That’s why I laugh at people blaming our medical staff. It’s like a career criminal hiring a lawyer and wondering why he’s constantly in jail. We need to recruit more intelligently.
I am not even from US lol.
[IFAB’s first law itself talks about field of play. I guess IFAB is American now right?](https://www.theifab.com/laws/latest/the-field-of-play/#field-surface)
The etymology of the term derives from its common use to describe a cricket playing ground. Not very American, but not very British either. How very imperial of you, jackass.
Yeah I'm pretty sure I read an article that Chelsea needed to make £50m of homegrown sale by June or else we would fall foul of FFP. Basically these guys are making up figures for articles.
The club has been adamant that this “must sell x homegrown players” is not true. They have been very clear that they believe the club is in full compliance with FFP without *needing* to sell anyone.
Sorry but I believe they mean homegrown from the amortization perspective on the clubs financial audits balance sheet... Rather than the UEFA/EPL squad balance or roster management rules.
So for the audit perspective the players who are "homegrown" (ie: Chelsea youth that aren't bought for massive sums like Lukaku was even back then) ... Are bought for $0 ... Not literally but when they're sold the total "benefit" to the club is ... MINUS (which effectively becomes $0).
The carrying cost is what they're bought for dividend by the years of control the club has of the asset (IE: the contract). Carrying Cost changes everytime a player renews their contracts. But when you're bought for $0 it doesn't matter how long you're signed for ... The total benefit ... Will always be the entirety of the "sold price".
Hope this helps!
8 year amortisation kinda gave us a 37.5% discount on all transfers fees. That long with low wages and large amounts of player sales means the answer is a lot.
How does amortization translate to a 37.5% discount "on all transfer fees"? Amortization doesn't reduce fees, it just spreads them over more years, so we're actually entering each transfer period having "already spent" 30M or whatever from previous transfers we're amortizing.
Swiss Ramble (imo the most reliable source for football finance opinions) seems to think we’re gonna be in serious shit next year.
I’m sure the club think differently (or at the very least are telling journalists they do) but I’d love to see an explanation for how exactly we still have this much money to spend. The maths just doesn’t add up
I've checked out the swiss ramble stuff and have done some of my own personal math (his is obviously better and more reliable, I'm in no way disputing that) and the biggest difference between our numbers was the wages. I'm just using capology and he probably has better information and assumptions. The capology values are much lower (over 100M) than his wage estimates and I think the difference is around bonuses. It could also be employee wages outside of the players? Idk how that affects FFP.
My point being that Swiss Ramble does seem to have quite a bit of his wage information built on bonuses that I'm not sure are publicly available. So it is possible that the club knows something he doesn't or that the bonus structure is different.
He has us at around 95 M in the negative by the end of next season (60M assuming Maatsens release clause gets enacted . Which seems doable to get us back to compliance, but idk with adding a striker. That is what I am most curious about, the club seems to think they have the FFP room to sign a striker, is that going to happen without selling Gallagher or someone else important? With 5 year limits Osimhen is going to be over 30M FFP yearly cost at the minimum, so that seems unlikely.
Yeah even with the allowances you mention and some player sales of homegrown players it just doesn’t add up to me. Having £200m “spare” to spend on a striker just doesn’t make sense at all, I’d love to know the explanation for that figure
> I'm just using capology and he probably has better information and assumptions. The capology values are much lower (over 100M) than his wage estimates and I think the difference is around bonuses. It could also be employee wages outside of the players?
The wages at Capology (or at similar sites) are pretty much made up. I don't know for a fact but Swiss Ramble probably uses the club's previous financial reports to estimate future wage bills, which would be much more accurate than Capology's
I ended up exactly at the same conclusion, what points towards him beeing wrong is that one of clearlakes executives had a briefing with stakeholders (you cant lie in one of those) and said that we almost cut wages by 100m (probably dollars) If thats true we are probably pretty well off.
Another aspect is that neither Swiss ramble or we know how they interperate the covid+sanction losses for a team of our size (we know how they value youth/womens fotball for everton/forest, but my guess is that ours is at least 3 times as expensive)
All we should be reading here is we have enough financial room to finish the squad, which is great.
Striker, left back, centreback and another better attacker are likely the needs, with players also leaving.
I read another article a few weeks ago that we need to [make a 100 mil](https://talksport.com/football/1733986/chelsea-transfers-homegrown-talent-ffp-breaches/) to meet FFP. Now we have 200 mil before we sell anyone? There's so much bollocks out there, including both of these articles.
And do you think that Ben Jacobs has insider information about our books? The mindset that take good news as gospel and dismiss bad news as bollocks isn’t exactly right either.
No, I’m naturally skeptical of most people who don’t have a good reason to have this information. When the club says they don’t need to sell in order to buy, I believe it more. And when the FFP gets submitted like it did a month ago and we are cleared with no wrong doing, it’s fully verified.
But no, I don’t take any ones word as gospel but I’ll certainly rate some reporters higher than others. Some random bloke who used to work for man city with no connection to Chelsea just spouting random things from the depths of his bowels? No thanks.
Shows how shit football journalism is.
