Transfer Talk Topic

[Morgs]

So, now that the season has ended (the players certainly seemed to think so last night) it feels fitting to provide a little rundown of how we put this collossal mess back into order this summer, while I wait for my bleach and rat poison daiquiri to cool down. 

Keepers

Petrovic is decent but has a mistake in him and is still young. A very good back up and could go on to become world class if he can stop getting beaten so easily at his near post. If well-coached he could go on to become a very special goalkeeper indeed and has done enough to stay at Chelsea and fight for the number one spot. Sanchez isnt up to it and will be a very good keeper for a Championship side. Slonina needs a couple more loans. Bettinelli has a contract until 2026 when he will be 34, and is a solid third choice. Any one of about three or four youngsters could take his place at that time - we have a few very good kids in the U21s who could go on to make the step up, but nobody ready just yet, with Teddy Sharman-Lowe considered to be one of the best goalkeeping prospects we've had for many years coming through the Academy. We need a top keeper to replace Sanchez. Kepa coming back doesn't really help us. 

OUT: Kepa, Sanchez, (permanent) Slonina, Beach, Bergstrom, Cumming (on loans.)

IN: +1

Defenders 

Wesley Fofana may or may not come back but Silva and Badiashile definitely wont. Disasi will get another season and we'll make Colwill the Captain next season.  For me, Chalobah has played his way back into the long-term plans alongside Alfie Gilchrist. We'll sign at least one more right footed centre-half. The club have to be thinking about bringing back Bashir Humphries from loan as well, after a series of very promising loans.  We're fine at right back and Cucurella has played his way back into the club's future as well to such an extent that Ben Chilwell doesn't automatically walk back into the side which is quite amazing if you think of where both were at last season. 

OUT: Silva, Badiashile, Sarr, Hall, Maatsen (permanent), Fofana (injury).

IN: Humphries (loan) and one more right footed centre-half. +1

Midfielders 

Santos is doing great on loan and looks likely to get another year in Strasbourg. Casadei has come in and done well when (rarely) called upon and it will be interesting to see if he gets a loan next season or not. Gallagher looks set for an exit none of us want to see and I have a funny feeling Enzo might be on his bike too if we get a good offer for him. Ugochukwu hasn't done much wrong and will stay with the squad, Chukwuemeka the same but hopefully with more starting games once Gallagher goes. Lavia may or may not exist but we would be churlish to factor him into our plans right now. Greening will get a loan as well. If Enzo goes we will replace him but if not then we wont sign anyone. 

OUT: Gallagher, Vale, Enzo (permanent), Greening, Rankine, Webster (loan)

IN: +1 only if Enzo leaves. 

Attack

All change up top. Cole Palmer is the one we must retain as next season will likely be his last at the Bridge if we don't get into Europe. Mudryk will go on loan never to be seen again, Madueke looks likely to be sold or loaned until he figures out how to be a team player, and it seems unlikely Sterling will be here next season either. Lukaku will finally be sold as discussions over an improbable third stint at Chelsea seem utterly ridiculous given how well he's done in Italy. Washington, Matos, Moreira, Richards, Gabriel and Tyrique George will all go on loan. Jackson will not play up top next season and looks likely to move out to the left wing once we sign a top striker. Nkunku will be other striking option if surgeons can reattach his legs. 

OUT: Lukaku, Broja, Madueke, Sterling (permanent), Washington, Matos, Moreira, Richards, Gabriel, George (loan)

IN: +3 (one left footed winger, one right footed winger, one top clutch striker who can hold the ball up)

 

This leaves us with six players coming in and seven if Enzo goes.  Circa £225m coming in from sales even if Enzo doesnt go, close to £300m if he does, which help FFP and provide a useful warchest to spend on the incomings. 

The issue we have is timing. If, as most of us agree, Poch isn't the man to take us forward and is given the old tin tack at the end of the season, it will take time to bring a replacement in and that man whoever he is will want to pick who he wants to bring in, and who he wants the club to give a second chance to. That means another summer of late, late, leaving it late and of our new signings not having a proper pre-season to bed in. 

This is why I feel that Poch isnt going to be sacked and that he'll be given this summer to make the adjustments necessary. I maintain that he's been exceptionally unlucky with injuries and with consistent defensive errors costing us games, strikers misfiring etc and that at its heart there is a good side there but one that needs a lot of pruning and management. 

