Chelsea 2024/25

It seems like for the three positions behind the striker (LW, RW, most attacking midfielder of a three) Chelsea now have:

Palmer
Nkunku
Felix
Neto
Dewsbury-Hall
Madueke
Sterling
Mudryk
Chukwuemeka
Kellyman

I don't see much of a pathway for any of the bottom five players to get meaningful minutes in the league....maybe Madueke if/when Neto gets hurt. But then next summer Chelsea will be adding Estevao and Paez into the mix and the club will likely prioritize their development, so the long term outlook is even murkier. I'd be trying to get out ASAP as one of the players on the bottom half of that list, especially the younger ones.
 
That is why I used that example. Signing Yoro and Zirkzee is great in isolation, but if you sign 25 Yoro's and Zirkzee's to populate the entire squad, then there's a problem, especially now that the number of loans to Europe have been restricted.

I'd say the fans do care. Different fans build connections with different players. It's always been that way. I wouldn't say Mudryk for example, is a beloved player, because how could he be, but he does he have general support from the fans, and little pockets of Mudryk fans within the fanbase. Same as most players at most clubs probably. Same with Cucurella, Madueke etc. Broadly speaking we follow the club, we watch the games and we know the players.
Oh yeah, a fan will always try their best to care, even in dire circumstances, it's just way harder when you don't know if a player is going to be sold or play regularly or whatever. Easy to be cynical and not get behind someone because you expect them to leave.

I would hate their policy of selling homegrown players, personally I think that's one of the reasons I would follow a club, and goes against the whole dynamic of fandom and why we do it. It's so important to United that I don't think the fans would stand for it. I'm not surprised they were chanting for Gallagher at the City game. It's not like Gallagher is a world-beater but at least he has some semblance of the soul of the club in him, not to be sold and replaced by a foreign mercenary for the same money just to manipulate accounts.
 
Jorge Mendes running rings around Boehly and the lads, baited them into Felix after getting a good deal for Neto. Madness that is the player they thought they needed on that deal after everything.
 
Felix seems like the last thing they need. Really strange transfer.

I thought Lavia was decent yesterday, Enzo was poor and clearly not a 10… Nkunku needs to play there I think, wasted out on the left. Palmer I think is fine on the right. But I’m struggling to see how it all comes together.

Felix exacerbates that.

Does anyone know what their starting / best team is? Presume the midfield three yesterday was a one-off due to playing City.
 
Felix signing is great news. One more deadweight that they will have to be creative about in 12 months. Hopefully Mendes did a great job to get him 250/300k pw so he becomes their new unmovable player.
 
Would love to be a fly on Chelsea's board meetings... The door closing, meeting over and you hear Todd yelling from inside in his underwear and cowboy hat "just embrace the madness!!" with grinning face and his eyeballs popped out.

Definitely my 2nd favorite team for a good year and a half now.
 
A good player but that profile of player just doesn't make sense to me, given what the Chelsea squad has and and what they lack.
 
Seems they have swapped Gallagher for Felix (same fees).

Again. Not sure what the plan is here or why Felix?

Gallagher was available to sign for someone else on a free transfer in a few months. So we've swapped them but the new guy has years left on the new contract.

As for why Felix, there were not many options at Atletico and apparently the powers that be at Chelsea wanted him to stay after his loan last year.
 
Gallagher was available to sign for someone else on a free transfer in a few months. So we've swapped them but the new guy has years left on the new contract.

As for why Felix, there were not many options at Atletico and apparently the powers that be at Chelsea wanted him to stay after his loan last year.
Ahh didn’t realise Gallagher had so little time on his contact. He had to go then I guess. I’m sure other clubs would have been interested though and possibly paid more? I guess I don’t get the fixation on Felix given the players you have.
 
Ahh didn’t realise Gallagher had so little time on his contact. He had to go then I guess. I’m sure other clubs would have been interested though and possibly paid more? I guess I don’t get the fixation on Felix given the players you have.

We accepted an offer from Aston Villa a few months ago but he rejected the move.

There's not many clubs out there who (a) have the money, (b) want Gallagher and (c) Gallagher wanted to move to.
 
There is a growing sentiment, fans who feel disconnected from the club since the ownership. But honestly, I think it's just because the team isn't winning. Lots of my Arsenal mates also 'felt disconnected' from their club until they started competing at the top again and now they're in love with their club again.

Personally speaking, I dislike the ownership group. I don't believe in what they're selling. The players are pretty easy to like and build a connection with though. Caicedo and Gusto have become two of my favourite players in the world. I adore Jackson, and probably spend too much time online defending him ( :lol: ) and I have different levels of attachment to pretty much the entire squad. There are some that I'm not huge fans of (Mudryk, Disasi, Sterling) but that has always been the case. I was never keen on Malouda, despite him being a crucial player for us. I never warmed to Courtois despite winning two titles with him.

