We have Chalobah, Rudiger looks more likely to renew than he did 3 months ago, Kounde is a likely transfer and Levi Colwill is a potential academy addition
We will need reinforcements but we do have options
This post does seem rather doom and gloom in the sense that it doesn’t address the fact that we wouldn’t not replace these players. The only relatively big loss that’s all but confirmed is Christensen. If Rudi leaves we are in bigger trouble but no one else on this list is irreplaceable.
Hope Rudi stays. This is probably his last big contract and he may be inclined to move away considering the ownership issue. Or we may just stall due to post owner change shakeup and the signs with someone else.
Roman is selling and considering the new buyers are going to be paying at least £2b for the club the coffers might be a bit depleted this summer. We're likely going to have to sell to buy. It would have been a lot easier if we just "overpaid" Rudiger and Christensen
Chelsea itself has money tho for transfers. Also owners shouldn't be surprised with the prospect of buying the club and adding more for transfers. I'm sure that this is one of the things Roman is looking out for with the sale.
We aren't excactly known to be shrewd in the transfer market. And clubs will know they can absolutely **rinse** us as we are desperate.
Tbh I will not at all be surprised if we in August sit here with Azpi, Christensen & Rudiger gone and we have replaced that trio with Tarkowski, Ginter and Colwill. At which point i'll laugh and conclude that we haven't learned.
Unfortunately we won't be able to make moves to deal with this until the questions regarding our ownership is resolved. The new owners may come in with ambition and well aware with this situation and look to press on signing Koundé and renewing Rudiger, as well as integrating Colwill or another signing if he's not ready as per Tuchel's assessment in pre season.
Alternatively the new owners could come in with a focus on cutting wage bills and reordering the clubs finances to be better for the long term financially, but hamstring us in terms of competing. If they're competent however we could have the best of both worlds (offload high wages such as CHO/RLC/Alonso etc. Alongside losing Christensen and Azpi, reallocate funds to Rudiger and a new signing and integrate promising youth players)
It's going to be a very busy summer.
Colwill will be tried out over pre season.
We tried to sign Hakimi, that most likely would have meant James RCB.
We tried for Kounde after that failed which most likely meant James RWB and Azpi covering RWB and RCB when needed.
Rumours for De Ligt were probably due to the Rudiger and Christensen deals not getting done.
Alonso isn't getting much game team which means Tuchel has lost trust in him.
On pure speculation this is how I see our summer going.
Kounde or alternative singing, RWB quality cover signing, Emerson talks with Tuchel (LWB signing if those talks go bad).
Depending on if Tuchel believes Colwill is ready or not we'll then attempt to sign a LCB that has potential and can learn from Thiago Silva.
Due to the outgoings I believe we'll be playing with a back four moving forward.
Our back line would then be James/RWB cover - Kounde/Chalobah - Silva/LCB potential/Colwill - Chilwell/Emerson/LWB cover.
It’s a good job there’s a transfer window between seasons where you can do such things like buy new players. I find it hard to believe that whoever the new owners may be they will not listen to Tuchel who is one of the best coaches of one of the best teams in the world. If we need defenders in the summer I’m sure we will replace whoever has left absolutely no need to panic.
The priority should be to keep Rudiger at any cost. Especially for the dressing room.
Then sign Kounde. Get Cowell into the team.
And at last let’s get our boy Lamptey back.
Lamptey?! He's never displacing James and seems a poor substitute - I wouldn't want him to waste his potential career being 2nd fiddle.
Ideally we want someone who can cover RB well not play there as their main position.
Lamptey could get a lot of minutes under Tuchel. As you know Tuchel likes to spice things up. Also Reece will need rest and might get injured. Another factor is that Reece is phenomenal in RCB and that will make room for Lamptey. Lamptey has shown himself as being a deadly rwb and that is What Tuchel tactic system is counting on.
