Hanzen

Doubt that Sarri will stay. Seems destined for Juve now. Although I love Lamps for his time here as a player, I just don't think he's ready for leading Chelsea. Imagine him against proven managers like Klopp or Guardiola. I think we'd get absolutely hammered. I would hope for something like this... Manager: Erik Ten Hag GK: Kepa RB: Reece James RCB: Azpi/Tomori/AC (Hopefully Tomori is given a chance - but another season with Derby seems logical). LCB: David Luiz/Clarke-Salter (Though JCS will probably be loaned out). LB: Emerson/Azpi RCM: Barkley CDM: Kanté/Ampadu LCM: Mount RW: Pulisic ST: Giroud/Abraham LW: Willian The line-up takes the following in mind: Transfers - Jorginho is sold to Juve, as Sarri is appointed as the new head coach of Juve (He could just use Pjanic/Bentancur for that role, but let's just imagine it'll happen). - Pedro is sold. - Alonso is sold. - Batshuayi is sold. - Drinkwater is sold. - Higuain & Kovacic's loan-deals doesn't get extended. Injuries Loftus-Cheek Hudson-Odoi Antonio Rudiger You could argue that Ten Hag would - just as Sarri - prefer at controlling CDM - just as he has with Schöne now. Therefore selling Jorginho isn't neccesarily given. - In case we decide to appeal our ban to CAS - my ideal squad - with all players fit, and some transfers (Most recent rumours) - would be something like this. GK: Kepa RB: Reece James/Azpi RCB: Rudiger/Azpi LCB: David Luiz/AC LB: Emerson/Azpi RCM: RLC/Barkley CDM: Kanté/Ampadu LCM: Coutinho/Mount RW: Pépé/Pulisic ST: Giroud/Abraham LW: Hudson-Odoi/Willian Dream scenario: With Griezmann leaving Atletico, and Barca seemingly having trouble to get the deal finalized, it would be perfect with him as a striker. Highly unlikely though... But just imagine CHO/Griez/Pépé up front.

Haha - I can't see it happening like that. But I guess that more often than not, it's written between the lines. Sure, results are good - and fans will like you for that. But results with managers whom the players and fans are backing will often mean more. Look at Klopp in Liverpool. Has won absolutely nothing, yet everyone is full of admiration for him, his personality and style of football. Everyone is backing him, from staff to fans to players... Which means that the board are backing him as well. And not just this year - or last year, where the results have been good. But long before that.

My guess is that THAT is the exact reason for his sit-down with the board. Sometjing like: "I gave you top four, FA Cup final and won the EL. I did it by playing the way I told you I would. Possesion-based attacking football. Now we have a ban, and you're selling our - by far - best player. Sure, I'll stay and play our talents and most of the current sqaud - but I can't guarantee either top four nor making the final rounds of the CHL. What do you think?"

Hazard leaving seems to be certain. The Sarri-Granovskaia sitdown planned for yesterday could turn out in three ways. 1. Sarri continues as our coach following his current contract, wether we appeal or not. (I think we do though - just waiting until the last minute, making sure we'll get as long as possible to do transfers this summer).> 2. Sarri continues, whiæe extending and/or changing his current contract. Probably in regards to the results he'll get us next season and the transfers coming in, as well as a reference to Hazard leaving. 3. Sarri is released from his contract, while we continue our usual rollercoaster ride in search of that someone to take charge, who both the board, players and fans like. (Preferably someone that has no opinion with the club dictating transfers, and so on)

Should the takeover happen - seems likely - they'll definately go out and spend a lot. Doubt theyøll beat Real though. Still don't get the ones saying Real haven't spend money in the past few years. It's simply not true. - This season they've spend (including last summer - and excluding transfers that'll go through this summer) €170M. I know, i know. They wen't on and sold Cristiano Ronaldo, which - including his salaries - made it pretty much even. But is is not as if they made purely profits of him leaving. It merely made the socre even - though they must have some expected losses on their shirt-selling and brand-value at the same time. Looking at transfers that'll go though this summer. - Real have already bought Eder Militao and Rodrygo for at combined €95M. Hazard seems to go for something like €135M - and you can easily add either Eriksen and/or Pogba in the calculation. Maybe even Jovic as well. I could prove to be a very expensive transfer window - though it will undoubtbly be worth it.

