Chelsea Transfers

[Pizy 18,985]

Surely announced first thing Monday morning then.

[Tomo 21,751]

Mendy thread? 

[Vesper 30,272]

[Vesper 30,272]

[Unionjack 7,531]

21 minutes ago, Vesper said:

Gets good air eh

[bigbluewillie 1,930]

Chelsea have reached an agreement with French club Rennes over a £22m deal for Senegal keeper Edouard Mendy, 28. (Observer)

 

Chelsea agree £22m deal to sign Rennes goalkeeper Édouard Mendy

Jacob Steinberg

 @JacobSteinberg

Sat 19 Sep 2020 13.30 BSTLast modified on Sat 19 Sep 2020 15.37 BST

 

 Édouard Mendy makes a save during Rennes’ game at Celtic in the Europa League last November. Photograph: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images

Chelsea are set to sign a goalkeeper to put pressure on Kepa Arrizabalaga after reaching an agreement with Rennes over a £22m deal for Édouard Mendy.

Frank Lampard needs more competition for Arrizabalaga after losing faith in the £71.6m goalkeeper. Arrizabalaga lost his place last season and was criticised after conceding a soft goal during Chelsea’s 3-1 win at Brighton on Monday.

Read more Chelsea have been unable to find a club capable of buying Arrizabalaga during this transfer window and, although they admire Atlético Madrid’s Jan Oblak, they have had to lower their sights to more affordable options. They have tracked Mendy for a while and the 28-year-old comes with a recommendation from Petr Cech. The former Chelsea goalkeeper became the club’s technical and performance adviser after retiring last summer and is influential in their recruitment process.

Chelsea, who have already spent more than £200m this summer, have maintained their interest in Mendy since having a £14.2m bid turned down by Rennes last month. Negotiations have intensified this week and it is understood an agreement was reached after Chelsea were told to raise their offer of £18.2m plus add-ons for Mendy, who has agreed terms on a five-year deal.

Reports in France have claimed Rennes tried to convince Chelsea to give them the France striker Olivier Giroud as part of the deal. Rennes have previously asked Chelsea about signing Fikayo Tomori on loan. The defender is also a target for Everton.

Mendy excelled after joining Rennes from Reims last summer, helping them qualify for the Champions League. The Senegal international will compete with Arrizabalaga for a starting place, though Lampard also has the experienced Willy Caballero.

Chelsea have signed Thiago Silva and Malang Sarr on free transfers and paid big fees to land Ben Chilwell, Kai Havertz, Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech. The owner, Roman Abramovich, has backed Lampard and Chelsea, who turned down an approach for N’Golo Kanté this week, could still try to sign a defensive midfielder. They are interested in Declan Rice, although West Ham are desperate to hold on to the England international.

 

 

[Muzchap 8,966]

20 hours ago, Unionjack said:

Whats he like at getting down to the ground?

I should imagine he will have a taxi at first and then work out the route. It's not complicated 👍

[Unionjack 7,531]

1 hour ago, Muzchap said:

I should imagine he will have a taxi at first and then work out the route. It's not complicated 👍

hahaha 

 

[ahmedou 198]

 

[milka 3,395]

Rudiger to psg  ? 

[MoroccanBlue 5,385]

When’s Mendy arriving? 

[Vesper 30,272]

parking this here from the dipper chat

 

we so need a DMF, a real one

I do not think Rice is up to it, and he is looked at as a CB anyway by Lampard

Partey is still sitting out there

work a swap

Kante for Partey and Felipe (who would be awesome for a couple years to partner with Thiago and Zouma until we get a long term fix, he is big 1.91m, still has pace and is ultra experienced)

that would cock block all the other teams going for Giminez too

Simeone would rejuvenate Kante's career

Loan them Sarr if need be to get it over the line

Simeone will be superb for his development

[ZAPHOD2319 4,823]

Head to head comparison of Mendy to Kepa.

 

https://www.90min.com/posts/how-edouard-mendy-statistics-compare-to-chelsea-kepa-arrizabalaga

[Jase 43,479]

Chelsea want a holding midfielder – Lampard does not count Kante as one

https://theathletic.com/2079386/2020/09/21/chelsea-frank-lampard-ngolo-kante-declan-rice/

With two weeks of the transfer window remaining, Chelsea now have a big decision to make. Do they carry on their spending spree and, if so, where?

Chelsea fans will be counting down the minutes until Edouard Mendy walks in the building after another day to forget in goal for Kepa Arrizabalaga. The Mendy signing will take the summer bill to well over £200 million.

Negotiations with Rennes have taken longer than anyone at the club wanted or expected. But it should finally be made official early this week and, judging by the opening two Premier League games, Mendy won’t have long to wait to make his debut once he becomes a Chelsea player.

Anyone who watched their first defeat of the season, 2-0 at home to Liverpool on Sunday, might think a centre-back is still the priority for Frank Lampard. The Chelsea head coach significantly left Antonio Rudiger out of the match-day squad, and it wasn’t because of an injury.

Despite an encouraging 44 minutes, Andreas Christensen was sent off for a professional foul on Saido Mane just before half-time — a crucial mistake that changed the game and will give the Dane’s critics more ammunition as they question his ability at the very highest level.

Substitute Fikayo Tomori saw his first match action since February as a result, but like Rudiger, there are question marks over his future at Stamford Bridge. Granted, Thiago Silva is among those who have been added to the ranks and once fit, will undoubtedly feature regularly, although the Brazilian turns 36 tomorrow so is hardly at his peak.

People will still wonder whether Chelsea have enough quality at the back.

Despite all this, The Athletic has been assured it’s defensive midfield that Lampard sees as the missing piece of the jigsaw, should owner Roman Abramovich’s chequebook be opened one more time.