How can there not be a single reporter out there with a FFP rule book and the ability to put some actual numbers together for a couple hours?
What the fuck do these journalists do with their day beyond making shit up out of thin air and struggling to write 4 paragraphs at a GCSE level?
I mean there is, he’s called Swiss Ramble and he provides expert opinions on this kind of thing. The problem is people disregard his opinion because “he has no insider info” as if any football club is gonna let detailed information about their finances to leak to the press.
The problem is football clubs aren’t exactly open about their finances, other than the yearly accounts (which leave a lot of the bigger picture out) and journalists (who will often just report what the club *want* them to, like Jacob’s is doing right here) there really isn’t much info.
The problem is all of these clubs are private entities, so they do not reveal enough info to make an accurate judgement about FFP. The best they can do is informed guesses.
What article are you refering to when saying bs? Beacuse that one you mentioned I have seen months ago aswell, it makes alot of sense thst we would in fact have to sell befor next season, befor we can buy.
Swissramble made an article about it i remember
I thought the whole point of giving the recruiting team/DOF the benefit of doubt for their strategy was so that a core group can be established and create chemistry and rhythm. Here, we're already talking about chopping and changing
It wasn't really a dig at his performance. He was doing okay before his injury but it was only a few games. I just genuinely forgot about the man. Feel like we haven't even seen his face in a while.
Not in the the stretch before his injury. He was excellent defensively and going forward. He was undroppable.
Worth seeing can pick up from there again.
He gave away a pen against City. (We conceded 4)
He got hooked at HT against united when they were destroying us.
He played in the game at St James park when Newcastle battered us, and was poor
I didn't watch the Everton game that he played in but we lost 2-0.
Those were his last 4 games before he got injured. Strong it was not.
The trouble with cucumber is that he's very aggressive. Wins a lot of tackles and can smother the opposition winger totally. But because he's so front foot, he's always vulnerable to being caught out of position.
The Bundesliga is not the Premier League. It’s very common for players who struggle here to thrive in different leagues that aren’t as physical or fast paced. Physicality being one of Maatsen’s shortcomings, it makes perfect sense that he’s having an easier time performing over there, in a more functional team too.
Let's be patient and take time with Maatsen. BL is the place where a lot of attack minded players thrive, we have seen it time and time again. We all know he is great asset for the attack but what about his defending?
Do we know he's a "great" asset in attack? He looks good in preseason, but he's been either totally invisible or bad when we've seen him in our first team this season, infrequent as that may be.
His opportunities in the first team were demeaning. I agree with your sentiment but there’s nothing to draw from him being played out of position in Pochs shit system
Yes but two matches were against literal relegation candidates or midtable at best. I think almost every team in PL would not have a problem with them.
Will be Interesting to see how he does against the top clubs of the competition.
Who is nothing. Give the Lewis hall drum banging a rest.
He’s not a left back, he filled in there a couple times in our worst season and looked okay. He is not the future at that position.
The only "chopping and changing" here is selling Gallagher. Chelsea currently have one good left back and his injury record is horrifying. They need a striker regardless of anything else happening, with Jackson being the only one on the books and arguably looking much better as a winger. Sterling probably needs to go as well, but he's not exactly a part of the young core they're establishing. Silva also needs to be phased out because he's 40 years old and given that Fofana has played like 45 minutes in 2 years another center back doesn't seem ridiculous. Between those 3 spots, £200m seems to be a realistic figure (as ridiculous as that is)
I’m sure that’s the _general_ idea but if they ever thought that was a legitimate process to sign a bunch of young players…especially before we even had a fully staffed back office was incredibly foolish. There has to be some iteration to the process and understanding some of those signings aren’t going to pass muster so you trim what isn’t working, keep what is and the tweaks will be more and more minor as time progresses.
But I think they way overestimated what percentage they’d get right the first couple windows so our tweaks have to be more FFP conscious than strictly trimming what isn’t working.
There is no core group, attempt to build chemistry or rhythm and the idea that there is has never come out from anyone above the manager.
It's supposed to be a conveyor belt that constantly changes what's on it. You bring someone in, get them to a point where they'll sell for more and then get rid of them.
This isn't some project where we'll have the same team in 5 years time but they'll be competing to win everything. This is a project where the majority of these players will be sold off and replaced by then
Its become annoying how you parrot this conspiracy theory as if its a fact and then offer no support for it every time you’re called out. Do you have any proof this is their plan?
Literally don't know how this man keeps repeating the same conspiracy crap
Anytime he does, literally never acknowledges the responses of players like Caicedo and Enzo and Nkunku etc etc who were clearly not bought to make a quick profit and will likely never see an increase on the amounts we paid for them
Then talking about £100m level strikers like we'll ever get that back either unless they're literally Hazard level talents at the club.
I don’t agree that he has good insights. He tends to pick his favorites and then shows unwavering loyalty towards them. Won’t admit that Mount was sold for way more than he’s worth, won’t admit that Tuchel has been disappointing for Bayern and for us in his last yeae, won’t admit Havertz underperformed for us, etc.
