Transfer Talk Topic

[Morgs]

15 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

I honestly think if we get Osimhen done, it will make a world of difference.

We haven't replaced Diego Costa (2018) and we haven't seriously challenged since then.

He'll turn into a permanently offside donkey the moment he signs for us. 

[paulw66]

Just now, Morgs said:

He'll turn into a permanently offside donkey the moment he signs for us. 

That's the spirit !!

[Blue Orca]

3 hours ago, Sleeping Dave said:

Really? In 28 minutes he completed 3 passes and had six touches. 

He has no business even being in the squad. It’s beyond a joke he’s supposed to be our S2. We will be able to count his goals this season on one hand. I’d much prefer Broja over him. Hell I’d take Lukaku over him every day of the week. 

Are we really judging someone's career/seasons contribution over just 28 mins now? 

[Blue Orca]

19 hours ago, Chelsea_Matt said:

Agreed. But everyone makes mistakes - we made plenty under Roman; saying that his regime is levels above this clown show imo. Because he admitted he didn’t know much about the game and put people in who did. Now when popular players leave, it’s easy to blame the club but it isn’t always their fault.

However, I do think ClearSnake are clowns and the sooner they go the better.

They can’t even get a proper shirt sponsor. 💀👀🤷🏻‍♂️

Or a decent shirt. The Nike shirt is a complete mess. 

[Blue Kratos]

6 minutes ago, Blue Orca said:

Or a decent shirt. The Nike shirt is a complete mess. 

Yeah it looks like the blue man group got drunk and vomited all over it.

[Blue Orca]

1 hour ago, Morgs said:

Morning all. 

I didn't sleep very well last night, I've got a dodgy tummy this morning and I'm grumpy af. 

Some thoughts and observations about yesterday while I wait for my Berocca to dissolve. 

ChiswickBlue has it right above. In pure quality terms, KDH is a significant downgrade on Gallagher. Veiga is a downgrade on a (fully fit) Chillwell. Jorgensen is (from what we can see on YouTube) a downgrade on Petrovic (and so is Sanchez). Adarabioyo is a downgrade on Silva.  Felix is a downgrade on Sterling as well, and that's saying something. 

So you could argue, 140m and a lot of d*cking around and a huge amount of upheaval later, this summer has produced just two upgrades on last season's deeply flawed squad (Guiu for Broja and Neto for Mudryk), and five downgrades. And of the two upgrades, one is a permanently-injured risk and the other is an 18 year old kid.  It has been a wildly, exasperatingly poor summer and that is putting it politely. 

I used to think that a bad transfer window was when we didn't buy anyone, but this summer has taught me that there are worse things than not buying players. 

Watching the game yesterday, there were a few positives but I cannot fathom how the sporting directors are watching that and the risible stream of twittery that was the pointless pre-season we had, and STILL think Sanchez is the keeper to take us forward, or that we don't need a proper striker. That both these issues were what fatally undermined us last season and eventually did for Poch, is not lost on me but somehow the club don't agree. Imagine your only job at the club is to see things like that and miss them utterly. It is akin to landing an airliner without putting the undercarriage down; ignoring the various warnings from the flight management systems, the Master Caution lights and horns, your own instincts from your training and the increasingly impassioned pleas from the co-pilot and you still put her down on the concrete on her belly, ripping the engines off and tearing the cabin open in a flash of fire and clouds of smoke. 

An excuse used in the past is that "we want to get the right profile, the right name and do not want to buy for buying's sake" to justify not addressing gaping holes in the squad but it would be fatuous in the extreme for Clearlake to start claiming that now, wouldn't it? 

It undermines the positives, to see the errors Sanchez keeps making. A better keeper keeps out both goals yesterday. Lavia and Caicedo seem already to have a better partnership and understanding than Caicedo ever enjoyed with Enzo last season and this is positive, a meaningful improvement on last season... but all a bit pointless when you have a dodgy keeper who is still costing you goals. Seeing Lavia and Caicedo work so well together should be a really big thing for us given how we have struggled in the base of the midfield in the last few years. 

City were poor but didn't need to go up any gears to dismiss us and I think had we nicked a point we would have had to count ourselves uncharacteristically very fortunate. Taylor didn't have a bad game and got both penalty calls right to my mind, and whining about him does us no favours because it misses the point.  

Of the new boys, Neto isn't fully fit yet by the looks of it and his final ball is very.... Chelsea. Veiga is a big lump who looks clumsy and ill-suited to the high tempo of the Prem, and I am getting alarmingly familiar Drinkwater vibes from Dewsbury-Hall, who is a nothing player. I am not sure what he does. He's no Conor Gallagher, that is for sure. 

