It must be the summer. I'm reading reports we are turning down £35m bids for our worst first team player. 

I don't believe any of them. Still baffled how he has managed to be in our first team for SO long. 

16 hours ago, Boston Blue said:

Is there anything less trustworthy than "Sky Sources"?

Really?   Both Barca and Athletico bid the exact same amount?  For a winger that doesn't score goals?  What a coincidence.  

No reason for anyone to get upset over us allegedly rejecting alleged bids.

Sky aren't too bad reliability wise in all honesty. 

You also gotta consider the fact that Barca wanted Willian in the last window, in a deal that was worth 50m and we still said no. 

I have no doubt that there is some truth to these rumours.

15 hours ago, Remy10 said:

Not being deliberately awkward by asking this, but if we do sell him, what's the solution given the transfer ban? It'd be Pedro and Pulisic on the wings until CHO is back again, which doesn't seem ideal given Pulisic is still a young player himself, plus he's new to the team and league. Also, it leaves no cover for injuries. 

I think at this point we'd actually be better off giving chances to more youth players than Willian and Pedro

1 hour ago, ENygma said:

I think at this point we'd actually be better off giving chances to more youth players than Willian and Pedro

And who are these ? I guarantee whoever you name will be miles behind Willian and Pedro. It would be stupid to let them go before we have proven replacements.

12 minutes ago, coco said:

And who are these ? I guarantee whoever you name will be miles behind Willian and Pedro. It would be stupid to let them go before we have proven replacements.

Wouldn't mind Musonda coming back into the fray. And its a shame that we sold Boga last season, he seems to be quite the player! 

It all comes down to the transfer ban. If the ban is lifted, then we absolutely should get rid of those deadweights and make some proper signings

Hazard leaving and the transfer ban makes it harder to sell Willian. Do you really want to start new season with Pedro (also on the decline), Pulisic (unproven) and CHO (coming of injury and yet to realize his potential) as your only winger/attacking mf options?

The club seems to value Willian more than most fans do. Despite his well-documented flaws, he's been featuring regularly for every Chelsea manager since his arrival six years ago. He's not known as a troublemaker on a pitch or a dressing room and his experience may come in handy in the potentially turbulent period lying ahead.

Again, if we weren't under the transfer ban and could sign some quality replacements, I'd be more than happy to sell Willian while we can still get something for him.

2 minutes ago, abramovich said:

Hazard leaving and the transfer ban makes it harder to sell Willian. Do you really want to start new season with Pedro (also on the decline), Pulisic (unproven) and CHO (coming of injury and yet to realize his potential) as your only winger/attacking mf options?

The club seems to value Willian more than most fans do. Despite his well-documented flaws, he's been featuring regularly for every Chelsea manager since his arrival six years ago. He's not known as a troublemaker on a pitch or a dressing room and his experience may come in handy in the potentially turbulent period lying ahead.

Again, if we weren't under the transfer ban and could sign some quality replacements, I'd be more than happy to sell Willian while we can still get something for him.

Yes he is. Fallout's with Conte and Sarri. Part of the dreaded Brazilian clique. 

We've created a rod for our own back by offering David Luiz a new 2 year deal.

Willian is going to want something similar.

18 minutes ago, 2211 said:

We've created a rod for our own back by offering David Luiz a new 2 year deal.

Willian is going to want something similar.

This club is being driven into the ground and I can 100% see Lampard being the scapegoat by the end of the season (if he is manager)

getting sick of this

Although he is one of most overrated players in EPL, this is not time to sold him. As someone mentioned, we dont have other options. Musonda is good but not still on level that first team requires. CHO has long time injury, we just lack options. Last summer there was rumour that Barca offered 50 mil + Malcom and Marina rejected, so obviously club belives in him. Even if its not true, there was multiple offers for him (35+ mil). He should get one year extension and at the end of season depart, IMO.

He has awful and pretty slow decision making, and he almost always needs to touch ball three or more times before passing it. He stops more our attacks than oposite deffence.

18 minutes ago, 2211 said:

We've created a rod for our own back by offering David Luiz a new 2 year deal.

Willian is going to want something similar.

This club is being driven into the ground and I can 100% see Lampard being the scapegoat by the end of the season (if he is manager)

getting sick of this

What the f**k are they thinking not thinning out our squad when we aren't allowed to sign anyone

For all his faults, there was a time when he used to work his ass off running around like a headless chicken, but he doesn't even do that anymore.  Sadly, because of the ban, we're going to have to hold on to him and Pedro. We really haven't had a great wide pair since the days of Duff and Robben's all too brief time together. A pair of that quality would make absolute mincemeat out of the carp defences around today. 

1 hour ago, coco said:

And who are these ? I guarantee whoever you name will be miles behind Willian and Pedro. It would be stupid to let them go before we have proven replacements.

Victor Moses - managed as many league goals at RB as Willian managed last season.

Emerson - Played LM early in his career and was used at LM by Conte a few times.

Zappacosta - As above

Kenedy - Poor second half to the season at Newcastle but looked more than comfortable when first at Chelsea.

More importantly, with CHO also missing for so long it would be a good time for Lamps to show his worth and try something new. Conte came in a switched us to a back 3 with devastating effect. Lamps could try something similar to what Watford and Spurs  have been doing and not use wingers. Perhaps see us line up in a diamond with two up top?

Kepa

Azpi  Rudiger  Christensen  Emerson

Jorginho

Kante      Barkley

Mount

Tammy   Giroud

12 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Victor Moses - managed as many league goals at RB as Willian managed last season.

Emerson - Played LM early in his career and was used at LM by Conte a few times.

Zappacosta - As above

Kenedy - Poor second half to the season at Newcastle but looked more than comfortable when first at Chelsea.

