Chelsea Transfers

[Gundalf 804]

1 minute ago, Thor said:

If Trev and Conor both leave - it would be nice to see Kudus come in, but what would that mean for our CB options? Levi, Badiashille and Silva? 

CuCu for CB and Maatsen for LB 🙃😏

Just kidding!

I mean - CuCu has played as CB in both preseason matches so far...maybe Poch is considering this 😂

Edited July 24, 2023 by Gundalf

[Mário César 972]

21 minutes ago, Mhsc said:

Unfortunately all academy players that aren’t guaranteed starters are essentially FFP money printing machines. If we sell him and buy a replacement it looks good on the books as amortisation splits up the buying fee but selling fee is 100% profit in the window.  So it only makes sense not to sell if 1. We think we can’t replace or upgrade for similar money or 2. We can’t replace with HG and are worried about having enough HG

I feel sorry for Gallagher and Chalobah.

They seem like good guys.

Well, if Chalobah is sold, we are bound to sign a replacement, and since this one helps the FPF amortization, and with the amount we will get from him and some more we will spend, we have a far superior replacement.

About Gallagher, I believe the board believes in the kids like Santos, Chuku and Casadei and as you said, because of FPF, the amount we will get from Gallagher will help the accounts a lot.

The truth is we already have too many youngsters in midfield and one has to be sacrificed. 

Let's sell him and bet on the potential of the kids. 

although, with gallagher's money, we can sign two more players for the midfield. caicedo and another player.

i'm not sure what the management's idea will be. 

Edited July 24, 2023 by Mário César

[Gundalf 804]

 

[Mário César 972]

I believe for 45M pounds Chelsea will sell him 

[Pizy 18,360]

Not accepting £40-45m for Gallagher feels risky to me. He plays nothing like a player worth that sort of money. 
 

 

[Vesper 28,676]

1 hour ago, Thor said:

Vesp - I noticed your bio says you're in South Kensington. The missus and I are heading over to London in October - and I've been looking at accomodation but don't know where to settle on. Would you say the South Kensington area is better than Hyde Park/Paddington for getting around to sites and attractions? Obviously closer to Stamford Bridge which is nice - but would be good to get a perspective. 🙂

Off topic, but would appreciate the help. 🙂

 

two reccos for South Kensington area hotels (close to everything, smaller boutique gorgeous hotels)

these are very calm, posh settings, not mob scenes

 

NUMBER SIXTEEN

16 Sumner Pl, South Kensington, London SW7 3EG

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g186338-d188478-Reviews-Number_Sixteen-London_England.html

https://www.firmdalehotels.com/hotels/london/number-sixteen/

 

The Franklin London 

24 Egerton Gardens, Chelsea, London SW3 2DB

(1. 2 minutes walk from the Knightsbridge border across Brompton Road, also a few minutes walk from South Kensington)

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g186338-d10382433-Reviews-The_Franklin_London_Starhotels_Collezione-London_England.html

https://collezione.starhotels.com/en/our-hotels/the-franklin-london/

 

 

 

 

 

[Thor 2,392]

10 minutes ago, Vesper said:

two reccos for South Kensington area hotels (close to everything, smaller boutique gorgeous hotels)

these are very calm, posh settings, not mob scenes

 

NUMBER SIXTEEN

16 Sumner Pl, South Kensington, London SW7 3EG

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g186338-d188478-Reviews-Number_Sixteen-London_England.html

https://www.firmdalehotels.com/hotels/london/number-sixteen/

 

The Franklin London 

24 Egerton Gardens, Chelsea, London SW3 2DB

(1. 2 minutes walk from the Knightsbridge border across Brompton Road, also a few minutes walk from South Kensington)

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g186338-d10382433-Reviews-The_Franklin_London_Starhotels_Collezione-London_England.html

https://collezione.starhotels.com/en/our-hotels/the-franklin-london/

 

 

 

 

 

Appreciate it Vesp. 🙂

I was just looking at Notting Hill area as well. 

 

If anyone here can help an Aussie get two tickets for the Arsenal-Chelsea game on the 21st of October as well, that would be brilliant. 

[Vesper 28,676]

48 minutes ago, Thor said:

Appreciate it Vesp. 🙂

I was just looking at Notting Hill area as well. 

 

If anyone here can help an Aussie get two tickets for the Arsenal-Chelsea game on the 21st of October as well, that would be brilliant. 

whatever you do, make sure you go to my favourite bar (proper bar, not talking about giant crazy techno clubs like I also love) on the planet

The Connaught Bar in Mayfair

16 Carlos Pl, London W1K 2AL, United Kingdom

best bartenders in the world

the martini trolley is 💙

they sent some of their bar team up here to the Grand Hotel Stockholm in February for a one off special event

 

[ZAPHOD2319 4,465]

There is sanity in football!

 

[TheHulk 1,847]

[Vesper 28,676]

7 minutes ago, ZAPHOD2319 said:

There is sanity in football!

