3 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Yeah can’t wait to see him become an overlapping LB to free space for Cucurella to crash the box.

As long as he doesn't get in the way of Gusto's infield runs also, we should be fine! In fact if he just stood still in our half he'd be perfectly placed to receive sideways passes and naturally intercept Sanchez miskicks

4 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Yeah can’t wait to see him become an overlapping LB to free space for Cucurella to crash the box.

Sad think is he will probably get played out of position and lose his form under Maresca

11 hours ago, PhilH930 said:

Two more assists this weekend in a 2-2 draw with Nice. There should be no debate - he has to be part of the squad next year.

No Champions League money next season, maybe no shirt sponsor either.

Need to balance our PSR, and FfP if we make a European competition. Santos is a prime candidate to help with that.

6 hours ago, axman2526 said:

No Champions League money next season, maybe no shirt sponsor either.

Need to balance our PSR, and FfP if we make a European competition. Santos is a prime candidate to help with that.

All the media reports have changed recently with it now being 'Santos may push for move if not given an important role'.

Its almost like the BlueCo media machine has started prepping them already. Make it look like the player wants out and its not their fault, we've seen this before.

10 hours ago, axman2526 said:

No Champions League money next season, maybe no shirt sponsor either.

Need to balance our PSR, and FfP if we make a European competition. Santos is a prime candidate to help with that.

That would be very disappointing. I could think of atleast 10 others I’d rather see depart the club first, if not more. I’m going to remain hopeful he gets his chance.

4 hours ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

All the media reports have changed recently with it now being 'Santos may push for move if not given an important role'.

Its almost like the BlueCo media machine has started prepping them already. Make it look like the player wants out and its not their fault, we've seen this before.

BlueCo have many parts of the media saying what they want them to say. this is ground work, as you have said, to place an blame away from them. It's what they do, and sadly some buy in to it because the media report it.

1 hour ago, PhilH930 said:

That would be very disappointing. I could think of atleast 10 others I’d rather see depart the club first, if not more. I’m going to remain hopeful he gets his chance.

Certainly would be one of the last I want sold, is a buyers market though and who realistically wants to buy Sanchez? Or Sterling? Of either of the Fofanas?

Where can they make significant PSR money? From players clubs actually want to buy? Players like Santos who likely has around 10mill left on his PSR debt and they could sell for 40-50mill, Palmer would probably still go for 70-80mill despite his drop in form, with his debt being around 30mill. Maybe Reece James, Trev Chalobah and certainly Josh Acheampong.

We ain't making any PSR or actual profits of Enzo, Cucurella or Neto. Imo our options are very limited, and Santos having such a good 18 months makes him the prime candidate to balance the books.

4 hours ago, axman2526 said:

BlueCo have many parts of the media saying what they want them to say. this is ground work, as you have said, to place an blame away from them. It's what they do, and sadly some buy in to it because the media report it.

Certainly would be one of the last I want sold, is a buyers market though and who realistically wants to buy Sanchez? Or Sterling? Of either of the Fofanas?

Where can they make significant PSR money? From players clubs actually want to buy? Players like Santos who likely has around 10mill left on his PSR debt and they could sell for 40-50mill, Palmer would probably still go for 70-80mill despite his drop in form, with his debt being around 30mill. Maybe Reece James, Trev Chalobah and certainly Josh Acheampong.

We ain't making any PSR or actual profits of Enzo, Cucurella or Neto. Imo our options are very limited, and Santos having such a good 18 months makes him the prime candidate to balance the books.

This is the salient factor for me ... they WILL have to raise money from player sales ... the hole they have dug for themselves in the financials dictate that.

Question then is ... which of our players will other clubs actually want to buy at the prices BlueCo will want ?

As we saw in the last two windows, no-one will be interested in the players that they actually want to target for sale ... cue the exit for Santos, Petrovic, Chukwuemeka, Acheampong, possibly even Palmer and Colwill ... I even think they'd sell Reece James if they got an offer >£25m ...

Edited April 15Apr 15 by Sexyfootball

11 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

This is the salient factor for me ... they WILL have to raise money from player sales ... the hole they have dug for themselves in the financials dictate that.

