Transfer Talk Topic

[ROTG]

1 minute ago, martin1905 said:

Who cares, he not really a problem on the forward path.

[martin1905]

1 minute ago, ROTG said:

Who cares, he not really a problem on the forward path.

I'd imagine most people, or at least most Chelsea fans care.

I'd have thought you would too, your TBSD have done an outrageous job so far, shifting all the dead wood for a huge amount of money and getting an astronomical amount of wages off the books, you've got to admit nobody in their wildest dreams would have thought we'd have been able to get rid of who we have for the money we have, especially this early on in the window.

Soon be time for the incomings, if they do half as good a job as they have so far we should be looking  pretty good for the start of the season.

[ROTG]

20 minutes ago, martin1905 said:

I'd imagine most people, or at least most Chelsea fans care.

I'd have thought you would too, your TBSD have done an outrageous job so far, shifting all the dead wood for a huge amount of money and getting an astronomical amount of wages off the books, you've got to admit nobody in their wildest dreams would have thought we'd have been able to get rid of who we have for the money we have, especially this early on in the window.

Soon be time for the incomings, if they do half as good a job as they have so far we should be looking  pretty good for the start of the season.

Yes. 
If you are right it will cost me a few Bob for the  site up keep

if I am right going to cost me a few extra shillings for the site, which I am more than happy to pay. 
 

project 2030 R Us 

Edited July 17, 2023 by ROTG

[Rob B]

7 minutes ago, martin1905 said:

I'd imagine most people, or at least most Chelsea fans care.

I'd have thought you would too, your TBSD have done an outrageous job so far, shifting all the dead wood for a huge amount of money and getting an astronomical amount of wages off the books, you've got to admit nobody in their wildest dreams would have thought we'd have been able to get rid of who we have for the money we have, especially this early on in the window.

Soon be time for the incomings, if they do half as good a job as they have so far we should be looking  pretty good for the start of the season.

Mason Mount aside - which is clearly a more complex one that we’ll never know the full story - the Owners / Sporting Directors have done a bloody brilliant job with our clear out so far

If someone would have said 3 months ago that by the time the team board the plane for the US Tour,  the futures of Mendy, Koulibaly, Havertz, Kovacic, Zakaira, Felix, Pulisic, Rahman, RLC, Kante, Bakayoko, DD Fofana and Azpillcueta would all be sorted, I’d have never believed it.  And it looks like Ampadu, CHO, Aubameyang, Ziyech and Lukaku to follow. 

Now I don’t necessarily agree with every single one, but they have acted decisively, and negotiated some great fees.

We just need 2-3 good additions and a few back from injury and I’d say we’re miles ahead of the curve in terms of expectations for this summer. 

[ROTG]

1 minute ago, Rob B said:

curve in terms of expectations for this summer. 

So what are you expectations for the coming season?

[Floyd25]

53 minutes ago, Original 21 said:

We’ve stripped the midfield to the bare bones. Unless we’re going on a buying spree this makes no sense.

We’ve read rumours all window so far about how the club are keen on selling Gallagher, but you’re right, it makes no sense, have this board not heard of depth? Bizarre. 

[Floyd25]

5 minutes ago, Rob B said:

the Owners / Sporting Directors have done a bloody brilliant job with our clear out so far

Agree with that, but they need to make big strides in terms of midfield signings and ease off on the ideas of selling Gallagher and Chalobah, selling those two at this point would be nonsense. 

[Rob B]

1 minute ago, ROTG said:

So what are you expectations for the coming season?

My quote says expectations for the summer - by that I meant how quickly we have shipped out the dead wood etc.  Many people (myself included) thought it would be much more difficult. 

But seeing as you asked, if we sign Caicedo I would expect us to finish in & around the Top 6.  If we sign an elite-level first choice striker and GK, then Top 4.   Arsenal and Man City aside, I really don’t look any of the opposition teams/squad with fear or envy. 

[Rob B]

1 minute ago, Floyd25 said:

Agree with that, but they need to make big strides in terms of midfield signings and ease off on the ideas of selling Gallagher and Chalobah, selling those two at this point would be nonsense. 

Totally agree - Ziyech, Lukaku, Auba can all leave, but much more outside of that (and certainly anyone from last year’s squad) will be going too far! 

[martin1905]

1 minute ago, Rob B said:

My quote says expectations for the summer - by that I meant how quickly we have shipped out the dead wood etc.  Many people (myself included) thought it would be much more difficult. 

But seeing as you asked, if we sign Caicedo I would expect us to finish in & around the Top 6.  If we sign an elite-level first choice striker and GK, then Top 4.   Arsenal and Man City aside, I really don’t look any of the opposition teams/squad with fear or envy. 

Bang on.

Top 4 is wide open, yes there are lots of teams vying for it but a good window, in terms of incomings, to continue the great work already done by the TBSD and we have as good a chance as any and better than most.

