Chelsea Rumours Mobile

03 Nov 2026 08:55:50
Being a greedy fan I would like us to players for a few positions in the Jan window but if I had to pick one are it would be just one more midfielder. Although it goes against the grain I would go back in for the lad we missed out on in the last few seconds of the summer window.
I’m happy ish with our defensive cover. I can’t see us being able to sell Fofana or Gusto but for me they are now just squad players.
I would like another CF but they are like hens teeth and we haven’t seen enough of the lad from Strasbourg to make a judgement.

So, a CM is my priority what do you guys have as a single preference?

03 Nov 2026 09:21:51
Tom

I agree, midfielder should be a priority, a caveat to that would be that if Lavia could stay fit, that would not be priority. I think another experienced CB is needed, I can't stand seeing Fofana in a CFC shirt any more.

You mention Gusto and Fofana being squad players but I would also add Reece to that list and when you look at how much wages we could save if we sold them.

03 Nov 2026 09:37:44
Bill, I think James has played over 30 games per season for the last couple of seasons. His injury is unfortunate but when fit, I want him playing for Chelsea. Also, any savings in salary would be marginal as we would want to sign a replacement.

03 Nov 2026 09:55:50
I agree with you Bill, if Lavia stays fit another mega expensive midfielder is not a priority and we would have adequate cover in Barco and Henderson plus the brilliant academy players who keep making the bench.
The priority by a country mile is a world class centre half who can take us to the levels of Arsenal. A total no brainer for me.

03 Nov 2026 10:34:41
G8, i think we are well covered at CH when they are all fit. I also believe Josh will be a better CH than FB. Also, I thought Lacroix was meant to be that experienced CH.

03 Nov 2026 13:23:43
Tom

He was injured against United so who did we bring in, Fofana for goodness sake.

Because we seem to have so many injuries for a team who is not playing so many matches, we need somebody to come in who is not Fofana.

I would also say that for a team who are not playing many matches, the injury list is staggering.

03 Nov 2026 13:55:47
Bill, as I have said he could have played Josh at CH instead of Fofana and then we have Anselmino about to return to the squad and he is player I've been waiting to see play for ages. He hasn't played many games but he is fearless and in my opinion will become a fans favourite. A bit like Rudi but with a sat nav.

03 Nov 2026 15:45:40
Totally agree with you Bill, if we have to rely on Fofana as a back up centre half we are not competing at the levels I expect. Imagine if Levi or Josh picks up an injury? I repeat, a centre half is the priority for January.

03 Nov 2026 15:49:20
But he can't stay fit Tom and that is a worrying issue with several of our players and i'm not sure why that is the case because it is happening season after season.

03 Nov 2026 16:57:20
Bill, I am sure there is a league table of injuries. Since we restructured our medical department our total amount of injuries seem to have gone down but that may be my imagination.
I repeat we didn’t need to “rely” on Fofana, Josh could have gone into that position. That’s a managers call.

16 Oct 2026 10:41:29
I feel for Reece James, more surgery and another lengthy lay off but surely the time has come to move him on?
He is not up to the standard we require in midfield, he hasn't the legs anymore to perform as a wingback and will block Josh's progress if played as a right sided centre back.
I wish him a speedy recovery.

16 Oct 2026 12:28:16
I agree with everything you have said G8.

What is would say is that Reece needs to retire from international duty.

22 Oct 2026 10:09:21
Very sad indeed that Reece's injury woes continue and that he needs surgery.

Even sadder of course if this means Reece cannot continue to play a significant role as a RW at CFC - he would surely be v low in pecking order as a midfielder if only especially another is brought in whether eg Scott or Camara - but perhaps that is now the case. Could be that you are right though Bill and that if there is still a chance that he could he should retire from international dutyand his game time be carefully managed - but G8 point taken about quite where he would play and/or be a starter.

Can only also wish Reece well of course. His skill and game vision when at his best has been wonderful to watch.

15 Oct 2026 11:07:26
Having watched a few of the Manchester teams games this season we did rather well taking over £200 million off of them for Mount, Santos and Enzo Fernandez.

