Chelsea Want 5 MORE PLAYERS - Our Thoughts! | The Talking Point

Welcome back to The Talking Point, ladies and gentlemen, the show that brings you guys into the studio. We are very, very lucky. Joining me and Sam today is none other than Chelsea fan and wonderful person, Elizabeth. How are you doing? What an intro, right? How are you doing, Elizabeth? What an intro, honestly. Thank you so much, Zach and Sam. It's an honour to be here and I'm excited to talk some Chelsea with you guys. Amazing, amazing. Thank you for joining us. Indeed, we are talking about Chelsea. Not a week goes by in this Transylvania without talking about them about five different times and we've got five different players to look at. Yeah, no, it was good. That was good. Thank you very much. Yeah, look, Chelsea's Transylvania has been crazy. We've seen them signing forwards, defenders, but no midfielders unless you count Andre Santos, who at one point was playing centre-back for Brazil in the under-21s. But he's looking good, though. He does look good. He's looking good, bagging goals, leadership as well. I've seen a few team talks, so now I'm excited about that one. Good, good. Well, let's get on to it then because I'm quickly going to name the five players that Chelsea have been linked to and have been rumoured to have approached, in fact, and we'll then go into them and dissect it. What transfer we do like, what transfer we think will happen and what may just be a bunch of rubbish. But our first one is Enzo Fernandes. We've spoken about him a bunch. We've got Caicedo from Brighton, Onana at Everton, the central midfielders. Winger is, in fact, Gordon. Chelsea are supposedly back in for him. And a right-back, Leon's Gusto. So let's kick it off with the midfielders, Sam. Let's dive straight into it. Enzo Fernandes, do we feel like this transfer has some legitimacy behind it? And also, it felt like it was done. It felt like it was done. So it felt like it was done because obviously Chelsea went in and they knew the price that Enfica wanted. We wasn't trying to match that. And then they kind of felt disrespected because we turned Enzo's head and I think there was a few noises around him wanting the move and them not wanting him to leave because they're so close to winning the league title over there. But now I think the conversation is us actually trying to meet the release clause. And obviously, we've seen, we're going to go into it later, but we've seen the structure that we have with a lot of the new signings in terms of how we're paying off the fee. And because of that structure, I'm actually quite keen on it now. I'm quite keen on, you know, I've seen a few clips of him recently as well. He looks like he's not been really phased by all the noise around him. He's performing really well. And also, like every Chelsea fan knows and has said every time we mentioned that we need any other player, they always say we need a new midfield. Whether it means Kovacic, Jorginho, Kante, whether they stay beyond their contracts or whatever, but they're saying we need to freshen it up a little bit. And I think Enzo would be the perfect player. He's young, he attacks, he can defend really well as well. And he seems like one of those players that will almost, he is young, but he's got that maturity to his game. And I think that that would be an exciting signing. A signing that will excite Chelsea fans as well. Well, to have won the World Cup at that age already is definitely some feat. Elizabeth, Sam mentioned the midfield there. How important is it for Chelsea to have this revamped midfield for the future of the club? It's really important because we're seeing that N'Golo Kante can't stay fit at the moment. And even if he's back to full fitness, I don't think that he's ever going to be back to the level that we're used to seeing him at. Maybe you have to pick and choose the games that you get from him, maybe 10, 15 games a season. Jorginho seems to be on his way out at the end of the season. His contract is over. Kovacic has another year left on his contract. And we are seeing that there's so many games in the season. There's so many competitions that you really need to have rotation. You need to have depth in that squad. And we're playing the same players consistently because we just don't have any other options in there. So I think it's so important that Chelsea address this, if not in this January transfer window, then definitely in the summer. Well, another player, Elizabeth, that was actually mentioned was Brighton's Caicedo. Obviously, the first guy at the beginning of the transfer window was all about Fernandes. And it came out, it felt like Benfica were done with the move. It wasn't going to happen. Caicedo rumours started popping up. He, in fact, recently has said that he's very focused on Brighton. That's where he is. Are you though? That's the real question. Would you be forced to say that? Fees of upwards to £70 million are being spoken about him. How do you feel about Caicedo? Do you think he could fit into that midfield for Chelsea? Is it maybe a little bit too much money or is that because it's a January window? He's a key player at Brighton and Brighton are hard people to bargain with. Yeah, that's the thing that no club really wants to lose some key players in January. They just lost Trosser to Arsenal as well. And Brighton and Chelsea have done quite a couple of deals in the past. So they got 60 million for Cucorrea. So they're going to know that they could get at least that for Caicedo. But I do think that it's an interesting profile and definitely the type of player that we should be looking at. He's really a box to box midfielder, really reminds me a bit of N'Golo Kante covering all ground on the pitch. He's very defensively minded. He's a good tackler. He wins the ball back high up on the pitch in dangerous areas. And he also is very good at positioning himself to stop attacks. And I think just look at how good Brighton have become and how good they played against Chelsea. He's a key reason for that. So I do think that it would be a good signing. But at the price point right now, I do think that it's a little bit high. If you had a preference between them, him or Fernandes, who would you go for right now? Zach, that's me. I feel like Enzo is just like this star player that maybe he's like one of a kind. And maybe I'm just hyped a bit after the World Cup, but I just feel like you don't see so many players like his profile. And he does have that deep playmaker in him that I feel Chelsea have been lacking for quite a number of seasons. So right now I would probably be leaning towards Enzo, but I do think that Cuseta would be a good fit. Interesting. Well, there's another midfielder, Sam, also linked. Obviously, Everton are going through some struggles at the moment. Frank Lampard, obviously, was sacked at the time of recording. We don't actually know who's been replaced at Everton. And maybe Chelsea are feeling like, look, they can try and pounce on this. And they've targeted Onana, the guy that obviously Everton signed in the summer. Out