Chelsea Transfers

[Vesper 28,668]

On 05/10/2022 at 01:47, LAM09 said:

Akanji is someone we should have been all over. Look at what we spent on Fofana and KK compared to him.

we tried and failed on these 7, nothing we can do about them

Matthijs de Ligt
Marquinhos 
Ronald Araújo    
David Alaba
Aymeric Laporte
Presnel Kimpembe
Niklas Süle

then

Jules Koundé (we pulled out, which is good)

Armel Bella-Kotchap (massive miss, we need to watch him hard, I think he will likely be a beast, I pushed for him)

Nico Schlotterbeck (we passed, I am over, it is what it is)

Bremer (we passed, not bothered really, at least atm)

Mohamed Simakan ( we passed last summer, but we so need to keep monitoring, he also looked great at RB)

then

Antonio Rüdiger (massive cock-up by Marina)

 

the there are the two clear targets, we passed this past summer as we can get better deals in 2023

Josko Gvardiol    
Milan Skriniar (unless he renews he is a free hit)

After them, Bella-Kotchap and Simakan, plus Ndicka for a lefy CB IF somehow we cock up Gvardiol.

Soooooo....
We then have the ones we passed on that I was not TRULY pushing for in front of all others (Ndicka 

bold are ones I did rate

Pau Torres
Jurrien Timber 
José María Giménez (too many injuries)
Robin Le Normand
Evan Ndicka (see above) 
Manuel Akanji (I still think he is a little too soft) 
Pierre Kalulu 
Min-jae Kim  
Merih Demiral 
Gonçalo Inácio  
Piero Hincapié
Castello Lukeba 
David Carmo
Maxence Lacroix
Stefan de Vrij (he probably would have been a better buy that KK, tbh)
Abdou Diallo (no need after we bought CuCu)
Adam Webster 
Morato
Ilya Zabarnyi 
Attila Szalai (was superb v Germany)

 

youth targets

 

El Chadaille Bitshiabu 17yo 1.96m beast

Giorgio Scalvini  
Kaiky 
Isaak Touré  (2.06m 19yo freak)
António Silva  
Justin Che 
Diego Coppola 
Mamadou Mbacke  
Martin Vitik
Joel Ordóñez  
Brahim Traoré 
Cristhian Mosquera
Soumaïla Coulibaly
Wisdom Amey  
Ethan Butera 
Samson Baidoo  
 

Edited October 7, 2022 by Vesper

[LAM09 6,731]

10 hours ago, Reddish-Blue said:

The Fofana deal was always going to be a nice fat bonus for Leicester as they repeatedly said they wanted to keep him till next summer.   Feel like Fofana will be a solid player in the long term, him & Colwill could form a nice partnership at the back. 

Interested to see how Koulibaly does for the club because he hasn't looked great so far, really thought he'd be starting every game as our big name defensive signing but it's basically 45 year old Thiago Silva holding up our backline at the moment. 

So weird that we can't find value for money signings yet all of our rivals seem to be able to sign players in the 20-30 million range. 

This summer was a very unique one & our shambles of a window, for the most part, proved that. Boehly arguably overspent on every first team signing to try to make a statement right away, which certainly isn't looking like good business as things currently stand. We have to hope this move to younger players can bridge the gap between the top & prove to be fruitful.

6 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

All well and good saying that now he’s went to City for a decent fee in this market and has looked at home there (albeit again he’s only played due to injuries to Laporte, Stones and Ake more than anything).

But lets be brutally honest, before that the majority on here probably never ever thought of him playing at a top 4 PL club, yet alone would of wanted him to come here specifically. 

I mean he didn’t even have a hugely successful time at Dortmund so I find it ironic now to say he’s someone we should have been all over.

If he had a poor run for City it would of been “lol what were they doing signing him”….

He isn't exactly a nobody (Swiss international for quite some time, plenty of European experience, etc). As an option, it should have been a no-brainer, considering what I mentioned & Dortmund's eagerness to sell. We decided to actively go after Kimpembe ahead of him. That in itself is where the problem lies.

