Chelsea Transfers

[Reddish-Blue 2,676]

56 minutes ago, Strike said:

Not having a fit CB to choose + stuck with a GK who is prone to errors - means that a manager's preparation can be undone in a matter of moments. And that's why it is largely on the board. 

 

I think the bigger problem is, we have a GK who wouldn't start for any other top 6-8 PL team. 

And we have five CB's on the books but none of them get into the top 6 PL sides.   Between Tosin, Chalobah, Fofana, Badi and Disasi....I don't see any of them at Arsenal/Livo/City, even Spurs have better CB's.  

[Reddish-Blue 2,676]

36 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

For CWC expectations were QF at best and we won it. So far, realistically speaking Maresca is overachieving.

The CWC win has bought Maresca time but he panicked against a pretty poor United side (taking off two attackers in the first 20 mins knowing that Palmer was carrying an injury).  

Then against Brighton, whats with the fascination of Gusto playing as a winger, he's not a good defender and he doesn't offer a goal threat in attack.  

[Thor 2,819]

53 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

To blame for what?

Last season after finishing 12th and 6th everyone agreed CL qualification would be amazing and he delivered. Winning a trophy was the other goal also accomplished. For CWC expectations were QF at best and we won it. So far, realistically speaking Maresca is overachieving. This season didn't start good but to early to judge. In fact, 3 of the 4 PL losses we have since February came after early red cards by stupid individual mistakes. Pretty sure we wouldn't lose any of those games without that. I'm not speaking from my pov because I always want to fight for title but from club's. Now we hear CL qualification is also a goal for this season. No drama at all from their pov. If they sack Maresca it will be because players may complain about him or him not cooperating for example not playing expensive new wingers not because of the results. 

My issue is - for the most part outside of a select few games our play has been stagnant and pretty poor. 

We looked exciting and moved the ball well when Maresca first came in. Was that Poch's work still hanging around and then wore off? 

The only time we've looked good under Maresca is a select few games post the first half of last season. 

 

Despite what others think on here - being slightly weak on LW, and GK and CB issues aren't reasons to be sitting in 8th despite our quality elsewhere on the ground. Trev, Fofana, Tosin and Ach are good enough for a mid table team elsewhere. So why are we in 8th and playing ass football all season despite an abudance of talent elsewhere? 

Its on the manager.

[Blue Armour 4,721]

5 hours ago, Thor said:

How do you lot keep blaming anyone but Maresca? 

Cole Palmer, JP, Neto and Estevao - with Garnacho and Gittens filling in is one of the best attacking lots in the EPL. 

Our midfield is Caicedo, Enzo, Santos, etc. Literally the best box to box in the world, a world cup winner and the best MFer in France last year. 

We have arguably the best LB and best RB in the world - top 3 both of them. 

Our only weak positions are CB and GK. Trev is servicable at the very least and should be able to fill in against Brighton and Man United. 

 

So we're blaming recruitment instead of a coach who can't win against Man U and Brighton because of two bad positions on the field? 

Maresca isn't blameless.

But we were all questioning some of the moves (and lack of moves in some areas) made during the summer window.

The base of the team starts at CB and GK, and they've neglected that part of the team since the beginning, only adding barely passable members to the squad over the years. Tosin, Badiashile, and co are only squad level players at best.

You've also admitted before that we're weak in the CB department.

Instead they go and spend excess amounts of money on project players like Gittens and Garnacho. They pretended to go after a GK like Maignan, just to generate buzz, when their intent all along was just to stick with Sanchez.

And now there's talk in the press claiming that their intent was only ever to be also-rans in big competitions. Not intention to truly challenge.

[Loyalblue 5]

On 12/09/2025 at 21:59, NikkiCFC said:

 

Don't tell me another shaggy black hair youngster

[Fulham Broadway 17,750]

3 hours ago, Blue Armour said:

Maresca isn't blameless.

But we were all questioning some of the moves (and lack of moves in some areas) made during the summer window.

