Add Petrovic to your 11 signings (based on his Strasbourg results). He can save us lots of money with another goalie purchase and he looks darn good (way better than what we now have). We can't afford, player wise, to continue to sign youth. We need a couple proven vets to come in and add maturity to the field...To switch to another subject: what is going on with our training staff? How many hamstring injuries are we going to endure before we make some serious inquiries into our training methods.
Get a decent sporting director, which should have been Lampard.
What about Petr Cech would he come back?
I want someone who knows the club & can attract players.
Complete change of the buying policy.
I'm not interested in that 17 year old Portuguese kid from Lisbon.
Who cares who we beat in getting him!.
We now desperately need ready made players for here & now.
Aina on a free would be good.
There's are others out there.
Those two clowns W & S should be sacked asap. Neither had the credentials to build a title winning squad. Which was evident in their prior positions & CVs.
As for Summer 2024 signings
I'd keep Neto as I still think he'll get better.
Don't rate Guiu even at £7million.
Don't think he'll ever be good enough.
So it's a get rid of them all bar Neto from me!
Let's hope we may look to activate the clause and pay a fee to send Sancho back is true
You get the idea that Maresca is Eggbelly and the two sporting defector's first real choice as their manager, and therefore they will stick by him whatever happens. Pride cometh before a fall. Agree that they have done well in certain circumstances to identify some young talents, but when you look at the latest DM kid we've signed he is petulant, red card for dissent and makes mistakes on a regular basis leading to goal chances. Haven't we got enough of those types of players. There is no way any of the three of them should be running the club.
To be fair to Tommy T he made it clear from the moment he arrived that he didn't want to be involved in transfers and contracts, he just wanted to coach. The first thing the new owner did was take him away from his sex dungeon and involve him in transfers.
Do you really believe that Enzo has been a good signing? Flat track bully IMO, who fails to turn up for the big games. This weekend was the perfect example.
It's a difficult one as a lot of the players we have signed were not signed to be part of the first team right now & still haven't played for the first team yet but when you look at the signings made for the now it's not great at all, would say it's harsh to leave Noni out of the list of being a good signing - if he was made available I imagine every team in the league would try to snap him up - only turned 23 this month. I'd even argue Petrovic was a good signing, especially as he looks to be one of the best GKs in Europe right now. Fact is if a lot of our players were made available they wouldn't be short of suiters.
We've signed a lot of players but some of the ones the clubs most excited about haven't kicked a ball yet, if the likes of Estevao, Kendry, Penders, Quenda, Anselmino, Andrey etc - these COULD be absolute superstars and are relatively risk free signings at that age.
Could also argue the worst signings of the new ownership group are the more experienced ones, your Sterlings, Koulibalys, Sanchos, Felix, Disasi, Auba - whereas the best ones had no experience in Palmer, Jackson, Caicedo (to some extent), Gusto, Andrey etc.
It would be a lot easier to berate the ownership if they wasn't spending money or there was a big club like Chelsea that was getting their recruitment spot on. City's recent recruitment has been awful, Liverpool didn't sign a player last summer & are running down their best players contracts, have a very settled side, Arsenal have had a very settled side really, Spurs has been awful & Utds.... at least we're not in their position right now.
Sancho can beat his man all he wants with a skill, issue is he has no pace get away from them so then has to turn back all the time, he's never going to beat a full back for pace on the outside. Also never seen a winger so petrified to shoot, its bizarre.
You either need a winger with flair, power & pace to beat players or be effective in terms of numbers i.e a winger that gets in at the back post to score tap ins - Sancho does neither, he's pointless.
The incompetence and lack of understanding at the management level of the club is staggering. I have literally given up caring who we might buy or who we might sell.
There’s not a single signing from this summer I wouldn’t sell at the first opportunity to be honest. I really think it was the summer where we took 2 steps back and set ourselves up to continue backwards. Getting rid of Gallagher to bring in Dewsbury Hall and Felix alone is a sackable offence that immediately weakened the squad and the midfield. Messing up on the Olise signing, blaming it on the fees involved, and then coming back with Neto for 60 million for 3 goals this season whilst Olise may end up nominated for the Ballon D’or is another funny one that we will look back on for years. Finally, not getting serious about Osimhen until the final 12 hours of the window when he was waiting for us all summer and would’ve been the perfect alternative to Jackson this year (dominant in the air, great at running of the shoulder of defenders and finding space to make lots of chances for himself, very good hold up play and finishing).
