Chelsea Transfers

[Cosmin 2,484]

  On 26/06/2023 at 19:20, Pizy said:

Getting rid of ALL of your deadwood in one summer is the stuff most big clubs dream of but can never do. But we’re actually doing it!

A couple of months ago when some of the Chelsea reporters talked about how the club were going to sell an absurd number of players this summer I just rolled my eyes and thought to myself “uh huh, sure. There’s no way we’ll be able to move most of these dudes.” But we’re actually selling every player I thought would be impossible to shift. 

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Yeah, now let’s see what’s next. I wonder if we’ll be able to convince Colwill to extend his contract. 

[Clockwork 1,794]

 

  On 26/06/2023 at 19:15, Vegetable said:

For the whole season I've been confused with new ownership playing the english-heritage-london's own note with Potter and their communications and at the same time throwing away academy players/HG's like there's no tomorrow. Heck, even asked multiple times whether we are sure board is aware of HG rules and fact that their random purchases will be over 21 one day.

BUT, although I'm still bit salty about Lamptey, who could prove useful many times recently, would those academy players ever find the way to first team? Maaaybe Colwill. It seems like James, Mount and Tammy were the last times academy hit the spot and it was a while ago, so it may be indicating there's something wrong with academy functioning or random slump in talent, not the transfer policy really. 

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Colwill and Hall are first team, then you have Gallagher. Lost Musiala. There is also Ian Maatson. I think the Academy has been producing fine. Frankie Runham is probably my best bet to make it from the academy, you can also count Hutchinson but i don’t count him as an academy player since he came from Arsenal academy.
 

 

Edited June 26, 2023 by Clockwork

[Clockwork 1,794]

Sad to see RLC leave, it is best for everyone. I will definitely root for him, hope he has a wonderful and injury free career at AC Milan. 

[whats happening 1,563]

  On 26/06/2023 at 17:37, ZAPHOD2319 said:

 

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our board has to be 100% sure that he is joining us, considering that they are not rushing this one.

[Mário César 1,071]

  On 26/06/2023 at 19:08, DDA said:

You have to remember... these players that we are selling are shite. We have had the torture of watching these clowns pretend to be footballers for quite some time now. They are worth pennies.

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yes some of them are weak and others, being good (kovacic, havertz and mount), don't seem to me to be good enough to the point that we miss them 

about kovacic, he is a good player, but there are cycles that close and it is normal that he himself wants another challenge

about havertz and mount, they are youngsters with potential, but i don't think they will ever reach levels like KDB, Salah and so on. they are very good sales, and if the money is used to hire players like Caicedo, then i am satisfied with the sale

at the beginning of the season it will be strange to see them playing for rivals, but I believe they will be problems for other clubs and we won't miss them so much.

it was also hard to see mata and matic playing at united, but they both haven't reached the level they reached at Chelsea

there are too many players that are over, unhappy or were simply bad signings, like koulibaly and we are rectifying past mistakes and, of course, there are players that the cycle closes like azpilicueta and kanté, who are two legends of the club 

mendy is a sad case but we can't keep kepa and mendy in the squad and honestly i would prefer kepa to leave, but mendy is the one who has more market and was sacrificed

players like ziyech, pulisic and ruben cheek won't be missed 

it's time for new blood and new challenges for both Chelsea and them 

[Mário César 1,071]

  On 26/06/2023 at 19:15, Vegetable said:

For the whole season I've been confused with new ownership playing the english-heritage-london's own note with Potter and their communications and at the same time throwing away academy players/HG's like there's no tomorrow. Heck, even asked multiple times whether we are sure board is aware of HG rules and fact that their random purchases will be over 21 one day.

BUT, although I'm still bit salty about Lamptey, who could prove useful many times recently, would those academy players ever find the way to first team? Maaaybe Colwill. It seems like James, Mount and Tammy were the last times academy hit the spot and it was a while ago, so it may be indicating there's something wrong with academy functioning or random slump in talent, not the transfer policy really. 