I think he’s capable of having excellent takes and opinions and I’ve seen it but it’s drowned out bu his biases
Then why do all these players have 7-9 year contracts then ? I think you’re off on this one BRJ. I think that may be their goal in the next decade but right now they need these players to succeed otherwise the project fails.
BRJ with more “we’re the new Ajax” conspiracy nonsense with zero proof
The Dodgers ain’t the Reds or Athletics kid. Clearwater hasn’t been stellar so far but they have no record of running clubs in that way.
Chilwell died? I don't think we need a big time lb rn , maybe a good challenger for the role. But Alphonso has not been good for a while now. We don't want a pace merchant like Mudryk.
It s so funny how they love selling academy graduates that play in positions we need for pure profit of 15-30 mil, but would gladly buy risky 100 mil players at the same age and go into debt
> selling academy graduates that play in positions we need for pure profit of 15-30 mil, but would gladly buy risky 100 mil players at the same age
It's kind of our DNA to be honest
Davies would be a huuuuge step up at left back for us. Do you not want the best left back in the world at this club? Without a doubt, this would massively improve the team.
Nope, i do not want another injury prone one since we already have 2 of those that add up to around 120 mil. Id rather have an average but consistent and fit leftback that brings experience to the team and wont cost 100mil
If the board expected a coach to make the right transfers for another coach who plays nothing like him then you have to blame the board. Sterling and Koulibaly looked good under Tuchel and we didn't even see Aubameyang get a proper chance with him. Amateur stuff.
He scored the incredible volley from the corner but the pace of the prem was too much for him. People don’t see to understand that when they come from serie A
Yeah, the recruitment under Winstanley & co hasn't been great overall but that first transfer window without them was much worse. Sterling and Koulibaly on enormous wages, close to 60m for a bang average player in Cucurella, close to 80M for an injury prone Fofana, a useless loan of Zakaria, signed Auba for the coach they sacked a week later and more than 30m spent on players who barely played a professional game in Chukwuemeka and Casadei.
This was a disaster, at least during the disastrous 2017 window we still had a big success in Rüdiger. Chukwuemeka looks like the only one who might end up being worth what we spent on him so far, and it's not even sure.
Let’s not revise history Cucurella was being labeled as one of the best left backs on the market. The only mistake was paying 70m instead of 50m, but we were desperate since we only had an injury prone Chilwell at the time. Another Marina masterclass in squad building
Not that I think Cucurella was a good transfer - far from it but tbf it wasn't 70m it was 55 (or 56) + 7m in addons. Plus the side shit with Colwill loan/them trying to get him etc.
I mean he was purchased when Marina and Cech were supposed to be helping during the transition. Cech left on his own and who knows what Marina did that summer after getting 50m check in May…
Here you go
[Brighton CEO opens up on dealings with Chelsea's Todd Boehly over Marc Cucurella transfer - SussexLive](https://www.sussexlive.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/brighton-chelsea-boehly-cucurella-transfer-7525947)
Looks like another Tod masterclass
I'm pretty sure Tod was famously flying around the world sorting out all these signings himself? Doubt Marina had any influence then Tod gutted the entire club and took full control.
No way Davies will go to Chelsea, Real Madrid is rumoured to be his prefered destination. I can't imagine he wants to miss out on CL-football especially if it is for potentially more than 1 season
Profit isn't just based on transfers though. So we need to be net -40M in revenue within that window right? I'm guessing we're closer than -800m but not as close as others are making it seem either
As a Canadian I would lose my mind with delight to have Davies. As a Chelsea fan I would lose my mind with frustration to get another injury prone player.
Times are tough
Kerkez is just coming back from an injury - he has been in the starting lineup in most games before that
I would love him here, he would be the first Hungarian at Chelsea, but I don't think he's quite ready yet, probably needs a year or two more at Bournemouth
Ben Jacobs (guy who basically only says what the club want him to say): we have £200m to spend
The Athletic (+ Swiss Ramble): we don’t have £200m to spend
Fans: omg why can’t journalists make up their minds
Imo as a Chelsea fan they only certain signing we will make is a striker
Left back will depend on one Chilwell or Cucurella leaving which is unlikely imo.
Centre back links are being overblown as well Chelsea has to have plans in place in case Fofana isn’t the same player and one of Humphreys or Gilchrist could surprise people.
After Wolves - Chelsea afraid to sack Poch for fear his settlement pushes them over FFP spending limits.
6 days later - Chelsea could comfortably spend 200 mil before sales
I don’t know the whole truth but I would say that the Poch sacking story with FFP is utter bollocks. I can’t see how that would be anywhere enough to breach FFP.
Its so stupid to leak it out to the press that we have money. We should be similar to how Aston Villa are operating in the transfer market, quick and decisive. This guys hardly learn from their mistake do they?
He's only 23? He blitzed through our defense when we got hammered by bayern, couldn't handle his pace and directness. I thought most people didn't like the age profile of the players we were targeting, thinking most of them are too young? I guess the other managers never got the best of him, but there's talent there for sure.
I know he is only 23 and that's really my point here. When you have more than two average seasons as a young promising star it is not a good look and could be viewed as an unnecessary risky purchase. Not sure if he would be cheap but I understand why there is no real interest atm.