Of the old faces, Colwill's slightly dodgy form continues but he does at least seem to have a decent partnership with Fofana who I thought was excellent yesterday. Big Wes has an edge to him, like a more elegant, more languid French version of Rudiger. Takes no prisoners, dominant physically, with that little Gallic smirk. I enjoyed him putting Haaland in his place yesterday. Not many centre-halves can do that. Let's hope he stays fit. 

Jackson I thought played ok, made two mistakes but on another day he slots that chance and stays onside for his other goal. I'm increasingly convinced, as I have stated on here a few times, that he is an Henry type left winger who likes to cut inside and that if we ever do manage to sign a decent striker then he will play on the left side. He is a huge upgrade to Mudryk there and I think playing Neto on the right to push Palmer in at 10 would be to everyone's advantage. Palmer looks like he needs a couple more weeks off. Good player but I think pushing him out to the wing and having him swap over five times a game isn't going to help him. Last season it was mainly that if Palmer had a tough game so did we, and this I forsee will be very much the case this season. I worry that he'll start getting the Eden treatment where teams realise he's the only real threat so double up on him and kick him out of the game. As reliant as we were on the magical Belgian back in the day, so too we are over-reliant on Palmer now. 

Gusto remains one of our few genuinely world class players and was excellent again last night against the effervescent Doku (why didn't we sign him instead of Mudryk????)  who was eveywhere yesterday and would have given lesser players a real torrid time. Gusto will not have many tougher games and tougher opponents this season than Doku yesterday. Handled him very well. Class act. James doesnt get back in the side with Gusto on this form, in my opinion. 

A few words on Enzo. His lack of mobility has always been an issue but the nasty little digs, the whinging, the appealing for everything and the holding onto the ball waiting for contact to go down in the box is not nice to see and he had a bad game yesterday. He's obviously a good player but I am not sure at what. Decent passer. But too slow, not physical enough, doesn't score goals and seems to be a miserable racist. So there's that. I think someone like Chukwuemeka would offer a lot more than him playing in front of Lavia and Caicedo, as would Santos (although he has gone on loan). For now Enzo needs to work hard, get his head down and his form back and stop getting involved in silly little battles like the one he indulged in with Haaland yesterday. It was embarrassing at times - just wind your neck in and play football, ffs. 

 

I don't think KDH is a Drinkwater as Maresca knows the player well and he was one of Leicesters bright players during their relegation season and last season. He has v good close control/passing and may match Gallaghers goal output.  Let's not write him off after 20 mins. 

[east lower]

3 minutes ago, Blue Orca said:

I don't think KDH is a Drinkwater as Maresca knows the player well and he was one of Leicesters bright players during their relegation season and last season. He has v good close control/passing and may match Gallaghers goal output.  Let's not write him off after 20 mins. 

I am genuinely happy with having KDH. He looked the best player on the park during our FA Cup game with Leicester last season.

But…………….already he’s not doing the same things he was doing at Leicester that made him stand out.  That needs to change to stop any negatives.

[Sleeping Dave]

34 minutes ago, Blue Orca said:

Are we really judging someone's career/seasons contribution over just 28 mins now? 

The lad has no meaningful first team experience. He's 18. He isn't a generational talent. He's a hard-working striker who shines when he plays against players in his own age group. He is nowhere near ready to make a meaningful contribution to a PL side chasing a CL spot. We don't need to see him play in 10-15 games for us to draw that conclusion. It's enough to have watched him in pre-season and yesterday. 

At the moment he isn't ready to contribute. He might be in the future, but that is years away. 

 

[Chelsea_Matt]

29 minutes ago, Blue Kratos said:

Yeah it looks like the blue man group got drunk and vomited all over it.

Looks like a bus seat. 🚍 💺🤣

[Morgs]

I actually think the jersey is the right one for us right now - its "Chelsea now"

By that I mean it is badly thought out, butt ugly hard on the eyes, poorly made, designed with no consideration to the fans, hideously expensive and doesnt have a shirt sponsor. 

[chara]

6 hours ago, Sleeping Dave said:

Really? In 28 minutes he completed 3 passes and had six touches. 

He has no business even being in the squad. It’s beyond a joke he’s supposed to be our S2. We will be able to count his goals this season on one hand. I’d much prefer Broja over him. Hell I’d take Lukaku over him every day of the week. 

Agree he's young and has a way to go but he has put more effort into the games in a short while than Broja and even more so than Lukuku have done since for ever,

Don't underestimate how nervous he made the Citeh  keeper,,that's twice he's done that,

Again ..long way to go..how was DD at 18/19?

