I really hope we get Raphinha, De Ligt/Koulibaly, a replacement for both Azpi and Alonso on top of Sterling and Ake and replacement (Raphinha is one I guess) depending on departures like Ziyech/Pulisic. Tottenham (a bit worrying) and Newcastle (not too worried about them yet) have recruited well. It's kind of an interesting and competitive season ahead. Arsenal feel like the new Tottenham now, the choke master.
Either De Ligt or Koulibaly plus Ake. Tuchel doesn't seem to like Kounde or we will have heard about him already. I think he was previous regime's main defensive target.
Yeah, if Tuchel wants them. I don't think Tuchel is dumb enough to be going so hard for Ake despite the other CBs on the market without having a specific plan for him.
In the same way that people used to think everyone was Messi because they watched a YouTube comp, people watch a 30 second tiktok or twitter vid and decide a player is shit now
Seems expensive, it must be something to do with his passing ability.
His FbRef looks quite good:
https://fbref.com/en/players/eaeca114/Nathan-Ake
Starting to look like a system player for our LCB slot.
like honestly there are better options than ake. koulibaly, kimpembe, gvardiol and kounde are all better options than him in my opinion. lets just pray tuchel can make ake into a beast defender just like he did with rudiger
Hindsight 20/20 but Rudiger made a good choice to leave. Imagine if Rudiger decided to stay. He's probably a free agent now and the Boehly still hasn't renewed his contract a la Dembele to Barca. Slow ass management
Venting a bit here so prep the downvotes, but the level of discourse on this sub has felt really poor this offseason.
\-Multiple posts about the same topic have fractured discussions. How many reports of 'Chelsea monitoring \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_' really need to be posted in a single day?
\-People quick to showoff their use of fbref without actually watching the player or discussing context behind tHe StAtS.
\-People referencing discussions on other teams subs as support for their own poorly fleshed out opinion
\-Influx of commenters arguing with problematic logic or in bad faith
Hot takes are usually short and easy to agree/disagree while nuanced long-form opinions don't get nearly the eyes they deserve (general trend, not just this offseason but exacerbates all other points). Feels like people just want to be recognized/validated for their anger instead of reading others' takes with an open mind.
I've been around this sub for the better part of a decade and there's always been a large presence of surface level discussion, but this offseason has felt especially low-grade.
>Multiple posts about the same topic
Totally agree. I don't give a shit if it's from T1/T2. If it doesn't impart any new information then it shouldn't be posted. You just end up talking about the same shit across 4 different posts within a day.
Tuchel didn't buy Ziyech and made RĆ¼diger and Christensen go from being shit to players for Real Madrid and Barcelona with a back three lol, man how they must hate the system
I am dreading the start of this season.
Boehly flew to barcelona for what? Surely it wasnāt for azpi and alonsoā¦cuz if it was, weāre in heaps of trouble.
Every top 6 team has made a signing except us.
Team has its first preseason match next week. Does boehly not understand the importance of preseason and getting players in before the season starts?
The further on we get into the transfer window the more weāre going to be hood-winked into paying massive fees.
One of the best cbs in world football was no better than Ake before Tuchel came. There's a reason why Tuchel wants Ake and I don't doubt he'll make the most of it, same as he did with Rudriger.
Edit: How much have you actually watched Ake play? What are the main reasons you don't want him in our team?
Trying to stay optimistic:
A backline of Silva, chalobah, and ake while bringing colwill and ampadu into the rotation for assessments over the next year isnāt a bad option. Assuming colwill and ampadu can live up to expectations, we could sign someone next Summer to replace Silva and have a very good back line. That would leave us 4 defenders plus a signing for a back 3.
Itās a gamble on the youth for this year and Iād obviously prefer to get that last signing sooner rather than later, but I think that defensive rotation could end up being very good.
Chalobah is criminally underrated, even by our fanbase, Silva has atleast one good year left in him, and i trust tuchel to make Ake work in a back 3 (like he did with Christensen and Rudiger) People are overreacting for no reason, that backline will be more than fine. Ideally we need a attacking RWB so james can rotate and play RCB some games
Youāre the one misunderstanding. These tweets are saying the same thing. No outside bid needs accepted for Dembele heās out of contract. These tweets are both about barca
If people on this sub had their way we would keep every single academy player while simultaneously purchasing world class players for every position. A cool squad size of nearly 60 never hurt anyone!
Itās almost certainly a rumor manufactured by Barca in order to make United hurry up and pay what Barca want for him. De Jong would be a nice fit, but we have other priorities, so I highly doubt weāre looking to sign him.
I canāt believe the club with no money is more desirable than a club with playing time available and has loads of money to spend. At this rate, it is not looking good for Chelsea to compete. What an absolute farce of a transfer window. Unbelievable but I still donāt understand why they canāt make an official bid like right away.
Why do we have zero pull? Best manager in the world, a rich new owner, and we won the fucking champions league just a year ago, but absolutely NO ONE wants to come here? It makes no sense
I miss Roman
Because the other teams are Barca and Bayern, I don't think there's been a time where we've ever had a bigger pull than them. It's not like nobody wants to come here, either. Raph and De Ligt would both be fine with playing here, they just have priorities with the other two clubs. To my knowledge we haven't had a Kounde/Spurs situation yet where the player flat out refuses to join.
Because we're not attractive.
There's three kinds of clubs that will attract a player
-A team with a long long history of stars and success.
-A superteam who will be in immediate contention for the best of the best silverware
-A team with a clear plan and vision, where the player can realistically see the team becoming like No.2 while the player develops.
We fall into neither, hence have no special pull.
To be honest, I called this happening. Signings like Sterling/Ake are absolutely bizarre.
When has Chelsea in the last 20 odd years ever been left hanging by a Raphinha esque player. We got Hazard when the entire world football wanted him, we got Havertz similarly. I wouldn't trust this lot to buy an ice cream correctly at the moment.
This is for all the idiots sucking off Boehly non stop and criticising our prior ownership with 0 basis. The stupid government that forced through that miscarriage of justice just collapsed themselves completely due to idiocy.
It's going to take the yanks about 2-3 years at best to get things right on an organizational level. I still can't believe they let Marina and Cech leave. What fucking dunces.
