I'd be interested to see what everyone's ideal summer and how we line up going into GW01 next season would be

GK (2): Petrovic / Sanchez

RB (2): James / Acheampong

CB (5): Fofana / Chalobah / Colwill / Veiga / Tomas Araujo

LB (2): Cucurella / Ishe

CM (5): Caicedo / Santos / Lavia / Essugo / Enzo

RW (2): Rodrygo / Madueke

CAM (2): Palmer / Estevao

LW (2): Sancho / Neto

ST (2): Ekitike / Delap

Dream starting XI:

Petrovic

James Fofana Colwill Cucurella

Caicedo Lavia

Rodrygo Palmer Estevao

Ekitike

GK (2): Petrovic / Sanchez

RB (2): James / Acheampong

CB (5): Fofana / Chalobah / Colwill / Hato

LB (2): Cucurella / Hato*

CM (5): Caicedo / Santos / Lavia / Enzo

RW (2): Neto / Madueke

CAM (2): Palmer / Estevao

LW (2): Sancho / Gittens

ST (2): Gyokeres / Delap

STARTING XI

Petrovic

James Chalobah Colwill Cucurella

Enzo Caicedo

Palmer Estevao Sancho

Gyokeres

Edited May 30, 20251 yr by dansubrosa

Good idea for a thread.

Squad of 25

GK (3) : Penders, Petrovic, Bettinelli

RB (2) : James, Acheampong

CB (4) : Chalobah, Adarabioyo, Colwill, Veiga

LB (2) : Cucurella, Samuels-Smith

CM (5) : Caicedo, Lavia, Andrey Santos, Essugo, Dewsbury-Hall

RW (2) : Estevao Willian, Neto

LW (2) : Rodrygo, George

CAM (2) : Palmer, Chukwuemeka

ST (3) : Osimhen/Gyokeres, Delap, Guiu

Best XI :

Penders

James, Chalobah, Colwill, Cucurella

Caicedo, Santos

Estevao, Palmer, Rodrygo

Osimhen/Gyokeres

Loan : Gusto, Antwi, Gilchrist, Sarr, Anselmino, Denner, Paez, Amougou, Kellyman, Richards, Mheuka, Satpaev

Offload (Loan if can't sell) : Sanchez, Jorgensen, Bergstrom, Arrizabalaga, Sharman-Lowe, Merrick, Slonina, Beach, Curd, Merrick ; Wiley, Chilwell, W.Fofana, Badiashile, Disasi, Sturge, Ugochukwu, Matos, Fernandez, Madueke, Jackson, Nkunku, Broja, Washington, Morgan, D.Fofana, McNeilly, Stutter, Sterling, Felix, Castledine (my god what a long list LOL)

Mothball for future sale: Mudryk

Penders in goal is a bit of a risk, but I like what I've seen of him so let's have a look at him in at the deep end, and if he doesn't swim then Petrovic is a very solid #2 that can come in. Suspect the club will continue with Sanchez and sell Petrovic LOL. Also no chance that we fork out for Osimhen or Gyokeres.

33 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Good idea for a thread.

Squad of 25

GK (3) : Penders, Petrovic, Bettinelli

RB (2) : James, Acheampong

CB (4) : Chalobah, Adarabioyo, Colwill, Veiga

LB (2) : Cucurella, Samuels-Smith

CM (5) : Caicedo, Lavia, Andrey Santos, Essugo, Dewsbury-Hall

RW (2) : Estevao Willian, Neto

LW (2) : Rodrygo, George

CAM (2) : Palmer, Chukwuemeka

ST (3) : Osimhen/Gyokeres, Delap, Guiu

Best XI :

Penders

James, Chalobah, Colwill, Cucurella

Caicedo, Santos

Estevao, Palmer, Rodrygo

Osimhen/Gyokeres

Loan : Gusto, Antwi, Gilchrist, Sarr, Anselmino, Denner, Paez, Amougou, Kellyman, Richards, Mheuka, Satpaev

