As the title suggests, which is the 25 man squad you'd like to see for next season? This can include any current players, loanees or any signings that we could/may make (realistic ones obviously.) 

Here goes mine:

 

GK:

Courtois

Begovic

Blackman

 

Defence:

Zouma

Cahill

Bonucci

Baba

Ake

Christensen

Azpi

 

Centre Mid's:

Cesc

Vidal

RLC

Nainggolan

Van Ginkel

 

Attacking mids:

Willian

Pedro

Kenedy

Hazard

Baker

Cuadrado

 

Strikers:

Costa

Traore

Bamford

Solanke

 

 

There's no way we're going to go with only 1 established striker prone to injury and discipline issues...I increasingly feel like Bamford will be passed over for Solanke/Abraham. Assuming we could remove his highest wage clause I'd still take Terry over Cahill and another RB over Cuadrado.

Similar to yours but I would go back to a 4-3-3 so this reflects a little in my selection:

 

GK: 2

Courtois, Begovic (hg),

 

Defence: 8

Azpi, Ivanovic
Zouma, Cahill (hg)

Bonucci, Miazga

Ake (HG), Baba

 

Centre Mid's: 7

Matic, RLC (HG)
Cesc (hg), Baker (HG)

Nainggolan, Van Ginkel, Pasalic

 

Wingers: 4

Willian, Kenedy

Hazard, Musonda (HG)

 

Strikers: 4

Costa, Solanke (HG)

Pato/new striker, Traore

For the new striker I would go with some one like of Gabiaddini or Morata with potentially Oscar going the other way. 

It is a squad with probably slightly less depth than we are used too, but with some versatile players and no CL football this should be a very competitive squad

Total spend around £70-80m
Players sold; Oscar(£30m), Cuadrado(£20m), Pedro(£15m), Remy(£12m), Salah(£10m), Mikel(£10m). Total Sales; £95-100m
With the positive net spend covering the loss of CL football. 

 

Pinch Doc Browns flux capacitor and bring the back to back title winning team back to the future.

I don't want to see Tebo as a 1st choice GK if he continues being sh*tty to the end of the season.

We need more consistent GK period, we can't blame our defense only.

assuming we'll play 4-3-3

GK (3):

Courtois

Begovic

Blackman

 

Defence (8):
Marquinhos
Terry

Zouma

Cahill

Baba
Ake

Azpilicueta
Ivan

 

Midfielders (6):

Cesc

Pjanic

RLC

Nainggolan
Matic

Mikel
 

Wingers (4):

Willian

Pedro

Kenedy

Hazard
Cuadrado

 

Strikers (3):

Costa

Traore

Pato

to recap:
HG (5): Begovic, Cahill, Terry, Ake, Cesc
U21 (3): RLC, Kenedy, Traore
so this squad should comply with the HG rule, consisting only 17 non HG and non U21 players
in: Marquinhos, Pjanic, Nainggolan, Pato, Ake, Cuadrado
out: Oscar, Remy, Falcao, Miazga (loan)

the starting XI would be:
Courtois
Azpi - Marquinhos - Zouma - Baba
Cesc© - Matic - Nainggolan
Willian - Costa - Hazard
 

of course, as you can see this plan assumes that everyone would be back to their best (you know, the likes of Matic, Hazard, Courtois, etc). if they don't, then we would need to buy the appropriate players to strengthen the squad. as for pato, as we haven't been able to see him actually play, i just assume that he is good enough. if not, find another striker. Miazga would be loaned because i'm not sure whether he's ready to climb up the pecking order yet. loan would do him more good compared to staying if he's only going to be used as the 5th choice CB
 

Edited March 22, 20169 yr by magichat

We're truly f**ked if we need Pato and Cuadrado around next season.

GK:

Courtois

Begovic

Blackman

 

Defence:

Zouma

Terry

Bonucci

R.Rodriguez

Ake

Christensen

Azpilicueta

Ivanovic

 

Midfield:

Fabregas

RLC

Krychowiak

Nainggolan

De Marcos (obviously can be classed as a defender also)

 

Attacking mids:

Willian

Pedro

Kenedy

Hazard

Pjanic

Cuadrado

 

Strikers:

Costa

Cavani

Traore

 

I would try to get PL loans for Solanke, Miazga and Pasalic and give Musonda a full season in La Liga with Betis. Everyone else on loan right now i cant see ever making it at Chelsea.