It's still completely up in the air and all hypothetical at the moment but it won't take much to get us there, it just HAS to be the right few players and I think we will get it right.

 

 

[chara]

A real cleaning of the stables task almost completed but I'm still left with many questions as to the root cause of the malaise that set in..or crept in.

Was the Mount fiasco part of the problem or a result of the problem? or a separate issue altogether.

Was it GP?,,TT ?,,,the HMG kamikaze attack?...... I do not blame Todd and co as they seemed to walk into a "difficult" situation and whilst not blame free for ongoing issues I think the rot was well and truly established before the sanctions appeared.

Why/how did the need for such a clear-out arise?

Will we ever know the truth?

 

[Blue Moon]

Perhaps it predates even that - possibly to the time when RA’s visa application was turned down? He seemed to lose interest at that point, and who could blame him. Lack of leadership does funny things to organisations… we can only speculate: the truth is an elusive lady.

[chara]

@Blue Moon.... Take your very valid point and I can see "backroom" Admin issues arising but the dressing room/playing issues are,as I see it..a step away from "the office" and I wonder how the poison filtered down or where it sourced...TT ?..Jorge went so quickly as did all the "clearout" group... what was the catalyst?

As you sayTruth is an elusive lady.

[xceleryx]

12 hours ago, Ham said:

Genuinely shocked we've sold him for so little. So much promise as a utility CM/DM. 

Surprised also that Poch didn't want to have a close look at him before shipping him out, given his reputation with young players. 

As someone that's seen a bit of him over the last few years playing in Serie A, he's just not good enough. Granted, he played quite a bit of football in defence, but even in midfield he's just not looked up to the sort of standard we need here - or where we'd thought he'd be after such a promising debut. 

Not really athletic or particularly dynamic as a whole, really struggles when attackers drive at him, and this put him in compromising positions where he ends up having to found extensively - hence the number of bookings he gets. A step down and a permanent home for at least the next few years is probably a good thing for him right now to try and reestablish himself. 

[xceleryx]

4 hours ago, Miguelito07 said:

erm....(if true) this is getting ridiculous now

This makes little sense. Not just from out position of being lite in midfield right now, but also given the fact Gallagher has continuously expressed his desire to be here. On top of this Everton were chasing him in January for around £40m, I find it hard to believe we'd willingly take near £10m less on a player who'd appeal to large portion of Premier League sides. 

[Michael Tucker]

14 minutes ago, xceleryx said:

This makes little sense. 

So what's new? From what I've been seeing, we're all over the shop. I miss Roman!

[xceleryx]

3 hours ago, chara said:

A real cleaning of the stables task almost completed but I'm still left with many questions as to the root cause of the malaise that set in..or crept in.

Was the Mount fiasco part of the problem or a result of the problem? or a separate issue altogether.

Was it GP?,,TT ?,,,the HMG kamikaze attack?...... I do not blame Todd and co as they seemed to walk into a "difficult" situation and whilst not blame free for ongoing issues I think the rot was well and truly established before the sanctions appeared.

Why/how did the need for such a clear-out arise?

Will we ever know the truth?

For me it's been a problem for years pre dating current ownerships time. If I had to put a date on it, I'd say around the end of Conte's first season being when things first started and that's progressively bleed into subsequent teams despite personnel change. We lost a lot of leadership once Terry, Cahill, Fabregas, Luis and so on all departed. Throw in never properly replacing Matic to this  day, then add we finally saw the crown jewel in Hazard sold, our only real remaining difference maker. These players really set the standard expected of a Chelsea team, without that influence and also quality the slide begun. 

We then never really addressed these matter properly in subsequent transfer windows. While we spent a lot of money, a lot of it was aimless and without any real proper planning or identity. In turn we failed to properly replace what we had, but also lacked a clear vision with respects to what direction we wanted to move forward in. Constant manager turnover hasn't helped either. So when we did spend on the likes of Pulisic, Werner, Havertz, Lukaku, Morata, Jorginho, etc none of it was cohesive. All thrive in different setups, and we often played football that worked against a lot of these players - many of whom all thrived in more open counter-attacking type systems where they could get into space. Instead we largely played slower build from the back possession football.

Then we've seen ourselves having to contend with a transfer ban, then the sanctions, the change of ownership, a frantic and under prepared last summer, a complete restructure of wages, the football department, and so on. 

Granted we managed to win a few things still in this time, the reality is that we've virtually been a glorified cup side for quite some time now with our domestic efforts being by large well off the pace required. This reset if you will was due. It may of course not work, but what we were doing prior wasn't going to put us in better of a situation either. If anything, it was going to get harder to maintain with the way the football landscape continues to change.

[xceleryx]

5 minutes ago, Michael Tucker said:

So what's new? From what I've been seeing, we're all over the shop. I miss Roman!

