Chelsea Transfers

[Vesper 28,674]

Jonathan David has two Serie A giants after him, but Premier League move still likely

https://thedailybriefing.io/i/143738370/jonathan-david-has-two-serie-a-giants-after-him-but-premier-league-move-still-likely

Jonathan David is liked by several Italian teams, Napoli and Milan are the ones that have enquired about him. But the crucial matter is the cost of the deal. Between the price, and the fact that David is asking for a high salary, this makes it difficult for Milan and Napoli, and so I'm told that the Premier League is still his most likely destination.

[Vesper 28,674]

Twist in Ronald Araujo saga

https://thedailybriefing.io/i/143738370/huge-twist-in-ronald-araujo-saga

What I can say is that right now, there's no negotiations ongoing. His agents and Bayern Munich spoke and negotiated a lot during the month of January, that much is true.

But an important issue is the manager of Bayern Munich next season. I know that Julian Nagelsmann, who was one of the candidates to take over but has renewed his deal with Germany, loved Ronald Araujo. This could impact matters.

Bayern will have a a huge budget for signings for this summer, but the talks between Bayern and Araujo are from months ago. It remains the case that Araujo still hasn't reached an agreement over a new contract with Barcelona, but we shall have to wait to see how it plays out in the coming months.

Nagelsmann was a big reason that the deal could have happened though, and he wanted Araujo, but now it could depend on who the next Bayern coach is.

[Vesper 28,674]

 

• Barcelona have opened talks with talented midfielder Marc Casadó over a new long-term deal. Talks are ongoing and advancing well over a three-year contract until June 2027, as Barça consider Casadó an important talent for the present and future.

• Ronald Araújo on Gundogan’s comments on his red card after the PSG game: “I’d rather keep to myself what I really think… I have my own codes and values that I think you need to respect.”

• Ronald Araújo: “The subject of extending my contract is going well. At the end of the season we will sit down together with the club. I am very happy in Barcelona and I am always going to give everything until the end.”

• Luis Enrique open to becoming Barcelona manager again [3Cat]

 

[Reddish-Blue 2,339]

13 hours ago, Fernando said:

Now we are just shy of fixing the defense to be more competitive.

If we don't have a good defense, we won't be competitive in the premier league.   Getting results like 3-2, 4-3 etc is not sustainable.  Palmer is the star right now but you can bet going into next season that he will definitely be aggressively marked by the opposition players and they will start the tactical fouling (just like how teams used to go for Hazard with those nasty challenges). 

13 hours ago, Fernando said:

We can let him go in 2 or 3 season.

That would mean we remain in 10th spot for 2+ seasons and there is every chance players will start to leave without European football. 

Poch isn't the answer, he can help in the short term but if we want to get back to being in the mix for top 4, we need a better manager and a much much better defensive structure.  

[Thor 2,392]

4 hours ago, Vesper said:

Jonathan David has two Serie A giants after him, but Premier League move still likely

https://thedailybriefing.io/i/143738370/jonathan-david-has-two-serie-a-giants-after-him-but-premier-league-move-still-likely

Jonathan David is liked by several Italian teams, Napoli and Milan are the ones that have enquired about him. But the crucial matter is the cost of the deal. Between the price, and the fact that David is asking for a high salary, this makes it difficult for Milan and Napoli, and so I'm told that the Premier League is still his most likely destination.

Should be one we go for in that 50 mil range. 
 

Isak would have been great but people here acted he was average after a little dip where he no doubt knew he was leaving. 
Wouldn’t be shocked to see people dismiss this move as well. 

[Vesper 28,674]

Thiago Silva leaving Chelsea, plus Conor Gallagher to Newcastle links

https://thedailybriefing.io/i/143879071/thiago-silva-leaving-Chelsea-plus-conor-gallagher-to-newcastle-links

The big news yesterday is that Thiago Silva, after crying at the end of Chelsea’s FA Cup semi-final defeat against Manchester City at Wembley, is leaving Chelsea at the end of the season. The decision has been made and will be announced by the player himself in the next days or weeks.