As has been well documented, the player Lampard craves above all others is Declan Rice, although initially the West Ham United man was being lined up as someone to join and strengthen that back four. That is still an option, but should Chelsea somehow persuade their London rivals to sell, he can play in his regular position in front of the defence too.

But why is this deemed necessary? Now that N’Golo Kante is fit, and with Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic in the squad, Chelsea are well covered there. Much depends on the choice of formation of course, on whether two are sitting in a 4-2-3-1 or just one in a 4-3-3, but it suggests Kante is no longer being considered for the “Claude Makelele role”.

Against Liverpool, the France international was back to playing to the right of the central midfielder  — Jorginho  — in a 4-3-3. That is a shift from Lampard, who used him for five straight games there between June 21 and July 4 before injury got in the way.

Lampard has made it clear that despite interest from Inter Milan the 29-year-old is going nowhere, so it is not a case of Kante no longer being required. So what is the reasoning? An insider explains: “I believe the thinking is for the balance of the squad. Last season, Chelsea didn’t really have a defensive midfielder with the mindset to hold.

“Kante is not a holding midfielder, he wants to leave areas, he wants to go and win the ball back. I believe Lampard wants a holder to just sit there, to break things up, to be more of a physical presence.”

Chelsea could certainly have done with someone like that against the defending champions. As Liverpool pressed high and suffocated the home side, the lack of such a player was obvious.

Former Napoli man Jorginho, who has been linked with a move back to Serie A for several months, found it difficult to disrupt Liverpool’s attacks (he made two tackles and one interception, won 38 per cent of duels, and lost possession 10 times) and did not play the kind of pass Jordan Henderson made for Mane in the build-up to Christensen’s red card.

Kante was busy, without being spectacular, next to Jorginho. He made four tackles, only Reece James had more in a blue shirt, he was involved in a team-high 16 duels, winning 67 per cent of them, and was joint second among Chelsea for possession gained with six and fifth with 62 touches.

The worry from an attacking point of view is that there were no key passes, shots or blocked shots from Kante. Perhaps it was because for most of the 90 minutes he was trying to get back to help Jorginho out.

Amid all the doom and gloom from a humbling loss, a bright spot is that Kante looks sharp. He started just 20 matches in the Premier League last season due to various injury issues.

“He’s fundamental to what I’m trying to do,” Lampard insisted before the season got underway last week. “We can obviously talk about the attacking players we have but someone like N’Golo and the work he does in midfield (is important).

“It was a difficult year for him last year because of the injuries. He came into the season with an injury and it was a domino effect through the year which he hasn’t had and was probably the culmination of (the grind of) game, game, game for himself, so I’m really excited to have him fit. He looks fresh at the moment, so he’s a big deal to me and I want to keep N’Golo.”

Chelsea have been discussing other options in case a move for Rice fails to bear fruit. West Ham’s £80 million asking price is scaring the west Londoners off, although they can offer his fellow England midfielder Ross Barkley in exchange to try to lower the fee.

West Ham will also be reluctant to sell such an asset so soon after the furore caused by Grady Diangana’s recent departure to West Bromwich Albion. For anything to take place, Rice may have to try to force the issue, a step he may be reluctant to take given his relationship with the West Ham fans.

Chelsea could do with key personnel such as Hakim Ziyech, Christian Pulisic and Ben Chilwell getting fit.

But don’t be surprised if this early setback will have them doing some more significant transfer business before the October 5 deadline.

[Blues Forever 1,232]

4 minutes ago, Jason said:

Chelsea want a holding midfielder – Lampard does not count Kante as one

https://theathletic.com/2079386/2020/09/21/chelsea-frank-lampard-ngolo-kante-declan-rice/

 

 

Still think loaning Ampadu was a mistake, he could probably do the job as a lone DM instead Jorginho.

[Alabama 1,992]

Bin Rice and go for Dennis Zakaria...

[killer1257 3,282]

Bin Rice and go for Dennis Zakaria...

Sadly, Zakaria is not english. If he was, Lampard would go for him

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[R2D2 368]

While I agree it's unfair to deny Lampard his targets after this prolific transfer period bar Chilwell, I really hope he doesn't get it this time, I think anyone on this forum can tell who is the better player between Rice and Zakaria let alone price.

Wouldn't be surprised one bit if Lampard only wants Rice here to make Mount happy and bring his bud close to him, there was a training video a few days ago with Mount and Chilwell as well playing together and being happy which would explain why we went for him, despite the embarrassing price tag and coming injured.

[Alabama 1,992]

14 minutes ago, killer1257 said:

Sadly, Zakaria is not english. If he was, Lampard would go for him

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I hope the club is not stupid enough to go for Rice considering his price tag...Rice is an average defensive midfielde...Dennis is a quality Defensive midfielder and zillion miles better and ahead of Rice...Rice will add the the backlog of average players we all hoping the club will move on...Alonso Barkley Emerson Christesen Rudiger etc are enough average players in the club....dont want the club to add another average dud...wither Dennis or another quality player or nobody...

[killer1257 3,282]

I hope the club is not stupid enough to go for Rice considering his price tag...Rice is an average defensive midfielde...Dennis is a quality Defensive midfielder and zillion miles better and ahead of Rice...Rice will add the the backlog of average players we all hoping the club will move on...Alonso Barkley Emerson Christesen Rudiger etc are enough average players in the club....dont want the club to add another average dud...wither Dennis or another quality player or nobody...

You do not have to tell me that Zakaria is better than Rice. I have been saying this for ages now. Zakaria is not available this summer, but will be next summer. I think ge might even like Chelsea because he liked the Havertz to Chelsea transfer in Instagram.

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