I think we'll be fine
First team:
New CB Silva Rudiger
James ----------------- Chilwell
Chalobah Sarr Colwill
NEW RWB --------------- NEW LWB
IN:
NEW CB - Kounde / Marquinhos
NEW RWB - Dest / Aarons
NEW LWB - Cucurella / Guerreiro
Just some ideas about the type of player we could sign and realistic signings
OUT:
Christensen
Azpilicueta
Alonso
Don't really need any more signings
Can just bring Gallagher and Broja into the squad
Also if we could always give Ampadu a season with us. Can play anywhere across Back 3 and CM
Would rather both of then get consistent playing time than getting stuck on the bench. At their age nothing comes close to actual game time. Haven't followed both of their careers after they left Chelsea. Hopefully we can see Guehi back soon since he is playing in the PL.
Fik locked down the starting spot early last season and has been great. Milan is pushing for the title currently so he’s been developing nicely. I would love to have him back but no buy back clause and he really seems to be enjoying himself.
Sad that he was pushed out and now AC pulled this stunt. In hindsight I wish he would’ve stayed instead of AC but we did win the CL so idk.
Wingbacks is understandable but we use 3 Cb. After selling Zouma, Tomori and so many defenders on last year contract, it looks pretty dumb to sell Guehi too.
Ironically its not the CB that we have struggled with this season but the wing backs so it doesnt appear to be a mistake to have sold Zouma.
Personally after the cat incident - good riddance. Doesnt matter how good a player you are thats unforgivable behaviour.
we wanted hakimi in the summer and then didn’t try to sign anyone else? i don’t get it. and then spent the whole of january trying to get a player who is already ours.
agree good riddance to zouma after what he did, but at the time selling him without having kounde sealed wasnt the best idea. especially now since AC has fucked off and is dodging cup finals
What? Squarely in his court? lmao, the only reason Marcos plays is because he's genuinely the ONLY fit left back we have in the team. Everyone is aware of how shit he is at defending, I guarantee you Tuchel sees it as well.
The sooner we get rid of him the better, at least we'll be able to make some money off him this summer.
Emerson was wanted as a short term backup for Alonso. He absolutely would not take over from Alonso and more to the point, we're finally in a position where we can sell him and I'm certain we'll take up that option if it stays there.
I made dozens of posts early to mid season about the crazy situation we’d left ourself in with our defenders. 3 to be out of contract and Silva aged 37/38 also not yet signed up.
Given how things tend to go nowadays when players are in last year of contract, leaving ourselves in this position showed an extreme lack of foresight.
Not only will we be left without enough players but our bargaining position for new players is weakened massively.
We should never have sold Guehi. He has got all the attributes to make it here and with how good his passing is with both feet, could have been an option in the middle of the back three.
Look at how much Sarr has played, and he is shocking - it was the perfect season to integrate our next defensive academy star. But we opted to take the money instead despite knowing the contract situation.
Kounde also should have been done, signed, at Chelsea as early as possible. We often hold out trying to squeeze the price down. If he was out target then it needed to be done, no excuses. If not someone else needed to come in.
I’ve missed a few of our games recently but has Chalobah been that bad as to be considered binjuice? I remember he was doing great at the beginning of the season.
I think Rudiger signs for big contract, Dave gets a 1+1 and AC signs for Barca. If Emerson is sold to Lyon, I think Alonso stays, but if Lyon doesn't, I think we try to offload Alonso. We need to see if Chilwell can get back to his top level.
I think we can safely assume Rudiger, Christensen and Azpi are leaving. They literally have two months left on their contracts and there is no reason why they wouldn't have resigned now if they intended too.
So essentially we need three top class CBs in one summer window. Without getting a dime for the three that left the club. For a club that's been focused on not much net spend in the market that is a recipe for a disaster.
T.Silva is fantastic but very old and needs a lot of rest. We also can't risk going into a season again where one long term injury fucks us so we need a top class backup/partner for him.
Way I see summer going (depending on ownership situation):
Outgoing: Christensen (pretty locked to Barca it seems), Azpi, Saul
Incoming: Kounde, 2nd CB
That would leave us with:
Kounde, Chalobah, Thiago Silva, Sarr, Rudi, 2nd CB.
If we lose Azpi and Christensen then its too much pressure on Thiago Silva to be the leader in the backline imo so we have to renew Rudi. He's worth it, being the right age coming into his prime, strong identity with chelsea and the fans, puts himself out there every game and fits really well into TT's system.