Correct - my bad. Doubt it was Mou though. Probably the club via some analyst and/or scouts. Made a decent profit on him, which makes it fairly reasonable.

Just read some pointers regarding bad transfers in another topic, which made me think... What's the worst piece of business we've done? The're are some obvious ones. - Selling Salah, KDB, Robben and Lukaku. All for cheap. - Acquiring players like Danny Drinkwater and Zappacosta - who both must be considered as pretty mediocre players - for a total of £60M. And with growing concern that we'll be buying more mediocre players for ridiculous amounts, I couldn't help but thinking of the strategic aspect. Do we need someone like Arnesen or Emenalo - or in general a DoF? I know that the made mistakes as well - but lacking a DoF could make us do even more doubtful business onwards. I've read that Sarri said he knew next to nothing about the transfer of Pulisic. All he knew was that the club asked him whether he liked him as a player - to which answered that he thought he was a great talent. A few weeks later the club had signed him for £60M. We've heard those kind of stories before. Conte wanting Bonucci or Koulibaly - instead he got Djilobodji. Wanted Alex Sandro as wingback - got Alonso (who turned our pretty good though). There a just countless examples of us buying players for no reason what so ever. And with more and more quality coming through our, in fact brilliant youth setup, should we take a break and give players like Mount, Ampadu, Abraham, Tomori, Chalobah and James a chance to show what they're capable of? Maybe even Zouma, who's been pretty decent for Everton, showing that the injury is truly behind him. Or are we gonna see history repeat itself with us selling 5/6 for cheap - and then buy some unknown guy from a middle tier club from Italy for £20M?

Could is definately important to remember here. Coutinho was the absolute star at Liverpool. At Barca he's failed to deliver. Still, Milinkovic-Savic hasn't really been anything special this year. 39 games with 5 goals and 4 assists across all competitions. He's been in the shadow of players like Lucas Leiva - and still, knowing Lotito, he'll be expensive. Very Expensive. - We're talking about a man, who's been out in public stating that he's refused a bid of £140M for SMS once. He's not going to let him go for cheap. And certainly not for the price you would assume Coutinho would be available for. Fernandes on the other hand is a player which I really like. Sporting has been dealt with a great hand here though. Several clubs are after him as I've read - including Man City. He could easily end up costing more than the qouted £70M. And who is really the better player? 1. Coutinho, who is proven in the PL, and who has been carrying Liverpool on his shoulders at times - which earned him interest from every single club in the world - with Barca being the one he wanted to go to... 2. Fernandes, who have enjoyed two brilliant years at Sporting - but was sold from both Udinese and Sampdoria for almost nothing, despite being young and talented? I know who I'd count on. With that being said, I do think Fernandes could really bring something as well - I think he's Man City-bound though.

Don't see why a we shouldn't go for him - if he's available. Would be brilliant if we could get if for something like 50M + Willian. Doubt it though. With Barca getting Griezmann (Seems to be pretty certain) - they'll have some choices to make. Either keep Coutinho as rotation for Griezmann - leaving Dembele with limited options (not to mention Malcom, whom I believe they're going to send on loan - or sell). Can't see why they'd swap out Malcom for Willian - and likewise with Willian/Coutinho - even if they get additional 50M. So it'll be difficult. Sure, it wouldn't be ideal for CHO, Pulisic or RLC - but not really that big of a problem either. We need someone in the midfield that can either: 1. Split or open up a tight low-standing defence. Hardly what Ruben, Barkley and Kanté are doing the most. 2. Create a threat from the distance, forcing opponent defences to push forward. Barkley, RLC and Kanté will probably provide us with 2-3 of these goals per season at max. The upside is that both Coutinho and RLC can play in the midfield and on the wing. This gives us plenty of possibility to play both at once. With CHO being out - maybe until sometime around winter - we are in need of some better alternatives than Pedro and Willian. We can't know for sure what we'll get in Pulisic. He's only 20 - and can easily swap around with CHO when the time comes. I'd love to see Coutinho at Chelsea, if... - We can't get a better option like Dybala. Or even Sané, who's reportedly been offered to Bayern. Not sure City will sell to us, though. - His motivation is in top. As some have mentioned he has a problem with falling out of games at times. To the one that mentioned Alex Telles - oh my, I'd like him at Chelsea. Not sure wheither it's just the league. Could Emerson do what he's doing at Porto? The league is a lot weaker than the PL. When Telles was on loan at Inter, they had a chance to sign him for next to nothing, and decided not to. Then Porto came calling, where he has flowered again. There are lots of great possibilities though. Gaya, Chilwell and perhabs Alaba even.