 

woot, fuck those bloodsuckers

[Vesper 28,676]

Chelsea interested in signing Ajax midfielder Mohammed Kudus

By David Ornstein

https://theathletic.com/4712439/2023/07/22/mohammed-kudus-Chelsea-ajax-transfer/

Chelsea have made contact with Ajax to express an interest in signing attacking midfielder Mohammed Kudus.

The Premier League club are yet to submit an offer to their Dutch counterparts, but initial dialogue has taken place.

Kudus is among a number of options Chelsea are considering and an agreement with the Ghana international on personal terms is close.

 

Kudus, under contract to Ajax until 2025, rejected a one-year extension in April and is keen to leave the Johan Cruyff Arena.

The 22-year-old scored 18 goals and provided seven assists in 42 appearances in all competitions for Ajax last season.

He also scored twice for Ghana in a 3-2 win against South Korea in the group stages of the World Cup in Qatar in November.

GO DEEPER

Mohammed Kudus: A star on the rise with Europe's big clubs circling

---

What makes Kudus so appealing?

Analysis by Thom Harris

A mid-sized (5ft 9in; 177cm), stocky player with boundless energy both on and off the ball, Kudus is a midfield bulldog, speed dribbler and powerful ball-striker rolled into one.

His ability to dominate various roles with his blend of physicality and speed has been hugely effective for Ajax, who have utilised his unique profile all over the pitch to gain momentum in individual battles or to burst through weak spots in the opposition set-up.

Kudus has played as many as seven positions since his debut in Dutch football, operating all the way from a deep-lying No 6 to out-and-out centre-forward, with the majority of his time spent out on the right-wing running at the full-back.

[Vesper 28,676]

Conor Gallagher: The midfielder rated higher by rivals than he is at Chelsea

https://theathletic.com/4716154/2023/07/24/conor-gallagher-Chelsea-tottenham-west-ham/

Time for a little pre-season quiz: who is Chelsea’s oldest current central midfielder?

If your answer was Conor Gallagher, a) you are correct, and b) this might be the moment to admit you are paying too much attention. It is a remarkable, surprising fact that underlines the exodus of experience from that area of the squad over the last six months and the strength of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital’s desire to build around young talent.

A little more than three weeks into Mauricio Pochettino’s tenure as head coach, it remains unclear which of those two camps Gallagher will end up in. He was the only outfield player to last the full 90 minutes against Brighton & Hove Albion in the second match of the club’s five-game U.S. pre-season tour in Philadelphia on Saturday, yet he continues to be linked relentlessly with a move away.

Chelsea are yet to offer Gallagher an extension to a contract which runs until June 2025, and it has been made clear to interested clubs that he is available for the right price. A package worth in the region of £50million ($64.1m) would certainly be enough to get it done, but a market at that level has been slow to develop despite the esteem he is held in across the Premier League. A source close to Chelsea, who will remain anonymous to protect relationships, said on Monday that West Ham United submitted a bid worth £40million for the Cobham graduate. However, Chelsea later rejected the bid.

With such a lofty asking price, Chelsea are essentially telling his potential suitors they value Gallagher as a premium asset: a 23-year-old, proven Premier League performer and senior England international with considerable positional and tactical versatility and potential for further improvement. All of which begs the question: why they are entertaining the notion of selling him?

Gallagher is not pushing to leave. Coming from a family of diehard Chelsea supporters, his preference has always been to pursue a long and successful career at Stamford Bridge. That mindset has not been shifted by the endless speculation about his future, nor by the explicit acknowledgement by the club that he is regarded as expendable.

In the final days of this year’s January transfer window, Gallagher was the subject of a £45million bid from Everton. Chelsea made it clear they were amenable to this offer, much to the bemusement of the player and his camp. Gallagher had zero interest in joining a team fighting for their Premier League survival, and the perception that he was being nudged in that direction did not go over well.

 

Gallagher is from a family of Chelsea fans and in no rush to leave (Photo: Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)

Newcastle United indicated they were prepared to bid at a similar level, and Chelsea did not encourage interest from a club who, with their unexpected charge towards a top-four finish, were establishing themselves as one of the west Londoners’ serious long-term domestic rivals. The apparent concern about what he might achieve at his former club’s expense in a more talented Premier League team jarred with their willingness to sell.

Gallagher quietly went on to crack 2,000 minutes of play for Chelsea across all competitions last season, ranking him ninth among outfielders in the squad. He maintained a record of featuring in at least 30 league matches in every season of his professional career — a reflection of the fact he almost never gets injured, as well as his impressive knack for winning the trust of his coaches. He has had enough practice, with Pochettino being his fifth different one to impress at Chelsea after Frank Lampard (twice), Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter.

GO DEEPER

Colwill can be 'one of greatest centre-backs in England' — Pochettino

England manager Gareth Southgate is a fan too, offering an effusive assessment of Gallagher’s game when explaining his inclusion in the squad for last year’s World Cup.

“He’s fantastic at pressing the ball,” Southgate said. “There are going to be moments in these (World Cup) games where we need certain attributes and we feel he could be that sort of player. He’s not as experienced as some of the others but he has an impact in games and has a goal threat.

