Chelsea 2022/2023 | THIS IS LAST YEARS THREAD YOU NUMPTIES

[Jim Beam]

Felix and Mudryk should be great together. Direct, pacy winger is exactly what Felix need (same as Rashford who would also be a brilliant fit).

Problem is that they don't have much to play for in EPL and Atletico will charge around 120-130 million if they want Felix permanently.

But their slump should be somewhat over.

 

[Dr. StrangeHate]

This surely has to be the most any club has spent on transfers in history in such a short period of time. Probably in the history of any sport.

 

[Dr. StrangeHate]

Felix and Mudryk should be great together. Direct, pacy winger is exactly what Felix need (same as Rashford who would also be a brilliant fit).

Problem is that they don't have much to play for in EPL and Atletico will charge around 120-130 million if they want Felix permanently.

But their slump should be somewhat over.

When you spend this much, something has to stick at some point.

 

[Jim Beam]

When you spend this much, something has to stick at some point.

Yeah, it is obscene money. And if they want Felix to stay and Atletico agrees, that would be further +100 million most likely.

 

[1905]

That was shockingly bad, Mount and Gallagher in particular.

 

[Bluelion7]

Haven't watched Chelsea in a while but seems unbelievable that they have so many average players on the pitch today.

Gallagher, Cucurella, Ziyech, Chalobah and that dreadlocks guy were all terrible.

I think Mudryk looks decent but it's still too early to tell.

They still have NINE out injured….

It’s unbelievable really.

Although the narrative of Cucurella playing horribly is odd. He didn’t. He played pretty well again actually. Chalobah is not a RB, and will go back to not being a TB once we sign one and/or Reece returns. Gallagher is too sloppy for me. On a team like Palace where he was more a focus in attack, bombing in shots from distance, great. But for us, playing as one of the two “8’s”? No.

I still wanted Kone. Moises could be a good addition. If we could rotate Hall, Caicedo, Kovacic, and … Enzo there…. Man it would look good.

I just hope they don’t make the same early mistake they did with RLC where people kept telling him he could be a forward attacking midfielder with Carney. He just doesn’t have the coordination and other things needed for those quick link ups.

Very talented player, but he needs to be an 8 or a force transitioning the ball from deep.

We need to add a class midfielding presence and a capable RB to compete with James. Hall looked better than Gallagher.

Mount needs to get his head sorted , or we would be better off letting Mudryk have that free roam connecting the final third, interchanging with Nkunku (man the Pace ….)

If Mudryk was back to game shape and playing those one-twos with Felix instead of Carney and Conor though … wow.

I can see what they are building and it is so frustratingly close.

 

[Sandikan]

450m or so spent, and evading FFP by spreading it across huge length contracts.
The contracts themselves being technical loopholes, as 5 years is the maximum actually allowed.

Just reading those two lines means we need to revel in their averageness while it lasts.

 

[duffer]

This surely has to be the most any club has spent on transfers in history in such a short period of time. Probably in the history of any sport.

Other big spenders, biggest outlays (all data from Transfermarkt for consistency).

Barca spent 380 million Euros in 17/18.
Real Madrid 355 mil in 19/20.
Man City 317 in 17/18.
Man United 240 mil so far in 22/23


Chelsea are currently on 460 mil Euros for 22/23 and probably more to come. May as well go for 500 mil.

 

[Bluelion7]

He's gone under the radar but Badiashile looks class so far.

Vivell and the rest of the new front office staff have solid reputations for player decisions.

People focus only on the green lights. But a key moment was flashing the red light on Gvardiol and listening to Vivell who said Badiashile was just as good and better value

 

[bosskeano]

Mudryk is lightning quick and I could see him being very good for Chelsea

 

[Vapor trail]

Was a good cameo from Mudryk. I know Milner left much space on his side with Trent coming on but he looks promising. Seems he has good close control alongside his speed something I didn't think he had in his locker. Could also displace Sterling long term unless Raheem plays on the right like he did at City.

 

[duffer]

450m or so spent, and evading FFP by spreading it across huge length contracts.
The contracts themselves being technical loopholes, as 5 years is the maximum actually allowed.

Just reading those two lines means we need to revel in their averageness while it lasts.

The long contracts are not evading FFP, they are to comply with FFP.

And 5 years isn't the maximum. The maximum is whatever is legal in each country. If we were not allowed to give 6 or 7 or 8 years contracts, how do you think we are giving them?

 

[Sandikan]

The long contracts are not evading FFP, they are to comply with FFP.