2 hours ago, Vesper said:

we tried and failed on these 7, nothing we can do about them

Matthijs de Ligt
Marquinhos 
Ronald Araújo    
David Alaba
Aymeric Laporte
Presnel Kimpembe
Niklas Süle

then

Jules Koundé (we pulled out, which is good)

Armel Bella-Kotchap (massive miss, we need to watch hum hard, I think he will likely be a beast, I pushed for him)

Nico Schlotterbeck (we passed, I am over, it is what it is)

Bremer (we passed, not bothered really, at least atm)

Mohamed Simakan ( we passed last summer, but we so need to keep monitoring)

then

Antonio Rüdiger (massive cock-up by Marina)

A number of those targets were never realistic options, all considered, so I have no idea why we wasted time going after them. It's hard to hate Boehly's approach in his first window for obvious reasons, so if Fofana & KK turn out to be massive flops, it'd better be a lesson learnt. Gvardiol is the one we need to do everything to sign (I didn't realise his clause was that low either) & become astute buyers rather than slaphappy ones going forward.

Edited October 5, 2022 by LAM09

[ZAPHOD2319 4,465]

 

[Fernando 6,441]

I like leao. 

Hope we go for him as well. 

[ulvhedin 507]

Whoever watch Brighton ragularly - is Caicedo more of DM or CM/B2B?

[Blues Forever 1,232]

1 hour ago, ulvhedin said:

Whoever watch Brighton ragularly - is Caicedo more of DM or CM/B2B?

B2B.

[MoroccanBlue 5,290]

20 hours ago, ZAPHOD2319 said:

 

Should stay far away from Alvarez. 

[chelsea_4_eva 1,157]

Before going for Alvarez we should at least give Zakaria a chance.

[Superblue 6,370]

Was far from impressed with Leao last night. Don't get me wrong, he clearly has talent and he's a big lad, someone I don't think that would get bullied physically in the Premier League. But his general attitude, demeanour, work rate off the ball were beyond shambolic. 

There are times you can carry one player somewhat if they are producing the goods, I know this was the case with Hazard previously but Leao isn't Eden Hazard level and Hazard was an extremely humble player who played for the team, would happily carry the burden of the team on his back. Once Reece got stuck into him after half time, Leao wilted and hid away. 

Maybe there's additional levels to his game to come over time, and he'll show up more at the San Siro next week but I just don't think currently the talent justifies the attitude I saw on the pitch last night and whilst they're not necessarily the same profile of player, if you're giving me the option of a new attacking signing next summer out of Nkunku and Leao, it's Nkunku for me even at the same price let alone Leao likely being significantly more expensive.

[ulvhedin 507]

31 minutes ago, Superblue_1986 said:

Was far from impressed with Leao last night. Don't get me wrong, he clearly has talent and he's a big lad, someone I don't think that would get bullied physically in the Premier League. But his general attitude, demeanour, work rate off the ball were beyond shambolic. 

There are times you can carry one player somewhat if they are producing the goods, I know this was the case with Hazard previously but Leao isn't Eden Hazard level and Hazard was an extremely humble player who played for the team, would happily carry the burden of the team on his back. Once Reece got stuck into him after half time, Leao wilted and hid away. 

Maybe there's additional levels to his game to come over time, and he'll show up more at the San Siro next week but I just don't think currently the talent justifies the attitude I saw on the pitch last night and whilst they're not necessarily the same profile of player, if you're giving me the option of a new attacking signing next summer out of Nkunku and Leao, it's Nkunku for me even at the same price let alone Leao likely being significantly more expensive.

Wouldn't judge level of his playing after yesterday game, when he was the only one trying to make things happen. His attitude and off-the ball workrate on the other hand - completely agree with you.

[Superblue 6,370]

8 hours ago, ulvhedin said:

Wouldn't judge level of his playing after yesterday game, when he was the only one trying to make things happen. His attitude and off-the ball workrate on the other hand - completely agree with you.

Granted he wasn't aided by Milan's approach to the game which seemed to be almost entirely a damage control exercise but I still would have expected him to try and do more.

I go back to Hazard who had very little appetite to defend and track back for the team but in times where the team were struggling he would always try to drift around to get on the ball and make things happen. Leao seemed content with staying wide and if the ball didn't reach him then too bad. 

[OneMoSalah 8,766]

On 05/10/2022 at 13:47, LAM09 said:

He isn't exactly a nobody (Swiss international for quite some time, plenty of European experience, etc). As an option, it should have been a no-brainer, considering what I mentioned & Dortmund's eagerness to sell. We decided to actively go after Kimpembe ahead of him. That in itself is where the problem lies.