Chelsea and Silva never really discussed a contract extension, and now the Brazilian defender will say his goodbyes. Silva has always been super professional, on and off the pitch - he already had some opportunities in January to leave Chelsea, from what I’m told, but he decided to say no because he wanted to help the club and to help the young players during this complicated season. He will do his best until the end, but soon it will be time to say goodbye.

In terms of what happens next, he has several possibilities. Fluminense have wanted him for a long time, they’ve been dreaming of his return, but there are other possibilities and Silva will take his time before deciding his next move.

Staying with Chelsea, we continue to see reports about Conor Gallagher’s future, with Newcastle also being linked with the midfielder now. I’m aware of Tottenham’s interest since last summer and that is still valid for Gallagher, who’s appreciated by Ange Postecoglou.

Newcastle, meanwhile, have to focus on Financial Fair Play before thinking about that kind of move. Also nothing is clear for Bruno Guimaraes future yet as I’m told nothing is concrete or advanced so far for Bruno, so it’s too early to be talking about possible replacements like Gallagher or anyone else.

[Vesper 28,674]

Chelsea

https://thedailybriefing.io/i/143851085/Chelsea

• Thiago Silva’s future has been decided - full details in Fabrizio Romano’s exclusive column.

• Conor Gallagher to Newcastle rumours emerge, but what’s the truth? Fabrizio Romano takes a look in his exclusive column.

• Cole Palmer was not in training yesterday due to illness ahead of the Arsenal vs Chelsea game, while Malo Gusto is currently undergoing medical assessment. Christopher Nkunku is still in partial team training.

• Mauricio Pochettino on Nicolas Jackson following the difficult game against Man City: “Jackson is doing fantastic and he will always have my support. He’s doing an amazing job for the team: running, scoring, assists. It’s not easy on the first season. Nicolas fights for the club and he will be better next season, no doubts.”

• Pochettino: “It’s a good challenge if Palmer is not available vs Arsenal. If I were them, I would be motivated to go there tomorrow and show that this is Chelsea Football Club, not Cole Palmer Football Club.”

[Thor 2,392]

I've found out it doesn't matter who we get, because most Chelsea fans are spoilt brats who will slag any player as not good enough if we aren't winning titles that year. 

[Special Juan 27,419]

7 hours ago, Thor said:

I've found out it doesn't matter who we get, because most Chelsea fans are spoilt brats who will slag any player as not good enough if we aren't winning titles that year. 

We just want to see a fight from players, work your arse off and don't chuck the toys out the pram if things don't go your way.

The problem lately we have bought mentally weak players that are far too raw coming into the most intense league in the world and yet a lot cower like babies

 

[lucio 5,418]

But this isn’t Crystal Palace , we can’t just have passion merchants who charge around for 90 minutes.

there need to be a high minimum standard for technical ability if you want to play for Chelsea. The likes of Caicedo Gallagher and disasi should be playing hoof ball for stoke 

we need a Manager like Xavi who will demand this and not put up with heavy touch donkeys 

[ulvhedin 507]

4 hours ago, Special Juan said:

We just want to see a fight from players, work your arse off and don't chuck the toys out the pram if things don't go your way.

 

so basically Gallagher, yet people are often wants him out of the club

[robsblubot 3,486]

And I thought the whole point was to win silverware... silly me.

Suppose Chelsea FC is now an expensive "Football Manager in Real Life" experiment. It's going to look really stupid when the successful experiments (actual WC players) demand to leave at some point--which is what players always do.
Real Madrid will thank us for all our efforts and gladly take these players off our hands.

[Vesper 28,674]

Hard spending cap likely coming in for 2025/26

we are so fucked

[Vesper 28,674]

Why a spending cap could signify a subtle but important power shift in the Premier League

https://theathletic.com/5442600/2024/04/24/premier-league-spending-cap-importance/

 

So an era of unprecedented Premier League changes could be about to move into new territory — from points deductions to spending constrictions.

The asterisks which dot this season’s table in relation to punishments for clubs who have breached the top flight’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR) may soon be followed by question marks on balance sheets across the division.

GO DEEPER

Premier League clubs to vote on introducing new spending cap

Should a majority of its clubs vote through the proposed hard spending cap for the 2025-26 season, it would not only aid the competitive nature of what is the world’s strongest domestic league, but also enforce a subtle shift in the perceived power base of English football.

