I don’t know enough about him but if he is TOP class then we should get it done. Top players aren’t always available and it’s important to get them while you can. 
 

I suspect it’s our fault. We waited too long to close the Zouma deal and Sevilla haven’t got time to find a replacement - hence the price increase. Fair enough I suppose. 

So we sold Marc Guehi, Fikayao Tomori, Kurt Zouma and haven't bought a single centre back in. Silva is 37 he wont play every week, Azpi is 32 and if CHO leaves he will be backup RWB too and Rudiger might leave on a free at the end of the season. Great planning by the board.

3 minutes ago, jack_super_class said:

So we sold Marc Guehi, Fikayao Tomori, Kurt Zouma and haven't bought a single centre back in. Silva is 37 he wont play every week, Azpi is 32 and if CHO leaves he will be backup RWB too and Rudiger might leave on a free at the end of the season. Great planning by the board.

We've brought Chalobah into the squad, and Ampadu has also been assigned a shirt number for the season. Seeing as Guehi and Tomori were on loan last year, we actually have more centre backs at our disposal. I would think Rudiger and Christensen would both sign new deals. Who wouldn't want to be part of what is happening at CFC right now ? A club on the up ... 

1 minute ago, Sexyfootball said:

We've brought Chalobah into the squad, and Ampadu has also been assigned a shirt number for the season. Seeing as Guehi and Tomori were on loan last year, we actually have more centre backs at our disposal. I would think Rudiger and Christensen would both sign new deals. Who wouldn't want to be part of what is happening at CFC right now ? A club on the up ... 

But the 2 of the 3 we sold in Tomori and Guehi are better than the 2 we brought in, Chalobah and Ampadu. We literally just sold Kurt Zouma for no reason at all, We ere told we had to sell Zouma to get Kounde.

I'm sure if this doesn't happen it's the boards fault,surely it can't be the money with all the sales which have paid for lukaku we haven't spent anything. 

3 minutes ago, Bluesince66 said:

I'm sure if this doesn't happen it's the boards fault,surely it can't be the money with all the sales which have paid for lukaku we haven't spent anything. 

Apparently we agreed a verbal deal with Sevilla but they are now demanding an extra 15M euros.

1 minute ago, jack_super_class said:

Apparently we agreed a verbal deal with Sevilla but they are now demanding an extra 15M euros.

We had it two weeks or three ago. Now it is too late to find replacements.

Surely they should have some sort of back-up plan since his clause could activated during the very last minute, right? It's a gamble on both sides.

I’d like to get this lad given his potential but, realistically, I’m more concerned about cover in the midfield than at CB, at least for this season.

3 minutes ago, RMH said:

I’d like to get this lad given his potential but, realistically, I’m more concerned about cover in the midfield than at CB, at least for this season.

I agree ... with Kante injured, it only takes one of Kova/Jorginho to get suspended or also injured, and then we're looking at non-specialists to play in central midfield ...

Sad that this won't happen. Kounde is easily worth 65m cmon now, you can get a really average defender for 50m these days and Kounde is the real deal. Oh well, we sold Zouma and got Chalobah at the ready.

4 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

I agree ... with Kante injured, it only takes one of Kova/Jorginho to get suspended or also injured, and then we're looking at non-specialists to play in central midfield ...

Definitely agree about midfield, it's been extremely poor of the board not to address this, marina a week ago was posting about Saul,well that was egg on her face wasn't it.

7 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

I agree ... with Kante injured, it only takes one of Kova/Jorginho to get suspended or also injured, and then we're looking at non-specialists to play in central midfield ...

It’s difficult at the minute. At cm we have Billy and Gallagher to come back after another season of prem football. I’d also love to see us grab one of Rice or Bellingham as well in near future. 

So a loan or Ampadu would be my option.

CB and/or rwb does feel thin to me, especially if Cho leaves on loan! Maybe jumped the gun selling all our good youth options bar chalobah. Wish we’d kept livermento for example.

 

It would have been ridiculous to loan Billy then though. We would have weakened our most crucial position considerably - not sure what the plan was but there must have been one and it couldn't have been just "Saul on loan".

Rather bin this deal and go after a world class dominant midfielder. Apart from Kovacic our midfield is lightweight, lacks creativity and goals.  Either that or TT has to identify someone in the existing squad to play in the middle..with all the talent we have, it can't be that difficult can it? 

We need to pay the bloody clause then, can't let 15m EUR spoil our season.

- Who's gonna play LCB if Rüdiger is unavailable at some point? Pretty sure Koundé can play on both sides quite well

- If Kounde doesn't come we probably can't let CHO go to Dortmund simply because Azpi + James are more tied in at RCB and we need more backup for RWB. That loan itself could easily generate 15m EUR in his value.

