Tricky one tbh. 

I thought his best games came at wing back, I wasnt convinced at left back, but at the same time for an 18 year old, he was still very impressive. 

Would much prefer a buy back clause, or a straight loan, as I think his stock will raise even higher in  a years time.

Disappointing, but shows how close we are sailing to the wind with ffp, that we are willing to sell an academy player of the year who is on 7 year contract.

Cant complain too much though after the last week we have had. 

20 minutes ago, big blue said:

Tricky one tbh. 

I thought his best games came at wing back, I wasnt convinced at left back, but at the same time for an 18 year old, he was still very impressive. 

Would much prefer a buy back clause, or a straight loan, as I think his stock will raise even higher in  a years time.

Disappointing, but shows how close we are sailing to the wind with ffp, that we are willing to sell an academy player of the year who is on 7 year contract.

Cant complain too much though after the last week we have had. 

I thought he hadn’t signed a new deal

9 minutes ago, Adamrb said:

I thought he hadn’t signed a new deal

Nothing confirmed by club, but alot of the twitter accounts seem to be believe it's been done. He wouldnt be going for £35m.if he only had a year or 2 on his deal either. 

The problem

 

17 minutes ago, evissy said:

The problem

 

Not sure  his is the main  issue at all I think it’s more to do with the managers dilemma in choosing between Mattensen and Hall. 

Dint be at all suprised if two from Hall, Mattensen and Cucerella aren’t here come 1/9
 

 

So it looks like we were willing to loan him out, he was willing to go then Newcastle have threw a spanner with an bid to buy him which has turned his head. If we cant convince him to stay and he wants to go then we should sell him, theres no point trying to keep him here with that kind of offer in play unfortunately. 

If I was Lewis Hall it would be a no brainer for me to leave and join Newcastle and if I was in charge of the transfer at Chelsea I would be encouraging him to leave too.

When you rebuild a team like we have with so many young players there will be casualties and this is one of them. He’s stated multiple times he doesn’t want to play at left back he’s a CM who does he get in ahead of now? He would be 5th in line. sh*t happens he could turn into a world beater or just a good player if he wants to go then so be it.

Cucurella is not the problem, far from it. Not his fault, last season was a write off for everyone and I am fully behind him to do well this year if given the chance.

I'll say this when comparing Hall to Cucurella, one was one of the best left backs in the league at Brighton and the other has only made a few impressive appearances. Football moves fast and players are written off way too easily, maybe we should give him another chance under stable management?

If Hall wants to leave then ship him out for as much money as possible, if a player doesn't want to be here then get rid. No matter who it is.

 

 

 

Edited August 17, 20232 yr by Sheva

3 minutes ago, Sheva said:

Cucurella is not the problem, far from it. Not his fault, last season was a write off for everyone and I am fully behind him to do well this year if given the chance.

I'll say this when comparing Hall to Cucurella, one was one of the best left backs in the league at Brighton and the other has only made a few impressive appearances. Football moves fast and players are written off way too easily, maybe we should give him another chance under stable management?

If Hall wants to leave then ship him out for as much money as possible, if a player doesn't want to be here then get rid. No matter who it is.

 

 

 

Maybe. I can very well scratch last seasons performances off the evaluation although it is not easy. This pre-season he stuck out like a sore thumb. 

His personality is good. He is humble and willing to learn but his footballing ability is something you can't hide from. I don't think he is good for side with ambition like Chelsea has. When you look at him defending you just think he is out of position. With Marcos Alonso you saw what the clear problem was but he delivered in the attacking phase. Cucurella has shown nothing. No ability to unlock defences nor to shoot and score. He has an okay mid-range/short pass. He had a nice assist in pre-season to Jackson goal.

Anyway Hall might become a top player, Cucurella's ceiling is hit by his hair as we speak.

37 minutes ago, evissy said:

Maybe. I can very well scratch last seasons performances off the evaluation although it is not easy. This pre-season he stuck out like a sore thumb. 

His personality is good. He is humble and willing to learn but his footballing ability is something you can't hide from. I don't think he is good for side with ambition like Chelsea has. When you look at him defending you just think he is out of position. With Marcos Alonso you saw what the clear problem was but he delivered in the attacking phase. Cucurella has shown nothing. No ability to unlock defences nor to shoot and score. He has an okay mid-range/short pass. He had a nice assist in pre-season to Jackson goal.

Anyway Hall might become a top player, Cucurella's ceiling is hit by his hair as we speak.

If we're going off last season then you could say the same about nearly every player in the squad. He's here on a 6 year contract and some may find him a problem but he's our problem because we gave him that length of a contract. Im not writing him off because he's shown before he's a good player. Sometimes the correct environment brings the best out of player and it looks like now we have that so maybe let's see what he does and if he's still poor then we can evaluate.

Also when you look back on the academy sales in the past have the board and previous board made that bad of a call? I think we can all agree that Reece James was the one that never should be sold because he was always the stand out and he's now captain.

We could have sold Colwill for a big fee but we didn't so maybe the club and manager believe Hall has a price.

Edited August 17, 20232 yr by Sheva

Shame, but expected. 

Youth prospects like him will be the first casualties to balance the books. 

Wouldn't be surprised to see Maatsen and Chalobah go too, annoyingly. 

They have agreed a fee of 28m pending medical, so I guess he's off then.

