Chelsea Transfers

[Mário César 1,345]

I read that we will sell chalobah

[Special Juan 28,205]

Just want to bring some perspective to yesterday's goings on....We knew the window was short and what annoyed me the most was the fact the deals/players we were going for were not 70/80M players, they were players who both wanted to come here, had relatively low values based on the current market and we still couldn't get it done. Right, so I hear the window opens Monday again..so does that mean our targets are going to go from Gittens and Maignan to Donnuruma and Williams? Not a fucking chance, we went low for players and will remain at that price level and that player level, the pattern over the last two seasons tell you all you need to know.

I'm hearing and reading I maybe unrealistic....nah I have been around Chelsea since the mid 80's, seen the bad times, seen the better times, seen the incredible times and seen the decline again, but what was the most stand out thing about all the times I have supported and followed the club is we always, always had a smattering of young but with experience wrapped around it, whether it be the mid 80's or 2025 you need this, and this is what this board are not getting. An arm round a shoulder is as key as a bit of flair skill, a low moment was where players were judged, where leaders and figure heads came in..years ago it was Bumpstead, Speedie, the baton was then passed to the Zola's and Poyet's, then we had the Terry's and Carvalho's, Coles and Lampards, these were your leaders and the ones that took things on the chin and galvanized the group.

What we are seeing now is Tosin and Bettinelli's (gone) spoken about being the leaders and the characters in the changing room...nah fucking nah, we have a captain that is injured all the time, a dud keeper, mis mash centre backs, wingers that don't work anywhere near as hard as they should and meant to be flair players but offer fuck all and still years on pining for a striker we still have not got. Drogba passed the baton but it was dropped a million times between Torres, Morata, Higuain.. picked up by Giroud, dropped again between Lukaku and so on and so on without any order, Drogba and Hasslebaink with a smattering of Gudjohnsen to add flair.....

The point Im trying to make is sign experience, do not cut corners, do not discard experience and this club deserves to have these calibre of signings which is why I am not having these owners and SD's one bit, they have no clue what they are doing and the direction is non existent. What we seen and witnessed yesterday was shambolic, whether it be only for a few days until the window opens again, this was about, and lets solely focus on the keeper for one second, an experienced and very good shot stopper for a car boot price, someone the manager wanted, forget the briefs, he wanted him because he plays well with his feet and we went in for him with a reason, we failed, we failed the manager because the club is obsessed with penny pinching, yet the graphs and data tell you we are way above the PSR curve, with ease. 

The direction is rotten, the outlook is rotten, the club has lost it's way, I love Chelsea always will but the faith is slowly draining from me because the people in charge are a disgrace.

Seen the good seen the bad, this is really bad, but always Chels

 

[ZAPHOD2319 4,824]

Botching Maignan was minor league all the way. Gittens, really didnt care one way or the other. He is not really an improvement on Noni right now, might have more upside in the future. Maignan is a clear upgrade. We have scouts trying to be Sporting Directors and failing bad at it.

[The Skipper 20,609]

Good evening Chelsea family, glad to see this place is still alive and kicking. Small thoughts on our transfer window so far.

• I think the Delap signing is great value for money, and in today's market where your young talented CFs are going for 90m-100m+ euros, it's a snip. Of course he isn't a top 9 yet, but low risk high reward imo.
• Quenda, just watched him in the France u21 v Portugal u21 matchup. Kid's legit. Elite winger in the making, great weight of pass, great football IQ, great athleticim and a nice technical floor. Wish we could bring him in a bit earlier because I think he's ready to start in the PL tbh.
• Essugo seems like a raw guy, so really looking forward to see *how* raw exactly. Seems like a good dude to bring off the bench to add beef into the midfield.
• Sarr seems like the type of CB we need - strong, athletic, front footed. He is still a bit raw though it seems. Interested to see how he cooks in the CWC.

For me the priorities now are, bring in Maignan if you can and run a 2 man rotation between him and Sanchez (Maignan as the no. 1 of course). Looks like they're hellbent on selling Petrovic and he seems to be ready to go anyways. I don't think Jorgensen will ever be good enough (happy to be proved wrong) and I don't think Penders needs to sit on the bench here - Maignan can be a perfect in between.