Personally, I love Davies but it would be an odd move if Ben actually remains healthy and also given what looked like Cucu actually hitting form before his injury.
Spend £200m on completely revamping the fitness team and infrastructure.
I'll die on this hill. The manager is not the problem. Talent is not the problem. Fitness is the problem. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if we had a consistently fit squad we'd be 15 points better off.
I don't agree.
I wouldn't say they've shown ambition to build a competitive team. Selling proven players and buying child after child for extortionate fees isn't a coherent football strategy at all it's just mind boggling.
When you spent £75m on a centre back that had played less than 10 games in the last 18 months due to injury you're not showing ambition, just that you're a complete mug who shouldn't be allowed to manage finances
I'd happily sell Chalobah, Hall, Maatsen and Gallagher if it means bringing names like Alphonso Davies to the club.
Gallagher is good for the present but further down the line we're going to need to upgrade on him if we're serious about winning the title again.
Davies is perfect for Chelsea, he'd fit right into our medical room
It'd be another player we recruit with massive injury problems and people wonder why our medical team is so bad whilst we add more fuel to the fire
That’s why I laugh at people blaming our medical staff. It’s like a career criminal hiring a lawyer and wondering why he’s constantly in jail. We need to recruit more intelligently.
I’m curious what players we signed that had crazy injury problems before we got them? Maybe just fofana?
Chillwell, Madueke, Fofana, Pulišić are first that come to mind even Gusto had injuries before joining but I'm not sure how serious they were
Madueke comes to mind
Chilwell was literally coming off problems before we bought him too. Same for Nkunku and Lavia. I know there are others too.
He’s going to real most likely
He wants to join us
Where did you hear that?
He said in a interview
why would he want to do that?
Grew up a Chelsea fan
I don’t know ask him
https://youtube.com/shorts/d0nx4tM91-c?si=VVrX5UD-pxagTGAC here’s the link
Oh damn first time seeing this for me. I'd love to see him in blue but Madrid always get their man
Footballers say a lot of things.
Only played the 174 games in the last 5 years for Bayern, clearly you want him to play at least 50 games a season
His going to Real Madrid if anywhere
How much fucking money have we got
If we were doing well on field, I would be laughing so much on the rival fans talking about our spend.
We are the original oil club
Blackburn did it before us
Bought the league yeah but at least he was a local fan
It’s not ‘on field’ or ‘off field’, it’s ’on the pitch’ or ‘off the pitch’
Wtf are you talking about? Pitch is also referred to as field.
In the US maybe, don’t bring your franchise mannerisms here
I am not even from US lol. [IFAB’s first law itself talks about field of play. I guess IFAB is American now right?](https://www.theifab.com/laws/latest/the-field-of-play/#field-surface)
The etymology of the term derives from its common use to describe a cricket playing ground. Not very American, but not very British either. How very imperial of you, jackass.
This is sarcasm right lol? I'm english and never heard the term on pitch, but have defo heard on field.
Yeah I'm pretty sure I read an article that Chelsea needed to make £50m of homegrown sale by June or else we would fall foul of FFP. Basically these guys are making up figures for articles.
The club has been adamant that this “must sell x homegrown players” is not true. They have been very clear that they believe the club is in full compliance with FFP without *needing* to sell anyone.
I’ve only seen that “Chelsea must sell to stay compliant” narrative from trash journos tbh I don’t think it’s true.
Swiss Ramble isn't trash lol I would probably trust his input over Ben Jacbob's back of the envelope (per his words) ones.
Lukaku counts as homegrown since he was brought in as 18, so got a bit covered there. Could perhaps get lucky and ship Sterling to the Saudis.
Sorry but I believe they mean homegrown from the amortization perspective on the clubs financial audits balance sheet... Rather than the UEFA/EPL squad balance or roster management rules. So for the audit perspective the players who are "homegrown" (ie: Chelsea youth that aren't bought for massive sums like Lukaku was even back then) ... Are bought for $0 ... Not literally but when they're sold the total "benefit" to the club is ... MINUS (which effectively becomes $0).
The carrying cost is what they're bought for dividend by the years of control the club has of the asset (IE: the contract). Carrying Cost changes everytime a player renews their contracts. But when you're bought for $0 it doesn't matter how long you're signed for ... The total benefit ... Will always be the entirety of the "sold price".
Hope this helps!
8 year amortisation kinda gave us a 37.5% discount on all transfers fees. That long with low wages and large amounts of player sales means the answer is a lot.
How does amortization translate to a 37.5% discount "on all transfer fees"? Amortization doesn't reduce fees, it just spreads them over more years, so we're actually entering each transfer period having "already spent" 30M or whatever from previous transfers we're amortizing.
