Bob Singleton Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 32 minutes ago, Bob Singleton said: Isn't the enlarged FIFA Club World Cup at the end of this season? @Sciatika Just noticed you included CWC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin1905 Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 Not fussed at all about Maatsen, it's not like selling Connor or Mount. We signed him when he was 16 and have made a huge profit on him so fair play. One thing I can guarantee is if we were being linked to him for £40m people would be going mad about it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morgs Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 23 minutes ago, martin1905 said: Not fussed at all about Maatsen, it's not like selling Connor or Mount. We signed him when he was 16 and have made a huge profit on him so fair play. One thing I can guarantee is if we were being linked to him for £40m people would be going mad about it. ...we would be paying 50m+ for him though. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chara Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 Chelsea have moved on a lot of "good" Academy graduates (as have all clubs) who have had decent careers..that is the benefit of being attached to a good youth operation. It is hard to look back over the years to find one real diamond that got away..as I said a lot of good players but with yearly graduates (as a concept) it is hard to justify keeping ,or stockpiling,,,players that are not ready to walk into the first team even with potential. For every "nearly" graduate..Solanke as a prime example,,,finally had a noticable season,,and good luck to him...but was yet another handwringing "lost" graduate story when he went to Liverpool but never quite hit the heights. (The Salah/KDB myth ,,as we all know...neither player at Chelsea was the same player who returned to the EPL after learning their grown up trade) If a graduate leaves Chelsea (or any club ) and does well it is credit to the players application and solid "football" education at his home club. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Singleton Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 (edited) [Original link said The Athletic, but article is from New York Times] Chelsea plan to double down on aggressive youth transfers after Estevao Willian signing Liam Twomey, Simon Johnson 7–9 minutes When Chelsea reached an agreement to sign 17-year-old winger Estevao Willian from Palmeiras, it was significant for a couple of reasons. First is that the fee — £28.7million (€34m, $36.5m) up front, potentially rising to £48.1million with performance-based incentives — took Chelsea’s guaranteed transfer fee commitments on teenagers under Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly above £150million. Second is that it provided the clearest signal yet of where Chelsea’s recruitment strategy is heading: not back towards the established international signings that powered much of the success under Roman Abramovich, but doubling down on an aggressive, coordinated attempt to assemble the best young talent. It is likely that the level of investment in Estevao will remain something of an outlier; Chelsea regard him as a better prospect than his former team-mate Endrick, who they courted extensively before his decision to agree to sign for Real Madrid in December 2022. When he officially moves to Stamford Bridge after his 18th birthday next year, it will be with a view to taking an immediate first-team role. On Thursday, they moved for another promising young player, opening talks with Boca Juniors over the signing of defender Aaron Anselmino. It is increasingly evident Chelsea want to position themselves to recruit every teenage footballer they identify as having elite potential. Clearlake and Boehly are spending six times more than the previous owner on youth recruitment, and intend to scale it up. That money is not solely going into transfer fees on promising teenagers. Chelsea are continuing to build their global scouting and data analytics teams beyond the headline hire of Sam Jewell from Brighton & Hove Albion as director of global recruitment in May, seeking to complement modern digital methods of performance analysis at Cobham with more high-level scouts and recruiters on the ground. As highlighted by the signings of Andrey Santos, Angelo Gabriel, Deivid Washington, Kendry Paez and Estevao, South America is a key area of focus. Chelsea are far from the first club to hone in on this hotbed of talent, but they are dedicating significant resources to building a comprehensive scouting and recruitment network there, led locally by individuals who can use their contacts with agents, academy staff and club owners. One example is Alysson Marins, the former Corinthians chief scout who publicly announced he was joining Chelsea in July 2023. Co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley had dealt productively with Marins at their previous clubs and held him in high regard for his recruitment expertise. Chelsea’s vastly increased spending on youth recruitment is most accurately characterised as a redirection of investment. The first-team wage bill, which ballooned to an unwieldy £404million in the 2022-23 accounts, has been drastically reduced to a level significantly lower than in the final years of the Abramovich era. That is unlikely to delight supporters used to seeing Chelsea spend close to every available penny in search of an immediate challenge for major trophies, but Clearlake and Boehly do not believe it is realistic or sustainable to target the world’s best established players at the peak value. They would rather try to sign the potential superstars of tomorrow at a lower cost, develop them in the right way and then retain them. Persuading these teenagers to sign long-term contracts at Chelsea is only the beginning of the challenge. Ensuring continued development is no easy task with first-team minutes at Stamford Bridge relatively limited, though the 2024-25 season could stretch to 75 or 80 matches across all competitions once next summer’s expanded Club World Cup is factored in. One area for potential improvement next season is the use of loans, and Chelsea will have considerably more flexibility under FIFA’s limits if they succeed