Another major issue we have is a dearth of good players in the positions we need them - chiefly top goalkeepers who are able to command their box, good at moving the ball out at pace and who are good shot-stopper, and who are available. The cupboard is very bare. The situation up top is even worse, highlighted by the quandary the club seem to be in now of choosing between Lukaku who hates the club and is proven to struggle in England, and Osimhen who is ludicrously over-priced and despite being very highly rated, is always likely to struggle in England too. There isn't anyone else! Gyokeres is not a target man (neither is Osimhen to be fair), Thuram isn't available and Sesko is bang average. Evan Ferguson from Brighton a nine figure catastrophe waiting to happen as well and Ivan Toney wants Arsenal. Who else is there? Nobody. 

What is clear is the side lacks leadership and testicular fortitude and the new Keeper, new centrehalf and new striker will all need to bring this in spades. Also lacking sorely this season has been character. Chelsea sides of old used to go behind and you'd back them to get back into the game but this side gives no such assurances and going behind has more often than not this season, and last, meant losing. We are too easy to beat, too easy to put under pressure and too fragile mentally when thing start going wrong. Whoever we sign will need to be a calm, experienced head who is able to dig in in adversity, and force those around him to dig in as well.  

IF these changes can be made, at the same time as we move back within FFP rules, then things will improve. 

The problem is that the club has a nasty habit of buying the wrong players that do not help but exacerbate, for fees that create issues and negative press. 

I have basically no trust in the club to sign the players we need to get ourselves out of this mess, but i do think moving on the dead wood will be a bit easier. Replacing good players with experienced world class talent is hard when you are languishing in ninth with the club rent by internal bickering, have zero chance of European football and  even less of winning anything, and with a manager who is under massive pressure and may well be offed at any time. The type of players we need to sign don't sign up for that, and the ones that do are not the ones we need. 

If they can sell the idea to a world class new keeper, a world class centrehalf, two world class wingers and a world class centre forward, that we are building the team around them then we'll see. I can imagine players look at our squad and do want to play with the likes of Caicedo, James, Gusto, Palmer and Colwill for example. 

It isnt just us and the players we are keeping who need to swallow the project, but it is the new signings as well. 

Edited April 24 by Morgs

[Morgs]

GK - NEW KEEPER , Petrovic, Bettinelli

LB - Cucurella, Chillwell

RB - James, Gusto

CB - NEW SIGNING, Colwill, Disasi, Chalobah, Humphries, Gilchrist

DM - Lavia, Caicedo, Ugochukwu

M - NEW SIGNING, Casadei, 

AM - Chukwuemeka 

LW - Jackson, NEW SIGNING

RW - Palmer, NEW SIGNING

FW - NEW SIGNING, Nkunku 

[Morgs]

....and no. 

I don't see it happening either. 

All I see is yet more circus act tw*ttery and vast sums being wasted on dross we don't need whilst we somehow fail to address the things we do need. 

I expect Poch to become the least popular manager we have ever had and for us to get larruped from pitch to post every game until the end of the season as the players have downed tools.  There was a new level of toxicity on X last night and I expect this will spill over in earnest to the match-going crowd soon enough. I suspect the dressing room is already riddled with it. 

Ive seen worse Chelsea sides in 38 years of following Chelsea over land and sea, but never been so negative and despondent about Chelsea in that time. Its like watching someone you love slip into dementia. It hurts so much but I don't recognise her any more and she doesn't know who I am any more.  

She is a different person to the one I fell in love with and have stuck by in sickness, health, thick, thin and enjoyed the best times of my life with. 

Every blank look she gives me hurts me more, when I talk to her about the times we used to enjoy. I try not to think about it but cannot help the plunging feeling that when the end comes, it will in some ways be a release, an agonising relief. 

 

[xceleryx]

@Morgs. 

Wouldn't we want another LCB and not a RCB if we're to sell Badiashile (which I don't think we will)? With the options you've listed LCB is where the gap is, as it leaves just Colwill as the natural option. Not sure Gilchrist is ready to be a truly dependable CB option at this level, and Humphries should be getting a loan once again where he can continue to play regularly away from here. 

Either way, will be interesting to see how the summer window is approached with who leaves and arrives. 

[Bones]

Oh dear

[Mark Kelly]

29 minutes ago, Bones said:

Oh dear

Mind you , they've all done better for Chelsea than Lukaku even if it is a chamber of horrors

[My Blood Is Blue]

29 minutes ago, Bones said:

Oh dear

We do have a habit of getting it very wrong, don't we? But we aren't the only ones.

