Did he?Going by most reports it will be £70M basic fee plus the add-ons.
It's a hefty price for sure but I'm glad we've got this one over the line. I rate Fofana very highly and to me it didn't look like there were any better alternatives out there at this point in the window. Cheaper ones were definitely available but are they as good? Not sure. Best to just accept the fee will be an overpayment and simply get it done so we can move on with the actual football.
If you're taking a 21yo player and look at his appearance record in professional football going back 6 years since the player was 15 then of course it's going to look like he's not played much per year.
He had a freak injury last year that made him miss 41 games across all competitions but that one's very unlikely to result in any recurring problems. He came back in March and almost immediately looked the same player he was before his lengthy period on the sidelines.
As for him being the 'first choice target' or whatever for this summer, does it really matter? I've seen Fofana's name linked with the club since his days at Saint-Etienne and in his first Leicester season the rumors started getting more and more frequent. His leg break and subsequent contract renewal probably put the club off at first and I believe the initial plan was to see him stay at Leicester for another year and come back for him either in 2023 or 2024 but missing out on a couple of other targets made the club accelerate their plans. He's always been very highly rated at the club, here's just a few of the links from the last year:
https://www.footmercato.net/a5273481902776845942-chelsea-cible-wesley-fofana
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...r-defender-Wesley-Fofana-Antonio-Rudiger.html
https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/fo...nsfer-news-fofana-kounde-rudiger-b996094.html
Chelsea 2022/2023 | THIS IS LAST YEARS THREAD YOU NUMPTIES
- Thread starter duffer
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I categorically wrote if Silva is omitted in my earlier thread. The 38-year-old will distort all median age statistics.
Eight of their first eleven consists of Mount (23), Havertz (23), Fofana (21), Reece James (22), Cucurella (24), Sterling (27), RLC (26), Chilwell (25 - may not play when Cucurella plays, though). That's definitely not old.
There is no 'first 11' at the club though. There will be lots of rotation and competition for places, and outside the few players you mentioned our squad's age structure is actually very good.
It's obvious the likes of Silva, Kante, Jorginho and Azpilicueta will all need replacing next year but so what?
Chelsea are rubbish and Tuchel is vastly over rated due to a cup run.
They're not rubbish, they're very well coached just missing that clinical goal scorer. It's been the only thing holding them back up till now
Very well coached? Where and at what? They were mediocre incorporated last season and still are now. For the money they've spent and the quality they have they are a poorly coached squad. People need to accept this sooner or later. Tuchel is not a great coach and lives by that 3 game cup run and the British media narrative.
You have banged this "Tuchel is shit" drum for ages. Hes a top coach whether you agree or not.
I'm talking about what I see, that is all.
Get yourself to spec savers then
I'm not complaining. It's nice to have a rival have a mediocre manager because it makes our case easier. Same with Arteta.
Stuff of champions today.
Phew! Never in doubt.
We do not like the easy.
But, only because it was against Rodgers. Any decent opposition and it would have been a different story.
Not easy to win a PL match after going down to ten men so early at 0-0 so I'll take it.
Thiago Silva was fecking amazing today, what a man.
Thiago Silva was fecking amazing today, what a man.
And I'm guessing you never saw a team that was playing great football and top of the league in December only to be derailed by an unprecedented amount of injuries to key players. Followed by ownership issues and club sanctions - while still winning two mickey trophies and getting to two finals. Keep taking that blue pill though...
I wish he had played for a team I could watch more when he was younger. Just amazing; one of the smartest defenders I’ve ever watched.
Sterling put in a heroes performance today, and I have high hopes for Fofana.., but Cucurella might be the best player we sign this window.
Finally. Fantastic news. He should play a lot this year. Possibly losing him was the shadow hanging over all our signings
The first half of this post is not insane but the second half is. Chelsea are truly blessed to have Tuchel - outside of Pep and Klopp I wouldn't swap him for literally anyone.
Crazy how you call Tuchel mediocre when he has more on his cv than bald Jesus
What do you think the targets will be for Tuchel over the next season or 2?
Close the gap with city and of course fight for trophy. If city slip up we should be there to pounce on it.
Should bring tactical variety.Now have pacy back line need to up the pace of our general game at least against mid table lower level teams.
What scenario would see him under pressure this season?
There will be no pressure for him. I know we started a bit iffy. Jose level meltdown may be put him under pressure.
Our new owners trusted tuchel and backing him in market as much as possible.In talks with his representatives to extend his contract for two more years.
We expect improvement in style and pace in our game. We understood why he play safety first approach if kante or kova not around. But now have pace in defense we should expect drastic improvement in our game.
Basically no CL spot in combination with awful cup runs could be a problem considering the investments we have made.
I may be wrong but im sure he was gunning for Tuchel in the past too. Just seems to have a serious dislike of him.
First thing for me is to figure out what type of system he wants the team to play, and tailor the squad with this in mind. Previous seasons the team has been constructed with a clear 3-4-3/3-5-2 in mind and as such I feel that we perhaps have been a bit tactically limited. This season it feels as if a return to four at the back is more feasible due to a large amount of players who can play in a central midfield role, but we're still missing that "purely" defensively-minded midfielder that you associate with 4-3-3 teams.
