Chelsea

[frank the tank]

I was advocating the signing just pointing it out. He was class in his day but it’s an odd signing given the pace of the premier league. I suspect he’ll play central in the back 3 where he won’t get dragged wife and exposed as much.

Tomori and Christiansen will learn from him but if Kepa is behind you it doesn’t matter

Good post

It will be interesting to see what formation they start to play. Lampard has changed a bit last season but for me, the best teams always tend to stick to the same formation and manage games accordingly.

You think a 3-4-3 formation? So Chilwell and possibly Azpilicueta as wing backs? Not sure they will be strong enough in the middle of the park then

[Irishnev]

Good post

It will be interesting to see what formation they start to play. Lampard has changed a bit last season but for me, the best teams always tend to stick to the same formation and manage games accordingly.

You think a 3-4-3 formation? So Chilwell and possibly Azpilicueta as wing backs? Not sure they will be strong enough in the middle of the park then

They were openly playing 3-4-3 for large parts of the season

Aspi - RCB, Silva - CB, Rudiger - LCB
James - RWB, Chilwell - LWB
Kovacic, Havertz and Kante as the middle 3
Werner + 1 up top

Pulisic, Ziyech, Giroud, Mount, CHO, Abraham, Jorginho, Barkley, Christiansen + more...... too lazy to type

Oh and possibly Oblak

[Exiled_red]

Signed Chilwell from Leicester for £45m

[BobTheCharmer]

They have done some very good business, to suggest otherwise is bollocks. Fee wise I don't think they've overpaid but possibly in wages.

[Mark79]

They’ve signed well, but they’ve spent freely too. They’re paying premium fees, which of course makes things much easier. There hasn’t been anything shrewd about their business.

[BobTheCharmer]

They’ve signed well, but they’ve spent freely too. They’re paying premium fees, which of course makes things much easier. There hasn’t been anything shrewd about their business.

Do you get more points if you're shrewd or have I missed something? If they sign Havertz for 80m that's excessive. But Chilwell is the going rate, lot less than maguire was. Werner wasn't expensive and I think klopp wanted him, just my view. Pulisic wasn't mad money either. Their wage bill must be extremely high though.

[Mark79]

Do you get more points if you're shrewd or have I missed something? If they sign Havertz for 80m that's excessive. But Chilwell is the going rate, lot less than maguire was. Werner wasn't expensive and I think klopp wanted him, just my view. Pulisic wasn't mad money either. Their wage bill must be extremely high though.

Did I suggest that you do? I just said that it’s relatively easy to make good signings when you’re not financially constrained.

£45 is still big money for a full back. Pulisic was signed for roughy the same as what we paid for Alisson, and he’s our second biggest signing ever. Pretty hefty price tag if you ask me.

[BobTheCharmer]

Did I suggest that you do? I just said that it’s relatively easy to make good signings when you’re not financially constrained.

£45 is still big money for a full back. Pulisic was signed for roughy the same as what we paid for Alisson, and he’s our second biggest signing ever. Pretty hefty price tag if you ask me.

Sorry my mistake I thought pulisic was about 40m.

[Mark79]

Sorry my mistake I thought pulisic was about 40m.

[dizzycat]

Be interesting to see how Lampard manages that squad. He has now got depth and options galore. If he is pragmatic, they could significantly improve, hopefully the dodgy keeper factor will hold them back

[labourRed]

They’ve signed well, but they’ve spent freely too. They’re paying premium fees, which of course makes things much easier. There hasn’t been anything shrewd about their business.

They've spent Morata and Hazard money and freed up wages elsewhere. Even if Havetz goes through they're on something like net even over 12 months.

It was the same with us and Alisson, Fabinho and Virgil. It pays off to reinvest well.

[Mark79]

They've spent Morata and Hazard money and freed up wages elsewhere. Even if Havetz goes through they're on something like net even over 12 months.

It was the same with us and Alisson, Fabinho and Virgil. It pays off to reinvest well.

They got about £150m for Hazard and Morata. They also spent £97m on Kovacic and Pulisic last summer. They’ve spent £130m this window, before Havertz.

Even with bonus money for Hazard from Real’s La Liga win, they’ve well exceeded the income for him and Morata.

Werner has reportedly come in on £270k a week. Hazard was on £200k pw. With him and all these other signings (Silva and Havertz still to come) there’s no way their wage bill hasn’t expanded massively.

[labourRed]

They got about £150m for Hazard and Morata. They also spent £97m on Kovacic and Pulisic last summer. They’ve spent £130m this window, before Havertz.

Even with bonus money for Hazard from Real’s La Liga win, they’ve well exceeded the income for him and Morata.

Werner has reportedly come in on £270k a week. Hazard was on £200k pw. With him and all these other signings (Silva and Havertz still to come) there’s no way their wage bill hasn’t expanded massively.

Up to £220 for Morata and Hazard though.

They also stockpile players, so have:
Pasalic £13m
Michael Hector £5m
David Luiz £8m
Tomas Kalas £8m
Ola Aina £8m

Not to mention how much they've recouped in loan fees in the past few years.

They've traded well, but we'll only know by how much next year.

[The_weatherman]

Seems like good purchases, but:

1. Might be difficult to gel all these players with such a short pre-season.
2. Might be hard on Mount, Tomori, Tammi, Hudson-Odoi, could see rough morale.
3. The wages could be a problem FFP wise next season if attendance stays low and the season is curtailed.

[frank the tank]

City have proved that FFP is a load of bollocks......wouldn't be surprised if Roman saw that and said "**** this......we go again"

Didn't Hudson Odoi wait and wait for something like 180k per week??? Jesus!!!