Chelsea Transfers

[OhForAGreavsie 6,091]

1 hour ago, Vesper said:

John Terry wants to see Chelsea make marquee signings again

Terry with some very interesting comments indeed

https://siphillipstalkschelsea.substack.com/p/john-terry-wants-to-see-Chelsea-make

 

I find it even more interesting reading comments from John Terry or hearing him speaking about Chelsea these days because he works for the club still. He’s still got a role within the academy so he will always need to be a little bit careful with what he says.

So it intrigued me even more to hear him telling the club to start making some marquee signings again, and this is something that I know many of us agree with.

I don’t think anyone would want the club to rip up the script fully and change back to the Roman Abramovich days of making marquee signings - because there has proven to be many positives in the way we recruit at the moment as well as negatives. However, and what I hope Terry means by his comments below, we all want to see more balance with our recruitment. This summer would have been the perfect time to do that by adding a big name in goal and at the back, it would have solved one issue that keeps coming up.

“We're officially the best team in the world so we're happy with that,” Terry joked on talkSPORT late last week. “I don’t want too much pressure on the boys because we are a young squad.

“With this year and with the experience of pushing the other teams close I think we have a chance to be up there and we should be because we’re Chelsea.

“I think any top side or any young and experienced player going into the season saying, 'We can’t win it,' shouldn’t be playing at the top level.

“So I think every Chelsea player should believe we can go and win it.

“Do I think we will? No, I don’t being honest with you but I think we’ll be right amongst it and I think we should be.”

Asked how Chelsea can leapfrog Liverpool and win their first Premier League title since 2017, Terry said: “I’d love to see us in the mix for big signings if we want to be back to our very best and at the top winning Premier Leagues year after year.

“I think the only thing we’re missing at the moment is those marquee signings.”

“[This Season], I think Liverpool are the strongest side,” he added. “I think Manchester City have shown vulnerability again this season.

“I’m not sure Chelsea have enough experience within their squad to push them.”

So once again, Terry is mentioning a lack of experience and big names within the squad. As you know, I mostly agree with the captain, leader, legend here. What about you?

Terry also went on to speak on Enzo Maresca and how he rates him.

“I’ve been very impressed with him to be honest. He’s very inviting with me as I’m obviously working in the academy,” Terry revealed.

“I get to see him work and he’s very personal with the players.

“I think the biggest thing for any manager this year is being close to the players and he seems to have a really good connection with the younger players.

“He’s very young himself. He understands the players, he understands what they want and he’s certainly getting the best out of them at the moment.”

I don't believe that our record with marquee signings is anything to write home about. Buying names is no substitute for good judgement. Sign good players and no one will care what their name is. Sign a bad player with a big name and no one will forgive the club in a hurry.

Edited 1 hour ago by OhForAGreavsie

[Fernando 6,601]

Emanuel Emegha’s move to Chelsea provokes fresh fury at Strasbourg

The team is climbing up the Ligue 1 table but fans are sick of being treated like ‘pawns’ by the Chelsea owners

By Get French Football News

 

Luke Entwistle

Mon 15 Sep 2025 11.04 EDT

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Strasbourg are a club torn between inertia and evolution. Change is visible all around the Meinau: in its recently developed stands and on the pitch where, in two years, they have gone from perennial relegation strugglers to Champions League candidates. The motor for change was BlueCo’s purchase of the club in 2023. The takeover was met with stout opposition and the team’s upward trajectory since has done little to remould public opinion.

“I feel like we are back at the beginning. I am so disappointed with the reaction,” complained Liam Rosenior on Sunday, exasperated by the latest fan protests. You needn’t scratch too much to uncover the resentment that bubbles beneath the surface of the Meinau. The 15-minute strike, where the club’s ultras remain silent at the start of matches, is now just a common feature of Strasbourg fixtures, and you are never more than a few weeks away from a lengthy and often explosive supporters group communique denouncing some facet of the management of the club.

 

 

BlueCo have always been the target of the fans’ ire – and that remains the case – but recent protests have also seen other figures caught in the crossfire. Marc Keller, who played for Strasbourg in the 1990s and came to the club’s rescue when it went bankrupt in the early 2010s, is the latest target. He built the club back up from the amateur divisions but fans are furious that he sold up to BlueCo. Strasbourg’s supporters federation called for him to “face his responsibilities” and leave before their match against Le Havre on Sunday. “We will never accept what Marc Keller has done to the club by selling to BlueCo,” read the statement.

And what the club has become is acquiescent. What Chelsea want, Chelsea get. Ben Chilwell hardly fits the team’s needs but that is largely irrelevant to BlueCo given their extensive portfolio of players. He needed a new club and interest wasn’t forthcoming, so Chelsea sent him to Strasbourg to join Mathis Amougou and Diego Moreira, who have also made the same move in recent seasons. Chilwell made his debut in the 1-0 win over Le Havre. He was hooked at half-time.

 

View image in fullscreen Ben Chilwell had a forgettable Strasbourg debut. Photograph: Icon Sport/Getty Images

 

Strasbourg fans are unimpressed by BlueCo’s opaque dealings and asset juggling. Ishé Samuels-Smith joined Strasbourg from Chelsea on a permanent deal this summer before returning to Stamford Bridge and then being sent out on loan to Swansea City – all within the same window. “They’re taking us for fools,” read a banner unfurled by the Strasbourg fans in response to the saga.

A more disparaging banner was reserved for Emanuel Emegha, who will move to Chelsea next summer. The power dynamics within the BlueCo “family” mean that Chelsea get the pick of the crop. Emegha scored 14 league goals last season and was handed the captain’s armband over the summer, but he is now preparing to move to Stamford Bridge.

The announcement of the deal was not well received in Alsace. “Emegha, pawn of BlueCo, after changing shirts, hand back your captain’s armband,” read a banner. Rosenior said that Emegha was “devastated” by the banner. “I don’t know why they want him to leave straight away,” added Moreira. “OK, he has signed for Chelsea, but he is still here.”

Emegha’s insistence that he is “100% focused on Strasbourg until the end of the season” has not appeased fans. However, that he remains in France at all this season is a testament to Strasbourg’s newfound exceptionalism. While the financial realities of French football force others to sell, Strasbourg are able to retain their assets and resist even the advances of “top European clubs that play in the Champions League” – as revealed by Emegha himself.

 

View image in fullscreen Strasbourg fans express their fury with Emegha. Photograph: Icon Sport/Getty Images

 

Having brought in 18 players this summer for a combined €110m, making them the top spenders in Ligue 1, above even PSG, Strasbourg are now the envy of French clubs. And yet, despite joining the elite, fans are reminiscent of the times of hardship, of relegation struggles and financial worries. Rosenior pleaded for fans to applaud his players after a hard-fought win against Le Havre; he was met with hostility, boos and jeers. “Please, please,” he shouted, but the Englishman cut the image of a man fighting a hopeless battle.

The win, secured through Joaquín Panichelli’s late penalty, takes them up to fifth in Ligue 1 and level on points with third-placed Monaco. Having finished seventh last season, their performances so far this campaign suggest they will be in the race for a Champions League place. It would be quite the achievement but, for many Strasbourg fans, it still won’t be enough.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/sep/15/emanuel-emegha-Chelsea-fresh-fury-strasbourg-ligue-1

[Fernando 6,601]

This whole Strasbourg not going to end well me thinks. 

Fans in france are very vocal and passionate. Similar to owning a club in Germany, not going to fare well. 

I wonder if it would have worked better in Portugal? Or some other league like in Belgium? 

Edited 9 minutes ago by Fernando