If we somehow defied all odds and challenged for the title this season, I'm pretty sure all the disconnect shouts would subside pretty quickly.

Thanks for the response - appreciate you taking the time and it's interesting hearing a fans insight. I think what I find most frustrating about the setup from afar is just how obvious the club is being treated as a means to treat individual players as corporate investments instead of legitimate footballing investments. Dewsbury-Hall is the perfect example of this. Just a means of playing a depressing investment game.
 
We accepted an offer from Aston Villa a few months ago but he rejected the move.

There's not many clubs out there who (a) have the money, (b) want Gallagher and (c) Gallagher wanted to move to.
Had no idea he’d rejected Villa. Would have been a good move for him.

Shame it’s not worked out as he looked brilliant at Palace.
 
Felix signing is great news. One more deadweight that they will have to be creative about in 12 months. Hopefully Mendes did a great job to get him 250/300k pw so he becomes their new unmovable player.
Hopefully Artetas saviour complex comes to the rescue again.

But yeah not thrilled with this one, he's basically the flashy inconsistent player that many people deluded themselves into thinking Hazard was.
 
Hopefully Artetas saviour complex comes to the rescue again.

But yeah not thrilled with this one, he's basically the flashy inconsistent player that many people deluded themselves into thinking Hazard was.
:eek:

If prime Hazard was in the league right now he'd be wiping the floor with everyone.
 
Does anyone know what the actual plan is?

Saw someone suggest they are trying to corner the market and have so much of the talent that they can name their prices... But great players get produced all the time, and for every hit they have they seem to have two misses.
 
Does anyone know what the actual plan is?

Saw someone suggest they are trying to corner the market and have so much of the talent that they can name their prices... But great players get produced all the time, and for every hit they have they seem to have two misses.
They are expecting a two year transfer ban and are buying players like a VC firm (1 out of 10 will become great and finance the other 9)?
 
£36m is the fee reported for Felix by Ornstein. What do the resident chelsea fans make of the transfer?

Batshit crazy, he's a fancy dan without an end product and with a questionable attitude.

Last player we need in our squad. Also signing him possibly turns Raheem in to the next generation Winston Bogarde. Knocking about in the reserves on 300k a week for the next 3 years.
 
Jamie is spot on.



He’s spot on except one point, Maresca said a while ago the group he’s coaching is about 27-28 players. The other players are either training separately, being kept fit by other club coaches or they’re actually academy kids training and playing with the U23s (yes some of the famous oft quoted 40+ players actually 4-5 academy players who sometimes train with the first team).
 
Thanks for the response - appreciate you taking the time and it's interesting hearing a fans insight. I think what I find most frustrating about the setup from afar is just how obvious the club is being treated as a means to treat individual players as corporate investments instead of legitimate footballing investments. Dewsbury-Hall is the perfect example of this. Just a means of playing a depressing investment game.

I agree with you. I was willing to give this ownership a chance in 2022 and 2023 and I spent a lot of time trying to contextualise their actions, hoping I would start seeing the beginnings of whatever the feck they’re trying to accomplish. We’re going into our 3rd season and I’ve realised I just fundamentally don’t agree with their ‘plan’ for my club.
 
Sterling’s statement clearly shows the issue they are going to have. Players with long contracts will stay. This was clearly a message to Sterling today and his response is “three years, feck off”

Felix will just be another name on the list of players with massive contracts and nowhere to go in a few years. They have created a powder keg here.
 
It seems like for the three positions behind the striker (LW, RW, most attacking midfielder of a three) Chelsea now have:

Palmer
Nkunku
Felix
Neto
Dewsbury-Hall
Madueke
Sterling
Mudryk
Chukwuemeka
Kellyman

I don't see much of a pathway for any of the bottom five players to get meaningful minutes in the league....maybe Madueke if/when Neto gets hurt. But then next summer Chelsea will be adding Estevao and Paez into the mix and the club will likely prioritize their development, so the long term outlook is even murkier. I'd be trying to get out ASAP as one of the players on the bottom half of that list, especially the younger ones.

Madueke's childish behavior and selfishness is astounding; he definitely has some talent, but he calls his number as often as Ronaldo, which everyone gets sick of, but Ronaldo scores 50 goals a season where as Madueke might get 5.
 
They must now be running the club the same way people who always pay the minimum payment on their credit cards do, or who take out another loan to pay for a loan they can't afford to pay anymore.

I'm thinking that the plan must have been to add alot of value quickly and sell the club on, as they've always looked in a mad rush with what they're doing, and not much else makes sense, but they've messed it up are now just making things worse.