7 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Or we could stop buying players like Dewsbury-Hall so we don't need to sell players.

We made a 1700% profit and you’re complaining? 
 

No one should scoff at KDH as a squad option. Technical, durable, and experienced. 

24 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

We made a 1700% profit and you’re complaining? 
 

No one should scoff at KDH as a squad option. Technical, durable, and experienced. 

I'm complaining about the strategy. We just keep signing more and more players and then need to sell a load more just to comply with the rules. Dewsbury-Hall struggled in each of his two seasons of Premier League football and we are stacked in midfield. Why do we need him? We need him less than we needed Drinkwater when we signed him, and most fans knew instantly that that was a poor signing.

Edited July 1, 20242 yr by Scott Harris

1 minute ago, Scott Harris said:

I'm complaining about the strategy. We just keep signing more and more players and then need to sell a load more just to comply with the rules. Dewsbury-Hall struggled in each of his two seasons of Premier League football and we are stacked in midfield. Why do we need him? We need him less than we needed Drinkwater when we signed him, and most fans knew instantly that that was a poor signing.

The fact Rodgers got that Leicester team relegated is a testament to how short term he is. 
 

Why do we need him? Because I don’t want to go into next season with Conor Gallagher as our CAM in the very likely scenario both Nkunku and Carney are injured again. Top 4 is a must now more than ever and we need to be proactive in our squad building. For 25m we are getting someone who is technical, durable, and experienced. Qualities many like yourself have been begging our directors to target and we are still complaining? 
 

 

7 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

The fact Rodgers got that Leicester team relegated is a testament to how short term he is. 
 

Why do we need him? Because I don’t want to go into next season with Conor Gallagher as our CAM in the very likely scenario both Nkunku and Carney are injured again. Top 4 is a must now more than ever and we need to be proactive in our squad building. For 25m we are getting someone who is technical, durable, and experienced. Qualities many like yourself have been begging our directors to target and we are still complaining? 
 

 

I never said I wanted experience for the sake of experience. I always said I want experience with plenty to give. Dewsbury-Hall is not that. He's barely even midtable quality. As for having cover for injuries, we shouldn't be getting this many injuries in the first place, it's out of the ordinary. Also, you can only register 25 players, I would rather not have Dewsbury-Hall take one of those spots. If it means one of Gallagher or Chukwuemeka are sold, then that makes things even worse.

Edited July 1, 20242 yr by Scott Harris

3 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I never said I wanted experience for the sake of experience. I always said I want experience with plenty to give. Dewsbury-Hall is not that. He's barely even midtable quality. As for having cover for injuries, we shouldn't be getting this many injuries in the first place, it's out of the ordinary. Also, you can only register 25 players, I would rather not have Dewsbury-Hall take one of those spots. If it means one of Gallagher or Chukwuemeka are sold, then that makes things even worse.

You’re overreacting and complaining for the sake of it. I’m by no means a fan of buying system based players but the thought of Gallagher as our CAM in a possession based system scares me, but having someone who is more tailored to that role in the scenario Carney and Nkunku are out gives me comfort. 

1 minute ago, Scott Harris said:

I never said I wanted experience for the sake of experience. I always said I want experience with plenty to give. Dewsbury-Hall is not that. He's barely even midtable quality. As for having cover for injuries, we shouldn't be getting this many injuries in the first place, it's out of the ordinary. Also, you can only register 25 players, I would rather not have Dewsbury-Hall take one of those spots. If it means one of Gallagher or Chukwuemeka are sold, then that makes things ever worse.

Agreed. If we decide to not trust the talent we already have I’m all for it IF we instead sign either an exceptional talent or  a world class player. KDH is neither.

8 minutes ago, AndyDowsleftflank said:

Agreed. If we decide to not trust the talent we already have I’m all for it IF we instead sign either an exceptional talent or  a world class player. KDH is neither.

So, in essence we should only sell a youth player if we replace him with someone that will likely break our wage structure?

People complained when we got rid of Webster and brought in Carney. The former couldn’t get a game at Heerenveen whereas the latter has looked quality every time he’s played and someone we should be backing. 

Has it ever come across that maybe KDH is simply improving our depth instead of having a bench filled with teenagers like last season? 

As much as I appreciated Gallagher last season I think he’d be better served by moving on.

His passing in tight spaces won’t get much better now and too many have the blinkers on regarding him and Trev too.

If we are serious about top 4 we have to be looking at better. Harsh I know. The difficulty we have is we don’t actually know if the potential replacements have it in them to be better than them.

2 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

So, in essence we should only sell a youth player if we replace him with someone that will likely break our wage structure?