I would also look at an elite right footed winger - so someone like Rodrygo, Barcola, Leao or maybe even Nico Williams. If possible, let's grab also a 10/wing hybrid type player too so we can actually rotate Palmer or not be too effected if he goes missing through injury/form. I really like Ekitike as well but I think that's more of a luxury signing tbh, not essential. Also heard we might be after Hato at LB, wouldn't be so mad at that.

So for the rest of the window if you bring in:

• Maignan
• Rodrygo/Barcola/Leao/Nico Williams
• Hybrid 10/LW or maybe just another right footed left winger (Gittens is ok if they can get a reasonable price)
• Ekitike
• Hato

I think we have a top window here. Then it's about selling. Whether they can pull that off, I don't know. The owners and SDs so far have looked very amateurish in general. They've done some good stuff but done a lot of bad stuff as well. 

Edited June 11 by The Skipper

[Mário César 1,345]

1 minute ago, The Skipper said:

Good evening Chelsea family, glad to see this place is still alive and kicking. Small thoughts on our transfer window so far.

•  I think the Delap signing is great value for money, and in today's market where your young talented CFs are going for 90m-100m+ euros, it's a snip. Of course he isn't a top 9 yet, but low risk high reward imo.
• Quenda, just watched him in the France u21 v Portugal u21 matchup. Kid's legit. Elite winger in the making, great weight of pass, great football IQ, great athleticim and a nice technical floor. Wish we could bring him in a bit earlier because I think he's ready to start in the PL tbh.
• Essugo seems like a raw guy, so really looking forward to see *how* raw exactly. Seems like a good dude to bring off the bench to add beef into the midfield.
• Sarr seems like the type of CB we need - strong, athletic, front footed. He is still a bit raw though it seems. Interested to see how he cooks in the CWC.

For me the priorities now are, bring in Maignan if you can and run a 2 man rotation between him and Sanchez (Maignan as the no. 1 of course). Looks like they're hellbent on selling Petrovic and he seems to be ready to go anyways. I don't think Jorgensen will ever be good enough (happy to be proved wrong) and I don't think Penders needs to sit on the bench here - Maignan can be a perfect in between.

I would also look at an elite right footed winger - so someone like Rodrygo, Barcola, Leao or maybe even Nico Williams. If possible, let's grab also a 10/wing hybrid type player too so we can actually rotate Palmer or not be too effected if he goes missing through injury/form. I really like Ekitike as well but I think that's more of a luxury signing tbh, not essential. Also heard we might be after Hato at LB, wouldn't be so mad at that.

So for the rest of the window if you bring in:

• Maignan
• Rodrygo/Barcola/Leao/Nico Williams
• Hybrid 10/LW or maybe just another right footed left winger (Gittens is ok if they can get a reasonable price)
• Ekitike
• Hato

I think we have a top window here. Then it's about selling. Whether they can pull that off, I don't know. The owners and SDs so far have looked very amateurish in general. They've done some good stuff but done a lot of bad stuff as well. 

Lol in what world you think we will bring nico or rodry or maigan?

[The Skipper 20,609]

Just now, Mário César said:

Lol in what world you think we will bring nico or rodry or maigan?

It's not what I think they'll do, it's what *I*, as in me, would do.

[Vesper 30,320]

4 minutes ago, The Skipper said:

Good evening Chelsea family, glad to see this place is still alive and kicking. Small thoughts on our transfer window so far.

•  I think the Delap signing is great value for money, and in today's market where your young talented CFs are going for 90m-100m+ euros, it's a snip. Of course he isn't a top 9 yet, but low risk high reward imo.
• Quenda, just watched him in the France u21 v Portugal u21 matchup. Kid's legit. Elite winger in the making, great weight of pass, great football IQ, great athleticim and a nice technical floor. Wish we could bring him in a bit earlier because I think he's ready to start in the PL tbh.
• Essugo seems like a raw guy, so really looking forward to see *how* raw exactly. Seems like a good dude to bring off the bench to add beef into the midfield.
• Sarr seems like the type of CB we need - strong, athletic, front footed. He is still a bit raw though it seems. Interested to see how he cooks in the CWC.

For me the priorities now are, bring in Maignan if you can and run a 2 man rotation between him and Sanchez (Maignan as the no. 1 of course). Looks like they're hellbent on selling Petrovic and he seems to be ready to go anyways. I don't think Jorgensen will ever be good enough (happy to be proved wrong) and I don't think Penders needs to sit on the bench here - Maignan can be a perfect in between.

