Surprised so many people are concerned with the transfer fee. Transfer fees mean nothing to BlueCo, as they'll probably end up spending twice as much on kids who'll be discarded in less than a year with their value tanking.

If this is a signing Alonso genuinely wants then we should get him regardless of the fee imo. After all, each director gets to make a senseless signing or two each window, why not the manager?

56 minutes ago, yaz said:

Surprised so many people are concerned with the transfer fee. Transfer fees mean nothing to BlueCo, as they'll probably end up spending twice as much on kids who'll be discarded in less than a year with their value tanking.

If this is a signing Alonso genuinely wants then we should get him regardless of the fee imo. After all, each director gets to make a senseless signing or two each window, why not the manager?

It yet again shows how inept they are at negotiating, when they are supposed to be these fantastic businessmen. Clowns getting schooled constantly

I'd guess that means we are not in for Lewis Hall then. Unless we want this guy to be second fiddle to him.

Already in London for his medical. 20M the reported fee by Madrid based outlet Marca.

Is anyone else looking at this fella or are we negotiating with ourselves..again ?

And does Alonso want him or is it a Blue co trading deal?

Edited August 2Aug 2 by OTL

53 minutes ago, petre ispirescu said:

Already in London for his medical. 20M the reported fee by Madrid based outlet Marca.

So what’s changed their stance?

8 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

So what’s changed their stance?

In all my life following European football I noticed that Spanish outlets have this massive, massive inferiority complex towards English football. The envy is real and it's why they always inflate numbers to make things look like the Spanish clubs somehow rob English clubs for big amounts. But 99/100 times they make themselves look like the fools they are and the numbers are way lower than the ones they initially report.

Not longer than two days ago they reported that Fulham paid 70M for the young Real Madrid center forward and then the official numbers were revealed by the English journalists and it was actually 50M for not only the young center forward, but another player, too. A defender I believe?!

With Chavarria it was never about 50M or the fact that Rayo Vallecano is this club that is hard to negociate it and would never change their stance. Just the Spanish newspapers trying to make their league and clubs look better.

Not be involved in Rayos pre season at all.

I would not be surprised if he has been waiting in London to get approval to take a medical.

Alongside Alex Scott and Morgan Rogers, Pep Chavarria has been reported by a few media people to be desperate to join us and has been pushing hard for the move.

From the YouTube clips of him he looks pretty average, surely there’s better out there.. but Alonso seems very keen.

2 hours ago, dan_cfc said:

From the YouTube clips of him he looks pretty average, surely there’s better out there.. but Alonso seems very keen.

Has to be an Alonso request. Nothing about him fits BlueCos model. Has not had much time at the top level in Spain, is 28, so there's as good a chance he flops making the move and we have to sell back to Spain at a massive discount as their is he proves a real find.

Felipe Luis vibes here.

9 hours ago, dan_cfc said:

From the YouTube clips of him he looks pretty average, surely there’s better out there.. but Alonso seems very keen.

I watched some YouTube clips earlier also and had same opinion. There were many clips of him just hoofing it, often sliced.

Hopefully wrong and he’s an effective player

6 hours ago, The Boehly Babes said:

Felipe Luis vibes here.

I liked Felipe Luis, great player, he just couldn't adjust to England and Azpilicueta was too consistent for him to get a game.

Package said to be 25mill all in, including the bonuses.

He seems a real risky signing. Had 4 clubs in his career, the first 3 were not in La Liga. Had 4 seasons with Rayo, I believe those 4 have been at the top level.

At 28 will need to deliver right away, not likely to improve and has to adapt to the league. I'd much sooner we spent more on bringing in a near sure thing in Lewis Hall.

However many of us have called on Alonso to be backed, given the tools he needs to make us a team that can fight for the title, and where CL qualification is back to being a when, not an if. Can really be no argument that this is a signing Alonso must have asked for. There is nothing about this deal that fits BlueCos model.

7 hours ago, The Boehly Babes said:

Felipe Luis vibes here.

That's like saying Mata didn't work out because Hazard ended up being better. Luis came to us as the best LB on the planet. No one, not even Mourinho himself counted on Azpilicueta being even better.

I get why Alonso would want a LB like Chavarria. Nowhere near as good as Cucurella going forward but he has that same sort of niggly, tight-marking, aggressive style that can completely shut down a wide player on his day. Much more athletic than Cucurella too. No idea if he can translate that to the PL level but La Liga has similar quality of wide players.

My worry is that he could be exploited like Aaron Wan-Bissaka was at Man United. Defensively one of the best in the league but his limitations in attack mean he becomes a liability against teams sitting deep. I suspect he's just going to be an option for Alonso to throw on and control things to see a game out.

Edited August 3Aug 3 by SydneyChelsea

4 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Package said to be 25mill all in, including the bonuses.

He seems a real risky signing. Had 4 clubs in his career, the first 3 were not in La Liga. Had 4 seasons with Rayo, I believe those 4 have been at the top level.

At 28 will need to deliver right away, not likely to improve and has to adapt to the league. I'd much sooner we spent more on bringing in a near sure thing in Lewis Hall.

However many of us have called on Alonso to be backed, given the tools he needs to make us a team that can fight for the title, and where CL qualification is back to being a when, not an if. Can really be no argument that this is a signing Alonso must have asked for. There is nothing about this deal that fits BlueCos model.

I'm not totally sure that Lewis Hall is a sure thing actually but he does now have some experience at this level.

I'm certainly not convinced about this guy. I wasn't particularly enamoured with the original target Maxi Araujo but at least I could see the appeal as a LWB. This appears to be an even weaker choice.

1 hour ago, WhiteWall said:

I'm not totally sure that Lewis Hall is a sure thing actually but he does now have some experience at this level.

I'm certainly not convinced about this guy. I wasn't particularly enamoured with the original target Maxi Araujo but at least I could see the appeal as a LWB. This appears to be an even weaker choice.

I agree on Lewis Hall. Eddie Howe has improved him but his defence remains his weak point. Lacks a defender's instincts. As at Chelsea. Very effective going forward.

16M++ for a backup LB that seems to be the opposite of Palestra

On 03/08/2026 at 17:30, dermott said:

I agree on Lewis Hall. Eddie Howe has improved him but his defence remains his weak point. Lacks a defender's instincts. As at Chelsea. Very effective going forward.

I see him like Cucurella - can be great going forward, can be great defensively, but very, very rarely at the same time in the same game.

Looks like the deal is 16.3mill plus bonuses

I can get behind it at that price. Not that 40m being thrown around weeks ago

So once again the figures thrown around by the ITK`s are shown to be ridiculous, and the gnashing of teeth and fury was misplaced...massive shock.

I expect this is a player Alonso has highlighted, he is the opposite of our owners targets mostly, I remember the last time we bought a relatively unknown full back for a relatively low amount....went quite well.