The Sarri Era - Chelsea 18/19

Kick wrote:Additionally, I think getting a winger is more important than strengthening midfield. Pedro isn't good enough anymore and that leaves Hazard and Willian.

I understand that we have higher priority, but 25-30m in today’s market is peanuts.

Truely believe Golovin has the chance to be one of the best midfielders in the world, he is enermous talent. Very suited for the Hamsik/Zielenski role. Rear combination of technical skills and work rate. Kante, Jorginho and Golovin midfield is the best in the league.

RW is an important area for us.

Please no Higuain.

It sounds like we are trying to wrap up Rugani ASAP.

Cahill has also hinted he could leave.

Some reports suggesting Courtois is days away from joining Real and Alisson looks likely to join Liverpool. We've been linked to Cech and Schmichel and I get the feeling we'll get Schmichel

This Courtois thing is annoying but nothing that has really surprised me.

I have lots of miniatures of Chelsea players on my desk at work and I have held off getting a Tbo one for this very reason as I wasn't sure he'd be sticking around.

Shame we gambled on this kid when he was younger, gave him what he wanted for 3 years at At Madrid and he only gave us maybe 2 good seasons.... Meh.

Hope we get Alisson and gazzump Liverpool, that would be nice.

However Kasper or Butland do seem more likely, unfortunately.

I've never been fond of Courtois. He's always been a little too big for his boots (metaphorically).

Not sure who I want as a replacement. Perhaps a short term option like Schmichel is best while we find the 'next Courtois'.

Sarri's first press conference he said he wanted more quality in midfield (wrongly translated to CB), which explains Golovin.

Also sounds like Zouma and Cahill will go, leaving Christensen, Rudiger, Luiz and Rugani (when he arrives). Higauin seems dependant on Morata and/or Bats leaving (perhaps Giroud will stay?). Morata has a potential suitor in AC Milan while Bats could go to Napoli.

Still not sure who will replace Courtois with Alisson so close to Liverpool and there has been no talk of wingers, but I suppose that will change if Hazard does leave (god I hope not).

So we're shaping up like this:

In:
Jorginho
Golovin
Rugani
GK replacement
Higauin if Morata/Bats leave

Out:
Courtois
Zouma (loan)
Cahill
Zappacosta
Drinks?
Bakayoko?
Morata/Batshuayi if we find a buyer

#Pjanic had dinner with his agent that would like to bring him to #Chelsea or #Barcelona, but #Juventus wants to renew his contract (@DiMarzio) #CFC #BFC



#Chelsea, first contact between the clubs for #Higuain, but the Blues want to sell first. More on @DiMarzio #CFC


YES to Pjanic

Pjanic won't happen.

Alisson is gone, too. Time to get Schmichel.

One good thing about living in Aus, the Chelsea game was televised

Jorginho, Fabregas, Barkley and CHO all looked fantastic. Speaking of CHO, Nizaar Kinsella has an exclusive that says CHO will get a new contract and a spot in the first team. This is also hinted to by the number change from 70 to 20. Excellent news, if true and is probably why we're not being linked to many wingers.

Morata looked terrible, worse than Abraham, and I can't help but think he won't do well with Sarri. On the other hand, I think Batshuayi could flourish in Sarri's style. Shame he's not back from WC yet, I think he could end our interest in Higauin.

We're apparently after Areola as a Courtois replacement but I am skeptical as Mino Raiola is his agent

Kick wrote:One good thing about living in Aus, the Chelsea game was televised

Jorginho, Fabregas, Barkley and CHO all looked fantastic. Speaking of CHO, Nizaar Kinsella has an exclusive that says CHO will get a new contract and a spot in the first team. This is also hinted to by the number change from 70 to 20. Excellent news, if true and is probably why we're not being linked to many wingers.

Morata looked terrible, worse than Abraham, and I can't help but think he won't do well with Sarri. On the other hand, I think Batshuayi could flourish in Sarri's style. Shame he's not back from WC yet, I think he could end our interest in Higauin.

