Michael Tucker

Then it doesn't seem to be working 'clearly', does it? For the players I listed?

Mate, as I said, I picked the names at random from the club list. The question was simply "Are we buying players with the objective of selling them on at a profit, or are we buying them with expectations that they'll end up in our first team squad?" - given where most of these young guys end up, you'd have to guess that it the former.

I have just removed the latest round of political comments on here. This is not the place to air your political views, as has been stated many times before. If it should continue, those responsible will be banned from the site. No further warnings will be issued.

This.

Great post, Rob.

Ok. We bring young guys through, and we also buy young guys we think have potential. Do we also buy young guys with the objective of selling them on and making a quid? Names like Miazga, Hector, Kalas, Baker, Van Ginkel, Brown, Kenedy, the McEachran brothers, Zappacosta, and Sarr. I'd suggest (without trawling through the list of names) that there are plenty of examples.My question tbh, was really, is this the way all 'academies' work? Or are we an exception, driven by Roman's money?

I guess that's fairly obvious, but the real question surely has to be 'why we did?'. Most times I actually got to watch Piazon play, he looked pretty decent imo - certainly more promising than some of the deadwood that ended up wearing that shirt for our team.

Bakayoko is a Blue NEWSSAT 15 JUL 2017 Tiemoue Bakayoko is a Chelsea player having today completed a transfer from Monaco. Bakayoko, 22, is a tall, strong and quick central midfielder who was instrumental in Monaco’s Ligue 1 triumph last season, as well as their impressive run to the Champions League semi-finals. He recently made his debut for France in the same line-up as new team-mate N’Golo Kante, and is widely recognised as one of the best young central midfielders in European football. Bakayoko, who has signed a five-year contract and will wear the No.14 shirt, said: ‘I am very happy to be here and to join this great team. I have grown up watching Chelsea. Signing was the natural thing for me because it is a club I loved very much in my childhood. ‘I am now looking forward to evolving under this fantastic coach and alongside so many great team-mates.’ Technical director Michael Emenalo added: ‘Tiemoue was outstanding as Monaco emerged as one of Europe’s best sides last season and we are delighted to welcome him to Chelsea. ‘Despite his young age he already has plenty of experience as a French title winner and having competed in the latter stages of the Champions League, we believe he will add considerable quality to our squad.’ In possession, Bakayoko typically plays quickly and simply but has the ability to be more expansive if required, and is strong in a one-on-one situation. His physicality, awareness and timing in the tackle means he is superb at winning the ball back and harassing opponents into mistakes. In a tight central midfield two at Monaco he starred as they unexpectedly beat Paris St-Germain to the title and also reached the last four of the Champions League, knocking out Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund en route. Bakayoko scored the decisive goal in a thrilling two-legged tie against the Premier League side. Born in Paris, Bakayoko came through the Rennes academy in the north-west of France and made his senior debut in August 2013, a week after his 19th birthday. He signed for Monaco the following summer and made almost 100 appearances for the principality side during his three seasons there, scoring five goals.

Thank you RDCW, Brin, Nobly, The Ghost, Bob S, and all the rest! Good to be back!!

Hi Adam - good to be back, mate!

This. Whether he can, or not, is anybody's guess right now. He needs confidence (both in himself and in the defenders in front of him), and that may come from being taken out of the spotlight for a short while.

Mate, he can only do what he's given the opportunity to do. And from what I saw, he did it very well at Chelsea, and has clearly impressed Frank since. He's made it clear that one day, he wants a head coach role. Whether that will come, or indeed when and where, I have no idea. I can't judge Morris on what he did as a young man. He made mistakes, surely, but that was then, and this is now, and he seems from what I've seen of him, to have sorted himself out. None of us can know for sure, of course. Personally, I doubt that Frank's an idiot, or would knowingly let anything/anyone drag him down. If he believes in JM (which he certainly appears to) then until something else happens, that will do me :).

Then we'll have to agree to disagree. Jody has been Frank's assistant across 2 clubs now, which should tell us something. Jody isn't everybody's cup of tea (and there were times as a player, when he embarrassed himself), but he's done a pretty decent job at coaching, I would have thought. Let's not forget that he was successful as head coach of Chelsea's Academy sides from 2014 to 2018.

My guess is that if Frank wasn't happy with what Jodi was 'offering', then Jodi wouldn't be there.

Hello all! I'm back in gear after a few weeks in hospital. About 6 years ago, I had my left leg opened up, and half my big toe amputated. Had veins bypassed a stent put in. Came as quite a shock at the time! Anyway, the same thing happened with my right leg some weeks ago. So basically had the same procedure. This time though, I had to lose the complete big toe on the right foot, and a bit more. This past week I've been in an associated hospital doing physio and getting strength back. Now back home, and looking to put on weight and get walking. So, here I am. I've sent a message to the lovely Jane, and look forward to chatting with her some more! I appreciate very much that Jane started this thread, and all the comments that have been made. No, I didn't take off, or get sick of the joint - sorry! Anyway, I look forward to getting back into the swing of things. Cheers, all. MT.

Ben White, John Stones, Declan Rice, Kai Havertz, Dean Henderson, plus, the two we've already signed - would that be a great window?

This.

Well, I don't think that he's the one doing the convincing. But that aside, I'm sure that the club (Marina) is offering less than 80 mill. My point is simply that buying him (if indeed we do) doesn't change the dynamic of the other players we've been linked to. Roman is either in the game for those players, or he isn't. We'll see.

Why does it have to be 'instead of'? Maybe we'll see all of those, or most of them. From what I've read, Roman appears to be in the mood, so why not?

I don't. Very little, if any in fact - he's been regularly slaughtered on here virtually from day one. Maybe he deserves that, but I'm not sure that any player does tbh.

Particularly if he's in the habit of reading these forums! It's been brutal on here. Is he as bad as he's made out to be? Probably not, but each to his own as they say.

Sure. I'm not a huge fan, but the defenders in front of him aren't exactly covering themselves in glory, either.

Pretty much everything has opened up, or is about to. The governments (both state and federal) acted swiftly and decisively, and movements into the country, and between states were slowed to a trickle, if not ended completely. I think that the total number if deaths was restricted to around 100, and most of those came off cruise ships, I believe. Now of course, that doesn't mean that businesses didn't suffer, or that retail stores didn't close. They did - many permanently (I guess we'll see later how many the numbers actually are). There is significant unemployment of course, and I guess we'll see over the coming months how that is absorbed. The government has provided much needed financial support to businesses, families and individuals to get them through. Of course, that financial support means that government debt has gone through the roof. Where that leads us to down the line, is anybody's guess. None of which says that there won't/can't be a second wave, of course.

Just a couple of days now until the rugby league (NRL) season restarts here. The AFL (Aussie Rules) will restart a couple of weeks after that. Both codes (particularly NRL) have a lot more physical contact that football, so it'll be interesting to see what happens.

The players trained in groups of 5, I'm pretty sure. And from training I believe that they went their separate ways home. Can't see that there's a likelihood of widespread infection among the total playing group, tbh.