Chelsea Transfers

[MoroccanBlue 5,399]

Kudus is a significantly better dribbler than Noni which isn’t saying a lot

[Marvin123 541]

As well a Joao Pedro offer being rejected, Chelsea also made a proposal to sign Mohammed Kudus this week. Chelsea trying to offer players & have so far put £50m down. To be continued…

 

Chelsea want Pedro for the ST position as well as covering other positions, and Kudus for AM.

[Vesper 31,105]

1 hour ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

How should this be interpreted? Is it a team made up of the players thought to have been the most scouted NH position during the tournament, a team comprising the players who received the best known scouting reports in their positions, the players found to have produced the best performances statistically, or some other basis?

https://scoutedftbl.com/scouted-2025-u19-euro-best-players/

This was a difficult Team of the Tournament to compile. The mentalness of some matches made it difficult to judge certain players, and the eight-team format means there is a relatively limited pool of players to pick from. Nevertheless, we were unanimous in our decisions. Is that a good or bad thing? Who cares. You'll get a detailed explanation as to why we picked who under every pick.

 

🇳🇱 GK: Joeri Heerkens (2006, Sparta Praha)

This tournament wasn’t a great one for goalkeepers. Tommy Setford and Konstantin Heide had a howler-off in the mental game between England and Germany that ended 5-5. That was a precursor for the insane semi-final between Spain and Germany, which ended 6-5, and featured a You’ve Been Framed mishap from Raúl Jiménez.

With that in mind, Joeri Heerkens was probably the best goalkeeper in the tournament. He’s built like a proper ‘keeper - tall, long and solid - and he was generally a reassuring presence between the sticks for the Dutch, particularly in comparison to his counterparts. He was by no means unflappable - there were instances where he was pressured into sketchy moments on the ball, particularly in the final - but he more than held his own in the basic aspects of goalkeeping.

His next move could well be Prague to Amsterdam, swapping Sparta for Ajax.

Llew Davies

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🇳🇱 RB: Givairo Reed (2006, Feyenoord)

Givairo Read may have missed the first match through suspension, but he needed very little time to make a name for himself in this tournament and stamp his mark on a triumphant Netherlands side.

‘Electric’ is one of the words we used to describe his skillset. He’s like a mix of Jeremie Frimpong and Jurriën Timber: he moves similarly to the former but is built more like the latter. While his electricity was sapped by a non-stop schedule in warm and humid conditions, he was still a constant threat for the Dutch in his penetrating movements and give-and-goes while holding his own in defensive duels. It was fitting that Read, who turned down a call-up to the U-21s to captain this team, created the title-clinching goal in the final with one of his many underlapping runs.

After a breakthrough 2024/25 season, playing regularly in the Eredivisie and making his Champions League at the San Siro, expect to hear a lot more about the Feyenoord full-back over the next year - and beyond.

Llew Davies

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🇷🇴 CB: Emanuel Marincau (2006, Mainz 05)

In just Romania’s third appearance at this tournament, the hosts made it past the Group Stage for the first time. Mainz 05 centre-back Emanuel Marincău scored the equaliser in their opener against Montenegro and set the tone with purposeful carries forward throughout. He was also Romania’s primary distributor and showed a willingness to use both feet to stroke the ball forward or keep tighter possession.

Despite his height, Marincău looked more competent at ground defending, if not a little new-born-giraffe-like at times. He was not a liability in the air, but the long legs he used to stride up the pitch proved to be a valuable asset when jabbing into tackles or extending out for blocks and interceptions. Upon noticing this more prominently on the rewatches, I checked the Sofascore stat tables and discovered that of the 47 players to win at least 10 Ground Duels at the tournament, Marincău had the highest win percentage: a staggering 83.3%.

Jake Entwistle

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🇪🇸 CB: Jon Martín (2006, Real Sociedad)

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Air Jon Martín finished the tournament with more Aerial Duels won than any other player. But not just by one or two, as he did for clearances. The montaña from Real Sociedad won 25 Aerial Duels, at least 14 more than any other player and more than the next two players combined. And he maintained a 75.9% win rate. Why is he so dominant? The below screenshot is a good place to start.

