My hunch was - we don't sign players from Spurs. They're beneath us. After some research, it's true! Below are all the arrivals from Spurs, ever. 2003/04 - Neil Sullivan arrived from Spurs on a free. 1985/86 - Micky Hazard arrived. 1982/93 - Mark Falco arrived. 1979/80 - Colin Lee arrived. 1959/60 - Johnny Brooks arrived. 1909/10 - Vivian Woodward arrived.
Getting ready to watch this Havertz kid. This is all Chelsea is waiting for to make their move, right? Hoping so. Bid or get off the pot.
Inter Milan are in talks to sign Emerson. https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...lks-with-chelsea-over-buying-emerson-palmieri
FIVE YEARS FOR KAI Kai Havertz has been offered a five-year contract by Chelsea worth £7.2million a year, according to reports. The German, 21, has his agent in talks with the West London club, following Timo Werner's agreed transfer. And Marina Granovskaia is reportedly offering a deal worth £140,000 per week. Havertz played in the German Cup final on Saturday and scored a last-second penalty, but Leverkusen were made to pay for missing some crucial chances. Journalist Nicolo Schira tweeted: “chelsea want Kai havertz and are in talks with his agent. “blues are ready to offer 5-year contract (€8M/year) and in the next few days will open talks with bayerleverkusen.”
That would be massive. Let’s lock Kai in. Get our LB. Get a CB and run this. One more year for Kepa but starting to lean to replacing him too. It’s just hard to blame him for our shambolic defense and we can only spend so much at one time.
Yes, Kepa, needs something, probably a goalkeeping coach better than Hilario? We might need a defensive coach too? Thinking outside the box for a LB why don't we try to poach the Kieran Tierney lad from Arsenal? I am just not loving the very expensive Ben Chillweel scenario. CB. I am hoping that Tomori becomes the best CB at the club. Love the attitude of Fikayo. But I would also like to see us sign an experienced CB. Maybe we could tempt a player like Milan Skriniar from Inter Milan? Although Skriniar does not have the pace of a Kalidou Koulibaly. K2 might just return to form at Chelsea, but the issue would then be the excessive purchase price and Napoli are nuts to do business with.
Tierney joined Arsenal less than a year ago for around 25m and is just finding his way in the club. If/when the club get a new CB, it will be Tomori who is sent on loan. His stats in the air are very poor and he has had several lapses in judgment both in training and in games that Lampard has needed to address. But he has plenty of time to become Chelsea's best CB, because honestly, it's wide open at the moment and the ceiling isn't very high. Skriniar is one of the best CBs in Europe and a key cog to Conte's system at Inter. I can't see him leaving.
Kai is happening. It’s like Werner all over again. All the talk is about us. It’s just a matter of time.
Agreed. Arsenal won’t sell their new LB. He’s there for the future. Tomori needs week in week out games. He won’t get that with us. A loan would be best. Same with Ampadu. I doubt they sell him but they could be tempted. There’s talk United and City will offer big money. Inter may take it to balance the books then reinvest it. They’ve spent big and Conte wants to spend more. Something has to give. Tho I still doubt he goes.
Talk that Benrahma's friend said on twitter he is coming to Chelsea https://www.football.london/chelsea-fc/transfer-news/said-benrahma-to-chelsea-transfer-18562865
This isn't exactly correct. It was always there under SAF even until the end. Tom Cleverly was a regular at the end along with all kinds of younger player he brought in (Jones, Smalling, Evan's, etc). LVG promoted Lingaard and Rashford plus a bunch of other short term players like Borthwick-Jackson (I think that was his name). They're the one side out of the big 6 that has historically done a good job of having that path. Pogba left because SAF didn't really like his attitude and had essentially frozen him out from getting extended first team football. Ultimately, every team, even those with a strong pathway will lose kids. Lyonnais have a very strong academy and pathway and lose players every year. We've lost 3 kids in two years as well (Panzo to Monaco was a big one). Gomes has been highly thought of, but has never really been involved with the first team. Just my 2 cents.
Yeah, this is interesting. If signed, will he be a better option in the next 2 years over a Willian? Probably not. Pedro? Probably yes.