15 Oct 2026 17:40:36
Early days for two of them.

15 Oct 2026 22:37:01
True Tom, and I remember you are a huge fan of them so you maybe right.

16 Oct 2026 09:41:23
It's a shame how it has turned out for Mount with all of his injuries but you could see tgat hapoening whilst he was with us.

Santos should have gone to a club like Brighton and Bournemouth in order to cement his career.

EF, is a big miss however like Maresca, he wanted to leave and I have no doubt that there were several discussions on this prior to Maresca walking out on us.

07 Oct 2026 21:13:20
Update on sporting director Laurence Stewart leaving apparently on excellent terms and sources say he maintains a great relationship with Behdad Eghbali

🔹 Xabi Alonso's arrival and appointment as 'manager' rather than 'head coach' provided a natural opportunity for Chelses to alter sporting leadership team

🔹 Sam Jewell and Joe Shields to take up more responsibility alongside Paul Winstanley, but no 'senior' sporting director

🔹 There has been significant investment in data and analytics and its role in player recruitment - areas which Jewell and Shields are responsible for

🔹 Winstanley's role focuses more on transfer negotiations, contracts and various different teams (medical, performance, player support etc) within the club

🔹 Dave Fallows to continue in flexible advisory role, usually away from Cobham

The summer reset was much needed.

07 Oct 2026 09:44:14
Clearlake making some big calls now Todd has left, Sporting director Laurence Stewart is leaving the club
with Sam Jewell and Joe Shields to assume more responsibility, and planning applications are going into the local council to redevelop Cobham.
Next step SB?

11 Sep 2026 22:46:42
So it appears Enzo Fernandez was putting in transfer requests. how on earth can any fan justify him being sold? it is EXACTLY the same as Enzo Maresca who quite rightly gets pelters from us fans.

12 Sep 2026 14:49:09
tbf greeny, you were all for Maresca before the truth came out... and on Enzo F, not seen many complaining he was sold... The lack of replacement, however, is a fair complaint.

13 Sep 2026 17:54:31
BlueKaz98, Kazblue1, how many more names do you have?

13 Sep 2026 20:57:30
You've missed just simply BlueKaz from the days before logins were even a thing, and we just signed off our names on posts to identify ourselves.... Keep up, Greeny.

13 Sep 2026 22:34:49
Kaz, the whole site knows your real name is King Frank. Try posting as yourself.

13 Sep 2026 21:39:13
As long as we try to show respect and the post passes the Ed's scrutiny, who cares what name or names people choose to use.

14 Sep 2026 15:20:00
King Frank, that's a good one, Greeny - better than your usual tantrum posts.

14 Sep 2026 18:09:44
If you say so, Frank, AKA various blends of Kaz.

11 Sep 2026 15:02:55
Todd B is on the brink of a Chelsea exit after agreeing to sell his shares.

The American and colleagues Mark Walter and Hansjorg Wyss are set to flog their 38.5 per cent share in the club to Clearlake Capital for a small profit.

Good news?

11 Sep 2026 15:55:01
I hope Clearlake turn out to be good owners. It will be interesting to see what the share sale values the club at.

01 Sep 2026 23:25:45
And deal fell through.

Monaco pulled the plug.

02 Sep 2026 02:41:37
Very, very bad news. Why did this happen... Why did we leave it so late to try to do the deal? Left us so thin in midfield.

02 Sep 2026 08:40:30
I just can't work out why clubs leave it so late, you leave yourselves open to a problem like this which can't be rectified.
I think it's unprofessional to leave it so late.

02 Sep 2026 09:04:58
I think we needed to make sure the Fernandez deal was happening first.

02 Sep 2026 09:55:41
Yes, but everyone knew Fernandez was going to City weeks ago, so surely we should have sorted everything out for a replacement weeks ago, subject to the sale of Enzo.

02 Sep 2026 10:29:55
Agree with you, swcfc.

02 Sep 2026 15:19:20
Chelsea Football Club's stance was clear. The fee for Fernandez was a minimum of £120m. We had no control or absolute certainty that City were prepared to make that sort of offer.

I personally didn't care if EF ever played for us again, but the club and manager played him against Fulham, so they were happy to keep him.

