Chelsea 2017/18 thread - FA Cup Champs, League chumps

duffer

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Every other team gets a fresh thread for the upcoming season. Here's one for the Champions.

Squad at the end of last season:

GKs - Courtois, Eduardo
Defs -Alonso, Zouma, Ake, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Luiz, Aina, Alonso, Moses, Kenedy
Mids- Chalobah, Kante, Fabregas, Loftus-Cheek, Matic
Fwds -Hazard, Pedro, Musonda, Willian, Costa, Batshuayi

Obviously we had 1 or 2 players out on loan last season, depending on who we buy/sell, some may come into the first team squad.
GKs- Beeney, Blackman, Delac
Dfs- Christensen, Clarke-Salter, Dabo, DaSilva, Hector, Kane, Kalas, Miazga, Omeruo, Rahman, Tomori.
Mfs- Ali, Angban, Baker, Boga, Colkett, Cuevas, Houghton, Muheim, Nathan, Palmer, Pasalic, Van Ginkel.
Fwds - Abraham, Brown, Remy, Traore

I think Christensen is the most likely to come in. With the Champions League next season there'll be more games and probably a bit of rotation. I'd like to see Lewis Baker come into the first team squad for that. I'd love to see Musonda given a chance (especially with Hazard injured) but I can't see it.

We've been pretty strongly linked with Lukaku, Sandro and Bakayoko. Willy Caballero seems to be coming in as backup goalie.
 
duffer said:
Every other team gets a fresh thread for the upcoming season. Here's one for the Champions.

Squad at the end of last season:

GKs - Courtois, Eduardo
Defs -Alonso, Zouma, Ake, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Luiz, Aina, Alonso, Moses, Kenedy
Mids- Chalobah, Kante, Fabregas, Loftus-Cheek, Matic
Fwds -Hazard, Pedro, Musonda, Willian, Costa, Batshuayi

Obviously we had 1 or 2 players out on loan last season, depending on who we buy/sell, some may come into the first team squad.
GKs- Beeney, Blackman, Delac
Dfs- Christensen, Clarke-Salter, Dabo, DaSilva, Hector, Kane, Kalas, Miazga, Omeruo, Rahman, Tomori.
Mfs- Ali, Angban, Baker, Boga, Colkett, Cuevas, Houghton, Muheim, Nathan, Palmer, Pasalic, Van Ginkel.
Fwds - Abraham, Brown, Remy, Traore

I think Christensen is the most likely to come in. With the Champions League next season there'll be more games and probably a bit of rotation. I'd like to see Lewis Baker come into the first team squad for that. I'd love to see Musonda given a chance (especially with Hazard injured) but I can't see it.

We've been pretty strongly linked with Lukaku, Sandro and Bakayoko. Willy Caballero seems to be coming in as backup goalie.
Click to expand...

One of the more exciting wing talents in recent years and ended up playing as a defender for you lot :(
 
duffer said:
Every other team gets a fresh thread for the upcoming season. Here's one for the Champions.

Squad at the end of last season:

GKs - Courtois, Eduardo
Defs -Alonso, Zouma, Ake, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Luiz, Aina, Alonso, Moses, Kenedy
Mids- Chalobah, Kante, Fabregas, Loftus-Cheek, Matic
Fwds -Hazard, Pedro, Musonda, Willian, Costa, Batshuayi

Obviously we had 1 or 2 players out on loan last season, depending on who we buy/sell, some may come into the first team squad.
GKs- Beeney, Blackman, Delac
Dfs- Christensen, Clarke-Salter, Dabo, DaSilva, Hector, Kane, Kalas, Miazga, Omeruo, Rahman, Tomori.
Mfs- Ali, Angban, Baker, Boga, Colkett, Cuevas, Houghton, Muheim, Nathan, Palmer, Pasalic, Van Ginkel.
Fwds - Abraham, Brown, Remy, Traore

I think Christensen is the most likely to come in. With the Champions League next season there'll be more games and probably a bit of rotation. I'd like to see Lewis Baker come into the first team squad for that. I'd love to see Musonda given a chance (especially with Hazard injured) but I can't see it.

We've been pretty strongly linked with Lukaku, Sandro and Bakayoko. Willy Caballero seems to be coming in as backup goalie.
Click to expand...
Talk of Ake to Bournemouth for 20m.