Offload (Loan if can't sell) : Sanchez, Jorgensen, Bergstrom, Arrizabalaga, Sharman-Lowe, Merrick, Slonina, Beach, Curd, Merrick ; Wiley, Chilwell, W.Fofana, Badiashile, Disasi, Sturge, Ugochukwu, Matos, Fernandez, Madueke, Jackson, Nkunku, Broja, Washington, Morgan, D.Fofana, McNeilly, Stutter, Sterling, Felix, Castledine (my god what a long list LOL)

Mothball for future sale: Mudryk

Penders in goal is a bit of a risk, but I like what I've seen of him so let's have a look at him in at the deep end, and if he doesn't swim then Petrovic is a very solid #2 that can come in. Suspect the club will continue with Sanchez and sell Petrovic LOL. Also no chance that we fork out for Osimhen or Gyokeres.

i forgot Tosin existed haha in hindsight i'd keep him in the squad too. Probably with Veiga leaving.

I honestly don't know really, we've got so many players who aren't good enough and need to go, but who is going to take them?

If we were incredibly lucky and got rid of everyone we really need to, our outgoings would be:

Sanchez, Kepa, Disasi, Badiashielle, Fofana, Gusto (maybe), Dewsbury-Hall, Kellyman (loan i guess), Mudryk, Madueke, Jackson, Nkuku, Sterling, Broja, Washington

But we'll struggle to find buyers for most.

I have no clue what to do with the GK position. Obviously we can't go with these 2 again, they're both pants, but is Petrovic the answer? Or do we sign someone else? I can't say I trust these SDs to sign another GK when they've all been rubbish so far. So I guess go with Petrovic for 6 months and if it's not working, look for someone else.

Of course it also means the squad needs to be suited to this stupid f**king inverted FB stuff we will never stop playing, so people like Chilwell will be sold as well, even though he could still play an important part for us, otherwise.

So, what I think is going to be vastly different from what the club wants.

But my squad going into next season would be something like:

GK: Petrovic, Jorgenson
LB: Cucurella, Chilwell
CB: Colwill, Veiga Tosin, [NEW CB], Chalobah
RB: James, Achompong
CM: Lavia, Santos, Caicedo, Enzo,
LW: Neto, [NEW LW], George
CAM: [NEW CAM], Chukwuemeka
RW: Willian, Palmer
ST: [NEW ST], Delap (assuming he joins)

So, I still think we need an experienced quality CB. We need to replace some of these garbage wingers with people who can shoot and cross. If Palmer is allowed to play on the right, then a new CAM, but he'll be in the middle and dropping deep again. And a new striker to compete with Delap, if he joins.

I've probably forgotten some players, because we have so many, who the hell can keep track of them all?

5 minutes ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

i forgot Tosin existed haha in hindsight i'd keep him in the squad too. Probably with Veiga leaving.

I've kept faith with most of the defence, seeing as that was the part of our team that enabled our decent run of results at the end of the season. 7 goals conceded in the last 12 games was pretty good, albeit lucky at times (e.g. Chris Wood in the last game missing chances he'd normally score with his eyes closed).

I did consider a new "senior" central defender, but I'm really not sure it would make any difference vs the improvements you'd get from a better all-round midfielder in the pivot, and a goal keeper that inspires more confidence in those in front of him, and in any case, any new players coming in need to improve the first XI not the squad places, and I'm ok with Tosin/Trev plus Colwill pairing right now. Veiga as back up (and also left back and DM cover) is fine. If Veiga is persona non grata for some off field reason (and the timing of him being offloaded to Juve was a bit odd I thought) then one of Anselmino, Gilchrist or Sarr could be the 4th centre back.

This is not necessarily what I would choose, but based on how we operate and only buy young players.

GK : Petrovic, Sanchez, 3rd keeper shouldn't matter.