Jon Martín cleans house. Every aerial challenge is approached with force and he adopts a front-footed, win-first approach. He does not take any prisoners and if he does mistime a tackle or miscalculate a leap, the opponent is often left on the floor and unable to capitalise from his rare error.

At 1.85m, Martín is not a super tall centre-back, but holds himself as if he is the largest player on the pitch. I cannot stress enough how ferociously he challenges for the ball, on land and in the skies. This makes him a menace in the opposition penalty area, too. He scored just once but finished the tournament with nine shots - only two Spain players attempted more. Have a peak at his tournament heat map; Air Jon lights up both boxes.

Of course, there is room to improve. You should not rely on Jon Martín to stride out of defence and eat progressive yards. But you don’t have to. Andrés Cuenca, his centre-back partner, was more than comfortable at driving up the pitch. As Llew noted, he does have a big diagonal switch in his lock and can hold his own on the ball. But his strength is the brutal no-nonsense defending. With the likes of Pau Cubarsí and Dean Huijsen as future centre-back partners as senior international level, that is exactly what he needs to be.

Jake Entwistle

---

🇳🇱 CB: Dies Janse (2006, AFC Ajax)

Cast your eye on Dies Janse and you’ll immediately think Sven Botman. Central defenders, extremely tall, left-footed - the similarities are obvious, and that’s before you realise that both are graduates of the AFC Ajax academy.

Unsurprisingly, Janse actually plays quite a bit like Botman. His size is a defining feature of his skillset: it enables him to dominate in duels, overwhelming attackers by lurching over and stretching around them, even man-handling them at times. You may think the 19-year-old would be a sitting duck in a high line situations or in one-v-ones against sharper attackers, but he’s deceptively agile for his extraordinary height and is quite quick once he gets his stride going. His ability on the ball is typical of an Ajax (and Dutch) defender too, able to recycle possession quickly and securely as well as progress it with some punchy line-breakers and big switches.

After a solid year with Jong Ajax in the Eerste Divisie and a couple of Eredivisie starts last season, the 2025/26 campaign should be one in which Janse steps up to become a regular first-team starter - and he may need a Botman-esque loan to make it happen.

Llew Davies

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🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 CM: Kiano Dyer (2006, Chelsea)

This was a difficult spot to fill. Some may question the inclusion of a player whose team shipped 11 goals in three games - a mental statistic - and duly crashed out at the group stage, but very little of that was the fault of Kiano Dyer.

If anything, the 18-year-old is one of the few Englishmen that can return from this tournament with his chin up. He consistently tried to make things happen in a team that generally lacked structure and direction.

We’ve branded Dyer a Spanish-spec midfielder before and that unique skillset was on show in Romania: his technical talent is second to none and his profile is a rare commodity in the English system. He lacks physicality but makes up for it with a zippiness that manifests in his press-evading dribbles and platforming passing. He always wants to get on the ball and is very comfortable having it at his feet, moving around to find and create angles to move it on. He's different for England, and he's good.

Llew Davies

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🇳🇱 CM: Tygo Land (2006, PSV Eindhoven)

Sticking with the contemporary comparisons, Tygo Land is basically Frenkie de Jong. Genuinely, the similarities are uncanny. The aesthetics are practically the same as are the style and skillset.

Like Frenkie, Land is a central midfielder who excels at progressing the ball; and like Frenkie, Land does it as a smooth carrier and talented line-breaking passer. He has the innate ability to open with his touches, drop a shoulder and slide past a defender, taking players out of the game and rolling into space. He can slip passes into attackers between lines and spread play around with an accurate and expansive range. The 19-year-old wasn’t at his best at this tournament, but he played his part in giving the Netherlands progression and penetration through central areas.

Like Janse, this tournament should be the kickstarter for Land’s senior career. Teased with opportunities at PSV Eindhoven, he needs to start playing regularly first-team minutes somewhere next season.

Llew Davies

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🇳🇱 AM: Kees Smit (2006, AZ Alkmaar)

We predicted Kees Smit would be a cut above at this tournament, and he definitely was.

