Charles Ryder

Going by the Fifield/Terreur reporting, Real value him at €100m while we're asking for something more like €115m. Hardly a major difference that can't be ironed out, this is Real Madrid we're talking about here. A big fee for them is almost a point of pride.

Strictly speaking we can sign players, we just can't register them. Think it was Barca who signed Arda Turan and he just hung out training for half a season before being registered. They even had the cheek to make a formal request to FIFA to allow them to register him early when Rafinha got injured, despite their ban still being in place.

If we get the stay of execution via a CAS appeal then he has the chance to go and not leave us in the lurch, so to speak. As for Vinicius, he's hardly going to be a stumbling block. This is Real we're talking about, they'll happily park him behind Eden for a few years (he's only a teenager, after all) for the sake of adding a new star.

Will be difficult seeing him in a Real shirt, but he's entitled to live out his dream and play there under Zidane. As long as he leaves out the front door, rather than the back one a la Tibo.

Wouldn't blame Sarri for walking after that. Thoroughly unprofessional by Kepa.

Bit of a nail-biter in Sarri's old Serie C stomping ground.

Worst league result since 1996 under Ruud, apparently. I think it's Baku or bust now, United will overtake us and at this rate we're probably not going to keep up with Arsenal once they pick up form with their late loan signings.

2 clear fouls by Hutchinson, 0 yellow cards.

Was late but not a diving tackle or anything, nothing more than a yellow imo.

Nasty on Azpi, clear pen. Cheers, Hutch.

Big fan of VAR there, not afraid to say it.

Absolute joke, Ampadu cleanly took the ball.

He'll have the whole dressing room drinking mate next, just you wait.

The commercial aspect, whilst relevant, is in danger of being overhyped a tad here. Millions of football fans in the US doesn't necessarily translate into millions of new Chelsea fans. It's not like existing fans of other Premier League clubs are going to jump ship just because their countryman has gone to a rival. He's here on the merit of his talent, anything else is a bonus. We're already locked in to the Nike deal until 2032, so Pulisic won't be having much of an impact on that particular revenue plank unless he's still plodding along in the first team aged 33. All that said, though, I am envisioning a big Delta Airlines jetliner with a Pulisic graphic plastered over the fuselage. I'm sure our commercial dept. will be exploring new opportunities in the US.

That's the thing, though, CHO isn't Sancho. For all the homegrown, one-of-our-own sentimental cooing, he's not actually demonstrated an ability to be a regular starter in England based on his performances. Yet. If Sancho was at City and not BVB he'd be getting similar minutes under Pep to what CHO has been getting under Sarri. Perhaps less, given City's glut of senior options in the wide forward positions. For all of the fretting about him being held back and wasting away, he actually has broken through to a far greater degree than any other 18 y/o academy product of ours. You could name any number of players at a similar age with the same levels of hype that have been farmed out on loan, but he was specifically fast-tracked to the first team. The path is there for him to develop and break through if he wants it, but he clearly doesn't and that's his decision. Lower standard of league, bigger paycheck, more minutes, bigger club, new language. There are a myriad of reasons which make it an appealing move, beyond the panic about the supposed roadblock in his way here.