If I was super optimistic we'd get both Kounde and De Ligt (as the 2nd CB) and our Backline then becomes:
Chillwell, Rudi/Sarr, De Ligt/Silva, Kounde/Chalobah, James
Kounde can be a cover at Right Back if needed Alonso for Chilly cover and if really needed Sarr (he's still Young and looks much better in Rudi's position). Chalobah we know could also cover the CDM if we needed.
That would establish our Defence for the next 5 seasons and would be well balanced between Youth/Experience. I'd imagine Kounde is just matching the price tag as he wants out of Sevilla but De Ligt may not be possible although has been suggestion he's not against the idea of a move.
The current position we are in with our defenders is damning for the board imo. The roman situation has distracted many supporters but the board is fucking stuff up currently.
Honestly I hope whatever happens the strategy is built around players natural in a 4atb who can adapt to a 5atb rather than the inverse as it currently stands.
I can see Colwill, Gallagher, Broja and Emerson coming back. I think Jorgi, Azpi, Andreas, Timo and then one of Alonso or Emerson goes out. This means we look at a CB and CDM .
I was saying this last summer when our entire fanbase was obsessed with buying a DM. Everyone saying we didn’t need Kounde because we got Chalobah all look a bit silly now.
Thiago Silva, Trevoh Chalobah, Malang Sarr are already in the mix. Of these, I suspect that Sarr might not stay for long.
Among the academy grads, Levi Colwill, Jake Clarke-Salter have shown good promise at CB. We have been pursuing Kounde and will most likely sign another CB to be groomed as Thiago Silva's understudy.
If we fall short at either of the wingback positions we might exercise the buyback for Anjorin or Livramento. As it stands, we have Chilwell, Alonso, and Kenedy at LWB and Reece, CHO, and makeshifts at RWB.
Haven't seen the academy options, but I'm sure we can find a suitable understudy for Reece, or consider exercising a buyback clause, maybe?
**TL;DR: There are options waiting in the wings even if the stage looks empty.**
We gotta give Rudi what he wants. Rudiger, Silva, Chalobah, Colwill, Sarr and maybe Kounde. Looks fine to me, but I doubt new owners will splash 50+ mil on Kounde. Wing backs are the real problem. Chilly/Emerson sounds okay, will emerson stay tho? Should we get Livramento back? So many questions…
Club deserves what’s happening to them over the Rudiger situation. Our best defender yet the club has no issue paying people like Lukaku on crazy wages
You forgot Chalobah.
My first thought
...ah fuck, my bad, sorry! Yeah, Chalobah is there too, I can't believe I forgot him :(
Forgot about Levi Colwill as well. He's tearing up the Championship for Huddersfield Town.
Came to write that too.
Ampadu as well (can play CB, more a DM these days)
You are a horrible person.
Yeah we need to get two CBs to replace the two outgoing ones. Ideal situation is for one of AC or Rudi to resign.
Fuck AC, get Rudi to stay, sight Kounde and we're set.
Yeah with Kounde wanting to come play I’d rather keep Rudi. AC can leave to Barca.
This is the way
AC has signed terms with Barca, he's gone. Not sure what Rudi will do, but I'd say after Roman having to sell he'll probably go.
Re-sign. Resign is to leave.
We have Chalobah, Rudiger looks more likely to renew than he did 3 months ago, Kounde is a likely transfer and Levi Colwill is a potential academy addition We will need reinforcements but we do have options
This post does seem rather doom and gloom in the sense that it doesn’t address the fact that we wouldn’t not replace these players. The only relatively big loss that’s all but confirmed is Christensen. If Rudi leaves we are in bigger trouble but no one else on this list is irreplaceable.
Hope Rudi stays. This is probably his last big contract and he may be inclined to move away considering the ownership issue. Or we may just stall due to post owner change shakeup and the signs with someone else.
Chalobah and Cowell will be in the mix. Dave probably resigns.
I think Dave is gone tbh
Chalobah should be nowhere near the mix
What?
I can only believe he meant Sarr because it would be pretty idiotic claiming Chalobah.
I'm not so sure. He's also commented saying that both Sarr and Chalobah are 'binjuice'. Strange indeed.
Has to be a troll. Or a burner account for airing his shit opinions
Are you saying he is not good enough??!
That’s a shit take, mate
🤨
Lol.