I had a feeling this would be the case at the beginning of the season and now in hindsight, I’d say the feeling was correct. The league was there to be taken by whoever wanted it this season with how City have fallen off and how poor the quality of the other teams has been generally. The right summer window (ie bringing in Olise, Osimhen, keeping Gallagher and making another 1-2 good signings to strengthen the squad like a good GK) instead of the catastrophe that our SD’s oversaw probably sees us challenging for the league title right now and instead we look like we could miss out on CL qualification again.
The cherry on top from our summer was bringing in a Championship manager to oversee this “project”…
Luke an excellent article and one that is thought provoking. I agree with your sentiments almost 100%. The only comment I would make is that whilst some of the purchases are obviously not suitable for Chelsea I am not sure significant losses have been made with those players in the majority of instances(TTS purchases aside). Time will tell but I think in the majority of instances we will break even or make money on most of the purchases you have listed.
I exclude Disasi, KDH, Sanchez, Felix from this as I expect all of them will cost us money to sell them on. Possibly Nkunku as well.
Guiu and Penders were solid potential signings. Neto isnt bad but 60M for a rotational winger isnt good business.
Very rarely are demotions accepted in the real life business world. Once power and responsibility is given in a role, and someone hasn't performed, its best for all parties to part ways. Id rather part ways with the SD's, hire an experienced CEO ,and keep the structure around them whole like the scouts and Joe shields. You would retain a lot of the "skills" that were used to uncover the potential signings.
I enjoyed this article! I really don't understand how these SDs are still in a role! I work in finance and I know if we spent a £1bn and had the return Chelsea have, people would be shown the door....That's why I was happy to hear the Luis Campos rumours a few weeks back....I really wish the ownership showed some accountability and got rid of these guys.
You mentioned "finances aside". I do think the SDs think almost too much about the finances side of things. IMO with finances considered for just the most recent summer window:
Neto is a massive part of the problem. Firstly because of Mendes we had to also sign Joao Felix, but secondly he just is not any sort of goal threat, and indeed he only looks good in a counter attacking team, which is what Maresca hates. He's a dreadful fit for this system.
We took Felix instead of Samu. We took Kellyman instead of Duran. We picked Neto not Olise.
99% of Chelsea fans didn’t want Samu or Duran due to lack of experience and know how. I was one of them and I’m sure you was as well Mitch, hindsight is superb.
Don’t disagree regarding Mendes but that’s not Neto’s fault, we didn’t chose Neto over Olise the SDs cocked up the deal and Neto was our second option. Under different management which no doubt will happen at some point soon, Neto could flourish, as could a lot of players that don’t suit Maresca, it’s all ifs and buts at this stage.
I agree with you, Luke that most people on social media and even this site were not overly positive about Sami and Doran. I agree with you that the SDs have shown that they are decent talent spots and both the aforementioned have performed well this season so again their skill in that respect does not seem as bad as their overall inexperience of managing a process of this nature in a high-quality challenging football club.
I think fundamentally, we’ll never get a top sporting director or world class manager because it requires the ownership to relinquish some amount of control. Even if they did, replacing the SDs or implementing a large amount of change will never all get done in one time frame. They’ll always be uncertainty for the foreseeable future because they’ll never be a “right time”.
To answer the question, I have to agree that I wouldn’t refund Neto. Always such a hard worker on the pitch and seems passionate. Unfortunately looking back at our business from last summer, I didn’t quite realise truly how atrocious it was…
Add Petrovic to your 11 signings (based on his Strasbourg results). He can save us lots of money with another goalie purchase and he looks darn good (way better than what we now have). We can't afford, player wise, to continue to sign youth. We need a couple proven vets to come in and add maturity to the field...To switch to another subject: what is going on with our training staff? How many hamstring injuries are we going to endure before we make some serious inquiries into our training methods.
My answer would be C.
Get a decent sporting director, which should have been Lampard.
What about Petr Cech would he come back?
I want someone who knows the club & can attract players.
Complete change of the buying policy.
I'm not interested in that 17 year old Portuguese kid from Lisbon.
Who cares who we beat in getting him!.
We now desperately need ready made players for here & now.
Aina on a free would be good.
There's are others out there.
Those two clowns W & S should be sacked asap. Neither had the credentials to build a title winning squad. Which was evident in their prior positions & CVs.
As for Summer 2024 signings
I'd keep Neto as I still think he'll get better.