02 Sep 2026 17:42:34
Yes, but my point is we could have had a replacement lined up, subject to Enzo leaving.
I'm led to believe this happens often in football transfers.

City's tactics were obvious here, they wanted the player and left it to the last minute, making it difficult for a competitor to get a replacement. We should have been better prepared, in my opinion.

02 Sep 2026 18:05:44
Swcfc, I think we tried to get players lined up in case Fernandez was sold. Club transfers are not a static thing, and I personally believe it's hard to imagine a club with a top player letting us have a guaranteed option to buy that player but only if we sell our player.

If that makes sense?

My guess is we will make a stop-gap signing and then look at the market in January. I personally would like us to still sign Camara but I would be reluctant (for no real reason) to do Monaco a favour.

01 Sep 2026 21:40:52
Strong rumour that we have just signed Camara on 6 yr deal for 47 million. Much hope it's true.

01 Sep 2026 10:05:55
It’s going to be a very busy transfer day today.

Guiu to Leipzig
Tosin to Spurs
Mudryk to Spurs loan
Sanchez to Como loan
Fernandez to City

Any other news?

01 Sep 2026 10:45:28
Kone coming in, Gittens going out on loan to Roma as part of the deal.

01 Sep 2026 11:37:45
Now seems Essugo loan deal at Hull is off -- a pity, you'd think.

01 Sep 2026 11:35:18
Is that confirmed now about Gittens and KOne CFC1221?

swcfc thanks for that list but had thought - hoped - that Sanchez was a sale to Como? Disappointing if only a loan. But yes a very busy day already it seems. Obviously don't like doing any business with Spurs but given De Zerbi mamaged Mudryk at Shaktar Donetsk and got him to the standard where we were compeating with Arsenal to sign him it could be the right move for the las. Gather Spurs will have an option to buy for 75 million?

Just hope we can get both Kone and Camara deals done if EF to City one is. Essugo rumoutred to be goinng on loan to Hull which at 21 might be a good loan for him and they have made a good start.

01 Sep 2026 13:04:51
The Kone deal appears to be off at the moment, JBS, but there's still a few hours to go, so who knows for sure!

01 Sep 2026 16:45:59
Thanks CFC1221, presumably Fernandez deal has to be certain before any midfielder incoming is possible. But a tense finale to deadline day seems quite likely.

01 Sep 2026 17:00:28
Jacob Steinberg at The Guardian just confirmed Fernandez for £125 million. No word on incomings - none of Roma, Monaco or Bournemouth want to sell.

01 Sep 2026 17:02:48
Fernandez to City, that should have read. He's not signing for the Guardian.

01 Sep 2026 17:15:35
Kone and Camara apparently both deemed too expensive, currently. Somewhat ironic, given the amounts we've been splashing around in the last few years on players we don't necessarily need, that now we need a midfielder to come in, we're griping. But, perhaps, our financial position is not as rosy as the spending we've undertaken thus far this window suggests. Philippe Auclair suggested recently that it's actually perilous enough that he sees it becoming an issue us fans notice, and, perhaps, feel the effects of, over the course of this season.



Kone looked very good to me at the World Cup, which is all I've seen of him, but, obviously, that's not the best yardstick for the PL, as players tend to get a lot more time and space in international football (see also: Enzo Fernandez). I have seen nothing of Camara, but lots of people who have (Tom's mate included) thought it would be a very good deal at the purported price, which Monaco obviously have decided as well.

01 Sep 2026 17:57:59
Although dont care about Enzo Fernandez leaving, as dont see where he fits under Alonso and fee is good (plus never warmed to him as a person after that racist nonsense). Worrying if we dont sign a midfielder.

01 Sep 2026 18:07:29
Agree, Kaz. Apparently, the Camara deal broke down over agents inserting themselves into the process on both sides and trying to inflate the fee to get a piece of the action. Not sure how reliable that is as info.

01 Sep 2026 18:17:51
Very worrying indeed if we can't bring in either Kone or Camara, given Lavia's and James' injury histories, plus Caicedo's recent injury. We all saw how we had absolutely no midfield control v either Fulham or, even more so, Brighton. And we have Arsenal on Sunday.

01 Sep 2026 21:41:17
Camara incoming.