On 26/11/2021 at 09:21, ducavis said:

And what happens next season when Chiwell is back? Do you sit a £50m LB on the bench considering barring injury & fatigue you will have an established 1st choice? 
I rate Theo Hernandez highly but I doubt he will be interested in coming here unless he is a guaranteed starter.

We play close to 60 games each season and the players also play several games for their national teams. I don't see a problem with two players rotating and competing for one position. They would end up with close to 30 games each + international games each season, if none of them got injured etc. Last year T.Hernandez played 45 games in all competitions, I doubt those 15 games he will miss would make him say no to playing for a bigger club, in the premier league and on higher wages.

22 hours ago, ducavis said:

I think it’s high unlikely in a World Cup year to find a starter for a top footballing nation willing to leave a club where he is a guaranteed starter, and move to one where he will be competing to start. 
The best option out there IMO will be Tagliafico at Ajax who is refusing to sign a contract, and at 29 after one last big move. He will probably be content to play backup in the long run. The Danish LB Maehle is the other option as he can play both LB/RB and could see more playing time because he is brilliant on both sides.

Worst case scenario here, if Chilwell is out until summer, then T.Hernandez would have over half a year to establish himself as our starter in a world cup year. Chilwell might take even longer to recover, just look how long CHO needed before he has started to perform again.

Time to go all out for Alex Sandro - right @TomCFC85?

We've really missed him these last few games. The left wing of our attack has been non-threatening since his injury.

2 hours ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

We've really missed him these last few games. The left wing of our attack has been non-threatening since his injury.

Agreed. Marcos was good going forward at Watford. Today not so much.

Needs a better understudy really - whether it’s someone from the academy/loan army or a new signing.

Couldn't agree more - the amount of ground he covers is sorely missed.  Has output on both ends of the pitch.  Wishing Chilly a speedy recovery - big loss right now.

Great news, but I still think we should look for another wingback in January. Can’t let ourselves in the same situation again.

18 minutes ago, Ledgerson said:

Great news, but I still think we should look for another wingback in January. Can’t let ourselves in the same situation again.

Do you seriously think that we can get a better wing back than Alonso who is happy to play a reserve to Chilwell!? And whom might that be?

1 hour ago, Gentian said:

Do you seriously think that we can get a better wing back than Alonso who is happy to play a reserve to Chilwell!? And whom might that be?

Alonso has been exactly the same as he was when we won the title in 16-17. It's the fact that we are also missing key midfielders that excarbates the issue.

If we have out best midfielders to defend and keep possession, it would eliminate his shortcomings because they will be tested less.

4 hours ago, Gentian said:

Do you seriously think that we can get a better wing back than Alonso who is happy to play a reserve to Chilwell!? And whom might that be?

Why would we want someone that is happy to play reserve? We need to go for a player like Theo Hernandez, who can challenge Chillwell for the position. There is more then enough games for both, considering we are playing around 60 games each season + international games for the players. 

7 minutes ago, comtrend said:

Why would we want someone that is happy to play reserve? We need to go for a player like Theo Hernandez, who can challenge Chillwell for the position. There is more then enough games for both, considering we are playing around 60 games each season + international games for the players. 

In theory that sounds great but in reality it doesn't really happen. Players of genuine quality only ever move to clubs where they're guaranteed a starting place (until/unless they flop). That's why we struggled to get a quality 4th midfielder, why would they come here to have a fight on to even be first sub?

1 hour ago, Argo said:

In theory that sounds great but in reality it doesn't really happen. Players of genuine quality only ever move to clubs where they're guaranteed a starting place (until/unless they flop). That's why we struggled to get a quality 4th midfielder, why would they come here to have a fight on to even be first sub?

For a player like Theo Hernandez, higher wages, higher profile league, bigger club. In reality the big clubs have to rotate their players to keep them fresh, there is just to many games for anyone except Mendy to claim a guaranteed spot. There didn't seem to be a problem for City to hoard every quality wingback they could think of a few seasons back either.

36 minutes ago, comtrend said:

For a player like Theo Hernandez, higher wages, higher profile league, bigger club. In reality the big clubs have to rotate their players to keep them fresh, there is just to many games for anyone except Mendy to claim a guaranteed spot. There didn't seem to be a problem for City to hoard every quality wingback they could think of a few seasons back either.

Will they be big enough wages though. As we have seen with Toni and AC the top wages don't go to defenders.