 

 

Courtois

Azpilicueta - Zouma - Bonnuci - R.Rodriguez

Krychowiak - Fabregas/Nainggolan

Pedro/Cavani/Willian - Pjanic - Hazard

Costa

 

The thing that bothers me is Willian and Hazard's lack of goals from open play, i would like to see a lot more goals from them and not just rely on the striker, but neither are natural goalscorers, so i would drop Willian if we can sign a goalscoring winger, obviously Bale, De Bruyne or Griezmann would be perfect but not realistic, maybe Mahrez could be an option or Cavani on the right or Pedro who is looking like he is really getting used to the PL now, and could really be a huge player for us next season, giving us plenty of goals and assist from out wide.

 

or 3-5-2

 

Courtois

Christensen - Zouma - Bonnuci

Cuadrado - Krychowiak - Nainggolan - R.Rodriguez

Hazard

Costa - Cavani

Edited March 22, 20169 yr by pacquiao

I still don't want to put my dream team for the next season here because I'm not sure we will play in the CL next year. All the chances against us, but I still got hope that we will reach the 4th. If the CL will be available for us next season, then we can bring some world class players, but if we won't play there, then we will have to look for good players with a potential to reach the world class level. 

 

But there are some players that we must bring back, Nathan Ake for example. Baba still need a chance to prove himself and I believe he will get it next season, but if he will fail, then we have a player that already have PL experience and can play two positions. 

assuming we'll play 4-3-3

GK (3):

Courtois

Begovic

Blackman

Defence (8):

Marquinhos

Terry

Zouma

Cahill

Baba

Ake

Azpilicueta

Ivan

Midfielders (6):

Cesc

Pjanic

RLC

Nainggolan

Matic

Mikel

Wingers (4):

Willian

Pedro

Kenedy

Hazard

Cuadrado

Strikers (3):

Costa

Traore

Pato

to recap:

HG (5): Begovic, Cahill, Terry, Ake, Cesc

U21 (3): RLC, Kenedy, Traore

so this squad should comply with the HG rule, consisting only 17 non HG and non U21 players

in: Marquinhos, Pjanic, Nainggolan, Pato, Ake, Cuadrado

out: Oscar, Remy, Falcao, Miazga (loan)

the starting XI would be:

Courtois

Azpi - Marquinhos - Zouma - Baba

Cesc© - Matic - Nainggolan

Willian - Costa - Hazard

of course, as you can see this plan assumes that everyone would be back to their best (you know, the likes of Matic, Hazard, Courtois, etc). if they don't, then we would need to buy the appropriate players to strengthen the squad. as for pato, as we haven't been able to see him actually play, i just assume that he is good enough. if not, find another striker. Miazga would be loaned because i'm not sure whether he's ready to climb up the pecking order yet. loan would do him more good compared to staying if he's only going to be used as the 5th choice CB

This squad looks more realistic than others. But you forgot to add Griezman

GK: 2

Courtois, Begovic

 

Defence: 8

Azpi, Miazga, Ivanovic, Zouma, Cahill, Bonucci, Clarke-Salter, Baba/Ake

 

Centre Mid: 5 

Cesc, Matic/Ake, Vidal, RLC, Scott

 

Attacking Mid: 6

Willian, Kenedy, Pogba/Hazard/Oscar, Musonda, Baker, Swift

 

Strikers: 4

Costa, Traore and two from Bale/Morata/Solanke/Bamford 

 

Agreeing with PM’s players to be sold and his price assessments [and also assuming Hazard would fetch twice as much as Oscar] total sales would be iro £95-130m. Admittedly, total spend could reach £200m, but making Pogba/Bale an either/or purchase dependent upon the sale of Hazard [if he wants to leave] would limit the net spend to around £30m - a manageable amount in the circumstances and one that might easily be reduced still further by additional loanee sales.