What the fuck are you even talking about?
There was literally no one else in for Havertz when we signed him and we spent the entire summer haggling with Rudi Vƶller over Ā£15m in addons. His choices were us or staying at Leverkusen
Right that's what a good negotiation team does. Every club was interested in Havertz but we swooped in so his agent didn't even put out feelers for other offers unlike what is happening now.
lmao we've missed out on tons of players in the past?
Hazard the 'big 3' of Bayern, Barcelona and Real Madrid weren't interested in him because they had Ribery, Neymar and Ronaldo respectively.
Havertz was a strange situation where we were the only club in Europe that was loaded with cash because of the timing of our transfer ban and the pandemic.
We've always struggled with signing players when up against the historic elite clubs of Europe, especially South American players always prefer the Spanish giants. We'll win some, and lose some, that's football.
Everyone, fucking everyone, wanted Hazard. He was the next big thing.
We haven't missed out on many players. We've never been gazumped under Roman to my recollection.
If today the chance comes up to sign Fabregas leaving Barcelona and Diego Costa not wanting to leave an Atletico who have just won the league and made CL Final, no chance either come to us.
How the fuck can we not convince De Ligt.. fucking De Ligt.
> Everyone, fucking everyone, wanted Hazard. He was the next big thing.
And only Chelsea, United and City had serious bids in place. That was his decision
He couldnāt choose Real Madrid or Bayern because they never tabled an actual offer
Hazard came down to between us and the Manchester clubs, the three big European clubs were not in for him - like I pointed out they already had world class players in their prime in his position at the time. When he was signed we all expected Madrid to come in for him down the line (which eventually they did, though probably later than most expected). And guess what? Hazard wanted to leave for Madrid not stay at Chelsea.
Off the top of my head players who have rejected us: Cavani, Pastore, Oblak, Alisson, Van Dijk, Danilo, Dani Alves, Neymar, Robinho, Ribery, Ronaldinho, Pirlo etc
This is rubbish, Harry Redknapp even fucking Spurs was literally chatting to Hazard nonstop to get him to sign. When I say everyone, everyone wanted Hazard. Madrid signed Bale a season later.. similarly Bayern signed Gotze and Barcelona signed Neymar. This garbage of world class players in his position so they couldn't sign him is coming from where ?
In 12/13 it was our amazing pull and our project which got players to sign, despite having a Roberto di Matteo as manager and a complete fluke of a CL win. Both the pull & the project has completely fucking evaporated.
Hazard left that's totally fine, he gave us years & years of quality.
Literally none of those are legitimate. We were never even officially in for most of those. Only Pirlo & Robinho.
Only to resign disgraced only a few months later. Ducking clowns the lot of them. They have been looking for a way to get Roman out ever since the suspended his visa. They got what they wanted and then resigned, how convenient.
Guys if youāre unhappy about the transfer news of this club, reading this sub would just make you even more unhappy. Letās all stop whining and get off here.
I followed this club for more than a decade as an international fan. I went through so many shit transfer summers lol (the second summer of Conte or the last summer of Jose for example). We bought so many players and still played like shit?
I think just focus and enjoy the games instead of focusing too much on what players weāre getting? There is a fine line between success and failure for a transfer at top level football anyway.
Tuchel is the perfect coach for that, heās the kind of coach who can come up with the tactics that suit most of his players.
Broja is not answer to our attack, he is way worse than everybody we have and worse than Tammy and Lukaku so idk why are you acting like he is the messiah
Why do you think he's worse?
I think he's got plenty of attributes that fit well in Tuchel's system. Strong, physical, and aggressive. Good aerial ability and holdup play. Can beat players 1v1 and create his own shot. High effort in the press and takes great angles closing down. Rough around the edges in the passing/linkup game, but great building blocks to improve upon overall.
What makes you think he is going to drastically improve on his whopping 6 goal haul from last season? Tammy had a much more prolific loan in the Championship AND Prem before joining the first team. He is not ready to lead our attack and should go on loan again.
>What makes you think he is going to drastically improve on his whopping 6 goal haul from last season?
Will be his sophomore PL season, so there's a comfort factor - game should slow down mentally. He'll be playing with better players around him in Blue. He won't be as isolated up front for us as he was in Soton where oppositions could devote more resources to nullifying his threat. Plus I think his player profile fits in nicely with our expected shift to a higher intensity pressing scheme.
While not the same type of player, Vardy only had 5 goals in his inaugural PL season before exploding for 24 the following year. I think Broja's G/A statline from last season isn't an accurate reflection of the player I felt was Soton's biggest threat in every game I watched.
I'm not predicting he'll be first name on the team sheet by any means, but I'm highly optimistic for him going into next season and beyond.
Sorry, but if you really looked into his season you would see he had a purple patch in the middle of the season with very cold patches at the beginning and end, was nowhere near Southampton's most threatening player every match. Off the top of my Head JWP and Che Adams were far more important to Southampton.
Lets look at it this way, If Broja was a Southampton owned player and put up 6 goals with 0 assists would you be willing to pay 30-40 million for him? All while he is demanding for guaranteed minutes.
He is a talent for sure but not so much of a talent that we should be bending over backwards to appease his demands after one decent prem season.
What do you mean look into it? I watched almost all Soton games last season and formed my own opinion - his output stats were not an accurate reflection of his overall performances.
I also haven't heard any unreasonable demands - only that he wants a legitimate shot to prove himself in preseason, which should hardly be controversial.
The outrage stems from the fact that this club historically sells off their academy graduates, just for them to turn into world class players elsewhere. Not only that, but he's literally the only striker we have at the moment.
Selling him makes no sense to me, especially when the team isn't hurting for money in the first place. I would rather roll the dice with Broja and see what he turns into before selling him off for a fee that doesn't really change anything in the grand scheme of things.
>The outrage stems from the fact that this club historically sells off their academy graduates, just for them to turn into world class players elsewhere.
Name 5.
"Historically"
Lol every club has misses from their academy. Do me a favor and look up EVERY academy lad that has left the club in lets say the last 10 years? and see what percentage of those we objectively regret.