Don't rate Guiu even at £7million.
Don't think he'll ever be good enough.
So it's a get rid of them all bar Neto from me!
Let's hope we may look to activate the clause and pay a fee to send Sancho back is true
You get the idea that Maresca is Eggbelly and the two sporting defector's first real choice as their manager, and therefore they will stick by him whatever happens. Pride cometh before a fall. Agree that they have done well in certain circumstances to identify some young talents, but when you look at the latest DM kid we've signed he is petulant, red card for dissent and makes mistakes on a regular basis leading to goal chances. Haven't we got enough of those types of players. There is no way any of the three of them should be running the club.
To be fair to Tommy T he made it clear from the moment he arrived that he didn't want to be involved in transfers and contracts, he just wanted to coach. The first thing the new owner did was take him away from his sex dungeon and involve him in transfers.
Do you really believe that Enzo has been a good signing? Flat track bully IMO, who fails to turn up for the big games. This weekend was the perfect example.
It's a difficult one as a lot of the players we have signed were not signed to be part of the first team right now & still haven't played for the first team yet but when you look at the signings made for the now it's not great at all, would say it's harsh to leave Noni out of the list of being a good signing - if he was made available I imagine every team in the league would try to snap him up - only turned 23 this month. I'd even argue Petrovic was a good signing, especially as he looks to be one of the best GKs in Europe right now. Fact is if a lot of our players were made available they wouldn't be short of suiters.
We've signed a lot of players but some of the ones the clubs most excited about haven't kicked a ball yet, if the likes of Estevao, Kendry, Penders, Quenda, Anselmino, Andrey etc - these COULD be absolute superstars and are relatively risk free signings at that age.
Could also argue the worst signings of the new ownership group are the more experienced ones, your Sterlings, Koulibalys, Sanchos, Felix, Disasi, Auba - whereas the best ones had no experience in Palmer, Jackson, Caicedo (to some extent), Gusto, Andrey etc.
It would be a lot easier to berate the ownership if they wasn't spending money or there was a big club like Chelsea that was getting their recruitment spot on. City's recent recruitment has been awful, Liverpool didn't sign a player last summer & are running down their best players contracts, have a very settled side, Arsenal have had a very settled side really, Spurs has been awful & Utds.... at least we're not in their position right now.
It would be interesting to see the team speed stats to find out where he is placed but I take your point
Billy nailed it..
I would love to know why Sanchos is now frightened to take on players which after all is what he is paid to do?
Other than that great summnation.
Sancho can beat his man all he wants with a skill, issue is he has no pace get away from them so then has to turn back all the time, he's never going to beat a full back for pace on the outside. Also never seen a winger so petrified to shoot, its bizarre.
You either need a winger with flair, power & pace to beat players or be effective in terms of numbers i.e a winger that gets in at the back post to score tap ins - Sancho does neither, he's pointless.
Just a personal thing with Noni, I just dont rate him or his attitude really, good PL winger but not much more.
Not a fan either Luke.
Plus his attitude stinks.
All me, me ,me!
He'd be no loss... If we sign a winger who is direct & an upgrade on him
Yet towards the end of the season under Poch Luke, he actually began to look like a decent player as did Nico.
He is a decent player, but thats all he is. We need the X Factor from a winger and none of our current options provide that
Fair enough, defo a 60/70m winger in today's market though taking his age into account!
That’s incredibly kind, 45m at a push. Nico Williams is available for 50 something million and his levels above.
He’s demonstrably better than any other winger currently on our books
That says more about our standard of wingers than Noni’s ability, bang average.
The incompetence and lack of understanding at the management level of the club is staggering. I have literally given up caring who we might buy or who we might sell.
There’s not a single signing from this summer I wouldn’t sell at the first opportunity to be honest. I really think it was the summer where we took 2 steps back and set ourselves up to continue backwards. Getting rid of Gallagher to bring in Dewsbury Hall and Felix alone is a sackable offence that immediately weakened the squad and the midfield. Messing up on the Olise signing, blaming it on the fees involved, and then coming back with Neto for 60 million for 3 goals this season whilst Olise may end up nominated for the Ballon D’or is another funny one that we will look back on for years. Finally, not getting serious about Osimhen until the final 12 hours of the window when he was waiting for us all summer and would’ve been the perfect alternative to Jackson this year (dominant in the air, great at running of the shoulder of defenders and finding space to make lots of chances for himself, very good hold up play and finishing).