Edited August 17, 20232 yr by Sheva

52 minutes ago, El regreso said:

When you rebuild a team like we have with so many young players there will be casualties and this is one of them. He’s stated multiple times he doesn’t want to play at left back he’s a CM who does he get in ahead of now? He would be 5th in line. sh*t happens he could turn into a world beater or just a good player if he wants to go then so be it.

When did he ever state this? All he needed was a clear path to the 1st team. He isn’t going to play ahead of Guimaraes & Tonali at Newcastle, neither was he playing there at Palace. He is going to play at LB. Moreover most young players don’t end up playing where they initially started off from when they make the step up, a good manager will communicate why he is changing his role and where he feels his strengths are best utilised. Saka is a prime example; played as a wingback, LW & a CM before settling as a RW. 
He has been sold though, so doesn’t matter. I have a sneaky feeling he will turn out to be the next big player in the PL.

Chalobah is okay, but he's not one who strikes me as one we'll regret. He'll have a decent career, but I can't see him pushing on loads. So I'm okay with selling him, assuming we have enough cover defensively until Fofana is back.

Maatsen, I have no clue if he's any good or not. He played LB for Burnley, didn't he? But has been RW/LW in pre-season. I suspect he'll go. But we should defintely add a buy-back clause to him.

Gallagher may end up going as well. But like CHalobah, I don't think it'll be one we hugely regret. He's a hard worker, but talent-wise there are much better players around.

If we could bring in say, 25m for Hall, 20m for Chalobah, 20m for Maatsen, 40m for Gallagher. That's basically Caicedo paid for.

 

4 minutes ago, Sheva said:

They have agreed a fee of 28m pending medical, so I guess he's off then.

there better be a high sell on % and a lot of add ons 

i would have preferred to sell Cucurella and keep Hall as left back cover 

but i guess selling Cucu for 30 million wouldn't change the FFP in our favour as much as selling Hall

Edited August 17, 20232 yr by azpi28

3 minutes ago, ducavis said:

When did he ever state this? All he needed was a clear path to the 1st team. He isn’t going to play ahead of Guimaraes & Tonali at Newcastle, neither was he playing there at Palace. He is going to play at LB. Moreover most young players don’t end up playing where they initially started off from when they make the step up, a good manager will communicate why he is changing his role and where he feels his strengths are best utilised. Saka is a prime example; played as a wingback, LW & a CM before settling as a RW. 
He has been sold though, so doesn’t matter. I have a sneaky feeling he will turn out to be the next big player in the PL.

What his interviews when he’s asked what is his best position every single time he states midfield.

Now twitter fans are turning against Lavia because of hall sale 🤣🤣

Edited August 17, 20232 yr by El regreso

Not too fussed about this. Maatsen is the better player and LB for me anyway.

Sell Hall and Gallagher, maybe Chalobah and we're good with FFP for a while.

10 hours ago, Victor90 said:

But 30 million is very overpriced for someone that's as unproven as he is, forget about the Cucueralla transfer, it doesn't work like that. 

I think we all wish we could forget the Cucurella transfer. 

Just imagine it was a bad dream.

Now I'm confused. Does this prolong Maatsen's stay? Except Poch has not once played him at LB. Bah. Confusion sucks.

11 minutes ago, dermott said:

Now I'm confused. Does this prolong Maatsen's stay? Except Poch has not once played him at LB. Bah. Confusion sucks.

Possibly but with the squad numbers it’s unlikely that there is room for Chillwell, Mattensen, Cucerella and Hall at most I think you would look at Chillwell plus a n other being in the squad
 

Poch clearly likes Mattensen and I think Chillwell stays without doubt.

Purely down to cost and financial uplift there would be in selling on Cucerella I would like to see him gone and whilst I would  love Hall to stay he has tasted first team action and won’t want to be back with the  under 21s and a fit Chillwell almost certainly starts most if not all Pl games 

Edited August 17, 20232 yr by terraloon

3 minutes ago, terraloon said:

Possibly but with the squad numbers it’s unlikely that there is room for Chillwell, Mattensen, Cucerella and Hall at most I think you would look at Chillwell plus a n other being in the squad
 

Poch clearly likes Mattensen and I think Chillwell stays without doubt.

Purely down to cost and financial uplift there would be in selling on Cucerella I would like to see him gone and whilst I would  love Hall to stay he has tasted first team action and won’t want to be back with the  under 21s and a fit Chillwell almost certainly starts most if not all Pl games 

But everywhere bar LB. So it's Chilly + Cucurella. Colwill essentially played LB against Liverpool.

He is number one back up for the injury prone Chillers in my book. Essential we keep him and start him in Cup games. I thought he was on a long contract too- 6yrs? They can have Cuca for free .. Why buy all the best youngsters and then let such a great young prospect leave especially at a ridiculous price - 50-60mill at least to open a conversation.

 

Initial bid of £28m accepted, plus add-ons and/sell-on fee.

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2023/08/17/newcastle-agree-28m-deal-sign-lewis-hall-chelsea/

34 minutes ago, dermott said:

Now I'm confused. Does this prolong Maatsen's stay? Except Poch has not once played him at LB. Bah. Confusion sucks.

I think what we are overlooking is that we also have Colwill and Badiashile, both left footers and if both were fit, either could perform a covering role at LB in a flat back four. Sadly i don't think this sale of Hall makes Maatsen's position any more secure.

The only thing i would say is that i would imagine the FFP is a bar for us to come in under on an annual basis. Therefore would it be better to sell off our homegrown assets over a structured prolonged period or do we have a firesale now to balance the books in this window?