Manchester United most expensive signings:

1st Pogba - £89m
2nd Antony - £82m
3rd Maguire - £80m
4th Lukaku - £75m
5th Sancho - £73m
6th Casemiro - £60m
7th Di Maria - £59.7
8th Fred - £47m
9th Bruno Fernandes - £46.5
10th Martial - £36m

[Bones]

We're not the only ones doing horribly!!! 😄

[Backbiter]

6 hours ago, Bones said:

Oh dear

A scandalous frittering away of mega millions. 

[Bob Singleton]

On 24/04/2024 at 14:42, xceleryx said:

@Morgs. 

Wouldn't we want another LCB and not a RCB if we're to sell Badiashile (which I don't think we will)? With the options you've listed LCB is where the gap is, as it leaves just Colwill as the natural option. Not sure Gilchrist is ready to be a truly dependable CB option at this level, and Humphries should be getting a loan once again where he can continue to play regularly away from here. 

Either way, will be interesting to see how the summer window is approached with who leaves and arrives. 

Completely "left field" but a player I quite like is Joachim Andersen of Palace.

27 years old so reaching his peak. Over 100 games in the Prem, so knows the league well. Every time I've seen him, he's organising the defence (even when Guehi has worn the Captain's armband). Although right footed, is very comfortable on the left of a central defensive pairing, oh, and he's also 1m 92 (6ft 3).  Contract runs out summer '26 so two years left.  A 2024 equivalent of Gary Cahill, perhaps?

[Mark Kelly]

11 minutes ago, Bob Singleton said:

Completely "left field" but a player I quite like is Joachim Andersen of Palace.

27 years old so reaching his peak. Over 100 games in the Prem, so knows the league well. Every time I've seen him, he's organising the defence (even when Guehi has worn the Captain's armband). Although right footed, is very comfortable on the left of a central defensive pairing, oh, and he's also 1m 92 (6ft 3).  Contract runs out summer '26 so two years left.  A 2024 equivalent of Gary Cahill, perhaps?

Good call Bob 

[Morgs]

42 minutes ago, Bob Singleton said:

Completely "left field" but a player I quite like is Joachim Andersen of Palace.

27 years old so reaching his peak. Over 100 games in the Prem, so knows the league well. Every time I've seen him, he's organising the defence (even when Guehi has worn the Captain's armband). Although right footed, is very comfortable on the left of a central defensive pairing, oh, and he's also 1m 92 (6ft 3).  Contract runs out summer '26 so two years left.  A 2024 equivalent of Gary Cahill, perhaps?

I thought I was the only one who thought that - class player I think. Has a bit about him too, I like him a lot. 

[Backbiter]

2 hours ago, Bob Singleton said:

Completely "left field" but a player I quite like is Joachim Andersen of Palace.

27 years old so reaching his peak. Over 100 games in the Prem, so knows the league well. Every time I've seen him, he's organising the defence (even when Guehi has worn the Captain's armband). Although right footed, is very comfortable on the left of a central defensive pairing, oh, and he's also 1m 92 (6ft 3).  Contract runs out summer '26 so two years left.  A 2024 equivalent of Gary Cahill, perhaps?

Having found the Monaco CB pairing not up to it, time to go for the Palace pairing. 

I actually like Anderson, too.

[Bob Singleton]

32 minutes ago, Backbiter said:

Having found the Monaco CB pairing not up to it, time to go for the Palace pairing. 

I actually like Anderson, too.

Might not be popular with some here, but as a Thiago Silva replacement I'd be looking at Varane. United look like they want to free up his wages, but he's been their best centre back this season. Like Silva he reads the game well. Not the quickest these days at 31, but that "nous" will see him shut down situations before they even happen. Error free? No, but who is? Close to 70 PL appearances. Has also won trophies (4 x CL at Madrid plus World  Cup with France), so a player the younger ones can look up to. Main stumbling block will be the wages (supposedly on £300k at United. We know they tend to over-pay, but that's a lot for a centre back)

Andersen, Varane, Colwill and Chalobah for me, with W Fofana retained to see if he ever recovers properly (doubt we'd get much for him in the summer anyway, given how long he's been out).  Loans for Gilchrist and Humphreys.  Sell the boys from Monaco if we can (along with Sarr, obviously)

[chrisb]

We also have Omari Hutchinson who’s been playing very well as an AM/W in a promotion chasing Ipswich team. 

[Thiago97]

17 hours ago, Bob Singleton said:

Completely "left field" but a player I quite like is Joachim Andersen of Palace.

27 years old so reaching his peak. Over 100 games in the Prem, so knows the league well. Every time I've seen him, he's organising the defence (even when Guehi has worn the Captain's armband). Although right footed, is very comfortable on the left of a central defensive pairing, oh, and he's also 1m 92 (6ft 3).  Contract runs out summer '26 so two years left.  A 2024 equivalent of Gary Cahill, perhaps?

