17 Apr 2018 23:12:20
Ed001, obviously our season hasn't gone as planned. A big reason, at least according to me, is our lack of a good partner to Kante in midfield. Bakayoko has struggled to settle down since about New Year's. He had some excellent performances earlier this season, but the bashing of fans and pundits seems to have destroyed his confidence. Hopefully he gets back to his good form after a summer of working on his game away from the spotlight.
Drinkwater's been a waste of money as he's been injured more often than not, and even when fit he hasn't been good enough.
Cesc just can't play in a midfield 2, and it hurts me to see him start every week.

So for this summer I really hope Chelsea target another CM. There are a couple that look really good, but haven't gotten the hype yet. That means that maybe we could get them for something like a reasonable price. Obviously I'd love a guy like Kovacic, Soler, Milinkovic-Savic or some other young star, but I don't see Chelsea getting involved in bidding wars for that type of player.
So here are a couple I wonder whether Chelsea has taken a look at or are interested in:

- Lucas Torreira: Napoli certainly interested. A young combative mid with good passing and technique.
- Emre Can: out of contract in the summer. And while I doubt he'd be interested in Chelsea over clubs like Juve I think he'd be a perfect partner to Kante. Tenacious and good on the ball, I really like him.
- Fabian Ruiz: enjoying his breakout season at Betis. A left footed midfielder with excellent technique (he's Spanish, so duh), good dribbling and looks quite happy to put in a shift defensively. I haven't seen a lot of hype surrounding him, so perhaps his price would still be reasonable.
- Morgan Sanson: he's having a pretty good season at Marseille. I know a lot was expected of him a couple of years ago, but then he had the bad injury. He seems to be back to his best form. Perhaps a bit more attack minded than the others, but I think he's a very interesting player.

So Ed001, do you know of any Chelsea interest in any of these (or other) CMs? I'd greatly appreciate it, as lord knows Chelsea needs another good CM (and they need to get rid of Fab and his wages) .

Furthermore, I hope life is treating you well, Ed. Wishing you all the best from afar!

{Ed001's Note - from what I have been told there is interest in Torreira, though it looks like he will be the subject of a bidding war.

Sanson is someone that club have looked at for a while but I don't believe he is seen as the one for this role.

I don't know regarding Ruiz.

As for Can, it is difficult to know yet, until Prem teams can make offers to him. I do know he has been told there are a number of Prem teams interested in him, but I do not know which ones. Though I am 99% sure one is Man City. He certainly believes so.

Seri, Kondogbia, Brozovic, Andre Gomez and Doucoure are all ones that have been looked at. Though I would not be surprised to see van Ginkel being finally given a chance, as the club wants to start making use of the players they have out on loan.}


1.) 18 Apr 2018
18 Apr 2018 06:34:08
Good day Ed; it could be Seri (the Ivorian) . Brozovic too isn't bad too if he comes in for Fabregas (cos he his younger, stronger than Fabregas and the game of a good creative central/ attacking midfielder- one that can play next to Kante) .

Ed; how true is the story of Seri waiting to know the manager will be next season before he can agree to a move to Chelsea?

Ed; does it mean that the club hasn't taken any look at Kovacic? He's such a good player.

{Ed001's Note - I don't know how true that is, perfectly possible though as he is looking to move, though I don't know of any current move agreed. He nearly moved in January to PSG but Ben Arfa, who was meant to go the other way in the deal, refused to consider any deal. I believe Ben Arfa was concerned about the quality of kebabs outside of Paris.... PSG still hold an interest in Seri though.

Madrid have a fair amount of interest in Kovacic to choose between, I believe Chelsea just do not want to get into a bidding war for him.}


2.) 18 Apr 2018
18 Apr 2018 06:47:45
Hi Ed;
* with these names that you listed- does it mean that some midfielder (s) will leave the club this summer?

* if YES, will it be Bakayoko and/ or Drinkwater?

{Ed001's Note - the club are certainly very open to offloading Drinkwater. He is seen as a huge recruiting mistake.}


3.) 18 Apr 2018
18 Apr 2018 07:07:45
Great input ED01 and really appreciated. Good to see a post from you Jackson as well, always a good read. I would like to see more of our loanees given a chance next Season and van Ginkle alongside Kante looks a good possibility.

{Ed001's Note - Chelsea have been looking into how to integrate them into the first team due to having so many move on and turn into players that should have been kept. So I would expect a number to actually get a chance over the next couple of seasons.}


4.) 18 Apr 2018
18 Apr 2018 07:33:31
That is good news as far as I'm concerned. Why keep paying out on bang average players when we have some very good loan players. I would like to see Kenedy given a chance as a forward as well rather than a wing back which was never his position.


5.) 18 Apr 2018
18 Apr 2018 13:23:42
Nzonzi would be great fit, depending on formation as he doesn’t really score or assist but can control a game.


6.) 18 Apr 2018
18 Apr 2018 20:30:05
Thank you for the reply, Ed :) I like the part about loanees perhaps being given more of a chance. The likes of Van Ginkel, Loftus-Cheek, Mount, Ampadu (not a loanee but a young guy), Sterling and Hudson-Odoi all quite clearly have the talent to play for the 1st team. So I wouldn't mind seeing those get a shot.
Either we buy top class talents/ players, or we use the talent we have on our books already. I just want us to stop buying average players like Drinkwater and Barkley. That's the type of acquisition we have to avoid. Ampadu could've gotten all of Drinky's minutes this season and we wouldn't be any worse off.

About Sanson, I figured he wouldn't be looked at for that role. A bit more attacking, but if we're moving to a midfield 3 perhaps he wouldn't be a bad buy at all.
Torreira appears to be a no go then, if there's going to be a bit of a bidding war. And on Can, his wage demands would probably be through the roof as well since he's on a free.

And Ed001, if you don't know Fabian Ruiz you should really try to catch a Betis game or two. He's looking like quite a fantastic midfielder. Reminds me a bit of a left footed Andre Gomes at Valencia.

{Ed001's Note - I do know who he is, I mean I don't know if Chelsea have interest on him. I will ask my parents to find out, they know some staff at Betis so might be able to find out something.}


7.) 18 Apr 2018
18 Apr 2018 21:53:46
Brilliant bit of info again Ed001 👌🏻.

{Ed001's Note - thank you.}


8.) 19 Apr 2018
18 Apr 2018 22:59:11
Haha okay, sorry about the faulty interpretation in my part.

And that'd be great! Even though Chelsea probably aren't interested, it'd be fun to know which clubs are.

{Ed001's Note - no worries mate, I should have made it clearer.}


9.) 19 Apr 2018
19 Apr 2018 06:26:23
Thanks Ed; for your response.

{Ed001's Note - welcome.}


10.) 19 Apr 2018
19 Apr 2018 06:41:49
This has been a good thread and indicitive of why I started coming on this site many moons ago. Great input from ED01.

{Ed001's Note - thank you.}


11.) 20 Apr 2018
20 Apr 2018 00:47:41
Lucas Torreira is indeed a good player.