 

For me, the temptation to include Kyle Scott in the squad proved just too great, as I see him as Cesc’s long term replacement and believe him to be a special player. Clarke-Salter is another who can make the step up without the requisite loan - he is definitely captain material too. And, lest we forget, I feel that there should be some recognition of Nathan Ake and John Swift’s significant improvement out on loan in the Premier League and Championship respectively. Clearly, Vitesse is regarded by the club as the main finishing school for our kids, but these two have been competing in the English hard knock version for some time now and, if I’m going to fast track Clarke-Salter and Scott, they deserve their chance to stake a first team claim as well.   

.

This squad looks more realistic than others. But you forgot to add Griezman

 

yeah when people say we need to sell most of the players and replace them with superstars i tend to disagree

IMO this squad already has the foundation to dominate, only few players are needed to strengthen and complete the squad

what we need more is a manager who can actually manage them well. squad full of superstars is useless without good management. look at Real for example

hell, our current squad on paper is better than Leicester. how many of their players can actually start here? for me only Mahrez, maybe Kante. but Ranieri has done outstanding work managing them, look where they are now, 9 places above us

as for Griezmann, i would really like him to play here, but the chance is very slim

I'd take Barcelona's......

 

GK: 2

Courtois, Begovic

 

Defence: 8

Azpi, Miazga, Ivanovic, Zouma, Cahill, Bonucci, Clarke-Salter, Baba/Ake

 

Centre Mid: 5 

Cesc, Matic/Ake, Vidal, RLC, Scott

 

Attacking Mid: 6

Willian, Kenedy, Pogba/Hazard/Oscar, Musonda, Baker, Swift

 

Strikers: 4

Costa, Traore and two from Bale/Morata/Solanke/Bamford 

 

Agreeing with PM’s players to be sold and his price assessments [and also assuming Hazard would fetch twice as much as Oscar] total sales would be iro £95-130m. Admittedly, total spend could reach £200m, but making Pogba/Bale an either/or purchase dependent upon the sale of Hazard [if he wants to leave] would limit the net spend to around £30m - a manageable amount in the circumstances and one that might easily be reduced still further by additional loanee sales.

 

For me, the temptation to include Kyle Scott in the squad proved just too great, as I see him as Cesc’s long term replacement and believe him to be a special player. Clarke-Salter is another who can make the step up without the requisite loan - he is definitely captain material too. And, lest we forget, I feel that there should be some recognition of Nathan Ake and John Swift’s significant improvement out on loan in the Premier League and Championship respectively. Clearly, Vitesse is regarded by the club as the main finishing school for our kids, but these two have been competing in the English hard knock version for some time now and, if I’m going to fast track Clarke-Salter and Scott, they deserve their chance to stake a first team claim as well.   

.

 

 

hmm.. not even close to the same level as Colkett

It's very hard to name 25 players when we're not even sure of the formation Conte will favour. What I think is fairly obvious though is that we need a new spine, a new foundation to build around. We have a goalkeeper and we have a striker. 

 

We need defenders first - if we go with 3 at the back then we probably need two. One could be Christensen to supplement Cahill and Ivanovic but I think whatever happens we need a top-class rock at the back. That's one position.

 

In midfield I think we need two players no matter what. If we go with 3 in midfield (in either a 433 or 352) then I think we need TWO dynamic, box-to-box style players like Vidal or Nainggolan to play alongside Fabregas (or possibly Pjanic). If we go 442/424 then I think we might still need two players. Mikel needs to go at last and Matic looks so poor that I'm not sure he can regain his form but that's up to Conte.

 

Up front I think we'll get in someone else, maybe Icardi, to either play alongside Costa or provide competition.

 

But I can't reiterate how important it is to get that spine right. That's where success is built, it's where our success came from for so long and if you look at any top team, it's likely to be the foundation of their success. Everything else, be it Azpilicuta at full-back or Hazard on the wings is dependent on that in my opinion.

Definitely want Christensen and Ake back, Purchase Vidal and Pjanic and a striker, we haven't really missed Hazard thi year as we turned a corner and he isn't really on it, so screw every penny from Real for him and buy Aubemeyang with the readies, not sure of a 25 yet, could easily play RLC next to Cesc, Zouma or Christensen in my back 3, that team would win the league i reckon..

 

A Conte 3 5 2

 

......................Courtois

 

................Dave......Cahill.......Ake........

