You had already spent 220m on Caicedo and Enzo, there was a clear issue up front that needed addressing, but instead you spunked 50m on another DM who turns out might be injury-prone.
Boehly is going to ruin Chelsea (hopefully)
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran are here to talk about a frustrating 2 points dropped at Crystal Palace. They then discuss the regeneration of Old Trafford. Finally, Nik is joined by special guest Michael Statham from the Football Oranje podcast - who gives us a more in depth look at our EL opposition FC Twente, and then runs through the (many) Dutch connections currently at United.
I do not understand them. Like what is their plan? They're interested in an insane amount of players, and not just in a 'he's on the list' type way.
Someone tell Boehly to buy Jadon Sancho. He is exactly what they need. Young, English and a player they don't need.
50 mil should do it
50 mil should do it
So we cant have 3 good players in that postion? We bought Jackson and Nkunku to play up top.
He played 29 times in the PL the previous season for Southampton, he wasn't injury prone when we bought him.
Dewsbury-Hall and Caicedo as 8s, Enzo as a 6/DLP. Basically mirroring Maresca's Leicester midfield but with Caicedo as the energetic shuttler instead of Ndidi and Enzo at the base of midfield instead of Winks.
I don't think its a good plan. Maybe he has gone up a level but Dewsbury-Hall showed almost no ability to impact games in the final third during his previous two years in the PL, so its potentially a midfield very low on end product. But its also potentially a midfield very low on athleticism and physicality as Caicedo is really the only above average player among the three in that regard. And inverting Cucurella into midfield to form a box doesn't help in that regard as for a defender he isn't a particular good athlete or duel winner.
Is Nkunku an out and out centre forward? From what I've seen of him, he's more of a number 10/support striker. So that leaves you with an inexperienced 30m signing shouldering the sole responsibility of leading the line last season. Sure - sign as many DMs and wingers as you like, but from the outside looking in, it seemed like you weren't prioritising the positions that needed addressing and were more focused on stockpiling young talent instead of building a functioning team.
I think the makeup of the midfield will be very situational depending on the opponent. At least I would hope so.
In matches where we know we’ll have almost all of the play and are up against deep sitting defenses we can play a midfield 3 with Enzo, Caicedo, and KDH. We wouldn’t have to worry as much about Enzo at the base of the midfield defensively because the other team won’t have the ball much.
In matches against the bigger, more progressive teams like City/Arsenal/Liverpool etc we’d play a 3 with Lavia at the base of midfield as the #6 with Caicedo and one of Enzo or KDH as the two #8’s.
Horses for courses.
In a system like Pochettino's he'd be wasted but in the one we think Maresca will play not so much.
He'd have been the perfect long term successor for Firmino at Liverpool to the point I'm quite surprised Liverpool never made a big play for him.
Boehly/Chelsea/insert any name you like...it still works and we can all have a laugh at your club.
Keep the bids coming haha
After last summer I think that line works better coming from our end to you lot and Arsenal.
And if that said player keeps scoring a couple against you then I'll take that as well.
I swear the Chelsea hierarchy just watch what Brighton are doing and then try and jump on it.
If you walk slowly past Stamford Bridge with a ball at your feet - you could earn yourself a fifteen year contract. If you say the word "Brighton" it could be a 20 year contract.
Boehly probably thinks it's another asset he can sell to avoid PSR regulations.
I know the Chelsea fans are explaining some of the logic, but it still feels like they (chelsea) are just addicted to transfers at this point.
(Our version of) Fernando Torres would have probably netted against us last seasonAnd if that said player keeps scoring a couple against you then I'll take that as well.
Cheeky rename to 'Fraggle bridge'?
I would gladly take a transfer ban right now.
Hog all the talent to sell for high prices later.
You're probably not smart enough to understand the plan.
I recommend going back to running a football club class at school.
For perspective, the person responsible for recruiting and helping to develop both players throughout their career … thought Lavia was the better prospect of the two between him and Palmer.
I think Lavia will be fine. We’ve got new medical and training staff in place, and we have been ultra careful in the pace and way he’s been brought back.
Why not have 3,4,5 good midfielders?
There is an outside chance Santos beats out all of these guys. Enzo and Caicedo were huge fees, but not on huge wages. Which means if they ended up farther down the pecking order the offset cost of moving them after 3 or 4 years would not be staggering. And if Santos and Lavia were close to beating them out, but just short… they would be so young and promising they would command a large fee if they wanted to move.
Annndddd: We will have a pipeline of more 17,18,19 year old talents waiting to come develop and challenge for those spots eventually: competition and standards.
I actually think, since we invert better from the left and we didn’t sign Olise, that Palmer coming inside from RW and Gusto or Reece being the wide outlet makes sense.
KDH, Enzo, Caicedo, Lavia, Santos would be a quality 5 man rotation for 3 spots then. I’m not including Casadei, Gallagher or Carney because I think they all could move on. Carney I could see staying. Kellyman I see getting evaluated and going to the U21’s, or sparing minutes. They said he wasn’t a purchase for Strassbourg; that doesn’t mean no loan at all.