LB : Cucurella, Ait-Nouri

CB : Colwill, Tosin, Chalobah, NEW CB (I'm not sure who though. I would say Branthwaite, but I am not sure about two left sided CB's playing in the same 11)

RB : James, Acheampong, Gusto ( I don't ever see Gusto working out under Maresca though )

CM : Caicedo, Santos, Lavia, Essugo, Enzo (sell if it means we get Rodrygo) Dewsbury-Hall (backup if we sell Enzo)

LW : Rodrygo, Neto, Sancho (The only way I can justify keeping Sancho is as a squad player)

RW : Palmer, Estevao, Madueke

CAM : Palmer, Estevao, Chukwuemeka

ST : Gyokeres, Delap

From this years first team, I would sell Jackson, Nkunku, Badiashile, Fofana and Enzo (only if we can get Rodrygo though). I would loan out George and Guiu.

The really hard part is selling all of those players out on loan. Sterling, Felix, Disasi, Chilwell, Kepa etc.

Edited May 30, 20251 yr by Scott Harris

THIS WOULD BE A TEAM

..............................................PETROVIC.................................

JAMES...............BRAITHWAITE......COLWILL...CUCURELLA

..............................LAVIA......................CACIDEO.......................

PALMER..............................ENZO............................ESTEVAO

.......................................GYOKERES..........................................

1 hour ago, Scott Harris said:

The really hard part is selling all of those players out on loan. Sterling, Felix, Disasi, Chilwell, Kepa etc.

I have it down as current first team squad of 29, with another 21 that were out on loan, and another 7 already signed and not yet through the door (Penders, Denner, Sarr, Essugo, Paez, Estevao, Satpaev).

So that's 57 before we even sign anyone else.

I reckon we'll have a minimum of 34/35 that will need to be sold or loaned.

Build the team around our best player is his best position. Jackson as a striker.

The Anselmino/Sarr slander on here is ridiculous that’s 2 generationally scouted CB’s we’re all overlooking 😂

A lot of people putting the Brazilian kid in the starting 11, could be wrong but doubt he will get much game time to start with still so young. Definitely need to bring in a top keeper, top CB and a goal scoring winger to go alongside Delap

Petrovic/Sanchez
James/Acheampong - T Araujo - Colwill - Cucurella/Gusto
Caicedo/Santos - Enzo/Lavia
Palmer/Estevao - Joao Pedro/Palmer - Rodrygo/Neto
Delap/Jackson

On 31/05/2025 at 01:16, Sexyfootball said:

I have it down as current first team squad of 29, with another 21 that were out on loan, and another 7 already signed and not yet through the door (Penders, Denner, Sarr, Essugo, Paez, Estevao, Satpaev).

So that's 57 before we even sign anyone else.

I reckon we'll have a minimum of 34/35 that will need to be sold or loaned.

😂😂😂

Anytime I look at our squad, I already assume we can sell/loan our bomb squad otherwise it is impossible to even do anything. The list is insanely long.

I don't even include the like of Veiga, essugo, sometimes I just assume they don't exist

Edited June 2, 20251 yr by Bob stark

OUTGOING:

Bashir Humphreys - £12m (confirmed)

Alfie Gilchrist - £7m

Deivid Washington - £5m

Raheem Sterling - Free

Kepa - £8m

Broja - £4m

Chukwuemeka - makeweight for Gittens

Chilwell - £5m

Ugochukwu - loan

Renato Veiga - £15m

Axel Disasi - £20m

Joao Felix - endlessly loaned

Jorgensen - Loan

Badiashile - £15m

I wouildn't mind seeing seeing Chilwell going on a free as well, please don't let him spend half or a whole season in limbo again. He deserves better than that.

16 minutes ago, Valerie said:

I wouildn't mind seeing seeing Chilwell going on a free as well, please don't let him spend half or a whole season in limbo again. He deserves better than that.

This.

I am not big fan sending senior player to train by themselves or with kids. But with the way we do business, it is almost over impossible not do this.