 

Willian.........Vidal.......Matic...Cesc©......Kenedy

 

....................Costa.............Aubemeyang...............

Edited March 22, 20169 yr by Ballack & Blu

We're truly f**ked if we need Pato and Cuadrado around next season.

 

I think Cuadrado will thrive under Conte if we go with the 3-5-2 formation

assuming we'll play 4-3-3

GK (3):

Courtois

Begovic

Blackman

 

Defence (8):

Marquinhos

Terry

Zouma

Cahill

Baba

Ake

Azpilicueta

Ivan

 

Midfielders (6):

Cesc

Pjanic

RLC

Nainggolan

Matic

Mikel

 

Wingers (4):

Willian

Pedro

Kenedy

Hazard

Cuadrado

 

Strikers (3):

Costa

Traore

Pato

to recap:

HG (5): Begovic, Cahill, Terry, Ake, Cesc

U21 (3): RLC, Kenedy, Traore

so this squad should comply with the HG rule, consisting only 17 non HG and non U21 players

in: Marquinhos, Pjanic, Nainggolan, Pato, Ake, Cuadrado

out: Oscar, Remy, Falcao, Miazga (loan)

the starting XI would be:

Courtois

Azpi - Marquinhos - Zouma - Baba

Cesc© - Matic - Nainggolan

Willian - Costa - Hazard

 

of course, as you can see this plan assumes that everyone would be back to their best (you know, the likes of Matic, Hazard, Courtois, etc). if they don't, then we would need to buy the appropriate players to strengthen the squad. as for pato, as we haven't been able to see him actually play, i just assume that he is good enough. if not, find another striker. Miazga would be loaned because i'm not sure whether he's ready to climb up the pecking order yet. loan would do him more good compared to staying if he's only going to be used as the 5th choice CB

 

 

This seems like the best bet to me. The signings we could make seem realistic as well. Though I dont think Matic will be starting next season

If Real Madrid want Hazard he won't be there next season. Same with Costa and Madrid.

GK 3

Thibaut Courtois, Asmir Begovic, Jamal Blackman

 

DEF 8

Cesar Azpilicueta, Tomas Kalas, Baba Rahman, Nathan Ake, Leonardo Bonucci, Andreas Christensen, Kurt Zouma, John Terry (captain)

 

MID 4

Cesc Fabregas, Nemanja Matic, Marco Verratti, Ruben Loftus-Cheek

 

ATTACKING MIDS 4

Gareth Bale, Kenedy, Pedro, Victor Moses

 

"#10"  2

Juan Mata, Charly Musonda

 

 

STRIKERS 4

Diego Costa, Carlos Tevez, Bertrand Traore, Tammy Abraham

 

 

SELL/LEAVE

Marco Amelia, Juan Cuadrado, Eden Hazard, Oscar, Willian, John Obi Mikel, Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill, Radamel Falcao, Pato, Loic Remy,

Edited March 22, 20169 yr by Sexyfootball

GK 3

Thibaut Courtois, Asmir Begovic, Jamal Blackman

 

DEF 8

Cesar Azpilicueta, Tomas Kalas, Baba Rahman, Nathan Ake, Leonardo Bonucci, Andreas Christensen, Kurt Zouma, John Terry (captain)

 

MID 4

Cesc Fabregas, Nemanja Matic, Marco Verratti, Ruben Loftus-Cheek

 

ATTACKING MIDS 4

Gareth Bale, Kenedy, Pedro, Victor Moses

 

"#10"  2

Juan Mata, Charly Musonda

 

 

STRIKERS 4

Diego Costa, Carlos Tevez, Bertrand Traore, Tammy Abraham

 

 

SELL/LEAVE

Marco Amelia, Juan Cuadrado, Eden Hazard, Oscar, Willian, John Obi Mikel, Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill, Radamel Falcao, Pato, Loic Remy,

The only realistic signings I see there are Bonnuci and Mata, Bale won't be coming here and Tevez moved back to Argentina because he wanted to go home. Also why would you want to get rid of both Willian and Hazard? This season has been a write off, but Willian has been a shining light, and Hazard if he can find his form again is better than anyone we could sign