I would also look at an elite right footed winger - so someone like Rodrygo, Barcola, Leao or maybe even Nico Williams. If possible, let's grab also a 10/wing hybrid type player too so we can actually rotate Palmer or not be too effected if he goes missing through injury/form. I really like Ekitike as well but I think that's more of a luxury signing tbh, not essential. Also heard we might be after Hato at LB, wouldn't be so mad at that.

So for the rest of the window if you bring in:

• Maignan
• Rodrygo/Barcola/Leao/Nico Williams
• Hybrid 10/LW or maybe just another right footed left winger (Gittens is ok if they can get a reasonable price)
• Ekitike
• Hato

I think we have a top window here. Then it's about selling. Whether they can pull that off, I don't know. The owners and SDs so far have looked very amateurish in general. They've done some good stuff but done a lot of bad stuff as well. 

hejsan m8! long time no see

hugzzzz,

Vesper

[The Skipper 20,609]

1 minute ago, Vesper said:

hejsan m8! long time no see

hugzzzz,

Vesper

Good to see some of the OGs are still kicking it on here! Good to see you too Vesper!

[Vesper 30,320]

so much for the Fichajes lies that Real Madrid had hijacked Arse's deal for Zubi

 

[OneMoSalah 8,892]

1 hour ago, Special Juan said:

we failed the manager because the club is obsessed with penny pinching, yet the graphs and data tell you we are way above the PSR curve, with ease. 

Precisely.

I am beginning to wonder if there are other financial issues that the owners are worried about. Or if it purely that they were expecting to generate much more money from their current investment?  

The loopholes for the 7 & 8 year deals were closed by both the PL & UEFA. The hotels & women’s team now also have been sold to ourselves to balance the books, what other assets can we do this with realistically to get around PSR? 

The failure to close the Maignan deal for the sake of a few bob is an absolute anomaly given the spending in previous windows and seasons. 

Fully with you on the experience and leadership. Could talk about squad building and recruitment to the cow comes home. How we went from one extreme in that first window with new owners to another extreme afterwards, which has set us back on the pitch. And will continue to result in competing for Europa/CL qualification at most.

I seen quotes from Maresca talking about PSG and how their project is an example for him and what he’s doing here. And it was also alluded to on here at times. Are people forgetting about the core of their starting 11 consists of more proven and experienced guys like Dembele (28), Marquinhos (31), Hakimi (26), Donnarumma (26) & Fabian (29)? It is all about balance in squad building and recruitment. 

Edited June 11 by OneMoSalah

[Vesper 30,320]

[Vesper 30,320]

 

[The Skipper 20,609]

49 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

Fully with you on the experience and leadership. Could talk about squad building and recruitment to the cow comes home. How we went from one extreme in that first window with new owners to another extreme afterwards, which has set us back on the pitch. And will continue to result in competing for Europa/CL qualification at most.

I seen quotes from Maresca talking about PSG and how their project is an example for him and what he’s doing here. And it was also alluded to on here at times. Are people forgetting about the core of their starting 11 consists of more proven and experienced guys like Dembele (28), Marquinhos (31), Hakimi (26), Donnarumma (26) & Fabian (29)? It is all about balance in squad building and recruitment. 

So:

• Dembele: signed at 26.
• Hakimi: signed at 22
• Donnarumma: signed at 22
• Marquinhos: signed at 21?
• Fabian: 26

I think there's not much wrong with signing young guys, because all of these bar say Marquinhos still had loads of experience when signed (I think experience rather than age is important here - how many top flight games have they played). I think the key really is to sign real quality with experience, regardless of age. We have guys like Enzo, Caicedo, Reece, Cucurella seriously coming of age now in that sort of bracket imo. Pretty much core guys in our 11. We need a few more absolutely, and this is where you get guys like Maignan to come in and bridge the gap, but imo football is turning into a sport where youth are going to prevail. You don't want to wed yourself to "older" players too much, you are better off building them up yourself as PSG have done. We do lack that balance a bit, but I don't think signing older players for the sake of it, unless they actually bring in real quality like Maignan, is a great idea. 

