6 hours ago, BigBlue said:

Good championship level player. Not sure if he can make the step up, didn't really impress when I saw him at Leicester a couple of years back. Strange signing tbh.

He played well for us in the premier league in his first season. Everyone was muck the relegation season. 
 

Not sure he’s top end of the league quality, but calling him a championship level player is insulting. 

2 hours ago, foxedup said:

He played well for us in the premier league in his first season. Everyone was muck the relegation season. 
 

Not sure he’s top end of the league quality, but calling him a championship level player is insulting. 

He did well for a relegated championship level team. He is 25 with more relegations than England caps in an era anyone half devent gets a call up, as the squads are massive.

For me he is an Adam Lallana at best. 3 prem goals in 60 games, compared to 12 in 44 in the championship. Clearly thrives at one level, and us average at another.

We just spent £25m- £30m on him, I hope I'm wrong and he becomes the level of player we require, but I'm extremely doubtful given his career so far.

Who else was in for Dewsbury Hall when we signed him?

Other than Brighton and maybe Everton?

Bargain or bang average time will tell..

 

 

 

Edited August 6, 20241 yr by OneTommyLangley

So if the manager wanted and pushed the signing of a championship level player what does that tell us 

about said manager ...

4 hours ago, hawkster said:

So if the manager wanted and pushed the signing of a championship level player what does that tell us 

about said manager ...

That he may believe he can turn him into a PL player or use him in the beginning to help get tactics across, then bench him when a more skilled team mate can take his position in the starting eleven.

 

Tbh, kdh is one of the least suspect signings this summer imho. At least he can help train the rest on tactics, at best he becomes a great, at worst he helps show one of the many youngsters on the bench what our manager demands.

It's the some of the others I'm completely confused about.. 

I may be overly negative but I have a feeling we'll regret this signing more than others.

Not a single England manager, at any age level, has ever looked at him and thought "let's see what this lad is make of". This is wild when you look at how many English players in the Prem have had a call up at some point.

When Leicester were relegated, not a single Prem club thought "let's snatch him up, he's too good to be in the Championship".

Only decent season he's had was in the Championship.

If he's meant to be Conor's replacement, he seems like a downgrade already.

Of course I hope I'm wrong, but I'm really not feeling confident at the moment.

51 minutes ago, yaz said:

I may be overly negative but I have a feeling we'll regret this signing more than others.

Not a single England manager, at any age level, has ever looked at him and thought "let's see what this lad is make of". This is wild when you look at how many English players in the Prem have had a call up at some point.

When Leicester were relegated, not a single Prem club thought "let's snatch him up, he's too good to be in the Championship".

Only decent season he's had was in the Championship.

If he's meant to be Conor's replacement, he seems like a downgrade already.

Of course I hope I'm wrong, but I'm really not feeling confident at the moment.

I don't see how we can regret it. The amount of players we have to play in the middle, especially with the chance that some of our attacking players are going to fill in there as well, its very likely that if KDH turns out to be a flop he wont get much game time. We have plenty of cover. 

He'll be serving a lot of his purpose already, in a similar way to how Jorginho did under Sarri. He's looked bright when hes played so far, albeit he hasnt set the world on fire. 

We need to give him a fair crack and leave the conor comparisons in pre season. He'll work hard for the team and give his all, im sure of it. All we can ask for, for now. 

I think a lot more people would appreciate how he's played this preseason if he were playing with Gallagher as opposed to instead of Gallagher.

3 hours ago, yaz said:

I may be overly negative but I have a feeling we'll regret this signing more than others.

Not a single England manager, at any age level, has ever looked at him and thought "let's see what this lad is make of". This is wild when you look at how many English players in the Prem have had a call up at some point.

When Leicester were relegated, not a single Prem club thought "let's snatch him up, he's too good to be in the Championship".

Only decent season he's had was in the Championship.

If he's meant to be Conor's replacement, he seems like a downgrade already.

Of course I hope I'm wrong, but I'm really not feeling confident at the moment.

Yes you are being over negative.

 

 

54 minutes ago, Wearyourblue said:

I think a lot more people would appreciate how he's played this preseason if he were playing with Gallagher as opposed to instead of Gallagher.

They wouldn’t most seem to me to be desperate for him to fail. They won’t admit to it and no doubt will react to my post but sorry I can’t read quite a number of the comments any other way

1 hour ago, terraloon said:

They wouldn’t most seem to me to be desperate for him to fail. They won’t admit to it and no doubt will react to my post but sorry I can’t read quite a number of the comments any other way

KDH is a chelsea player, was signed by Maresca gets my support... No issue with it, but as a result Gallagher has to be sold. A proven Premiership performer and England international. KDH has gone up and down with his club and done well at the championship level. But he hasnt just played at the euros in a final-making squad. Thats the difference between the two players, Gallagher will play for England KDH most likely wont. 

I genuinely want all the players to do well in the blue shirt. KDH is no different, I hope he is capable of replacing Gallaghers work rate, effort and ability because CG leaving us weakens us overall. Our loss is definitely Atletico's gain. Its a terrible decision by the club yet again. 

