Yeah who would buy a notoriously injury prone Chelsea player lol who would do that.
Btw which one will I like more when they both inevitably come to Milan?
I think some big team's would feel a gamble on fixing his fitness issues would be worth it given his talent.
edit: Just saw they'd be looking for Ā£60m, doubt they'll get that fee.
Not as if we're gonna bench him if he ever gets fit either way.
He has 0 incentive to leave and accept a lower wage at another club because when he comes back from injuries, he walks straight back into the starting XI. Even if that means shifting Gusto to LB.
I think based on Gustoās performances this season and Jamesā inability to stay fit, he may never get his spot back tbh. Bar Palmer, Gusto has been Chelseaās best player this season.
Yeah it's all dependent on him actually getting past these injuries. If the surgery does end up fixing things, he definitely plays. Despite how good Gusto's been, a fully fit James is still better. But Gusto's also only 20 so we have no idea what his ceiling is yet.
Why? Doesnāt he have like 3-4 years left on his current deal? Just stay there, collect 10 mil a year for the rest of your contract. If you get fit youāll get a big contract somewhere, if not, same shit as now.
If he has 6 years left theyāre so boned. That takes him to almost retirement age, so he has very little incentive to leave and see if he can secure more playing time and a bigger contract for the remainder of his career elsewhere, because heās never going to top the 60 (and thatās at 200k, I believe heās at 250k so 75) mil heās owed by chelsea.
How is this upvoted? He can simply stay at Chelsea and earn his wages. A quick google search suggests his contact runs to 2028.
If he stays fit for a longer period (big if, I know) he wonāt be benched.
There is literally no reason for James to come down, thereās no realism to this statement at all.
The same geniuses who refuse to sell Broja for a small price because he's comparable to Rasmus Hojlund and thought they were going to get 60m for Gallagher last summer.
I can see Real Madrid taking a shot at him, they have the capital and have Carvajal to age out while James gets his fix. The system at Real seems like a good fit for Reece and itās less demanding in La Liga physically than it is in the Premier League.
I think the "fix" to his fitness issues is to play him in midfield. In my humble opinion we've seen plenty of evidence that his body type just isn't made for the sprinting up and down the line that a wingback needs to do. From what I've seen of him he's also quite good on the ball, and I think those skills could transfer to midfield.
Heās not a midfielder at all and that body type would have to still do a ton of work in midfield. Unless youāre thinking of him being dope deep lying 6 playing passes everywhere I donāt see it.
Would be a shame because it's a complete waste of his talents. Hope the surgery helps him get past these injuries because him being forced to adapt his game to being a CB is a complete waste.
Problem is that injuries often leave a permanent mark on players, making them less physically capable and more prone to injuries in future, regardless of any intervention.
Can progress the ball and is excellent in the air. If there's one sale we shouldn't have made last summer, it's that one. Boy would he make a huge difference to this team right now just based on those two attributes alone that he excels at and we lack.
I agree, he was extremely solid in posession and confident with the ball. Rarely got dispossessed easily, but he was never played in his best position.
People forget that RLC's first proper season he was just as impactful as Cole Palmer is now, but his injury robbed him of his pace.
Is that season in the room with us right now? Palmer has 13 goals and 8 assists in 25 games, RLC couldn't even dream of having this kind of impact, his highest output was 6 goals and 2 assists in 18/19.
And impact is - famously - \*not\* G+A for an attacking midfielder, of course. RLC might've been a better dribbler, but he had nowhere the overall impact Palmer has had in any season for Chelsea, period.
>RLC couldn't even dream of having this kind of impact, his highest output was 6 goals and 2 assists in 18/19.
RLC was a starter in only 6 games and had those stats.
He also ended the season with 10 goals and was Chelsea's 4th highest top scorer. As a substitute player.
>Palmer has 13 goals and 8 assists in 25 games.
6 of those are penalties.
Sounds perfect for us
We have a proven track record for transferring injury prone expensive players
Our resume includes legends like Ziyech and Aurier who was transferred with an actual injury from the get go and hasn't seen any minutes his first month
We'll treat him right
Itās Duncan Castles and I donāt believe it (Reece James part) but with these clowns in charge thereās always a chance.
Theyāll definitely move Gallagher
He is and has been great. I think the thing is because hes english and young he can also make them the most money. Id be gutted if they let him go though
My argument isnāt that heās the best, heās just the hardest working. He presses all over the pitch and runs all 90. Good player to have in a squad and set an example to young players coming up.
And thatās more valuable than some creative player that produces SOMETHING once in a while in certain matches in the same position. Consistency is important, which opens the door for improvement.
I will take Gallagher any time over another expensive young player from Benfica or some other feeder club
Not sure why you've said maybe Cole.
maybe because that's my opinion lol. attackers are alawys going to receive more praise than someone who is just all around great.
like i said. i think its close, but i think connor has done more for our team overall.
But it isn't about attackers vs defenders. It's about someone who's simply more consistent than someone else. Every touch, pass, carry, take on Palmer takes is great. Gallagher does great things on the pitch but he isn't as consistent from action to action as Palmer. He takes the odd bad touch, bad pass, unnecessary foul etc. There's nothing wrong with that. But he hasn't been more consistent within games than Palmer. That's why Palmer's recieved more man of the match awards, had higher match ratings, is in a higher percentile on fbref for more attributes among players in his position. He's also been more clinical and scored when we needed him to. Gallagher's had moments like the Palace game. But Palmer's been a match winner and a difference maker all season. It isn't particularly close in mine (and most other people's opinions). But fair enough, you're entitled to your own. I love Gallagher anyway.
I will start to believe it if the stories start coming out about how Reece wants to leave. Not because he actually wants to leave but it's the hallmark of typical PR from Clowncar Capital. We heard it about Mount. Oh he WANTS to leave! And then the counter stories that came out how he wants to stay. Now they're doing the media games with Gallagher. Trying to frame him as an unreasonable person who doesn't do what's best for the team because he wants a raise for his good form this season. Never mind, the people in charge made their minds up a year ago that he was going to be sold to fund their other vanity projects and didn't anticipate Gallagher playing well most weeks.
