34 minutes ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

It looks like the complications of the zouma transfer are really what affected this transfer. If zouma left earlier, we would have met their deadline for a lower price.

This is what I think too.

I had a feeling we would eventualy mess up with this whole sell before we buy thing that often do. I can't blame Sevilla if they want more money now, we have left them in a position where they can't really replace him, there just isn't any time.

3 minutes ago, goose said:

Wow @axman2526, 6 out of 10. Not like you to be so upbeat. 😂

Have to be fair. Marina got our price from Milan on Tomori and secured a number of buy backs and decent loans, shifting drinkwater for a season is a point on its own!

As it stands I'd give the window a 7 since a lot of deadwood was removed,  we signed a top striker and our UCL squad for the most part has stayed intact. Had we signed a midfielder (which we still can) I'd bump it up to an 8 and if we sign Koundé I'll also bump it up to an 8. Had we got both I think we're pushing 9/10. 

36 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

This is what I think too.

I had a feeling we would eventualy mess up with this whole sell before we buy thing that often do. I can't blame Sevilla if they want more money now, we have left them in a position where they can't really replace him, there just isn't any time.

Quite possible but doesn't make a lot of sense if that was the case. Zouma was hardly dead wood and I doubt we would have had too many challenges finding other clubs for him if West Ham deal had fallen through. With that in mind we should have taken the opportunity to get Kounde at the lower price if we were prepared to pay it.

Just pay the clause, TT is a crackcrac.anager and deserves to be backed.

1 hour ago, Gol15 said:

The sad part of this failure is that Tuchel really really wanted Kounde. 

 

4 hours ago, Sindre said:

Even if we signed him we'd have damn near 0,- net spend this summer.

I think it's worth the outlay. He's a top defender and fits RCB like a glove.

Not getting him now doesn't make sense, we have clearly made room for him and as Gol says ,Tuchel has him earmarked. We have though a record of balancing the books after a successful season rather than pushing home our advantage so maybe the balance sheet is more important. None of us though can really complain after we spent last year on quality acquisitions that will only improve now as they mature.

49 minutes ago, LongtimerLurker said:

As it stands I'd give the window a 7 since a lot of deadwood was removed,  we signed a top striker and our UCL squad for the most part has stayed intact. Had we signed a midfielder (which we still can) I'd bump it up to an 8 and if we sign Koundé I'll also bump it up to an 8. Had we got both I think we're pushing 9/10. 

I don't think Saul is the player he was and would offer us nothing more than RLC or Ampadu. Losing a kidney must have a real mental and physical impact on him.

Still if we get him it is because TT wants him and I would bump it to a 7, and a 8/9 without/with Saul if we get Kounde, who he really wants and would be a key piece of our defence for years to come along with Christensen and Chalobah imo.

It is so short sighted by the club to worry over 22mill quid a billionaire can easily cover and we can make back in sales. Not to mention Tino going on loan with buy obligation said to be 17mill

1 hour ago, axman2526 said:

I don't think Saul is the player he was and would offer us nothing more than RLC or Ampadu. Losing a kidney must have a real mental and physical impact on him.

Still if we get him it is because TT wants him and I would bump it to a 7, and a 8/9 without/with Saul if we get Kounde, who he really wants and would be a key piece of our defence for years to come along with Christensen and Chalobah imo.

It is so short sighted by the club to worry over 22mill quid a billionaire can easily cover and we can make back in sales. Not to mention Tino going on loan with buy obligation said to be 17mill

Marina and the Sevilla boss are just playing chicken right now. He did the same thing to Man City last season and they said f**k this then went for Diaz. The fact that pep wanted him and Tuchel wants him lets me know he is one top player . We should just pay up and make Tuchel a happy man 

5 minutes ago, The Don Antonio said:

Marina and the Sevilla boss are just playing chicken right now. He did the same thing to Man City last season and they said f**k this then went for Diaz. The fact that pep wanted him and Tuchel wants him lets me know he is one top player . We should just pay up and make Tuchel a happy man 

Indeed. We messed up, admit it and pay the clause, the sale of Tino covers the extra and FFP is dead anyway.

5 minutes ago, The Don Antonio said:

Marina and the Sevilla boss are just playing chicken right now. He did the same thing to Man City last season and they said f**k this then went for Diaz. The fact that pep wanted him and Tuchel wants him lets me know he is one top player . We should just pay up and make Tuchel a happy man 

I doubt he is going to be any cheaper in the next couple of transfer windows. So if we really want him we know the price. Otherwise we should move on to other options.

So riddle me this, Saul is coming so you think that allows RLC or even CHO to go on loan, but apparently it is Ampadu going despite he is said to be cover for Rudiger as he play LCB for Sheff u last season:

https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/chelsea-fc-transfer-rumours-news/2021/8/31/22650558/venezia-negotiations-underway-for-chelsea-youngster-ethan-ampadu-report

honestly, just pay the clause at this point.  WE've sold Zouma, loaned out Ampadu, so that surely makes up the difference from our initial offer.  Saul confirmed, so adding Kounde would be amazing.

4 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

So riddle me this, Saul is coming so you think that allows RLC or even CHO to go on loan, but apparently it is Ampadu going despite he is said to be cover for Rudiger as he play LCB for Sheff u last season:

https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/chelsea-fc-transfer-rumours-news/2021/8/31/22650558/venezia-negotiations-underway-for-chelsea-youngster-ethan-ampadu-report

Why dont we just buy Kounde and send Sarr on loan to Sevilla🤔... I am glad we have Saul but if we get Kounde we would have won this transfer market hands down

5 minutes ago, mad_mac said:

honestly, just pay the clause at this point.  WE've sold Zouma, loaned out Ampadu, so that surely makes up the difference from our initial offer.  Saul confirmed, so adding Kounde would be amazing.