€10m for Ziyech
Chelsea doing well in selling some assets like Hall, Maatsen, Ziyech and Hutchinson, already netted £100m give or take, they still have few more to sell like Gallagher and Chalobah, they should be alright with whatever these new financial rules are.
I don’t by this narrative that players like Enzo (who was highly sought after due to the World Cup performances) and Caicedo/Lavia (who Liverpool were after so had to be outbid) would tie themselves to 20 year contracts on low wages.
There exists a middle ground between 'huge wages' and 'low wages' though.
As far as I know both Enzo and Caicedo are on somewhere around £180K a week salaries. In the context of top level football I wouldn't necessarily classify that as huge, given there are probably a few dozen players in the EPL alone who earn more than that, but it's not exactly something I'd consider low either.
But they did, and the reason you don’t believe is that you may not have a lot of experience with American sports. In American sports a contract is just the current agreement. There are performance triggers, automatic renegotiation triggers… a contract is simply a canvas that allows for flexibility and reward for both parties.
We have been dealing with salary and spending caps for decades. You can major in the subject at University. Things that 10 year olds understand about re-structuring a deal for their QB and shifting money forward to keep two other particular players looks like arcane PSR manipulation magic to Europeans
Not being on high wages right away also helps them in case they flop, not just the team. They can move teams and find the right spot easier, without stories about how they are sinkholes of failure, and humiliating editorials about how they will have to agree to take massive pay cuts if anyone is willing to give them a “second chance”.
You can do that in a system where everyone does it but not if your rivals don’t care about salary caps. You can have a PHD and tenure at Salary Cap Management University, I still won’t buy into the narrative that a player will rather sign an incentivized 8 year contract on 120k a year base salary if other clubs offer a 5 year contract on 200k base salary which equals a 20m+ opportunity cost for the player.
A 21-23 year old elite talent knows he will likely hit his prime and negotiate the biggest contract of his career at age 26-28 which is what makes the 4 year contract so popular. You might be able to negotiate a lower salary for longer contracts with a 34 year old player but not with elite talent giving away their prime years.
If by contract structure you mean a rising salary based on age alone then that might be of course tempting for the player, if he were guaranteed to double his salary after like 4-5 years once he’s in his prime. But that would in turn make it a risky bet for the club.
£22m plus a hefty sell on clause.
Will be pretty happy if we can get Dewsbury-Hall for £30m. Didn't see anything from him in the Championship but whenever I saw him in the PL he impressed me. Really classy on the ball. Just seen that he's only had 1 injury in his entire career aswell, something for us to ruin!
He can join the legion of Chelsea midfielders that all play similar and absent of any real note of quality.
I don’t think we need him at all. Depending on how Maresca intends to use him, I could find a player already Chelsea who do that role better than Dewsbury-Hall. I’ll back him if he comes, he’s a pretty good player, who kinda reminds me of Mount stylistically, but I just don’t think we need him.
Interesting. I don't think he's like Mount at all tbh. Mount is someone who is at his best higher up the pitch in teams who play quick transitions, one and two touch, pressing from the front and playing on the half turn. KDH seemed to me as someone who operates deeper and can break lines driving forward with the ball and with passes, more of a classic playmaker.
I think it obviously spells the end for Gallagher.
Your best form last season in the run in came with the 4-2-3-1 and Palmer moved to number 10 with Madueke and Mudryk the runners either side. Of course Jackson could be moved to the left more with Nkunku and another CF alternating but ultimately going back to 3 CMs will mean some attackers need to be sold, Sterling also still in the mix with three years left on his deal.
Don't think they'll just be happy playing Europa Conference league so will need to rotate a bit.
Palmer is undoubtedly your best player currently so do you get even more out of him developing him as a ten now or he stays mainly cutting in from the right side for another season?
That also surprised me with the Olise interest. You already have Palmer for that area so in effect you'd be giving up on Madueke just when things are starting to click and he had a very strong end to the season so would seem a typical Chelsea thing to do under this ownership.
I think the plan with Olise interest would have been to use Palmer as 10, Olise at RW and Madueke as a backup for Olise. Madueke would probably still have played a lot given Olise's injury record.
I'm still not completely sold on whether Madueke has what it takes to be a regular starter in our team. He's shown glimpses here and there but overall something just seems to be missing. Maybe he would get better with a larger role, maybe he wouldn't. Also worth noting, if the South American teenagers Paez & Estevao are anywhere as good as people are hyping them to be, chances are Madueke's days at the club are numbered anyway.
£30m Dewsbury-Hall in midfield to deflect attention away from Gallagher. Masterstroke.
I think KDH will be a great signing and I’m happy with him. I see him as very Kovacic like in the way he receives and carries the ball in tight areas. Very press resistant midfielder just like we saw with Kova in a blue shirt. High work rate, too.
How does he handle a wet press though? That’s the real question.
Told you all...