Chelsea Banter 2

10 Jul 2026 13:32:36
Hi Ed, hope your enjoying the silly season of transfer windows.

Just a couple of things, I don't think we need a lot of players, just on positions that seem obvious, do you expect Alonso to look at everyone before deciding who he wants and who to sell.
I would prefer to keep Trev and sell disasi, BB, tosin.

Also to me Stones should be worth a punt, i'd love us to sign him, experience, leadership, great ball playing CB.

{Ed001's Note - Alonso would certainly like to have a look at the squad in pre-season, but there are time constraints with so many away at the World Cup. I expect Disasi to leave, the Hammers are very keen to make his loan permanent.}

10 Jul 2026 07:39:11
{Ed's Note - WhyAreYouSoGoodBrian has posted a new article entitled, Rangers Fans Embrace a Purposeful Summer

09 Jul 2026 21:58:49
Is this World Cup corrupt? That VAR delay is so unfair. Do FIFA want them to beat France?

10 Jul 2026 09:36:53
I think FIFA would have wanted France - as the bigger and better for business team, and with Mbappe in the side - to beat Morocco? But perhaps the Ref/VAR officials, after the outrage over the decisions that went against Egypt in their game v Argentina, were under instructions to be less blatantly biased? As it is, Morocco may have had a point about Rabiot's handball in the lead-up to France's first goal, and there was also some controversy about the penalty awarded to France that Mbappe missed, given the defender got to the ball first - but to my mind the defender's trailing leg probably did trip Mbappe, though he may have been falling already.



Anyway, France won quite comfortably in the end, and surely deserved to given their dominance, goal efforts, and expected goals stats.

09 Jul 2026 09:28:31
Can't say i'm overly impressed with Xhaka in this game, he looks rather slow and ponderous both on and off the ball, not worth more than a token transfer fee and personally I think we should steer well clear if Sunderland want anymore than the £8 million offered.

09 Jul 2026 18:17:07
Must have been watching a different game - he was arguably Switzerland's best player.

10 Jul 2026 11:54:41
I thought he played pretty well too.

10 Jul 2026 20:46:11
His official rating against Colombia was 5.8.

10 Jul 2026 22:47:19
I thought he was bang average.

09 Jul 2026 09:13:38
He might be on his way but Enzo Fernandez take a bow my son, what a come back and well pleased for him. Great result and keeps my predictions on course. get in.

10 Jul 2026 09:38:45
Yes, a great goal and a great player for Chelsea. If he goes, it will be a bad blow for us.

09 Jul 2026 08:35:43
I know we in a World Cup year and it's still very early in the window and I shouldn't get my knickers in a twist, but I am disappointed that there seems to be virtually no mention of Badiashile, Tosin or Disasi sales. I'm only a fan giving my personal views but I would rather sell the likes of above plus Gusto than Santos or Chalaboa who in my opinion add something to the squad.

I guess these things have to be dealt with as they occur. Us fans are rarely, if ever, happy with transfer window outcomes.

09 Jul 2026 09:14:07
I wonder who is calling the shots on transfers. I thought it was Alonso, but it can't be, as he would not have had time to run the rule over Santos. Still, we have sick note Lavia.

09 Jul 2026 09:15:01
For what it's worth, this is my understanding of the CB outgoings...

West Ham are still trying to convince Disasi to sign with them. He's waiting on EPL interest, likes West Ham, but doesn't want to drop down to the Championship. I see him at Leeds or maybe Palace.

Chelsea are happy for Tosin to stay. He is the preferred option out of the backup CBs, owing to his leadership and ability to pass out from the back.

The club would be happy for Chalobah to stay, but he wants to start. The 'pure profit' makes a sale acceptable. He's waiting to see if Inter push through an agreeable deal, but they need to sell first. Como is his plan B.

Badiashille? We'll need to lower the asking price. I think, at best, it'll be a loan with an option.

If I'm a DoF somewhere, I'm not chucking any sum of my budget his way.

The club would love to sell Fofana, but his high wages and injury record make a deal near impossible. Now they're riding that they're happy for him to stay, but they don't have much choice beyond a loan and paying a significant percent of his wages.

As for Andrey Santos, £50m for a third, maybe fourth choice CM, is acceptable for me. I do think he's a good player, but he'd been sounding the club out that he wants to leave for regular starts since February. He thinks he'll get that at United, but I'm not sure. He wanted to go; the club didn't stand in his way when an acceptable offer was made.

