McCormick

Agree with you in a way. Realistically only 1 player (arguably 2 in Barnes) has massively improved our starting xi, which is wild for an outlay of 150m. That’s short-term thinking though. It’s commendable and exciting that we’re building a squad that can compete now and in the future (without risking upsetting the harmony of the current team).

Or if he was the exact same player but playing for Brighton .

Permanent with no loan? Was (greedily) hoping we’d have a bit left over for a Todibo/Tapsoba/Andersen but it doesn’t look likely now. Still. Good news!

Can play as an 8 (lots of Chelsea fans saying that’s his best position) and a winger too. Love the versatility.

Very sensible signing if the price is all right.

Chilwell is one of the best left-backs in the world imo. If he gets anywhere near him then he’ll have done very well and the 30-35m is a no brainer. Definitely has a lot of talent though. We’ve seen with players like Lavia that if you get an underutilized youth player from a top, top academy then the upsides can be huge.

Better than Chilwell is a wild take tbf.

You don’t think so? He’s up there for me. I’d ask you to name 50 cm’s ahead of him but agreeing to disagree would just save us both some time .

Not sure why people are so down on this transfer. He’s one of the best midfielders in the Bundesliga.

Regardless of whether or not we’re overpaying here, casually throwing down 30m for an inexperienced 18 year-old is some big boy shit. Not many teams in world football can drop 70m on two young full-backs that won’t even play first-team. Quite the flex. We’re trying to secure the best young talent and are willing to pay if we think we’ve found it. Love it!

Oh okay! You liking my post and not saying anything had me spinning for a minute there .

is this aimed at me??

why does this keep being repeated? Besides maybe Isak, literally every signing came with zero surprises whatsoever.

Would be amazing if they just scrapped FFP all together leaving Chelsea with a bunch of players on 8 year contracts for no reason.

They’ll go for Tierney. I’m sure Emery was a big fan back in his Arsenal days and he usually goes for his former players.

Translation: “I won’t take a pay-cut”.

Loads of Milan fans in the comments watching our new boy in action helps, I imagine.

Yeah, yeah ffp and all that jazz but considering we spent 35m on a back up Rb, I do hope we go all-in on a worldie left-back.

I imagine they’re being “rested” for our game.

Also no point Ffp-wise to move him on so soon (at probably a loss as well).

Ouch.

Small matter of having 200m+ to play with this summer and I think JWP, Alvarez (who’s a bit meh but great physically) plus another is a very solid midfield. If they spend big on a striker and a winger then they haven’t got the worst squad. I think Villa will be an exciting watch but their injuries are killers for them; Torres is a fantastic ball-player but he’ll get murdered in that high-line. Watkins is good but goes through dry spells, Bailey isn’t great (they’ll have to use him after Buendia’s season-ender), besides Moreno their full-backs aren’t amazing and their midfield lacks bite. This is a very reactionary take, I’ll admit, and it obviously depends on how well West Ham spend.

Is there a hot take thread or something similar? Because I’ve got a searing one and don’t know where to put it. Neck on the line here but I’m convinced West Ham will finish above Villa.

Wouldn’t surprise me if we went for a short-term solution in getting a left-back this window and then go all in on a future superstar centre-back in the summer. Antonio Silva at Benfica comes to mind; would be super pricey, but we’ve shown that we can “overpay” for the right profile.

Tierney would be a fantastic addition imo.