Transfer Talk Topic

[Sciatika]

If we wanted Toney in January, it might be better to get him now while the price is low. Transfermarkt reckons his value has dropped from £50m to £35m. Not sure how true that is. His wages are rumoured to be quite low. In playing terms, he would only be unavailable for five of the eight months. There should always be the possibility of redemption.

[Sleeping Dave]

If we go into the season with Kepa in goal and Jackson/Broja as our only strikers our season is effectively over before it even started. 

I pray we are not looking at any scenario were that is even remotely likely to happen…. 

[Chelsea_Matt]

11 minutes ago, Sleeping Dave said:

If we go into the season with Kepa in goal and Jackson/Broja as our only strikers our season is effectively over before it even started. 

I pray we are not looking at any scenario were that is even remotely likely to happen…. 

If we play with one No9, how many do we need? Can’t Nkunku play there too? 

[Ham]

14 minutes ago, Sleeping Dave said:

If we go into the season with Kepa in goal and Jackson/Broja as our only strikers our season is effectively over before it even started. 

I pray we are not looking at any scenario were that is even remotely likely to happen…. 

Kepa was most certainly not the problem last season. 

[thevelourfog]

Can we have some signings to save us all from the same 3 arguments over and over again, please Todd?

[boratsbrother]

City wouldn't dream of signing Toney! I also very much doubt Arsenal, Utd or even Spurs would touch him with a barge pole. 

Us signing him because he'd be cheap is not the way for us to get back to competing with the top teams! Best to keep our money until we can identify and sign a striker who would be a significant upgrade and help us close that big gap.

Edited July 14, 2023 by boratsbrother

[boratsbrother]

20 minutes ago, Ham said:

Kepa was most certainly not the problem last season. 

He was a part of the problem but certainly not one of our main problems.

[Bert19]

14 hours ago, Original 21 said:

Looking like Gusto was a sound investment…

 

I also genuinely cannot see how we'd be thinking of selling Trev if there's even a remote chance that Reece isn't over this knee thing given he's more than capable at RB. 

32 minutes ago, Ham said:

Kepa was most certainly not the problem last season. 

He was and is a problem though.  We can and should be looking to upgrade.  

[ROTG]

1 hour ago, Miguelito07 said:

I have read rumours that we may be in for Toney BUT in January (cos he's banned) so maybe we roll with those two till then?

Toney Just signed an new contract, so another player who will cost a fortune, Also even the TBSD are not foolish enough to a player who ban ends on 16-Jan-24

[ROTG]

41 minutes ago, Chelsea_Matt said:

If we play with one No9, how many do we need? Can’t Nkunku play there too? 

Are the No.9 we have good enough to lead the line in the PL and are they really Poch type players?

[Holymoly]

37 minutes ago, Ham said:

Kepa was most certainly not the problem last season. 

Totally agree. Some people just have a total lack of connection with Kepa in the same way was the case with Jorginho. Others have bought into the media narrative that a keeper with such a large price tag turned out to be so "ordinary" and has extrapolated that into him being shite. The truth is that very few keepers in any generation are consistently "the greatest in the world". Look at the mistakes Buffon, Neuer or even Cech made in their time. I well remember people on these forums crying out for Petr's removal. The bottom line is that Kepa is not a giant at 6'1" and so can give the visual impression of being weak. The truth is he's a good keeper. Maybe not a great keeper but he has never been protected by a fully functioning defense. His position is not a transfer priority at this stage.

[Holymoly]

11 minutes ago, ROTG said:

Also even the TBSD are not foolish enough

What's with the continual use of this acronym? Why not just accept at this point they are  the decision of Chelsea FC. You're beginning to sound like a disgruntled United or 'Pool supporter.

[paulw66]

1 hour ago, Sleeping Dave said:

If we go into the season with Kepa in goal and Jackson/Broja as our only strikers our season is effectively over before it even started. 