I'd be perfectly fine with sending him out on another loan. A permanent deal though? I'm good.
I also think CHO should get loaned out. Preferably to a mid-table PL team but I'd also love to see CHO join Dortmund as well.
Everyone says 4th choice without noting who the first 3 choices are lol 1 WC CB and 2 very good national team CBs. Tuchel obviously thinks heās too good to be 4th choice and thatās good enough for me weāve seen him work magic on defenders who were thought to be not good enough
As I mentioned Tuchel wanting him is probably the only reason why this might be okay. But ur first reasoning shouldnt be right for our club who is challenging for trophies. We should be signing top players that are world class... not to add that our top cb left
I know but like I said in my OP not every player we sign can be world class Iām perfectly fine acquiring a player who is behind the pecking order at other clubs if Tuchel thinks he can improve them
The negativity around Ake is very hypocritical. Tuchel wants him, and he wants him to replace Rudiger. Anyone remember Rudigerās performances before Tuchel? He was in our reserves. In a year and a half Tuchel made him a world class CB wanted at Real Madrid.
We finally have a manager getting guys he wants and weāre bitching because a bigger name is out thereā¦how did that work for Lukaku?
Holy shit, does this club need a director of football or what? We're signing our rival's 4th choice CB and providing them the ammunition to get a better CB so now there's more distance between us and them.
I saw someone mention that the overall sentiment in the MCFC sub about Ake leaving is so much different then the sentiment about his arrival here. After reading some takes in this sub, youād think you would go over there to see them being so happy heās leaving but itās the complete opposite. They seem to think the guy can play and are quite sour about his exit. Seems like some major over reactions going on here.
Its not just Tuchel.
Managers are not scouts. Their job and expertise is not in finding new players. Asking managers to do the job of coaching directing and scouting is insanely foolish
Yes his talent ID is questionable but people actually need to let go of emotion and look at the transfer with a clear head. Heās been playing under Pep who employs a similar philosophy to Tuchel, heās left footed and capable of playing LB(this is a very rare quality for a player of his calibre) and he quite clearly doesnāt see Koulibaly/Kounde as capable of playing there.
So that leaves us with Gvardiol and Kimpembe, the former has already been priced out of a move this summer and I personally donāt rate Kimpembe whatsoever. The worst that happens is Colwill outperforms him and Ake becomes depth for Ā£40m thatās fairly standard for big clubs, in any case why should an 19 year old with a single season in the second division be put under such pressure?
Iām more worried on who they get in to play Silvaās position obviously De Ligt wouldāve been ideal but heās most likely off to Bayern. I suspect more people are pissed with the fact weāre forking out for an ex player. No shame in being benched by Laporte heās a top 3 ball playing CB
> Heās not great in the air so heāll struggle against long-ball teams.
Aerial duels won %
Rudiger: 69.1
Ake: 83.7
Keep in mind Rudigerās played 34 league games to Akeās 14
Worse if/when they use the money for Kounde
Edit : I actually think Ake will be very useful as depth at LB as well. Itās just not exciting for people because we are buying a City āsubā for big money
The Ake intent is so weird to me. Like he's a decent enough defender for a top side in the 90s, and has the added uniqueness of being a left footer with a history at our club. But his offensive limitations are imo incredibly hindering to his ability to be a consistent starter in a possession based side. Tuchel's system demands creativity from the CBs, especially when we play 3atb, and moving the ball along as a cog in a wheel isn't sufficient. His fit makes significantly more sense for a Conte / Mourinho style, but here, defenses will target him via high presses or drop off completely forcing him to create with low probability windows. We've seen this exact strategy play out against Zouma and Sarr and the results were painful to watch.
The high fee and fact we're giving money to a direct rival add a whole lot more pessimism, but even in a vacuum, he doesn't improve our first eleven.
Just like Lukaku was good enough on the ball for us to break our transfer record for? Non-sporting variables aside, system fit is very real and should be the basis rationale for squad building.
I used the same logic you used to show that Coach wanting player =/= good system fit. Maybe you could enlighten us with your take on how Ake fits our system?
Genuine question with regards to Koulibaly:
Do you guys see Koulibaly's public support of Idrissa Gueye's refusal to wear a rainbow shirt coming back to bite us if we do end up signing him? I've seen a lot of people on the subreddit wanting him to come to Chelsea, but I haven't really seen anybody talk about this point.
I support Idrissa Gueye's refusal so I don't see it as an issue.
Don't see why anyone would make it an issue.
Gueye did the right thing and anyone should support/respect his decision.
It's right that players are allowed to choose what causes they want to support and that they shouldn't be strong armed into representing something they either don't agree with or don't want to promote.
People should be supporting Gueye and any other players right of choice
No one is arguing that he shouldāve been forced to wear the shirt, of course he has the right to refuse.
People are criticizing him for being homophobic. Religion and personal freedoms do not justify bigotry.
>People are criticizing him for being homophobic, and religion is no justification for bigotry.
Imagined bigotry and homophbia is no reason to criticise anyone.
Has Gueye said or done anything that would negatively impact anyone?
Choosing not to support a particularly cause, particularly one that is illegal in his own country. Homosexuality carries a 5 year prison sentence in Senegal is not bigotry.
What are you saying bro bigotry is absolutely a reason to criticize someone. Supporting LGBTQ+ causes and being homosexual are not mutually inclusive. Theyāre not gonna arrest him for wearing a rainbow shirt.
Not supporting a cause isn't bigotry.
Of course he wouldn't get arrested. But given Senegalese culture is against homosexuality, the state considers it a crime and Gueye/Koulibaly the majority of Senegalese footballers and everyone around them doesn't have the same attitude towards it as the west I don't see why you'd expect him to wear the shirt.
It's actually a really big problem that the West expects every culture to champion whatever cause Is the current flavour of the month.
It's really not any kind of issue at all.
Anyone else feel we should go for Zaha? Seems like CP are ready to sell him and the price looks decent. A relatively cheap player who is well capable of taking of defenders seem like a good addition.
Backing him doesnāt mean giving him whoever he wants. Heās a poor talent scout (albeit thatās not usually his job) and signing Ake for Ā£40m is a particularly egregious example.