16 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Will they be big enough wages though. As we have seen with Toni and AC the top wages don't go to defenders.

I have a feeling Toni and AC are asking way to much, but it's understandebal after the Lukaku deal and them helping us become champions of europe. I don't think T. Hernandez wages would be that high, unless PSG, City etc joined the race. He is earning around 30k-40k at AC Milan, we could do three times that amount.

2 minutes ago, comtrend said:

I have a feeling Toni and AC are asking way to much, but it's understandebal after the Lukaku deal and them helping us become champions of europe. I don't think T. Hernandez wages would be that high, unless PSG, City etc joined the race. He is earning around 30k-40k at AC Milan, we could do three times that amount.

Aye we could. Think our problem is not so much Lukaku, although he will become a problem wage wise. 

Problem started before he arrived in that Havertz and Werner are said to earn around 240k to 270k and, arguably, Toni did as much, maybe more, than they did to win us the CL.

1 hour ago, comtrend said:

For a player like Theo Hernandez, higher wages, higher profile league, bigger club. In reality the big clubs have to rotate their players to keep them fresh, there is just to many games for anyone except Mendy to claim a guaranteed spot. There didn't seem to be a problem for City to hoard every quality wingback they could think of a few seasons back either.

City rolled into a season with just Mendy (when he was good) and had to improvise with Delph and later Zinchenko when he got injured because they simply couldn't get a full back of real note to come in and play back up.

They got the very average Danilo for two years to be Walker's back up, they then decided to get someone who can play both positions (Cancelo), we'd probably have to do something similar.

15 hours ago, comtrend said:

For a player like Theo Hernandez, higher wages, higher profile league, bigger club. In reality the big clubs have to rotate their players to keep them fresh, there is just to many games for anyone except Mendy to claim a guaranteed spot. There didn't seem to be a problem for City to hoard every quality wingback they could think of a few seasons back either.

No when there will be other big clubs like Madrid, potentially City and Barca willing to make him 1st choice and match the wages. The City hoarding of quality defenders doesn’t happen anymore, and is a short term fix. In the long run a manager will have a 1st choice and the bench option will demand a move. Our options are to look for a lower quality, an ageing player or unearth a gem like Tsimikas at Liverpool through good scouting.

8 minutes ago, ducavis said:

No when there will be other big clubs like Madrid, potentially City and Barca willing to make him 1st choice and match the wages. The City hoarding of quality defenders doesn’t happen anymore, and is a short term fix. In the long run a manager will have a 1st choice and the bench option will demand a move. Our options are to look for a lower quality, an ageing player or unearth a gem like Tsimikas at Liverpool through good scouting.

get him or Aït-Nouri (who already plays as a wingback) from Wolves 

Edited December 15, 20214 yr by azpi28

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/dec/15/chelsea-thomas-tuchel-hopeful-ben-chilwell-not-need-acl-surgery

Very optimistic news (although I'll believe it when I see it), plus Kanté will be on the bench tonight.

f**k, he apparently needs surgery on his ACL, that will likely put him out for the season.

Terrible news, and probably means the end of our title/CL hopes for this year. Supposedly we want Lucas Digne on loan for the rest of the season...

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/dec/28/chelsea-ben-chilwell-cover-left-wing-back

I mean... I'd prefer us to loan Digne rather than having to put up with Emerson again.

Gutted for him. Would have been great to have him back. 

What a blow. Recent reports suggested he may be back in middle of January.

Now he's out for the season at least.

Signing Digne should be a no brainer right now. That may salvage the situation somewhat.

25 minutes ago, PloKoon13 said:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/dec/28/chelsea-ben-chilwell-cover-left-wing-back

I mean... I'd prefer us to loan Digne rather than having to put up with Emerson again.

 

1 minute ago, Sindre said:

What a blow. Recent reports suggested he may be back in middle of January.

Now he's out for the season at least.

Signing Digne should be a no brainer right now. That may salvage the situation somewhat.

I think we should learn from the Saul farce here, if Everton are allowing us to have Digne on loan then that's a red flag right away, we can't fall into the trap of just accepting anyone because they're not Alonso.

This could be a good chance to find a different profile of wingback apart from a natural full back, a natural winger with good aptitude at wingback would offer us something we don't currently have.

ACL surgery recovery means he'll be out until at least September 2022. Gutted for him