Not panicking yet but Enzo is a big piece of the sales we need to replace him. Our ins so far make little sense if Enzo stays.

City talk warming up, as a replacement for Rodri.

Sounds good to me

If Maresca takes Enzo, Gusto and Neto off our hands, on top of the £17m fee we got from City for his management services, then he must surely be approaching club legend status LOL

PR briefing, random speculation or some truth in it? Make up your own minds.

That comes across as a very poor attempt at saving face LOL

"I didnt want to leave anyway...."

Yeah, right.

59 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

PR briefing, random speculation or some truth in it? Make up your own minds.

I've said in here before, I don't think it was ever a case of "get me out of this club" it was more "I'd like to go to Real Madrid if the offer is there". But unfortunately because there's Chelsea fans, especially after scoring against England, that are trying to make out he's thrown his toys out of the pram and demanding a move.

This whole transfer saga was been fuelled by his sh*tty agent who embarrassed himself and Enzo to the point where Real Madrid had to come out and say they aren't in for him this summer after Pastore kept claiming the deal is close etc. What Enzo did is no different to what Hazard did for years, only difference is Hazard was well liked by the fans and didn't have an agent that doesn't know when to shut up.

5 minutes ago, timetowaste said:

only difference is Hazard was well liked by the fans and didn't have an agent that doesn't know when to shut up.

The main difference is that Hazard was an excellent player, genuinely world class.

6 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

The main difference is that Hazard was an excellent player, genuinely world class.

I think for me the Madrid twerking makes me feel a bit embarrassed for him.

I still can't believe he leaves. No one's actually going to pay 120m.

Hooefully he stays, be interesting to see whether Alonso can work on that Caicedo Enzo pivot. Ive heard people saying it doesnt work, but realistically we rarely saw it under Poch, Caicedo had a very slow start, so was a big issue himself.

Maresca inverts his full back, so was never going to be an option under him.

Seems to do okay for Argentina whenever they end up in a pivot, so I think with Alonso and a competant supporting cast, it would be a great midfield.

Worse case scenario and he does go, I'm still holding out for Wharton, who i just think is absolutely class, and i wouldve brought him in over Barco. Id also go out and get Chema from Stuttgard too, prefer him to Alex Scott, who i rate as a player, but for the £90m+ price tag, i have reservations about him playing deep long term, when he was more of 8/10 up until last season.

The finances used to sign Barco and Emegha from our sister club would have gone along way to getting Wharton in.

Even when we trade internally we seem to cock things up.

If Alonso doesn’t want them which seems to certainly be the case with Emegha then why go through with it?

Oh because it was announced earlier,why? That just pissed of the Strasbourg fans… why make a potential internal move public?

It doesn’t make sense.

1 hour ago, timetowaste said:

I've said in here before, I don't think it was ever a case of "get me out of this club" it was more "I'd like to go to Real Madrid if the offer is there". But unfortunately because there's Chelsea fans, especially after scoring against England, that are trying to make out he's thrown his toys out of the pram and demanding a move.

This whole transfer saga was been fuelled by his sh*tty agent who embarrassed himself and Enzo to the point where Real Madrid had to come out and say they aren't in for him this summer after Pastore kept claiming the deal is close etc. What Enzo did is no different to what Hazard did for years, only difference is Hazard was well liked by the fans and didn't have an agent that doesn't know when to shut up.

I dont care whos fault it is, Enzo needs to go with his agent. He openly courted Madrid and wasnt just him. We sold one, have another still on our books who also travelled to spain.

There is no comparison between Hazard and Enzo. Hazard had, as his body showed, given everything to play for us. The most running Enzo has done was ran out on his family...

My fear is that demanding 120 million for a championship level player has put off even moneyed clubs like city. We're stuck with this prick till the final two years of his contract. That means having to watch him and his lack of ability stink the club out for another few seasons.

If only we could swap him Reece James hamstrings over.