Pedro also looked really good, what a mistake not selling Willian for that huge offer from Barca. Really wouldn't be suprised if Pedro starts over Willian as the main RW.

Zappocoasta also looked good, Sarri system seems will benefit him. Looked like Flipe Luis out there, really liked his energy and aggressiveness. Undoubtedly Azpi will start, but may make a decent squad player.

Looks like we're getting Rob Green as our third choice and Golovin is off to Monaco.

I am ok with both. Our midfield is already crowded so Golovin wasn't needed and an English third choice GK is good.


and:

Think Kante-Jorginho-Cesc will be our starting midfield, may change but i believe that is what we will start with at the beginning of the season.

Potentially. My point is that we have 2 passers, 2 defensive players and 2 10/8 hybrids. Golovin isn't needed if we're going to trust Barkley and RLC.

Signing Rob Green is the best 3rd choice GK we've signed in years.

11 days to go and we're still chasing a CB and Higuain.

No sign of a new GK and nothing about other CF options.

Can someone say deadline day panic buys incoming?

Kick wrote:11 days to go and we're still chasing a CB and Higuain.

No sign of a new GK and nothing about other CF options.

Can someone say deadline day panic buys incoming?

It's wild. I'm going to try to follow Chelsea this season because I'm interested in Sarri in the Premier League.

I think you guys will be very happy with him. His teams press hard, play the ball a lot on the ground and go for goals. His Napoli team was great.

Kante and Jorginho together in the midfield is the stuff of dreams.

I hope you guys sign Higuain, his goals are needed and I would rather Rugani join you guys then to see Caldara at Milan ffs, save us

If we can get SarriBall going, we're going to be a joy to watch, we've gotta give it time, though.

Agreed. Him having an extra short preseason because of how long his signing took is disappointing but bringing in someone like Jorginho who has been fundamental to his style is a big plus and having players like Kante and Hazard already in place can only be a good thing for his managerial style.

He’ll have to learn quickly in the premier league though

Definitely.

I think that is also why we're targeting Rugani and Higgy, as both have worked with Sarri before.

I'm not expecting much for the first few months, anyway.

So we're interested in signing Vecino or Ramsey with Bakayoko and Drinks going out.

Rugani seems to be staying at Juve, while Caldara and Higauin seems to be off to Milan.

And by the sounds of it, we're keeping Courtois for the season as we will only sell him once a replacement is found, which looks unlikely.

According to the Times we're offering Kante a new contract to make him our highest paid player.

RMC sport are reporting that Batshuayi will remain at Chelsea this season.

Honestly, I think Bats will be our best CF this season. He suits Sarri's style more than either Morata or Giroud and we're unlikely to sign another CF.

With any chance of getting Higuain and Rugani/Caldara gone, I can't see us signing more than 1 more player this summer.


and:

Sarri doesn't seem to rate Baka or Drinks at all, so I imagine one, if not both, will go with a replacement comming in. One of Zappa or VicMo and Morata or Giroud should go, too.

I am mostly fine with this squad, except LB is a bit of an issue if neither pick up SarriBall soon.

This also gives us a year to find a Courtois replacement, which will be ok, better than buying a sub-par replacement, I guess.

Things don't look great, but Kante, Hazard and Courtois have yet to return.

We still need a Kante back up and we probably need to get a better LB as Alonso isn't good enough in this system.

We should go for Aaron Ramsey he has one year left on his contract. Kovacic would be the better option, but too expensive. We really need another CM to team up with jorginho and Kante. In fact i would like sell Baka and Drinkwater. Or maybe switch to 4-2-3-1 if no new CMs arrive. , i am huge fan of 4-3-3 but we don't have the CM qualities. For me Barkley is not a CM.

Alonso is so shit, turning into Ivanovic 2.0 during Mou last season.