Question then is ... which of our players will other clubs actually want to buy at the prices BlueCo will want ?

As we saw in the last two windows, no-one will be interested in the players that they actually want to target for sale ... cue the exit for Santos, Petrovic, Chukwuemeka, Acheampong, possibly even Palmer and Colwill ... I even think they'd sell Reece James if they got an offer >£25m ...

And that hole keeps getting deeper and deeper. They're still signing sh*t players no one has heard of to the tune of tens of millions of pounds. They're not stopping, they're even signing them outside of the transfer window. It's really a never ending nightmare.

What is happening to this club is going to become a classic case study in destructive management. People will be referencing "the Chelsea model" when it comes to any team or business being so unnecessarily run to the ground.

2 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

This is the salient factor for me ... they WILL have to raise money from player sales ... the hole they have dug for themselves in the financials dictate that.

Question then is ... which of our players will other clubs actually want to buy at the prices BlueCo will want ?

As we saw in the last two windows, no-one will be interested in the players that they actually want to target for sale ... cue the exit for Santos, Petrovic, Chukwuemeka, Acheampong, possibly even Palmer and Colwill ... I even think they'd sell Reece James if they got an offer >£25m ...

Exactly. Nobody wants the dross we want to sell, other than at heavily discounted prices that is. However a Santos, a Palmer, a acheampong etc, now there they can save their PSR for a year or two.

Until those players are all gone and all we have our Mudryks, Sanchezs, Jackson's and Netos

9 hours ago, yaz said:

And that hole keeps getting deeper and deeper. They're still signing sh*t players no one has heard of to the tune of tens of millions of pounds. They're not stopping, they're even signing them outside of the transfer window. It's really a never ending nightmare.

What is happening to this club is going to become a classic case study in destructive management. People will be referencing "the Chelsea model" when it comes to any team or business being so unnecessarily run to the ground.

That is what irks me, it’s brainless. We needed a DM in Jan, they bought Amougou who isn’t ready, and then doubled down and bought Essugo for next season. These two players are nowhere ready for our first team; they could have saved the £27m they spent on both by recalling Ugochukwu, or promoting Rak-Sakyi from the U21s who has played twice in the conference league.

1 hour ago, ducavis said:

That is what irks me, it’s brainless. We needed a DM in Jan, they bought Amougou who isn’t ready, and then doubled down and bought Essugo for next season. These two players are nowhere ready for our first team; they could have saved the £27m they spent on both by recalling Ugochukwu, or promoting Rak-Sakyi from the U21s who has played twice in the conference league.

What irks me is that in a squad crying out for a player with leadership qualities, Andrey Santos seems to be the only young player they have signed that actually has them ... and this is in addition to his obvious qualities (seemingly light years ahead of Enzo Fernandez) as a proper DM/CM in a 2-man pivot. The goals he scores are another huge plus.

It would really piss me off if these utter imbeciles we have running the show decide to sell him in preference to giving him a proper run in our first team, especially as I think he'd become a fan favourite very quickly, which would also help with our fabled "environment" 😎

Edited April 16Apr 16 by Sexyfootball

I wonder if Santos could be the next KDB. Not in type of footballer, but in that he is clearly very talented, but probably not ready to walk in and play Premier League football week in week out yet. He couldn't get a kick on loan at Forest and as well as he is doing at Strasbourg, Ligue 1 is a long way from the PL. So if there is any truth in him wanting guaranteed regular first team football (and who can blame any young player for wanting that?), then he could force a move away. And BlueCo I'm sure will be more than happy with a profitable sale. But whilst I don't think he's quite ready yet, I am sure if we sell him we'll see a KDB like situation where a year or two in Germany or wherever will then see him sign for a big club and be a top level player.

Are our owners capable or interested in actually nurturing talent for our own teams on pitch benefit? And even if they are, there is little no hope that Maresca is capable of being the coach to do that. He's certainly messing up Palmer's career. I could totally understand Palmer trying to force a move on to save his career. After all, he did it at City.

One rumor today around Andrey is, if we decided against selling him, then he wants to stay at Strasbourg if they can offer him CL football.