When it comes to sporting targets you'd have to imagine trophies and titles are the goals. Even though we've lost a bit of quality due to expiring contracts and tactical misfits, the level of investment currently being carried out is not a "hope-for-top-4-and-a-good-cup-run"-backing.
Good news, the truth is that without our transfer ban, even James and Mount probably won't get much chance with us.
We're obsessed with big money signings and almost never give younger players from our academy or bought in a chance unless they're already a name.
Come on. You don’t genuinely believe you’d have won the league last season do you?
Talk about excuses!
That’s extreme. I think TT is a good coach. He’s not at the same level as Klopp and Pep (probably around Conte) but he has the potential to get there.
Where was he saying we were going to win the league? If you ask me, City were always going to be winning it but without some of the turbulence @UsualSuspect mentioned we'd probably at least have been a lot closer than now ended up being.
Mind you there's a big gap between 'mediocre incorporated and poorly coached' to 'winning the league' and we're somewhere in the middle. Tuchel is clearly not the best coach in the world and still has ways to go to reach the level of Pep and Klopp but that does not in any way mean he's a bad coach like @jackal&hyde was suggesting. Looking at your next post you seem to agree on that, but as for the other reply you just made some assumptions that weren't even there to be made.
All that aside, it looks like Chalobah won't be going on loan after all:
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Can't say I'm unhappy about that. Just hope after Fofana comes in there will still be enough minutes for Trev.
It just felt like the poster was making excuses rather than accepting the gap which is quite obvious.
Agree with keeping Chalobah but as you point out you still need to ensure he gets enough minutes to develop and keep him happy. He looks a good , promising talent.
He always makes errors, thats the problem.
Mendy’s form is a worry. He’s got the occasional brainfart in him with the ball at his feet but he shouldn’t have been beaten for that goal from Barnes. A dreadful attempt.
We have only five cbs koulibaly,t.silva,fofana,chalobah and ampadu. Why he wanted to go. We normally play three back formation.
Suspension,injury and t.silva can't play every game means he is first in line to play. Good decision by board and have to keep him.Also he has good height and we lately struggled to defend set pieces. So should be a first defensive sub as well when need to defend.
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Now ampadu will leave for spezia according to romano we won't sell chalobah.
Now I start to worry about mount. His best position was occupied by sterling. He need to perform well to keep his place in team.
Yep Silva covered area for far post with his attempt to tackle. He had to concentrate on near post but get caught in dilemma.
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Would be interested in seeing a list of players Chelsea have let go when they were young who are now playing well at a side in a top league. I can think of:
Ake - sold at 22, now at City
Guehi - sold at 21, doing well at Palace and in the England set up
Tomori - sold at 23, doing well in Serie A
Livramento - hot prospect sold at 18
Lamptey - sold at 19. Like Livramento, probably impacted by Reece James, but still, they're playing RLC at RWB currently..
Abraham - sold at 23, doing well in Serie (and did better than his expensive replacement)
Salah - sold at 24 after 2 years out on loan, became one of the best players in the world
De Bruyne - sold at 23, became one of the best players in the world
Lukaku (first time) - sold at 21, became high profile goalscorer and bought back for a huge fee.
Boga - sold at 21, has done well in Serie A, less high profile than some others on this list but still a decent player.
They're just such a weird club. Letting players like this go, and then spending big on players who haven't necessarily done any better. I know it's a numbers game for them and for every one they sell who goes on to do really well they probably sell two who drop down divisions, but it still has to hurt seeing their former youth players do well elsewhere. They have some decent young players on the fringes at the moment too, like CHO, Ampadu, Pulisic, Chalabah, and I wouldn't be surprised if one or two of them leave and go on to have really good careers elsewhere.
Ake - sold at 22, now at City
Guehi - sold at 21, doing well at Palace and in the England set up
Tomori - sold at 23, doing well in Serie A
Livramento - hot prospect sold at 18
Lamptey - sold at 19. Like Livramento, probably impacted by Reece James, but still, they're playing RLC at RWB currently..
Abraham - sold at 23, doing well in Serie (and did better than his expensive replacement)
Salah - sold at 24 after 2 years out on loan, became one of the best players in the world
De Bruyne - sold at 23, became one of the best players in the world
Lukaku (first time) - sold at 21, became high profile goalscorer and bought back for a huge fee.
Boga - sold at 21, has done well in Serie A, less high profile than some others on this list but still a decent player.
They're just such a weird club. Letting players like this go, and then spending big on players who haven't necessarily done any better. I know it's a numbers game for them and for every one they sell who goes on to do really well they probably sell two who drop down divisions, but it still has to hurt seeing their former youth players do well elsewhere. They have some decent young players on the fringes at the moment too, like CHO, Ampadu, Pulisic, Chalabah, and I wouldn't be surprised if one or two of them leave and go on to have really good careers elsewhere.
The fact that we produce these players should be commended too, no? Despite all those academy players we’ve let go, and it’s a lot and they’re all talented who have proven since that they were probably worth persisting with, Chelsea started the Leicester game yesterday with 5 academy players in the starting lineup with 3 more on the bench.
So unless people expect Chelsea to keep everyone and roll with a squad entirely made up of academy players, then some players will regrettably have to be let go and those players will be good players who are likely good enough to play for Chelsea and that’s just the nature of having an academy that produce players at an extremely impressive rate.
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