I meant more in the sense that the tweet itself is nonsense. 

[Michael Tucker]

1 minute ago, xceleryx said:

I meant more in the sense that the tweet itself is nonsense. 

Yes, I know!

[chara]

4 minutes ago, xceleryx said:

For me it's been a problem for years pre dating current ownerships time. If I had to put a date on it, I'd say around the end of Conte's first season being when things first started and that's progressively bleed into subsequent teams despite personnel change. We lost a lot of leadership once Terry, Cahill, Fabregas, Luis and so on all departed. Throw in never properly replacing Matic to this  day, then add we finally saw the crown jewel in Hazard sold, our only real remaining difference maker. These players really set the standard expected of a Chelsea team, without that influence and also quality the slide begun. 

We then never really addressed these matter properly in subsequent transfer windows. While we spent a lot of money, a lot of it was aimless and without any real proper planning or identity. In turn we failed to properly replace what we had, but also lacked a clear vision with respects to what direction we wanted to move forward in. Constant manager turnover hasn't helped either. So when we did spend on the likes of Pulisic, Werner, Havertz, Lukaku, Morata, Jorginho, etc none of it was cohesive. All thrive in different setups, and we often played football that worked against a lot of these players - many of whom all thrived in more open counter-attacking type systems where they could get into space. Instead we largely played slower build from the back possession football.

Then we've seen ourselves having to contend with a transfer ban, then the sanctions, the change of ownership, a frantic and under prepared last summer, a complete restructure of wages, the football department, and so on. 

Granted we managed to win a few things still in this time, the reality is that we've virtually been a glorified cup side for quite some time now with our domestic efforts being by large well off the pace required. This reset if you will was due. It may of course not work, but what we were doing prior wasn't going to put us in better of a situation either. If anything, it was going to get harder to maintain with the way the football landscape continues to change.

Good breakdown and analysis of the football side of the issues but we still are nowhere near understanding how things appeared to deteriorate in the squad moral and attitude.

The square peg argument or not playing to the strengths only goes so far

[Michael Tucker]

15 minutes ago, chara said:

we still are nowhere near understanding how things appeared to deteriorate in the squad moral and attitude.

Poor leadership from the very top.

[xceleryx]

2 minutes ago, chara said:

Good breakdown and analysis of the football side of the issues but we still are nowhere near understanding how things appeared to deteriorate in the squad moral and attitude.

The square peg argument or not playing to the strengths only goes so far

It all goes a little hand in hand. If the footballing side of things was run in a more structured and cohesive manner, that'll naturally reflect more on a personal level with respects to team moral and attitude. The overall environment helps sets the tone.

We've also seen a lot of change take place with how things are going to be run moving forward. I get the perception that we're being treated more like a business under Boehly and co than we did under Roman, the restructuring of wages being a big refection of that. Players aren't getting the sort of wages now that they may have previously done otherwise, that may not have gone down well with some (Mount?). We've also had our share of players having to play out of their preferred positions for years on end, eventually that can grow old for those in this situation. 

Then naturally when the team isn't performing well heads naturally drop and it's hard to maintain moral. 

There's also ramifications of how Boehly and co handled the managerial situation. This definitely created an unsettling environment, firstly through Tuchel's firing, then the hiring of an out of his depth Potter, then firing him and bring back a fan favourite in Lampard to try and inject a bit more positivity to see things out. 

At the same time we have to call a spade a spade and accept that we've had a lot of underperforming players that've had years to find their feet. 

Things were always going to get worse before they got better, that's not unnatural to see when change occurs and at the end of the day some personality types handle that better than others. I never felt the group we had were mentally tough enough, or even had the necessary attitude at times. We saw this on match days on far too many occasions, even before the displays of last season. 

[Chelsea_Matt]

7 hours ago, boratsbrother said:

We've got James and Forfana coming off the back of two successive injury hit seasons and injured yet again,  and Badiashile looking like he too has a body made of crisps. Three young players who we are relying on to take the club forward over the coming seasons, but what use are they going to be if they are constantly getting injured resulting in us having to keep playing with a patched up defence? If this keeps up then we will have no choice but to do the unthinkable and seriously start looking for permenant replacements for them.

A body made of crisps? Don’t tell Lukaku…!

[Bert19]

@xceleryx  I think you've put it very well in your last two posts.  The only thing I'd add is how much the players got away with over the last 4-5 years and the part that had in some very scraggly chickens coming home to roost last season.  

A much-needed (and well overdue) reset.  Probably only so extensive because of the position the players got us into last season.  

[Thiago97]

Ward Prowse ? We are short on numbers in midfield, he has great experience and leadership in the PL with Southampton. We can probably get him for a relatively decent fee around the £30 million mark.

He may not play every week, but he could be a valuable option to have around and add some experienced depth to the midfield. Almost like a Raul Meireles type signing.