Still don't really buy this narrative; If they are good for City and United, whose recruitment is way above ours, are they really shit for us? Inter or Milan are not exactly bad clubs either. We surely didn't make ourselves any favors with idiotic buying spree, hardly marketable season and locking players with stupid wages (KK, Lukaku). Players we are desperately trying to let go are still like top-30 clubs level. And I won't be very surprised if we will regret this fire sale sooner than later.

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Some of the academy players were sold before the sale of the club. 

the truth is that the problem is that there are so many players formed by the club that it is impossible to keep them all. 
a top club can't waste time in betting on all the academy players because they need results at the moment and those young players also can't lose the opportunity to play and so they have to be sold to other clubs

there are always players that are going to pay off and sign for other clubs, as there are other players that will end up staying behind and will stay at those mid table clubs, as is the case of lamptey 

City is feeling what we have been feeling with latvia, since he is a player that now, this year, will play in a big club and it will not be man city

it is always risky to sell so many young players like that, like gilmour for example, but the truth is that it is also impossible to bet on all of them at the same time

right now we have ian maatsen and hall for the left defender position, besides chilwell and cucurella

at least one between hall and maatsen will be sold and probably be another wasted talent, just like livramento, but we are fine in those two positions 

I forget about Tomori and even chalobah I believe he will be fine at inter

tomori is been playing nicely at Milan and another talent that we have to sold 

Edited June 26, 2023 by Mário César

[NikkiCFC 8,121]

  On 26/06/2023 at 16:14, TheHulk said:

Matt and his delusions are back.

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It's not delusions It's PR. I mean, he knows what Mount is going to tell Poch next week lol 

And it's not the first time he writes bs

[Mário César 1,071]

I am reading some opinions that selling so many players at once is a mistake and will have consequences, just as you had buying too many players at once.

What is your opinion?

The truth is that many of them are not needed, but still....

[Vegetable 830]

  On 26/06/2023 at 20:52, Mário César said:

The truth is that many of them are not needed, but still....

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One thing is this (and every other really) board dynamics of people wanting all players out because they are annoyed with them, while objectively they are not Saul-level futile, but the true problem is what someone pointed out really well in Noni's thread - Does eg Mudryk and Madueke provide at least Pulisic's level of output? Meeeeh. Still everyone wants Puli out. We have no immediate replacements, not to mention upgrades to a lot of unwanted players. We are betting on Noni becoming better than Pulisic one day, but it creates a huge hole now. Depending on when and IF new players will step up, we may be seeing another relegation battle shitshow next season. Wings are especially concerning to me, but up front it's the same - Lukaku is dreadful, but is Broja getting out and punishing entire PL? Doubt it. Are people we are being linked with as Kante/Kova/Mount replacements are really right here and right now equal or better players? Plus, personally I don't trust our board a smallest bit in terms of choosing and actually landing the targets. People claiming Kante/Havertz/Mount/Kova or even KK to some extent are "shit" are letting their annoyance overshadow the reality imo.

[bluesman2610 1,373]

 

  On 26/06/2023 at 20:52, Mário César said:

I am reading some opinions that selling so many players at once is a mistake and will have consequences, just as you had buying too many players at once.

What is your opinion?

The truth is that many of them are not needed, but still....

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If RLC could have stayed healthy I would have kept him. Hopefully Carney is in Poch plans.

[NikkiCFC 8,121]

  On 26/06/2023 at 21:13, bluesman2610 said:

 

If RLC could have stayed healthy I would have kept him. Hopefully Carney is in Poch plans.

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In RLC role we have great prospects like Santos and Casadei. RLC taking their place would be weird. 

[Pizy 18,544]

RLC was never going to become anything worth keeping at a club of our ambition. Didn’t score, didn’t assist, not mentally switched on enough to make it. And he’s always injured over the years.

At his absolute best he was nice but even then he was essentially Kova with a bit more power. Wasn’t getting or creating goals. Just good at carrying r ball. That’s not good enough.