And 5 years isn't the maximum. The maximum is whatever is legal in each country. If we were not allowed to give 6 or 7 or 8 years contracts, how do you think we are giving them?

The first line is semantics. You've specifically given out long contracts to exploit a loophole to let you spend a sh!tload in one short period.

Will certainly be interesting if/when some of these players flop hard.

 

[avgp_1]

Vivell and the rest of the new front office staff have solid reputations for player decisions.

People focus only on the green lights. But a key moment was flashing the red light on Gvardiol and listening to Vivell who said Badiashile was just as good and better value

Yeah Badiashile is a very good player. Liked watching him for Monaco but no he is not just as good as Gvardiol.
In terms of composure on the ball, both in driving with it and his passing Gvardiol is on a whole different level. But probably why he will go for that amount, for the money spent on Badiashile, he is a pretty good signing

 

[duffer]

The first line is semantics. You've specifically given out long contracts to exploit a loophole to let you spend a sh!tload in one short period.

Will certainly be interesting if/when some of these players flop hard.

The difference between "evasion" and "compliance" isn't semantics. Evasion would be under the table payments or payments to player's families.

Chelsea might well be also doing the evasion stuff as well but the long contracts are not some loophole. It's all out in the open and all parties involved (the clubs, the players and the football authorities) seem fine with it.

 

[SirReginald]

Yeah Badiashile is a very good player. Liked watching him for Monaco but no he is not just as good as Gvardiol.
In terms of composure on the ball, both in driving with it and his passing Gvardiol is on a whole different level. But probably why he will go for that amount, for the money spent on Badiashile, he is a pretty good signing

Seems to have brought a little more balance to our defense and working alongside Silva will be of tremendous help in his career.

 

[WeePat]

Seems to have brought a little more balance to our defense and working alongside Silva will be of tremendous help in his career.

He’s gone under the radar but it’s no surprise we have kept two clean sheets with Badiashile playing alongside Silva. He’s basically everything that Koulibaly isn’t. Only 21 years old. Very impressed with him.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

Yeah Badiashile is a very good player. Liked watching him for Monaco but no he is not just as good as Gvardiol.
In terms of composure on the ball, both in driving with it and his passing Gvardiol is on a whole different level. But probably why he will go for that amount, for the money spent on Badiashile, he is a pretty good signing

Yeah Gvardiol is probably the better player with the higher ceiling, but we badly needed a CB who is aerially dominant and Badiashile is already one of the best CBs in Europe in the air.

Some of his long passing today looked shaky but he also is a major threat on set pieces. Think we've done very well for the outlay personally.

 

[BorisManUtd]

With talented players Chelsea now have + further investment next summer, they could be back as early as next season. So hopefully Chelsea struggle much more until May

 

[MayosNoun]

We made a few changes for that one but yeah I tend to agree that it’ll either be an awful 0-0 or something ridiculous like 4-3 or a high scoring draw.

I didn’t realise you had that many injuries.

How predictable eh?

 

[SirReginald]

How predictable eh?

If Liverpool weren’t scoring then it was always going to be 0-0. Our goals per game is diabolical.

 

[MayosNoun]

If we do indeed sign Nkunku, Caicedo and a back up right back for James, we will have a very good squad if we stay clear of injuries but that seems unlikely.

 

[GoonerInPeace]

The thing is with these long term contracts, the players they have signed pretty much need to be hits.

They have committed so much in fees and wages there isnt any margin for error. If these signings falter and turn into another round of Lakulu'a Pulisics, Haavertz then Chelsa will stay midtable. Because they wont be able to 'go again'.

They are betting the house on this spending spree.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

The thing is with these long term contracts, the players they have signed pretty much need to be hits.

They have committed so much in fees and wages there isnt any margin for error. If these signings falter and turn into another round of Lakulu'a Pulisics, Haavertz then Chelsa will stay midtable. Because they wont be able to 'go again'.

They are betting the house on this spending spree.

This is just incorrect. The whole point of this is to make sure we are avoiding colossal albatrosses from an FFP perspective.

Lukaku right now costs us £36.4m per year (£97.5m transfer fee + £16.9m wages per year).
Mudryk right now costs us £12.3m per year (£62m fee + £5m wages). If all bonuses are hit then it goes to £15.4m per year (£26m in add-ons over 8.5 years is ~£3.1m per year).

Mudryk is also more likely to improve in the future, and giving him a raise doesn't destroy the entire wage structure at the club. Plus pretty much every PL club and crucially many foreign clubs can afford £5m in wages per year - making it far more feasible to move on from him should it come to that.