 

11 hours ago, yaz said:

I may be overly negative but I have a feeling we'll regret this signing more than others.

Not a single England manager, at any age level, has ever looked at him and thought "let's see what this lad is make of". This is wild when you look at how many English players in the Prem have had a call up at some point.

When Leicester were relegated, not a single Prem club thought "let's snatch him up, he's too good to be in the Championship".

Only decent season he's had was in the Championship.

If he's meant to be Conor's replacement, he seems like a downgrade already.

Of course I hope I'm wrong, but I'm really not feeling confident at the moment.

The role he excels in (an attacking 8 ) doesn't really exist for England at any age group. In juniors they use proper #10s, and at senior level his competition includes Bellingham, Foden, Palmer, Eze, Maddinson, Mount, Gallagher etc. in a variety of attacking midfield roles.

I feel bad for him, he's going to have to be world class to win the chelsea fans over now that gallagher seems to be heading out. He's always going to get compared. Not that gallagher was world class but the bar is going to be set for him to be better than him

When I've seen KDH play for Leicester in the past, I always thought that he looked a very tidy player. But he just seemed the sort of player that Leicester or Forest, Wolves etc was his level. We wouldn't be signing him if we hadn't just appointed his previous manager.

Only time will tell, but can't see him being more than a useful squad player - similar to Gallagher but not quite as good.  

13 hours ago, terraloon said:

They wouldn’t most seem to me to be desperate for him to fail. They won’t admit to it and no doubt will react to my post but sorry I can’t read quite a number of the comments any other way

Negative is the default option around here. Take it with a pinch of anything of your choosing.

2 minutes ago, dermott said:

Negative is the default option around here. Take it with a pinch of anything of your choosing.

Unfortunately it rubs off too...

I was Mr fkn optimism before preseason. Lol

Its Sarri/Jorginho again.

We know how that brought everyone together!

1 minute ago, AJMurphy25 said:

Its Sarri/Jorginho again.

We know how that brought everyone together!

I have this hope that once kdh has done his job and one of the kids with more potential have his play and system locked done kdh will end up a squad player at best and not the first name on the team sheet.

14 hours ago, bluetrooper said:

KDH is a chelsea player, was signed by Maresca gets my support... No issue with it, but as a result Gallagher has to be sold. A proven Premiership performer and England international. KDH has gone up and down with his club and done well at the championship level. But he hasnt just played at the euros in a final-making squad. Thats the difference between the two players, Gallagher will play for England KDH most likely wont. 

I genuinely want all the players to do well in the blue shirt. KDH is no different, I hope he is capable of replacing Gallaghers work rate, effort and ability because CG leaving us weakens us overall. Our loss is definitely Atletico's gain. Its a terrible decision by the club yet again. 

 

This is where its all about opinions.

CG is a full on player energy wise but for me he lacks far too much in terms of positional awareness and above all the technical edge that elevates a player from an ok  player to a good player. Another factor is that some believe his health is an issue. He is asthmatic and when young he had heart issues.
 

Far too many have either missed or ignored the fact that he was offered a new contract in June 2022 and twice during the 23/24 season. 

Yes we know about the last two occasions in terms of but the refusal in 2022 was because he “ wanted to establish himself as a first team player “ 

I personally don’t rate him as anywhere close to the level others do as I say that a different opinion . Ironically very few supporters of other clubs rate CG and I know that isn’t a good measure most liken him to Robbie Savage.

Turning to KDH I have only seen him on a few occasions he is far more a subtle and technically astute player that Gallagher. He clearly wasn’t displacing Maddison at Leicester but once he got to 23 /24 he clearly benefited from a different technical approach and of course he had to step up which he appears to have done.

I think he has done a decent job in the US and seems to be able to pick a pass. Once he has both Palmer and Jackson that will create passing options and Cucerella  who I believe will change things massively on our left side then we will all be able to get a better handle on matters.

 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, terraloon said:

This is where its all about opinions.

CG is a full on player energy wise but for me he lacks far too much in terms of positional awareness and above all the technical edge that elevates a player from an ok  player to a good player. Another factor is that some believe his health is an issue. He is asthmatic and when young he had heart issues.
 

Far too many have either missed or ignored the fact that he was offered a new contract in June 2022 and twice during the 23/24 season. 

Yes we know about the last two occasions in terms of but the refusal in 2022 was because he “ wanted to establish himself as a first team player “ 

I personally don’t rate him as anywhere close to the level others do as I say that a different opinion . Ironically very few supporters of other clubs rate CG and I know that isn’t a good measure most liken him to Robbie Savage.

Turning to KDH I have only seen him on a few occasions he is far more a subtle and technically astute player that Gallagher. He clearly wasn’t displacing Maddison at Leicester but once he got to 23 /24 he clearly benefited from a different technical approach and of course he had to step up which he appears to have done.

I think he has done a decent job in the US and seems to be able to pick a pass. Once he has both Palmer and Jackson that will create passing options and Cucerella  who I believe will change things massively on our left side then we will all be able to get a better handle on matters.