More importantly, with CHO also missing for so long it would be a good time for Lamps to show his worth and try something new. Conte came in a switched us to a back 3 with devastating effect. Lamps could try something similar to what Watford and Spurs  have been doing and not use wingers. Perhaps see us line up in a diamond with two up top?

Kepa

Azpi  Rudiger  Christensen  Emerson

Jorginho

Kante      Barkley

Mount

Tammy   Giroud

I'll be honest, i can see us doing really bad this season if we go down that route. Mount would be a massive gamble, he would be up against some of the best players in the World, when he's fresh from the Championship, he needs to prove himself first if he is even good enough for the league. With no wingers and a deep Jorginho, Mount would be under huge pressure to produce the front two with assists. He needs to come into things slowly at first.

34 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Victor Moses - managed as many league goals at RB as Willian managed last season.

Emerson - Played LM early in his career and was used at LM by Conte a few times.

Zappacosta - As above

Kenedy - Poor second half to the season at Newcastle but looked more than comfortable when first at Chelsea.

More importantly, with CHO also missing for so long it would be a good time for Lamps to show his worth and try something new. Conte came in a switched us to a back 3 with devastating effect. Lamps could try something similar to what Watford and Spurs  have been doing and not use wingers. Perhaps see us line up in a diamond with two up top?

Kepa

Azpi  Rudiger  Christensen  Emerson

Jorginho

Kante      Barkley

Mount

Tammy   Giroud

I'd agree with all of this. We have 3 first team players in Pulisic, CHO and Pedro. We have backups in Moses + Emerson + Zappacosta. Backups aren't meant to be world class. 

Willian is a drag on the club. Great clubs don't hang onto those players for longer than is necessary - we have hung onto him for about 3 years too long. 

12 minutes ago, coco said:

I'll be honest, i can see us doing really bad this season if we go down that route. Mount would be a massive gamble, he would be up against some of the best players in the World, when he's fresh from the Championship, he needs to prove himself first if he is even good enough for the league. With no wingers and a deep Jorginho, Mount would be under huge pressure to produce the front two with assists. He needs to come into things slowly at first.

Well,  we did finish 3rd with about one and a half assists from Kova, Jorginho and Kante. So it wouldn't take much for Mount to do better than them

1 hour ago, abramovich said:

Hazard leaving and the transfer ban makes it harder to sell Willian. Do you really want to start new season with Pedro (also on the decline), Pulisic (unproven) and CHO (coming of injury and yet to realize his potential) as your only winger/attacking mf options?

The club seems to value Willian more than most fans do. Despite his well-documented flaws, he's been featuring regularly for every Chelsea manager since his arrival six years ago. He's not known as a troublemaker on a pitch or a dressing room and his experience may come in handy in the potentially turbulent period lying ahead.

Again, if we weren't under the transfer ban and could sign some quality replacements, I'd be more than happy to sell Willian while we can still get something for him.

If we used this philosophy Mikel would still be here stinking up the joint while a select few posters witter about how comfortable he looked in the ball in an early FA cup round. 

Sound the klaxon

35 minutes ago, coco said:

I'll be honest, i can see us doing really bad this season if we go down that route. Mount would be a massive gamble, he would be up against some of the best players in the World, when he's fresh from the Championship, he needs to prove himself first if he is even good enough for the league. With no wingers and a deep Jorginho, Mount would be under huge pressure to produce the front two with assists. He needs to come into things slowly at first.

Could play Pulisic in that number 10 role too, played there for USA a fair bit.

As for Mount, i've never rated him as highly as players like RLC but i actually think he'll perform better in the Prem than he has at Derby. Reminded me a lot of Hughes when he was at Derby and how much better he's looked since making the move to Watford. The Championship often beats skillful players down, but Mount's energy and workmanship got him through it. 

25 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Could play Pulisic in that number 10 role too, played there for USA a fair bit.

As for Mount, i've never rated him as highly as players like RLC but i actually think he'll perform better in the Prem than he has at Derby. Reminded me a lot of Hughes when he was at Derby and how much better he's looked since making the move to Watford. The Championship often beats skillful players down, but Mount's energy and workmanship got him through it. 

I'm not sure he will be good enough, but he does need to be given a chance, but only as a plan amongst other numerous options.

31 minutes ago, cuppaT said:

If we used this philosophy Mikel would still be here stinking up the joint while a select few posters witter about how comfortable he looked in the ball in an early FA cup round. 

Mikel was underrated by many and was a useful player in his own way. Plus, we were never before in a transfer ban situation where we couldn't improve our squad in the offseason. Some players that would have been sold are staying put now simply because we can't take too many risks at the moment. The club is facing a new season where we'll have to compete on many fronts with the same imbalanced squad sans Hazard and a young manager in charge with a very little experience.

1 hour ago, abramovich said:

Mikel was underrated by many and was a useful player in his own way. Plus, we were never before in a transfer ban situation where we couldn't improve our squad in the offseason. Some players that would have been sold are staying put now simply because we can't take too many risks at the moment. The club is facing a new season where we'll have to compete on many fronts with the same imbalanced squad sans Hazard and a young manager in charge with a very little experience.

And over-rated by just as many!

 

8 minutes ago, Nibs said:

And over-rated by just as many!

 

Marmite player.

20 hours ago, bisright1 said:

It must be the summer. I'm reading reports we are turning down £35m bids for our worst first team player. 

I don't believe any of them. Still baffled how he has managed to be in our first team for SO long. 

These rumours are Willians agent trying to get him a better deal. Just like the last 2 windows. What I believe anyways.

Cause we would be better off with Pedro and Pulisic, or Moses and Kenedy, or playing with 10 men, or having Coco and Nibs as our wide attackers. Than keeping Willian. Registration ban or no.