7 hours ago, Deino said:

Unless the club can ship Drinkwater and Bakayoko out quick enough and get 1 good midfield signing, sure, I'd be all for a midfield signing. I just don't want another repeat of a Bakayoko/Drinkwater-type signing again. No more deadline, plan E signings.

Problem was Drinkwater and Bakayoko were our Plan A signings last season.

For that exact reason we need two top midfield signings this season. 

6 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

Problem was Drinkwater and Bakayoko were our Plan A signings last season.

For that exact reason we need two top midfield signings this season. 

I don't think they are our Plan A signings. I could be wrong on this but if they were our Plan A signings, it would've been done much sooner rather than so late into the window.

47 minutes ago, Deino said:

I don't think they are our Plan A signings. I could be wrong on this but if they were our Plan A signings, it would've been done much sooner rather than so late into the window.

Bakayoko was at least very high up the list and if it wasn't for his injury he would have arrived a lot sooner

Rugani could be a good signing, but I wouldn’t understand if you were really interested in Manolas, he isn’t a right defender for Sarri’s style of play. Moreover, I like Christensen and Rudiger, so I don’t see the necessity of two or more new defenders.

4 minutes ago, Raff_Sarrista said:

Rugani could be a good signing, but I wouldn’t understand if you were really interested in Manolas, he isn’t a right defender for Sarri’s style of play. Moreover, I like Christensen and Rudiger, so I don’t see the necessity of two or more new defenders.

If I had to guess we're looking at Rugani/Manolas perhaps because there are still doubts if Christensen and Rudiger can play in a back 4 at a consistently high level. In other words with Sarri our defence could be flaky as Germany's against Sweden last night.

Edited June 24, 20188 yr by the special one

If we're looking at another CB, i'd assume 2 from Cahill, Luiz and Zouma will be moving on. Unless we stick with a back 3, which doesn't seem to be Sarri's favoured formation.

6 hours ago, PedroMendez said:

Bakayoko was at least very high up the list and if it wasn't for his injury he would have arrived a lot sooner

Probably, I mean if we're basing it on rumours but who knows what goes on behind the scenes. It's a bit hard to believe that of all the players in that Monaco side, someone said to Marina "This Bakayoko kid is the mustard, we must sign him!".

Don't get me wrong, I'd love for Drinkwater and Bakayoko to be transferred out and someone like Kovacic is brought in but who knows what'll happen. 

16 hours ago, the special one said:

If I had to guess we're looking at Rugani/Manolas perhaps because there are still doubts if Christensen and Rudiger can play in a back 4 at a consistently high level. In other words with Sarri our defence could be flaky as Germany's against Sweden last night.

The thing that worries me about the Rudiger and Christensen partnership is their strength. Neither of them are the strongest, although i don't feel it's as much as an issue with Rudiger because he seems to have more to his game than Christensen, but Christensen needs to add a bit more strength and aggression to his game. Having 2 skinny CB's isn't the best thing to be doing in the Premier League, they will be bullied by the more physical sides.

Edited June 25, 20188 yr by Scott Harris

Agree that Christensen needs to bulk up but Rudiger is an animal. Wouldn't see many CF's out muscling him.

Rumour doing the rounds that we might use Morata to try and get Pulisic from Dortmund. Although i think Pulisic is a Sarri player and could fit the Callejon mould i don't think he's worth anywhere near what this deal would cost us. 

On 24/06/2018 at 10:47, the special one said:

If I had to guess we're looking at Rugani/Manolas perhaps because there are still doubts if Christensen and Rudiger can play in a back 4 at a consistently high level. In other words with Sarri our defence could be flaky as Germany's against Sweden last night.

I don’t think so. Sarri’s tactical lessons are amazing and they have the potential to become very strong defenders with him. I tell you a thing: the actual idea of your players will change a lot with Sarri manager. It happened to us.

3 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Agree that Christensen needs to bulk up but Rudiger is an animal. Wouldn't see many CF's out muscling him.

Agreed. If Sarri can work on Rudiger's positioning, we'll have one hell of a CB on our hands

Rumor is we're after Rugani but I'd rather have the guy Juve want to sign in De Ligt. 

 

His positioning seems lackluster but his timing looks impeccable and it looks like he's very comfortable on the ball with good distribution. 

A quick google search says Spurs were very interested and at only 18 why wouldn't they be? Definitely fits our recent successful MO in terms of buying burgeoning players. 

Edited June 26, 20188 yr by TheChelseaBlues

I know it's just rumours, but why the heck are we only linked with defenders? We cold sign 6 defenders and still concede 50 goals next season without a functional midfield.

5 minutes ago, icecoolguy22 said:

I know it's just rumours, but why the heck are we only linked with defenders? We cold sign 6 defenders and still concede 50 goals next season without a functional midfield.

agreed.

Until we solve who plays alongside Kante (not Baka because he is terrible and Cesc is too slow) then we will continue to struggle.

if we could somehow get rid of Bakayoko and Drinkwater while buying a proper midfielder and using RLC we would be far better off

14 minutes ago, icecoolguy22 said:

I know it's just rumours, but why the heck are we only linked with defenders? We cold sign 6 defenders and still concede 50 goals next season without a functional midfield.

and then we can blame the manager, so all good

Nainggolan to Inter for 20 odd million was a decent deal for them.

 

 

1 hour ago, Chelsbear said:

Nainggolan to Inter for 20 odd million was a decent deal for them.

 

 

Wasnt it £20 mill plus 2 players, so around £35 Mill?

8 minutes ago, dkw said:

Wasnt it £20 mill plus 2 players, so around £35 Mill?

Not sure even still that's a good deal in this market depending on the players obviously.

2 minutes ago, Chelsbear said:

Not sure even still that's a good deal in this market depending on the players obviously.

Roma needed to get rid for cash and they couldn't afford to keep Nainggolan due to his lifestyle and Nainggolan doesn't want to leave Italy. Good deal but it's not like we can do anything about it.

1 hour ago, Deino said:

Roma needed to get rid for cash and they couldn't afford to keep Nainggolan due to his lifestyle and Nainggolan doesn't want to leave Italy. Good deal but it's not like we can do anything about it.

I never said we could.

Not random rumours, but D.Sterling and Reece James have gone out on loan. Sterling has gone on loan to Coventry, and James has gone on loan to Wigan. I wonder who will be next to go on loan. Interesting that we are sending out the most promising youngsters on loan a lot sooner. Maybe we have learned from keeping Loftus-Cheek on the bench for all that time rather than sending him out.

49 minutes ago, enigma said:

Not random rumours, but D.Sterling and Reece James have gone out on loan. Sterling has gone on loan to Coventry, and James has gone on loan to Wigan. I wonder who will be next to go on loan. Interesting that we are sending out the most promising youngsters on loan a lot sooner. Maybe we have learned from keeping Loftus-Cheek on the bench for all that time rather than sending him out.

There was a good interview with Neil Bath on the official site last year, intimating the need to get our young players playing competitive football earlier to achieve the 150 game threshold required to get into our first team.

https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2017/7/5/15919110/head-of-youth-development-neil-bath-reflects-2016-17-season-chelsea-academy-summary

Be interesting to see what happens to RLC this year, we will have to make a decision very early without really seeing him in pre season training, due to the early transfer window closure.

The Daily mail reporting that we're ready to pay 60 odd million for Alisson.

Lolz.

49 minutes ago, BordeauxBlue said:

The Daily mail reporting that we're ready to pay 60 odd million for Alisson.

Lolz.

who? I take it not the clown that played in goal for Brazil last night!