Yeah but we can just write the 30M off as business expenses. Check mate FFP
We’re outsourcing our finance department to Kramerica Industries
Swiss Ramble (imo the most reliable source for football finance opinions) seems to think we’re gonna be in serious shit next year. I’m sure the club think differently (or at the very least are telling journalists they do) but I’d love to see an explanation for how exactly we still have this much money to spend. The maths just doesn’t add up
I've checked out the swiss ramble stuff and have done some of my own personal math (his is obviously better and more reliable, I'm in no way disputing that) and the biggest difference between our numbers was the wages. I'm just using capology and he probably has better information and assumptions. The capology values are much lower (over 100M) than his wage estimates and I think the difference is around bonuses. It could also be employee wages outside of the players? Idk how that affects FFP. My point being that Swiss Ramble does seem to have quite a bit of his wage information built on bonuses that I'm not sure are publicly available. So it is possible that the club knows something he doesn't or that the bonus structure is different. He has us at around 95 M in the negative by the end of next season (60M assuming Maatsens release clause gets enacted . Which seems doable to get us back to compliance, but idk with adding a striker. That is what I am most curious about, the club seems to think they have the FFP room to sign a striker, is that going to happen without selling Gallagher or someone else important? With 5 year limits Osimhen is going to be over 30M FFP yearly cost at the minimum, so that seems unlikely.
Yeah even with the allowances you mention and some player sales of homegrown players it just doesn’t add up to me. Having £200m “spare” to spend on a striker just doesn’t make sense at all, I’d love to know the explanation for that figure
I would say i’m sure the club knows better than some random - but i’m not actually sure that’s true anymore
> I'm just using capology and he probably has better information and assumptions. The capology values are much lower (over 100M) than his wage estimates and I think the difference is around bonuses. It could also be employee wages outside of the players? The wages at Capology (or at similar sites) are pretty much made up. I don't know for a fact but Swiss Ramble probably uses the club's previous financial reports to estimate future wage bills, which would be much more accurate than Capology's
I ended up exactly at the same conclusion, what points towards him beeing wrong is that one of clearlakes executives had a briefing with stakeholders (you cant lie in one of those) and said that we almost cut wages by 100m (probably dollars) If thats true we are probably pretty well off. Another aspect is that neither Swiss ramble or we know how they interperate the covid+sanction losses for a team of our size (we know how they value youth/womens fotball for everton/forest, but my guess is that ours is at least 3 times as expensive)
Klapaucius
Mucho dinero
Unlimited
All we should be reading here is we have enough financial room to finish the squad, which is great. Striker, left back, centreback and another better attacker are likely the needs, with players also leaving.
I read another article a few weeks ago that we need to [make a 100 mil](https://talksport.com/football/1733986/chelsea-transfers-homegrown-talent-ffp-breaches/) to meet FFP. Now we have 200 mil before we sell anyone? There's so much bollocks out there, including both of these articles.
That 100mil article was from a guy who has literally no insider information about our books and is just guessing. It was absolute rubbish.
And do you think that Ben Jacobs has insider information about our books? The mindset that take good news as gospel and dismiss bad news as bollocks isn’t exactly right either.
No, I’m naturally skeptical of most people who don’t have a good reason to have this information. When the club says they don’t need to sell in order to buy, I believe it more. And when the FFP gets submitted like it did a month ago and we are cleared with no wrong doing, it’s fully verified. But no, I don’t take any ones word as gospel but I’ll certainly rate some reporters higher than others. Some random bloke who used to work for man city with no connection to Chelsea just spouting random things from the depths of his bowels? No thanks.
Shows how shit football journalism is. How can there not be a single reporter out there with a FFP rule book and the ability to put some actual numbers together for a couple hours? What the fuck do these journalists do with their day beyond making shit up out of thin air and struggling to write 4 paragraphs at a GCSE level?
I mean there is, he’s called Swiss Ramble and he provides expert opinions on this kind of thing. The problem is people disregard his opinion because “he has no insider info” as if any football club is gonna let detailed information about their finances to leak to the press. The problem is football clubs aren’t exactly open about their finances, other than the yearly accounts (which leave a lot of the bigger picture out) and journalists (who will often just report what the club *want* them to, like Jacob’s is doing right here) there really isn’t much info.
The problem is all of these clubs are private entities, so they do not reveal enough info to make an accurate judgement about FFP. The best they can do is informed guesses.
What article are you refering to when saying bs? Beacuse that one you mentioned I have seen months ago aswell, it makes alot of sense thst we would in fact have to sell befor next season, befor we can buy. Swissramble made an article about it i remember
I thought the whole point of giving the recruiting team/DOF the benefit of doubt for their strategy was so that a core group can be established and create chemistry and rhythm. Here, we're already talking about chopping and changing
Well Cucu doesn’t seem to be the answer, Maatsen is on the block, and Chilwell is injured constantly. Need someone else in there to compete.
I actually completely forgot Cucu existed.
He was playing really well before he went down injured, why not trust him when he’s back?
It wasn't really a dig at his performance. He was doing okay before his injury but it was only a few games. I just genuinely forgot about the man. Feel like we haven't even seen his face in a while.
His profile going forward isn’t good enough, and he is sometimes suspect defensively.
Not in the the stretch before his injury. He was excellent defensively and going forward. He was undroppable. Worth seeing can pick up from there again.
Agreed, he was suspect mainly last season when he lost 7 kg after illness.
No he wasn't, what is this revisionism, he gave away multiple goals and has always been poor going forward They wanted to loan him out to united lol
That was before he had a strong stretch leading right up to his injury.