in offloading Romelu Lukaku and Kepa Arrizabalaga. More developing players are likely to follow the path walked by Gabriel and Santos last season to BlueCo sister club Strasbourg. Agreeing major deals such as the ones for Paez and Estevao raises other developmental considerations. Chelsea have too much invested in them to simply leave them to their own devices at Independiente del Valle and Palmeiras until they are old enough to move to England. Constant communication, support and mentorship is required — without violating FIFA rules — to ensure they continue to grow as players and people. Chelsea insist they always recruit with developmental pathways in mind, rather than out of a desire to stockpile elite talent. That becomes harder to compute when you realise that Estevao is the seventh left-footed attacking midfielder or right-winger under the age of 23 that Clearlake and Boehly have signed in two years, but it is not in the owners interests for these players to stagnate. Laurence and Winstanley have been empowered to implement succession planning with forward-focused recruitment in every position. Estevao and Paez may operate in many of the same areas of the pitch as Cole Palmer, Noni Madueke or (hypothetically) Michael Olise, but they are five years younger. Chelsea aspire to never be left short of the quality they require regardless of who might leave, as the squad evolves. It is fair to ask where the Cobham academy, one of the most prolific producers of top-level footballers, fits into this. Chelsea’s aggressive recruitment under Abramovich too often blocked any realistic route for home-grown talents to break through, and Clearlake and Boehly are keen to ensure the standard to play for the first team remains every bit as high. But part of Laurence and Winstanley’s remit is to more closely integrate the academy, creating and maintaining pathways for the best products to transition to the first team, ideally without the need for loan spells elsewhere. One reason Sport Recife defender Pedro Lima is choosing between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Strasbourg rather than Wolves and Chelsea this summer is because Josh Acheampong, who made his Premier League debut against Tottenham Hotspur in May, is viewed internally as being in front of him. Chelsea expect to go into next season with as many as 10 homegrown players in their first-team squad, headlined by club captain Reece James and Levi Colwill. But the best Cobham graduates will be challenged to compete with elite young signings for minutes, and those not regarded as being of that level will be sold. The prevailing philosophy can be summarised as ‘steel sharpens steel’: that the best Chelsea’s academy produces will be elevated to greater heights by young signings, and vice versa. Estevao and Paez will add their considerable talents to that mix next year. More will follow. Edited June 20 by Bob Singleton 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleeping Dave Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 6 hours ago, martin1905 said: Not fussed at all about Maatsen, it's not like selling Connor or Mount. We signed him when he was 16 and have made a huge profit on him so fair play. One thing I can guarantee is if we were being linked to him for £40m people would be going mad about it. I don’t think people would go mad if we were buying the starting LB for one of the CL finalists for £40m - a 22 year old who is already showed he can muster the hustle of Championship football in this country. Not only that, he also represents his country in the Euros. But I do think people mind when we are spending that sort of cash or more on players almost completely devoid of senior experience. 3 hours ago, Bob Singleton said: [Chelsea expect to go into next season with as many as 10 homegrown players in their first-team squad, headlined by club captain Reece James and Levi Colwill. But the best Cobham graduates will be challenged to compete with elite young signings for minutes, and those not regarded as being of that level will be sold. James, Colwill, Chalobah, Gilchrist, Gallagher… That’s five. I don’t think Acheampong will be part of the squad in any meaningful way and apart from the five mentioned, of whom two are strongly rumoured to be gone, where are these additional 5-7 academy players who will be part of next seasons squad? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thevelourfog Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 I don't know why the ownership keep using their pets to write articles on what the strategy is. Everyone can see what the strategy is. Whether or not tomorrow is ever going to come is the issue. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiswickblue Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 1 hour ago, Sleeping Dave said: James, Colwill, Chalobah, Gilchrist, Gallagher… That’s five. I don’t think Acheampong will be part of the squad in any meaningful way and apart from the five mentioned, of whom two are strongly rumoured to be gone, where are these additional 5-7 academy players who will be part of next seasons squad? They are using homegrown in the sense of the PL criteria, so including Sterling, Palmer, Bettinelli, Sanchez etc. Very misleading and the sort of click bait propaganda you can expect from the Athletic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleeping Dave Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 1 hour ago, chiswickblue said: They are using homegrown in the sense of the PL criteria, so including Sterling, Palmer, Bettinelli, Sanchez etc. Very misleading and the sort of click bait propaganda you can expect from the Athletic. Meh. I should have guessed. Makes a lot more sense now. But then again, we need a minimum of 8 no? Limping in with 10 is hardly something to celebrate. Call me an old-fashioned fool, but I’d much rather 10 players coming through the academy, 10 “homegrown” players and 5 proper top class foreigners. Like Italy did in the 90’s. But they could only use three foreigners in any match squad. Proper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lump Of Celery Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 6 hours ago, Bob Singleton said: They would rather try to sign the potential superstars of tomorrow at a lower cost, develop them in the right way and then retain them. 6 hours ago, Bob Singleton said: Ensuring continued development is no easy task with first-team minutes at Stamford Bridge relatively limited, though the 2024-25 season could stretch to 75 or 80 matches across all competitions once next summer’s expanded Club World Cup is factored in. One area for potential improvement next season is the use of loans 6 hours ago, Bob Singleton said: That becomes harder to compute when you realise that Estevao is the seventh left-footed attacking midfielder or right-winger under the age of 23 that Clearlake and Boehly have signed in two years 6 hours ago, Bob Singleton said: Estevao and Paez may operate in many of the same areas of the pitch as Cole Palmer, Noni Madueke or (hypothetically) Michael Olise, but they are five years younger. 