Chelsea Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2016

GavRedKing

Someone mentione Barbosa somewhere else and basically said you can forget similar players his age at Chelsea, Brown, Solanke and Abraham, hes miles ahead of both them in his progress.

GavRedKing

Izzy Brown scored again today for Englands U19s.

Thats 2 each from Solanke and Brown for england in 3 games.

hullaballoo

It's been doing the rounds that Conte is a big Cuadrado fan and he was saying in some presser yesterday (I think) that he's staying... I'm actually excited to see can he instil a bit of confidence in Cuadrado because he has great potential and if he gets his confidence up, he really could be a very good player for us.

Even though I find it hard to see him immediately deposing Willian or Hazard as AM options, I don't expect Willian to stick around much longer. If he isn't gone this summer, I'd say he'll move next summer. Hazard will either sink or swim this season. I really hope he finds some of the form that abandoned him last season but I think if he does, he'll probably be snapped up by one of Barcelona/RM/PSG.

I have the distinct impression that we'll be keeping on to Oscar so that we have someone pretty for our kit releases. I'm ok with that as long as he doesn't get any sort of credible role in the first team.

Andersonisgod

hullaballoo wrote: »

It's been doing the rounds that Conte is a big Cuadrado fan and he was saying in some presser yesterday (I think) that he's staying... I'm actually excited to see can he instil a bit of confidence in Cuadrado because he has great potential and if he gets his confidence up, he really could be a very good player for us.

Even though I find it hard to see him immediately deposing Willian or Hazard as AM options, I don't expect Willian to stick around much longer. If he isn't gone this summer, I'd say he'll move next summer. Hazard will either sink or swim this season. I really hope he finds some of the form that abandoned him last season but I think if he does, he'll probably be snapped up by one of Barcelona/RM/PSG.

I have the distinct impression that we'll be keeping on to Oscar so that we have someone pretty for our kit releases. I'm ok with that as long as he doesn't get any sort of credible role in the first team.

He's played as a wing back before in a team playing with 3 at the back so he's ideal for Conte as he gives him that option. Talented player that needs the confidence of his coach to excel.

Lukker-

Andersonisgod wrote: »

He's played as a wing back before in a team playing with 3 at the back so he's ideal for Conte as he gives him that option. Talented player that needs the confidence of his coach to excel.

Yeah, I certainly think Conte will get the best out of him and it gives us the option to play wing backs.

Don't personally see it happening though, team sheets and tactics from the Rapid game leaked and it looked to be a 4-2-4. RLC was playing alongside Costa.

Playing any wing back system kind of ruins Hazard, unless we start playing him up front/in the hole.

Tubbs4

hullaballoo wrote: »

It's been doing the rounds that Conte is a big Cuadrado fan and he was saying in some presser yesterday (I think) that he's staying... I'm actually excited to see can he instil a bit of confidence in Cuadrado because he has great potential and if he gets his confidence up, he really could be a very good player for us.

Even though I find it hard to see him immediately deposing Willian or Hazard as AM options, I don't expect Willian to stick around much longer. If he isn't gone this summer, I'd say he'll move next summer. Hazard will either sink or swim this season. I really hope he finds some of the form that abandoned him last season but I think if he does, he'll probably be snapped up by one of Barcelona/RM/PSG.

I have the distinct impression that we'll be keeping on to Oscar so that we have someone pretty for our kit releases. I'm ok with that as long as he doesn't get any sort of credible role in the first team.

Willian just signed a new contract awhile ago so be surprised of he leaves. Hazard I hope comes back to his best and maybe rotate some players this year.

hullaballoo

Andersonisgod wrote: »

He's played as a wing back before in a team playing with 3 at the back so he's ideal for Conte as he gives him that option. Talented player that needs the confidence of his coach to excel.

He is terrible in defence. He has none of the features you would associate with a defender. When tasked with protecting Ivanovic in 13/14, he might as well have not been there.

GavRedKing

Lukker- wrote: »

Yeah, I certainly think Conte will get the best out of him and it gives us the option to play wing backs.

Don't personally see it happening though, team sheets and tactics from the Rapid game leaked and it looked to be a 4-2-4. RLC was playing alongside Costa.

Playing any wing back system kind of ruins Hazard, unless we start playing him up front/in the hole.

