7 minutes ago, dkw said:

Are people just ignoring how well Hato did at left back, he was much better than Cucurella and I have no worries if he starts the season there.

Hato is ready. Just unsure about his backup/competition

Isn't Alonso expected to use a 3-4-2-1? Wouldn't that devalue Cucu anyway?

1 minute ago, bisright1 said:

Sure and Cucu probably did have positive talks. But those talks could well have been, look I'm aware you're leaving if the money comes in, but here's the plans if it doesn't

Id be asking for another LB if we were in Europe this season. We aren't.

Ownership have constantly showed us to expect the worse from them, so if Alonso wanted Cucurella to stay and they sold him anyway, I wouldn’t be surprised.

I rate Hato, but I’ve already seen with Acheampong how unwise it is to throw them in and having certain expectations. It’s something I’ve always been against.

If ownership are giving Alonso such expectations whilst at the same time selling one of our most experienced players and then telling Alonso “here’s a 19 year old instead” in a season where we need to improve then it really doesn’t change my perspective. No matter the manager our directors will not give them the tools to succeed.

2 minutes ago, AndyDowsleftflank said:

Hato is ready. Just unsure about his backup/competition

That young lad we got from Preston kian best has looked good in the EFL trophy.

As stated in the Alonso thread these clowns probably lied through their teeth to Alonso.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s probably looking as his next step even though he hasn’t officially started here yet

12 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Ownership have constantly showed us to expect the worse from them, so if Alonso wanted Cucurella to stay and they sold him anyway, I wouldn’t be surprised.

I rate Hato, but I’ve already seen with Acheampong how unwise it is to throw them in and having certain expectations. It’s something I’ve always been against.

If ownership are giving Alonso such expectations whilst at the same time selling one of our most experienced players and then telling Alonso “here’s a 19 year old instead” in a season where we need to improve then it really doesn’t change my perspective. No matter the manager our directors will not give them the tools to succeed.

Sure but it's still all speculation. There's also a chance that Alonso has come in and said yeah I want Cucu and Enzo gone because I only want players who are desperate to be here.

I wouldn't be surprised if we're going for Nathaniel Brown - only for him to score in the WC an hour after the sale of Cucurella to spike his price with 20 million

27 minutes ago, dkw said:

Are people just ignoring how well Hato did at left back, he was much better than Cucurella and I have no worries if he starts the season there.

Hato did well but there's a difference between letting him develop and throwing him in the deep end by making him the starting LB.

We have some talented youngsters in the squad but they aren't ready to carry the team. That's mainly why we aren't a CL club anymore.

Cucu off to RM in £51.8m deal

BBC Sport

Real Madrid agree £51.8m deal for Chelsea's Marc Cucurella

Real Madrid have agreed a deal worth up to £51.8m to sign Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella after the World Cup.

2 minutes ago, AndyDowsleftflank said:

I wouldn't be surprised if we're going for Nathaniel Brown - only for him to score in the WC an hour after the sale of Cucurella to spike his price with 20 million

Has to be Hall. If the directors/owners are serious and actually want to back the manager.

Just now, Sconnie Blue said:

Has to be Hall. If the directors/owners are serious and actually want to back the manager.

I'd absolutely love him back - but all indications are that he simply doesn't want to. He'll take a big chunk of our already limited transfer budget as well

2 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Has to be Hall. If the directors/owners are serious and actually want to back the manager.

Think it's ludicrous to spend 60-70m on a left back when we have Hato, a limited budget and no European football

What’s with the negativity around Hato? He outperformed Cucu down the stretch at LB when it mattered and is already a fully fledged Netherlands international… not really just ‘some kid’ being thrown in, he’s an upgrade!

Just now, bisright1 said:

Think it's ludicrous to spend 60-70m on a left back when we have Hato, a limited budget and no European football

Then why sell Cucurella 😂

I understand you really like the notion of throwing our youngsters in the deep end and seeing if they sink/swim, but I don’t. Especially when we’ve already experienced 4 seasons of this ownership doing it.

Hato/New backup LB is going to be weaker than Cucurella/Hato. Thats just the reality.

23 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Then why sell Cucurella 😂

I understand you really like the notion of throwing our youngsters in the deep end and seeing if they sink/swim, but I don’t. Especially when we’ve already experienced 4 seasons of this ownership doing it.

Hato/New backup LB is going to be weaker than Cucurella/Hato. Thats just the reality.

You can throw some young players in the deep end. Our mistake was throwing virtually the whole team into the deep end.

Cucurella is a world class LB - relatively young at 27 - If i were him, yep, i would join Real Madrid and play top flight european football. Agreed that the reality is that we are weaker without him.

Replacement options include: Pervis Estupiñán, Antonee Robinson, and Patrick Dorgu [apparently].

Hato is ok, but the supposed change in strategy hasn't altered one bit so far.

Sell Cucu, a 27 year old experienced Premier League player and it looks like we replace him with a 20 year old player, even if he is decent,...