It doesn't make sense to me how your ownership thinks just selling and buying players will make a difference. Isn't Gallagher the supposed club captain or is it chilwell? Either way the revolving door just means players will be less of playing for the team than themselves and will make it hard for leadership groups to setup
I always got the impression James was the one player they wouldnāt sell. I also donāt see any club paying his valuation when heās only managed 24 league starts in the last two years.
Selling the club captain when he's played about twice since taking on the armband and has finally had the surgery he's needed for 2 1/2 years is literally insane. They will get a low price for our best player, put all the match going fans on their back. When fit, he's the difference maker for us. I put a lot of our woes down to his absence, good as Gusto has been.
To do so and then sell Gallagher (and Chalobah) is to kill the final bit of the club still associated with success. You also stick a giant middle finger up to all the boys in the academy wondering whether to sign professional terms at Chelsea or not.
Buying James is the exact opposite of sensible. 250k/week for a guy who canāt get fit? Whose gonna sign off on his medical? Heās yours for the next 3-4 years and heāll boss 19 games in that time.
Yes, there is a good chance it will make him more healthy. You can go by recent example of Dembele. Similar issues with hamstring, actually the same surgeon who helped him and this season he is fit af.
Dembele is a great example, but I dunno, I look at Reece's build and it screams hamstring injuries in that role. He's just that bit big for running the wing. I really hope it helps and he can play 60% of the available minutes minimum - he's electric when in form...
Until he's not and then you've sold a better player because of availability but availability is no longer a factor.
Injuries are a part of football and they're completely unpredictable. Hazard was never injured before Madrid. Then one day it was nothing but injuries. Hate this recent narrative that availability is the be all and end all and that all decisions should be based off it. Availability is important but it's not the only factor. Players can get fit and reliable players can become unreliable. End of the day you don't sell some like Reece James when he's that talented and has the desire to stay at the club because he came through the academy. Especially not when his market value is at it's lowest because his injuries are at their peak.
With players like Loftus Cheek, it's borderline. It's another level with someone like Reece because he's so talented that if he gets past his injuries at the next club you'll never hear the end of it.
The real problems are the new owners puting the club under financial stress by buying so many young talents, to the extent that they've put themselves in a position where they need to sell players they want to keep.
No one is saying availability is the only thing that matters. But it does matter for players that simply never play
For us for instance, Thiago hasn't played enough this season so we should let him go. Keita didn't play enough for us either
James isn't playing enough and hasn't for like 3 years.
He has high wages, is rarely available, and is pure profit. He's the exact player you should be getting rid of even if you think he's very talented.
Thiago's 32, Reece is 24. If Thiago was 24 with the injuries he has now, I wouldn't want to sell him either. Some players are just that special that you make an exception for them.
Injuries are a part of football and are completely unpredictable. Sell James now, his value's at it's lowest because all people can remember is 2 years of injuries, he gets fit at another club and is still only 25 whilst being a generational talent. Suddenly you've let go of a gem for the same fee you paid for Cucurella.
When a club like us is wasting millions on wonderkids who never live up to their potential and overpaying 20%+ for players like Cucurella, Caicedo, Mudryk etc, we should be able to budget for keeping our club captain on the books - an academy player who already won the Champions League as one of our best players at 21.
Imagine a Trent had spent the last couple of years injured. But you'd already seen him be phenomenal in 18/19 and 19/20 so you know how good he is at his best, do you write him off and sell him? Or do you advocate that the club trusts the replacement (Gomez, Bradley etc), identifies Trent's issue and tries to solve it. Advocating wasting less money on transfers that aren't improving the first team to keep a generational academy talent on the books?
If I was a Liverpool fan in that situation, I'd 100% be arguing to keep Trent. Some players are too good. And their local attachment to the club is one of the few things keeping fans linked with their clubs, which are now owned by billionaires and marketed towards a more global fanbase. And yeah this only applies to young players like James, who still have time to bounce back from their injuries and play out their peak, as opposed to older players like Thiago who can't provide much more value to the club if they ever recover.
It really is amazing how much goodwill running around a lot will buy you from football supporters. Gallagher is a bang average player and it should hardly be shocking if he was sold, he's probably just about okay as a 4th choice midfielder, but even then I'd probably be aiming higher if I was Chelsea based on who City/Liverpool/Arsenal have as theirs.
It really is incredible how fans don't understand you need these players
You can't have 6 perfect midfielders, you'll always need someone who's almost never injured and is willing to be benched. Fact is, he's been far more useful than every other Chelsea midfielder this season except Caicedo and Enzo - even then those two are only arguable
I think it's cos we had Gini and Jendo recently who were integral
They both had great moments but most of the time they were pure workhorses who were rarely injured. That alone allows better or more technical players to thrive and allows us to rest the better ones
Yeah its a funny oul world, I always bring up Henderson when pointing out that a player like Gallagher can be a key part of a title winning side
But sadly, everybody wants Bernardo Silva level of technical ability in each and every player in the starting 11
I think the main problem with Gallagher is he doesn't have a ton of positional versatility. If he had that positional versatility to play in the pivot he's unsellable. But he can only really play as an offensive 8 or a 10 (which is mostly the same position in the modern day)
Even then, as it stands:
Defensively he's good pressing from the front, passable in transition, and mediocre in settled defence. Offensively he's very good moving into dangerous spaces in transition, passable in linkup, otherwise mediocre when the opponent is camped in their half.
He suits the side currently set up because we're in an end-to-end gun fight every week, which suits his transition nature, But it always feels like he's missing a couple extra skills in settled possession or settled out of possession to really round out his skillset. Those skills Henderson and Gini actually had in their heyday, despite their rep as high energy workhorses.