He started every single game and played at a relentless intensity for all 413 minutes that he was on the pitch. Operating as the number ten, the 19-year-old was the fulcrum of a Dutch side that were well-drilled on both sides of the ball. He never stopped running: he developed situations with sharp off-ball runs, he moved the ball with incisive passes to facilitate attacks, he scored four goals and showcased excellent ball-striking off both feet in the process, and he set the standard in terms of work rate and leaving everything out on the pitch. Whatever he did, he did it at 100 percent. When everyone else was fading, dropping in the debilitating heat and humidity, Smit was still going at full pelt. He was non-stop action, non-stop excellence.

Smit is the winner of the SCOUTED Golden Ball for this tournament, surprise, surprise. Our mind was basically made up after the group stage, and his performances in the semi-final and final only validated that early call.

This was as clean cut a breakout tournament performance as they come. When Smit is playing at the highest levels of the game in years to come, probably at one of Europe's best teams and with the senior Dutch side, we’ll always hark back to this three-week stint where he drove the Netherlands to the title in Romania. This is just the beginning of a big future.

Llew Davies

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🇪🇸 RW: Pablo García (2006, Real Betis)

You would have to be brave to not include a guy that scored directly from a corner in your Team of the Tournament. You would have to be even brave to not include a guy that scored four goals in a semi-final. But beyond his highlight-reel feats, Pablo García is worthy of his inclusion.

The pot-shotting started immediately with four efforts from outside the box in the opening game against Denmark. In the second match against Romania, he shuttled up and down and side to side across the entire pitch so much that I struggled to define his role. But he definitely caught your eye. Every action was punctuated with the fiery and feisty energy that characterised his tournament even if there were fewer glimpses of his technical quality. In the third Group Stage game, García was deployed as the centre-forward and given complete license to roam. This is where he belongs.

Then came the record-breaking 6-5 win against Germany. In that match alone, Pablo G. attempted 15 shots; only three players across the entire tournament attempted more. He finished the tournament with 26 shots attempted and an additional eight shot assists.

The Real Betis academy graduate is absolutely relentless in all aspects: generating shots, making runs, tracking those of the opposition. And he is comfortable across the entire width of the pitch, consistently finding himself in dangerous pockets. That’s not by luck. He would thrive in a fluid system - as one of Luis Enrique’s rotating PSG forwards, for example. Such is his self-belief, I reckon he’d say he could play for them right now if you asked him. A quintessential maverick.

Jake Entwistle

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🇩🇪 ST: Max Moerstedt (2006, TSG Hoffenheim)

Max Moerstedt prompted the realisation Germany are spawning a horde of 1.9m strikers. But each one is different.

Billed at 1.94m, Moerstedt is slim and long-limbed, which he puts to good use. The TSG Hoffenheim centre-forward has an uncanny knack for unorthodox finishes. He also has the ability to turn any loose ball into a dangerous situation by throwing his legs around bodies to divert crosses goalbound or poking a toe through a gap to tee-up onrushing teammates. Somehow, he sucks the ball into his orbit when it enters the box - there is a mention of an ‘outstretched leg’ or ‘limbs’ in every match report from this tournament.

Moerstedt is a super-consistent box presence and is very economical and effective with his touches. A true Goal Hanger that camps and comes alive inside the six-yard box.

Jake Entwistle

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🇩🇪 LW: Said El Mala (2006, 1. FC Köln)

Said El Mala was the outstanding winger at this tournament. He ended it with four goals, a couple of assists, and a handful of eye-catching performances. It was impossible to miss him powering down the left wing, carrying the ball, running at defenders and threatening the goal.

He was direct: the 18-year-old needed no invitation to drive forward and get at his man. He destroyed England’s right-hand side in that mental five-all draw by doing exactly that: getting the ball in big spaces, driving over long distances, then turning defenders inside out. Caleb Kporha was his first victim, then Zach Abbott was twisted into a big knot not longer later. He tried similar against Norway - attempting 20 dribbles in total, completing 8 of them - and was a menace against Spain in another mental semi-final. His power and directness was devastating at times at this level.

El Mala makes the move to 1. FC Köln this summer having broken into senior football at cross-city club Viktoria Köln. Having already racked up an impressive record in the third division, it will be interesting to see how quickly he breaks into the Bundesliga.