 

 

 

 

If the club dont offer a contract the player believes they should, he can turn ot down, we dont know what they offered. Its that simple. we can speculate but that is all. 

We will find out whether we miss him in approximately 10 days time and for the rest of the season. 

Re KDH, if you talk about rival clubs not wanting Gallagher, no one was in for KDH... Villa placed a bid earlier in the summer for CG.. player didnt want to go... an I dont exactly blame him. 

Its not what he can do up the pitch that worries me, its what he does defensively for us, and there's surely a question mark about that because he was in a side relegated from the Prem. 

Fingers crossed im eating my words six months from now, but ive got bad vibes about how long Maresca will last and therefore, we've got a player on our books possible future managers may not want and sold one who is more valuable to a squad. time will tell, good luck KDH and Maresca, we sure look like we need it. 

Edited August 7, 20241 yr by bluetrooper

1 hour ago, bluetrooper said:

If the club dont offer a contract the player believes they should, he can turn ot down, we dont know what they offered. Its that simple. we can speculate but that is all. 

We will find out whether we miss him in approximately 10 days time and for the rest of the season. 

Re KDH, if you talk about rival clubs not wanting Gallagher, no one was in for KDH... Villa placed a bid earlier in the summer for CG.. player didnt want to go... an I dont exactly blame him. 

Its not what he can do up the pitch that worries me, its what he does defensively for us, and there's surely a question mark about that because he was in a side relegated from the Prem. 

Fingers crossed im eating my words six months from now, but ive got bad vibes about how long Maresca will last and therefore, we've got a player on our books possible future managers may not want and sold one who is more valuable to a squad. time will tell, good luck KDH and Maresca, we sure look like we need it. 

Villa were indeed said to have offered £50+ million for CG in Jan, they didn’t make a bid  in this window , shows how quickly a players value can depreciate. In this window it would seem that only AM made an offer.

Re KDH it is said that Brighton and Brentford had made offers but Leicester wanted £65 million.

Back to the offer you are right of course we don’t have a clue to a degree that makes those that bemoan the club haven’t got a clue what was offered that goes back to my point that the first offer seems to have almost been ignored by most

 

Edited August 7, 20241 yr by terraloon

17 minutes ago, terraloon said:

Villa were indeed said to have offered £50+ million for CG in Jan, they didn’t make a bid  in this window , shows how quickly a players value can depreciate. In this window it would seem that only AM made an offer.

Re KDH it is said that Brighton and Brentford had made offers but Leicester wanted £65 million.

Back to the offer you are right of course we don’t have a clue to a degree that makes those that bemoan the club haven’t got a clue what was offered that goes back to my point that the first offer seems to have almost been ignored by most

 

So, two mid/ lower premiership sides bid for him? Amazing how we picked him up for half of what Leicester wanted. Last year of contract will affect value. I just simply look at it like this: We just replaced an England international with KDH... Roll on the close of the transfer window.

4 minutes ago, bluetrooper said:

So, two mid/ lower premiership sides bid for him? Amazing how we picked him up for half of what Leicester wanted. Last year of contract will affect value. I just simply look at it like this: We just replaced an England international with KDH... Roll on the close of the transfer window.

You are right last year of contract does affect value that’s why I find it telling that in their window it appears no PL clubs be they mid or lower PL sides come in for him nor it seems did Villa who would know he was entering the last year of his contract and whilst we, Chelsea , would have been reluctant to sell to another PL club had Conor just said no to say AM then he would have gone where he wanted. 
 

We were told that Spurs were going to bid. They didn’t. 
 

As for KDH it would have been staggering if Southgate had called up KDH up. Southgate never delved into the Championship. Irrespective KDH will get an international call up next season but I suspect it will be for Ireland !

1 hour ago, terraloon said:

Villa were indeed said to have offered £50+ million for CG in Jan, they didn’t make a bid  in this window , shows how quickly a players value can depreciate. In this window it would seem that only AM made an offer.

He already turned them down so they probably realized there was no point in going back for him.

If we leave emotions to the side I still think selling Gallagher is a poor deal for us. He's by far our best presser and would have done so much for us in that first phase when we attempt to win the ball back high. There's obvious signs in pre-season that our press is nowhere near as good as it was last season and that will be a problem once the season gets underway. Cole Palmer will also come into the side but for all his qualities he's likely going to make our press even worse and having Conor to offset the more "luxury" players like Nkunku, Enzo, Palmer, Madueke would in my opinion have helped us and Maresca a lot.

On 06/08/2024 at 08:09, big blue said:

He did well for a relegated championship level team. He is 25 with more relegations than England caps in an era anyone half devent gets a call up, as the squads are massive.

For me he is an Adam Lallana at best. 3 prem goals in 60 games, compared to 12 in 44 in the championship. Clearly thrives at one level, and us average at another.

We just spent £25m- £30m on him, I hope I'm wrong and he becomes the level of player we require, but I'm extremely doubtful given his career so far.

Well, our owners got us a manager straight from the Championship, at least  the player has Premier league experience.