Player I'd like Tony to consider is Van Ginkel.

Will be interesting though to see who goes on the tour!
 
Varun said:
One of the more exciting wing talents in recent years and ended up playing as a defender for you lot :(
Click to expand...

I stuck him in the "defenders" list for us but when he has played, it's been mostly either wing-back or in a more forward role. Same as Moses really.
 
duffer said:
I stuck him in the "defenders" list for us but when he has played, it's been mostly either wing-back or in a more forward role. Same as Moses really.
Click to expand...

Any idea about the plan for him this season? Going on loan?
 
Is Abraham going to Celtic? Chelsea youth looks good though. I expect some of them to join first team.
 
duffer said:
Obviously we had 1 or 2 players out on loan last season, depending on who we buy/sell, some may come into the first team squad.
GKs- Beeney, Blackman, Delac
Dfs- Christensen, Clarke-Salter, Dabo, DaSilva, Hector, Kane, Kalas, Miazga, Omeruo, Rahman, Tomori.
Mfs- Ali, Angban, Baker, Boga, Colkett, Cuevas, Houghton, Muheim, Nathan, Palmer, Pasalic, Van Ginkel.
Fwds - Abraham, Brown, Remy, Traore
Click to expand...
Christ.
 
duffer said:
Every other team gets a fresh thread for the upcoming season. Here's one for the Champions.

Squad at the end of last season:

GKs - Courtois, Eduardo
Defs -Alonso, Zouma, Ake, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Luiz, Aina, Alonso, Moses, Kenedy
Click to expand...

Didn't take long to forget about Terry then?
 
Biggest mystery for me this transfer window is if we're going to sign more than just a Costa replacement as far as attacking players go. Surely we have to. We haven't been linked to any attacking players by any reliable source so far.

No way can we enter a season playing 4 competitions with the same attacking group as last season with only a swap of Costa > Lukaku.
 
Courtois
Caballero

Cahill - Luiz - Azpilicueta
Zouma - Christensen - Ake

Moses - Kante - Matic - Sandro
Kenedy - Bakayoko - Fabregas - Alonso

Pedro - Lukaku - Hazard
Willian - Batshuayi - Traore/Musonda/Kenedy
​
If they can upgrade that right-hand side in the next couple of windows they will look good for a while (assuming Conte lasts 3 more seasons).
 
Orc said:
Biggest mystery for me this transfer window is if we're going to sign more than just a Costa replacement as far as attacking players go. Surely we have to. We haven't been linked to any attacking players by any reliable source so far.

No way can we enter a season playing 4 competitions with the same attacking group as last season with only a swap of Costa > Lukaku.
Click to expand...

Even if you get a player or 2 in, it'd be very low key signings if you spend the huge bucks on Lukaku, Sandro and Bokayoko. Those 3 will cost 180mil+ which won't leave much for quality acquisitions in attack. Then again, you have a huge list of players in the squad you can sell to raise cash so you could go down that route.
 
Varun said:
Even if you get a player or 2 in, it'd be very low key signings if you spend the huge bucks on Lukaku, Sandro and Bokayoko. Those 3 will cost 180mil+ which won't leave much for quality acquisitions in attack. Then again, you have a huge list of players in the squad you can sell to raise cash so you could go down that route.
Click to expand...
Quite a bit of our spending will be offset by sales, you have to remember. Oscar, Traore, maybe Aké and Matic. Massive cash windfall from the new Nike deal + TV money as well. I don't think we'll struggle to keep up with the two Manchester clubs financially this summer.
 
Orc said:
Quite a bit of our spending will be offset by sales, you have to remember. Oscar, Traore, maybe Aké and Matic. Massive cash windfall from the new Nike deal + TV money. I don't think we'll struggle to keep up with the two Manchester clubs financially this summer.
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I didn't mean you'd struggle to keep up with United and City at all. I just meant you'd need to sell to fund further sales as the 3 heaviest linked with you will cost around 180mil among themselves. That'd be around the net figure come start of season imo.
 
Will be interesting to see if they can break the champions curse of recent years that's developed. Hard not to put them as favourites, but having to juggle the league and CL may make things a bit trickier for them.
 