28 minutes ago, bluelightening said:

I dont care whos fault it is, Enzo needs to go with his agent. He openly courted Madrid and wasnt just him. We sold one, have another still on our books who also travelled to spain.

There is no comparison between Hazard and Enzo. Hazard had, as his body showed, given everything to play for us. The most running Enzo has done was ran out on his family...

My fear is that demanding 120 million for a championship level player has put off even moneyed clubs like city. We're stuck with this prick till the final two years of his contract. That means having to watch him and his lack of ability stink the club out for another few seasons.

If only we could swap him Reece James hamstrings over.

1 hour ago, Sexyfootball said:

The main difference is that Hazard was an excellent player, genuinely world class.

But this is the point I'm making, the vitriol coming for him regarding the Madrid stuff isn't really anything to do with that, it's the dislike of Enzo/not rating him as a player and wanting him gone anyway. Of course, as a player Hazard was leagues above Enzo and always will be, but we sat back and watched him try and get a move to Madrid for years. Assuming Enzo doesn't refuse to play or demand a move etc then I've got no problem with him coming back into the team.

4 hours ago, bluelightening said:

I dont care whos fault it is, Enzo needs to go with his agent. He openly courted Madrid and wasnt just him. We sold one, have another still on our books who also travelled to spain.

There is no comparison between Hazard and Enzo. Hazard had, as his body showed, given everything to play for us. The most running Enzo has done was ran out on his family...

My fear is that demanding 120 million for a championship level player has put off even moneyed clubs like city. We're stuck with this prick till the final two years of his contract. That means having to watch him and his lack of ability stink the club out for another few seasons.

If only we could swap him Reece James hamstrings over.

Best message you've posted on here, keep it up

4 hours ago, timetowaste said:

But this is the point I'm making, the vitriol coming for him regarding the Madrid stuff isn't really anything to do with that, it's the dislike of Enzo/not rating him as a player and wanting him gone anyway. Of course, as a player Hazard was leagues above Enzo and always will be, but we sat back and watched him try and get a move to Madrid for years. Assuming Enzo doesn't refuse to play or demand a move etc then I've got no problem with him coming back into the team.

Did Hazard ever demand a move? I remember saying he'd like to go there one day and we came to a mutual agreement after 7 years of world class football winning untold trophies. Enzo's got his agent slut dropping for Florentino after stinking the gaff out for 3 years. He's be lucky to get a move to Cowdenbeath.

If Rodri does not join Real, and, for now at least, it seems he won't, I wouldn't rule real out of making a move near the end of the window.

That said I have a feeling Enzo stays, signs a new bumper deal and acts all happy about it, but we end up back here next summer. Unless we win the league.

For this season Alonsos back 3 system to protect Caicedo from being left to do all the work as Enzo is breezed past seasons a likely watch.

14 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

If Rodri does not join Real, and, for now at least, it seems he won't, I wouldn't rule real out of making a move near the end of the window.

That said I have a feeling Enzo stays, signs a new bumper deal and acts all happy about it, but we end up back here next summer. Unless we win the league.

For this season Alonsos back 3 system to protect Caicedo from being left to do all the work as Enzo is breezed past seasons a likely watch.

They seemed pretty set on not signing him earlier in the window and they've just dropped 120m on a teenager.

I think we are left hoping Man City do something incredibly stupid.

Really hope he doesn't get a new deal.

Edited August 8Aug 8 by bisright1

Yeah won't be clear until the end of the window unfortunately

On 08/08/2026 at 08:59, timetowaste said:

I've said in here before, I don't think it was ever a case of "get me out of this club" it was more "I'd like to go to Real Madrid if the offer is there". But unfortunately because there's Chelsea fans, especially after scoring against England, that are trying to make out he's thrown his toys out of the pram and demanding a move.