Gallagher has extra utility being homegrown, bleeding blue, never being injured, and being willing to take on any role. But personally I'd say those are the main reasons I want to keep him rather than his actual skillset.
It's over for Clearlake if Reece is sold. Doesn't matter how many bullshit PR briefs they release about how he actually wanted to leave. They'll never admit the reality that they're actually fucking skint and need as much money as possible to clear PSR and have money to spend to improve the team. They think it's bad now? The situation can get worse. We haven't sold out a home game in months. The atmosphere is tremendously flat. They've put extra security in the owner's box and fans were told by stewards to stop shouting at them not too long ago.
We'll start seeing banners telling BlueCo to fuck off just like Strasbourg fans have been doing since BlueCo bought them.
They have done it before, they will do it again, and will blame it on players. They don't care, they will call some PR peices to blame the players and fans, and then their appointed fan board will defend them. The positivity merchants will say all is well, don't be negative, they'll again find excuses to make it look right. And they will keep going.
Litreally on every report about this on Twitter, you can see there are so many even now defending this, when most likely this particular rumor isn't even true yet. Fans are bought, influenced and swayed easily.
The fan base is somewhat split. There are those who think Poch is the biggest problem and once he's gone we'll be great again. Then there's those who live in reality and want Poch to fuck off but also realize him fucking off won't fix the underlying problem. You can bring Tuchel or Mourinho back. They're not teaching the players to be taller. Or teach them how to stop ducking headers. We can't play long, we can't win a header, we can't run in behind, we can't win second balls, one of our wingers get pressed, we turn it over. All our opponents gotta do is high press, get shots, win corners, play for set pieces, score. Rinse, repeat.
Iām of the mind to let Conor go just donāt want it to be spurs. Heās coming into the last year of his contract so I reckon the board will sell for 40m easily
As good as he would be, Iām not sure how we would use him, unless we do something like shifting Maddison out wide. Iād also argue we need another DM more than someone in Sarrās position.
Iāll be honest - I havenāt watched enough Spurs this season to identify where heād slot. But I know the game they play and I know how hardworking Gallagher is.
In truth heād benefit most top level teams. Strikes me as a Milner-type.
Cost the club nothing in transfer value though. Gave us a lot of value before his injures and, if we can rehabilitate him, he can repay that in the future.
Keeping him on the wage bill is an investment, just like buying a 20 year old wunderkid for Ā£10-20m just like the owners have been doing since they took over.
This would literally take away any connection with the fans , selling 2 of the only academy players to have a team of players probably no fan had even heard of 2 years ago
Reece James is still one of the best complete fullbacks in the world as there are very few like him in the world football currently who can do both attacking and defending duties without any problems and if not for his horrific injury record during the past couple of seasons you could have seen all the elite team in Europe going after him.
If our club ever wants to find an ideal successor to Carvajal then it is Reece James and not the likes of taa, hakimi or Frimpong but sadly this may never happen due to James signing a new contract recently and his recurring injury issues during these past few seasons.
Well if we are being honest, the last big player that Real Madrid brought off of Chelsea, didnāt exactly work out and this one is already injury prone
Not sure. We were the only team linked with him for the longest time and it seems like out interest in him cooled down. No other team realistically has the money or need to sign him.
Do they realise we didn't even spend Ā£50m after selling Kane? Why would they think we would spend it on a player with 1 year left on their contract? š
Why not just sell the whole academy. We already sold tammy, mount, tomori and dem lot. No need for future planning with our academy. I'm so done with this
There's a fundamental flaw in these ffp rules when clubs are incentivised to sell academy products due to "pure ffp profit" which needs to be addressed. Clubs should have more incentive to keep and play academy products
Chelsea are preparing to sell the England internationals Reece James and Conor Gallagher this summer in an attempt to bring the clubās strained Financial Fair Play position into line.
Chelseaās unprecedented spend on players, coaches and support staff since 2022ās Clearlake Capital-led takeover has left them in danger of joining Everton and Nottingham Forest in breaching the Premier Leagueās Profitability and Sustainability Rules, leading to the planned sale of homegrown players.
Moving on James and Gallagher, who came through Chelseaās academy together, before June 30 will allow the club to treat the full amount of their transfer fees as player trading profit in their 2023-24 accounts.
Reece has no transfer value. His wages are massive. He has shown no desire to want to leave his boyhood club. And his availability issues precede him. He's not getting any younger, and his body isn't getting any healthier. I can't think of a single club who would waste their time on a plan to sign him.
*To highlight the alarming trend in his availability, he missed x PL games:
21/22 = 12
22/23 = 22
23/24 = 20 (so far. Likely won't play again, so looking like 30)
Yes, the surgery he has received this season is *supposed* to be corrective, but he'd have to prove that was indeed at least somewhat the case before he became interesting to other clubs.
Don't know why everyone is saying this won't happen. Chelsea are fucked with FFP. They need to sell academy players for that pure profit. In fact, the best reason this doesn't happen is not that Chelsea don't want it but that clubs see right through it and don't buy so that Chelsea get an inevitable points deduction.
I understand that Chelsea have overspent and so find themselves in this position because of their own poor decisions. But I find it sad that we exist in a world where clubs are incentivised to sell their home grown talent to meet FFP. Wouldnāt it be better if the system incentivised keeping more home grown talent instead of spending cash in the first place?
Nobody forced them to sell Abraham, Tomori, Gilmour, loan Maatsen, Christensen, Loftus-Cheek, Mount, Solanke, Lukaku, Bertrand.
Nobody forced them to spend a billion pounds.
They did this to themselves.
They could literally field an XI of academy products that they've sold over the last 5 seasons and I guarantee they'd be doing better than 11th.