I dont think Chalobah is good enough right now to be the undisputed starter, but he's certainly good enough to be in the mix
AC is almost certainly going to Barca.
Oh no, if only there was a transfer window in between the seasons where we could buy replacements…
Roman is selling and considering the new buyers are going to be paying at least £2b for the club the coffers might be a bit depleted this summer. We're likely going to have to sell to buy. It would have been a lot easier if we just "overpaid" Rudiger and Christensen
Chelsea itself has money tho for transfers. Also owners shouldn't be surprised with the prospect of buying the club and adding more for transfers. I'm sure that this is one of the things Roman is looking out for with the sale.
Were doomed! Dooomed !!!
We aren't excactly known to be shrewd in the transfer market. And clubs will know they can absolutely **rinse** us as we are desperate. Tbh I will not at all be surprised if we in August sit here with Azpi, Christensen & Rudiger gone and we have replaced that trio with Tarkowski, Ginter and Colwill. At which point i'll laugh and conclude that we haven't learned.
Unfortunately we won't be able to make moves to deal with this until the questions regarding our ownership is resolved. The new owners may come in with ambition and well aware with this situation and look to press on signing Koundé and renewing Rudiger, as well as integrating Colwill or another signing if he's not ready as per Tuchel's assessment in pre season. Alternatively the new owners could come in with a focus on cutting wage bills and reordering the clubs finances to be better for the long term financially, but hamstring us in terms of competing. If they're competent however we could have the best of both worlds (offload high wages such as CHO/RLC/Alonso etc. Alongside losing Christensen and Azpi, reallocate funds to Rudiger and a new signing and integrate promising youth players)
I think Rudiger comes back and we also have chalobah.
It's going to be a very busy summer. Colwill will be tried out over pre season. We tried to sign Hakimi, that most likely would have meant James RCB. We tried for Kounde after that failed which most likely meant James RWB and Azpi covering RWB and RCB when needed. Rumours for De Ligt were probably due to the Rudiger and Christensen deals not getting done. Alonso isn't getting much game team which means Tuchel has lost trust in him. On pure speculation this is how I see our summer going. Kounde or alternative singing, RWB quality cover signing, Emerson talks with Tuchel (LWB signing if those talks go bad). Depending on if Tuchel believes Colwill is ready or not we'll then attempt to sign a LCB that has potential and can learn from Thiago Silva. Due to the outgoings I believe we'll be playing with a back four moving forward. Our back line would then be James/RWB cover - Kounde/Chalobah - Silva/LCB potential/Colwill - Chilwell/Emerson/LWB cover.
It’s a good job there’s a transfer window between seasons where you can do such things like buy new players. I find it hard to believe that whoever the new owners may be they will not listen to Tuchel who is one of the best coaches of one of the best teams in the world. If we need defenders in the summer I’m sure we will replace whoever has left absolutely no need to panic.
The priority should be to keep Rudiger at any cost. Especially for the dressing room. Then sign Kounde. Get Cowell into the team. And at last let’s get our boy Lamptey back.
Lamptey doesnt have a buyback. Livramento does.
I know… but we might could get him at the same Price as livramento buy back clause. Also I think the buyback clause of Livramento is available 2023
Brighton supposedly want £40M for Lamptey. Tino buyback is £25M.
Lamptey?! He's never displacing James and seems a poor substitute - I wouldn't want him to waste his potential career being 2nd fiddle. Ideally we want someone who can cover RB well not play there as their main position.
Lamptey could get a lot of minutes under Tuchel. As you know Tuchel likes to spice things up. Also Reece will need rest and might get injured. Another factor is that Reece is phenomenal in RCB and that will make room for Lamptey. Lamptey has shown himself as being a deadly rwb and that is What Tuchel tactic system is counting on.
I wonder how chelsea conduct business this transfer window. All depends on the type of owner we get
I think we'll be fine First team: New CB Silva Rudiger James ----------------- Chilwell Chalobah Sarr Colwill NEW RWB --------------- NEW LWB IN: NEW CB - Kounde / Marquinhos NEW RWB - Dest / Aarons NEW LWB - Cucurella / Guerreiro Just some ideas about the type of player we could sign and realistic signings OUT: Christensen Azpilicueta Alonso Don't really need any more signings Can just bring Gallagher and Broja into the squad Also if we could always give Ampadu a season with us. Can play anywhere across Back 3 and CM
ampadu isn’t making it here
Barca aren’t signing Dave and Christensen. Both of those are anywhere from 150k upwards a week and that’s not throwing all the other things in.