He is a very good defender and the type of player we need. To be honest, I had it in my head he was about 31, so pleasantly surprised that he is 27. I wouldn't be against him and Guehi joining, they play very well as a partnership already and would have a number of years together as the central foundation we can build around. If we can move on Badiashille  and one of Trev or Disasi (Disasi being a suitable RB cover might work in his favour to stay), and if Fofana can make a come back, then we would have a much stronger look about us for the future.

Who knows what financial spend we have available this summer. Guimares is another player we should be looking at, he brings experience, quality, leadership and further bite to the midfield. His price and alternative options probably make any deal to Chelsea a non starter, but these are exactly the type of players we should be targeting.

 

[Bert19]

5 hours ago, chrisb said:

We also have Omari Hutchinson who’s been playing very well as an AM/W in a promotion chasing Ipswich team. 

I think another year on loan there if they go up or a loan at somewhere like Everton for PL minutes seems quite likely for Omari 

[chara]

22 hours ago, Morgs said:

I thought I was the only one who thought that - class player I think. Has a bit about him too, I like him a lot. 

Hmm...Rethinking my view on the guy following such opinions from respected members,

Never looked at him as a Chelsea possible...not dismissed the idea just not in my thoughts,,,BUT I always see him as one of those "annoying",,..from a Chelsea/oppo pov ...players always in someones face and committed.

So looking from a different perspective I can see him as a viable transfer in. Good call guys...what "annoys" me is probably what Chelsea need all round!

[Sciatika]

I know I have said it before, but I think Luton's Elijah Adebayo might be worth a look as a backup. He is a 26-year-old centre forward who has also played as a CB, so he knows how to help the defence; he is 6'3" tall, quick, can hold the ball up and scores goals with head and feet, He has nine goals in 23 appearances in the prem. He has 1Y0R. The yellow is against Palace so I can't blame for that. The downsides are:

- he has struggled with a thigh injury in the latter part of this season. It is a worry, but he does not seem to have a history of injuries.

- he signed a new contract at the start of the season.

Transfermarkt thinks he is worth 12m, which is nonsense.

[Bison]

On 25/04/2024 at 09:00, Bones said:

Oh dear

Not a single success story there. All hugely underwhelming or a disaster.

*Bit harsh on Caicedo but obviously for the money spent you can't say he has been a success. 

[CarefreeMuratcan]

United are having a clearance sale. Anyone that would be useful for our requirements? (Mount? 🤣)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/ce96wzkgzpgo

 

Edited April 29 by CarefreeMuratcan

[chara]

18 minutes ago, CarefreeMuratcan said:

United are having a clearance sale. Anyone that would be useful for our requirements? (Mount? 🤣)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/ce96wzkgzpgo

 

Maybe Chelsea should pay more attention to who Manure target?

[Chelsea_Matt]

On 27/04/2024 at 10:08, Bison said:

Not a single success story there. All hugely underwhelming or a disaster.

*Bit harsh on Caicedo but obviously for the money spent you can't say he has been a success. 

😬🙈😬🙈💀

[Rob B]

On 25/04/2024 at 19:17, Bob Singleton said:

Might not be popular with some here, but as a Thiago Silva replacement I'd be looking at Varane. United look like they want to free up his wages, but he's been their best centre back this season. Like Silva he reads the game well. Not the quickest these days at 31, but that "nous" will see him shut down situations before they even happen. Error free? No, but who is? Close to 70 PL appearances. Has also won trophies (4 x CL at Madrid plus World  Cup with France), so a player the younger ones can look up to. Main stumbling block will be the wages (supposedly on £300k at United. We know they tend to over-pay, but that's a lot for a centre back)

Andersen, Varane, Colwill and Chalobah for me, with W Fofana retained to see if he ever recovers properly (doubt we'd get much for him in the summer anyway, given how long he's been out).  Loans for Gilchrist and Humphreys.  Sell the boys from Monaco if we can (along with Sarr, obviously)

My issue with Varane is he gets a lot of injuries so once you’ve added the Chelsea Injury Tax to that he’d never be available! 

I’d also be inclined to keep Badiashille for another season.  I thought he had a good game against Villa and showed enough last season to stick with him.  Tall, composed, good passer, left footed.  Let him battle it out with Colwill, but go and get a number 1 RCB who will play every week. 

[paulw66]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/ce96wzkgzpgo

I'd be tempted to go for Rashford, but appreciate a bit of a gamble. Think he might benefit from a change of scene.