Summer 2024 need

Elite/very good winger, top gk, and a plan B st

Summer 2025 need

Elite/very good winger, top gk, and a Plan B st

Edited June 2, 20251 yr by Bob stark

GK: Petrovic, Jorgensen, Bettinelli

RB: James, Acheampong

CB: Branthwaite, Tosin, Colwill, Fofana, Badiashile

LB: Cucurella, Samuels-Smith

CM: Caicedo, Enzo, Lavia, Andrey Santos, Essugo

RW: Estevao, Neto

LW: Gittens (Rodrygo would be preferred but not likely), Mudryk (if suspended keep Sancho)

CAM: Palmer, Felix

ST: Ekitike (Osimhen/Gyokeres preferred but Ekitike more likely), Delap

Starting XI :

Petrovic

James, Branthwaite, Colwill, Cucurella

Caicedo, Enzo

Estevao, Palmer, Gittens

Ekitike

Bench: Jorgensen, Tosin, Fofana, Acheampong, Santos, Lavia, Neto, Mudryk, Delap

Sell: D Fofana, Sterling, Chilwell, Carney, Madueke, Jackson, KDH, Chalobah, Gusto, Veiga, Disasi, Broja, Kepa

Loan: George, Guiu, Ugochukwu, Washington, Gilchrist, Penders

Edited June 2, 20251 yr by timetowaste

1 hour ago, Bob stark said:

Summer 2024 need

Elite/very good winger, top gk, and a plan B st

Summer 2025 need

Elite/very good winger, top gk, and a Plan B st

Please don't make this a similar wishlist for 2026 😱

16 minutes ago, Valerie said:

Please don't make this a similar wishlist for 2026 😱

It has a certain "inevitability" about it doesn't it LOL

20 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

It has a certain "inevitability" about it doesn't it LOL

Looks like we are getting Delap. Not sure about his overall quality but 30m for pl st is a good deal and we need player of his profile.

Edited June 2, 20251 yr by Bob stark

1 minute ago, Bob stark said:

Looks like we are getting Delap. Not sure about his overall quality but 30m for pl st is a good deal and we need player of his profile.

Yes on face value this seems like a good deal, but we've had a few false dawns since BlueCo came on the scene !

On 30/05/2025 at 13:43, Ukraine Bolt said:

I'd be interested to see what everyone's ideal summer and how we line up going into GW01 next season would be

GK (2): Petrovic / Sanchez Kepa

RB (2): James / Acheampong Gusto

CB (5): Fofana / Chalobah / Colwill / Veiga / Tomas Araujo / Tosin

LB (2): Cucurella / Ishe (Would add Veiga who is already at CB for LB cover)

CM (5): Caicedo / Santos / Lavia / Essugo / Enzo

RW (2): Rodrygo / Palmer / Madueke

CAM (2): Palmer / Estevao / Felix

LW (2): Sancho / Neto

ST (2): Ekitike / Delap

• Would prefer Kepa as back up over Sanchez

• Think we should retain Gusto - who has been trash this season, but is good when used correctly.

• Think we need a more senior LB cover - Cucu cannot play them all.

• Dont want Rodrygo. Palmer wide right, with Madueke/neto as cover is ok.

• I think with palmer wide right, we need a proper CAM to compete with Estevao. Personally I would keep Felix - but accept this wouldn't be a popular opinion.

• Fine with any striker pairing that has Jackson gone.

According to the @guardian_sport, Chelsea have an extensive list of players up for sale.

🔹 Christopher Nkunku
🔹 Joao Felix
🔹 Noni Madueke
🔹 Robert Sanchez
🔹 Djordje Petrovic
🔹 Renato Veiga
🔹 Ben Chilwell
🔹 Axel Disasi
🔹 Wesley Fofana
🔹 Trevoh Chalobah
🔹 Dewsbury-Hall
🔹 Carney Chukwuemeka
🔹 Lesley Ugochukwu
🔹 Raheem Sterling

Hard to argue with that list apart from Trev. There’s questions over Fofana, Petrovic, Chilwell and Carney who I think the fans would be happy to see stay but it seems the clubs have made its mind up on them.