 

[avgp_1]

Yeah Gvardiol is probably the better player with the higher ceiling, but we badly needed a CB who is aerially dominant and Badiashile is already one of the best CBs in Europe in the air.

Some of his long passing today looked shaky but he also is a major threat on set pieces. Think we've done very well for the outlay personally.

Seems to have brought a little more balance to our defense and working alongside Silva will be of tremendous help in his career.

Agree he'll be a good signing for Chelsea

 

[SirReginald]

This is spot on. People don’t really talk about how badly Chelsea fell off. They used to be an unbelievable club who never accepted anything less than top spot. That club is dead now. If this was 2005 Chelsea would’ve done something crazy like bid 100m for Salah.

Yes that club is dead. That whole administration is gone. We are now building a brand new administration from virtually the ground up whilst trying to overhaul the playing staff, planning stadium renovations and building one of the best scouting systems in world football. To think none of that would affect results would be a bit naïve. Short term to even possibly mid term we are going to be bouncing all over the place and more inconsistent than any previous iteration of the side. But if the club get things right now then I don’t see why we couldn’t be as strong as City have been in the last decade. The potential is massive and many football people who have had conversations with Boehly and the club are being left with very positive impressions.

 

[Bluelion7]

Yeah Gvardiol is probably the better player with the higher ceiling, but we badly needed a CB who is aerially dominant and Badiashile is already one of the best CBs in Europe in the air.

Some of his long passing today looked shaky but he also is a major threat on set pieces. Think we've done very well for the outlay personally.

Why is Gvardiol the better player with the higher ceiling?

Vivell, who actually worked for the RB group, feels differently.

Gvardiol has MUCH more hype. But if you go watch the last game Monaco played against PSG, where they shut PSG out, people can get a picture of what Benoit is capable of. He had to take Mbappe, Messi, and Hakimi one v one , several as the last line, and shut them all down.

He’s very agile and fast for someone his size, he’s better in the air than Gvardiol, his passing range and calmness on the ball are fantastic.

If he was Croatian he would have started the World Cup as well and people would be talking just as much. But he’s French.

Guy has 140 appearances for Monaco by age 20 … that’s amazing.

Gvardiol is an excellent player, but which is better is legitimately debatable, which makes picking him out as the primary option when flirting with the boundaries of FFP a master stroke by Vivell and the new crew.

 

[FrankDrebin]

Wait, they signed Madueke ? oh my god. How'd I miss that one.

 

[WeePat]

Wait, they signed Madueke ? oh my god. How'd I miss that one.

The trick is to not blink. That way you won’t miss a new signing.

 

[horsechoker]

FFP is a social construct

 

[FrankDrebin]

The trick is to not blink. That way you won’t miss a new signing.

It was all about Mudryk while another signing slips under the radar.

Must admit, as a rival fan, I'm finding this all very entertaining.

The ridiculousness of it just sums up where English football is currently and will be heading.

 

[marktan]

This is just incorrect. The whole point of this is to make sure we are avoiding colossal albatrosses from an FFP perspective.

Lukaku right now costs us £36.4m per year (£97.5m transfer fee + £16.9m wages per year).
Mudryk right now costs us £12.3m per year (£62m fee + £5m wages). If all bonuses are hit then it goes to £15.4m per year (£26m in add-ons over 8.5 years is ~£3.1m per year).

Mudryk is also more likely to improve in the future, and giving him a raise doesn't destroy the entire wage structure at the club. Plus pretty much every PL club and crucially many foreign clubs can afford £5m in wages per year - making it far more feasible to move on from him should it come to that.

Yeah these long contracts are actually reasonably smart, Boehly is taking a leaf out the NFL playbook where contacts have lower cap hits in the first year or two and then increase in later years. That's viable because income tends to go up over time.

So Boehly is spending big now to increase their brand value and revenue. Of course if most of the players flop and broadcasting income plateues (which it has done for the next 2-3 years) then it could be an issue for Chelsea.

 

[Nickosaur]

fecking hell how i did i forget they bought Fofana for 70m

 

[Bluelion7]

The thing is with these long term contracts, the players they have signed pretty much need to be hits.

They have committed so much in fees and wages there isnt any margin for error. If these signings falter and turn into another round of Lakulu'a Pulisics, Haavertz then Chelsa will stay midtable. Because they wont be able to 'go again'.

They are betting the house on this spending spree.