For me I'd have something like this

GK: Courtois, Begovic

LB: Ake, Baba, Dave

RB: Dave, Aurier - I've liked him for a while and I think he'd be a good backup to Dave. Strong and quick as well, so built for the Premier League. Given that he's fallen out with Blanc, we could probably snap him up for cheap

CB: Zouma, Terry, Cahill, Brana, Christensen - Keep JT for another year and blood in Christensen as his replacement long term

CM - Cesc (Captain if JT does leave) Matic, RLC, Krychowiak, Nainngolan - Realistically, we won't get Pogba or anyone of that ilk, but these two are the next tier down, both powerful, battling midfield players who would add great steel to our midfield, and provide good protection for Cesc, they're both full of running. Also neither is afraid to shoot from distance which is something we seriously lack

Attacking Mid/ Wingers: Hazard, Willian, Pedro, Kenedy, Isco - Unsettled at madrid, could probably be gotten for a similar price to Pedro, and he's undoubtedly top quality. 

Strikers: Costa, Traore, Solanke - Give youth a chance, Traore has proven himself already to us and needs game time to develop, same with Solanke, he's done well at Vitesse and needs to make the step up

 

Edited March 23, 20169 yr by RMCM

Gk Courtois, Begovic, Blackman

Dr Azpilicueta, Ivanovic

Dc zouma, bonucci, Terry, Miazga

Dl ake, baba

Mc fabregas, nianggolan, Gundogan, rlc, matic, baker.

Am hazard, willian, pedro, kenedy

Cf costa, benteke, traore.

Ins bonucci, Gundogan, nianggolan, benteke.

Outs cahill, mikel, Oscar, remy, cuardrado.

Net spend between 30m-50m

Leave musonda and christiensen on loan with a view to them replacing terry and pedro in a years time.

First 11 433

-----------------courtois

Azpilicueta----zouma---bonucci-----ake

-----------------fabregas

----------nianggolan---Gundogan

Willian-----------costa-----------hazard

For me, the temptation to include Kyle Scott in the squad proved just too great, as I see him as Cesc’s long term replacement and believe him to be a special player. 

hmm.. not even close to the same level as Colkett

 

Hmm… Charlie Colkett is a very good player, as I have acknowledged here on a number of occasions, but a comparison with Kyle Scott is difficult to make with any degree of fairness or accuracy, simply because they are totally different when it comes to their style of play and best position. Colkett is a holding midfielder who has a wand of a left foot and sprays accurate passes from deep for fun, whereas Scott dictates the pace of play and could become our midfield metronome, much in the same way as Modric has been for Real and Pirlo was for Juventus. 

 

And it’s not just his ability to move the ball quickly that stands this guy out from the crowd - he is elusive and can slow the game down as well when it’s required, which is often far more difficult to do. In this respect, he reminds me a lot of Alan Hudson (although at the same age he had already established himself in the first team) and that’s about as good a commendation as I could give to any young player.  

.

The only realistic signings I see there are Bonnuci and Mata, Bale won't be coming here and Tevez moved back to Argentina because he wanted to go home. Also why would you want to get rid of both Willian and Hazard? This season has been a write off, but Willian has been a shining light, and Hazard if he can find his form again is better than anyone we could sign

 

I'm selling Hazard because he is my bargaining chip to get Bale. My thought was to inject youth, size, power, energy and pace into the team ,as well as improve the goalscoring threat from open play. Hence going for Bale, Pedro, Kenedy and Moses as my quartet of wingers in preference to the more lightweight and vertically challenged players like Oscar, Willian, Hazard, Cuadrado etc. Bringing Mata back because he knows and understands CFC, and scores and creates for fun, despite being small and slow. We have room for one of those in my team :)

 

Tevez will give you alot of effort up front, and has played well for Conte at Juve. If anyone could tempt Tevez to have one more roll of the dice in Europe it would be him.  From what I have read, he went back to his first club Boca to win the Argentinian league. "Tick". Worth an enquiry anyway. A huge mercenary, but a very good one, and a type of striker we don't have.

 

Similarly on Verratti, the Italian connection with Conte might get him signed.

 

 

That's my 10p anyway !

 

Isco is a good shout btw.

We won't be getting Bale, especially with no CL football. Not sure about Tervez, think he's pretty happy finishing off his career back home. I would add Zaltan, the man has the aura we been missing this season