Yes it would. A 9 window.

1 minute ago, The Don Antonio said:

Why dont we just buy Kounde and send Sarr on loan to Sevilla🤔... I am glad we have Saul but if we get Kounde we would have won this transfer market hands down

4 hours left, just pay the clause and back the manager. Let's not lose another top manager because of pigheadness on our board.

8 minutes ago, forbzy said:

I doubt he is going to be any cheaper in the next couple of transfer windows. So if we really want him we know the price. Otherwise we should move on to other options.

Exactly . They didn't budge when Man city was trying to knock down his price. If we don't buy him this summer I expect other big boys to compete with us next summer. We should just buy him now like we did when we bought Kai while other clubs were trying to balance their books due to covid

7 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

So riddle me this, Saul is coming so you think that allows RLC or even CHO to go on loan, but apparently it is Ampadu going despite he is said to be cover for Rudiger as he play LCB for Sheff u last season:

https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/chelsea-fc-transfer-rumours-news/2021/8/31/22650558/venezia-negotiations-underway-for-chelsea-youngster-ethan-ampadu-report

It makes me wonder whether the club are just going to pay the release clause, there's no way we go into the season without a defender after letting zouma go and now loaning ampadu out. I guess we will have to wait and see.

8 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

So riddle me this, Saul is coming so you think that allows RLC or even CHO to go on loan, but apparently it is Ampadu going despite he is said to be cover for Rudiger as he play LCB for Sheff u last season:

https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/chelsea-fc-transfer-rumours-news/2021/8/31/22650558/venezia-negotiations-underway-for-chelsea-youngster-ethan-ampadu-report

As it stands we have 5 recognized options for our defensive 3 - Thiago, Rudiger, Christensen, Azpi, Chalobah. I imagine others (e.g. Reece) could fill in if needed but they have not been played in those positions regularly. Being that Chalobah has only made a couple of starts for the first team, and both Thiago and Azpi are veterans there is certainly the potential for us to encounter a shortage in defense at some point this season. With that in mind I'm surprised we loaned out Ampadu/Sterling relatively late in the window. Maybe Mbuyamba will have an opportunity.

5 minutes ago, forbzy said:

As it stands we have 5 recognized options for our defensive 3 - Thiago, Rudiger, Christensen, Azpi, Chalobah. I imagine others (e.g. Reece) could fill in if needed but they have not been played in those positions regularly. Being that Chalobah has only made a couple of starts for the first team, and both Thiago and Azpi are veterans there is certainly the potential for us to encounter a shortage in defense at some point this season. With that in mind I'm surprised we loaned out Ampadu/Sterling relatively late in the window. Maybe Mbuyamba will have an opportunity.

Will have to Mbuyamba but he is fresh off a major injury and less experienced than Trev.

I don't think we'll pay the release clause, apparently we bid €50/55m last week Wednesday which was rejected and they asked for €65m. The release clause is supposedly sat at somewhere between €80-90m, I think we may put it in a cheeky £50m (€60ish) bid before the window closes as a kind of take it or leave it.

3 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Will have to Mbuyamba but he is fresh off a major injury and less experienced than Trev.

I forget about his injury. He arrived from Barcelona with some hype but that clearly set him back. I imagine if it comes down to it we are more likely to use a player out of position than risk an untried member of the academy, at least in the major competitions.

So perhaps we should prepare for Jorginho at CB 😉

I just don't think we'll pay the clause.

Think of the optics, a club bullying Marina into agreeing into their demands. It's not the type of message our negotiators want to send across Europe.

2 minutes ago, TomCFC85 said:

I just don't think we'll pay the clause.

Think of the optics, a club bullying Marina into agreeing into their demands. It's not the type of message our negotiators want to send across Europe.

Agreed. Unless Sevilla suddenly buckle (which I don't see happening) this deal looks unlikely for the current window. I can understand that but it does make some of the player departures surprising. We've basically lost the following defensive options from our squad over this window only including those with some first team experience:

Zouma, Guehi, Tomori, Amapadu, Sterling, Clarke-Salter.

Really only Chalobah coming in (returning from loan)

Perhaps TT will consider playing just 2 CB's in a number of games?

 

 

1 hour ago, The Don Antonio said:

Exactly . They didn't budge when Man city was trying to knock down his price. If we don't buy him this summer I expect other big boys to compete with us next summer. We should just buy him now like we did when we bought Kai while other clubs were trying to balance their books due to covid

It would be the best thing to do because make no mistake other teams like Bayern, Real, Barcelona, Juventus will pay the buyout clause once they see that they need him.

Also if we sign him now, Marina can spend the whole next summer thinking just about which DM she should cut the price off and get him to the Bridge. We wouldn't need any other activity.

1 hour ago, forbzy said:

I forget about his injury. He arrived from Barcelona with some hype but that clearly set him back. I imagine if it comes down to it we are more likely to use a player out of position than risk an untried member of the academy, at least in the major competitions.

So perhaps we should prepare for Jorginho at CB 😉

It is not ideal but I think it will be Alonso. He played LCB I'm a back 3 in Italy. May also be why we wanted CHO to stay in case we do not Marcos there. 

So our back 3 could be:

 

Rudiger---Christensen---Dave

 

With say Chilwell and James as wingbacks

 

Then back ups could be:

 

Alonso---Silva----chalobah

 

With say CHO and Pulisic as wingbacks 

 

Not ideal but is what we are left with.