Partly agree. Sarri has given plenty of game-time for younger players like RLC and CHO. But he does keep repeating one thing; They have to be ready, and as good as the alternatives - otherwise it would make no sense playing them - just because they're young. I do believe he's interested in giving them minutes - but not necessarily with the matters of: - Tammy over the likes of Higuaín, if he could keep him. - Reece James over Azpi. - Mount over RLC and/or Kovacic - if he stays. - Ampadu over Jorginho - as he is the core of the team. And it makes perfect sense. They shouldn't just go in and be first team starters - unless they're ready for it. Sarri plays whatever team he believe to be the strongest - not the one that potentially will be strongest. That's not his job. He can't know how long his reign will last. He's hired to get results as well as playing the style of football we saw with Napoli. However, I do believe he'd be willing to give young players a chance to play, should the board give him some promises in keeping the job - even if we're out in the group stage of CHL and finish outside top four next year. Just guessing though.

BUT! We have brilliant players from our own ranks coming through. Reece James, Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount, Ampadu. I can see us having a hard time lifting the PL trophy over the next few years - but it's a brilliant opportunity for us to trust in a manager as well as bringing youth through.

GK: Cech RB: Azpi CB: Carvalho CB: Terry LB: A. Cole CDM: Kanté CM: Ballack CM: Lampard CAM: Hazard ST: Drogba ST: Zola Bench: Cudicini, Desailly, Ivanovic, Makelele, Essien, Robben, Hasselbaink Reserves: P. Ferreira, David Luiz, Mikel, Wise, Duff, D. Costa, Mata

Doub't we'll get 20M for Emerson. Him and Zappa will probably bring us home something like 25-30M in total. - Bats should bring in something more than 20M though. Probably something like 30M or so. I agree that we should move for a talented fullback on the left - Chilwell is a good shout. Other options would be someone like Ferland Mendy, Jose Gaya or maybe even Alaba - as Bayern has just brought in Hernandez. However, I really disagree with the idea of spending anywhere near 90M for Fraser and Maguire. We should use that kind of money on a player that would really change our side - not on two players that I can see becoming back-ups. I'd personally go for someone like Ruben Dias from Benfica or Christian Romero from Genoa when looking for CB's. In the regista role I'd like Ampadu or maybe even Sandro Tonali from Brescia. Ruben Neves would be brilliant in this role as well - but I doubt that Wolves are willing to sell. I like the thought of Nicolas Pépé or Sané - either one would add speed and ono-v-one situations. Sané would be the more expensive solution - but also the more proven player; especially in the PL. Jovic seems destined for Real Madrid - and he's definately nowhere near 100M. Perhaps 60M - but nothing more. A new striker would be great though, and Dybala is indeed someone I think would match Sarri's philosophy. - He'll probably set us back around 100M.

Not a fan of assumptions and guessing - but I think you're right with this one. I like Barkley - but he's back-up material for us. I prefer both Mount and RLC ahead of Barkley. - Barkley has been decent in the EL and cup-games, but to me he goes missing in the important games. he's good to have in case of injuries and squad-rotation - but not as a starter.

Haha, I can almost imagine a press conference with Hazard saying the he was ready to sign a new contract - but then he saw that kit and was like: "That's it."

I get were you're going here, but I really disagree with a lot of areas. First... I would have taken a draw before kick off as well, but seeing how easily both City, PSG and Barcelona beat them in their own cave just within the past months - not to mention Everton giving them a 4-0-smacking on Goodison Park the other day, it somehow put my hopes up for more. I know - this game is different - but I really don't think United were impressive last night. With United playing badly, we still didn't manage to create much. We looked so bad and out of control. Against Burnley we showed heart as we came behind and played some brilliant, fast-paced football. We only lost points due to our rather doubtful defensive position on set pieces. That wasn't the case yesterday. We looked nervous and passive from the start. Imo Manchester United made a huge mistake in dropping back after their goal - allowing us to control the game. Still... Despite this fact - we can't break through a sh*tty defensive like the one United has currently got. We had to wait for De Gea to make a mistake for us to score. After that goal, all we needed was to keep the point - I get that. But we were just so bad with the ball. Higuain looked like a complete different player than the one we saw in the weekend. Offside all the time, bad touches and... He really should have squared that last one in to Hazard as well. Though the refs line was interesting - to say the least - last night, we can't blame him for the final result - that was up to us and the approach IMO. Well... Two games left - two difficult games as well. I really hope that we'll see some more to Giroud and RLC in these games. Their physical presence could turn out being extremely important.