I think this is the general thought but it's a lazy opinion (not yours, just this general idea). Chelsea was always going to bring in Frank and Frank was always going to bring in Jody and Joe Edwards. Jody and Joe weren't brought in to coach Danny Drinkwater or Bakayoko but rather finally get us to bridge the gap between the academy and the first team. We could have seen a player or two come in no doubt, but this was always going to be a youth heavy year regardless of the ban or not because that's what Roman (ie the club) wanted. We purchased Danny Drinkwater and Barkley because Conte didn't want to play Chalobah or RLC regularly. Right wrong or indifferent (that is his style). In hindsight, of course it's the wrong decision, but at the time that's what Antonio wanted (not the players themselves, but experience). Moral of the story here, this has been a huge net benefit, but it's been overstated by the media and other fanbases. In the last 4 years we've seen Chalobah, AC, RLC, and CHO break into the squad as regulars first team players (not starters). Meaning we were close, but Frank has doubled it or even tripled it with his squad makeup. Sure, maybe Gilmour wouldn't have been a player that saw extended minutes (although, I said at the beginning of the season that I thought they would keep him and use him, even said it on here). We have a great, if not the best academy in the world right now. We have to use it.
Would be pretty amazing. There will have to be some sales, though - for sure. Saw a funny stat on yesterdays game. Jorg touched the ball more times in his 15 minutes than Barkley did in his 65. Lampard loves Barkley. Or, the idea of what Barkley could or could have been. I wish he would let it go. He's a player we could sell for a profit. He's just not very good. Too many touches, too indecisive. An empty uniform. Our midfield is getting extremely crowded. Jorginho Bakayoko Gilmour Kante Barkley Kovacic RLC Drinkwater (!) Van Ginkel Kai (??) Mount (can also play wing) Ziyech (can also play wing)
Kepa needs to be taller and also needs to be a much better communicator. He generally communicates through either Dave or Marco because his English isn't that great (not a judgement, just an observation, you can hear it now). Sadly, I'm fairly convinced it just isn't going to work out for him here. Now, with that said, our back 4 isn't great by a wide margin. Tomori should go on loan, Rudi isn't first choice, Zouma is first choice because he is hands down our best CB by a country mile (laugh at that all you want). Zouma is our only CB who is good in the air and is our best tackler. Christensen is tough. He has tons of value because of his ball playing ability and his pace but he isn't vocal and is prone to mistakes (see goal 2 yesterday). In an ideal world, I'd loan Fik, sell Rudi, and bring in say Rice who is a vocal leader, a good defender, and would be a cultured CB and then keep Ampadu. Or go and get Gabriel as a left footed CB, keep Rudiger and Zouma and AC for 1 more year. Rice is really growing on me as a CB because of his leadership and the fact he played there up until 2 years ago. The likelihood of Rüdiger leaving is nil now that Timo is coming and a strong chance of Kai too. I just don't see much in him that I really like as a long term solution.
Thing with Skrinar are wages. Only way he leaves is for the money. He'd cost a ******** ton of money though.
Barkley is decent, he's been good recently, wasn't great yesterday. He's changed his game under Frank as he did under Sarri. He catches flack because he's Ross. We are short midfield options right now and Frank wants to play with 2 attacking 8's which he and Mount have done pretty well. I think RLC would be his preferred option as he started him from the off once we returned. Mount has been really good as a 8 as well. This is his best spot IMO as he isn't really all that creative that you want out of a traditional 10 and is more valued at that spot for his ability to get into the box. Kova isn't good in the final third, Jorginho isn't good at it either (although I think we can use him next to Kante but not as the base in Frank's two attacking 8's. I guess I'm not going to gripe about Ross right now because the fact of the matter is, we're likely gonna keep him over Jorginho because Jorginho is very limited in our current set up. Also, Ross is a freak of nature when it comes to his fitness. I think Frank loves that about him.
Hope you're right but let's not forget that ALL of the talk about timo was for liverpool, until it wasnt'. I'm encouraged by the rumours and the fact we have timo helps make it seem credible but I'm pausing on thinking this is a done deal. Especially when specifics are coming from the likes of Nicolo Schira, a noted waste of space.
Matt Law has done a couple of stories this week on Kai. He's definitely leaving Leverkusen. It's down to Madrid or Chels.
No contest then Really hope this happens. Also really hope we put as much effort on the defensive side of things and that effort goes a long way past chilwell.