Cheesy said:
Will be interesting to see if they can break the champions curse of recent years that's developed. Hard not to put them as favourites, but having to juggle the league and CL may make things a bit trickier for them.
Click to expand...
I think having quite a few players who were starters last season being moved to squad roles means we'll have great strength in depth. Alonso, Cahill, Matic, maybe Moses all upgraded on would be fantastic, assuming they all stay.
 
Cheesy said:
Will be interesting to see if they can break the champions curse of recent years that's developed. Hard not to put them as favourites, but having to juggle the league and CL may make things a bit trickier for them.
Click to expand...
I think it's harder to put anyone else down as favourites as Chelsea are the team with the least problems. Personally still wouldn't bet on them. I think Costa's better than Lukaku, and better suited to their team. They've been conceding goals in most of their games after the turn of the year, and I don't see them keeping up the great conversion rate they've had that's made them potent the season just gone. CL on top of that makes for an interesting upcoming season.

Of course, that's without seeing how they do in the transfer market.
 
ADJUDICATOR said:
I think it's harder to put anyone else down as favourites as Chelsea are the team with the least problems. Personally still wouldn't bet on them. I think Costa's better than Lukaku, and better suited to their team. They've been conceding goals in most of their games after the turn of the year, and I don't see them keeping up the great conversion rate they've had that's made them potent the season just gone. CL on top of that makes for an interesting upcoming season.

Of course, that's without seeing how they do in the transfer market.
Click to expand...

Perhaps, but Lukaku's only just turned 24 and is at an age where he seems to be constantly improving. I reckon if he signs and doesn't look like he'd fit into their current system, Conte will try to rejig their team a little to ensure Lukaku does work well with those around him.
 
ADJUDICATOR said:
Courtois
Caballero

Cahill - Luiz - Azpilicueta
Zouma - Christensen - Ake

Moses - Kante - Matic - Sandro
Kenedy - Bakayoko - Fabregas - Alonso

Pedro - Lukaku - Hazard
Willian - Batshuayi - Traore/Musonda/Kenedy
​
If they can upgrade that right-hand side in the next couple of windows they will look good for a while (assuming Conte lasts 3 more seasons).
Click to expand...

If Ake is sold and Zouma is going out on loan, does that mean we're going to a back 4 again? Idk if I'm buying VVD paper talk.
 
We're offloaded some big earners in Terry, Mikel and Ivanovic. There'll be plenty of money generated by sales. Oscar, Costa, Bamford, Solanke, Cuadrado, Begovic, Traore, Atsu, Brown, van Ginkel and Ake could probably fetch around 200m. Then there's Matic, who may or may not be sold. Add to it the PL money, new deal from Nike and we can easily spend 250-300m.
 
Selling Ake makes no sense to me, yes clubs in the PL could pay £20m but he's tailor made for Cahill's role on the left of the back three.
 
Apparently there's a low buy back clause included and he wants to play regularly to have a chance of making it to the Dutch squad for the upcoming World Cup.
 
duffer said:
Every other team gets a fresh thread for the upcoming season. Here's one for the Champions.

Squad at the end of last season:

GKs - Courtois, Eduardo
Defs -Alonso, Zouma, Ake, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Luiz, Aina, Alonso, Moses, Kenedy
Mids- Chalobah, Kante, Fabregas, Loftus-Cheek, Matic
Fwds -Hazard, Pedro, Musonda, Willian, Costa, Batshuayi

Obviously we had 1 or 2 players out on loan last season, depending on who we buy/sell, some may come into the first team squad.
GKs- Beeney, Blackman, Delac
Dfs- Christensen, Clarke-Salter, Dabo, DaSilva, Hector, Kane, Kalas, Miazga, Omeruo, Rahman, Tomori.
Mfs- Ali, Angban, Baker, Boga, Colkett, Cuevas, Houghton, Muheim, Nathan, Palmer, Pasalic, Van Ginkel.
Fwds - Abraham, Brown, Remy, Traore

I think Christensen is the most likely to come in. With the Champions League next season there'll be more games and probably a bit of rotation. I'd like to see Lewis Baker come into the first team squad for that. I'd love to see Musonda given a chance (especially with Hazard injured) but I can't see it.

We've been pretty strongly linked with Lukaku, Sandro and Bakayoko. Willy Caballero seems to be coming in as backup goalie.
Click to expand...