6 hours ago, Bob Singleton said: Chelsea aspire to never be left short of the quality they require regardless of who might leave, as the squad evolves. This piece has clearly been written by the club for the "journalists" that posted it. Reads like a list of concerns that Chelsea fans might have, with corresponding contradictory justifications that make no sense. The last 3 quotes read to me like we are becoming a conveyor belt feeder club. Hoping to retain the players is bollocks, and the loan scheme with the new restrictions is so poorly thought out I don't think there is any plan other than stockpiling talent. I fear we will become the next spurs/arsenal/brighton/leipzig just churning talent for profit and never allowing a team to develop together. I hope I am totally wrong on this 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morgs Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 Cucurella. I am so pleased for him. I've always really liked him and felt the awful slating he was getting for a lot of his time at Chelsea so far was a bit over the top. He is a far, far better player than a lot of our fanbase understand. He's had injury issues, personal issues, crushing loss of form etc but was one of our top players for the last three months of last season and was terrific again last night. If you are Ben Chillwell watching that last night you are calling your agent for a move as he is going to struggle to get anywhere near the side if Cucu is fit and imagine saying that a year ago - how times change eh? Delighted for him. Gallagher. Poor for England last night I thought. Didn't know whether to sit or go and could have been sent off as well after snapping into some typically robust challenges that under a less lenient Ref would have been additional bookings. Gave the ball away too many times. We have seen him much, much more effective than he was last night. He got a fearful slaughtering on social media as well and needs to be careful he doesn't get scapegoated as one of the villains in Southgate's horror show. I suspect we have seen the last of him for this tournament anyway. Nico Williams. I would love him at Chelsea. See also: Marc Guehi, and (hear me out) Kieran Trippier. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kelly Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 51 minutes ago, Morgs said: Cucurella. I am so pleased for him. I've always really liked him and felt the awful slating he was getting for a lot of his time at Chelsea so far was a bit over the top. He is a far, far better player than a lot of our fanbase understand. He's had injury issues, personal issues, crushing loss of form etc but was one of our top players for the last three months of last season and was terrific again last night. If you are Ben Chillwell watching that last night you are calling your agent for a move as he is going to struggle to get anywhere near the side if Cucu is fit and imagine saying that a year ago - how times change eh? Delighted for him. Gallagher. Poor for England last night I thought. Didn't know whether to sit or go and could have been sent off as well after snapping into some typically robust challenges that under a less lenient Ref would have been additional bookings. Gave the ball away too many times. We have seen him much, much more effective than he was last night. He got a fearful slaughtering on social media as well and needs to be careful he doesn't get scapegoated as one of the villains in Southgate's horror show. I suspect we have seen the last of him for this tournament anyway. Nico Williams. I would love him at Chelsea. See also: Marc Guehi, and (hear me out) Kieran Trippier. Nico Williams and Guehi yes , Trippier not in a million years 😉 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boratsbrother Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 2 hours ago, Morgs said: Cucurella. I am so pleased for him. I've always really liked him and felt the awful slating he was getting for a lot of his time at Chelsea so far was a bit over the top. He is a far, far better player than a lot of our fanbase understand. He's had injury issues, personal issues, crushing loss of form etc but was one of our top players for the last three months of last season and was terrific again last night. If you are Ben Chillwell watching that last night you are calling your agent for a move as he is going to struggle to get anywhere near the side if Cucu is fit and imagine saying that a year ago - how times change eh? Delighted for him. Gallagher. Poor for England last night I thought. Didn't know whether to sit or go and could have been sent off as well after snapping into some typically robust challenges that under a less lenient Ref would have been additional bookings. Gave the ball away too many times. We have seen him much, much more effective than he was last night. He got a fearful slaughtering on social media as well and needs to be careful he doesn't get scapegoated as one of the villains in Southgate's horror show. I suspect we have seen the last of him for this tournament anyway. Nico Williams. I would love him at Chelsea. See also: Marc Guehi, and (hear me out) Kieran Trippier. Im not watching the Euros so I can't comment on any players performances, but I would like reply to your Cucu comments. He was slaughtered for his performances in his first season and rightly so because they were generally appallingly bad. But you are right to bring up the issues which contributed to those awful performances. What I did love about him during that first season was his energy and sheer enthusiasm on the pitch. He was here there and everywhere but that was half of his problems with his ball watching and chasing and forgetting about his position. He improved a lot last season and that was noted on the forum with more and more of us changing their opinions about him. I know Xcelery always stood by him and said he would come good, and he is proving to be right about that. 