We should also push hard for Niguez loan + option to buy, Simeone didn't sound like the deal was totally off yesterday. Surely Niguez can see now how much play time he'd be getting

 

If a neutral window is a 5/10, I think we're currently at 6/10 with the potential to jump to 9/10 with these two deals. Lukaku alone lifts us loads and we've had some very good sales, but the Billy loan and the Zouma sale were clearly sealed with their replacements in mind and now seem quite unnecessary if those don't materialise. With no added CM Billy would have seen good playing times and with Zouma in the squad and the addition of Chalobah we could have let CHO leave.

I know you're a master negotiator and I have great belief in our current squad, but I believe this time we just need to pay our dues

Marina has put this on Facebook 'He's played RCB, CCB, CM through academy and on loan, his positional versatility is a huge strength'.This about Trevor ,so I don't expect any more signings now.

3 minutes ago, Luiz4Chelsea said:

We need to pay the bloody clause then, can't let 15m EUR spoil our season.

- Who's gonna play LCB if Rüdiger is unavailable at some point? Pretty sure Koundé can play on both sides quite well

- If Kounde doesn't come we probably can't let CHO go to Dortmund simply because Azpi + James are more tied in at RCB and we need more backup for RWB. That loan itself could easily generate 15m EUR in his value.

We should also push hard for Niguez loan + option to buy, Simeone didn't sound like the deal was totally off yesterday. Surely Niguez can see now how much play time he'd be getting

 

If a neutral window is a 5/10, I think we're currently at 6/10 with the potential to jump to 9/10 with these two deals. Lukaku alone lifts us loads and we've had some very good sales, but the Billy loan and the Zouma sale were clearly sealed with their replacements in mind and now seem quite unnecessary if those don't materialise. With no added CM Billy would have seen good playing times and with Zouma in the squad and the addition of Chalobah we could have let CHO leave.

I know you're a master negotiator and I have great belief in our current squad, but I believe this time we just need to pay our dues

Looks like we're going to give Chalobah the trust and more game time instead. So we sold Zouma and promoted Chalobah and we gained some money doing it, same amount of defenders as before.

Though it kinda sucks cause we were chasing Kounde the whole summer. It's a long season with all the cups so hopefully we get lucky for once and avoid injuries.

Tbf Trevor did come on and play in midfield against Liverpool maybe that was a foreshadowing that he could be the potential 4th mid as well as a defensive option this season. I'm easy either way but, I would have rather we signed someone else alongside Trevor's promotion to the side just take the pressure off slightly. 

Andreas has pretty much signed his contract extension from what I've heard, so that's one positive.

1 hour ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Are we though? Dave, Silva, Christensen, Rudiger, Chalobah and at a push we've got Reece James to play there too and if we're really worried then we keep Ampadu around for the season. 

It's a long, long season for us.

Two injuries and we are in the sh*t. And T.Silva is old and injury prone at this point in his career so I think we are thin. Chalobah is also an unknown entity still in a defence despite being good against Crystal Palace that didn't test us.

As it stands we probably need Chalobah for midfield cover more than anything as well considering we are extremely thin there too.

Edited August 30, 20214 yr by Sindre

If #Chelsea don't make an offer of between €60-70M for Jules Kounde today, Sevilla will stick to their €80M release clause as their asking price for the 22-year-old and won't negotiate for less. 

[via @diarioas]

Well good luck to Seville. I find it a bit hard to believe a deal was verbally agreed at one price 2-3 weeks ago, but now the price has changed because Seville can’t find an alternative. surely they must had one lined up.  Look at Juventus picked up Kean in 24 hours. Trensa  states Kounde  was never going for the price speculated because of  amounts owing, but those amounts owing haven’t changed, yet a deal that was on now isn’t. To me it looks like Seville changed its mind. That’s ok I guess, there are always more players out there. Seville may have done good business, time will tell, but in any case they will have a good player who will help their team. It’s not all about money. Trensa was well informed, thanks from me for sharing. 

Edited August 30, 20214 yr by ozboy

2 minutes ago, JM7 said:

If #Chelsea don't make an offer of between €60-70M for Jules Kounde today, Sevilla will stick to their €80M release clause as their asking price for the 22-year-old and won't negotiate for less. 

[via @diarioas]

Daily Mail says Marina is walking away from the deal. They hiked the amount so she's not interested.  Not sure who f**ked this deal...us and Zouma for dragging his deal out or them for not honouring an agreed price.  Surprised then that they didn't say to her 'if you don't buy him by XXX date then he price goes up by XXX million.  Still a day and a bit to go but I don't see us bringing in anyone now unless there is an extraordinary deal on the table somewhere for a positional player we need.  

So the club didnt want to taken for a ride by paying the extra. If that means one of the upcoming youth to get more games, it's a positive. A couple of the so called "deadwood" may get their last chance at Chelsea, hope they take it if it turns out that way.

Looks like Sevilla priced Kounde out. Zouma deal probably took too long which left Sevilla too little time to find a replacement.