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Beginning of September by the looks of it Mikus. Yeah Rashford just isn’t a number 9. It’s doubly bad as well because putting him up top means we lose his danger from the left.

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Richarlison was embarrassing Chucky trying to win a pen when Martinez went up against him. Onana rightly telling Varane to leave him on the floor. Bruno with probably the best chance of the game with the header. He has to score there.

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Hats off to Brighton and De Zerbi. Sell their best 2 players and have blown 2 teams aways in their first two games. De Zerbi is going to be very much in demand the next time a big job comes up.

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I wonder if there’ll be pundits talking all week about that injustice in the same way they have been about the Wolves one. I very much doubt it 😄

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Tugay, that’s exactly why the strategy has been about offering long term but, generally, low base salaries which are heavily incentivised. So the idea is to ensure they’re still young enough and of a low enough salary to keep them attractive enough on the market should they not make the grade after 2 or 3 seasons. Usually by that time, you’d expect to at least recoup the remaining book value of a player who may have, say, 5 of their 8 years left. Largely because you’ve not given them a huge salary, instead securing their long term future by offering a longer deal.

Take Mudryk for example. After 3 years of amortisation of his 8 year contract, you’re probably going to be able to recoup the remaining £50-£60mil if he doesn’t quite cut it. So, it’s unlikely to be a long term burden unless you’ve massively miscalculated the future ability of lots of players. Some will cut it and some won’t. The ones who do will likely finance the shortfall of the ones who don’t.

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I, too, have no doubt Boehly knows what he’s doing Lucky. Unlike others, I don’t have a problem either with the so called “loophole” of amortising deals over longer contracts to ease the FFP burden. For one, I don’t understand why it’s referred to as a loophole. Who ever told anyone there was a limit to how many years contract you could give a player? There’s a huge risk involved in stockpiling players on long contracts (albeit the wages are generally at a level where they’re still sellable). You’re taking a massive risk where you’re betting on the future ability of a lot of young players. If it pays off, you’re fine. If not, it could get tricky. You’re just simply balancing risk and reward, as every club should be entitled to do.

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Young_blue, you must be on the wind up if you think there would be the same ffp discussions whether Chelsea or Liverpool had bought Caicedo for £115mil. It’s not the Caicedo fee alone people are questioning. That was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. That and the Lavia deal takes Chelsea’s spending under Boehly to approaching a billion pounds in 3 windows, spending which football has never before seen. It’s blindingly obvious that Liverpool buying Caicedo for the same amount wouldn’t have got people bringing up FFP in the same way.

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“Only the home team has that honour” I wish! We couldn’t get a penalty to save our lives last season. Nobody had fewer than us. City had the most, 3 times as many as us.

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Really good summary from the Athletic on Chelsea’s spending and FFP. Basically, the key is to hoover up the young talent like City and Chelsea do for their academies and then use the academies primarily as a revenue stream. Explains also why both clubs have been accused of paying parents illegally to get young academy players to their clubs. If you can get a steady stream of academy player sales, you can spend loads without FFP being a problem.

https://theathletic.com/4775684/2023/08/15/chelsea-spending-money-ffp?source=user-shared-article

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I think so Lucky. I think the plan was that Mount would basically replace Eriksen next to Case but push up as an extra 10 depending on opposition and flow of the game. Ten Hag has experimented a lot last season with this 3-1-6 which he used at times at Ajax which would see Mount as one of the 6 attacking players. We played with quite a few different formations last season. Mount’s versatility (as well as his energy) is a big part of the reason he wanted him I suppose.

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Yeah Tonali looks quality. Newcastle are going to be a real threat to the teams chasing top 4 this season.

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Eriksen won’t be starting many games Lucky. He showed last season that his legs have gone and won’t be playing 90mins regularly. Certainly not alongside Casemiro in the middle where we need more energy. I think he’ll come in for Bruno when Bruno needs a rest. Would not surprise me to see some variation of what you suggest but with a different midfielder alongside Case. Amrabat possibly? Although, Mount won’t go on the left I don’t think simply because Rashford is at his best there. Rashford can’t play as the 9, hence the need for Hojlund.

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Yeah I’m not convinced by Pavard Lucky. We’ve been burnt by buying Bayern’s castoffs previously in Hargreaves and Schweinsteiger.

Mikus, that’s it 😄. Going to Spurs at the weekend is not an ideal match to get back on track.

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Yeah that’s it Lucky. He’s one of those, a bit like Jordan Henderson, IMO where top managers seem to rate him but he often divides opinion amongst the fans. Clearly, Arteta, Klopp and Ten Hag all wanting him means there’s a top player there. Very early days anyway. I won’t be judging us just yet.

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Still a bit confused about Mount to be honest. Never rated him at Chelsea and I didn’t understand why we signed him. Too early really to judge but I hope I’m wrong. A lot of top managers seem to rate him so I hope I’m proven wrong.

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Yeah could have easily been a pen that. Got away with one there.

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Utd look all over the place tonight. Really poor. Can’t say I’m too confident about top 4 on tonight’s showing.

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You can’t say Chelsea weren’t in the equation Sean. They tried to sign him from Southampton last summer, in fairness. I’m sure they’ve been tracking him for a long time. That’s not to say it’s not an embarrassing turn of events for Liverpool but this isn’t a case of Chelsea just taking players to stop Liverpool getting their hands on them as it seems to sometimes be made out.

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Well that was that!

🚨 Romeo Lavia has chosen to join Chelsea from Southampton. Liverpool were pursuing but are aware of decision. #CFC & #SaintsFC have good relations, so no issues expected on deal or personal terms. Fee likely to be around £50m + add-ons @TheAthleticFC #LFC https://t.co/EjmFknCViS

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) August 14, 2023

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Over to you Chelsea 😄. Poor Klopp will be absolutely fuming if Chelsea get Lavia too!

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