I know Cucu wanted to leave and we have to let him go , but he complained about our lack of experience after the PSG game, and it hasn't changed yet.

Still, let's wait and see what happens in the transfer window , and what we look like come the start of the season.

Come on you BLUES !

30 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Then why sell Cucurella 😂

I understand you really like the notion of throwing our youngsters in the deep end and seeing if they sink/swim, but I don’t. Especially when we’ve already experienced 4 seasons of this ownership doing it.

Hato/New backup LB is going to be weaker than Cucurella/Hato. Thats just the reality.

Because he wanted to go and we need the money to spend on a very good CB and a replacement for Enzo.

1 minute ago, bisright1 said:

Because he wanted to go and we need the money to spend on a very good CB and a replacement for Enzo.

But then using your logic why do we need to spend £££ on a CB when we have Acheampong? Or a replacement for Enzo when we have Santos/Barco?

5 minutes ago, TheCeleryKing said:

You can throw some young players in the deep end. Our mistake was throwing virtually the whole team into the deep end.

Cucurella is a world class LB - relatively young at 27 - If i were him, yep, i would join Real Madrid and play top flight european football. Agreed that the reality is that we are weaker without him.

Replacement options include: Pervis Estupiñán, Antonee Robinson, and Patrick Dorgu [apparently].

He’s not world class but he’s an influence and constant for the team. Thats going to take an affect if not replaced adequately. Liverpool replaced Robertson with Kerkez, a promising young player with more experience than Hato, and he struggled massively.

This tweet sums it up for me. This deal is only good based on who we replace him with.

1 hour ago, dkw said:

Are people just ignoring how well Hato did at left back, he was much better than Cucurella and I have no worries if he starts the season there.

Yeah, Hato looks more than capable, but I've a terrible feeling we'll be hearing more of the " we've got a young squad" excuse trotted out now a 27 year old has been replaced with a 20 year old.

That said, I don't think the club should go into the transfer market, Hato can do the job just fine.

BIG fan of Hato. We will still need another LB though. I think Hato is more of a left sided CB maybe? For the future - we have so many CBs for the future. . .

Edited 58 minutes ago58 min by TheCeleryKing

Why is it that there has to be so much drama. Why is it that people on social media are already trying to cultivate an underlying narrative of Alonso being undermined.

Not a single player in Alonso's Leverkusen team would have been deemed good enough for Chelsea despite the fact that over the last three years we haven't put out a single side in any match that would have matched up to them.

We have said all season that our players are mediocre and they proved it by finishing dead middle of the league, the definition of average. I liked Cucurella. I liked that he scored some important goals for us. I liked that he was committed to us and I liked that he had the front to speak honestly when questioned.

But he's just a player in a very average team. I want to see Alonso develop a team ethic and a camaraderie where the team is greater than its individual parts. To do that the players need to play for him and I don't really care who the individuals are. For all the Florian Wirtz, Frimpongs and Xhaka, he also had Nathan Tella and Andrich.

We have to reduce the squad and at the same time create a team and style with the main stock of players that we have, because we are going to struggle to sell a lot of these players.

I am not listening to the bullsh*t and negativity, I have enough of that baggage already. I am going to trust Alonso to develop our technical football, regardless of who the players are.

7 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

I want to see Alonso develop a team ethic and a camaraderie where the team is greater than its individual parts. To do that the players need to play for him and I don't really care who the individuals are.

You and I both know the directors won’t bring in the players to do so, nor will they give Alonso the time to do so because they will be too busy correcting their transfer errors every summer until eventually they sack Alonso.

1 hour ago, The Boehly Babes said:

What’s with the negativity around Hato? He outperformed Cucu down the stretch at LB when it mattered and is already a fully fledged Netherlands international… not really just ‘some kid’ being thrown in, he’s an upgrade!

He's another young player surrounded by young players. Young players can be extremely talented, but they still need experience from players who have been around to help them grow. This is why I feel like the majority of these young players we have signed haven't worked out, because they have nobody to learn from. They're just trying to figure it out themselves. We have ended up with a bunch of kids with inflated egos with nobody with experience around them to make them see they have much higher levels to reach.

Hato, as good as he may be, will make mistakes. It's inevitable for somebody at his age. We can't afford that though, we need players who are going to be good enough right now. Also, throwing Hato into that disaster of a defence is asking for trouble.

11 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

You and I both know the directors won’t bring in the players to do so, nor will they give Alonso the time to do so because they will be too busy correcting their transfer errors every summer until eventually they sack Alonso.

They can't bring any platers in until they've shed 15 players. you've acknowledged as much as well. These idiots have no chance of selling that many players so we may well have no option than to go with what we have got in some areas. Currently I see the bigger issue is getting shot of Disasi, Fofana, Chalobah, Badiash!te, and Tosin to get a couple of decent CBs to partner Colwill, so that Hato can play LWB if we don't get anybody.

But regardless of any of this, the first players out the door have to be the ones that don't want to be here.