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelsea_Matt Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 1 hour ago, boratsbrother said: Im not watching the Euros so I can't comment on any players performances, but I would like reply to your Cucu comments. He was slaughtered for his performances in his first season and rightly so because they were generally appallingly bad. But you are right to bring up the issues which contributed to those awful performances. What I did love about him during that first season was his energy and sheer enthusiasm on the pitch. He was here there and everywhere but that was half of his problems with his ball watching and chasing and forgetting about his position. He improved a lot last season and that was noted on the forum with more and more of us changing their opinions about him. I know Xcelery always stood by him and said he would come good, and he is proving to be right about that. I think Cucurella, like Jackson, improved and Poch deserves credit for that, maybe. Still sometimes positionally suspect imo but so was Sideshow Bob Luiz, though imo his utter brilliance as a footballer made up for a lot of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROTG Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 2 hours ago, boratsbrother said: . I know Xcelery always stood by him and said he would come good, and he is proving to be right about that. A dozen decent game and he's the best thing since mother pride. It's taken two seasons for him to have those decent game. Let's see if he can carry that form into next season before making judgement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROTG Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 (edited) 5 hours ago, Morgs said: I suspect we have seen the last of him for this tournament anyway There are few more senior England players who played in the game, are ahead of Conor in being put out to pasture in this tournament. His own fault for getting booked early on and which obviously put the reins on his play. Edited June 21 by ROTG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kelly Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 35 minutes ago, ROTG said: A dozen decent game and he's the best thing since mother pride. It's taken two seasons for him to have those decent game. Let's see if he can carry that form into next season before making judgement. Didn't you judge him after one game though? Ex Brighton , overpriced rubbish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROTG Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 38 minutes ago, Mark Kelly said: Didn't you judge him after one game though? Ex Brighton , overpriced rubbish? How bizarre you are trying to make a case after the player spent two seasons being poop and has a dozen good games. Who knows if he has a good euro maybe a club out the that would be willing to spend £60 m on him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boratsbrother Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 1 hour ago, ROTG said: A dozen decent game and he's the best thing since mother pride. It's taken two seasons for him to have those decent game. Let's see if he can carry that form into next season before making judgement. I never said anything close to him being the best thing since sliced bread. He has flaws and still finds himself out of position at times but overall he was much better last season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kelly Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 1 hour ago, ROTG said: How bizarre you are trying to make a case after the player spent two seasons being poop and has a dozen good games. Who knows if he has a good euro maybe a club out the that would be willing to spend £60 m on him? 1 hour ago, ROTG said: How bizarre you are trying to make a case after the player spent two seasons being poop and has a dozen good games. Who knows if he has a good euro maybe a club out the that would be willing to spend £60 m on him? I'm not making any case , merely pointing out you said we should judge him later when you yourself judged him the moment we signed him from a mid table team Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ham Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 1 hour ago, ROTG said: How bizarre you are trying to make a case after the player spent two seasons being poop and has a dozen good games. Who knows if he has a good euro maybe a club out the that would be willing to spend £60 m on him? He's been solid all season but exceptional for months. I predict he'll be the left back in the team of the tournament, he's been that good. Why would anyone want him sold unless they'd taken a position early on him and were too stubborn to concede? You wouldn't be alone here doing that. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Singleton Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 Charlie Webster joins Burton Albion. I recall some here (well, the old forum) claiming he was the next great thing. Undisclosed fee (can't imagine it'll be much) https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cv22y4z2wzzo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bison Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 Hilarious. Maybe if they hadn't agreed to pay 50m for a child they would be able to afford one of the best attackers in the league. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proud-Blue Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 6 minutes ago, Ham said: Well if it's not gonna be us, I'm glad it's not Man U or Newcastle as we will be competing with them next season. It's disappointing to not get him for sure, but I'm not overly fussed. I feel we have far bigger issues than RW to be addressing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now