Could be a 3-1-3-3, which gives us 6 attackers or 7 defenders when needed.

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Courtois

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Cahill---JT---Zouma

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Kante

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Cuadrado

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Cesc

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Azp

Willian

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Costa

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Hazard

grumpymunster

I never thought Dwayne Dibley was given a fair crack of the whip with us. It is tough to slip into a team when bought in mid season, that said he showed flashes and the last game he played for us at home to Sunderland he was having a stormer until quite cynically taken out of the game. I do feel the guy has serious potential so delighted if he is given a chance.

As for Solanke has he signed a new contract as yet, it seems not. In our search for a striker he could be worth a good punt as well.

grumpymunster

hullaballoo wrote: »

He is terrible in defence. He has none of the features you would associate with a defender. When tasked with protecting Ivanovic in 13/14, he might as well have not been there.

The SAS, Green Berets and the French Foreign Legion together could not protect Ivan in fairness to Dwayne.

Lukker-

grumpymunster wrote: »

I never thought Dwayne Dibley was given a fair crack of the whip with us. It is tough to slip into a team when bought in mid season, that said he showed flashes and the last game he played for us at home to Sunderland he was having a stormer until quite cynically taken out of the game. I do feel the guy has serious potential so delighted if he is given a chance.

As for Solanke has he signed a new contract as yet, it seems not. In our search for a striker he could be worth a good punt as well.

I'm hoping he's in the squad this year. Depends if we sign another striker or not though.

Lukker-

Zouma back in training

GavRedKing

Lukker- wrote: »

Zouma back in training

I think I read somewhere that hes hoping to be match ready by the end of 2016.

Balls.

GavRedKing

Another match is scheduled for tomorrow evening, I think K/O is 6.45, it'll be live on Chelsea TV and probably other means.

GavRedKing

Two birthdays today,

Matt Miazga is 21 and Micheal Hector is 24.

I like Miazga, I reckon he could have a future at the club.

Johner

The Telegraph are saying we are still in for Morata and also interested in Gabriel Barbosa. He looks a massive talent but also just signed a new contract with Santos.

GavRedKing

Johner wrote: »

The Telegraph are saying we are still in for Morata and also interested in Gabriel Barbosa. He looks a massive talent but also just signed a new contract with Santos.

I'm a lot more excited about Barbosa but unless we act quickly he'll end up at another European side in a year or 18months, like Neymar.

Although, if he has his eye on a move to Barca/Real/PSG etc, he'll wait for the move anyway, like Neymar.

Johner

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/SportsArchive/I-ve-received-no-offer-from-Chelsea-but-clubs-want-me-Gyan-456253

You're damn right you haven't!

GavRedKing

Johner wrote: »

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/SportsArchive/I-ve-received-no-offer-from-Chelsea-but-clubs-want-me-Gyan-456253

You're damn right you haven't!

I seen that on Twitter and had to Goggle him, forgot about him at Sunderland and was thinking, you're grand mate, stay where you are.

Johner

Conte just had a press conference there.

Conte: 'For us it's a great pleasure to stay here because it's a beautiful place with the best conditions to work.'

Conte: 'Batshuayi has worked with us for two days, he's in good condition and he's working on the physical and tactical aspect.'

Conte: 'I'm very happy with our work, I found the players have the right attitude and they are great workers.'

Conte: 'Diego Costa is our player, he's a fantastic player with fundamental importance. He's very happy and is working hard.'

Conte: 'I'm seeing a great attitude and great behaviour from the players and we must continue that for the whole season.'

Conte: 'Cuadrado is Chelsea's player. I like him. He arrived today and this afternoon he starts to train with us.'

Conte: 'We know Zouma is recovering but he needs time. It's important we don't push him.'

Conte: 'It's difficult to say where we will finish but the normality for this club is to fight for the title until the end.'

GavRedKing

Reports of a €60m bid for Costa from Atletico turned down.

GavRedKing

I have no problem with Costa going as long as his replacement is as good or better than Costa.

Johner

GavRedKing wrote: »

I have no problem with Costa going as long as his replacement is as good or better than Costa.

The problem is there is probably nobody out there that is a realistic target that is better than Costa. Hopefully we hold onto him for another season at least, then I'd be okay with a swap for Grizemann next summer. :pac:

Why_oh_why

GavRedKing wrote: »

Reports of a €60m bid for Costa from Atletico turned down.