I pray we are not looking at any scenario were that is even remotely likely to happen…. 

What, in your mind, quantifies the season being over? What does a good season look like?

In Kepa's first two seasons, where he was first choice, we finished 3rd and 4th. Would take that next season

[Chelsea_Matt]

29 minutes ago, ROTG said:

Are the No.9 we have good enough to lead the line in the PL and are they really Poch type players?

Who knows? We’ll find out I guess. 

[martin1905]

17 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

What, in your mind, quantifies the season being over? What does a good season look like?

In Kepa's first two seasons, where he was first choice, we finished 3rd and 4th. Would take that next season

Don't bother Paul, I've mentioned this numerous times and it just gets ignored.

Out of the 5 seasons he has been here, three of them his was first choice, we finished 3rd, 4th and 12th but I think even his biggest critics wouldn't put much blame on him for last season. It could be argued that it was possibly his best season so he's actually better than the two years when we finished 3rd and 4th yet the team Infront of him was utterly shambolic.

Whatever people want to say about him has has 100% proved he is good enough for a team to finish in the top four. I mean, it's an actual fact.

Most importantly for me, even when he was benched for two seasons, he has stayed loyal, got his head down, never complained and got on with his job. Compare that to the rats of last season and it's almost enough on it's own.

[ROTG]

33 minutes ago, Holymoly said:

What's with the continual use of this acronym? Why not just accept at this point they are  the decision of Chelsea FC. You're beginning to sound like a disgruntled United or 'Pool supporter.

Am I bothered?

BTW - the club refers to Winstanley & Co as the Sports Department 

[ROTG]

32 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

What, in your mind, quantifies the season being over? What does a good season look like?

In Kepa's first two seasons, where he was first choice, we finished 3rd and 4th. Would take that next season

I would suspect it more towards the striking  or lack of striking options

[Chelsea_Matt]

16 minutes ago, martin1905 said:

Don't bother Paul, I've mentioned this numerous times and it just gets ignored.

Out of the 5 seasons he has been here, three of them his was first choice, we finished 3rd, 4th and 12th but I think even his biggest critics wouldn't put much blame on him for last season. It could be argued that it was possibly his best season so he's actually better than the two years when we finished 3rd and 4th yet the team Infront of him was utterly shambolic.

Whatever people want to say about him has has 100% proved he is good enough for a team to finish in the top four. I mean, it's an actual fact.

Most importantly for me, even when he was benched for two seasons, he has stayed loyal, got his head down, never complained and got on with his job. Compare that to the rats of last season and it's almost enough on it's own.

I think any fair-minded person would agree. 

[Morgs]

Important to understand though that the seasons he was first choice and we finished 3 and 4, he was being coached by Christophe Lollichon who is and was widely regarded as one of the top goalkeeping coaches on the planet. 

With respect to (Hilario?) there may be a coaching angle at play here too. 

[Morgs]

I think the thinking behind not replacing Kepa is thus:

1 - he is still not the finished article and did show some improvement last season. Can his mistakes on covering those long shots be coached out of him? Very possibly, yes. 

2 - will he be better protected by a more stable and better coached back line this season? Undoubtedly so. 

3 - If you are going to replace him, it needs to be with someone truly elite. Do Maignan, Onana, Pickford et al qualify on this score? No. And you'll never bring in a Courtois/Neuer/Donnarumma sort of level keeper while we don't have CL football.  We cannot replace him with anyone meaningfully better as we simply cannot attract players of that calibre and anyone we take a punt on will cost 60, 70, 80m+ which isn't really where we are at, strategy wise. 

 

[Mark Kelly]

1 hour ago, boratsbrother said:

City wouldn't dream of signing Toney! I also very much doubt Arsenal, Utd or even Spurs would touch him with a barge pole. 

Us signing him because he'd be cheap is not the way for us to get back to competing with the top teams! Best to keep our money until we can identify and sign a striker who would be a significant upgrade and help us close that big gap.