This whole transfer saga was been fuelled by his sh*tty agent who embarrassed himself and Enzo to the point where Real Madrid had to come out and say they aren't in for him this summer after Pastore kept claiming the deal is close etc. What Enzo did is no different to what Hazard did for years, only difference is Hazard was well liked by the fans and didn't have an agent that doesn't know when to shut up.

I don't care that Enzo scored against England, it's the Falklands stuff I care about. He already has a past for upsetting other countries too, like the French. He also tried to get his former teammate sent off in the World Cup final, a former teammate that he wants to join at Real Madrid. He's pissed off the French, English and Spanish, whilst having his agent big him up like he is one of the best CM's in the world (he's not). He's brought all of this on himself.

As for Hazard wanting to join Real Madrid, it's not even comparable. I have no issue with players one day wanting to join Real Madrid, but Hazard was 100% focused on achieving everything with Chelsea first, and the only thing he didn't walk away from Chelsea with is a Champions League medal. Also, the Hazard to Real Madrid stuff only really started in his final 2 years at the club.

I think this is gathering some momentum and i believe Fernandez will go, hopefully not too near the end of the window or we will be cutting it fine for a replacement. Hes always been hit and miss with goals and assists v going missing. It will be nice if we can get a substantial fee.

1 hour ago, Scott Harris said:

I don't care that Enzo scored against England, it's the Falklands stuff I care about. He already has a past for upsetting other countries too, like the French. He also tried to get his former teammate sent off in the World Cup final, a former teammate that he wants to join at Real Madrid. He's pissed off the French, English and Spanish, whilst having his agent big him up like he is one of the best CM's in the world (he's not). He's brought all of this on himself.

As for Hazard wanting to join Real Madrid, it's not even comparable. I have no issue with players one day wanting to join Real Madrid, but Hazard was 100% focused on achieving everything with Chelsea first, and the only thing he didn't walk away from Chelsea with is a Champions League medal. Also, the Hazard to Real Madrid stuff only really started in his final 2 years at the club.

We'll just have to agree to disagree about anything off field, but on field his goals and general clutch moments are gonna be a very hard thing to replace, there just one player who we could realistically sign that would excite me.

1 minute ago, timetowaste said:

We'll just have to agree to disagree about anything off field, but on field his goals and general clutch moments are gonna be a very hard thing to replace, there just one player who we could realistically sign that would excite me.

You have actually watched his goals haven't you ?

Someone else on penalties covers 6 of his 31 Chelsea goals.

Someone else given licence to box crash will probably score more than Enzo as Enzo was pretty much only able to score when the opportunity was a tap in or an open goal (about 20 of the 31). Most times he got a shot off in the box it was over the bar or wide.

Caicedo has a much better shooting technique than Enzo, so I'm sure he would more than make up the 5 or 6 quality goals Enzo scored in 4 seasons if he is afforded more freedom to get forward.

3 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

You have actually watched his goals haven't you ?

Someone else on penalties covers 6 of his 31 Chelsea goals.

Someone else given licence to box crash will probably score more than Enzo as Enzo was pretty much only able to score when the opportunity was a tap in or an open goal (about 20 of the 31). Most times he got a shot off in the box it was over the bar or wide.

Caicedo has a much better shooting technique than Enzo, so I'm sure he would more than make up the 5 or 6 quality goals Enzo scored in 4 seasons if he is afforded more freedom to get forward.

I disagree that it's an easy skill to replace, especially the key phrase in @timetowaste 's post: clutch moments, i.e. delivering in key moments. That's a fairly rare skill, and one that does tend to increase a player's value. I'd even suggest Enzo's high valuation is directly linked to it.

One day I hope to see the Caicedo you all see. The Caicedo I see for Ecuador already enjoys far more freedom — he's their most important player — and yet he's still just as ineffective in the final third. That's not really a question of being given more freedom; I simply don't think he has the skillset to be effective there.

This will go down to the wire.

Reckon if City offer the wages he and Pastore want he will push for the move.