I had a feeling this would be the case at the beginning of the season and now in hindsight, I’d say the feeling was correct. The league was there to be taken by whoever wanted it this season with how City have fallen off and how poor the quality of the other teams has been generally. The right summer window (ie bringing in Olise, Osimhen, keeping Gallagher and making another 1-2 good signings to strengthen the squad like a good GK) instead of the catastrophe that our SD’s oversaw probably sees us challenging for the league title right now and instead we look like we could miss out on CL qualification again.
The cherry on top from our summer was bringing in a Championship manager to oversee this “project”…
Luke an excellent article and one that is thought provoking. I agree with your sentiments almost 100%. The only comment I would make is that whilst some of the purchases are obviously not suitable for Chelsea I am not sure significant losses have been made with those players in the majority of instances(TTS purchases aside). Time will tell but I think in the majority of instances we will break even or make money on most of the purchases you have listed.
I exclude Disasi, KDH, Sanchez, Felix from this as I expect all of them will cost us money to sell them on. Possibly Nkunku as well.
Probably Marc Cucurella
Guiu and Penders were solid potential signings. Neto isnt bad but 60M for a rotational winger isnt good business.
Very rarely are demotions accepted in the real life business world. Once power and responsibility is given in a role, and someone hasn't performed, its best for all parties to part ways. Id rather part ways with the SD's, hire an experienced CEO ,and keep the structure around them whole like the scouts and Joe shields. You would retain a lot of the "skills" that were used to uncover the potential signings.
I also don't think Maresca will be shown the door simply out of self preservation mode...which is a disgrace in it self
I enjoyed this article! I really don't understand how these SDs are still in a role! I work in finance and I know if we spent a £1bn and had the return Chelsea have, people would be shown the door....That's why I was happy to hear the Luis Campos rumours a few weeks back....I really wish the ownership showed some accountability and got rid of these guys.
You mentioned "finances aside". I do think the SDs think almost too much about the finances side of things. IMO with finances considered for just the most recent summer window:
Good (i.e. can easily sell right now for profit):
Renato Veiga
Marc Guiu
Tosin
Bad (i.e. looking like will likely take a loss)
Felix
KDH
Sancho
Jorgensen
Kellyman
Jury is Out/TBD
Neto (not worth 60m)
Penders
Anselmino
Amougou
Wiley
Yeah...not great.
Guiu. End of list. I would be happy selling every player on this squad besides Cole, Caicedo, and Acheampong at this point though.
Neto is a massive part of the problem. Firstly because of Mendes we had to also sign Joao Felix, but secondly he just is not any sort of goal threat, and indeed he only looks good in a counter attacking team, which is what Maresca hates. He's a dreadful fit for this system.
We took Felix instead of Samu. We took Kellyman instead of Duran. We picked Neto not Olise.
It is indefensible.
Not defending anything….
99% of Chelsea fans didn’t want Samu or Duran due to lack of experience and know how. I was one of them and I’m sure you was as well Mitch, hindsight is superb.
Don’t disagree regarding Mendes but that’s not Neto’s fault, we didn’t chose Neto over Olise the SDs cocked up the deal and Neto was our second option. Under different management which no doubt will happen at some point soon, Neto could flourish, as could a lot of players that don’t suit Maresca, it’s all ifs and buts at this stage.
Still remember the meltdown regarding Wharton too.... albeit, we don't need another midfielder right now.
I’m one of the 1% who wanted either Samu or Duran.
I vehemently opposed Felix and Dewsbury-Hall.
No hindsight needed from me.
Neto is simply not a goal threat and not worth more than £30m
If you are genuinely part of that 1% then fair play to your supreme talent ID Mitch
I agree with you, Luke that most people on social media and even this site were not overly positive about Sami and Doran. I agree with you that the SDs have shown that they are decent talent spots and both the aforementioned have performed well this season so again their skill in that respect does not seem as bad as their overall inexperience of managing a process of this nature in a high-quality challenging football club.
I think fundamentally, we’ll never get a top sporting director or world class manager because it requires the ownership to relinquish some amount of control. Even if they did, replacing the SDs or implementing a large amount of change will never all get done in one time frame. They’ll always be uncertainty for the foreseeable future because they’ll never be a “right time”.
To answer the question, I have to agree that I wouldn’t refund Neto. Always such a hard worker on the pitch and seems passionate. Unfortunately looking back at our business from last summer, I didn’t quite realise truly how atrocious it was…