That Chelsea need a real experienced striker is another argument or rather agreement across the board.

[Bison]

2 hours ago, Blue Orca said:

I don't think KDH is a Drinkwater as Maresca knows the player well and he was one of Leicesters bright players during their relegation season and last season. He has v good close control/passing and may match Gallaghers goal output.  Let's not write him off after 20 mins. 

Doubt it. Dewsbury-Hall has 3 goals in 60 Premier League appearances. A 21 year old Gallagher scored 8 on loan at Palace.

If we didn't sign Maresca as manager would Dewsbury-Hall have ever been on the club's radar? No disrespect to the player but we all know the answer to that. 

[Miguelito07]

I didnt think they would either......

[blueboy1905]

Napoli submit 30m euro bid for Fattyboomboom. Loan with obligation to buy.

[Miguelito07]

11 minutes ago, blueboy1905 said:

Napoli submit 30m euro bid for Fattyboomboom. Loan with obligation to buy.

take the money and RUUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN. He clearly wont go anywhere else AND there is no way Napoli will pay what the board asked for in the first place...

Edited August 19 by Miguelito07

[paulw66]

2 hours ago, Bison said:

 

If we didn't sign Maresca as manager would Dewsbury-Hall have ever been on the club's radar? No disrespect to the player but we all know the answer to that. 

but I thought the manager had no input on player signings and it was all down to anyone else.

[paulw66]

Looks like Felix is a done deal..........definitely need to offload Sterling. 

Without Felix, we had Sterling, Madueke and Mudryk available yesterday without any one of them getting a kick.

[Thiago97]

2 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

Looks like Felix is a done deal..........definitely need to offload Sterling. 

Without Felix, we had Sterling, Madueke and Mudryk available yesterday without any one of them getting a kick.

Do you not think Sterling serves more a purpose for us than Felix?

I get Sterling frustrates massively on occasions, but he is also a real threat on occasions. His form was good early on in both his seasons here, but his faded from a consistent level in both seasons too, including some terrible performances. However, his pace and ability to stretch teams has also provided some real threat to the opposition on many occasions last season.

I’m certainly not a huge Sterling fan and I never really felt he was the right player for us to sign, but I can’t help but think he would be far more useful to us than Felix will. Despite Felix being a talented player. 

[paulw66]

1 minute ago, Thiago97 said:

Do you not think Sterling serves more a purpose for us than Felix?

 

I shall sit firmly on the fence here. 

He's a clear talent, but not sure how consistent his output is, or what his best position is. 

Bearing in mind how many young players we have, I would have thought Sterling could very much do a job for the team this year, even if not starting every game, but I get that the club wouldn't mind shedding his wages,

[ChelseaJambo]

11 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

Looks like Felix is a done deal..........definitely need to offload Sterling. 

Without Felix, we had Sterling, Madueke and Mudryk available yesterday without any one of them getting a kick.

 

Would much rather offload Madueke and Mudryk personally 

[Max Fowler]

Just now, ChelseaJambo said:

 

Would much rather offload Madueke and Mudryk personally 

The biggest problem isn't who we sell, it's the fact that we think going back into Felix makes any semblance of sense. He is an absolute lightweight.

[Max Fowler]

2 hours ago, Bison said:

Doubt it. Dewsbury-Hall has 3 goals in 60 Premier League appearances. A 21 year old Gallagher scored 8 on loan at Palace.

If we didn't sign Maresca as manager would Dewsbury-Hall have ever been on the club's radar? No disrespect to the player but we all know the answer to that. 

He's more of a Barkley than a Drinkwater. We've signed that level of player before, but the idea that he is the top-level pro we need doesn't hold water. I wouldn't mind that we signed him for Maresca if we brought in other, more experienced players as well. 

[paulw66]

5 minutes ago, ChelseaJambo said:

 

Would much rather offload Madueke and Mudryk personally 

I like Madueke. Had a good end to last season, and a good pre season

[Mark Kelly]

Just now, Max Fowler said:

He's more of a Barkley than a Drinkwater. We've signed that level of player before, but the idea that he is the top-level pro we need doesn't hold water. I wouldn't mind that we signed him for Maresca if we brought in other, more experienced players as well. 

I must admit I was horribly disappointed that during his 20 minute cameo he didn't do three keep uppys in the centre circle before overhead kicking the ball into the net. 

Modern footballers eh?  Waste of time. 

[Original 21]

 

22 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

Looks like Felix is a done deal...

Yep. Almost done by the look of it.