VG

I agree - the silence is not a good thing. On the other hand, I'm telling myself that if it was obviously an ACL or something catastrophic they would have been more aggressive on Monday and Tuesday.

Really have to hope this injury is minor… he’s going to be needed these next few months. Almost wish we had kept Essugo as a backup.

That makes sense with the briefing they’re doing now. I was hoping it was them trying to drive down the negotiating price but… doesn’t seem likely. I would’ve probably put your 4 on 2 but I understand. The other straw I’m grasping at is that maybe the Caicedo injury is indeed minor. If not we are playing it very risky.

I assume Monaco or Roma is just trying to extract more money out of us and they know we need to purchase, but I am a little nervous if we don't get a replacement. If Caicedo is out we have some pretty big issues. While I really want Enzo sold... if it was between selling him with no replacement or keeping him, I'd have to say we might need to keep. Also very irritated City apparently left it so late, and how much groundwork we apparently did or didn't do for replacements.

Definitely not on a real money basis, but as Val says maybe not horrendous on FFP. Will any of the 8 sporting directors engage in a minute of self reflection or face consequences? Also no.

While not discounting the possibilities of shenanigans and future expectations with this lot, some of this reflects that the 30 mn pounds we paid was a relegation release clause. Apparently some sell on due to Ipswich too? I hoped he could be good for us but didn’t work out at all. Way more adept at wrestling than scoring and then fell into a tailspin with us. Best of luck for the future. One down, some ten to go??

just wonderful blueco how the set piece coach was the one person not sacked when maresca left.

Great he could be back but apparently already had a setback so I’m tempering hopes of him being up to speed in time for the holiday period.

I'm nervous about Jorrel Hato after realizing this is the rabble he comes from.

Also surprisingly encouraged - a few good moves in the congested Brentford area. Might be good against low blocks, which he probably didn't come up against much last year... With returning players I'd assume his next real chance is Lincoln though.

I don’t know, I think Maresca has done pretty well on this. I think he rested him for Fulham in anticipation of the national team, and he did only play 68 mins in each game. It’s not like Andorra is a massive workout either. I just want Reece healthy for a season and if it means a max of 100-120 mins a week for another couple months I’m okay with that. I’d imagine Gusto comes in this weekend and then Reece for Bayern. I do hope he plays him as a more attacking right back, rather than all the inverting.

oh dear, rapid surgery and announcement on the webpage. does seem like it won't be a short one.

A few reports seem to say he has a "minor knock" which I hope is just a bit of need for rest with Ecuador already having qualified. I was a little annoyed that he wasn't subbed off for Essugo in the West ham game.

That makes sense - and a shame that there's a broken promise to a young player. At some point if not already players will smartly choose to go elsewhere. But maybe some spots for the academy later in the competition. Apparently we did leave one extra slot open in the 25 - besides Facundo, there is no third goalkeeper which is Slonina? That would seem to be not just homegrown amounts then but something around the List A balance needing to be positive? But even there the math doesn't really seem to add up. Slightly irritated and embarassed I am writing this out, but: Amagou (wash?), KDH (28), Jackson (12 loan fee?), Madueke (48), Nkunku (36), Mudryk (62?), Sancho (73?) - 124 ish+ 125 (Mudryk+Sancho)... unclear how Mudryk and Sancho were valued/counted, and how to count add-ons and Jackson's fee. Hato (38), Essugo (18), Santos (18), Delap (30), Garnacho (40), Gittens (48), Pedro (60), Estevao (28). 280. Unclear how Santos gets valued as it's not a new signing but even without him it still looks like we are over, and that's if you count Mudryk and Sancho at face value. While I'd like to trust the owners checked the legal definitions of everything which is why they've left out Facundo/Slonina... they haven't really earned much trust. Chelsea squad for Champions League league phase confirmed

I think good opportunity plus his request for playing time - no idea if true and one for the lawyers, but have read that only A list squad sales counted for compliance so this wasn’t going towards it. If injuries FC hits again and it might with the CWC, maybe he gets some time.

I can't see this being good for anyone involved based on expected playing time. Chelsea have another player to bloat our squad and send a poor signal to our academy, he probably won't play enough to increase his value for Brighton, and the player is just going to be frustrated and probably left out of match squads. Why bother at all? How many potential 10s do we really need?

It is suspicious and a punt but I think he only had a year left on his contract so motivated sellers? But the sporting directors again revealed to rely heavily on the strategy of ‘ex Man City academy’ or ‘Brighton’.

Wanted to like this for similarities to a former Jerrel for us, but apparently it's spelled differently. Only other substantive thing I can see is that he is a bit on the short side for a center back in the Premier league. We do need the Cucurella cover, and it seems we have no faith in Anselmino or Wiley for the next year or two. At some point we have to sell a few players though per the UEFA fine...

Oh - I saw that from the stands but wasn't sure who it was. Nice to see it's not just a relationship with Moises. There was pretty substantial Ecuadorian support out. The hair is just too tempting for opposition players in the heat of the moment. If he cut it there would go roughly 5 mn in his value as a player.

Can only hope it's a negotiating ploy to force down other club's demands (or wage demands from Sancho?). But... that's probably wishful thinking. The sporting directors love an ex Man City academy player. The stockpiling of players doesn't help come August when everyone knows we need to sell.

I am... more skeptical. But true, and I did think about putting in that midfielder category, but if Lavia and RJ were two of our four midfielders, pretty good chance some of their injury spells overlap. Much as I'd love for both of them to get in a full season of 30+ games (let alone 40+ with cups etc).

Agree on all of this, except he's not one of my favorites. He's good, but this just isn't the league or team for him. We also overpaid. This might be one of the few chances to get a good chunk of our money back, and I'd be interested in seeing Santos. But that's a little iffy to go into a season with Moi, Lavia, Santos and... KDH?

Lavia was left out of the conference league squad for load management purposes, alongside Palmer and Fofana. Not sure if Casadei will be trusted from start alongside KDH... maybe a half for Enzo (explaining his sub early). Also don't think we were at the squad limit anyway so I'm a little annoyed that Chilwell was also left out and James kept in.

Ah, makes sense in that case. Wouldn’t rule out a deduction at some point too from the PSR issues.

Missed that completely, thx. First time I've seen a real admission of financial worries, although it seemed a safe assumption and that the denials were all bluster to strengthen negotiating. The indiscriminate buying still confuses me though - I assume it's a points deduction not a transfer ban, which when they've been given were more about using underage / ineligible players? If it was just financial, wouldn't we stop with buying random 10 mn pound players from the US, or even Neto and just sticking to who we have? If you're in a hole, first thing to do is surely... stop digging? But I wouldn't say anything about the owners has seemed to make sense.