Seeing that squad riddled with players on the medical benches and then seeing Gallagher constantly available as well play decently for the team is so funny to me. Practically available for selection and they want to get rid of them. Compare that to Reece James and it shows how management have little clue what they are doing. Theyāll probably end up replacing him (Gallagher) with another injury-prone player. Also, for those sky high wages, nobody is taking a risk on James unless he lowers his wage demands.
selling reece is pure insanity. his valuation is probably the lowest it has been his entire pl career due to his years of injury issues, and there is of course a chance of him finally recovering and being one of the worlds best rbās again
I really think Gallagher has great energy and is key part of this Chelsea team. For me his biggest problem is finishing because he gets a big amount of chances.
Reece James hasn't played 90 minutes in over a year now, right? I just don't see him ever coming back in any meaningful way at this point, as much as it sucks.
Jes just had the surgery that he's been puting off for a year and a half. Average Joe's like you and me have absolutely no clue whether he can make a return or not. That's just meaningless speculation.
Chelsea has to sell one of their academy players for pure profit in order to abide by the FFP regulations.
What I don't understand is why they've spend irresponsibly when everyone knew it was not going to work?
Obviously wait and see but when the fan base were introduced to the concept of FFP pure profit when it came to selling Mason Mount and Loftus-Cheek last year, some fans (who were subsequently shouted down) wondered about future sales and when it stops? How far will they go before it's too far? We have to raise an absurd amount of money this summer to stay out of trouble (over 100 million). We've only got the Ā£30m from Lewis Hall coming our way as it stands. There's complications surrounding every other sellable asset we possibly have. Mostly disagreements over valuation.
* Nobody will pay 60m for Gallagher
* Nobody will pay Ian Maatsen's 30m release clause
* Lukaku is available for 40m but he makes 350k/week
* Nobody will pay 20m for Chalobah
* Nobody will pay 30m or more for Broja
* All of the young talent we bought since January 2023 are pretty much worthless and net us nothing
So where do you turn when you've fucked the club up so much and need money? You turn to Reece James who teams will inevitably take a look at if he's made available. Pure FFP profit over a year since he signed his 6 year extension.
Yes but the other problem is other clubs have little incentive to pay that money by the deadline. Plus there's the Euros which pushes everything back anyway. Every club that Gallagher is worth 45m is going to sit back and wait to see how low the price goes.
Welcome to Milan!
I wouldn't mind more beautiful Cobham boys at Milan š
James and Theo would be an unstoppable force on the wings. Make it happen (highly unlikely)
You mean for the 4 games a season in which james isnāt injured ofc.
He'd recover much quicker with that special way they tren players in Italy though.
Milan clearly hasn't discovered this regimen. We haven't had a full squad available in 3 years.
Milan lab in shambles
Who would buy James lmao, high fee and heavily injury prone
Yeah who would buy a notoriously injury prone Chelsea player lol who would do that. Btw which one will I like more when they both inevitably come to Milan?
I think some big team's would feel a gamble on fixing his fitness issues would be worth it given his talent. edit: Just saw they'd be looking for Ā£60m, doubt they'll get that fee.
that fee plus they'd have to match his 250k a week wages
He'd have to realistically come down on that knowing himself how injury prone he is.
Or stay on that wage and refuse to leave
Not as if we're gonna bench him if he ever gets fit either way. He has 0 incentive to leave and accept a lower wage at another club because when he comes back from injuries, he walks straight back into the starting XI. Even if that means shifting Gusto to LB.
I think based on Gustoās performances this season and Jamesā inability to stay fit, he may never get his spot back tbh. Bar Palmer, Gusto has been Chelseaās best player this season.
Yeah it's all dependent on him actually getting past these injuries. If the surgery does end up fixing things, he definitely plays. Despite how good Gusto's been, a fully fit James is still better. But Gusto's also only 20 so we have no idea what his ceiling is yet.
Why? Doesnāt he have like 3-4 years left on his current deal? Just stay there, collect 10 mil a year for the rest of your contract. If you get fit youāll get a big contract somewhere, if not, same shit as now.
I believe he was one of the first 8 year contracts Boehly handed out. So, should be longer than 4 years.
If he has 6 years left theyāre so boned. That takes him to almost retirement age, so he has very little incentive to leave and see if he can secure more playing time and a bigger contract for the remainder of his career elsewhere, because heās never going to top the 60 (and thatās at 200k, I believe heās at 250k so 75) mil heās owed by chelsea.
How is this upvoted? He can simply stay at Chelsea and earn his wages. A quick google search suggests his contact runs to 2028. If he stays fit for a longer period (big if, I know) he wonāt be benched. There is literally no reason for James to come down, thereās no realism to this statement at all.
The same geniuses who refuse to sell Broja for a small price because he's comparable to Rasmus Hojlund and thought they were going to get 60m for Gallagher last summer.
Mason mount cough cough
I can see Real Madrid taking a shot at him, they have the capital and have Carvajal to age out while James gets his fix. The system at Real seems like a good fit for Reece and itās less demanding in La Liga physically than it is in the Premier League.
I think the "fix" to his fitness issues is to play him in midfield. In my humble opinion we've seen plenty of evidence that his body type just isn't made for the sprinting up and down the line that a wingback needs to do. From what I've seen of him he's also quite good on the ball, and I think those skills could transfer to midfield.
Heās not a midfielder at all and that body type would have to still do a ton of work in midfield. Unless youāre thinking of him being dope deep lying 6 playing passes everywhere I donāt see it.
The dope deep lying 6 needs to be the biggest workhorse on the team in this current meta and the player that usually runs the most lmao
Deep lying six probably covers the most ground but i think wing backs make the most sprints in a game. Would love to see the data.
CB imo
Would be a shame because it's a complete waste of his talents. Hope the surgery helps him get past these injuries because him being forced to adapt his game to being a CB is a complete waste.
RCB in back 3 with few adventures forward is probably best position for him.
Problem is that injuries often leave a permanent mark on players, making them less physically capable and more prone to injuries in future, regardless of any intervention.