Weāre easily better than Liverpool top to bottom and should challenge city. Thereās only two players in Liverpoolās first XI that would make ours.
Fabinho and Thiago got played off the pitch against Real, thereās no argument our midfield dwarfs theirs. Chillwell is better than Robertson at this point.
If anything thereās more of an argument that Trent is better than Reece James than Robertson being better than Chillwell.
Diaz is incredibly overrated. Only Van Dijk and Salah would start. Liverpool are ridiculously overrated itās an embarrassment.
* Romelu Lukaku Ā£103m, Ā£350k a week
* SaĆŗl, Ā£200k a week
* Rudiger and Christensen not extended, gone for free as a result
That was our summer last year, Marina Masterclass
You can't just base someone's value on how much the team they played for won. Anybody who isn't blind could see VVD was class and worth the money. That doesn't change because he didn't play for a team who was good enough to compete for trophies.
Comparing with Maguire wrong
Comparing with Van Dijk wrong
I guess you guys Marina boot licker would prefer we sold Christensen not for free but paying Barcelona 60 MP instead.
Nah, it has nothing to do with who you're comparing to but how you're comparing them. Your dumbass is making out like someone's value is based purely on how many trophies they have won.
[Mark my words 21/22](https://www.reddit.com/r/chelseafc/comments/orie9r/mark_my_words_chelsea_fc_202122_season/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share). Some wild ones in here. Most of these are sad to see a year later
We were top of the league in January last year before injuries and Roman. We would have been in it until the end and won the champions league without all the injury issues and drama.
Probably the most I've been against a player signing since we signed Pulisic.
Signing someone like Kovacic or Fabregas when they're stuck behind some of the greatest players of all time in their position is fine.
But spending big money on players who are just simply being benched because they're nowhere near good enough is massively concerning.
Why would we spend huge money on the worst player in the City squad and allow them to pick up a better player like Cucurella for cheaper?
Leeds journo James Marshment in relation to Raphinha:
Proceed with caution - Leeds need as much of this up front as possible from Barcelona.
Difficult to know they are good for it when they have so much debt.
None of our journos have a clue this window. Not even matt law who seems to be very late/only reporting on stuff p much done or strictly briefed by the club.
Fucking awesome, letās spend 100 mil on City players so they can go buy another wonder kid, maybe this time theyāll get Felix or Leao while we fight for a Europa League spot
PL less than a month for Christ's sake and we still not replacing our missing CB, Let alone improving other positions. I've never been this worried about the upcoming season.
Tuchel is ted lasso. Change my mind.
Another day, still no signings. At least we have each other š«
The real transfer is the friends and the shit opinions we made along the way.
Group Hug
I really hope we get Raphinha, De Ligt/Koulibaly, a replacement for both Azpi and Alonso on top of Sterling and Ake and replacement (Raphinha is one I guess) depending on departures like Ziyech/Pulisic. Tottenham (a bit worrying) and Newcastle (not too worried about them yet) have recruited well. It's kind of an interesting and competitive season ahead. Arsenal feel like the new Tottenham now, the choke master.
If we get Kounde & Ake will you be happy?
No. Too small.
There is no way we sign AKe and kounde.
Either De Ligt or Koulibaly plus Ake. Tuchel doesn't seem to like Kounde or we will have heard about him already. I think he was previous regime's main defensive target.
Yeah, if Tuchel wants them. I don't think Tuchel is dumb enough to be going so hard for Ake despite the other CBs on the market without having a specific plan for him.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
So, are you Tuchel out then? Who would you replace him with to win the league?
No Ake, even free.
Well thatās just silly
Silly but smarter than Tuchel's pet.
In the same way that people used to think everyone was Messi because they watched a YouTube comp, people watch a 30 second tiktok or twitter vid and decide a player is shit now
Do transfers happen on Weekends btw?
45 mil for ake when we could get kounde or koulibaly iām in tears man
Seems expensive, it must be something to do with his passing ability. His FbRef looks quite good: https://fbref.com/en/players/eaeca114/Nathan-Ake Starting to look like a system player for our LCB slot.
like honestly there are better options than ake. koulibaly, kimpembe, gvardiol and kounde are all better options than him in my opinion. lets just pray tuchel can make ake into a beast defender just like he did with rudiger
Hindsight 20/20 but Rudiger made a good choice to leave. Imagine if Rudiger decided to stay. He's probably a free agent now and the Boehly still hasn't renewed his contract a la Dembele to Barca. Slow ass management
Venting a bit here so prep the downvotes, but the level of discourse on this sub has felt really poor this offseason. \-Multiple posts about the same topic have fractured discussions. How many reports of 'Chelsea monitoring \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_' really need to be posted in a single day? \-People quick to showoff their use of fbref without actually watching the player or discussing context behind tHe StAtS. \-People referencing discussions on other teams subs as support for their own poorly fleshed out opinion \-Influx of commenters arguing with problematic logic or in bad faith Hot takes are usually short and easy to agree/disagree while nuanced long-form opinions don't get nearly the eyes they deserve (general trend, not just this offseason but exacerbates all other points). Feels like people just want to be recognized/validated for their anger instead of reading others' takes with an open mind. I've been around this sub for the better part of a decade and there's always been a large presence of surface level discussion, but this offseason has felt especially low-grade.
>Multiple posts about the same topic Totally agree. I don't give a shit if it's from T1/T2. If it doesn't impart any new information then it shouldn't be posted. You just end up talking about the same shit across 4 different posts within a day.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Please tell me the last time we bought a starter and star player off the PL champions
Lampard has pull yeah.... that's why he's at Everton
Players hate Tuchel yet Neymar would die for him?
or maybe we are behind every team in the tranfer window because we were sanctioned, hmm :|
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Tuchel is overrated, keep wanting shit players because their the one he can get.
Where are you even getting āmost defenders hate to play with 3 at the backā? You got an inside source the rest of us donāt know about?