The cap idea is based on the concept of “anchoring”, designed to limit the amount of money any club can invest in their squad by tying it to a multiple of what the division’s lowest earners get from the league’s centralised broadcast and commercial deals.

It would go a step further than the UEFA-mirroring new squad-cost rules, which clubs are set to vote on in June, that permit squad spending to a ratio of revenue and player sales, a small but perhaps overdue concession to those who are worried about the league’s competitive balance.

Under the additional anchoring — or hard cap — plan, greater clarity and transparency would arrive, ensuring — so the theory goes − that everyone from Chelsea and Manchester City to Wolves and Crystal Palace are playing by precisely the same rules.

The multiple is the multiple. Obfuscation, workarounds, and overspends would no longer be backstage levers for the big boys to pull.

For years, the Premier League’s ‘haves’, super-rich City, Chelsea and, more recently, Newcastle, have seemingly had things their own way: the former pair as yet unsanctioned despite allegations potentially far more serious than those that have triggered punishments for Everton and Nottingham Forest, the latter able to take a seat at the petrostate top table and enjoy some (if not all) of the benefits City and Chelsea have had over the past two decades.

If those clubs squirm at the notion of a hard cap, then many supporters outside of their fanbases will have little sympathy.

Of course, it might require slightly reduced salaries for current or new players, but the bank balance pains for those stars could be worth it for the sustainability gains. Anyone familiar with Everton’s piteous predicament would argue that if one of the league’s handful of ever-presents can sink to their knees so badly, something needs to be done to prevent it happening to others.

Everton tried and failed to chase the established ‘Big Six’, with their owner Farhad Moshiri bankrolling a misguided spending spree that in the end has them close to rolling off a precipice.

The Merseyside club might not have been able to get into such a mess had anchoring been in place in 2016, when the British-Iranian businessman first took over.

But how has such wider ethical concern seemingly won out over self-interest? What has got anchoring to the point of genuine consideration, where it would seem like the big boys are not getting it all their own way?

The answer could be a subtle power shift, caused by new mutually-beneficial alliances. The Premier League’s broadcast revenue sharing has always been, by European football standards anyway, a relatively noble meritocratic arrangement.

It is less that sharing ratio which clubs such as Everton, West Ham and Palace are worried about — and more the consistent advantage clubs such as City, Chelsea and Manchester United have accrued from decades of participation in European football.

Not only do the ‘Big Six’ tend to pocket extra millions every season from qualifying for one of the three UEFA competitions, they also get to strike more lucrative commercial deals each year because of it. Newcastle and Aston Villa are doing their best to prise open the door to that clique, but the established gap already seems fairly structural.

A larger Champions League designed to ward off a European Super League and next summer’s first, much-expanded Club World Cup will only reinforce the gap between the Premier League’s long-standing haves and have-nots.

It took an interesting coming-together of not only the top flight’s minnows and its middle classes — such as Palace, West Ham and Fulham — but also some of that upper-class elite to get anchoring on the agenda so firmly.

A move towards a North American sport-style salary cap system might well have been endorsed by the likes of U.S.-owned Liverpool or Arsenal in the hope it could rein in a common foe.

If City, as widely predicted, overcome the spirited challenge of both those clubs to retain their Premier League title, meaning four in a row and six in seven years, their steely dominance over English football will be underlined.

Perhaps the hope from rivals is that the introduction of a hard spending cap will loosen Sheikh Mansour and City Football Group’s firm grip on Premier League success in the past decade, and start to level the playing field a bit.

For the Premier League, much maligned in some quarters with their application of PSR sanctions casting uncertainty on this season, it is another pushback against the need for external regulation. Anchoring is unlikely to have got this far without Richard Masters, the league’s chief executive, recognising it as another concession to ease his ongoing scrutiny.

All this may still not be enough to make it a reality, though.

Ultimately it is the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) who might have the decisive say. The players’ trade union will need to be demonstrably consulted, listened to and likely negotiated with for the proposal to actually come into force for the season after next.

Even then, if Premier League footballers revolt strongly at the potential for pay cuts, it could throw the whole deal into doubt. Nobody will want the potential for U.S.-style sporting strikes, such as the mid-1990s baseball walkout that saw two major-league seasons left incomplete.