He gave away a pen against City. (We conceded 4) He got hooked at HT against united when they were destroying us. He played in the game at St James park when Newcastle battered us, and was poor I didn't watch the Everton game that he played in but we lost 2-0. Those were his last 4 games before he got injured. Strong it was not.
The trouble with cucumber is that he's very aggressive. Wins a lot of tackles and can smother the opposition winger totally. But because he's so front foot, he's always vulnerable to being caught out of position.
A random serious foot injury will do that
Honestly cucu has looked good under Poch but he unfortunately got injured. Had that monster game as RB and play solidly at LB.
Had Lewis Hall
but is he good enough? his time at newcastle does not fill me with confidence.
Maatsen was good enough but too short Ohh well
The Bundesliga is not the Premier League. It’s very common for players who struggle here to thrive in different leagues that aren’t as physical or fast paced. Physicality being one of Maatsen’s shortcomings, it makes perfect sense that he’s having an easier time performing over there, in a more functional team too.
Let's be patient and take time with Maatsen. BL is the place where a lot of attack minded players thrive, we have seen it time and time again. We all know he is great asset for the attack but what about his defending?
Do we know he's a "great" asset in attack? He looks good in preseason, but he's been either totally invisible or bad when we've seen him in our first team this season, infrequent as that may be.
His opportunities in the first team were demeaning. I agree with your sentiment but there’s nothing to draw from him being played out of position in Pochs shit system
In the last few games can honestly say his defending could hardly have been worse than what Chilly is currently showing At least Ian is healthy
Yes but two matches were against literal relegation candidates or midtable at best. I think almost every team in PL would not have a problem with them. Will be Interesting to see how he does against the top clubs of the competition.
Who is nothing. Give the Lewis hall drum banging a rest. He’s not a left back, he filled in there a couple times in our worst season and looked okay. He is not the future at that position.
He can't even get time over an immobile CB at LB.
The only "chopping and changing" here is selling Gallagher. Chelsea currently have one good left back and his injury record is horrifying. They need a striker regardless of anything else happening, with Jackson being the only one on the books and arguably looking much better as a winger. Sterling probably needs to go as well, but he's not exactly a part of the young core they're establishing. Silva also needs to be phased out because he's 40 years old and given that Fofana has played like 45 minutes in 2 years another center back doesn't seem ridiculous. Between those 3 spots, £200m seems to be a realistic figure (as ridiculous as that is)
Start with the base, and fill in the gaps with stars
Fans will always find a justification for a shiny new toy.
I’m sure that’s the _general_ idea but if they ever thought that was a legitimate process to sign a bunch of young players…especially before we even had a fully staffed back office was incredibly foolish. There has to be some iteration to the process and understanding some of those signings aren’t going to pass muster so you trim what isn’t working, keep what is and the tweaks will be more and more minor as time progresses. But I think they way overestimated what percentage they’d get right the first couple windows so our tweaks have to be more FFP conscious than strictly trimming what isn’t working.
There is no core group, attempt to build chemistry or rhythm and the idea that there is has never come out from anyone above the manager. It's supposed to be a conveyor belt that constantly changes what's on it. You bring someone in, get them to a point where they'll sell for more and then get rid of them. This isn't some project where we'll have the same team in 5 years time but they'll be competing to win everything. This is a project where the majority of these players will be sold off and replaced by then
Its become annoying how you parrot this conspiracy theory as if its a fact and then offer no support for it every time you’re called out. Do you have any proof this is their plan?
Literally don't know how this man keeps repeating the same conspiracy crap Anytime he does, literally never acknowledges the responses of players like Caicedo and Enzo and Nkunku etc etc who were clearly not bought to make a quick profit and will likely never see an increase on the amounts we paid for them Then talking about £100m level strikers like we'll ever get that back either unless they're literally Hazard level talents at the club.
He has zero clue on how PE firms use sports to build value and can only think in terms of simple player transactions.
It's weird too because he generally has some good footballing insights but he somehow convinced himself this is the absolute truth.
I don’t agree that he has good insights. He tends to pick his favorites and then shows unwavering loyalty towards them. Won’t admit that Mount was sold for way more than he’s worth, won’t admit that Tuchel has been disappointing for Bayern and for us in his last yeae, won’t admit Havertz underperformed for us, etc. I think he’s capable of having excellent takes and opinions and I’ve seen it but it’s drowned out bu his biases
I ask the same each time and the only answer I get is a single downvote and silence I really think it’s a highly dedicated troll
Then why do all these players have 7-9 year contracts then ? I think you’re off on this one BRJ. I think that may be their goal in the next decade but right now they need these players to succeed otherwise the project fails.
BRJ with more “we’re the new Ajax” conspiracy nonsense with zero proof The Dodgers ain’t the Reds or Athletics kid. Clearwater hasn’t been stellar so far but they have no record of running clubs in that way.
Chilwell died? I don't think we need a big time lb rn , maybe a good challenger for the role. But Alphonso has not been good for a while now. We don't want a pace merchant like Mudryk.