No he’s not a nobody perhaps but he’s hardly a elite level central defender. I mean he’s a reasonably solid squad player and even then, you can bet Pep won’t pick him regularly when he has all his CBs back fit and available, I mean hes no better than Ake and hes a pretty average CB.

Dortmund were eager to sell because he had 1 year left on his deal and he declined a new contract, plus anyone who’s watched Dortmund over the years know he hasn’t exactly been a revelation for them and they could afford to let him go. I mean I think him going to City was a surprise for many, he was available for transfer all summer and nobody went for him at that price barring City at the last minute due to Ake picking up an injury on top of the already injured Laporte not being closer to fitness.

But because he’s doing well for City (think he’s played 4 games, Seville, Dortmund, Wolves and United - ironically two teams have ended up sacking their managers for very subpar performances this season - particularly in attack) we should have “been all over him” as if he is any better than who we went after or who we signed. 

If people said last summer we should replace Rudiger or Christensen with Akanji, they would of laughed. We needed to target top level CBs to replace the 2 good players we lost. Not a rotational player/squad player in that position because Azpi and Chalobah can already do that roles. If he plays for City regularly for 2 or 3 years when everyone’s fit I will eat my words but I significantly doubt it.

Also without question Kimpbembe is a vastly superior player, absolutely, so makes sense why we were going after him. Even without considering the more obvious reason of his quality, he is a mobile, strong, left sided central defender who is comfortable in a back 3 or 4. Which would of been a pretty good buy to take Rudigers role as TT continued with a back 3.

Edited October 7, 2022 by OneMoSalah

[Vesper 28,668]

1 hour ago, OneMoSalah said:

No he’s not a nobody perhaps but he’s hardly a elite level central defender. I mean he’s a reasonably solid squad player and even then, you can bet Pep won’t pick him regularly when he has all his CBs back fit and available, I mean hes no better than Ake and hes a pretty average CB.

Dortmund were eager to sell because he had 1 year left on his deal and he declined a new contract, plus anyone who’s watched Dortmund over the years know he hasn’t exactly been a revelation for them and they could afford to let him go. I mean I think him going to City was a surprise for many, he was available for transfer all summer and nobody went for him at that price barring City at the last minute due to Ake picking up an injury on top of the already injured Laporte not being closer to fitness.

But because he’s doing well for City (think he’s played 4 games, Seville, Dortmund, Wolves and United - ironically two teams have ended up sacking their managers for very subpar performances this season - particularly in attack) we should have “been all over him” as if he is any better than who we went after or who we signed. 

If people said last summer we should replace Rudiger or Christensen with Akanji, they would of laughed. We needed to target top level CBs to replace the 2 good players we lost. Not a rotational player/squad player in that position because Azpi and Chalobah can already do that roles. If he plays for City regularly for 2 or 3 years when everyone’s fit I will eat my words but I significantly doubt it.

Also without question Kimpbembe is a vastly superior player, absolutely, so makes sense why we were going after him. Even without considering the more obvious reason of his quality, he is a mobile, strong, left sided central defender who is comfortable in a back 3 or 4. Which would of been a pretty good buy to take Rudigers role as TT continued with a back 3.

Only left-footed CBs whom I rate for us atm

  
Josko Gvardiol   
Alessandro Bastoni  

Presnel Kimpembe

Evan Ndicka
Pau Torres    
Aymeric Laporte 
Lucas Hernández  
Gonçalo Inácio   
 

Youth

Castello Lukeba    
Morato 
Mattia Viti
Isaak Touré    
El Chadaille Bitshiabu       

[Reddish-Blue 2,338]

3 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

No he’s not a nobody perhaps but he’s hardly a elite level central defender. I mean he’s a reasonably solid squad player and even then, you can bet Pep won’t pick him regularly when he has all his CBs back fit and available, I mean hes no better than Ake and hes a pretty average CB.

Dortmund were eager to sell because he had 1 year left on his deal and he declined a new contract, plus anyone who’s watched Dortmund over the years know he hasn’t exactly been a revelation for them and they could afford to let him go. I mean I think him going to City was a surprise for many, he was available for transfer all summer and nobody went for him at that price barring City at the last minute due to Ake picking up an injury on top of the already injured Laporte not being closer to fitness.

