Barkley was on an unofficial transfer list. Not sure how reliable that is. 

Whether it's Rice or Tchouameni, one thing is clear and obvious: we need an extra central midfielder. I think my preference would be Rice over Tchouameni currently. The primary reason for that would be due to Rice's experience in the PL and I've watched him. On Tchouameni, I haven't really seen any of his games and I'm not going to watch some cherry picked youtube video. However, the things I have heard about Tchouameni is very promising and exciting. But, you know that last midfielder we got from Monaco was "promising" young central midfielder as well.

I know the price for Rice - ha! rhymes apparently make me giggle - is definitely steeper and a reason for some to not want to get him and I understand that. I think that if the club and Tuchel believe that Rice is the answer, then we should go get him and work on driving that price down, which I'm sure Marina will.

Barkley was not even giving a Jersey number this season so he has zero chance in this Chelsea team again. What I believe we need most urgently is an attacking midfielder that can make defense splitting passes during out counter attacks. For all the industry of Kovavic,  the tenaciousness of Kante, and the orchestrating skills of Jorgi boy, our midfield seriously lacks a Fabregas like player who can play a correct final ball during a counter attack or a defense splitting pass. Against Crystal Palace, we kept playing the balls to be wings because we had no one to either take the ball thru the middle or make a pass. Chalobahor Kounde if we get him can take some work load off Kante so i do not think a replacement for Kante is the most important thing right now. I wish we get some one like Pjanic (he is 31  on 115k per week) desperate to leave with no offers, if we can negotiate him down to like 70 - 90k or Eriksen from Inter, if the Italian law prevents him from playing their league again.  We need players like this more than defensive minded guys

13 hours ago, chiefBlueCFC said:

Whether it's Rice or Tchouameni, one thing is clear and obvious: we need an extra central midfielder. I think my preference would be Rice over Tchouameni currently. The primary reason for that would be due to Rice's experience in the PL and I've watched him. On Tchouameni, I haven't really seen any of his games and I'm not going to watch some cherry picked youtube video. However, the things I have heard about Tchouameni is very promising and exciting. But, you know that last midfielder we got from Monaco was "promising" young central midfielder as well.

I know the price for Rice - ha! rhymes apparently make me giggle - is definitely steeper and a reason for some to not want to get him and I understand that. I think that if the club and Tuchel believe that Rice is the answer, then we should go get him and work on driving that price down, which I'm sure Marina will.

Tbh, we bought the wrong promising young central midfielder from Monaco

I’d rather wait a year for Rice rather than sign this guy now. He’s only had 1 good season, we should buy Kounde instead who is a proven centre back with high potential.

Well I’ll be dissed for this but I wonder if we mightn’t get tanguy ndombele cheap. I watched him for Lyon and I reckon Mourinho ruined him at Spurs. Don’t think he would start but good bench cover that plays much the same style as kova. However maybe he has long term injury issues, probably an even more stupid than usual idea. 

Edited August 20, 20214 yr by ozboy

On 20/08/2021 at 06:21, dansubrosa said:

I’d rather wait a year for Rice rather than sign this guy now. He’s only had 1 good season, we should buy Kounde instead who is a proven centre back with high potential.

Tchouameni will cost about 1/3 the price of Rice. He is also a much better overall player compared to Rice. Chelsea has plenty of midfielders  who have limited offensive skills such as Rice. There is a clear need for a starting midfielder to move Kovacic to the bench. Tchouameni for $30 million makes sense for the current Chelsea team. 

 

 

On 20/08/2021 at 06:21, dansubrosa said:

I’d rather wait a year for Rice rather than sign this guy now. He’s only had 1 good season, we should buy Kounde instead who is a proven centre back with high potential.

 

Tchouameni  is a great option at the price. Capped 4 times for France and played at every age level for them. Three seasons in League 1 with his best season last year. Almost the perfect age to come in as understudy. Almost certainly get the money back if it doesn't work out, and by today's standards its not that much money. Gives us options and insurance in a season where we can push for the title. 

Its increasingly obvious how risky it will be relying on kante playing say 30 games this season. Cover is required.

Really hope we push for him !!

It is clear that Chelsea needs another midfielder for the rest of the 2021-22 season. Someone like Gallagher or Gilmour would be great if there was an out clause in their respective loan agreements. However that is not likely which brings me back to Tchouameni. Chelsea could a quite him and extend Ruudiger and still have money left  over vs trying to acquire Kounde. Get it done, Marina. 

Tchouameni is in a completely different class to Saul right now. Tchouameni was  very strong for France last night, athletic, quick, good on ball, worked hard all game. 
 

franlkly much better than Gilmour at this point because of his physical presence. You don’t get into the French starting 11 in a big game that easily. 

12 hours ago, ozboy said:

Tchouameni is in a completely different class to Saul right now. Tchouameni was  very strong for France last night, athletic, quick, good on ball, worked hard all game. 
 

franlkly much better than Gilmour at this point because of his physical presence. You don’t get into the French starting 11 in a big game that easily. 

This^^^ He could learn a lot playing with Kante and eventually take one of the #6 positions. His size, strength, athleticism and toughness would be a great addition to the Chelsea up. Sign him in January and let him finish the season with his current club. 

He's a great talent and his value is only rising. I think that next summer we should try to sign him and Kounde, 21 and 22 years old and then we don't need to worry much about transfers.

 

On 12/10/2021 at 01:17, Gol15 said:

 

That would be really frustrating as Czech was pushing for Chelsea to sign Tchouameni  this Summer. He has the school and speed to compete in the PL. 

I think we need Tchouameni in January after the false economy of Saul.

 

It is imperative we sign tchouameni in January with kantes inability to play 2 games in 4 days.. He is a cheaper Declan rice and I can bet my bottom dollar he is better than Saul

 

He's gravy. 

If the price is right and the player wants out Monaco will sell. 

On 02/12/2021 at 00:53, ozboy said:

I think we need Tchouameni in January after the false economy of Saul.

 

Agree 100%. Send Saul back to Athleti as he can't keep up with the pace or physical play in the PL. The two recent games  should be wake up call for Chelsea. I can't remember a worse game for the midfielders than the Watford game. I also don't think you can count on either Kante or Kovacic playing more than 50% of the games the rest of this season. It was embarrassing that Chelsea couldn't even get the ball out of their end. 

Petr Cech wanted to sign Tchouameni at the end of the Summer transfer window however the Chelsea lead scout pushed to acquire Saul on loan. What was that scout thinking as it has been clear for over a year that Athleti didn't want Saul to play midfield. You go into the season knowing that Kante will miss games and Saul is expected to fill the gap? That reflects poorly on the Chelsea scouting department. Fix it in January by signing Tchouameni and get a stop gap measure for LWB. 

Edited December 10, 20214 yr by TheGreatestGame

I prefer him in January than to wait for Rice during the whole summer.

12 hours ago, TheGreatestGame said:

Petr Cech wanted to sign Tchouameni at the end of the Summer transfer window however the Chelsea lead scout pushed to acquire Saul on loan. What was that scout thinking as it has been clear for over a year that Athleti didn't want Saul to play midfield. You go into the season knowing that Kante will miss games and Saul is expected to fill the gap? That reflects poorly on the Chelsea scouting department. Fix it in January by signing Tchouameni and get a stop gap measure for LWB. 

Sounds like we should just get Petr to do all our scouting!

40 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

Sounds like we should just get Petr to do all our scouting!

13 hours ago, Gol15 said:

I prefer him in January than to wait for Rice during the whole summer.

Chelsea likely could sign both Kounde and Tchouameni for less than the price to acquire Rice.