The base of the team starts at CB and GK, and they've neglected that part of the team since the beginning, only adding barely passable members to the squad over the years. Tosin, Badiashile, and co are only squad level players at best.

You've also admitted before that we're weak in the CB department.

Instead they go and spend excess amounts of money on project players like Gittens and Garnacho. They pretended to go after a GK like Maignan, just to generate buzz, when their intent all along was just to stick with Sanchez.

And now there's talk in the press claiming that their intent was only ever to be also-rans in big competitions. Not intention to truly challenge.

You also have to throw in the mix that whoever is managing, and whatever they do, there will always be people especially on the internet that know better.

Even with peak Mourinho when we were winning everything available, I remember people on here re substitutions they didnt agree with, piping up with 'Useless, get rid of him' 

[Fernando 6,726]

13 hours ago, TheHulk said:

What are you on, they made woeful buys but delivered results and knew what they were doing on the pitch this clown sucks and also makes woeful signings as well, buying your own player from a former club you managed in which you knew everything about him and what he would bring and 2 months later was nothing more than a bench player. Kept Disasi and shoved Chalobah later changing his mind.

 

We have delivered results as well, top 4 and two titles so I don't know what you'd talking about. 

And keeping Disasi is exactly why I don't want a new manager. A new manager comes in and wants to give a try to everyone he has. 

Now he knows better. 

 

[mkh 760]

Simon Phillips sources have been hearing since last season that Maresca is not entirely happy at Chelsea right now, and the summer transfer window just made that even worse.

Maresca is not content with the squad he’s got and was far from behind a lot of the recruitment we did this summer and feels his squad still lacks a lot of key elements in some positions. SPTC sources have heard that there is definite tension between Maresca and the board.

We’ve also heard of some tensions between Maresca and Bernardo Cueva, the Technical Analyst at Chelsea. But we aren’t sure at the moment exactly why or how bad.

But we know the Chelsea owners and SD’s respect Cueva and have no plans to move him on.

And since last season, as I also reported at the time, there are some players within the group who are also not overly warm with Maresca for different reasons.

I’ve reported on Cole Palmer before not really being behind Maresca’s ways of wanting the team to play, and Reece James can also be placed in that same category.

There are a few other players as well who are just not overly vibing with the head coach.

Of course, you will not hear that in public and in players comments on Maresca, this is not something that will be public knowledge, obviously. But there are certainly some issues in this sense and has been for a while.

Sources close to Palmer are also annoyed that he has now got a further injury to his groin after playing games last week when he should not have been playing.

Palmer is Palmer and obviously he just wants to play, but there is blame pointing towards Maresca for picking him in the Bayern and Manchester United game, with him getting a further groin tear in the United game and now not returning before the next international break, at the VERY earliest by the way.

I wont be surprised if he’s still out for a game or two after the break as well.

Palmer is also annoyed because he wants to make sure he can play in the World Cup at the end of the season.

This again has not become public knowledge but I consider it factual due to how good my Palmer source is.

They clearly don’t want to make it seem like a negligent decision to keep playing Palmer, which it absolutely was.

The only thing I can imagine is Maresca leaving the club.

I've been saying that since last season because, as I said, he's not happy here and there are a few things that bother him. Plus, a lot of clubs are interested in him. 

(@Simon Phillips)

[Vesper 31,110]

Is Chelsea’s focus on youth and squad churn harming their ability to compete?

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6661949/2025/09/29/Chelsea-squad-age-churn-recruitment-analysis/

It has been more than 30 years since the legendary Liverpool centre-back turned pundit Alan Hansen uttered six words that continue to resonate with football fans today. 

And though the Scotsman’s claim — “you can’t win anything with kids” — has been repeatedly challenged in the seasons since, the idea that competitive sides require a healthy balance of youth and proven experience continues to hold weight when it comes to building Premier League squads.

Chelsea have not stuck to that line of thinking since the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital consortium took over the club in 2022. There has been more than £1.5billion ($2bn) of investment into the squad in transfer fees alone, with 36 of the 48 permanent signings made aged 23 or below since the deal was struck.