Who's reporting that Gav?

The right kind of money for Chelsea to move him on but the alternatives out there don't jump out at us.

Is is back to Lukaku or Morata?

Batshuayi may well have to finished article quicker than we thought.

GavRedKing

Johner wrote: »

The problem is there is probably nobody out there that is a realistic target that is better than Costa. Hopefully we hold onto him for another season at least, then I'd be okay with a swap for Grizemann next summer. :pac:

Thats it in a nutshell, while the €60m would be brilliant we'd not replace him with similar or better quality for that money.

Why_oh_why wrote: »

Who's reporting that Gav?

The right kind of money for Chelsea to move him on but the alternatives out there don't jump out at us.

Is is back to Lukaku or Morata?

Batshuayi may well have to finished article quicker than we thought.

Few twitter journos, although it could be bo**ocks on the back of the suposed words from the Atletico president the other day.

Problem with Morata and Lukaku is both arent as good as Costa at his best and would cost more than what we'd get for him, I'd prefer Morata over Lukaku anyway, I dont think Lukaku would work well in what Conte wants the squad to do.

GavRedKing

I'd presonally play Hazard upfront this year off Costa anyway, give him the ultimate free role to cause problems, bit like Griezmann.

Why_oh_why

The talks of 2 up front I'd agree with you Gav the 2nd up front should be Hazard.

Simple instruction ..." There's the final 3rd of the pitch Eden, just run amok"

McDave

Johner wrote: »

Conte just had a press conference there.

Conte: 'For us it's a great pleasure to stay here because it's a beautiful place with the best conditions to work.'

Conte: 'Batshuayi has worked with us for two days, he's in good condition and he's working on the physical and tactical aspect.'

Conte: 'I'm very happy with our work, I found the players have the right attitude and they are great workers.'

Conte: 'Diego Costa is our player, he's a fantastic player with fundamental importance. He's very happy and is working hard.'

Conte: 'I'm seeing a great attitude and great behaviour from the players and we must continue that for the whole season.'

Conte: 'Cuadrado is Chelsea's player. I like him. He arrived today and this afternoon he starts to train with us.'

Conte: 'We know Zouma is recovering but he needs time. It's important we don't push him.'

Conte: 'It's difficult to say where we will finish but the normality for this club is to fight for the title until the end.'

I particularly like the last quote. Good sentiment. Not raising hopes too much, and giving himself till the end of the season to see how his work bears fruit.

I hope he doesn't get dragged into BS with Mourinho. Time to move on from the nasty tit-for-tat and let results speak for themselves.

GavRedKing

McDave wrote: »

I particularly like the last quote. Good sentiment. Not raising hopes too much, and giving himself till the end of the season to see how his work bears fruit.

I hope he doesn't get dragged into BS with Mourinho. Time to move on from the nasty tit-for-tat and let results speak for themselves.

I think Jose has too much respect for the fans to be caught with Chelsea and Conte.....at first anyway.

SureYWouldntYa

Please feck off. Well give him some game time this season, then feck off from him for good.

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11668/10506225/chelsea-reject-borussia-monchengladbach-bid-for-andreas-christensen-sky-sources

peteeeed

SureYWouldntYa wrote: »

Please feck off. Well give him some game time this season, then feck off from him for good.

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11668/10506225/chelsea-reject-borussia-monchengladbach-bid-for-andreas-christensen-sky-sources

his with them for another season

GavRedKing

Selling Christensen would be a huge, huge mistake IMO.

I'd only do it if we inserted a buy back clause, something like £18m in 2018 or 20m in 2019.

Other than that, enjoy your loan and come back next year and start as JT will probably be gone, so will Ivan so we'll be very light at the back and he'll have had another full season under his belt.

Right now, for me, hes a much better propsect than Stones and has more experience including UCL, so if Stones is worth £50m and he shouldnt be, Christensen shouldnt be sold for a quarter of that roughly.