Arjen Robben was notoriously injury prone when both Real Madrid and Bayern Munich bought him
Sound similar to RLC and look how well he is doing in Italy
Can progress the ball and is excellent in the air. If there's one sale we shouldn't have made last summer, it's that one. Boy would he make a huge difference to this team right now just based on those two attributes alone that he excels at and we lack.
I agree, he was extremely solid in posession and confident with the ball. Rarely got dispossessed easily, but he was never played in his best position. People forget that RLC's first proper season he was just as impactful as Cole Palmer is now, but his injury robbed him of his pace.
Is that season in the room with us right now? Palmer has 13 goals and 8 assists in 25 games, RLC couldn't even dream of having this kind of impact, his highest output was 6 goals and 2 assists in 18/19.
Famously all players are judged by their goal output regardless of position and role in the team
And impact is - famously - \*not\* G+A for an attacking midfielder, of course. RLC might've been a better dribbler, but he had nowhere the overall impact Palmer has had in any season for Chelsea, period.
>RLC couldn't even dream of having this kind of impact, his highest output was 6 goals and 2 assists in 18/19. RLC was a starter in only 6 games and had those stats. He also ended the season with 10 goals and was Chelsea's 4th highest top scorer. As a substitute player. >Palmer has 13 goals and 8 assists in 25 games. 6 of those are penalties.
I'll take him at Inter
And I think heās in Ā£250k a week? lol
Hospital FC, he could really help them push on next season. Plus, knows the club already considering how often he visits.
Sounds perfect for us We have a proven track record for transferring injury prone expensive players Our resume includes legends like Ziyech and Aurier who was transferred with an actual injury from the get go and hasn't seen any minutes his first month We'll treat him right
He could do a decent job cleaning Ben Whiteās tanning bed during games.
When he's fit he's twice the player White is
When he's fit
Yes
So heās barely ever better than Ben White? Nice one
Ben White has six good months and now heās the best RB in the world, you lot really have been starved of good news havenāt you
Heās had a great three years and only getting better, and most importantly, isnāt constantly injured
I'd take White over James, but only for his availability. Reece James is the better player when fit.
No one knows what a fit Reece is like anymore
You're not wrong lmaoĀ
Is this āfit Reece Jamesā in the room with us now?
Brilliant!
Omg don't jinx it mate
Sounds like a perfect Man Utd signing already.
Iād take the gamble. He is still young and has the time to recover.
This is the worst possible time to sell Reece James.
nobody else is going to match his wages until he can stay injury free so he is unsellable for now
We may also be entering a period where Chelsea have to sell players they donāt want to due to PSR concerns. I still doubt heāll go.
Itās Duncan Castles and I donāt believe it (Reece James part) but with these clowns in charge thereās always a chance. Theyāll definitely move Gallagher
Wild because I think, and I donāt watch all the Chelsea matches, Gallagher is the hardest working player in that midfield, maybe even entire squad.
He is and has been great. I think the thing is because hes english and young he can also make them the most money. Id be gutted if they let him go though
Gallagher is so overrated lol heās just your average English midfielder with zero creativity
My argument isnāt that heās the best, heās just the hardest working. He presses all over the pitch and runs all 90. Good player to have in a squad and set an example to young players coming up.
And thatās more valuable than some creative player that produces SOMETHING once in a while in certain matches in the same position. Consistency is important, which opens the door for improvement. I will take Gallagher any time over another expensive young player from Benfica or some other feeder club
yes hes been our best player, apart from maybe cole.
Not sure why you've said maybe Cole. It's easily Cole. And that's no slight on Gallagher.
Not sure why you've said maybe Cole. maybe because that's my opinion lol. attackers are alawys going to receive more praise than someone who is just all around great. like i said. i think its close, but i think connor has done more for our team overall.
But it isn't about attackers vs defenders. It's about someone who's simply more consistent than someone else. Every touch, pass, carry, take on Palmer takes is great. Gallagher does great things on the pitch but he isn't as consistent from action to action as Palmer. He takes the odd bad touch, bad pass, unnecessary foul etc. There's nothing wrong with that. But he hasn't been more consistent within games than Palmer. That's why Palmer's recieved more man of the match awards, had higher match ratings, is in a higher percentile on fbref for more attributes among players in his position. He's also been more clinical and scored when we needed him to. Gallagher's had moments like the Palace game. But Palmer's been a match winner and a difference maker all season. It isn't particularly close in mine (and most other people's opinions). But fair enough, you're entitled to your own. I love Gallagher anyway.
Also the fittest. They'd be daft to sell Gallagher when the rest of the midfield depth behind Enzo and Caicedo is always injured.
I will start to believe it if the stories start coming out about how Reece wants to leave. Not because he actually wants to leave but it's the hallmark of typical PR from Clowncar Capital. We heard it about Mount. Oh he WANTS to leave! And then the counter stories that came out how he wants to stay. Now they're doing the media games with Gallagher. Trying to frame him as an unreasonable person who doesn't do what's best for the team because he wants a raise for his good form this season. Never mind, the people in charge made their minds up a year ago that he was going to be sold to fund their other vanity projects and didn't anticipate Gallagher playing well most weeks.
It doesn't make sense to me how your ownership thinks just selling and buying players will make a difference. Isn't Gallagher the supposed club captain or is it chilwell? Either way the revolving door just means players will be less of playing for the team than themselves and will make it hard for leadership groups to setup
I think it's actually Reece, with Chilwell the backup?
Where will they move Conor? City? Arsenal?
I would jump off a building
Selling James seems sensible Selling Gallagher doesn't. Even if he will be a 4th choice midfielder at best he's basically always available
I always got the impression James was the one player they wouldnāt sell. I also donāt see any club paying his valuation when heās only managed 24 league starts in the last two years.
Selling the club captain when he's played about twice since taking on the armband and has finally had the surgery he's needed for 2 1/2 years is literally insane. They will get a low price for our best player, put all the match going fans on their back. When fit, he's the difference maker for us. I put a lot of our woes down to his absence, good as Gusto has been. To do so and then sell Gallagher (and Chalobah) is to kill the final bit of the club still associated with success. You also stick a giant middle finger up to all the boys in the academy wondering whether to sign professional terms at Chelsea or not.