The fan-made one is pretty decent to be fair - but oh my... The other one looks awful. Hopefully looks good on the pitch and on TV. - According to some sources the pattern is inspired by Stamford Brigde. ... But what really made me interested in that picture is Hazard. Could this be some minor indication of him staying for the next season - or is he simply doing his duty as a club-ambassador?

Exactly. A lot of the flow we had in the start of the game went away after the substitutes. Sarri tried to mix it up with Kovacic as another creative midfielder, and with Pedros performance on thursday it was obvious that he would eventually come on for CHO. I think it's hard to blame Sarri for making these changes. What annoys me the most is that the recklessness from the beginning of the game went missing after Burnley's 2-2 goal - and especially in the second half. At least we had the willingness to take some shots in the first half - but that stopped completely in the second half.

Don't agree here. Last night we started out with three of our own young talents; Christensen, RLC & CHO. Furthermore, we played fast-paced attacking football, and was unlucky (mixed with bad defensive positioning) to concede two goals on set pieces in the first half. Both our goals - and most of our attacking plays - were great last night. Sacking Sarri and starting from scratch all over again is not the right way to go IMO. Give him another season or two - and get some continuity in the way we train and play for once.

Sané. He's proven in the PL - and IMO one of the best wingers out there. With that being said, I think Pépé would be an absolutely amazing signing!

In the last days rumours have started to show regarding Nicolas Pépé as a replacement if Eden leaves for Real Madrid. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6931143/chelsea-set-70m-nicolas-pepe-eden-hazard-way-real-madrid.html https://talksport.com/football/528627/chelsea-transfer-news-eden-hazard-nicolas-pepe/ I know - perhabs not the most trustworthy sources, but still. Interesting indeed. Personally I see a lot more potential in Pépé than I do in Pulisic, who to me seems like more of a backup solution with high marketing value. Though with Pulisic, Pedro, Willian and CHO already in our squad, a transfer seems unlikely. Furthermore, it seems that Lille wants to sell this summer - and with our well-known transfer ban hanging over our head - it's probably just another rumour.

According to Sky this is now a real rumour. He's indeed interesting - young, intelligent and strong - could be exactly what we need. Though I also read some time ago that we were looking at his teammate Sébastien Haller - more of a targetman, but has been consistant with goals and assists in the Eredivisie and the Bundesliga. Not sure who I'd prefer of the two.

Exactly - football, and especially tranfers, are complicated. And it will only get more and more complicated in the future I think. Agree with the fact that we should sell the on most of the unnecessary players. Unfortunately the two-year loan-deals for both Morata and Moses leaves us with no choice but to wait until next summer before selling. Not too sure about Bats. He could turn out to be brilliant, but he's a bit of at lottery ticket. I'd go for Giroud (given that he decides to extend his contract, red.) and then Tammy/Bats for backup. - I actually think our dear Olivier deserves a chance to be the starter. Brilliant in the small-play-areas and a great play-up station. Most of all - I hope we can keep CHO. Just read on Sky that he's still pretty unsettled at the Bridge, but that the club has informed him we won't sell him no matter what happens with the ban-situation. Hopefully just rumours, though. Furthermore, Bayern is seemingly looking closely at Pepé from Lille. Competition there should be the same as in Chelsea. About Bayern though... They just bought Hernandez from Atletico. A left-footed defender, capable of playing in both the center - and left-side. How on earth did we not turn in for him - with Luiz getting older and older? I know that we've got AC - an intelligent young defender, with pace and coolness like few others - but still... Talk about hitting the hammer on the nail. Personally I'd have no problem with Pedro leaving to free up space for CHO. CHO, Willian and Pulisic seems like great options on the wing - and with RLC also being able to take that position the problem would (pretty much) be solved.