There would be the potential for the PFA to ask for rises in the multiple (already up from an original four and a half to five) until the point that it makes little difference and becomes lip service.

Monday’s vote may be the first step in a small but important change for the Premier League but the players on the field who do the running could yet stop it in its tracks.

Until such point, anchoring will remain a tantalising notion for a potentially fairer top-flight game, and a rare moment when the petrodollar-boosted ‘haves’ were made to contemplate the fact that not everything will always go their way.

[Vegetable 830]

57 minutes ago, Vesper said:

Until such point, anchoring will remain a tantalising notion for a potentially fairer top-flight game, and a rare moment when the petrodollar-boosted ‘haves’ were made to contemplate the fact that not everything will always go their way.

Yeah, so, maybe, like, actually enforce the current FFP rules. If petrodollars would actually bother people in charge, they would be contained. Just a quick reminder that Chelsea had an actual freaking government on its back for a few years, trying to do as much problem for the club as possible. Petrodollars will find a way no matter this mumbo jumbo.

Anyway, all those "fairness" ideas seem bit delusional to me. Did motorsport became more interesting after pushing F1 and WRC teams to be pretty much same thing? Unfair advantage is a problem that ruins sport, but the advantage is pretty much the point of sport. Let the big clubs be big clubs, smaller be smaller, just stop pretending to not see what City or PSG are doing. Reminds me of the pseudo-draft idea of choosing random players from few years back. What is even the point of owning and investing into the club then? You earn more, you spend more, trying to enforce equality sounds like making the football one corporation with few different logos. Meanwhile PSG or Real won't care for any caps, so it's shooting the world's best league foot off.

[OhForAGreavsie 5,890]

2 hours ago, Vesper said:

Why a spending cap could signify a subtle but important power shift in the Premier League

https://theathletic.com/5442600/2024/04/24/premier-league-spending-cap-importance/

 

So an era of unprecedented Premier League changes could be about to move into new territory — from points deductions to spending constrictions.

The asterisks which dot this season’s table in relation to punishments for clubs who have breached the top flight’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR) may soon be followed by question marks on balance sheets across the division.

GO DEEPER

Premier League clubs to vote on introducing new spending cap

Should a majority of its clubs vote through the proposed hard spending cap for the 2025-26 season, it would not only aid the competitive nature of what is the world’s strongest domestic league, but also enforce a subtle shift in the perceived power base of English football.

The cap idea is based on the concept of “anchoring”, designed to limit the amount of money any club can invest in their squad by tying it to a multiple of what the division’s lowest earners get from the league’s centralised broadcast and commercial deals.

It would go a step further than the UEFA-mirroring new squad-cost rules, which clubs are set to vote on in June, that permit squad spending to a ratio of revenue and player sales, a small but perhaps overdue concession to those who are worried about the league’s competitive balance.

Under the additional anchoring — or hard cap — plan, greater clarity and transparency would arrive, ensuring — so the theory goes − that everyone from Chelsea and Manchester City to Wolves and Crystal Palace are playing by precisely the same rules.

The multiple is the multiple. Obfuscation, workarounds, and overspends would no longer be backstage levers for the big boys to pull.

For years, the Premier League’s ‘haves’, super-rich City, Chelsea and, more recently, Newcastle, have seemingly had things their own way: the former pair as yet unsanctioned despite allegations potentially far more serious than those that have triggered punishments for Everton and Nottingham Forest, the latter able to take a seat at the petrostate top table and enjoy some (if not all) of the benefits City and Chelsea have had over the past two decades.

If those clubs squirm at the notion of a hard cap, then many supporters outside of their fanbases will have little sympathy.

Of course, it might require slightly reduced salaries for current or new players, but the bank balance pains for those stars could be worth it for the sustainability gains. Anyone familiar with Everton’s piteous predicament would argue that if one of the league’s handful of ever-presents can sink to their knees so badly, something needs to be done to prevent it happening to others.

Everton tried and failed to chase the established ‘Big Six’, with their owner Farhad Moshiri bankrolling a misguided spending spree that in the end has them close to rolling off a precipice.