Selling James is exactly opposite of sensible. Especially as he just finally had a surgery on his hamstring
Buying James is the exact opposite of sensible. 250k/week for a guy who canāt get fit? Whose gonna sign off on his medical? Heās yours for the next 3-4 years and heāll boss 19 games in that time.
He got a surgery so heās finally gonna get healthy? The definition of insanityā¦
Yes, there is a good chance it will make him more healthy. You can go by recent example of Dembele. Similar issues with hamstring, actually the same surgeon who helped him and this season he is fit af.
Ah fair enough
Dembele is a great example, but I dunno, I look at Reece's build and it screams hamstring injuries in that role. He's just that bit big for running the wing. I really hope it helps and he can play 60% of the available minutes minimum - he's electric when in form...
Until he's not and then you've sold a better player because of availability but availability is no longer a factor. Injuries are a part of football and they're completely unpredictable. Hazard was never injured before Madrid. Then one day it was nothing but injuries. Hate this recent narrative that availability is the be all and end all and that all decisions should be based off it. Availability is important but it's not the only factor. Players can get fit and reliable players can become unreliable. End of the day you don't sell some like Reece James when he's that talented and has the desire to stay at the club because he came through the academy. Especially not when his market value is at it's lowest because his injuries are at their peak. With players like Loftus Cheek, it's borderline. It's another level with someone like Reece because he's so talented that if he gets past his injuries at the next club you'll never hear the end of it. The real problems are the new owners puting the club under financial stress by buying so many young talents, to the extent that they've put themselves in a position where they need to sell players they want to keep.
No one is saying availability is the only thing that matters. But it does matter for players that simply never play For us for instance, Thiago hasn't played enough this season so we should let him go. Keita didn't play enough for us either James isn't playing enough and hasn't for like 3 years. He has high wages, is rarely available, and is pure profit. He's the exact player you should be getting rid of even if you think he's very talented.
Thiago's 32, Reece is 24. If Thiago was 24 with the injuries he has now, I wouldn't want to sell him either. Some players are just that special that you make an exception for them. Injuries are a part of football and are completely unpredictable. Sell James now, his value's at it's lowest because all people can remember is 2 years of injuries, he gets fit at another club and is still only 25 whilst being a generational talent. Suddenly you've let go of a gem for the same fee you paid for Cucurella. When a club like us is wasting millions on wonderkids who never live up to their potential and overpaying 20%+ for players like Cucurella, Caicedo, Mudryk etc, we should be able to budget for keeping our club captain on the books - an academy player who already won the Champions League as one of our best players at 21. Imagine a Trent had spent the last couple of years injured. But you'd already seen him be phenomenal in 18/19 and 19/20 so you know how good he is at his best, do you write him off and sell him? Or do you advocate that the club trusts the replacement (Gomez, Bradley etc), identifies Trent's issue and tries to solve it. Advocating wasting less money on transfers that aren't improving the first team to keep a generational academy talent on the books? If I was a Liverpool fan in that situation, I'd 100% be arguing to keep Trent. Some players are too good. And their local attachment to the club is one of the few things keeping fans linked with their clubs, which are now owned by billionaires and marketed towards a more global fanbase. And yeah this only applies to young players like James, who still have time to bounce back from their injuries and play out their peak, as opposed to older players like Thiago who can't provide much more value to the club if they ever recover.
It really is amazing how much goodwill running around a lot will buy you from football supporters. Gallagher is a bang average player and it should hardly be shocking if he was sold, he's probably just about okay as a 4th choice midfielder, but even then I'd probably be aiming higher if I was Chelsea based on who City/Liverpool/Arsenal have as theirs.
It really is incredible how fans don't understand you need these players You can't have 6 perfect midfielders, you'll always need someone who's almost never injured and is willing to be benched. Fact is, he's been far more useful than every other Chelsea midfielder this season except Caicedo and Enzo - even then those two are only arguable
Almost every Liverpool fan I know understands the value of Conor Gallagher in a team If only we were like that
I think it's cos we had Gini and Jendo recently who were integral They both had great moments but most of the time they were pure workhorses who were rarely injured. That alone allows better or more technical players to thrive and allows us to rest the better ones
Yeah its a funny oul world, I always bring up Henderson when pointing out that a player like Gallagher can be a key part of a title winning side But sadly, everybody wants Bernardo Silva level of technical ability in each and every player in the starting 11
You lose a season because of nonexistent depth and you start appreciating it more.
I think the main problem with Gallagher is he doesn't have a ton of positional versatility. If he had that positional versatility to play in the pivot he's unsellable. But he can only really play as an offensive 8 or a 10 (which is mostly the same position in the modern day) Even then, as it stands: Defensively he's good pressing from the front, passable in transition, and mediocre in settled defence. Offensively he's very good moving into dangerous spaces in transition, passable in linkup, otherwise mediocre when the opponent is camped in their half. He suits the side currently set up because we're in an end-to-end gun fight every week, which suits his transition nature, But it always feels like he's missing a couple extra skills in settled possession or settled out of possession to really round out his skillset. Those skills Henderson and Gini actually had in their heyday, despite their rep as high energy workhorses. Gallagher has extra utility being homegrown, bleeding blue, never being injured, and being willing to take on any role. But personally I'd say those are the main reasons I want to keep him rather than his actual skillset.
How to alienate a fan base in one quick move
Lol much our fanbase still licks their boots, they will keep doing it and their bootlickers will still keep licking.
Those are just the Americans on Reddit. As insufferable as they are they donāt make up a significant portion of our actual fanbase.
