Definitely didn't intend to say Haaland was a "bullshit" signing. Just assumed he was off the table as well. Pretty much anyone outside of Haaland, Kane, or Lukaku I would consider a patchwork solution. What turns it into a "bullshit" signing is paying 40M for Danny Ings or something. I agree if you can get Sancho, you get him, but we have plentiful wingers and zero strikers, particularly if you think Werner's best position isn't 9. Havertz has done well in the false 9 but can't help but feel like his talents would be better used elsewhere as well.
The downside is that we’re probably going to pay a premium for Sancho but get cut rate offers for any guys we’re trying to offload.
It’ll also be interesting to see what formation TT wants to use next season. Three at the back has obviously been a massive success but I would assume he wants flexibility to go to a four at some point. Regardless, that would necessitate someone like Rice (though Tchouameni would probably be cheaper and might be a better talent) to shield the line and let Kante do his thing with Mount as a hybrid 10/advanced 8.
There were always going to be issues getting rid of the truly deadwood (Zappa, Drinkwater, Barkley, etc.) but I still think guys like Tammy, Zouma, or Cal will fetch a decent fee. Anything under 100 is a bargain for Sancho imo. Compared to a player like Joao Felix (who frankly hasn’t shown 1/2 of what Sancho has to this point) who went for 120ish a few seasons ago it’s a relative steal. Sancho pretty quickly makes United title threats too.
Sancho offers something different than anyone on the squad. Do it in a second. But I agree with the #1 priority being midfield. Obviously striker but I don't see a good solution out there and we could do worse than Havertz. If Kante gets hurt we are truly fucked.
I just struggle a bit to see how we manage the squad with Sancho there. It’s obviously a good problem to have but a problem nonetheless.
I feel like with Chelsea though it sorts itself out. Tammy led the squad in EPL goals and didn’t see the pitch after Tuchel got here. I think if you’re not good enough or part of the plan you get shipped off. If Tuchel wants Sancho and rates him over CHO and co, I think we take him and let it sort itself out a la Office Space.
sancho isn’t going for a premium. Dortmund have to sell him or haaland and they would prefer to sell sancho. Next summer he will only have a year left. They made champions league but their finances are still fucked. I don’t think we go for sancho and I think he ends up at United but I don’t think the price will be crazy. £80m tops which for a top, young English talent is solid in the pandemic. Wouldn’t surprise me if it’s less.
Per Matt Law, with Lukaku apparently staying at Inter, the 4 targets are now Southampton’s Danny Ings, Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski, Arsenal's Aubameyang and Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho. Haaland is still a possibility as well. Patson Daka’s name has also emerged as a potential target. Somebody is going to have to explain to me the obsession over Adama Traoré. He's never even slightly impressed me. Looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane.
London is Blue podcast had Matt Law on this week and they covered a lot of squad/transfer news. Worth a listen.
Big summer for both chelsea and tuchel. Will chelsea fully back a a manager who overdelivered after not doing it with Antonio conte? If they don’t, will tuchel strike a different tone than he did when things weren’t going well at Dortmund or PSG in the transfer market? I will say the PSG dysfunction seems to be far worse under poch and makes me think that the institutional issues at PSG are far worse than we realized and worse than even chelsea at its worst. Knowing that now, my main concern about tuchel and his falling outs seems a bit less on tuchel than I thought. He will still likely fall out with marina and get fired at some point but I don’t think his reputation as a conte level disruptor is justified.
Really good article on Zouma from the Everton site when he joined on loan. Details his upbringing and early career in the sport.
I’ve been an Aubameyang fan for a while and he seems like a good stylistic fit, but he’s had his own issues since coming to premier league, and is also at an advanced age for his playing style.
Seems like he’s been a real problem for Arsenal since signing his new deal and the kind of contract we’d regret in like 6 months.
Yes he’s not a professional like Oli. I would worry about him even if he’s invigorated by the chance of winning a trophy.
Not sure why I hadn’t put it together sooner, but we are now in the midst of the Tuchelsea reign. May he bring us many more trophies!
I didn’t see that coming. Tammy is definitely gone now also I think we can put the backup plan strikers to the side. It’s one of the big 3 or we wait until next summer
Pretty shocked by Oli. Will give us some nice leverage in other striker contract negotiations if nothing else.
It's hard to be upset right now but I've fucking hated that since January. Just a terrible bit of business.
with the loan fee it’s about €30m and the athletic reported about 5 million more in add ons. In a pandemic for a backup, when we’re struggling to sell squad players because very few teams have money, it’s not a bad piece of business. We can’t keep every youth player. I think guehi is a better player personally. These guys won’t just sit on Chelsea’s bench forever and with the age of our guys, I think guehi is a better age and level now to slot into the defense in 1-2 years. I view the tomori deal as a rare win for both teams and the player.
I think it’s part that and part a backup plan. If we sell Tammy and can’t buy a top striker, it would be good to have oli as an option for a season. Mbappe on a free next summer and Haaland for cheap will make next summer crazy. like you said, selling him for 2 million abroad can also be an option. Gives us some flexibility.
not for us. It will be Real Madrid but I’m starting to think it’s more and more possible that he goes next year on a free. I think the salary will be massive and I don’t see Real Madrid going after both so I think they would be out of the haaland race.
Surprised that he didn’t at least fetch a fee at some point. I ESD expecting more from him. Injuries and a bit of bad luck. Hopefully he finds a home and gets it back on track.
Seems more like we had an option that we exercised just to get a bit more cash. If we get a big time striker then he wouldn’t play so it’s all good. Giroud has 9 lives at chelsea though so we will see
For a lot of players like that, I can’t imagine the burden that entails—granted for country soccer is greater, but I’m sure he felt like the entire continent of Africa was with him in Portugal.
The Athletic has an article covering Chelsea interests in Euro. Apparently Yuri Zhirkov is not only still playing professionally but he made the Russia squad.
Still not sure where he got the other 6 from but his VAR luck was absolutely insane this year. He definitely plays with fire with offsides a lot. I wonder what would happen if you took some of the top strikers of the pre-VAR premier league and did an audit on their goals. How many would VAR have taken off? for all of werners struggles, his mentality was only poor very briefly. There was a short period under frank, maybe a few games, where it really got to him. For the most part though he has shown me that mentality wise, he’s not morata or Torres. I still think we will get to see the RBL Werner at some point. Especially if he’s playing off a top striker.
The Football Ramble guys were calling him a mentality monster last week. Were impressed with his ability to miss chance after chance, shrug it off, and keep going.
who cares that our player who struggled has an elite enough mentality to shrug it off? I do. Bodes very well for his future and as someone who will come good after a rough start. I still have doubts that we land one of the 3 big time strikers this summer and back kai/timo over whatever discount bin Danny drinkwater level player we might sign as a backup plan.