3 minutes ago, Argo said:

Even though a certain Danish defender will be in next season's squad?

Reports are that he's up for sale.

1 hour ago, Jamjar1986 said:

This window just gets worse and worse tbh,5 million for chalobah, 22m for costa, is there a fire sale on???

Ffs second time this week WAGNH taking a members comments and making an article on it check the time they posted and when this comment was made 

The Mirror aren't necessarily a great source but this really boils my blood if true.

Ake at least was a good deal at 20m. This makes zero sense. Quality young player, homegrown who just needs a chance to play as Wilkins has said. 5m?!? That won't even make up for his wages let alone the money we've put into his development. 

If Matic leaves, we have zero cover in the position. We will also likely have just one club homegrown player on the books.

He's done little wrong when he's been on the pitch he just needs to be on it more often. But of course we'll sell him and buy some third rate player as cover.

 

We can't afford to give our young players a chance, nobody else does. We need to get rid of the dead weight and sign top class players or there's no way we'll win trophies again, lol

7 hours ago, Argo said:

Even though a certain Danish defender will be in next season's squad?

Apparently we are selling him too. 

Looks like a £5m sale to Watford...he's in the last year of his contract...and no buy back clause being mooted too...

If he is sold and goes for that little ill be truly embarrassed 

I'm starting to feel a little disenchanted, not to mention very disappointed, at the constant selling off of the cream of our youth set up. When will we ever see a young London lad playing regularly for our first team again? It'll always be my team, but it sure doesn't feel like it's my club anymore.

18 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

He's done little wrong when he's been on the pitch he just needs to be on it more often. But of course we'll sell him and buy some third rate player as cover.

 

I agree with most of what you said but I think Chalobah didn't show enough to convince Conte. CM-DM is one of the toughest position to showcase your talents.

Playing too safe = Barely makes the grade

Playing too gung ho = headless chicken

Tackles too much = Cards waiting to happen

It's tough having to strike the correct balance whilst in game where millions of things cross your mind. When I see Chalobah play I've always thought he'd suit the base of a 3 midfield system more than the 343 because the 343 requires midfielders who can do anything but having 1 who focuses on the defensive aspect and another who keeps the team momentum and pace of play. With Chalobah, from what I saw, his main strengths are akin to Mikel's which is ball recycling and even Mikel has 1 sublime long pass in him. Chalobah can't really displace anyone on the team on merit and whilst you can argue he is better than Matic, Matic is good at covering passing lanes and has 1-2 mazy/storming run in him that could produce a chance in a game.

As repeated by other posters it's tough for us to play a system with 3 CB and 3 midfielders because it doesn't suit our best players. Funny enough, Hazard while being out best player is actually the reason why we can't really try youth who play CM whose style works in a system that utilises 3 CM and now that we seem to want to play with 3 at the back, the CM position becomes one where you need a player who has physicality, pace, good technical skill ( dribbling, passing, 1st touch etc), good defensive skill, stamina in abundance and the occasional goal as well as traits that cannot be measured such as vision, controlling weight of pass, timing passes with runs, spotting passing lanes etc.

Chalobah arguably has most of those requirements but he lacks in the unmeasurable traits I feel, do you see him unlocking defenses, putting out attacks before it happens etc consistently? It comes with experience yes but for someone who has played football all their life, these things become a crucial factor when coming into the elite level. Cesc had it in him since he was 16 and Chalobah while I do rate him and want him to succeed here hasn't proven it consistently yet. Tough luck for him if he decides to go but I hope he succeeds and achieve what he wants bar beating us in the future.

Will be disappointed if we sell Chalobah but will quickly get over it in the unlikely event we sign Weigl or even Ruben Neves. Would like to see some youth make it but ultimately if they're not good enough am happy to wait for the likes of Mason Mount, Dujon Sterling, or Hudson-Odoi.

Daily Mail, so not very high on the reliability tier list, but:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-4692932/Chelsea-offer-Nathaniel-Chalobah-deal-worth-60-000-week.html

Hopefully it's true and we'll see him feature a bit more next season, with Loftus-Cheek off on loan freeing up one spot in the middle.