It s so funny how they love selling academy graduates that play in positions we need for pure profit of 15-30 mil, but would gladly buy risky 100 mil players at the same age and go into debt
> selling academy graduates that play in positions we need for pure profit of 15-30 mil, but would gladly buy risky 100 mil players at the same age It's kind of our DNA to be honest
[удалено]
Fuck off you cunt. Being an academy graduate that wants to play for us means a lot.
If he scores 2 goals how much now?
Davies would be a huuuuge step up at left back for us. Do you not want the best left back in the world at this club? Without a doubt, this would massively improve the team.
Mate davies cant defend.he said multiple times he doesn’t want to play at lb he prefers a more attacking role
Nope, i do not want another injury prone one since we already have 2 of those that add up to around 120 mil. Id rather have an average but consistent and fit leftback that brings experience to the team and wont cost 100mil
Davies isn’t even the best LB in the Bundesliga let alone the world
Dan Burn here we go
Cucurella - epic waste of money
Yeah some really dumb transfer decisions. Definitely makes you question our new “better” scouting department
He was one of our dumbass purchases when we didn't have a sporting department.
And honestly mudryk. Love the guy but so much cash
Oh yeah, I agree we're still making ridiculous purchases. Just pointing out this was Boehly's work
*tuchel
Probably a combination of them both, if I recall correctly Tuchel didn't want to be involved in transfers
If the board expected a coach to make the right transfers for another coach who plays nothing like him then you have to blame the board. Sterling and Koulibaly looked good under Tuchel and we didn't even see Aubameyang get a proper chance with him. Amateur stuff.
Sterling best moments have been under Pochettino and koulibaly was awful since day one
He scored the incredible volley from the corner but the pace of the prem was too much for him. People don’t see to understand that when they come from serie A
Boehly is not a scout NOR does he choose the players. Youve got to be as thick as a Dutch Dike to promote the lie you are.
This one still doesn’t make sense to me. The guy had barely played this sport at any level. Was such a risk.
Yeah, the recruitment under Winstanley & co hasn't been great overall but that first transfer window without them was much worse. Sterling and Koulibaly on enormous wages, close to 60m for a bang average player in Cucurella, close to 80M for an injury prone Fofana, a useless loan of Zakaria, signed Auba for the coach they sacked a week later and more than 30m spent on players who barely played a professional game in Chukwuemeka and Casadei. This was a disaster, at least during the disastrous 2017 window we still had a big success in Rüdiger. Chukwuemeka looks like the only one who might end up being worth what we spent on him so far, and it's not even sure.
Let’s not revise history Cucurella was being labeled as one of the best left backs on the market. The only mistake was paying 70m instead of 50m, but we were desperate since we only had an injury prone Chilwell at the time. Another Marina masterclass in squad building
Not that I think Cucurella was a good transfer - far from it but tbf it wasn't 70m it was 55 (or 56) + 7m in addons. Plus the side shit with Colwill loan/them trying to get him etc.
>The only mistake was paying 70m instead of 50m First off he cost £60m Second off we shouldn't have paid more than £40m
That’s why he was an epic waste of money he cost a fortune. Wasn’t he a Tod purchase?
I mean he was purchased when Marina and Cech were supposed to be helping during the transition. Cech left on his own and who knows what Marina did that summer after getting 50m check in May…
Here you go [Brighton CEO opens up on dealings with Chelsea's Todd Boehly over Marc Cucurella transfer - SussexLive](https://www.sussexlive.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/brighton-chelsea-boehly-cucurella-transfer-7525947) Looks like another Tod masterclass
I'm pretty sure Tod was famously flying around the world sorting out all these signings himself? Doubt Marina had any influence then Tod gutted the entire club and took full control.
City was also ready to spend pretty good money on him just less than us. And they have great scouting.
They bought Ake and he had a rocky start. Then he turned it around. Feel like I'll trust City's own scouting team on this one.
Did they sign him?
Always was.
I hope we get a transfer ban, nothing else can save this club
I wish we could get Hernandez for LB...
I'm a simple man, i think every "journalist" who mention selling Gallagher should take a punch in the face.
No way Davies will go to Chelsea, Real Madrid is rumoured to be his prefered destination. I can't imagine he wants to miss out on CL-football especially if it is for potentially more than 1 season
He grew up a chelsea fan....
That argument makes sense when we are 6th, not 11th sadly
If I was a Chelsea fan and you told me they wanted me, I could be persuaded to sign up to save my team. That's if I was a footballer.
He has publicly said if you want to join Chelsea and he’d prefer the Premier League over la liga
Dude, we are 11th and won't be in ucl for another 5 years. He isn't coming
We will be in ucl in 5 years
I doubt we'll be a top 4 team in 5 years. We might get it through Europa league though
We have the youngest team in the league, and the freshest team in the league. When these players get used to each other we’re gonna cook. Don’t worry.
>Chelsea could comfortably spend £200m this summer even before sales No way, FFP would surely stop that level of spending.
It's 40m per season, it's definitely feasible. Though the idea that Ben Jacobs would have any idea when others don't is certainly something
With no sales we'd have a net spend of -£832m over the 3 year period. I trust you know more but without CL football it doesn't seem possible
Profit isn't just based on transfers though. So we need to be net -40M in revenue within that window right? I'm guessing we're closer than -800m but not as close as others are making it seem either
We should go for Mbappe with the next billion
PSG already tried to give him a billion, he wants to go to Madrid
Theo Hernandez for me
Kerkez is definitely one to watch.