People complained when we got rid of Webster and brought in Carney. The former couldn’t get a game at Heerenveen whereas the latter has looked quality every time he’s played and someone we should be backing. 

Has it ever come across that maybe KDH is simply improving our depth instead of having a bench filled with teenagers like last season? 

He’s not a teenager - neither is he proven in the PL. I’m not sure why you are so worried that Gallagher might have to play, while you welcome KDH with open arms. Cobham aside, one has done really well in the PL while the other has not.

And sure, KDH does improve our depth. Any signing will do that, the question is whether we need it, and what the consequenses are. 
Is he good enough that its worth having him block younger talent with a higher ceiling? Does he provide the experience we need? Is it worth spending money on him that could potentially be used on a new left back, winger, goalkeeper or striker? 
My answer is no to all of those questions, thats not to say he’s a bad player. He’s not. He’s just not needed

23 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

You’re overreacting and complaining for the sake of it. I’m by no means a fan of buying system based players but the thought of Gallagher as our CAM in a possession based system scares me, but having someone who is more tailored to that role in the scenario Carney and Nkunku are out gives me comfort. 

How am I complaining for the sake of it? I don't rate the guy, at all. Why wouldn't I complain when the player we are signing is somebody I don't rate for £30m? Why are you even concerned about injuries forcing Gallagher to play there anyway? It's not like he was playing there much in the 2nd half of the season last season. If injuries happen to the same players again, I would sooner play Palmer CAM than Dewsbury-Hall.

I doubt Dewsbury Hall will set the world on fire for us. Hes decent enough for a mid table team. 

I'd like to play devil's advocate with you guys just to gauge opinion.

What if Gallagher isn't the sacrifice, what if Gallagher is the depth.

Remember you're paid for foresight and judged with hindsight. Is it not feasible that Maresca may well look on KDH as a mobile 8 that can offer defensive responsibility and still a counter balance to Caicedo, with Lavia/Santos as the deep lying 6. On this basis could it be Enzo the younger that appears to be the odd man out, not fitting the model.

How would it go down if KDH comes in and Enzo ends up being sold. I could see a scenario developing whereby Real could offer up to £90m for a replacement for Tony Kroos. £90m paid in two annual instalments would lay the foundations for Clearlake's PSR hurdle for the next two years. I'm sure there would be outrage but what if the midfield did actually start to function.

Thoughts?

Just asking, that's all

13 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

I'd like to play devil's advocate with you guys just to gauge opinion.

What if Gallagher isn't the sacrifice, what if Gallagher is the depth.

Remember you're paid for foresight and judged with hindsight. Is it not feasible that Maresca may well look on KDH as a mobile 8 that can offer defensive responsibility and still a counter balance to Caicedo, with Lavia/Santos as the deep lying 6. On this basis could it be Enzo the younger that appears to be the odd man out, not fitting the model.

How would it go down if KDH comes in and Enzo ends up being sold. I could see a scenario developing whereby Real could offer up to £90m for a replacement for Tony Kroos. £90m paid in two annual instalments would lay the foundations for Clearlake's PSR hurdle for the next two years. I'm sure there would be outrage but what if the midfield did actually start to function.

Thoughts?

Just asking, that's all

No one would even consider selling Conor if he wasn't an academy player and we need to comply with PSR.

No one is even talking about selling Mudryk, which would have been the normal topic in the past, it's not football ability that counts anymore but pure profit motivated sales .

 

18 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

I'd like to play devil's advocate with you guys just to gauge opinion.

What if Gallagher isn't the sacrifice, what if Gallagher is the depth.

Remember you're paid for foresight and judged with hindsight. Is it not feasible that Maresca may well look on KDH as a mobile 8 that can offer defensive responsibility and still a counter balance to Caicedo, with Lavia/Santos as the deep lying 6. On this basis could it be Enzo the younger that appears to be the odd man out, not fitting the model.

How would it go down if KDH comes in and Enzo ends up being sold. I could see a scenario developing whereby Real could offer up to £90m for a replacement for Tony Kroos. £90m paid in two annual instalments would lay the foundations for Clearlake's PSR hurdle for the next two years. I'm sure there would be outrage but what if the midfield did actually start to function.

Thoughts?

Just asking, that's all

With what happened last season I am just dumbfounded people are so quick to be against progressive squad building. Suppose I just see more positives in this signing than others and I genuinely fail to see who KDH actually blocks in terms of a younger player coming in. 

5 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

With what happened last season I am just dumbfounded people are so quick to be against progressive squad building. Suppose I just see more positives in this signing than others and I genuinely fail to see who KDH actually blocks in terms of a younger player coming in. 