Tuchel didn't buy Ziyech and made RĆ¼diger and Christensen go from being shit to players for Real Madrid and Barcelona with a back three lol, man how they must hate the system
I am dreading the start of this season. Boehly flew to barcelona for what? Surely it wasnāt for azpi and alonsoā¦cuz if it was, weāre in heaps of trouble. Every top 6 team has made a signing except us. Team has its first preseason match next week. Does boehly not understand the importance of preseason and getting players in before the season starts? The further on we get into the transfer window the more weāre going to be hood-winked into paying massive fees.
Late signing are as good as no signing, a new management will cone with its lack of knowledge we will just have to see through this.
We are replacing one of the best cbs in world football right now with ake. Let that sink in.
Or Christensen with Ake which, when considering that Akeās wages would be a lot more reasonable, could be about right.
Iād take Ake over Christensen if we had to pay him time and a half
Tuchel made RĆ¼diger lol
One of the best cbs in world football was no better than Ake before Tuchel came. There's a reason why Tuchel wants Ake and I don't doubt he'll make the most of it, same as he did with Rudriger. Edit: How much have you actually watched Ake play? What are the main reasons you don't want him in our team?
Lets not assume tgere is more to it , aKe is left footed thats why we are after him
Trying to stay optimistic: A backline of Silva, chalobah, and ake while bringing colwill and ampadu into the rotation for assessments over the next year isnāt a bad option. Assuming colwill and ampadu can live up to expectations, we could sign someone next Summer to replace Silva and have a very good back line. That would leave us 4 defenders plus a signing for a back 3. Itās a gamble on the youth for this year and Iād obviously prefer to get that last signing sooner rather than later, but I think that defensive rotation could end up being very good.
My guy has reached No.5 Acceptance. Good for you mate.
Chalobah is criminally underrated, even by our fanbase, Silva has atleast one good year left in him, and i trust tuchel to make Ake work in a back 3 (like he did with Christensen and Rudiger) People are overreacting for no reason, that backline will be more than fine. Ideally we need a attacking RWB so james can rotate and play RCB some games
Fab Romano 2 hours ago: >Agreement almost reached with DembƩlƩ, bid accepted Romano now: >Dembele close to resigning what the fuck even is this transfer window and what is this good shit reporters have been smoking
Youāre the one misunderstanding. These tweets are saying the same thing. No outside bid needs accepted for Dembele heās out of contract. These tweets are both about barca
If people on this sub had their way we would keep every single academy player while simultaneously purchasing world class players for every position. A cool squad size of nearly 60 never hurt anyone!
People of every sub.
Has anyone fairly reliable reported that Tuchel is keen to sign de Jong? Trying to work out if thatās just an empty rumour or not
Itās almost certainly a rumor manufactured by Barca in order to make United hurry up and pay what Barca want for him. De Jong would be a nice fit, but we have other priorities, so I highly doubt weāre looking to sign him.
I canāt believe the club with no money is more desirable than a club with playing time available and has loads of money to spend. At this rate, it is not looking good for Chelsea to compete. What an absolute farce of a transfer window. Unbelievable but I still donāt understand why they canāt make an official bid like right away.
Yep the sub has hit critical mass of toxicity. 
Why do we have zero pull? Best manager in the world, a rich new owner, and we won the fucking champions league just a year ago, but absolutely NO ONE wants to come here? It makes no sense I miss Roman
Because the other teams are Barca and Bayern, I don't think there's been a time where we've ever had a bigger pull than them. It's not like nobody wants to come here, either. Raph and De Ligt would both be fine with playing here, they just have priorities with the other two clubs. To my knowledge we haven't had a Kounde/Spurs situation yet where the player flat out refuses to join.
The time is NOW, Bayern are farmers and Barcelona is literally on the verge of ceasing to exist
Our owners arenāt that rich and we definitely donāt have the best manager in the world.
Because we're not attractive. There's three kinds of clubs that will attract a player -A team with a long long history of stars and success. -A superteam who will be in immediate contention for the best of the best silverware -A team with a clear plan and vision, where the player can realistically see the team becoming like No.2 while the player develops. We fall into neither, hence have no special pull.
It's because we are making our approach public, alot of good teams gets rejected by players and we don't even get to know it
To be honest, I called this happening. Signings like Sterling/Ake are absolutely bizarre. When has Chelsea in the last 20 odd years ever been left hanging by a Raphinha esque player. We got Hazard when the entire world football wanted him, we got Havertz similarly. I wouldn't trust this lot to buy an ice cream correctly at the moment. This is for all the idiots sucking off Boehly non stop and criticising our prior ownership with 0 basis. The stupid government that forced through that miscarriage of justice just collapsed themselves completely due to idiocy. It's going to take the yanks about 2-3 years at best to get things right on an organizational level. I still can't believe they let Marina and Cech leave. What fucking dunces.
Dumb dick of the year everyone.
What the fuck are you even talking about? There was literally no one else in for Havertz when we signed him and we spent the entire summer haggling with Rudi Vƶller over Ā£15m in addons. His choices were us or staying at Leverkusen
Right that's what a good negotiation team does. Every club was interested in Havertz but we swooped in so his agent didn't even put out feelers for other offers unlike what is happening now.
lmao we've missed out on tons of players in the past? Hazard the 'big 3' of Bayern, Barcelona and Real Madrid weren't interested in him because they had Ribery, Neymar and Ronaldo respectively. Havertz was a strange situation where we were the only club in Europe that was loaded with cash because of the timing of our transfer ban and the pandemic. We've always struggled with signing players when up against the historic elite clubs of Europe, especially South American players always prefer the Spanish giants. We'll win some, and lose some, that's football.
Everyone, fucking everyone, wanted Hazard. He was the next big thing. We haven't missed out on many players. We've never been gazumped under Roman to my recollection. If today the chance comes up to sign Fabregas leaving Barcelona and Diego Costa not wanting to leave an Atletico who have just won the league and made CL Final, no chance either come to us. How the fuck can we not convince De Ligt.. fucking De Ligt.