[robsblubot 3,595]

  On 26/06/2023 at 20:52, Mário César said:

I am reading some opinions that selling so many players at once is a mistake and will have consequences, just as you had buying too many players at once.

What is your opinion?

The truth is that many of them are not needed, but still....

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It essentially guarantees that next season won't be successful. All we are hoping for right now is for something better than last season, for some improvement, but dismantling the squad while losing all key players at once, has really never worked. The movement towards younger players all at once has also never worked. Nothing we are doing has ever worked... at least not short-term. If you have trust in the leadership, that the actions are all part of a grand plan, then more power to you.

You keep saying this or that player isn't good enough. The facts are that they are not leaving Chelsea for smaller teams in smaller leagues. They will competing at the same level next season. In better and more established teams too! Good enough at this level is VERY relative. It's all competition and looking for the smallest competitive advantages. How fleshy a player is, or how you like his turns and "vision" means nothing if the player does not provide a competitive advantage. I've seen fantastic skilled players who never done anything meaningful in football, at least not at this level.

[guddy69 174]

  On 26/06/2023 at 21:37, Pizy said:

RLC was never going to become anything worth keeping at a club of our ambition. Didn’t score, didn’t assist, not mentally switched on enough to make it. And he’s always injured over the years.

At his absolute best he was nice but even then he was essentially Kova with a bit more power. Wasn’t getting or creating goals. Just good at carrying r ball. That’s not good enough.

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he was with us for sooooo long.. in all that time he made 2 good passes and one assist = rubbish 🙂

[King Kante 1,563]

  On 26/06/2023 at 21:42, robsblubot said:

It essentially guarantees that next season won't be successful. All we are hoping for right now is for something better than last season, for some improvement, but dismantling the squad while losing all key players at once, has really never worked. The movement towards younger players all at once has also never worked. Nothing we are doing has ever worked... at least not short-term. If you have trust in the leadership, that the actions are all part of a grand plan, then more power to you.

You keep saying this or that player isn't good enough. The facts are that they are not leaving Chelsea for smaller teams in smaller leagues. They will competing at the same level next season. In better and more established teams too! Good enough at this level is VERY relative. It's all competition and looking for the smallest competitive advantages. How fleshy a player is, or how you like his turns and "vision" means nothing if the player does not provide a competitive advantage. I've seen fantastic skilled players who never done anything meaningful in football, at least not at this level.

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I agree we are playing with fire this off-season. People talk about Kai and Mount like they will never be as good as KdB or Salah. The thing is, KdB wasn't much older when we sold him than Kai/Mount are now. For me footballers always really show what they're going to be in the 22-26 bracket, unless they're super elite like Mbappe, Rooney, Messi, C.Ronaldo, Haaland etc, where they started doing it from a very young age, simply because they were elite talents. Personally, for me celebrating the selling Kai and Mount is both highly dangerous and ill thoughtout as these players aren't at their peak yet. I also remember a lot of people for instance celebrating the £18m we pulled in for KdB at the time due to him not being a team player and a prima Donna.

Additionally, people celebrate players like Costa and Drogba but forget that they were both 26+ when they rocked up here. Both of them had to play a lot of football elsewhere in the early 20's for 'lower' teams before they made it. 

This said, I do equally understand the economics of football. Both Kai and Mount have few years on there contracts and, even waiting a year, could be disastrous for their value. So, I can see why the club may want to sell, even if I don't understand why people who are just fans/supporters are happy with it - if you consider the above. 

This said. I am worried about next season. For sure, getting rid of the likes of Ziyech, KK and Mendy for reasonable fees won't hurt that much because there age means we know what they are and that they're only likely to decline from here on in. However, the purchases raise massive concerns with me. Let's look at these in the cold light of day: 

Jackson - 6 months ago was going to Bournemouth and people didn't have a clue who he was. Hits a purple patch towards the end of a La Liga season and people now think he walks into the PL as a proven goalscorer or at least can 'do a job'. For me this is a very highly speculative transfer. 