Expect a lot of our players will want to go there, since the "feeder" club is being more successful than us.

On 15/04/2025 at 17:45, Sexyfootball said:

This is the salient factor for me ... they WILL have to raise money from player sales ... the hole they have dug for themselves in the financials dictate that.

Question then is ... which of our players will other clubs actually want to buy at the prices BlueCo will want ?

As we saw in the last two windows, no-one will be interested in the players that they actually want to target for sale ... cue the exit for Santos, Petrovic, Chukwuemeka, Acheampong, possibly even Palmer and Colwill ... I even think they'd sell Reece James if they got an offer >£25m ...

Are you sure they've dug a hole for themselves or is this what they came to do all along? I just think that all this money they spend on players that are not going to play or are not ready for Chelsea is their way of making money. Buy cheap (not-so-cheap) youngsters and, if they are good, sale for profit. Fill the Chelsea team with mediocre players that they can't flog.

7 hours ago, RMH said:

Are you sure they've dug a hole for themselves or is this what they came to do all along? I just think that all this money they spend on players that are not going to play or are not ready for Chelsea is their way of making money. Buy cheap (not-so-cheap) youngsters and, if they are good, sale for profit. Fill the Chelsea team with mediocre players that they can't flog

If your strategy is to make money from transfers, why on earth would you buy £800m of players for £1.2 billion and compound that by paying them huge multiples of their previous earnings ?

Then there's the £130m odd that they've forked out for agents in the last two years on top of that ... they'll do extremely well to break even on what they've paid for players, let alone cover those fees as well

Santos, Caicedo, Palmer, James and anyone else of a good to better level, need to get out from this rotten club as quickly as possible.

Express.co.uk

Chelsea 'make big call' on Andrey Santos as Maresca decid...

Andrey Santos has had an exceptional season on loan at Strasbourg.

14 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

If your strategy is to make money from transfers, why on earth would you buy £800m of players for £1.2 billion and compound that by paying them huge multiples of their previous earnings ?

Then there's the £130m odd that they've forked out for agents in the last two years on top of that ... they'll do extremely well to break even on what they've paid for players, let alone cover those fees as well

You may be right, but that’s the only way I can explain their dreadful signing policy. You need an experienced striker in January? There you go, a 19yo CM with loads of potential.

Bayern apparently looking at Santos. If we sell him it will be a huge mistake and will clear up any doubt whatsoever that our sporting directors don’t have a clue.

He’s ready to be a big part of the first team squad. I was really looking forward to Lavia playing this season but if we can’t get him fit then it might be a blessing that allows Santos a chance.

He provides goals and assists. Something our other mids aren’t great at.

6 hours ago, 19seventyone said:

Bayern apparently looking at Santos. If we sell him it will be a huge mistake and will clear up any doubt whatsoever that our sporting directors don’t have a clue.

He’s ready to be a big part of the first team squad. I was really looking forward to Lavia playing this season but if we can’t get him fit then it might be a blessing that allows Santos a chance.

He provides goals and assists. Something our other mids aren’t great at.

Goals, assists, tackles and leadership !

A pretty rare combination to find in one player., especially in one who is only 20 years old.

Our owners and sporting directors will be utter imbeciles if they sell him without giving him a chance at Stamford Bridge.

12 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Goals, assists, tackles and leadership !

A pretty rare combination to find in one player., especially in one who is only 20 years old.

Our owners and sporting directors will be utter imbeciles if they sell him without giving him a chance at Stamford Bridge.

Well, they are utter imbeciles, so get prepared.

Arsenal the latest side linked with him, an ideal partner for Rice imo.

Like Bayern Are said to have spoken with his agent. I doubt they are the only two.

If the price gets high enough helps BlueCo with the FFP issues.

Petrovic get interest form unnamed clubs as well. Might be an effort from us to sell him.

On 16/04/2025 at 22:33, Zeta said:

Expect a lot of our players will want to go there, since the "feeder" club is being more successful than us.

Wrong way around, we're Strasbourgs feeder club

FFS it would be just like this clowns in charge

https://eplindex.com/129986/arsenal-considering-shock-move-to-sign-chelsea-midfielder-this-summer-report.html