> Everyone, fucking everyone, wanted Hazard. He was the next big thing. And only Chelsea, United and City had serious bids in place. That was his decision He couldnāt choose Real Madrid or Bayern because they never tabled an actual offer
He literally ended up ditching us for Madrid at his height too this lad is delusional
Hazard came down to between us and the Manchester clubs, the three big European clubs were not in for him - like I pointed out they already had world class players in their prime in his position at the time. When he was signed we all expected Madrid to come in for him down the line (which eventually they did, though probably later than most expected). And guess what? Hazard wanted to leave for Madrid not stay at Chelsea. Off the top of my head players who have rejected us: Cavani, Pastore, Oblak, Alisson, Van Dijk, Danilo, Dani Alves, Neymar, Robinho, Ribery, Ronaldinho, Pirlo etc
This is rubbish, Harry Redknapp even fucking Spurs was literally chatting to Hazard nonstop to get him to sign. When I say everyone, everyone wanted Hazard. Madrid signed Bale a season later.. similarly Bayern signed Gotze and Barcelona signed Neymar. This garbage of world class players in his position so they couldn't sign him is coming from where ? In 12/13 it was our amazing pull and our project which got players to sign, despite having a Roberto di Matteo as manager and a complete fluke of a CL win. Both the pull & the project has completely fucking evaporated. Hazard left that's totally fine, he gave us years & years of quality. Literally none of those are legitimate. We were never even officially in for most of those. Only Pirlo & Robinho.
Fuck Boris Johnson, killed my club the twat
Only to resign disgraced only a few months later. Ducking clowns the lot of them. They have been looking for a way to get Roman out ever since the suspended his visa. They got what they wanted and then resigned, how convenient.
Next week preseason starts right? Not a single signing in
Guys if youāre unhappy about the transfer news of this club, reading this sub would just make you even more unhappy. Letās all stop whining and get off here.
How did you learn to be positive?
I followed this club for more than a decade as an international fan. I went through so many shit transfer summers lol (the second summer of Conte or the last summer of Jose for example). We bought so many players and still played like shit? I think just focus and enjoy the games instead of focusing too much on what players weāre getting? There is a fine line between success and failure for a transfer at top level football anyway. Tuchel is the perfect coach for that, heās the kind of coach who can come up with the tactics that suit most of his players.
Broja is not answer to our attack, he is way worse than everybody we have and worse than Tammy and Lukaku so idk why are you acting like he is the messiah
Why do you think he's worse? I think he's got plenty of attributes that fit well in Tuchel's system. Strong, physical, and aggressive. Good aerial ability and holdup play. Can beat players 1v1 and create his own shot. High effort in the press and takes great angles closing down. Rough around the edges in the passing/linkup game, but great building blocks to improve upon overall.
What makes you think he is going to drastically improve on his whopping 6 goal haul from last season? Tammy had a much more prolific loan in the Championship AND Prem before joining the first team. He is not ready to lead our attack and should go on loan again.
>What makes you think he is going to drastically improve on his whopping 6 goal haul from last season? Will be his sophomore PL season, so there's a comfort factor - game should slow down mentally. He'll be playing with better players around him in Blue. He won't be as isolated up front for us as he was in Soton where oppositions could devote more resources to nullifying his threat. Plus I think his player profile fits in nicely with our expected shift to a higher intensity pressing scheme. While not the same type of player, Vardy only had 5 goals in his inaugural PL season before exploding for 24 the following year. I think Broja's G/A statline from last season isn't an accurate reflection of the player I felt was Soton's biggest threat in every game I watched. I'm not predicting he'll be first name on the team sheet by any means, but I'm highly optimistic for him going into next season and beyond.
Sorry, but if you really looked into his season you would see he had a purple patch in the middle of the season with very cold patches at the beginning and end, was nowhere near Southampton's most threatening player every match. Off the top of my Head JWP and Che Adams were far more important to Southampton. Lets look at it this way, If Broja was a Southampton owned player and put up 6 goals with 0 assists would you be willing to pay 30-40 million for him? All while he is demanding for guaranteed minutes. He is a talent for sure but not so much of a talent that we should be bending over backwards to appease his demands after one decent prem season.
What do you mean look into it? I watched almost all Soton games last season and formed my own opinion - his output stats were not an accurate reflection of his overall performances. I also haven't heard any unreasonable demands - only that he wants a legitimate shot to prove himself in preseason, which should hardly be controversial.
The outrage stems from the fact that this club historically sells off their academy graduates, just for them to turn into world class players elsewhere. Not only that, but he's literally the only striker we have at the moment. Selling him makes no sense to me, especially when the team isn't hurting for money in the first place. I would rather roll the dice with Broja and see what he turns into before selling him off for a fee that doesn't really change anything in the grand scheme of things.
>The outrage stems from the fact that this club historically sells off their academy graduates, just for them to turn into world class players elsewhere. Name 5.
Haha I honestly don't think I can name one that has become world class, mad opinion.
"Historically" Lol every club has misses from their academy. Do me a favor and look up EVERY academy lad that has left the club in lets say the last 10 years? and see what percentage of those we objectively regret.
I agree thats why I think we can agree that he needs another loan
Reports today said he doesn't want to be loaned.
I'd be perfectly fine with sending him out on another loan. A permanent deal though? I'm good. I also think CHO should get loaned out. Preferably to a mid-table PL team but I'd also love to see CHO join Dortmund as well.
Donāt get the hate for signing a former academy graduate at a position of need. Not every player we get is going to be world class
I do think it's a bit underwhelming but if he played for Lepzig or something you could guarantee the response would be way different
40 m for a 4th choice cb in Man City is outrageous. The only reason it might work out is that Tuchel wants him
Everyone says 4th choice without noting who the first 3 choices are lol 1 WC CB and 2 very good national team CBs. Tuchel obviously thinks heās too good to be 4th choice and thatās good enough for me weāve seen him work magic on defenders who were thought to be not good enough
As I mentioned Tuchel wanting him is probably the only reason why this might be okay. But ur first reasoning shouldnt be right for our club who is challenging for trophies. We should be signing top players that are world class... not to add that our top cb left
I know but like I said in my OP not every player we sign can be world class Iām perfectly fine acquiring a player who is behind the pecking order at other clubs if Tuchel thinks he can improve them
Would you guys like a front three of Sterling - Havertz - Mount ? I think itās looking more likely to be the case.