09 Jul 2026 13:49:18
How many games will Lavia complete for us this season? Selling Santos looks like a very big mistake unless we are bringing in someone just as good or better at DM. This window is key to whether we can make top 4 again, let alone challenge for the title. So far, we have sold two of our most consistent performers, and in Santos someone who could become a huge star. If we sell Enzo F, all suspicions that BlueCo have turned us into a bottom-line trading company rather than wanting us to be a force again look persuasive, even if BlueCo would always argue that they want to achieve both.

Despite the fact that after 4 seasons of trying, we are in danger of just falling further behind our main rivals of recent times. Selling Santos to United, when they sold us Garnacho, could be a symbol of this!

09 Jul 2026 16:29:55
Forget Lavia. We couldn't sell him if we wanted to; his injury record makes him an unsellable asset. We're bringing in Barco, who I rate higher than Santos, certainly better from a progressive passing point of view. I suspect we will bring in another midfielder, whether Fernandez leaves or not.



Again, Santos wanted to leave - he made that clear for months. If a player wants to leave and a club meets their price, we should sell that player. That goes for Fernandez too, and anyone else in the squad.

09 Jul 2026 21:56:29
Well said, J. Santos wanted to leave Chelsea FC. I don't understand why any fan would want him to stay when he wants out. It is no different to managers, is it? Some fans wanted Maresca out when he wanted to leave, but want Santos to stay when Santos wants to leave.

10 Jul 2026 09:44:46
Maresca was on the phone with City and had all the 'game time' he could possibly want as coach/manager at CFC. Santos was given comparatively very little at CFC despite performing v well for us when he did, and yet wasn't seen - wrongly, in my opinion - as the obvious alternative future option to ever-injured Lavia.

OK, it may be that Barco proves to be better.

But he certainly did not do as well at Strasbourg as Santos had done, and Barco doing well at Strasbourg does not mean he will necessarily adapt well to EPL. We just have to hope he can and will, and there is certainly something about Barco to like and be hopeful about, though his last back-third decision-making not yet v sharp?

10 Jul 2026 11:11:58
Sorry, just meant final third of course, plus his long passing is a bit inaccurate -- but he spots and tries some good passes at times in and around the box, and if he improves on accuracy, could be a considerable asset.

09 Jul 2026 07:03:58.
Fabrizio Romano is reporting that Andrey Santos asked to leave Chelsea and wanted Man United, seen as perfect chapter for his career.

Two meetings with his agents took place in February and March, Man Utd to pay £48m plus £2m add ons with a 10% sell-on clause.



Chelsea's stance is, as always, if a player is not happy and wants to leave, then fine, they can go. The club only want players who want to represent the club.

09 Jul 2026 08:38:21
Rpd, I can't see him getting assurances at Utd about game time. I assume Alonso is ok with this, otherwise surely he would have intervened and had a word with Santos.

10 Jul 2026 11:16:29
You may be right, Tom, hope so. As it is, reckon United got Santos at a pretty low price, if certainly compared to some we've paid in recent times, including the combined £95 million for Garnacho and Gittens....

Though, yes of course I hoped - and still hope, if they stay, that both could come good for us. They have just shown relatively little so far compared to Santos, imho. (Yes, of course, in different positions.)

09 Jul 2026 02:06:44
Huge mistake selling Santos for under 50m, to United of all clubs. An absolutely top human being, who doesn't contribute to what was a very toxic culture we have in the squad. He had some MoM games last season and was barely given a run of games to build upon. He will slot in at United extremely well and I think we will regret it. In a world where Anderson sells for 120m, off the back of a couple of decent seasons (team was almost relegated), it doesn't take much to inflate value. I trust that Xabi will get the money to spend, however, I also expect this doesn't help Estevao continue to settle.

Can't even wish Andrey good luck as he's leaving as we decided to sell to a direct competitor. Hate absolutely everything about this bit of business.

09 Jul 2026 07:14:40
Melbourne, as previously posted, like you, I am not a fan of this deal. I assume alternatives will be signed, but I rated the lad.

I can't see him leaving having any effect on Estavao settling into the club. I think that will be down to Alonso, and maybe Pedro can help the young lad.