Hopefully the whole CWC deadline thing was a ruse and we actually do end up grabbing him, and a top quality left winger who does have that experience, minimum. Then you have a core of top LW, Maignan, Reece, Cucurella, Enzo, Caicedo which is over half of the starting 11 now. Surrounded by young guys with top character like Colwill & Palmer, that's 8/11. The rest can be managed imo. It's a good base. They just need to add the crown jewels now.

Edited June 11 by The Skipper

[Vesper 30,320]

https://football-observatory.com/WeeklyPost508

The 508th Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the 100 teams in the world with the most subscriptions on the following social networks: X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. The Spanish side of Real Madrid tops the list with over 470 million subscriptions, just ahead of their great rivals Barcelona (424 million).

 

All the other clubs are much further behind. Manchester United completes the podium with 234 million, while Paris St-Germain is fourth with 199 million. In the top 10 are four other English teams (Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal), one German (Bayern Munich) and one Italian (Juventus).

 

The podium for non-European clubs is made up of Brazil's Flamengo, Saudi Arabia's Al-Nassr and Egypt's Al-Ahly. The Post also presents the trends recorded since June 2024 (without YouTube). In relative terms, the biggest increase among the top 100 clubs was registered for Santos (+82%), certainly thanks to the recruitment of star player Neymar.

[ZAPHOD2319 4,824]

Launched, as in €2M loan fee and no obligation to buy.

 

[nyikolajevics 2,713]

5 minutes ago, ZAPHOD2319 said:

Launched, as in €2M loan fee and no obligation to buy.

 

Gotta feel sorry for Juve fans.. Within a few years, from having Chiellini-Bonucci-Barzagli ATB they ended up with Kelly, Gatti and Bremer and chasing Disasi. 

[DDA 10,003]

Arsenal heavily linked with Gyokeres.

This is painful

[Thor 2,748]

49 minutes ago, DDA said:

Arsenal heavily linked with Gyokeres.

This is painful

Good to see. 

A team reliant on crossing getting an absolute sham of a heading forward in Gyokeres. 

I don't see Gyokeres doing much if he can't physically overwhelm in the PL.

[DDA 10,003]

47 minutes ago, Thor said:

Good to see. 

A team reliant on crossing getting an absolute sham of a heading forward in Gyokeres. 

I don't see Gyokeres doing much if he can't physically overwhelm in the PL.

This may the first thing we agree on. 

[Thor 2,748]

58 minutes ago, DDA said:

This may the first thing we agree on. 

I just don't think its the panic stations everyone is going on about. 

People are praising PSG, but they signed all their current great talent at under 25... We have been trending upwards. 

Our players are going to be a year older, more experienced, resilient, and in tune with the manager and his method of playing. 

People are acting as if we were world beaters the last 10 years. We've won 1 PL title in the last 10 years. Our "success" is a bit of a mask when we had an extraordinary and unexpected CL run where we happened to hit our stride, and clearly built a cup side, but one not capable of winning the league (ala early 2000s Liverpool). 

If you zoom out and look at things for what they are - this last season results wise was one of our best in the last 10 years aside from the PL winning season, and CL winning season. We're in top 4, CL, and won a trophy. 

We are the youngest team in the league (history actually). Have some of the most promising players in Cole, Caicedo, Lavia, Enzo, Santos and Estevao in our team - who will continue to grow, be a staple/core of the team, and the average age between them is under 23 years old... We have RJ who can hopefully work his way back and is only 25. We have the likes of Colwill who has been hot and cold but is 22. 

I'm personally excited for the likes of Essugo, who is young and strong as a bull. I've heard nothing but great things about Quenda who will be joining us next season too. 

People are yearning for this return to glory, but it was masked well in the last 10 years under Roman. It wasn't as consistent or glory filled as we pretend. We had patches where we made it work. Both of our CL wins happened and were shocks to most of us. We didn't win while we were dominant, we won because we hit stride and it masked the faults of the club that were plain and obvious. 

Now we go into next season with more experience and a year older, know how to win a major final, and they showed when it gets tough they know how to get results with the last stretch. That is big. Yes I wasn't happy with the play since Xmas, but they dug deep and won. That is important. Is there things I'd like to be done better? Yes, clearly defensive and GK signings have been god awful, but I'm sure it is a point of making it better. Maignan would have been nice, but is it far and away the surefire thing we think it is? Maybe not - and glad they approached with caution considering how poor they've been spending money on keepers.