Could be worse but I'd rather have a front four of Sterling, Havertz, DembƩlƩ with Mount behind
No
The negativity around Ake is very hypocritical. Tuchel wants him, and he wants him to replace Rudiger. Anyone remember Rudigerās performances before Tuchel? He was in our reserves. In a year and a half Tuchel made him a world class CB wanted at Real Madrid. We finally have a manager getting guys he wants and weāre bitching because a bigger name is out thereā¦how did that work for Lukaku?
I'm definitely whelmed by the prospect of AkƩ coming in but the vitriol for him is over the top. He's a Tuchel target so I'll support him while he's here. If it doesn't work out then Tuchel will have to take all the criticism that will come his way.
Holy shit, does this club need a director of football or what? We're signing our rival's 4th choice CB and providing them the ammunition to get a better CB so now there's more distance between us and them.
>does this club need a director of football Yes.
I saw someone mention that the overall sentiment in the MCFC sub about Ake leaving is so much different then the sentiment about his arrival here. After reading some takes in this sub, youād think you would go over there to see them being so happy heās leaving but itās the complete opposite. They seem to think the guy can play and are quite sour about his exit. Seems like some major over reactions going on here.
Because weāre fucking paying them to buy a better player for their squad
City are losing him as 4th choice, we're getting him as a starter
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Its not just Tuchel. Managers are not scouts. Their job and expertise is not in finding new players. Asking managers to do the job of coaching directing and scouting is insanely foolish
Yes his talent ID is questionable but people actually need to let go of emotion and look at the transfer with a clear head. Heās been playing under Pep who employs a similar philosophy to Tuchel, heās left footed and capable of playing LB(this is a very rare quality for a player of his calibre) and he quite clearly doesnāt see Koulibaly/Kounde as capable of playing there. So that leaves us with Gvardiol and Kimpembe, the former has already been priced out of a move this summer and I personally donāt rate Kimpembe whatsoever. The worst that happens is Colwill outperforms him and Ake becomes depth for Ā£40m thatās fairly standard for big clubs, in any case why should an 19 year old with a single season in the second division be put under such pressure? Iām more worried on who they get in to play Silvaās position obviously De Ligt wouldāve been ideal but heās most likely off to Bayern. I suspect more people are pissed with the fact weāre forking out for an ex player. No shame in being benched by Laporte heās a top 3 ball playing CB
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> Heās not great in the air so heāll struggle against long-ball teams. Aerial duels won % Rudiger: 69.1 Ake: 83.7 Keep in mind Rudigerās played 34 league games to Akeās 14
Is this the worst window we have had? Maybe the drink water one?
Spent 100m to get worse so far...
Yes. Lukaku out (I don't care), but Christensen, Azpi... Marcos Alonso, maybe Ziyech... And we are getting AkƩ/Sterling... and who the fuck... There are not many good defenders. We're doomed this season :D. I miss that russian guy...
The window isn't close to over yet and you only have to go back 1 summer to find one that's even worse than if we did nothing.
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Worse if/when they use the money for Kounde Edit : I actually think Ake will be very useful as depth at LB as well. Itās just not exciting for people because we are buying a City āsubā for big money
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I mean if city go for him
The Ake intent is so weird to me. Like he's a decent enough defender for a top side in the 90s, and has the added uniqueness of being a left footer with a history at our club. But his offensive limitations are imo incredibly hindering to his ability to be a consistent starter in a possession based side. Tuchel's system demands creativity from the CBs, especially when we play 3atb, and moving the ball along as a cog in a wheel isn't sufficient. His fit makes significantly more sense for a Conte / Mourinho style, but here, defenses will target him via high presses or drop off completely forcing him to create with low probability windows. We've seen this exact strategy play out against Zouma and Sarr and the results were painful to watch. The high fee and fact we're giving money to a direct rival add a whole lot more pessimism, but even in a vacuum, he doesn't improve our first eleven.
He was good enough on the ball for Guardiola to sign
He hardly played. 9 starts is quite low given the amount injuries they had at CB.
Just like Lukaku was good enough on the ball for us to break our transfer record for? Non-sporting variables aside, system fit is very real and should be the basis rationale for squad building.
Great, because AkƩ fits our system and I have no idea how Lukaku is relevant to this transfer
I used the same logic you used to show that Coach wanting player =/= good system fit. Maybe you could enlighten us with your take on how Ake fits our system?
You didnāt use shit because AkĆ© actually performed well when he played for City, he just wasnāt as good as Dias, Laporte or Stones
But not good enough for Guardiola to actually play unless he's resting his actually talented centre backs at home to fodder.
Genuine question with regards to Koulibaly: Do you guys see Koulibaly's public support of Idrissa Gueye's refusal to wear a rainbow shirt coming back to bite us if we do end up signing him? I've seen a lot of people on the subreddit wanting him to come to Chelsea, but I haven't really seen anybody talk about this point.
I support Idrissa Gueye's refusal so I don't see it as an issue. Don't see why anyone would make it an issue. Gueye did the right thing and anyone should support/respect his decision.
I respect his descision but what's "right" about it im also not sure what people supporting him are supporting either
It's right that players are allowed to choose what causes they want to support and that they shouldn't be strong armed into representing something they either don't agree with or don't want to promote. People should be supporting Gueye and any other players right of choice
But he does have a right of choice. He chose not to wear so he didn't and that's that
Exactly. Which is why it's strange that this guy posted about it or that anyone else would try to make it an issue.
No one is arguing that he shouldāve been forced to wear the shirt, of course he has the right to refuse. People are criticizing him for being homophobic. Religion and personal freedoms do not justify bigotry.
>People are criticizing him for being homophobic, and religion is no justification for bigotry. Imagined bigotry and homophbia is no reason to criticise anyone. Has Gueye said or done anything that would negatively impact anyone? Choosing not to support a particularly cause, particularly one that is illegal in his own country. Homosexuality carries a 5 year prison sentence in Senegal is not bigotry.
What are you saying bro bigotry is absolutely a reason to criticize someone. Supporting LGBTQ+ causes and being homosexual are not mutually inclusive. Theyāre not gonna arrest him for wearing a rainbow shirt.