I wouldn't touch him either , not good enough , stats are padded with penalties. He only looks good to Chelsea because unlike our players he has actually scored before.

[Sleeping Dave]

1 hour ago, paulw66 said:

What, in your mind, quantifies the season being over? What does a good season look like?

In Kepa's first two seasons, where he was first choice, we finished 3rd and 4th. Would take that next season

Come on Paul. You know exactly what I mean. If we go in with those three key positions being covered by said players then you know just as well as I do that we aren’t getting even close to competing for a top four. 

It would be a massive disappointment if we discard Havertz, Mount, Pulisic and Lukaku only to replace them with Nkunku, Madueke, Mudryk, Jackson and Broja. 

This is a ridiculous squad to go with for 23/24:

GK: Arrizabalaga

M: Enzo, Caicedo, Gallagher, Santos, Hall

AM: Nkunku, Mudryk, Madueke, Sterling

S: Jackson, Broja

Even assuming we get Caicedo, we are definitely one quality striker, AM and GK short to be a serious contender for top four. 

[ROTG]

29 minutes ago, Morgs said:

Important to understand though that the seasons he was first choice and we finished 3 and 4, he was being coached by Christophe Lollichon who is and was widely regarded as one of the top goalkeeping coaches on the planet

Unfortunately he was coach by Massimo Nenci who was part of Sarri team, Hilario only coached him during franks first stint

Christophe Lollichon was already the director of football coaching and did not coach on a daily basis, it was Lollichon and Cech who pushed for Mendy.

Edited July 14, 2023 by ROTG

[Sleeping Dave]

 

 

2 hours ago, Chelsea_Matt said:

If we play with one No9, how many do we need? Can’t Nkunku play there too? 

In the scenario you describe, at least a top class striker who will bang em in. I’m not seeing him at the club currently. Jackson is a fine back-up to said striker. But he isn’t that striker now. It would be madness, and very unfair on Jackson, to expect him to hit it off from day one and be a reliable source for league goals and goal contributions. To gamble that Jackson will suddenly be that player during this season is crazy. We need to get back to top four ASAP. Having goal scorers is not a ‘nice to have’ if top four is your aim. It’s ‘must have’. 
 

1 hour ago, Bert19 said:

I also genuinely cannot see how we'd be thinking of selling Trev if there's even a remote chance that Reece isn't over this knee thing given he's more than capable at RB. 

He was and is a problem though.  We can and should be looking to upgrade.  

First bit, quite. We can’t sell Chalobah. Both from a numbers perspective but also from a quality perspective. Next summer is the summer to really make a call between Maatsen, Chalobah, Colwill and Gusto. But defense is now finally somewhere. It took us the better part of 12 months to rebuild it and boy did we. Let that part some time to settle. 

Second bit, been done to death. But yes, exactly that. Not a problem as GK2. 

Edited July 14, 2023 by Sleeping Dave

[Lump Of Celery]

17 minutes ago, Morgs said:

If you are going to replace him, it needs to be with someone truly elite. Do Maignan, Onana, Pickford et al qualify on this score? No. And you'll never bring in a Courtois/Neuer/Donnarumma sort of level keeper while we don't have CL football.  We cannot replace him with anyone meaningfully better as we simply cannot attract players of that calibre and anyone we take a punt on will cost 60, 70, 80m+ which isn't really where we are at, strategy wise. 

Agree with this, particularly that there arent many upgrades available. He is now into the last 2 years of his contract too so we need to start planning if we will renew him on a 1st choice keeper salary, or look for a top class replacement this summer or next. Not sure what our plan for the keeper 2 slot is this season either, seems a waste to have Slolina there unless we genuinely think he can push for No1. Could do with a Willy Caballero type signing tbh, not sure who fits the bill

Also agree with the other posters saying Kepa is fine for where we are right now, should be good enough for Top 4