Spot on. In my opinion we're definately in need of a DoF. With Marina Granovskaia being the main responsible for player transactions, we leave a lot of areas to chance. - I'll just mention Pulisic again here. There's no doubt that he's talented, but how is he - footballings wise - worth £60M? He lost his place in the Dortmund team to Sancho - an 18-year-old englishman, that was far from being a part of the bench in Manchester City. As I see it, CHO is capable of at least the same, if not more, than Sancho... and CHO are barely playing for us. I know theres some geographic-marketing-reason which is playing a massive part in the Pulisic transfer as well, but still. We really need a professional like Arnesen og Emenalo to help pulling some strings when deciding which players to buy.

With an appeal hearing in about two weeks time regarding the transfer ban - what's next for us? Yesterday, AC told in a interview that the club had informed all players that they were to stay, should the club be banned from acquiring new players. But what's the plan then? - Let's put up the two (perhabs three) scenarios that we're likely to see. 1. FIFA decides to maintain the ban - and the club are not to sign any players in the upcomning tranfer windows. 1.1. FIFA accepts the appeal of allowing Chelsea to acquiring players while the case is under investigation, giving the club a chance to sign players in the summer. 2. The decision regarding a transfer ban is dismissed, as CAS and/or FIFA rules in favour of Chelsea and the FA. Now, the're a lot of questionmarks regarding the matter. When, how and if a decision is made... Let's imagine that the we do recieve the ban - nothing to do. Is the correct move to simply maintain players? We've got so much talent and potential in our youth - something that we finally are getting a chance to see. However, with 40+ players returning from loan, what would be best? I would have no problem with the club allowing most of the irellevant players leave. By irellevant, I mean players the realistically aren't going to get in the squad. https://www.transfermarkt.com/fc-chelsea/leihspieler/verein/631 In the link above, 21 of our first team loan players (excluding Pulisic, red.) are listed. Really, there's only two players that I'd be sad to see leaving; Tammy and Zouma. Why are we keeping players like Nathan, Baba Rahman, Kalas, Omeruo, Hector, Pasalic and Baker? - I'm finding it extremely difficult to ever see either of those players getting a chance in the first team. Even IF they were to be considered - wouldn't we simply replace them with new, and better players in the near future? I'd like to see the squad - and club - recieving a major overhaul soon. Give Sarri time to work with squad, perhabs even accept that Hazard is leaving and that we're not winning the league in the next couple of years. I know, it's difficult with our owner - and the latest history of non-performing managers. But oh my, I'd love to see us not buying mediocre players for the sake of it. Zappacosta, Drinkwater, Remy and the list goes on. I did like the idea of Morata, Bakayoko and Batshuayi. All of them we're young and wanted be several clubs - unfortunately they simply didn't work out. The same goes for Pulisic. I'm actually genuinly having doubts regarding him - hope he proves me wrong though. But the point of buying fewer andbetter players alongside our young - and extremely talented - players, is really something I would love. In my opinion, if the ban remains, the squad should be something like this (Assuming Hazard still leaves - despite the clubs willingness to sell) GK: Kepa, Bulka RB: Azpi CB: Rudiger, Zouma CB: Luiz, AC/Ampadu LB: Alonso, Emerson CDM: Jorginho, Ampadu RCM: Kanté LCM: RLC, Barkley RW: Willian, Pulisic LW: CHO, Pedro ST: Higuain, Abraham Now, with players above listed, I'd expect Giroud - unfortunately - to run down his contract and look for more game time. Batshuayi and Drinkwater will probably be far from the team, and as we can't get new players, and the deal for Kovacic ends in June, he's been excluded as well (Not that I think we'd buy him anyway). Even if we were to sign players while the case gets investigated - I can't see a lot of changes that should be made. A new striker - but who? 50M Callum Wilson? Nah. Icardi? Most likely not going to happen. As far as I can see we need a goalscoring midfielder. Barkling and RLC is what we've got at that position at the moment. Not too bad. But not a lot of goals either. The one player I'd like to see us go for would be Kai Havertz. Young, and intelligent on the field. With him and RLC on the left side of the midfield, along Kanté/Barkley on the other and Jorginho/Ampadu in the center, I'd go as far as saiyng we're set for the next 5 years or so. But I guess that's just wishful thinking. We're probably going to sack Sarri by the end of the year, and keep Hazard, which will make CHO unhappy with his amount of playing time, leaving us with both leaving for free in a bit over a year. Or... What's next?