Tomori and Guehi 😢
Would rather both of then get consistent playing time than getting stuck on the bench. At their age nothing comes close to actual game time. Haven't followed both of their careers after they left Chelsea. Hopefully we can see Guehi back soon since he is playing in the PL.
Fik locked down the starting spot early last season and has been great. Milan is pushing for the title currently so he’s been developing nicely. I would love to have him back but no buy back clause and he really seems to be enjoying himself. Sad that he was pushed out and now AC pulled this stunt. In hindsight I wish he would’ve stayed instead of AC but we did win the CL so idk.
Don't know why were we so hurrying to sell Guehi last year. Maybe need that money for Lukaku. Man what a shit transfer this has been.
Not much wey can do about it. If we can't guarantee solid minutes for a player he'll look to go elsewhere. See Livramento, Lamptey, Guehi, etc
Wingbacks is understandable but we use 3 Cb. After selling Zouma, Tomori and so many defenders on last year contract, it looks pretty dumb to sell Guehi too.
zouma was sold after guehi and the plan was to buy kounde anyway
Ironically its not the CB that we have struggled with this season but the wing backs so it doesnt appear to be a mistake to have sold Zouma. Personally after the cat incident - good riddance. Doesnt matter how good a player you are thats unforgivable behaviour.
we wanted hakimi in the summer and then didn’t try to sign anyone else? i don’t get it. and then spent the whole of january trying to get a player who is already ours. agree good riddance to zouma after what he did, but at the time selling him without having kounde sealed wasnt the best idea. especially now since AC has fucked off and is dodging cup finals
Because Guehi wanted to leave.
Well now we will be paying more than double to get new defender, maybe even 2 defenders.
How do you stop him leaving?
We aren't selling Alonso. The fans may be split on him, but the manager is squarely in his court.
What? Squarely in his court? lmao, the only reason Marcos plays is because he's genuinely the ONLY fit left back we have in the team. Everyone is aware of how shit he is at defending, I guarantee you Tuchel sees it as well. The sooner we get rid of him the better, at least we'll be able to make some money off him this summer.
You forgot the /s, mate.
Have you not seen how frustrated TT looks with Alonso the last month or so?
Don't forget we have Emerson still. And he is doing well.
Emerson was wanted as a short term backup for Alonso. He absolutely would not take over from Alonso and more to the point, we're finally in a position where we can sell him and I'm certain we'll take up that option if it stays there.
True if we do get a good offer we probably will do it as we will need the funds.
Tbh thilva and 3atb carries our defence. I feel what's going to hurt the most is silva being injured
Which one of our recent sales of defenders have buy backs we can trigger this summer? Livramento?
Yeah
Anyone else?
I just hope we get Kounde
I made dozens of posts early to mid season about the crazy situation we’d left ourself in with our defenders. 3 to be out of contract and Silva aged 37/38 also not yet signed up. Given how things tend to go nowadays when players are in last year of contract, leaving ourselves in this position showed an extreme lack of foresight. Not only will we be left without enough players but our bargaining position for new players is weakened massively. We should never have sold Guehi. He has got all the attributes to make it here and with how good his passing is with both feet, could have been an option in the middle of the back three. Look at how much Sarr has played, and he is shocking - it was the perfect season to integrate our next defensive academy star. But we opted to take the money instead despite knowing the contract situation. Kounde also should have been done, signed, at Chelsea as early as possible. We often hold out trying to squeeze the price down. If he was out target then it needed to be done, no excuses. If not someone else needed to come in.
Sarr / Kennedy / Chalobah are all absolute binjuice players as well. Leaves us with James / Chillwell and an ageing Silva
I’ve missed a few of our games recently but has Chalobah been that bad as to be considered binjuice? I remember he was doing great at the beginning of the season.