But because he’s doing well for City (think he’s played 4 games, Seville, Dortmund, Wolves and United - ironically two teams have ended up sacking their managers for very subpar performances this season - particularly in attack) we should have “been all over him” as if he is any better than who we went after or who we signed. 

If people said last summer we should replace Rudiger or Christensen with Akanji, they would of laughed. We needed to target top level CBs to replace the 2 good players we lost. Not a rotational player/squad player in that position because Azpi and Chalobah can already do that roles. If he plays for City regularly for 2 or 3 years when everyone’s fit I will eat my words but I significantly doubt it.

Also without question Kimpbembe is a vastly superior player, absolutely, so makes sense why we were going after him. Even without considering the more obvious reason of his quality, he is a mobile, strong, left sided central defender who is comfortable in a back 3 or 4. Which would of been a pretty good buy to take Rudigers role as TT continued with a back 3.

We still don't have our Rudiger replacement.  Fofana is a work in progress (massive talent but long way to go) and Koulibaly has looked below average so far. 

It's a pretty big concern that our defense is still heavily dependent upon 50 year old Thiago Silva being fit for the whole season.

[Reddish-Blue 2,338]

1 hour ago, Vesper said:

Only left-footed CBs whom I rate for us atm

  
Josko Gvardiol   
Alessandro Bastoni  

Presnel Kimpembe

Evan Ndicka
Pau Torres    
Aymeric Laporte 
Lucas Hernández  
Gonçalo Inácio   
 

Youth

Castello Lukeba    
Morato 
Mattia Viti
Isaak Touré    
El Chadaille Bitshiabu       

@Vesper  if we were to get Gvardiol for a reasonable price, do you think a back 3 of Gvardiol, Fofana, Colwill is solid enough for future seasons?

[turgi 71]

Why do we stick with a back three?

[LAM09 6,731]

6 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

No he’s not a nobody perhaps but he’s hardly a elite level central defender. I mean he’s a reasonably solid squad player and even then, you can bet Pep won’t pick him regularly when he has all his CBs back fit and available, I mean hes no better than Ake and hes a pretty average CB.

Dortmund were eager to sell because he had 1 year left on his deal and he declined a new contract, plus anyone who’s watched Dortmund over the years know he hasn’t exactly been a revelation for them and they could afford to let him go. I mean I think him going to City was a surprise for many, he was available for transfer all summer and nobody went for him at that price barring City at the last minute due to Ake picking up an injury on top of the already injured Laporte not being closer to fitness.

But because he’s doing well for City (think he’s played 4 games, Seville, Dortmund, Wolves and United - ironically two teams have ended up sacking their managers for very subpar performances this season - particularly in attack) we should have “been all over him” as if he is any better than who we went after or who we signed. 

If people said last summer we should replace Rudiger or Christensen with Akanji, they would of laughed. We needed to target top level CBs to replace the 2 good players we lost. Not a rotational player/squad player in that position because Azpi and Chalobah can already do that roles. If he plays for City regularly for 2 or 3 years when everyone’s fit I will eat my words but I significantly doubt it.

Also without question Kimpbembe is a vastly superior player, absolutely, so makes sense why we were going after him. Even without considering the more obvious reason of his quality, he is a mobile, strong, left sided central defender who is comfortable in a back 3 or 4. Which would of been a pretty good buy to take Rudigers role as TT continued with a back 3.

There's a difference between going for top defenders & overpaying for ones that aren't. Our CB targets in the summer got progressively worse, starting with de Ligt & ultimately ending up with Fofana, so it almost makes a number of your points void, as we ended up with good players/downgrades in the end anyway. Comparing our situation to City's is totally irrelevant.

I couldn't hate anything more than comments seemingly presuming my thoughts were solely based on his short time at City. At £15m~ he would have been a great signing for a number of reasons, not at £40-50m, which is why I made the comment to begin with. It's called depth, as we'll be back to Azpi in a matter of weeks.

Also, I completely disagree with the last bit, so we'll have to agree to disagree.

Edited October 7, 2022 by LAM09

[Magic Lamps 11,649]

According to Bayern insider we fended off heavy interest from fc Bayern when securing the nkunku deal, prevailing vs an other European heavyweight for a change