12 hours ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

There are far more valid reasons to criticize the board on but bargaining for a 34 year old Xhaka isn’t one of them. If the board went full in on Sunderland’s demands aka what boehly did when he first took over it would have spiked all our prices for the rest of the summer because every club would no we are desperate to buy every player Alonso wants.

Not really.

In Boehly summer the only one that was truly overpriced was Cucu because Brighton said they don't want to sell. If the other team has little pressure to sell you will always overpay.

And the reason why we specifically targeted cucu was because TT wanted a specific type of player, it is very difficult not to overpay if you want certain type of player

Edited July 5Jul 5 by Bob stark

On 04/07/2026 at 21:38, Frankie8Lampard said:

Not to mention Sunderland have mentioned that he is not for sell so putting up 30mil only to get rejected makes us look like idiots and spikes all the prices of players we want. It’s up to Xhaka to force the move.

I don’t think it’s up to Xhaka to force the move.

It was public knowledge that he wanted to come, wages wouldn’t have been an issue - that would have been already discussed with his agent.

It’s up to Chelsea to try and negotiate and see if they are willing to sell.

Bidding £8m was never ever gonna work, not even as a starting bid.

This board can’t be trusted to buy anyone that immediately moves the needle forward for this football club without some sort of drama or illusion.

I wouldn’t expect Xhaka to kick up a fuss and force a move unless there was real hope of a bid being accepted by Sunderland.

He could easily kick up a fuss and we then hang him out to dry like we have done with Kounde, Maignan and Xavi Simmons.

1 hour ago, 2211 said:

I don’t think it’s up to Xhaka to force the move.

It was public knowledge that he wanted to come, wages wouldn’t have been an issue - that would have been already discussed with his agent.

It’s up to Chelsea to try and negotiate and see if they are willing to sell.

Bidding £8m was never ever gonna work, not even as a starting bid.

This board can’t be trusted to buy anyone that immediately moves the needle forward for this football club without some sort of drama or illusion.

I wouldn’t expect Xhaka to kick up a fuss and force a move unless there was real hope of a bid being accepted by Sunderland.

He could easily kick up a fuss and we then hang him out to dry like we have done with Kounde, Maignan and Xavi Simmons.

1 hour ago, 2211 said:

I don’t think it’s up to Xhaka to force the move.

It was public knowledge that he wanted to come, wages wouldn’t have been an issue - that would have been already discussed with his agent.

It’s up to Chelsea to try and negotiate and see if they are willing to sell.

Bidding £8m was never ever gonna work, not even as a starting bid.

This board can’t be trusted to buy anyone that immediately moves the needle forward for this football club without some sort of drama or illusion.

I wouldn’t expect Xhaka to kick up a fuss and force a move unless there was real hope of a bid being accepted by Sunderland.

He could easily kick up a fuss and we then hang him out to dry like we have done with Kounde, Maignan and Xavi Simmons.

Xhaka has already said he is fine staying at Sunderland, didn't he. Or was that one of the twatterati quoting for him

6 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

Xhaka has already said he is fine staying at Sunderland, didn't he. Or was that one of the twatterati quoting for him

Fairly certain he saw our owners/directors dicking around with the transfer fee it likely rubbed him off the wrong way and thought they didn't really want to sign him.

Edited July 6Jul 6 by Sconnie Blue

8 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

Xhaka has already said he is fine staying at Sunderland, didn't he. Or was that one of the twatterati quoting for him

Yes, he has.

2 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Fairly certain he saw our owners/directors dicking around with the transfer fee it likely rubbed him off the wrong way and thought they didn't really want to sign him.

Probably because of this.

The transfer window has been open for 20 minutes and many of you seem to have ripped your knitting already.

Entertaining stuff.

If the board was not serious in this transfer then they didn't do a good job in their pretending play. It's easy to see sunderland won't even entertain anything less than 15 mils so 12 mils bid is a safebet.

6 hours ago, 19seventyone said:

The transfer window has been open for 20 minutes and many of you seem to have ripped your knitting already.

Entertaining stuff.

Same as every single season, the doom and gloom kicks in when we havent spent at least £200m on players, oh and dont sell anyone we like, and also bring through da youth man........

There's only really one member that has gone overboard given the sources he's pulling transfer rumours from.

That said, so far this window has been the same slow and dance we've grown accustomed to when they try to sign any good player over the age of 25.

15 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

There's only really one member that has gone overboard given the sources he's pulling transfer rumours from.