“When you look at midfielders you often ask: ‘Do they stop goals, create goals or score goals?’ He does a lot of all of that.”

Gallagher’s technique does not pop in the manner of fellow midfielder, 2022 World Cup winner and January signing Enzo Fernandez; the majority of his contributions on the pitch are not glamorous and not always even that obvious. But he is adept at finding space in which to receive the ball, looks to move it on quickly and is a real asset in a modern pressing system. He also offers a genuine goal threat from midfield and his commitment is never in doubt — two things recent Chelsea history suggests cannot be taken for granted.

He may not be quite good enough to be an automatic starter in a team with serious aspirations to win the title or Champions League, but at the very least Gallagher profiles as the kind of homegrown stalwart that Sir Alex Ferguson frequently utilised to keep Manchester United winning on the pitch while maintaining a culture and standard of accountability off it.

GO DEEPER

Pochettino urges Chelsea to continue clear out: 'We don't need 30 players'

That is not the sort of player to dispose of lightly, even for a juicy transfer fee. Chelsea’s first-team academy core feels more fragile than ever with Mason Mount and Ruben Loftus-Cheek gone leaving summer, Reece James’ knee a continuing cause for concern, Levi Colwill not yet fully convinced of his importance to this rebuild, Armando Broja feeling his way back from an ACL knee injury in December, Lewis Hall facing a challenging path to consistent first-team minutes and Trevoh Chalobah viewed internally as another saleable asset.

The early indications are that Pochettino recognises Gallagher’s ability to be a valuable contributor.

He can barely afford to think otherwise with the Moises Caicedo negotiations with Brighton stuck at a £30million gulf in valuations, Fernandez being carefully load-managed after a 2022-23 season that saw him rack up more than 4,500 minutes for club and country and Andrey Santos, Carney Chukwuemeka and Cesare Casadei all still more promise than proven pedigree.

Banking £50million or close to it for Gallagher from West Ham, Tottenham Hotspur or another of his Premier League admirers might go a long way towards helping Chelsea shore up their central midfield options this summer — but would simply keeping him around not achieve a similar end?

Edited July 25, 2023 by Vesper

[Vesper 28,676]

Chelsea shortlist two new midfielders as Moises Caicedo talks stall

https://thetopflight.com/2023/07/24/Chelsea-shortlist-moises-caicedo/

Chelsea have seen recent outgoings in their midfield this summer. Big names include Mateo Kovacic departing to Manchester City, and Mason Mount making a controversial switch to Manchester United. While he rarely played in the Chelsea midfield, Kai Havertz has also left, as has N’Golo Kante, joining Al Ittihad on a free transfer. Midfielder Omari Hutchinson has joined Ipswich Town on a season-long loan, while Cesare Casadei is expected to also secure a loan move. Conor Gallagher is also likely to find a new club this summer. So where exactly does that leave their midfield situation?

Chelsea are desperately trying to add Brighton’s Moises Caicedo, but discussions have stalled in recent weeks. The Top Flight has reported recently that Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi stated Caicedo will stay until the owner changes his mind.

Now while it is too earlier to say Chelsea’s talks for Moises Caicedo are over, it certainly feels like there’s growing frustration between the two clubs. The Guardian is now reporting that talks have fully stalled because Brighton insists on wanting Levi Colwill in a Moises Caicedo deal. Additionally, Chelsea is not willing to meet Brighton’s locked-in transfer price of £100m for Caicedo.

Evening Standard is reporting that Mauricio Pochettino is willing to have two more midfielders added to the squad. Enzo Fernandez, Andrey Santos, and Carney Chukwuemeka are the only midfielders currently expected to start the season with the club. While Moises Caicedo is the number one priority, two young midfielders are shortlisted as transfer targets for the club.

Southampton’s Romeo Lavia is once again seen as someone they are keeping a close eye on. Chelsea had a £50M bid for Lavia rejected back in January and could circle back on the Belgian if a Caicedo deal cannot be completed. The other listed midfield target is Celta Vigo’s Gabri Veiga, who has a £34M release clause. Veiga is much more of an attacking option than Caicedo but provides immediate help in the Chelsea midfield. He could be a like-for-like replacement for the departed Mason Mount.

What’s next for Chelsea is seeing how far Brighton are willing to go on standing still on Caicedo talks. If things don’t budge before the season starts, the Blues may move towards the likes of Lavia and Veiga.

[Vesper 28,676]

 

[Thor 2,392]

So no Caceido. That is fine. 

I think he is a beast defensively, but limited offensively. Money can be spent more efficiently. 

[DDA 9,689]

Not as fussed about Caicedo as many on here are. We definitely need a DM but Caicedo isn't worth 100m... no where near. We need to turn our attentions elsewhere... fuck Brighton. 

As for Gallagher... he isn't the kind of player I would like to see start but he is a good squad player to have. I understand selling him for the HG 💰  though.

[Clockwork 1,794]

I personally don't rate Lavia, how we have better alternatives.