the top four are doing their business early, while the fourth [us] fucking flounder about, not knowing what the fuck to do.

Where's the CB? we need, where's the GK? we need, where's the established CF? we need

 

[Blue Armour 4,436]

2 hours ago, bigbluewillie said:

Three of the top four are doing their business early, while the fourth [us] fucking flounder about, not knowing what the fuck to do.

Where's the CB? we need, where's the GK? we need, where's the established CF? we need

 

Looking doubtful that they will go in for a quality, experienced CB.

I think they still view Fofana to be the club's number 1 CB,  and are banking on his return from injury. And recent quotes in the media only seem to support that.

[ulvhedin 525]

6 hours ago, Thor said:

So much this. 

People were willing to see the club spend more on Nico Williams who is statistically worse in every category compared to Gittens. All this while Gittens has had a pretty intrerupted season all around. 

I'd love to see us get Fofana done as well, but lets see. 

Need a LW and a CB imo. A budget LB would be nice too. 

People would also like to drop us 15m more on Rogers than on Gittens. Rogers who had one good season (being two years older) while not even playing as typical LW 

[Marvin123 530]

See maresca has asked for martinez from villa. Wow what a keeper!

[Special Juan 28,124]

Mentioned Martinez yesterday, really like him

[Mário César 1,246]

martinez was very poor last season

[Vesper 30,106]

How to lose fans and alienate supporters

What are they doing?

https://siphillipstalkschelsea.substack.com/p/how-to-lose-fans-and-alienate-supporters

I wrote yesterday that I don’t have a lot of confidence in Chelsea’s decision makers and sporting directors to do what is needed this summer in what is a pivotal moment under this ownership.

And then just a few hours after that, Matt Law sends the Chelsea fan base into a full on meltdown that sees the majority of them absolutely fuming.

In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen such a collective angry reaction about anything in the last three years under the new ownership, and believe me, there’s been a lot of angry reactions to stupid things they’ve done.

It’s important to mention, because I do always encourage balance, that at the moment, all the reports are saying that Chelsea are just considering a move to sign Alejandro Garnacho still and no negotiations are taking place yet.

However, it fits in with what our sources heard and what we reported through a couple of articles last week, that the Garnacho noise was increasing and things were happening there. And then look at that, things do seem to be happening there.

Maybe Chelsea are just putting it out to see how bad the reaction would be before they make the move?

Well, playing on the title of a 2008 film featuring one of my favourite actors, Simon Pegg, Chelsea are full on playing out ‘how to lose friends and alienate people’ right now with this clear Garnacho interest.

I think most fans aren’t even looking at the player on the pitch, I don’t even think that debate is coming into at this point. He’s a decent winger but is inconsistent and young still (literally I write that about every single target we go for these days). But the fans are more raging about this due to his attitude and his character, which we can all clearly see is a problem. We don’t even need to mention the drama that his brother would bring either.

Fans are so annoyed with this link because the club have seemingly spent three years moving on players who had been causing issues within the camp, players with big egos, and we have consistently been told that character and attitude is one of the biggest traits that we are looking at when targeting new players now. Is it? Is it REALLLLLLLY!!?? Because if it is, you might want to do some further checks on this target.

Speak to any Manchester United fan, anyone involved at the club, and they will all tell you the same - that at the very least, Garnacho’s attitude and character is questionable.

None of us personally know Garnacho, granted. So no, we can’t tell you what his character is like. So speak to those who can. Do some homework. At the very least, it doesn’t look good at all, does it?

Garnacho might be a decent player, and I actually don’t think he gets enough credit on that front. But just look at the reaction from Chelsea fans and the footballing world and it paints your picture for you here. Fans might not always know best, but when it is 95% of them all saying the same thing and reacting in the same way, it says a lot.

Some hopium if anyone wants it because I do also like balance? Maybe his attitude isn’t as bad as everyone says, maybe we just get him on a loan deal like we did with Jadon Sancho if we give them a fair deal on Christopher Nkunku, and maybe we sign two new left wingers IF Noni Madueke is sold so Garnacho wont be a guaranteed starter anyway. Maybe…

If all of that happened then I don’t think it would be the end of the world. However, this isn’t balance from me at this point, this is straw clutching!!

Anyway, Chelsea haven’t signed him yet or even entered talks to, so maybe it just all quietly goes away…. Although I’m afraid that all this noise I’ve been hearing in the last 7 days on Garnacho does not bode well.

Simon Phillips

[Special Juan 28,124]

21 minutes ago, Mário César said:

martinez was very poor last season

I think we all know we aren't paying 50/60/70M or even 30/40M for a keeper, we wouldn't cough up 3/4M for Maignan, that for me says exactly where we are in terms of getting a keeper and where it stands in our thoughts. Martinez wasn't perfect last season but his far from perfect is much better than Sanchez in my opinion. The age thing for a keeper doesn't come into it for me, these owners though want a certain age profile, but we need more experienced heads in this team and an experienced good keeper would get a massive thumbs up from me

[iceboy 1,018]

Any concrete news on Martinez?

[milka 3,390]

You won't spend 20 millions for top GK like Maignan or 60 for Osimhen but you like to spend almost 50 to another kid like Gittens because is ''opportunity signing'' , perfect fit in the clownlake  low wage structure we are not looking to strength the squad we are cares for pound notes again .We needs lions in the squad but clownlake loves kittens .