It means the potential at Enzo Maresca’s disposal is frightening, but there have already been games this season in which his side have looked a little overawed and undercooked for the gruelling schedule to come.

“In terms of experience between them and us, I think there was a huge difference,” admitted the Italian after the recent 3-1 defeat to Bayern Munich, in which his opponents boasted more than seven times the Champions League appearances of the 23 players in his squad.

Even after an uncomfortable Carabao Cup win against third-tier Lincoln City, Maresca pointed out some of his players have not yet been exposed to the physicality and intensity of English football.

“Jamie Gittens had never played against a League One side. Jorrel Hato had never played this kind of game before,” said the manager, cooped up in the cosy press room at the Sincil Bank stadium. “We need this experience. We need it.”

On Saturday, they lost 3-1 against Brighton & Hove Albion — giving them two wins, two draws and two defeats from their opening six Premier League games.

There are tactical issues for Maresca to iron out and key injuries to account for too. But there is also a distinct feeling that, despite enormous outlay in the transfer market, the constant churn of players for the future is making it difficult to lay lasting foundations for the season.

---

Chelsea’s squad has been drastically reshaped over the past three campaigns, with the aim of bringing in exciting, technically gifted players at an early age and giving them time to develop — sometimes on loan, other times with the first team —  while contracted to the club.

That strategy is clear when tracking the average age of Chelsea’s starting XI since the turn of the century, where we can see a noticeable dip in recent years.

Chelsea’s team has been the youngest in the Premier League in each of the past three seasons, while only six of the 20 current Premier League squads, including the three promoted sides, have made fewer cumulative appearances in the competition.

That does not have to be a bad thing. Chelsea’s title-winning squad in 2004-05 was the youngest to win the Premier League in the competition’s history, while their 2024-25 side was the youngest to finish in the top five (they finished fourth). If the talent is there, and it is managed well, then there is little concrete evidence to suggest younger teams are at an inherent disadvantage over their more seasoned rivals.

But circumstances have changed over the summer for Chelsea, now competing in the Champions League rather than the Europa Conference League, who face much sterner examinations of their squad depth during midweek games. A persistent groin injury has kept the talismanic Cole Palmer out of action, while Liam Delap, Levi Colwill, Dario Essugo and Tosin Adarabioyo are also on the treatment table. This means too much responsibility has been placed on young and inexperienced shoulders in these early weeks of the season to realistically expect consistent results.

Maresca was criticised for his team selection in the 2-2 draw at Brentford, when he included the 19-year-old Hato from the start, alongside debutant Facundo Buonanotte, 20, and the out-of-form 21-year-old Gittens.

With just 22 minutes of competitive action under his belt for his new club before his maiden start, it was evident Hato was still getting to grips with his new, very specific role in this Chelsea side. The €40m-plus summer signing from Ajax was tasked with drifting into midfield and disrupting the opposition’s shape when his team-mates had the ball.

He struggled to impact the game like Marc Cucurella often does from that position, but it is difficult to blame him for playing it safe on his very first Premier League start. The Netherlands international often looked hesitant to drift too far from his prescribed position in Maresca’s highly structured system.

 

Jorrel Hato, 19, struggled in the 2-2 draw with Brentford (Harry Murphy/Getty Images)

Things will undoubtedly click into place, but patience is required, and that is something that has not always been afforded to Chelsea’s project players since the new owners took over.

It is not only that they are attempting to “win with kids” — which can be done in the right conditions. Chelsea are trying to win with a different set of young players every year. More stability in the market would allow them to develop more reliable depth across the squad.

---

The Athletic recently looked into the impact of overhauling playing squads on performance and found that generally, the best-performing teams maintain a stronger spine of players from the previous season.

The graphic below illustrates the average “squad churn” of each team to finish in each position over the past 30 seasons. It is a metric that calculates how the share of playing minutes shifts from one season to the next, where a churn percentage of zero would mean that every player from last season played the exact same proportion of minutes. A score of 100 per cent would indicate a completely rebuilt side.