The Merseyside club might not have been able to get into such a mess had anchoring been in place in 2016, when the British-Iranian businessman first took over.

But how has such wider ethical concern seemingly won out over self-interest? What has got anchoring to the point of genuine consideration, where it would seem like the big boys are not getting it all their own way?

The answer could be a subtle power shift, caused by new mutually-beneficial alliances. The Premier League’s broadcast revenue sharing has always been, by European football standards anyway, a relatively noble meritocratic arrangement.

It is less that sharing ratio which clubs such as Everton, West Ham and Palace are worried about — and more the consistent advantage clubs such as City, Chelsea and Manchester United have accrued from decades of participation in European football.

Not only do the ‘Big Six’ tend to pocket extra millions every season from qualifying for one of the three UEFA competitions, they also get to strike more lucrative commercial deals each year because of it. Newcastle and Aston Villa are doing their best to prise open the door to that clique, but the established gap already seems fairly structural.

A larger Champions League designed to ward off a European Super League and next summer’s first, much-expanded Club World Cup will only reinforce the gap between the Premier League’s long-standing haves and have-nots.

It took an interesting coming-together of not only the top flight’s minnows and its middle classes — such as Palace, West Ham and Fulham — but also some of that upper-class elite to get anchoring on the agenda so firmly.

A move towards a North American sport-style salary cap system might well have been endorsed by the likes of U.S.-owned Liverpool or Arsenal in the hope it could rein in a common foe.

If City, as widely predicted, overcome the spirited challenge of both those clubs to retain their Premier League title, meaning four in a row and six in seven years, their steely dominance over English football will be underlined.

Perhaps the hope from rivals is that the introduction of a hard spending cap will loosen Sheikh Mansour and City Football Group’s firm grip on Premier League success in the past decade, and start to level the playing field a bit.

For the Premier League, much maligned in some quarters with their application of PSR sanctions casting uncertainty on this season, it is another pushback against the need for external regulation. Anchoring is unlikely to have got this far without Richard Masters, the league’s chief executive, recognising it as another concession to ease his ongoing scrutiny.

All this may still not be enough to make it a reality, though.

Ultimately it is the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) who might have the decisive say. The players’ trade union will need to be demonstrably consulted, listened to and likely negotiated with for the proposal to actually come into force for the season after next.

Even then, if Premier League footballers revolt strongly at the potential for pay cuts, it could throw the whole deal into doubt. Nobody will want the potential for U.S.-style sporting strikes, such as the mid-1990s baseball walkout that saw two major-league seasons left incomplete.

There would be the potential for the PFA to ask for rises in the multiple (already up from an original four and a half to five) until the point that it makes little difference and becomes lip service.

Monday’s vote may be the first step in a small but important change for the Premier League but the players on the field who do the running could yet stop it in its tracks.

Until such point, anchoring will remain a tantalising notion for a potentially fairer top-flight game, and a rare moment when the petrodollar-boosted ‘haves’ were made to contemplate the fact that not everything will always go their way.

Massively in favour of this. Have been calling for it, here and elsewhere, for decades. Let's bury the Financial Unfair Play nonsense once and for all.

[OhForAGreavsie 5,890]

I saw a report that Palace have put a £60m price on Michael Olise. Now, it has to be acknowledge that if he was interested in coming back here he'd have done so last summer. Worse, if he didn't fancy Chelsea last off-season, why on Earth would he do so this time around? Even so I'd be happy to see the club try again. Of the players linked last summer he was the one I wanted the most.

[Blue Armour 4,275]

7 hours ago, robsblubot said:

And I thought the whole point was to win silverware... silly me.

Suppose Chelsea FC is now an expensive "Football Manager in Real Life" experiment. It's going to look really stupid when the successful experiments (actual WC players) demand to leave at some point--which is what players always do.
Real Madrid will thank us for all our efforts and gladly take these players off our hands.

That's why this whole 'build for the future' argument is so speculative.

It might pay off, it certainly will raise the resale value of the entire squad, but it doesn't necessarily amount to the trophies. AKA, Wenger's Arsenal.

But hey, maybe some fans like that. Basically enjoy the process, not the end results.