Llew Davies

Honourable mentions? Honourable mentions!

There's a lot of Dutch in the Team of the Tournament, but there could've been more. One that came very close to making the cut was Elijah Dijkstra: a two-sided full-back, it was hard to discern which foot was his favourite at times and he supplemented that with a smooth mobility and handy full-backy stuff in general. Don-Angelo Konadu led their line pretty well, while the Mahrez-like Ayoub Oufkir and direct Aymen Sliti had their moments off the wings.

Moving onto Spain, both of us liked the playmaking of Antonio Cordero and Point Forwarding of Omar Janneh. You could chuck Izan Merino into the mix for his neat and tidy passing from the base of midfield. Jan Virgili and Quim Junyent were unfortunate not to play more often for Spain given the impact they had when on the pitch. Andrés Cuenca was Andrés Cuenca.

Germany's Almugera Kabar was under consideration for the left-back spot in our team, too; he absolutely has to be playing regular senior football somewhere next season. Winners Osawe had good and not so good moments as the ground-eating destroyer in their midfield.

Denmark deserve a shout as well. They were dumped out at the group stage by hosts Romania, but they have an interesting group of prospects coming through. Three of the best at this tournament belong to FC Nordsjælland: Justin Janssen, Villum Berthelsen and Markus Walker. Look out for them next season.

[mkh 759]

Sam Jewell bought Joao Pedro to Brighton and is now a Chelsea director. Jewell has been influential in Chelsea’s push for Pedro and there’s confidence the player will chose Chelsea if a fee can be agreed. (@guardian_sport)

[mkh 759]

Chelsea can register players for the Club World Cup up until July 3.

@NizaarKinsella

[milka 3,407]

We are so obsessed with ex City academy players and Brighton players . Can we just buy City academy instead or some % of Brighton  . 

[mkh 759]

BREAKING: EXCLUSIVE 

AGREEMENT between Chelsea and Dortmund for Jamie Bynoe-Gittens.

🔹7 year contract as revealed

The winger will sign at Chelsea

(via@FabriceHawkins)

Edited June 28, 2025 by mkh

[Mário César 1,483]

joao pedro is a good player, but again, not good enough to improve us in a short term

[Special Juan 28,765]

Here we go for Gittens any moment now

[Special Juan 28,765]

All the big UK reporters straight in there now, saying Gittens is done

[mkh 759]

The price at J.Gittens is said to be €60m with bonus payments.

[Strike 7,791]

1 minute ago, mkh said:

The price at J.Gittens is said to be €60m with bonus payments.

The big investment of this summer is going to be Gittens and Joao Pedro for little over 100m. Doubt we try for a bigger deal. 

[Special Juan 28,765]

Here we go...it's done

[iceboy 1,046]

3 minutes ago, mkh said:

The price at J.Gittens is said to be €60m with bonus payments.

Loool looooool

[Pizy 19,280]

Can’t remember the last time I was this underwhelmed by a big money signing. Not because he’s a bad player or anything but just because I don’t think he’s a ceiling raiser like a bunch of the signings our rivals have and will be making.

I’m expecting another Madueke level player with Gittens. Flashes of nice football with lots of mediocrity and frustration the majority of the time.

[TheHulk 2,647]

1 hour ago, milka said:

We are so obsessed with ex City academy players and Brighton players . Can we just buy City academy instead or some % of Brighton  . 

This is what happens when you recruit absolute morons and a bunch of nothing directors, these idiots only advising players from former clubs they worked with, lazy wankers.

[Vesper 31,105]

3 hours ago, nyikolajevics said:

25 is good money TBH

pounds yes

euros is not enough

[mkh 759]

Chelsea pushing hard for bhafc forward Joao Pedro and that's not good news for nufc - who also made a move last week for one of their top targets. Confidence now at Chelsea end they're in a stronger position to do the deal... Big few days ahead on this one cfc

(via@MsiDouglas)

[mkh 759]

Chelsea’s incomings so far this summer.. 

• Estevao 
• Dário Essugo
• Liam Delap 
• Jamie Gittens. 
• Mamadou Sarr

[Strike 7,791]