Caicedo - stats show he is a very good ball winner. However, as soon as Potter left, DZ decided to play him in multiple positions to cover holes. For sure, people can argue that he is so good he can play any position, but another argument is that he cannot nail down his favoured position. I mean, seriously, whenever have you seen a player being switched around like that in there early 20's to fill holes in a 6th placed team? The answer is normally a McTominary/Flecther/Cleverly ( SAF/Man U tbf have always had a great eye for finding roles for grafters.)

For me, as DZ was/is the better tactian, when compared to Potter, this leaves massive question marks for me as whilst some people see Kante, I can also see Ramires. His age is the only reason why I cannot place him yet as he still needs a lot more football in his legs. 

As for the overall balance of the squad, it looks like we're aiming for a U23 side hoping that they'll grow together. This for me is a crap shoot in that if it comes off, it is jackpot. However, we also run the real risk we leave ourselves a lot poorer, even though we convinced ourselves before we threw the dice that things couldn't get worse. 

Edited June 26, 2023 by King Kante

[YorkshireBlue 3,175]

Man city have bid 90m for rice! 

[Mário César 1,071]

  On 26/06/2023 at 21:12, Vegetable said:

One thing is this (and every other really) board dynamics of people wanting all players out because they are annoyed with them, while objectively they are not Saul-level futile, but the true problem is what someone pointed out really well in Noni's thread - Does eg Mudryk and Madueke provide at least Pulisic's level of output? Meeeeh. Still everyone wants Puli out. We have no immediate replacements, not to mention upgrades to a lot of unwanted players. We are betting on Noni becoming better than Pulisic one day, but it creates a huge hole now. Depending on when and IF new players will step up, we may be seeing another relegation battle shitshow next season. Wings are especially concerning to me, but up front it's the same - Lukaku is dreadful, but is Broja getting out and punishing entire PL? Doubt it. Are people we are being linked with as Kante/Kova/Mount replacements are really right here and right now equal or better players? Plus, personally I don't trust our board a smallest bit in terms of choosing and actually landing the targets. People claiming Kante/Havertz/Mount/Kova or even KK to some extent are "shit" are letting their annoyance overshadow the reality imo.

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As I said in the other thread, extremes are a problem. 

We need at least one better than Mud and Mundryk. 

Otherwise, about the others, it depends on who will arrive, but Pulisic wants to leave the club.

In fact, both Pulisic and Havertz want to leave, Mount doesn't want to renew and Kanté was injured for a long time.

About the centrals, I think that, for a season without Champions, I don't think it's the main problem. 

About who to replace them, of course it depends on the replacements and their quality, but this will always be an unknown about any signing.

About Lukaku, I agree, but he doesn't want to stay at the club. What is he supposed to do?

I'm sure he would perform better than Broja and Nicholas Jackson.

[Tomo 21,741]

  On 26/06/2023 at 21:12, Vegetable said:

One thing is this (and every other really) board dynamics of people wanting all players out because they are annoyed with them, while objectively they are not Saul-level futile, but the true problem is what someone pointed out really well in Noni's thread - Does eg Mudryk and Madueke provide at least Pulisic's level of output? Meeeeh. Still everyone wants Puli out. We have no immediate replacements, not to mention upgrades to a lot of unwanted players. We are betting on Noni becoming better than Pulisic one day, but it creates a huge hole now. Depending on when and IF new players will step up, we may be seeing another relegation battle shitshow next season. Wings are especially concerning to me, but up front it's the same - Lukaku is dreadful, but is Broja getting out and punishing entire PL? Doubt it. Are people we are being linked with as Kante/Kova/Mount replacements are really right here and right now equal or better players? Plus, personally I don't trust our board a smallest bit in terms of choosing and actually landing the targets. People claiming Kante/Havertz/Mount/Kova or even KK to some extent are "shit" are letting their annoyance overshadow the reality imo.

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Playing with ten men will be a genuine upgrade on post lockdown Pulisic.