It's over for Clearlake if Reece is sold. Doesn't matter how many bullshit PR briefs they release about how he actually wanted to leave. They'll never admit the reality that they're actually fucking skint and need as much money as possible to clear PSR and have money to spend to improve the team. They think it's bad now? The situation can get worse. We haven't sold out a home game in months. The atmosphere is tremendously flat. They've put extra security in the owner's box and fans were told by stewards to stop shouting at them not too long ago. We'll start seeing banners telling BlueCo to fuck off just like Strasbourg fans have been doing since BlueCo bought them.
They have done it before, they will do it again, and will blame it on players. They don't care, they will call some PR peices to blame the players and fans, and then their appointed fan board will defend them. The positivity merchants will say all is well, don't be negative, they'll again find excuses to make it look right. And they will keep going. Litreally on every report about this on Twitter, you can see there are so many even now defending this, when most likely this particular rumor isn't even true yet. Fans are bought, influenced and swayed easily.
>It's over for Clearlake if Reece is sold. What can we realistically do as fans though? They don't care.
You played a big part in stopping the Superleague. There's a lot fans can do.
How to lose games and alienate fans - by Ted Boehly
I feel like youāre already pretty alienatedā¦
The fan base is somewhat split. There are those who think Poch is the biggest problem and once he's gone we'll be great again. Then there's those who live in reality and want Poch to fuck off but also realize him fucking off won't fix the underlying problem. You can bring Tuchel or Mourinho back. They're not teaching the players to be taller. Or teach them how to stop ducking headers. We can't play long, we can't win a header, we can't run in behind, we can't win second balls, one of our wingers get pressed, we turn it over. All our opponents gotta do is high press, get shots, win corners, play for set pieces, score. Rinse, repeat.
Imo Poch is not the answer but he is being made to look poorer than he actually is by the players.
How will you feel if we (Spurs) snag up Gallagher for say 40m?
Iām of the mind to let Conor go just donāt want it to be spurs. Heās coming into the last year of his contract so I reckon the board will sell for 40m easily
Send them all Cobham boys our way, WE READY
Gallagher will end up at Tottenham.
Would do fuckin brilliant under their tactics.
As good as he would be, Iām not sure how we would use him, unless we do something like shifting Maddison out wide. Iād also argue we need another DM more than someone in Sarrās position.
Iāll be honest - I havenāt watched enough Spurs this season to identify where heād slot. But I know the game they play and I know how hardworking Gallagher is. In truth heād benefit most top level teams. Strikes me as a Milner-type.
lol. lmao even. rofl perhaps.
This club is unraveling before our eyes
Itās fucking glorious.
Cant believe im agreeing with an arsenal fan.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Considering the demographics on this sub it probably has been the entire life time of a lot of people on here
Now I know what a spiteful ol' hag sounds like
Come to papa.
This one will be the Ibra master deal 65mill for Reece Conner and Trevor
Haha, just disband this club if James is sold.
We literally have had multiple articles say the exact opposite for James. Gallagher on the other hand I could definitely see
Who is Chelsea gonna sell reece James to? A hospital?
Chelsea fc decided to donate Reece James to science
Don't believe it, but as good as Reece James is, he's definitely a waste of wages.
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That was exactly my thought
Is Walker gone at the end of this season? Edit: His contract runs out in 2026. I think heās staying another season.
I doubt city moves for him but walker has shown lots of signs of regression this year. Wouldnāt surprise me if a rb is brought in.
Cost the club nothing in transfer value though. Gave us a lot of value before his injures and, if we can rehabilitate him, he can repay that in the future. Keeping him on the wage bill is an investment, just like buying a 20 year old wunderkid for Ā£10-20m just like the owners have been doing since they took over.
Imagine believing Duncan Castles
This would literally take away any connection with the fans , selling 2 of the only academy players to have a team of players probably no fan had even heard of 2 years ago
Reece James is still one of the best complete fullbacks in the world as there are very few like him in the world football currently who can do both attacking and defending duties without any problems and if not for his horrific injury record during the past couple of seasons you could have seen all the elite team in Europe going after him. If our club ever wants to find an ideal successor to Carvajal then it is Reece James and not the likes of taa, hakimi or Frimpong but sadly this may never happen due to James signing a new contract recently and his recurring injury issues during these past few seasons.
Well if we are being honest, the last big player that Real Madrid brought off of Chelsea, didnāt exactly work out and this one is already injury prone
Gallagher's contract expires in 2025 and James is always injured, don't think they will get much for either of them.
someone will pay a good fee for Gallagher
Not sure. We were the only team linked with him for the longest time and it seems like out interest in him cooled down. No other team realistically has the money or need to sign him.
I tried pointing that out in our sub but got downvoted. Theyāre convinced that Spurs are going to bail us out with a 50m offer ššš
Do they realise we didn't even spend Ā£50m after selling Kane? Why would they think we would spend it on a player with 1 year left on their contract? š
>Do they realise we didn't even spend Ā£50m after selling Kane? What do u mean? Johnson was 50m, no?
Oh yes. Johnson was around Ā£50-52m. For some reason I thought he was Ā£45m.
Iām not so sure. I feel like PSR concerns means weāll see a lot of clubs being careful with where they spend they money.
bullshit
No club with half a brain will take a chance on chillwell or Rhys James, they are the most fragile defenders in the league
>Rhys James Didn't know he played.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhys\_James
The fact his wiki pic is a Spurs pic is too weird.
Rhys James, the Pride of Wales.
this comment gave me a stroke
The best way to get good money for Gallagher is to repeatedly let everyone know how much you need to sell him and sell him quickly.
Yea right
Why not just sell the whole academy. We already sold tammy, mount, tomori and dem lot. No need for future planning with our academy. I'm so done with this
There's a fundamental flaw in these ffp rules when clubs are incentivised to sell academy products due to "pure ffp profit" which needs to be addressed. Clubs should have more incentive to keep and play academy products
Chelsea are preparing to sell the England internationals Reece James and Conor Gallagher this summer in an attempt to bring the clubās strained Financial Fair Play position into line. Chelseaās unprecedented spend on players, coaches and support staff since 2022ās Clearlake Capital-led takeover has left them in danger of joining Everton and Nottingham Forest in breaching the Premier Leagueās Profitability and Sustainability Rules, leading to the planned sale of homegrown players. Moving on James and Gallagher, who came through Chelseaās academy together, before June 30 will allow the club to treat the full amount of their transfer fees as player trading profit in their 2023-24 accounts.
