Not believing any rumors at this point. Have been almost all wrong this year. Even worse than normal but that would make sense that he would want out
On this day in 2013, @willianborges88 left @SpursOfficial’s training ground to sign for #Chelsea. What a day.
Not just a loan but an option to buy also. The guy who wrote it got a ton of shit on Twitter and is bitching about it
I'm cautiously optimistic on the CB situation. Something is going on with Napoli, Torino, and Chelse but I just don't know what yet.
Anyone else surprised that mourinho didn't fight us for Kante? Mourinho kept playing Ramires over and over and Kante is just Ramires with better defensive skills, a brain and somehow even more stamina and speed.
Also it seems like our "loan army" thing is now a thing of the past. We used to buy the likes of courtois, de Bruyne etc. With the thought of loaning them out. Kenedy and Nathan last year even though Kenedy impressed enough to stay. Haven't really looked to grab many of those players of late though. Maybe the amount of talent in our youth teams provide enough in that department
Sounds like Alonso is about done. Agree Sem, feel like KK is a signing day move with Napoli getting Maksimovic
I can't tell if we're in on Maksimovic as a Plan B or not. Odd situation. Alonso is getting mixed reactions but it sounds like he can play a variety roles so that would be good.
If we add Alonso and Koulibaly before the window closes I would give us an A for the window. If we add just Alonso we get a B. We held onto everyone we needed, didn't overspend on lukaku and made the signing of the summer (especially for price) in Kante. In this market Michy also presents great value and looks a great signing at 22. Adding Alonso certainly provides more flexibility but with zouma out we need another CB. If we bring in koulibaly it gives terry a partner who compliments him better and provides the athleticism we need in someone playing next to terry which Cahill clearly doesn't. It would also allow us to play a higher line in the future with zouma/koulibaly and then also Christensen in the mix next season and would solidify the CB portion of our team for the future Next summer we would need no defenders and be able to focus on offload/upgrade Pedro, offload/upgrade matic if he doesn't improve and potentially offload/replace Costa if he wants to go back to atletico and we decide it's time. Not sure we can upgrade off him but at least replace him with an equal.
I think the maksimovic rumors are more of us feeding that BS to the media to get Napoli off their ass Ivan as a vet acting as RB/CB cover would be perfect. I don't think the board what to jettison Ivan and Terry the same year for leadership reasons but Terry and not Ivan seems more likely to get another year. Would love him to stay an additional year and work more with zouma and then Christensen
Thing about Terry is that im not sure he is really going to play well with a high line. Yes, he will be better than Cahill, but you sign KK, while getting Zouma and Christensen back and it spells the end for the Capn.
Transfer Centre @CentreTransfer Chelsea have reportedly had an audacious loan bid for James Rodriguez snubbed by Real Madrid. (Daily Star)
Costa is a dick but he's our dick and I don't want him to leave. He's always on the edge of getting sent off or tearing a hammy but he scores goals.
Costa coming to Chelsea was obvious a year before he officially moved to Stamford bridge. I think the same is true for his exit next summer. He clearly misses Spain and the British press has made him a target. I don't want him to leave but I think it is inevitable. I'm just happy we have him for at least one more year.
Excited to see how the next 48 hours play out Alonso seems like a good fit for our needs, now just need that CB
this is enjoyable to watch. Matic and Kante seem to have a pretty good understanding together, could be a huge influence for Matic finding his form.
Costa admitted he wanted to move back to atletico this summer but a few details got in the way. I wonder if Costa plus £40m could get greizmann next summer. He has a great work rate for a forward and he would provide a great striking partner to Michy in a 2 forward front or a more offensive wing threat over Willian. Could also supplement hazard if Eden got hurt and missed time.
Daily mail floating that we offered £32m to bring David Luiz back to Chelsea. That £50m fee 2 years ago doesn't seem quite as crazy now. He never truly looked like a CB to me but we need someone and against different teams he would allow us to play a different way. With the added protection of Kante a Luiz/zouma partnership wouldn't be the worst idea. Ship Cahill off next year and have Luiz, Christensen and zouma as the main 3 and then bring back terry as possible cover
Our inability to sign a real CB up to this point is so ridiculous. We've been trying to kick John Terry to the curb for like 5 years and we STILL haven't signed a viable replacement. Maybe something gets done today but I'm still shocked we're even in this position.
BEIN Sports is reporting David Luiz agreed for a fee of around 32 mil. Like this tweet from Chelsea HQ Chelsea HQ @Chelsea_HQ 35s35 seconds ago We’ve lost a big part of our club’s identity in recent years with the departure of Lampard, Drogba etc. David Luiz is proper Chels.
WTF are we doing bringing back Luiz? Off the field i can understand the move but on it, where we need help I dont understand it at all.
I love David, it's just that he has a lot of embarrassing moments as a defender. I'm seeing the fee is 40M plus bonuses, if we're willing to pay crazy person money for David, why don't we just hit the 60m asking price for KK? Or will ADL just say it's 70 now when we do that?
Is RavenNole celebrating too hard at that business by Chelsea to make a $20 mil profit for a player or did he kill himself because he has to see Luiz in a Chelsea shirt again?
Yeah I don't understand if we were going to get stuck in a corner and splurge late on David.. why didn't we do what was necessary earlier to secure our main/more desired targets? I dunno either way it isn't a terrible window... Kante is already proving his worth, Batshuayi looks great and is young, Alonso fills a need and has the added benefit of pushing Ivanovic to a backup CB role, and David fills a need/provides depth and is versatile for Conte's system
£ not $ man cmon!! Seriously though I liked Luiz as a DM. Never liked him as a defender. Especially in the mourinho system that we employed with a low block. He didn't pair well with John Terry who needs that lower block because of his lack of speed. If you pair Luiz with someone like zouma, play a higher line, have fullbacks that are competent in defense (no idea on this Alonso guy) and Kante as a shield maybe he has success. I would be a bit more enthused if this was conte's first (or 5th) choice for that matter but since we only have 2 CBs and Ivanovic at CB makes Luiz look like Paolo maldini I am ok with the move.
Still not convinced Luiz is a CB but maybe if we switch to a 5 man defense next year Luiz can be the ball playing CB similar to bonucci for juve and Italy under conte. Still seem him and his mental lapses as a poor partner for our clear cut best CB which is somehow still terry.
One positive to Luiz is that he won't block the future CB partnership of Christensen/zouma. Christensen seems like one of those £40m or £50m players if a big club were to buy him from gladbach next year. Absolutely class player. If Luiz provides CB/DM cover I am good with it. If you look at our current squad an injury to Kante would cripple us but that Luiz/matic pivot that absolutely dominated the champions Manchester city 3 seasons ago could be a decent backup plan. Will be interesting to see how conte uses him. Amazing that his competition at CB hasn't changed at all since he left and came back