2023/2024 English Premier League Thread

[nixon45]

Pshh only like £230 million for two players in midfield. No big deal I guess. Then we slap a bargain bin gk in there lol Sanchez was so close to disaster several times today. Who thought we would have felt better with Kepa between the sticks. Have to address this now that Caicedo is done.

I'm just happy the saga is over that #### was so frustrating.

[Slava]

Lol, yeah, poor Chelsea fans. Hopefully you guys managed through that ordeal, or the other $900m in spending.

I think that CFC was fined about $8m for FFP violations under Roman a couple weeks ago. That's obviously crippling, after you've managed to have that pesky little $1.5b loan waived. It's just plain farcical. I always hope that Chelsea fails miserably, but seeing these ridiculous things play out only makes me want that more.

[The Big Chill]

Haha ya, Chelsea fans have become accustomed to a signing every day or two, so it’s now frustrating when one takes almost a week.

Lots of reports that Lavia is next for them at another 50+ mil.

[devo22]

poor Chelsea fans, I'm sure that was an agonizing wait. Some fanbases just have it tough.

Not sure why Lavia would want to join. They paid, what, 220m or so on Caicedo and Enzo now? As a defensive mid, that's not exactly enticing right now. Sure, it's London and Boehly will give you a 10 year contract, but still.

[Barnet Flame]

Originally Posted by nixon45

Pshh only like £230 million for two players in midfield. No big deal I guess. Then we slap a bargain bin gk in there lol Sanchez was so close to disaster several times today. Who thought we would have felt better with Kepa between the sticks. Have to address this now that Caicedo is done.

I'm just happy the saga is over that #### was so frustrating.

Is this satire?

[devo22]

just to add to all of this, it's kind of hard to point the finger at the Saudis when you have European clubs like Chelsea who are destroying the market from within. I'm not going to defend the Saudis at all, I think it's despicable that so many high-profile players bend the knee for a murderous regime with a horrific human rights record. But from a pure football perspective, Chelsea is pure poison for the market. Shelling out ~850m in a year (!) is crazy enough, handing out 8 year contracts and gaming the system with amortisation games is just bat#### crazy.

I hope they continue to fail miserably and I'm sure 99% of football fans, no matter who they support, will feel the same. Sadly, if you burn that much money, you'll eventually end up with a strong XI.

[Slava]

Now Chelsea supposedly has a deal in the works for Olise for £45m. I'm surprised that players are still interested in going there. I know it's money, but they're are so many players, that a lot of these guys aren't going to be seeing any time?

[The Big Chill]

Big news for Chelsea fans today, their transfer frustrations can be put to ease for today as they have apparently won the race to sign Lavia for 50 mil plus add-ons.

[devo22]

apart from Ridiculous FC burning another 50m, Lavia is an idiot for going there. They just signed Enzo and Caicedo for a combined quarter billion, like how much does he expect to play there? Cushy 8 year contract is one thing, but "next step in my career" my ass.

[The Big Chill]

Chelsea were the only club who agreed a fee though it seems, so his choice was Chelsea or stay in the Championship. We are seeing many players choose money over smart career choices lately.

[Spurs]

This move is puzzling for the player and the club as well. I guess for Chelsea if there is no care about money than who cares but they seem to have done enough to shore up the midfield that this seems like overkill.

For Lavia it is really puzzling go to Chelsea to clearly be a back-up when you could have gone to Liverpool as a starter makes little sense to me. Maybe the wages are big enough to make a difference but in terms of team success hard to say Chelsea is even equal with Liverpool in terms of likelihood to win or compete for the next 5 years.

i could be missing something but starting for Liverpool, as unlikable as they are a club and fanbase, seems much more appealing than sitting on the bench for Chelsea.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Rumour was Chelsea were offering double the wages that Liverpool were for Caicedo, so if the same holds true for Lavia then how is he going to say no? For a still mostly unproven player the chance to make double probably outweighs what is "better for his career", especially if it's a stupid 8 year contract. If he flops at Liverpool he loses millions, if he's a bench warmer at Chelsea, which is pretty much a flop, he still gets paid.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Rumour was Chelsea were offering double the wages that Liverpool were for Caicedo, so if the same holds true for Lavia then how is he going to say no? For a still mostly unproven player the chance to make double probably outweighs what is "better for his career", especially if it's a stupid 8 year contract. If he flops at Liverpool he loses millions, if he's a bench warmer at Chelsea, which is pretty much a flop, he still gets paid.

Pretty much this.

[Bagor]

That's an unbelievable non penalty call by VAR.

Clear and obvious foul.
Went for the ball. Missed it and took the player out.

[cam_wmh]

Yup, should’ve been a tie and considering the previous 90 a deserved point for Wolves.

[Slava]

I suppose worst case, Chelsea just unloads all the chumps to the Saudis. It's gross, and everyone knows what is happening, but it's what they've been able to do so far.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Well then lol

https://twitter.com/user/status/1691511518825725952

[devo22]

"important squad member" lol ... yeah, sure. Meanwhile, his stance is he's settled and happy at the club, and reports of him joining West Ham were premature.

Translation: he wanted a significant payoff from United, given that he was to take a paycut at West Ham. United didn't want to pay him that much, and West Ham eventually got fed up with the lack of progress and pulled the plug. In the end, everybody loses. United can't shift a player that's no longer needed, Maguire will be Uniteds 4th choice CB at best and might have to kiss the Euros goodbye (maybe, who knows with Southgate). ####ing sucks all around.

[Matty81]

Pure allegation at this stage but rumor isthat Palace and Chelsea were really locked in a battle over where Michael Olise would play this year both trying to convince him and there are some allegations circulating now that Chelsea may have paid something to Olise's parents to try and influence him - fwiw his brother is already in the Chelsea academy.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footb...elsea-30712168

May be just rumor but would love nothing more than for the dirtbags to get reported and heavily fined if true. Seems like FFP does absolutely nothing to deter them. Getting tired of them overpaying/buying everybody haphazardly and the sheer number of youth international players whose careers they have stunted. Honestly don't know why young players are still going there but I guess money talks. Olise 100% should have stayed at palace another year, he was really about to emerge as a star and get a ton of playing time and service with Zaha having left, instead he will probably take a step backwards and play half the minutes like what just happened to Conor Gallagher.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by Slava

Maybe I'm easily impressed. But I was pleased to see an entirely new system implemented pretty well, and a pressing and attacking style again. Of course there are issues. It's the first game of the season and we just sold our best player yesterday. But Brentford is tough at home. They slow things down and try to counter, which makes life harder for a team like Tottenham.

I was as well

The system you can see in place already, it probably takes awhile until it becomes stronger defensively, but the pressing is gonna really pay off. Reminds me of early poch spurs or early klopp liverpool. There will definitely be goals both ways first half of the season

Bissouma was great as well, 1 game shows how criminal it was how conte handled him last year. 12 months ago he was the most highly thought of cm at Brighton and conte's fossil football made him look bad.

Maddison and udogie looked really exciting

This season imo is just about implementing Ange ball, no expectations