Unsurprisingly, newly promoted sides tend to experience the most turnover as they look to bridge the gap in quality between the Championship and the Premier League, but there is an interesting trend towards tighter-knit squads as the position in the table gets stronger.

Chelsea made nine permanent signings in the summer, with four teenagers joining the squad, while 16 players left the club for good. Of those who departed, 10 had joined Chelsea within the last two years.

The speed at which Chelsea are happy to replace players who have not quite clicked means that, aside from a small core, they have a constantly revolving selection of inexperienced players who have not been afforded the time to settle in.

Looking at Chelsea’s own squad churn over a similar time period, we can see they have undergone continuous upheaval across the past three years, way above the current rates that, historically, correspond to high Premier League positions.

The sheer extremity of Chelsea’s approach means that they are likely to defy precedent. No team have invested so heavily, and so frequently, in so many high-potential players across such a short period of time — wherever they finish at the end of the season, they will likely be the youngest Premier League team to do so.

There is no doubt the transfer strategy has yielded some players — from Palmer to Moises Caicedo, Colwill to Enzo Fernandez — who will drive the progress of the club for years to come. In Joao Pedro, Estevao, Kendry Paez, and Hato, they may have identified some more.

But it is also clear the current group of players lack some of the intangibles — genuine leadership, dependable consistency, and good old-fashioned knowhow — that only come from experience at the level required.

It feels like it is time to supplement the squad with proven talent, or at least give the newest recruits sufficient time before ripping up the plan and starting again next summer.

[JFKvsNixon 61]

12 hours ago, Reddish-Blue said:

I think the bigger problem is, we have a GK who wouldn't start for any other top 6-8 PL team. 

And we have five CB's on the books but none of them get into the top 6 PL sides.   Between Tosin, Chalobah, Fofana, Badi and Disasi....I don't see any of them at Arsenal/Livo/City, even Spurs have better CB's.  

I hate to keep repeating myself, but we had the third best defensive record in the Premier League last year, only a few goals behind Liverpool. How did we achieve this if our defenders, goalkeeper and manager are all shite?

This is genuine question.

[JFKvsNixon 61]

13 hours ago, Strike said:

The set-up was fine vs Brighton but an individual error after halftime meant we were down to 10 men. Similar brainfade vs United. 

Not having a fit CB to choose + stuck with a GK who is prone to errors - means that a manager's preparation can be undone in a matter of moments. And that's why it is largely on the board. 

 

I agree, we were dominating the game with almost 70% possession. 

I think when we go down to ten men, the issue could be that ordinarily the team is set up to create overloads, but that is almost impossible with 10 men, so the cohesion falls apart.

[prime adriano 27]

On 28/09/2025 at 15:12, Mário César said:

maresca is not shit but I think he is not good enough for us

but at least, one thing he is right. he demand a new center back and the board let him down 

Maresca is not our main problem. The real problem is the board, owners and the sport directs 

Fair assessment. If there ever was a paradigm shift from the hierarchy towards prioritising winning the league,  that would inevitably lead to maresca getting sacked anyway,

[TheHulk 2,647]

16 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

Maresca has nothing to do with any transfers. Should be so clear by now. Especially after Gittens and Garnacho buys while he plays George ahead of them. And after Colwill injury he said he needed a new CB. 

By recent reports Maresca complains about the board and players complain about Enzo. This could end only one way...

 

I'm not sure I fully believe this, yes he doesn't get many of the decisions but has some input, we got KDH 100% because of him. I read reports this summer that he was the one prioritizing Garnacho over Simons and that he is a big fan of Garnacho so I don't think he is as innocent as some make it sound either.

Garnacho not playing is probably more down to his fitness, as for Gittens it's obvious he doesn't rate him.

Edited September 29, 2025 by TheHulk

[TheHulk 2,647]

6 hours ago, Fernando said:

We have delivered results as well, top 4 and two titles so I don't know what you'd talking about. 