I think its a pretty low risk signing, we paid nearly as much for Ugochukwu who i doubt will ever get serious game time for us.

Best case scenario he comes in and fits like a glove in Maresca's system and we win the lot.

Worst case scenario he's a Jorginho level player that suits one system and we're stuck with him for a few years. If this is the case we've got plenty of players to play instead of him. 

6 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

With what happened last season I am just dumbfounded people are so quick to be against progressive squad building. Suppose I just see more positives in this signing than others and I genuinely fail to see who KDH actually blocks in terms of a younger player coming in. 

Eh? How did you get to that response from the question I asked. My post asked what the thoughts would be if they decided that with the abundance of midfielders we are amassing if Enzo the younger was the odd one out and was sold. As a matter of interest how many midfielders do you have in your progressive squad. I am assuming our own academy kids like Tyrique George don't count.

6 hours ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

I think its a pretty low risk signing, we paid nearly as much for Ugochukwu who i doubt will ever get serious game time for us.

Best case scenario he comes in and fits like a glove in Maresca's system and we win the lot.

Worst case scenario he's a Jorginho level player that suits one system and we're stuck with him for a few years. If this is the case we've got plenty of players to play instead of him. 

That's a shame but I think you're right. I think Ugochukwu has the makings of a good central midfielder 

12 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

That's a shame but I think you're right. I think Ugochukwu has the makings of a good central midfielder 

I think Ugochukwu could be a steady player, but realistically he's not taking minutes away from Caicedo, Enzo, KDH, Lavia, Chukwuemeka or whoever else we have in the middle of the park any time soon. I'd imagine A.Santos is currently above him in the pecking order too. 

Our first scout of KDH was more than a year ago, I’ll leave it at that on that front.

Omari was going to be cut loose with Arsenal not providing any support to develop his career. We got him with promotion people, individualized strength coaching, made his training with the first team a priority, and used a valuable loan slot to showcase him. We were not “forced to sell” Omari. 
 

But Omari isn’t stupid: a highly rated, up and coming manager of a Premiere League side considers him first name on the team sheet. He will start every week he wants in the PL. that’s massive for him.

This is why players choose to come to Chelsea to compete for jobs. We have an excellent track record of finding good jobs for even the players that don’t stay. It IS a strength.

14 hours ago, Bluelion7 said:

This is why players choose to come to Chelsea to compete for jobs. We have an excellent track record of finding good jobs for even the players that don’t stay. It IS a strength.

Anyone who doubts this should at any of our youth league squads from the last 10 years and see how many of them are playing professionally at League One or higher. The proportion is insane, almost a 1/5 chance that a kid will be a high-level professional footballer if they graduate from a Chelsea academy class. I don't know too many other professions that can give a graduate 500k/year with the same certainty.

Here for a cup of tea and gone for a nice profit. Ideal Clearlake signing.

 

And off to to none Chelsea section for this thread lol.

3 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

Anyone who doubts this should at any of our youth league squads from the last 10 years and see how many of them are playing professionally at League One or higher. The proportion is insane, almost a 1/5 chance that a kid will be a high-level professional footballer if they graduate from a Chelsea academy class. I don't know too many other professions that can give a graduate 500k/year with the same certainty.

With Neil Bath and Jim Fraser now going watch them through this dynasty in the sh*tpan as well.

On 03/07/2024 at 13:32, Bluelion7 said:

Our first scout of KDH was more than a year ago, I’ll leave it at that on that front.

Omari was going to be cut loose with Arsenal not providing any support to develop his career. We got him with promotion people, individualized strength coaching, made his training with the first team a priority, and used a valuable loan slot to showcase him. We were not “forced to sell” Omari. 
 

But Omari isn’t stupid: a highly rated, up and coming manager of a Premiere League side considers him first name on the team sheet. He will start every week he wants in the PL. that’s massive for him.

This is why players choose to come to Chelsea to compete for jobs. We have an excellent track record of finding good jobs for even the players that don’t stay. It IS a strength.

I don't think that Chelsea providing  players for the first teams of other clubs is a strength ..

Providing players for OUR first team would be a strength .

Have a look at the goals Omari scored last year.

If he was an Ipswich player and we bought him today, everyone here would be well pleased I reckon.

 

14 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

Have a look at the goals Omari scored last year.

If he was an Ipswich player and we bought him today, everyone here would be well pleased I reckon.

 

There would be absolute headloss that we were wasting £20m+ on a 20 year old with a single season of experience in a Championship team instead of buying players ready for our first team. We see it with every signing we make, Omari wouldn't be an exception.