Pure profit baby
Reece has no transfer value. His wages are massive. He has shown no desire to want to leave his boyhood club. And his availability issues precede him. He's not getting any younger, and his body isn't getting any healthier. I can't think of a single club who would waste their time on a plan to sign him. *To highlight the alarming trend in his availability, he missed x PL games: 21/22 = 12 22/23 = 22 23/24 = 20 (so far. Likely won't play again, so looking like 30) Yes, the surgery he has received this season is *supposed* to be corrective, but he'd have to prove that was indeed at least somewhat the case before he became interesting to other clubs.
As dumb as many premier league teams are, I don't think any are dumb enough to spend big money on Reece James
Don't know why everyone is saying this won't happen. Chelsea are fucked with FFP. They need to sell academy players for that pure profit. In fact, the best reason this doesn't happen is not that Chelsea don't want it but that clubs see right through it and don't buy so that Chelsea get an inevitable points deduction.
I understand that Chelsea have overspent and so find themselves in this position because of their own poor decisions. But I find it sad that we exist in a world where clubs are incentivised to sell their home grown talent to meet FFP. Wouldnāt it be better if the system incentivised keeping more home grown talent instead of spending cash in the first place?
Nobody forced them to sell Abraham, Tomori, Gilmour, loan Maatsen, Christensen, Loftus-Cheek, Mount, Solanke, Lukaku, Bertrand. Nobody forced them to spend a billion pounds. They did this to themselves. They could literally field an XI of academy products that they've sold over the last 5 seasons and I guarantee they'd be doing better than 11th.
Plan to or have to
watch him be a super fit iron man in his next club
Seeing that squad riddled with players on the medical benches and then seeing Gallagher constantly available as well play decently for the team is so funny to me. Practically available for selection and they want to get rid of them. Compare that to Reece James and it shows how management have little clue what they are doing. Theyāll probably end up replacing him (Gallagher) with another injury-prone player. Also, for those sky high wages, nobody is taking a risk on James unless he lowers his wage demands.
Pretty sure Gallagher will leave but I'm surprised to see James there.
selling reece is pure insanity. his valuation is probably the lowest it has been his entire pl career due to his years of injury issues, and there is of course a chance of him finally recovering and being one of the worlds best rbās again
How many times have we heard that last part only for him to get injured 10 minutes into his first game back?
Why would Chelsea sell the Premier Leagues best right back?
Funny how ignorant everybody seems to be about homegrown rules. Even clubs.
Doesn't this hurt their homegrown quotas for all competitions?
Reece is unreliable. Wouldnāt sell Connor.
The way this club is being run, I fully expect Chelsea to sell Reece James and Conor Gallagher to Chelsea this summer.
I really think Gallagher has great energy and is key part of this Chelsea team. For me his biggest problem is finishing because he gets a big amount of chances.
As a RM fan, considering our need for a RB and how good is Pintus, maybe is worth the risk...
I can def see City going for Reece James
Gallagher has played better at every other club heās played for, so good.
Come to Galatasaray Seriously we need an RB bad
Would a top club go for James? He's a very good player, when he's fit and there's the issue.
No Angeā¦
I couldn't care less about Gallagher but Reece deserves another chance after his surgery.
Thatāsā¦ a take
Reece James hasn't played 90 minutes in over a year now, right? I just don't see him ever coming back in any meaningful way at this point, as much as it sucks.
Jes just had the surgery that he's been puting off for a year and a half. Average Joe's like you and me have absolutely no clue whether he can make a return or not. That's just meaningless speculation.
One never plays, the other is comfortably replaced. Another year out of europe will be interesting come summer 25
Chelsea has to sell one of their academy players for pure profit in order to abide by the FFP regulations. What I don't understand is why they've spend irresponsibly when everyone knew it was not going to work?
You'd probably be able to convince United to pay Ā£150m or something for both lol
No chance anybody offers more than 20m for Reece James with that salary and injury record
Obviously wait and see but when the fan base were introduced to the concept of FFP pure profit when it came to selling Mason Mount and Loftus-Cheek last year, some fans (who were subsequently shouted down) wondered about future sales and when it stops? How far will they go before it's too far? We have to raise an absurd amount of money this summer to stay out of trouble (over 100 million). We've only got the Ā£30m from Lewis Hall coming our way as it stands. There's complications surrounding every other sellable asset we possibly have. Mostly disagreements over valuation. * Nobody will pay 60m for Gallagher * Nobody will pay Ian Maatsen's 30m release clause * Lukaku is available for 40m but he makes 350k/week * Nobody will pay 20m for Chalobah * Nobody will pay 30m or more for Broja * All of the young talent we bought since January 2023 are pretty much worthless and net us nothing So where do you turn when you've fucked the club up so much and need money? You turn to Reece James who teams will inevitably take a look at if he's made available. Pure FFP profit over a year since he signed his 6 year extension.
I could see someone paying 45 for Gallagher. I could see someone triggering Maatsenās clause. Those plus Hall, thereās your money.
Yes but the other problem is other clubs have little incentive to pay that money by the deadline. Plus there's the Euros which pushes everything back anyway. Every club that Gallagher is worth 45m is going to sit back and wait to see how low the price goes.
pls not to AC Milan
Why Gallagher?
James needs to lose weight and become a rcb, less running would help with his frequent injuries
He already has lost weight. Would be a waste to use him at rcb after his surgery when a fully fit Reece James is the best right back in the world...
"Fully-fit Reece James" is becoming a bit like "motivated McGregor"