One or two :lol::lol::lol:
 
Varun said:
Even if you get a player or 2 in, it'd be very low key signings if you spend the huge bucks on Lukaku, Sandro and Bokayoko. Those 3 will cost 180mil+ which won't leave much for quality acquisitions in attack. Then again, you have a huge list of players in the squad you can sell to raise cash so you could go down that route.
Click to expand...
The club have already received about £50m from the transfers this window and there might be further sales of about the same amount in Van Ginkel, Traore and possibly Ake.
No reason they cant spend 250m+ gross this summer. Though I personally dont think the club will do that.

antihenry said:
We're offloaded some big earners in Terry, Mikel and Ivanovic. There'll be plenty of money generated by sales. Oscar, Costa, Bamford, Solanke, Cuadrado, Begovic, Traore, Atsu, Brown, van Ginkel and Ake could probably fetch around 200m. Then there's Matic, who may or may not be sold. Add to it the PL money, new deal from Nike and we can easily spend 250-300m.
Click to expand...
Ivanovic and Mikel were low earners their wages are hardly a drop in the ocean really. The raises Hazard and Courtois will get this summer will wipe that amount and then some more.
 
Blind said:
Selling Ake makes no sense to me, yes clubs in the PL could pay £20m but he's tailor made for Cahill's role on the left of the back three.
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Not Cahill but more Luiz. He has the same passing ability that Luiz seems to have. Perfect for the centre of 3 man defense. Mind boggling decision to let him go if it happens.
 
AshfordLad said:
Not Cahill but more Luiz. He has the same passing ability that Luiz seems to have. Perfect for the centre of 3 man defense. Mind boggling decision to let him go if it happens.
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I'm not sure he has quite the range of passing Luiz has, and Luiz is the reason the back three works so well. Cahill's role is the one that's up for grabs and Ake has all the qualities to take it. You're clearly targeting van Dijk and I rate him highly but I'd apply your point about being similar to Luiz to him more than Ake. He doesn't have the mobility and pace that Ake has, which could be problem if he's shifted out to the left although he would still be a clear improvement over Cahill.
 
VanGaalEra said:
Which signings would you want @duffer
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Top centre forward to replace Costa if he goes (I wanted Morata but that rumour died out a while ago). Would be happy for Lukaku to get another chance alongside another (be it Batshuayi or someone else).

Feels very harsh to replace either wing-back and unlike most, I am happy with our central defensive options (Cahill, Luiz, Azpi, Zouma, Ake & Christensen).

We do need more bodies in midfield (especially creatively) and out wide given that we're (ideally) playing lots more games.
 
duffer said:
Top centre forward to replace Costa if he goes (I wanted Morata but that rumour died out a while ago). Would be happy for Lukaku to get another chance alongside another (be it Batshuayi or someone else).

Feels very harsh to replace either wing-back and unlike most, I am happy with our central defensive options (Cahill, Luiz, Azpi, Zouma, Ake & Christensen).

We do need more bodies in midfield (especially creatively) and out wide given that we're (ideally) playing lots more games.
Click to expand...

Lukaku and Bakoyoko have been strongly linked, as well as Sandro.

Conte will also go big for a CB, I'm certain of it.
 
Bakayoko would be an underwhelming signing IMO. He's a bit average.
 
ADJUDICATOR said:
Courtois
Caballero

Cahill - Luiz - Azpilicueta
Zouma - Christensen - Ake

Moses - Kante - Matic - Sandro
Kenedy - Bakayoko - Fabregas - Alonso

Pedro - Lukaku - Hazard
Willian - Batshuayi - Traore/Musonda/Kenedy
​
If they can upgrade that right-hand side in the next couple of windows they will look good for a while (assuming Conte lasts 3 more seasons).
Click to expand...

Except that Azpi plays on the right of CB, and Cahill on the left.
 
ADJUDICATOR said:
Yeah - Pedro, Moses and Cahill then still. Ideally Matic too but I don't think that's possible.
Click to expand...

Pedro had a superb season, he's not even close on being high on my list to replace. I'd also replace Alonso over Moses which looks possible with the Sandro talk. Looks like Matic is being replaced with Bakayako too so that's on. As for Cahill, I think he's better than we think he is, but we have Christiansen coming back anyway.
 
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