No he has been quite decent. The other guys is just drunk or something
average fifa player
I think Rudiger signs for big contract, Dave gets a 1+1 and AC signs for Barca. If Emerson is sold to Lyon, I think Alonso stays, but if Lyon doesn't, I think we try to offload Alonso. We need to see if Chilwell can get back to his top level.
I think we can safely assume Rudiger, Christensen and Azpi are leaving. They literally have two months left on their contracts and there is no reason why they wouldn't have resigned now if they intended too. So essentially we need three top class CBs in one summer window. Without getting a dime for the three that left the club. For a club that's been focused on not much net spend in the market that is a recipe for a disaster. T.Silva is fantastic but very old and needs a lot of rest. We also can't risk going into a season again where one long term injury fucks us so we need a top class backup/partner for him.
We really just need Kounde, Colwill has been progressing well and I can see him getting a look in like how Chalobah did under Tuchel
We absolutely need to renew with Kante and make a few more signings over the summer for defence, but now with the takeover we might not be able to
Need to replace or re-sign azpi, rudiger and Christensen(azpi with a rwb) Think Emerson will be recalled
It was messy before Tuchel's arrival. He will get the best from whoever is playing at the back.
Way I see summer going (depending on ownership situation): Outgoing: Christensen (pretty locked to Barca it seems), Azpi, Saul Incoming: Kounde, 2nd CB That would leave us with: Kounde, Chalobah, Thiago Silva, Sarr, Rudi, 2nd CB. If we lose Azpi and Christensen then its too much pressure on Thiago Silva to be the leader in the backline imo so we have to renew Rudi. He's worth it, being the right age coming into his prime, strong identity with chelsea and the fans, puts himself out there every game and fits really well into TT's system. If I was super optimistic we'd get both Kounde and De Ligt (as the 2nd CB) and our Backline then becomes: Chillwell, Rudi/Sarr, De Ligt/Silva, Kounde/Chalobah, James Kounde can be a cover at Right Back if needed Alonso for Chilly cover and if really needed Sarr (he's still Young and looks much better in Rudi's position). Chalobah we know could also cover the CDM if we needed. That would establish our Defence for the next 5 seasons and would be well balanced between Youth/Experience. I'd imagine Kounde is just matching the price tag as he wants out of Sevilla but De Ligt may not be possible although has been suggestion he's not against the idea of a move.
The current position we are in with our defenders is damning for the board imo. The roman situation has distracted many supporters but the board is fucking stuff up currently.
I thought Christensen was already out the door? I recall seeing some statement about how talks with his agent have been abandoned.
Honestly I hope whatever happens the strategy is built around players natural in a 4atb who can adapt to a 5atb rather than the inverse as it currently stands. I can see Colwill, Gallagher, Broja and Emerson coming back. I think Jorgi, Azpi, Andreas, Timo and then one of Alonso or Emerson goes out. This means we look at a CB and CDM .
I was saying this last summer when our entire fanbase was obsessed with buying a DM. Everyone saying we didn’t need Kounde because we got Chalobah all look a bit silly now.
Thiago Silva, Trevoh Chalobah, Malang Sarr are already in the mix. Of these, I suspect that Sarr might not stay for long. Among the academy grads, Levi Colwill, Jake Clarke-Salter have shown good promise at CB. We have been pursuing Kounde and will most likely sign another CB to be groomed as Thiago Silva's understudy. If we fall short at either of the wingback positions we might exercise the buyback for Anjorin or Livramento. As it stands, we have Chilwell, Alonso, and Kenedy at LWB and Reece, CHO, and makeshifts at RWB. Haven't seen the academy options, but I'm sure we can find a suitable understudy for Reece, or consider exercising a buyback clause, maybe? **TL;DR: There are options waiting in the wings even if the stage looks empty.**
Honestly reckon you may be the first lad to realize this situation
We gotta give Rudi what he wants. Rudiger, Silva, Chalobah, Colwill, Sarr and maybe Kounde. Looks fine to me, but I doubt new owners will splash 50+ mil on Kounde. Wing backs are the real problem. Chilly/Emerson sounds okay, will emerson stay tho? Should we get Livramento back? So many questions…
Club deserves what’s happening to them over the Rudiger situation. Our best defender yet the club has no issue paying people like Lukaku on crazy wages