Kovacic on loan according to Marca. Surely RLC will be off somewhere?
Chelsea 2018/19 - 3rd and European Champions. Sarri, not sorry
- Thread starter duffer
- Start date
They are a bit different, tbh. Chelsea also need to have some quality depth.
Probably, we have the homegrown issue though.
Presumably Kovacic knows how to play in a 3 man midfield as Sarri wants, hopefully a fixed price buy option if it works out.
Maybe if we get Zaha and RLC goes the other way?
Keeper issue is key. Can't have Caballero first choice. Green is old and whilst Bulka looked good pre season he's a kid with zero experience.
I know a lot aren't happy with our transfer business recently. I can see what the club are trying to do though and we've still won trophies. Would be good to see some of our academy players make it. Let's see where we stand Thursday night..
Worryingly I'm not sure this is the case, if we could manage to get Kovacic and keep RLC.
Get rid of Drinkwater and Bakayoko.
Our midfield is then quality.
We would have zero steel in the midfield if we got rid of both of those players. Who’s making a tackle if Kante is hurt/suspended/needs rest?
Whatever happened to Barkley? If Kovacic comes in the end of the line for RLC?
They really need someone to replace Fabregas. His legs are gone.
Agreed potentially keep one of the two, the other has too go though. Christensen and Luiz IMO would both be capable of playing DM if needed.
Looking to bring in Fekir and Kovacic close too.
Be interesting couple days. If we get those 3 players, it will have been a fantastic window. As a Chelsea fan though, I always remain skeptical due to previous windows when we panic bought.
If we did manage to sign those 3 players it would be the best window we have had since Fabregas/Costa/Luis in 2015.
Kovacic actually looks the most likely and we are not linked to really any other CM's so I can see that happening.
Still think it could be Butland rather than Kepa but we will see.
Fekir/Zaha is what I really am struggling to buy into, we need one of these players so badly but just couldn't see the board getting it done.
Zaha seems much more likely to me - if we have an option to buy Kovacic then RLC becomes somewhat dispensable & Drinkwater might interest Palace as well. Those two plus ~30m might get close to the Zaha valuation.
I can't agree. Fekir has just come off a very serious cruciate injury and would be an enormous risk. Liverpool backed off for this reason. The money he would cost make this a very big risk and one I wouldn't take. Zaha would be surplus to requirements surely. He tends to play down the left and Hazard plays this role. I'm happy for Hudson Odoi to cover this role. That's a bit of a risk but Pedro or Willian can also cover.
Courtois is a disgrace. Hope Chelsea get it sorted.
Zaha primarily played up top as a centre forward this year, but is comfortable playing anywhere in the front 3. Hazard is a lock at the LW position, but I don't think his presence excludes Zaha.
Fekir incidentally is much less versatile - he's much more effective in a central role than playing from the wings.
I would be happy for this also but I just feel Hudson Odoi will be seen as Hazard's back up on the left, Willian & Pedro on the right isn't strong enough unless Sarri can really do something for them.
Can't wait to see the back of him.
He's a cnut doing this to you right before the deadline.
He wanted out a year ago.
The board have cocked up.
Doesn't justify going AWOL a few days before the season starts
No it doesn't but many players/agents see the last year of a contract as something to maintain the players value. The clubs also, when it suits them, see it this way. I don't agree with that view but if somebody told me a year in advance that they wanted to leave I would have found a replacement.
The board have been caught napping.
I accept your point but have sympathy with Courtois.
I have no sympathy for him. He claimed before the world cup that he was open to a new contract, then he continued to say he might stay, so suddenly pulling this AWOL shit at the 11th hour is totally out of order.
Chelsea knew he wanted to leave, they should have sold have sorted this ages ago
You were truly naive if you believed any of those diplomatic answers. I agree that he's being a cnut staying away, but literally all the signs were there that he wanted to be in Madrid rather than London, both for football reasons and non-football reasons. You've been caught sleeping.
Looks like Kovacic and Kepa are actually happening!!! 
Didn't RLC already agree to go back to Palace on loan ? If they add Fekir on top of these 2 where would he play assuming Hazard stays ?
kova,kante,jorginho ..........
The board is likely envisioning Fekir as a RW replacement - think this would be a mistake though as he's hugely more effective at the number 10 role.
Anticipating something like this potentially:
---------------------Kepa---------------------
Azpi-----Rudiger----Luiz---Alonso /Emerson
--------------------Jorginho-------------------
-----------Kante------------Kovacic-----------
Fekir---------------Morata-------------Hazard
that line up ozes creativity and control
So was Willian in Russia, but moving to a higher level club might open up Fekir's game. I'm really on the fence about signing him though, he can be an enormous pain in the ass (although incredible at times also). He's definitely worth a few red cards a season too.
This is a good point and well worth considering. I'd also say that he's better in the pressing game than Zaha - this is part of the reason Liverpool were interested.
I think I'd still prefer Martial over either of those two; the injury risk associated with Fekir probably tips my favour ever so slightly towards Zaha. Wouldn't complain about any of them to be honest as I think they're all upgrades over Willian / Pedro.
Yeah I'd take Martial over Fekir or Zaha without a moments hesitation.
This thread has turned pure cringe
How so?
The fantasy line ups, there's little over 48 hours left of the transfer window and you lot have you signing 3 players (all of which will be for big big money), why not wait and see if you actually pull them off first?
Unlikely we will get the 3rd if its Zaha/Fekir IMO but we will see.
The reason people are getting so excited is because a lot hinges on this, we are about to lose our main goalkeeper and the options have been looking extremely bleak for a while. It was assumed we would end up getting Butland, some people would've been fairly happy with this myself included and others did not want this at all.
I don't think many people will know a lot about Kepa but what we are hearing is exciting, Madrid were interested in him and he appears to have world class potential.
Kovacic coming in would be an enormous upgrade on any of the CM's we thought we were possibly getting and really makes our midfield look quality.
I get what your saying about potentially jumping the gun, I just think we are all a bit excited compared to the Sh*t we have seen in the last few windows which is understandable.
That being said we land all 3 and were winning the league.
Cannot imagine us going after Fekir as a winger with Willian staying and Pedro extending his deal. If Fekir is an option still it's surely to play that advanced midfield role where I think he's better anyways. But it looks like Kovacic is the target now so Fekir won't happen.
Willian + Pedro as RW options and Hazard + CHO as LW options. Plus, we all forget about Moses who Sarri obviously sees as an attacker rather than a wingback.
I hope you're joking? Kepa is not an upgrade on Courtois, Zaha is good but nothing special and won't be a starter probably, and Fékir is an injury risk. Add to that you have a new manager whose system needs time to implement and you're never winning the league this year.
I'm sure it was a joke tbf