09 Jul 2026 08:33:50
We all see things differently in football, me and my 2 sons go to watch games and all think he's bang average.
That's why I personally see it as good business. Time will tell, I guess.

09 Jul 2026 12:21:28
Estevao had spoken a few times about how important Andrey and Joao were for him, and how he spent a lot of his free time with them. Having Joao's head turned by Barca, and Andrey leaving, certainly won't do much to help him settle. Andrey also spoke 4-5 languages, and I'm sure was a bit of help in that regard. It's easy to underestimate how difficult it is being in new countries, with no command of the language, for those that haven't experienced it.



Swcfc, throughout the season a few posters commented similarly, which is fair. He wasn't given a consistent run, and from his time in France he was clearly head and shoulders above when he was a mainstay. I believe the only midfielder who impacted games more during that year was Vitinha at PSG.

Personally, I believe this is one that will bite us hard. However, I also have huge faith in Xabi, so I trust a solution will be found.

09 Jul 2026 13:09:06
It's a tough one tbf. If Enzo was going, I think we'd have seen Santos stay (unless we bought Camavinga or someone similar). Atm, we have a very large squad, and no Europe, so it'll be tough for Santos to get game time. If we sign Barco as expected, I imagine he'll be cover for Santos. I imagine we'll see Essugo go out on loan after his injury-hit season last year.

Lavia, I don't imagine we'd be able to sell, even if we were willing, due to his injuries, which means Santos is the unfortunate one to miss out. I do think the club should have negotiated a bigger sell-on clause, though, and an extra 5-10m.

09 Jul 2026 13:29:58
My biggest issue is definitely with the fee. I understand players come and go for a variety of reasons. 50m for Santos to a direct rival in the same market, Fernandes sells for 85m from a relegated team, and Anderson sells for 120m for a team that was almost relegated, just leaves so much on the table.

09 Jul 2026 13:57:05
Agree with you, Melbourne. The point you are also implying strongly is that big ins and outs every single summer window since BlueCo took over can disrupt the building of support and solidarity in the squad, especially for younger players.

We also seem to be selling relatively better, less often injured players, while our squad's proportion of sick-bay regulars stays the same or grows. Alonso has quite a task on his hands to get us back to where we would like to be.

08 Jul 2026 19:53:10
£50 million for Andrey Santos is very good business by us.

08 Jul 2026 21:24:53
I am not so sure it's good business? I think he will become a quality player and one we regret selling.

I have no idea what we paid for him and part of me doesn't care. If we have made money or lost money it is secondary as far as I'm concerned.

08 Jul 2026 21:35:00
Hard to tell, but he wanted more football, so we cant knock him for that. Going off the market and Fernandes getting 85mill, we could of squeezed United for more, but I think the club done ok on the sale.

If he ever moved to Spain, etc, we could get another 10% so could end up being 60 or 70mill. Heaven knows, if he has 3 or 4 years and is sold in his peak at 26 ish, what hed be worth. The market is bonkers.

08 Jul 2026 21:47:53
Didn't get a consistent run of games, but I personally prefer him more than Fernandes.

He came to our club having been highly regarded at our sister club. If Utd sell him for a £100m, we get about another £5m, and that doesn't sound clever to me. Anyway, thanks for everything and goodbye.

09 Jul 2026 00:04:25
I think we have made a mistake in selling him. I think he was one of our better players last season, and is still very young and can become a great player. Easy to sell quality players like him and Cucurella, but will their replacements be better? Good business for BlueCo, but will it be for CFC fortunes on the pitch? We will see.

08 Jul 2026 18:59:54
£50m for Andrey Santos. Would rather not have sold to another EPL rival, but reasonably happy with the deal.

08 Jul 2026 21:21:32
Decent price for him - hard to say whether he's gonna go on to be top level, as he didn't get much of a chance last year - assume this means we will be looking to sign a cm, as we absolutely can't rely on Lavia or Essugo.

08 Jul 2026 21:15:57
ED01, what are your thoughts on us selling Santos? I think it is a mistake as he has huge potential and is it because Alonso wants a different profile?

{Ed001's Note - I think it is because you have a surfeit of that type of player, though I would not have chosen to let him go. Personally, I like him and would gladly take him at Liverpool, I even suggested him as a player I would try and get last summer. However, you have to trim your squad, that has to be someone that other teams want to sign, which means Santos.}