They don’t though. Generally speaking, if you TRULY want to part with a player early there are several options. If it is catastrophic injury, then the payoff of the contract is hardship and not an FFP. If they are not living up to expectations, then you can move on either by supplementing their wages to entice loan options (which still gives you a net benefit from the longer contract), or you can offer them a lump sum payout to leave and join another team, you borrow that money from yourself, and split the payment up over a few years to fit open gaps.

The primary reason for the long contracts, especially with young players, is to have even greater control of their depreciation on the books related to their initial fees. This may seem counter intuitive, but a few people, including Simon Jordon, explained it very well.

The key is we are not constrained By money, which means these are just option strategies for regulatory compliance.

And some of you would be like “So they would be ok, if a player was a bust, just losing 40 million in wages and writing them off?”

Yeah, wouldn’t faze them in the slightest.

Teams that actually have to worry about how much money they have are in completely different positions strategically.

This isn’t a “spending spree”. They will spend what they need to spend to have the team they want and the structure they want, and they will find a way to be allowed to spend what they need to spend.

Once you have the structure you want in place though that yearly new spending, at least the squad spending that counts against FFP tends to go down.

City is generally way down on the net spend list.

But it takes at least 5 or 6 years of heavy investment to get there.

 

[marktan]

Fyi there was a very good article in the FT last summer that spelled out some of the investment rationale and plans for Chelsea by Boehly, you can read it here https://www.ft.com/content/f7385ebc-d657-4116-be0f-96497e5f8d99

A guy that's at £5b net worth and isn't even 50 yet purely from deal making clearly understands finance and creating value, I'm curious to see how this all plays out in the next 5 or so years.

 

[MayosNoun]

Madeuke and Mudryk are long term exciting prospects.

Badiashile and Fofana are long term too.

All of the above have a decent level of experience despite their young age.

The central midfield is definitely a concern area though. Kante and Kovacic, whilst great, are picking up injuries. Jorginho doesn’t really fit Potter’s style. Zakaria has looked very promising and would be a good addition for the rumoured 25m or 30m.

Zakaria and Caicedo with Kovacic and Gallgher and probably Mount would be good back up although Mount isn’t great deeper but would have to be a squad player until he finds form.

It leaves the front of Madueke, Sterling, Mudryk, Havertz and potentially Nkunku if he has agreed terms.

Jorginho, Kante and Loftus Cheek will probably leave this summer. Sad end for Kante however he is rarely fit now and on a massive wage. Absolute legend of a player.

 

[Chairman Steve]

It’s kinda funny juxtaposing Todd throwing money like confetti and today their Women’s team having their WSL game called off for a frozen pitch.

And before any Chelsea fans jump down my throat, I’m not laying the blame at his door necessarily and it’s more so on Roman for not even throwing his money equivalent of pocket lint at them for some basic undersoil heating.

 

[ThatsGreat]

Chelsea have got their act together, with a huge helping hand from Boehly, it must be said. But hell, what are owners for, but to help you out of slumps. Fully expect them to go up another level once Potter has had a full pre season.

 

[GoonerBear]

Has there been any news on the stadium renovations / new stadium yet?

Can only imagine with the cash floating around them it will at least rival Spurs of not better it somehow.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

Why is Gvardiol the better player with the higher ceiling?

Vivell, who actually worked for the RB group, feels differently.

Gvardiol has MUCH more hype. But if you go watch the last game Monaco played against PSG, where they shut PSG out, people can get a picture of what Benoit is capable of. He had to take Mbappe, Messi, and Hakimi one v one , several as the last line, and shut them all down.

He’s very agile and fast for someone his size, he’s better in the air than Gvardiol, his passing range and calmness on the ball are fantastic.

If he was Croatian he would have started the World Cup as well and people would be talking just as much. But he’s French.

Guy has 140 appearances for Monaco by age 20 … that’s amazing.

Gvardiol is an excellent player, but which is better is legitimately debatable, which makes picking him out as the primary option when flirting with the boundaries of FFP a master stroke by Vivell and the new crew.

This is not a correct thing to say at all. Vivell felt that Badiashile was the more cost-effective player, which seems to be correct. He's also arguably a better fit for what Chelsea need right now. That doesn't make him the better prospect in a vacuum.

Gvardiol is significantly better on the ball and is quicker over short distances. He's performed exceedingly well on higher stages. And he's ~14 months younger.

I personally think Badiashile for €38m is a much smarter signing than Gvardiol for €95-100m or whatever it'd take - but if you gave me the choice between them irrespective of cost I'd still take Gvardiol. Think his skillset is rarer given his age.