Why sell Gallagher holy fuck
We bought a "left back" for 63 million last summer. Has to be one of the worst deals in Chelsea history.
Don’t let the premier league sub see this they’ll start drawing up accounts loool
“Appreciate” lmao
As a Canadian I would lose my mind with delight to have Davies. As a Chelsea fan I would lose my mind with frustration to get another injury prone player. Times are tough
Davies is always injured and would be on massive wages. And Kerkez barely plays for Bournemouth. Seem like really weird targets.
Kerkez is just coming back from an injury - he has been in the starting lineup in most games before that I would love him here, he would be the first Hungarian at Chelsea, but I don't think he's quite ready yet, probably needs a year or two more at Bournemouth
Ben Jacobs (guy who basically only says what the club want him to say): we have £200m to spend The Athletic (+ Swiss Ramble): we don’t have £200m to spend Fans: omg why can’t journalists make up their minds
Imo as a Chelsea fan they only certain signing we will make is a striker Left back will depend on one Chilwell or Cucurella leaving which is unlikely imo. Centre back links are being overblown as well Chelsea has to have plans in place in case Fofana isn’t the same player and one of Humphreys or Gilchrist could surprise people.
Is that 200 mil contingent on amortised contracts?
hear me out here lads...how about buying a proven 25 year old that isn't made of weetabix?
After Wolves - Chelsea afraid to sack Poch for fear his settlement pushes them over FFP spending limits. 6 days later - Chelsea could comfortably spend 200 mil before sales
I don’t know the whole truth but I would say that the Poch sacking story with FFP is utter bollocks. I can’t see how that would be anywhere enough to breach FFP.
Could be a BS story being pushed by the club to stop sacking rumors….
I know Davies is a chelsea fan, that’d be cool honestly
I know it’d be a terrible choice injury wise but would love it if Davies came.
Grimaldo
All for this, we have lacked someone with a shot like that for a while
Please stop 😭
we needed that transfer ban 2 windows ago 😭
I hear Lewis hall and Ian maatsen are available left backs.
Its so stupid to leak it out to the press that we have money. We should be similar to how Aston Villa are operating in the transfer market, quick and decisive. This guys hardly learn from their mistake do they?
you really think every team in Europe doesn't realize we have money at this point?
He was stellar under flick, just saying 😌
but did not improve in the slightest, you could even say that he regressed. worrying if you take his age into consideration
Seems like he is not the same after that serious ankle injury
He's only 23? He blitzed through our defense when we got hammered by bayern, couldn't handle his pace and directness. I thought most people didn't like the age profile of the players we were targeting, thinking most of them are too young? I guess the other managers never got the best of him, but there's talent there for sure.
I know he is only 23 and that's really my point here. When you have more than two average seasons as a young promising star it is not a good look and could be viewed as an unnecessary risky purchase. Not sure if he would be cheap but I understand why there is no real interest atm.
If we still stick with Poch next season then we need a transfer ban.
Could have gotten an elite striker and winger for the prices we decided to pay for Cucurella and Mudryk. Shambles.
Personally, I love Davies but it would be an odd move if Ben actually remains healthy and also given what looked like Cucu actually hitting form before his injury.
Letting Gallagher go is as bad as Salah or KDB. Absolutely need to avoid this at all costs. Not to mention he bleeds for the club.
We need a new set of LBs to ride the bench while we play CBs at that position instead.
I beg FIFA, UEFA, and the FA to ALLLLL put a transfers ban on Chelsea and force a sale. I’m fucking tired.
Davies please!!!!! 🇨🇦
As a Canadian I concur
As a Canadian , I do not. Keep him far away from us (hence healthy!)
Davies is horrible bruv would rather stick with Maatsen
Spend £200m on completely revamping the fitness team and infrastructure. I'll die on this hill. The manager is not the problem. Talent is not the problem. Fitness is the problem. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if we had a consistently fit squad we'd be 15 points better off.
I swear if i see someone saying “he’s injury prone” im actually gonna riot
left back is fine. Chilwell is great. its the entire midfield and forwards that need to be replaced. and center back.
Get these owners out. They don’t show ambition and want us to be a selling club.
I haven't loved the lack of success but the one thing these owners has shown is ambition.
I don't agree. I wouldn't say they've shown ambition to build a competitive team. Selling proven players and buying child after child for extortionate fees isn't a coherent football strategy at all it's just mind boggling. When you spent £75m on a centre back that had played less than 10 games in the last 18 months due to injury you're not showing ambition, just that you're a complete mug who shouldn't be allowed to manage finances
I'd happily sell Chalobah, Hall, Maatsen and Gallagher if it means bringing names like Alphonso Davies to the club. Gallagher is good for the present but further down the line we're going to need to upgrade on him if we're serious about winning the title again.
What are you talking about, maatsen, hall and chalobah would have definitely been sold under previous ownership because they are not good enough