 

On 06/07/2017 at 23:14, the special one said:

Will be disappointed if we sell Chalobah but will quickly get over it in the unlikely event we sign Weigl or even Ruben Neves. Would like to see some youth make it but ultimately if they're not good enough am happy to wait for the likes of Mason Mount, Dujon Sterling, or Hudson-Odoi.

This is what we were saying about Ake, Bamford, Piazon, Aina, Chalobah, McEachran and RLC a few years ago, every couple of years we have 3 or 4 youth players who impress for the underage sides who never make it into the first team for one reason or another. 

1 hour ago, RMCM said:

This is what we were saying about Ake, Bamford, Piazon, Aina, Chalobah, McEachran and RLC a few years ago, every couple of years we have 3 or 4 youth players who impress for the underage sides who never make it into the first team for one reason or another. 

 

It is always going to be tough for a youth teamer to make it when we chop and change managers so often.  I know this has been said before, but I feel it needs repeating.

If we had stability in the managerial position, then perhaps some would make it.  But Chelsea demand success, and demand it immediately, so a manager isn't going to really delve into the youth ranks when they have a season to prove themselves at the helm.  I'd hoped that Conte would be given the time to look at the Youth a little more, and it appears that he has and decided that premiership loans are the path forward for them.  I suppose for a young fella wanting to make it as a pro, then Chelsea is a good stepping stone into other clubs.  But if they come here wanting to actually play for Chelsea, it is going to take something exceptional.

I seem to remember Conte saying that he wanted to integrate some of the Academy players into the team, so I still hold out hope for Chabs; he seemed to get a few games last season, so I think he has to be someone Conte at least admires.

When is Conte due back from vacation?  I've read that he's not even with the team right now, so everything we read about in the news should be taken with a large pinch of salt.

 

Conte's already back. Videos of him training the squad for preseason on youtube.

Heart's saying he will do as the 4th option (this is assuming we are playing a 2 man CM next season, if we are making that 3 then read 5th choice), head's saying we need to keep Matic or sign someone else.

On 7/6/2017 at 10:16, Spiller86 said:

The Mirror aren't necessarily a great source but this really boils my blood if true.

Ake at least was a good deal at 20m. This makes zero sense. Quality young player, homegrown who just needs a chance to play as Wilkins has said. 5m?!? That won't even make up for his wages let alone the money we've put into his development. 

If Matic leaves, we have zero cover in the position. We will also likely have just one club homegrown player on the books.

He's done little wrong when he's been on the pitch he just needs to be on it more often. But of course we'll sell him and buy some third rate player as cover.

 

True. I unfollowed Mirror on FB. Pure sensationalism on everything. They also use misleading headlines.

https://mobile.twitter.com/CarefreeYouth/status/885600006199234560

:(

2 minutes ago, MoJames said:

https://mobile.twitter.com/CarefreeYouth/status/885600006199234560

:(

Don't get it, what am i looking at?

http://wfcforums.com/index.php?threads/chalobah.52849/page-16

Nate looks to be signing a contract at Watford. Hope a buyback is in there.

Start with page 11.

https://mobile.twitter.com/AdamLeventhal/status/885604436307058690

Our squad is getting dangerously thin.

nooo

Yeah it's on Sky, 5 year deal at Watford. About £5m. Presumably no buyback, since there was only 1 year left on his deal.

Another youngster bites the dust. I'm sure he could have been as good as Bakayoko by now if we'd really given him a chance, he always looked calm and assured on the ball, never looked out of place on the rare occasion he got a game. I expect we'll see him popup at another big club in a few years time for a big fee.

So that's only about 3 homegrown players left now... How many do we need? 8? Trying to be optimistic, maybe this means Baker will get a squad role?

Edited July 13, 20179 yr by Zeta

For a team lacking in depth we're certainly shifting players quicker than we're bringing them in. £5mil for Chalobah is insane