And keeping Disasi is exactly why I don't want a new manager. A new manager comes in and wants to give a try to everyone he has. 

Now he knows better. 

 

Context is needed here. Can we stop already using Conference league like it's some sort of achievement, would've been beyond embarrassing if he didn't win it. He scrapped past Top 4 in the last game of the season. As for CWC great win against PSG but an absolutely comical road to the final if we got the draw PSG got we wouldn't even be in the final as Bayern showed.

Edited September 29, 2025 by TheHulk

[prime adriano 27]

21 minutes ago, TheHulk said:

Context is needed here. Can we stop already using Conference league like it's some sort of achievement, would've been beyond embarrassing if he didn't win it. He scrapped past Top 4 in the last game of the season. As for CWC great win against PSG but an absolutely comical road to the final if we got the draw PSG got we wouldn't even be in the final as Bayern showed.

Even poch would have won the conference (would have been fitting in same season spurs and Kane won something)

It looks nice in the cabinet but is a joke trophy 

[Laylabelle 9,727]

3 hours ago, JFKvsNixon said:

I hate to keep repeating myself, but we had the third best defensive record in the Premier League last year, only a few goals behind Liverpool. How did we achieve this if our defenders, goalkeeper and manager are all shite?

This is genuine question.

But we also lost 9 drew 9...we only did the double over a handful of teams and our results against top sides wasnt amazing. Sanchez is not great and everyone can see it.. been said time and time again by fans and pundits etc.

[JFKvsNixon 61]

45 minutes ago, Laylabelle said:

But we also lost 9 drew 9...we only did the double over a handful of teams and our results against top sides wasnt amazing. Sanchez is not great and everyone can see it.. been said time and time again by fans and pundits etc.

The main cause of those losses and draws would have been the team's inability to score more goals, we scored less than Brighton and Brentford and even scored the same as Spurs.

We only conceded 2 more than Liverpool.

[Reddish-Blue 2,676]

7 hours ago, JFKvsNixon said:

I hate to keep repeating myself, but we had the third best defensive record in the Premier League last year, only a few goals behind Liverpool. How did we achieve this if our defenders, goalkeeper and manager are all shite?

This is genuine question.

We had Colwill available last season and we saw how pissed Maresca was after Colwill got that training ground injury, he kept saying that the CB role Colwill was playing was crucial for his system. 

Sometimes that is all it takes, one bad injury and the whole defensive line starts to collapse.  

Also, this season, Sanchez got sent off against United in the first few minutes.  As an experienced keeper, he really should know better than leaving his team down to 10 men. 

[Thor 2,819]

7 hours ago, Reddish-Blue said:

We had Colwill available last season and we saw how pissed Maresca was after Colwill got that training ground injury, he kept saying that the CB role Colwill was playing was crucial for his system. 

Sometimes that is all it takes, one bad injury and the whole defensive line starts to collapse.  

Also, this season, Sanchez got sent off against United in the first few minutes.  As an experienced keeper, he really should know better than leaving his team down to 10 men. 

Sounds like a manager issue to be honest. 
 

Now we’re reliant on one player or the system breaks down? Maybe use your other defenders and have someone who can step into the role even at a reduced capacity. 
 

Yes our CBs and GK are weak but you shouldn’t be losing these winnable games over teams we have a massive talent advantage over. 

[Fernando 6,726]

19 hours ago, TheHulk said:

Context is needed here. Can we stop already using Conference league like it's some sort of achievement, would've been beyond embarrassing if he didn't win it. He scrapped past Top 4 in the last game of the season. As for CWC great win against PSG but an absolutely comical road to the final if we got the draw PSG got we wouldn't even be in the final as Bayern showed.

But if you go by that then we should also apply that same criteria to our previous trophy.... 

In the end you play against who you play. 

It's not our fault that we played benfica in which they had already eliminated someone else. Or as well that city got eliminated by a Arabian team in which turn lost to the Brazilians. 

That is who we got to play because the suppose stronger lost to the one we beat.