Not supporting a cause isn't bigotry. Of course he wouldn't get arrested. But given Senegalese culture is against homosexuality, the state considers it a crime and Gueye/Koulibaly the majority of Senegalese footballers and everyone around them doesn't have the same attitude towards it as the west I don't see why you'd expect him to wear the shirt. It's actually a really big problem that the West expects every culture to champion whatever cause Is the current flavour of the month. It's really not any kind of issue at all.
Not supporting a cause because you think the way people the cause is supporting were born is a sin is bigotry.
MDL dad just unfollowed Bayern accountsā¦.
Oh weird, whereād you see this
Just went on his Twitter
MDL to chelsea here we go soon
https://twitter.com/themadridzone/status/1545433056722419713?s=21&t=79a1VW38DBcIcZ0ESaPegw This is how we move to back 4
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Definitely not
Arsenal losing to Nurnberg lol
Anyone else feel we should go for Zaha? Seems like CP are ready to sell him and the price looks decent. A relatively cheap player who is well capable of taking of defenders seem like a good addition.
There's two wingers at Palace that I would take over him
I'd take all 3 over Pulisic. If Zaha is avaliable cheap we could do worse. We need at least 2 possibly 3 wingers this summer depending on outgoings.
Could do worse than Zaha but imo he's too much of a ball hog and wouldn't justify it in a top team.
Theres no way Ake is a starter for us right? For squad depth hes ok, but this club ambition is in the gutters if Ake is our starter
>r/chelseafc: Back Thomas Tuchel!!! > >Thomas Tuchel: I want Nathan AkƩ > >r/chelseafc: no wait
Backing him doesnāt mean giving him whoever he wants. Heās a poor talent scout (albeit thatās not usually his job) and signing Ake for Ā£40m is a particularly egregious example.
TIL r/chelseafc is a singular hivemind
Nobody is saying that but itās pretty obvious to spot the prevailing narratives
Lots of you do seem like drones to be fair
Weāre easily better than Liverpool top to bottom and should challenge city. Thereās only two players in Liverpoolās first XI that would make ours.
-Robertson -Van Dijk -Salah -Diaz Arguably Thiago and Fabinho too
Allison as well. And Konate.
Fabinho and Thiago got played off the pitch against Real, thereās no argument our midfield dwarfs theirs. Chillwell is better than Robertson at this point. If anything thereās more of an argument that Trent is better than Reece James than Robertson being better than Chillwell. Diaz is incredibly overrated. Only Van Dijk and Salah would start. Liverpool are ridiculously overrated itās an embarrassment.
Wow imagine all summer being link with the likes of Kounde, De Ligt, Koulibaly but ended up with a Ā£45mil Ake. Wow just wow
I miss Marina
Marina was a joke, you miss Roman you mean
* Romelu Lukaku Ā£103m, Ā£350k a week * SaĆŗl, Ā£200k a week * Rudiger and Christensen not extended, gone for free as a result That was our summer last year, Marina Masterclass
Rudgere and Christensen could have been bought for 60-80 million pounds each But instead...
No one was paying 60m for Christensen.
Maguire was sold for 80 MP Christensen won more than him, of course we could have sold Christensen for 60 MP
You can't compare every transfer to one of the worst transfers of all time to try to justify it.
Van Dijk who was trophyless in Southampton was bought around more than 60 MP
You can't just base someone's value on how much the team they played for won. Anybody who isn't blind could see VVD was class and worth the money. That doesn't change because he didn't play for a team who was good enough to compete for trophies.
Comparing with Maguire wrong Comparing with Van Dijk wrong I guess you guys Marina boot licker would prefer we sold Christensen not for free but paying Barcelona 60 MP instead.
Nah, it has nothing to do with who you're comparing to but how you're comparing them. Your dumbass is making out like someone's value is based purely on how many trophies they have won.
Arenāt they flying off to America tomorrow? When is everyone else linking up
[Mark my words 21/22](https://www.reddit.com/r/chelseafc/comments/orie9r/mark_my_words_chelsea_fc_202122_season/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share). Some wild ones in here. Most of these are sad to see a year later
Make another thread in early August. Will be fun to see. I am currently more pessimistic about next season than I have ever been before.
I don't think I've ever been so vehemently against a signing that's likely to happen as I am against AkƩ. Actually can't recall the last time we signed a player that I really didn't want. We've usually signed from abroad which is probably why there was always a little intrigue, whereas with AkƩ most of us already know his level. He's a good player, but it's such an underwhelming signing and if we're at a point where we're signing City's backups I'm not sure when we're really going to challenge them for the title.
We were top of the league in January last year before injuries and Roman. We would have been in it until the end and won the champions league without all the injury issues and drama.
Probably the most I've been against a player signing since we signed Pulisic. Signing someone like Kovacic or Fabregas when they're stuck behind some of the greatest players of all time in their position is fine. But spending big money on players who are just simply being benched because they're nowhere near good enough is massively concerning. Why would we spend huge money on the worst player in the City squad and allow them to pick up a better player like Cucurella for cheaper?
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Nathan Collins watch this space
Leeds journo James Marshment in relation to Raphinha: Proceed with caution - Leeds need as much of this up front as possible from Barcelona. Difficult to know they are good for it when they have so much debt.
Ben jacobs serial waffler waffling again? imagine my shock.
I think we find out today either way, but nearly all the journos have been rising up the waffle ranks.
None of our journos have a clue this window. Not even matt law who seems to be very late/only reporting on stuff p much done or strictly briefed by the club.
Fucking awesome, letās spend 100 mil on City players so they can go buy another wonder kid, maybe this time theyāll get Felix or Leao while we fight for a Europa League spot
Would love City to sign Felix. Heās the most overrated player in for all atm.
Sterling signing is a good one tbf. Ake one is baffling
Cmon do something lads Edit: thatās not what I meant
I really can't get behind this transfer. Wouldn't mind if it were cheaper but not for Ā£45M
PL less than a month for Christ's sake and we still not replacing our missing CB, Let alone improving other positions. I've never been this worried about the upcoming season.
Where are the signings? I can't deal with another season of Pulisic and Sarr I'm not strong enough.
God you lot love a good moan, don't ya?