Barrettinator

Cahill had never played on the right side of the defense in his career prior to this season and he's not even that good on the ball. And what does playing at LB have to do with that?

It's not a waste of time when you consider the fact that Azpi is probably Conte's most trusted player in that starting 11 and played every minute of every league game this season. Only the 4th outfield player to ever do that in the PL era. So RCB is pretty much locked up for Azpi except in matches we decide to rotate. We also have a right footed CB in Cahill playing at LCB, in other words, a right footed Christensen has more hope of playing at LCB considering how consistent Azpi is. And if we sign Van Dijk there, that affects Christensen's chances. Tht's why there's a debate. However, if we have a successful season next year, we'll play over 60 matches so I think there'll be times where we have to rotate and Christensen will get games to start. Which is why I've said having both Christensen and VVD is actually good.

I don't think anyone in this thread has mentioned VVD vs Ake. We're talking about Christensen. Signing VVD doesn't affect Ake's chances much.

Worth what risk? No one's saying Ake should be starting. But how on earth can you not see that he's a quality back up? He'll make mistakes, that's certain. As all young players do. But age and experience will help him weed out those mistakes. So far, he has had one stellar game and one not-so-good game for us (Spurs, Watford). Perfectly normal to expect of a young player. Not sure what you have against Ake. Would you rather get rid of him then? Every player in the world who has CL experience started with zero CL experience.

I find it amusing that certain Chelsea fans have now begun to use the "Moaninio" used by rival fans in years past that used to annoy us and have us defending Jose vehemently. There's no need to start calling the man names for no reason ffs.

You keep saying give him a season or two on loan like he hasn't been on loan for the last 2 years already. Not every loanee has the patience of Chalobah, Bertrand and co. Not every player's going to want to go on loan 5 times before being considered worthy enough. Over the past year, his father has repeatedly said he'll have 2 options this summer; either be a Chelsea player or get a permanent move elsewhere. How have you missed all those comments? Or do you think they're going to take another loan just to please Chelsea? The lad's got his own career to look after.

How do you know exceptions if you don't take the punt? You have to try and see how it pans out. You make it sound like these "exceptions" are rare unicorns or something. How do you know for sure that Christensen won't turn out to be the best CB in the world in 5 years? You don't. And neither do I. But we'll never know if we don't try. Mind, I'm not against signing VVD. Not anymore at least. As I've said several times in this thread by now, I can see a situation where both of them are at Chelsea next season, especially considering Gary & Luiz's ages. There's nothing wrong with planning for a future back line that has both Christensen and VVD in it. Just don't paint Christensen as some young lad who has no future at the top level. That's just flagrantly wrong and for the mere sake of making a case for VVD. We don't know if VVD is going to turn into the next Mangala or Otamendi once he signs for us either. We don't know the future. We can only try to hedge our bets and plan properly. I'm sure most Chelsea fans would be gutted if Christensen turned into another Lukaku/De Bruyne at another top club.

Jose would slit his wrists and drink rat poison before switching his default formation to 3 at the back. I can only remember him doing it 2 or 3 times ever for a few minutes while chasing a game and it hardly bore fruit for him.

Well, that's awkward, considering Barca signed 22 year old Umtiti last summer and he had 42 appearances (starting most games) this season. Also, 24 year old Varane started playing for Madrid when he was 19 and has been averaging over 30 games a season for them (could be playing more if he didn't get injured often). Rio also got the transfer record broken for him twice in 2 years by Leeds and Man United and he was 21/23 at the time. Quality trumps age every time regardless of position.

Anything between £250k-£300k. Nothing more than £300k. Considering he currently earns £140k and Arsenal are offering him £270k, I think it's a fair offer. It's right around what players of his quality earn these days.

I think it's very possible though it's going to take all summer if it happens.

Hazard is already about to be given 300k/week in his new contract so why do you think it's crazy we give that to Sanchez? We don't really have a wage structure. We've always paid more for players whom we thought deserved it. It's not like we can't afford to pay it or are too stingy. How many times have you heard Chelsea miss out on a player because of his wage demands in the Roman era? Only one that comes to mind is Robinho and he didn't exactly demand more from us, he just got hijacked at the last minute.

Lewandoski is actually on 10 million euros per year though. That's not much in today's market, is it?

That would be absolutely mental. I don't think that's right, considering he has 3 years left on his Dortmund contract. Will probably be somewhere around £70m-£80m

Would actually be a much better CF signing than Lukaku, Morata and Belotti combined. Quality player and his game is perfect for the PL.

So you missed the report by Bild on Sanchez yesterday then? Bayern are pulling out and are considering other targets because apparently, they can't afford (or don't want) to give Sanchez 300k/week. Bild are the most reliable source on Bayern so you can be almost certain it's true. Which is good for us. I can't imagine Chelsea balking because of a 300k/week demand.

Interestingly, I've never seen United fans use the "history" argument. Maybe because they were also winning titles while we were. Funny. You only remember "history" when your present day is sh*t.

I think the EL win is only significant for you lot at this stage because it brings you back into the CL. I think Jose will now be expected to challenge for the title next season if you have as big a summer as I think you will.

Homegrown = Needs to have spent 3 seasons in England by the age of 21. How long does it take for someone like Willian to get a British citizenship anyway? Didn't Mikel just get his last October? And he was with us for 10 years.

See "small team" isn't exactly the same as "small club". "Small team" in this context is probably more accurate as it refers to the present day squad of players. I get what you're trying to say though. It just came across pretty jarring to call Milan a "small club".

Key to that is "at a reasonable price". Monaco are going to fleece 100m off whoever ends up buying him.

According to Matt Law, we passed up on Gabigol because of Abraham and Abraham is rated very highly by Chelsea. Since not signing Mbappe isn't the end of the world, it's a believable stance imo.

I should be saying that to you, seeing as say you can "interpret the word 'big' as a number of things in football". What are your different interpretations sir?

In essence, it's a nothing exhibition match that only has some meaning if you're playing a rival. The shield and medals are useless.

I think it would suit Griezmann well as he'd still be behind the striker. Not sure how the others would fair though, especially since I think Pogba would flourish under a 4-3-3 more than anything else and he's being misused in that 4-2-3-1. He's not a 10 and he's not a holding midfielder. They have a lot of parts that don't really fit perfectly and I'm not sure how Jose's going to make it work but we'll see.