GavRedKing

Pictures from yesterdays training session including Azp and Cesc also showed Conte sweating as much as the players, he really gets into the session, buzzing around like a lunatic, good to see, will hopefully rub off on the players.

grumpymunster

Cannot see Christensen being sold it is a shame he is not coming back this summer but would he have got the game time he did if only loaned for one season? There seems to be some reluctance to depend upon players who will be gone after one loan season or is that just my imagination? Christensen is much better than Stones (who is so overvalued it is not funny at ST£25m he may be worth a punt but at ST£50m not a chance) it is quite amazing that we went after Stones all of last pre season and let a better player go on loan. That is quite a shaming indictment of how players are brought through at Chelsea and one can only assume Jose was OK with this - big mistake.

grumpymunster

So anyone heard of this chap Victor Lindelöf?

http://www.101greatgoals.com/news/chelsea-prepared-trigger-victor-lindelofs-25m-buy-clause-benfica-record/?

Not me but has to be better than Ivan or Cahill.

grumpymunster

I see Tony of Lecce looking for respect from Atletico over Costa

http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/chelseas-antonio-conte-demands-respect-from-atletico-madrid-over-diego-costa-pursuit-a3299826.html

puts me in mind of this

GavRedKing

grumpymunster wrote: »

Cannot see Christensen being sold it is a shame he is not coming back this summer but would he have got the game time he did if only loaned for one season? There seems to be some reluctance to depend upon players who will be gone after one loan season or is that just my imagination? Christensen is much better than Stones (who is so overvalued it is not funny at ST£25m he may be worth a punt but at ST£50m not a chance) it is quite amazing that we went after Stones all of last pre season and let a better player go on loan. That is quite a shaming indictment of how players are brought through at Chelsea and one can only assume Jose was OK with this - big mistake.

There has always been huge hopes for Christensen though, he got 2 or 3 games in the title winning season but only 1 cameo in the league.

The defence was pretty solid in that campaign but the main thing was getting him tied down to a long term contract as he'd start for at least 50% of the EPL sides from what I've seen of him. Himself and Zouma will be the future of the defence.

peteeeed

by bye beg

http://www.calciomercato.com/en/news/chelsea-reach-agreement-with-diego-lopez-674968

GavRedKing

No huge loss on Begovic if he goes.

Lopez is a decent back up and hopefully Courtois doesnt get another 3 month injury, Begovic, apart from the City game where he was very good and still left in 3 goals was very patchy.

GavRedKing

12 years ago we signed



4 EPL, 4 FA cups, 3 League Cups, 1 UCL
381 games, 164 goals

grumpymunster

When called upon Begovic has been by and large disappointing. One good game followed by half a dozen mediocre games but then in all fairness he had Cahill and Ivan in front of him as well.

GavRedKing

grumpymunster wrote: »

When called upon Begovic has been by and large disappointing. One good game followed by half a dozen mediocre games but then in all fairness he had Cahill and Ivan in front of him as well.

I can imagine he wants to play games too, hes still only 28/29, signing a 35/36 year old Lopez who is capable but also happy enough to be benched for 2 or 3 years isnt a bad thing.

Why_oh_why

Ninety minutes in a pre season friendly enough for Conte to see he's surplus to requirements I expect a few more are being touted around as well.

Surprised he signed initially gave up 1st team football for a pay rise, to me that showed a real lack of focus and ambition. He was very ordinary when he got his chance and no loss at all.

A 30 something as a back up keeper should be a better option.

GavRedKing

I'd say Conte knew about him long before he came here, also, if Begovic wants out,which seems to be the case, fair due to him, he could have stayed around for another 3 or 4 years and collected good money while sitting on his arse as hes not going to dislodge Courtois.

hots

More sensible backup and should be able to get a decent-ish sum for Begovic still, Lopez should be more than competent still.

GavRedKing

hots wrote: »

More sensible backup and should be able to get a decent-ish sum for Begovic still, Lopez should be more than competent still.

Begovic to Everton for about 10m is meant to be the deal.

grumpymunster

Match free on line tonight on Chelsea TV for those interested

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2016/07/chelsea-in-austria-action--free-online-tonight-.html?

grumpymunster

GavRedKing wrote: »

Begovic to Everton for about 10m is meant to be the deal.

Swap him for Stones or Lukaku

GavRedKing

grumpymunster wrote: »

Match free on line tonight on Chelsea TV for those interested

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2016/07/chelsea-in-austria-action--free-online-tonight-.html?

Good, we should win too. Wonder how many changes we'll see.

Why_oh_why

GavRedKing wrote: »

Begovic to Everton for about 10m is meant to be the deal.

What did we sign him for??

£10m sounds like great business.