That said, so far this window has been the same slow and dance we've grown accustomed to when they try to sign any good player over the age of 25.

Its a world cup.

Arsenal haven't signed anyone. Liverpool have signed a 22 year old RB. Man City has signed a 23 year old CM. Utd haven't signed anyone. Is this any different from us?

Just now, GarnachoCheese said:

Its a world cup.

Arsenal haven't signed anyone. Liverpool have signed a 22 year old RB. Man City has signed a 23 year old CM. Utd haven't signed anyone. Is this any different from us?

I'm not worried about others, I'm worried about us and the repeating behavior of signings kids aged 19-21 within a matter of hours like Palestra and Barco whereas Xhaka, Lacroix, and Pep we need to wine, dine, and go on another 8-12 dates before we finally get lucky.

26 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

I'm not worried about others, I'm worried about us and the repeating behavior of signings kids aged 19-21 within a matter of hours like Palestra and Barco whereas Xhaka, Lacroix, and Pep we need to wine, dine, and go on another 8-12 dates before we finally get lucky.

Xhaka is never going to move because he's too important to Sunderland, unless we offer stupid money (which we shouldn't). Enzo also needs to leave for it to make sense.

Lacroix is away with France and will take time. We also need to move on our own CB's or we'll be moaning again that the owners have tied themselves ourselves in knots again.

We don't want Pep, hopefully that's just media rumours.

12 hours ago, GarnachoCheese said:

We don't want Pep, hopefully that's just media rumours.

If Alonso or the SD's tactical strategy hinges on the signing of a 28 year old left-back from a low-tier Spanish club, we are more screwed that we feared.

I personally prefer if we do less business not more.

10 hours ago, Bob stark said:

I personally prefer if we do less business not more.

I'd prefer if 90% of our business is outgoings.

We really need 3 signings that can come in and improve the XI.

15 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

I'd prefer if 90% of our business is outgoings.

We really need 3 signings that can come in and improve the XI.

Who are the 27 players you're selling Sconnie ?

3 in, 27 out, 27/30 = 90% :-)

18 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

I'd prefer if 90% of our business is outgoings.

We really need 3 signings that can come in and improve the XI.

Agreed!! 👍

8 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Who are the 27 players you're selling Sconnie ?

3 in, 27 out, 27/30 = 90% :-)

Delap

Garnacho

Neto

Guiu

Garnacho

D.Fofana

Mudryk

Emegha

Garnacho

Kellyman

Gittens

Paez

Garnacho

Lavia

Enzo

Wiley

Garnacho

W.Fofana

Gusto

Garnacho

Sarr

Badiashile

Disasi

Tosin

Garnacho

Penders

Jorgensen

Hard to argue with most of it.

6 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Delap

Garnacho

Neto

Guiu

Garnacho

D.Fofana

Mudryk

Emegha

Garnacho

Kellyman

Gittens

Paez

Garnacho

Lavia

Enzo

Wiley

Garnacho

W.Fofana

Gusto

Garnacho

Sarr

Badiashile

Disasi

Tosin

Garnacho

Penders

Jorgensen

Right little cockroach that Garnacho isn't he LOL.

Sell him multiple times and he keeps coming back :-)

Him aside, I can't believe you have a list of 20 players to sell that doesn't include Robert Sanchez, Slonina and Jackson 😄

First training session later today.

BBC Sport

Chelsea news: When will Xabi Alonso's first press confere...

Chelsea news: When will Xabi Alonso's first press conference be?

On 06/07/2026 at 18:47, WhiteWall said:

Xhaka has already said he is fine staying at Sunderland, didn't he. Or was that one of the twatterati quoting for him

After his last match where he looked every bit of his 34 years I don’t think he is the answer certainly not at 15-20 mil.

Alonso has walked into a mad house. I just hope that he can pull off the impossible, find his best 11 from the 200 players on our roster, and gel them into a winning side.

Chelsea have just released footage of Xabi arriving at Cobham.

Couldn't help but notice that driver left his engine running after dropping him off...

19 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Delap

Garnacho

Neto

Guiu

Garnacho

D.Fofana

Mudryk

Emegha

Garnacho

Kellyman

Gittens

Paez

Garnacho

Lavia

Enzo

Wiley

Garnacho

W.Fofana

Gusto

Garnacho

Sarr

Badiashile

Disasi

Tosin

Garnacho

Penders

Jorgensen

Isn't it mad that I had scroll down the screen to see all the names of players we should get rid of??