of Everton's players this season, obviously, they've not been very good. I think Onana is probably the most impressive for me. He's a huge six foot four midfielder. You can see that presence with the way he plays. Very good defensively. I think he's still developing going forward, but obviously he can be this kind of powerhouse midfielder. Where do you lie upon that kind of transfer? Because it feels Everton really aren't going to sell someone like him at this point. Yeah, it's one of those signings that it doesn't look like it's going to happen. Like you said, he's been one of their key performers this season, just joined in the summer, and he's already one of their best players. They're not in a position to lose one of their best players. They're 19th, I think it is. They haven't won in their last 10 games in all comps, which is terrible, obviously. If he was to leave, I think they've got other that can play in that position, but not to his level. He's a good player, but he's not someone that I look at and I'm like, oh, I'd want to steal him from, or we should try and do everything. Similar to Gordon, obviously we'll touch on him, but similar to Gordon, when we were linked with him in the summer, I was like, he's good, but is he the type of player that will transform our team? At the time, maybe you could say he would add something different, but now you see the wide that we've brought in, that's a bit different. In terms of midfielders, Onana would bring something different and he would be a profile that we don't have, but I feel like if we've got the type of money to get Enzo Fernandez or Casedo, I'd definitely favour those two. Is it not an argument as well that actually, this is to you, Elizabeth, it's not an argument right now as well that obviously the way Chelsea's midfield is, and the urgency, it needs the revamp. Maybe in other positions, you can afford to let players develop, you can give them time, but the midfielders need to be successful now. Yeah, that's a really good point, Zach, because there's opening in that midfield and we're going to see whoever comes in basically slide in, especially because Kante's still out, Jorginho and Kovacic just can't play every game and we're seeing players play out of position and see Conor Gallagher, Mason Mount, Ruben Loftus-Cheek play further back in that midfield position in order to cover. I think the thing with Onana is that he's a good talent, but he's still a raw talent, so there's definitely still some polishing that he can do to his game. I understand maybe why the new owners are looking at him. It seems in line with their target strategy of, okay, we want to find these bright young players that we can build a squad around and maybe look at Everton's situation right now and how they might need the money for a player like him, but I do agree with Sam that I would be prioritising Fernandez or Casedo. Interesting. I think you mentioned Gordon in that one. I don't think we have to get too much into Gordon because Chelsea's wingers are doubling at the moment, especially with some of the new boys. Let's get on to the final, then, rumour. Transfers actually reported that Chelsea have put a bid in. It was rejected. It was testing the hold of Lyon and whether they wanted to keep Gusto and what price they would be willing to sell him out, but it is Gusto the right back. Sam, we've spoken many times about how key Rhys James is to Chelsea and actually the drop-off to having Asperol Queta, who I know is Elizabeth's favourite player. Favourite player, so let's not say too much. I'm not going to give out like that, but more so just he's not the same man anymore. He's obviously ageing and has never been the same kind of guy that Rhys James is going forward. Gusto, another one who is extremely young, developing, isn't the level of Rhys James, but does have a high future. Does it not worry you, though, that he wouldn't maybe get the game time required? I think in this situation it's quite unique because we've been linked with quite a few right backs in the last few transfer windows and the storyline around it is because Rhys James, you're not going to get the game time, but like Elizabeth said earlier, we're going to be competing in, well, we don't know actually at this point. It might be three, might be four competitions, but we're going to be competing in multiple competitions here and you're going to need depth and with Rhys James, with his recent history, we've seen that he gets these little niggles where he might need a few weeks out and he might be playing through injuries where if we had a Gusto, we wouldn't need to do that. Like, I can't say, sit here and say that I've watched this guy play week in, week out, but from the highlights and some of the videos that I've seen, because obviously, you know, once you're linked to a player, Chelsea fans will put those compilations 10 to 12 minutes of all the best action and even some of his flaws as well. Like they wouldn't even, some of them didn't like paint him in the perfect light. They will say, this is what he's good at. This is what he's bad at. And I think at the stage that he is now, Leon is in a great place and I think it would be quite awkward for us to take him in the position that he's in now because he's a key player for them, but he's very young going forward. He's got similar attributes to Rhys James in terms of the way he can deliver it from a standing point. He is looking good. He's looking good. And I think that he would be the type of signing that would almost be like, if Rhys James is not playing, and I think that, like you said, it's not that Aspen Leclerc hasn't been a great player for us. He has been a great player, but it's the drop off. Once he comes in, or if he comes in, when Rhys James is not playing, everyone will feel comfortable knowing that we've got a player that might not be the perfect replacement, but it's a replacement that won't change the system too much. And we won't have to cater to, you know, solely the right side. Interesting. I mean, the money side of things is going to be interesting. We'll get onto that bit in a second. Elizabeth, if I had to pick one of these players out of the five, it feels like personally it's probably between Fernandes, Caicedo or Gusto because the right back position is a backup, is desperately needed. Who would you say is the number one for you? Oh, that's a tough question because I feel like they're both areas where Chelsea desperately need to invest in and kind of get that depth in. Okay, I think I'm going to go. I'm really between Enzo Fernandes and Malo Gusto because I do think that we play very differently when Rhys James isn't in the pitch and perhaps with having Gusto it would allow us to attack a little bit more. And he's also very strong defensively, but I also just love the profile of Enzo Fernandes, but I think I'll go for, I think I'll go for Gusto. I'm going to go for practicality. What I think is more likely to happen as well. So that that goes into my answer. Okay. Interesting. Interesting. Sam, quick one What's your dream? I'm saying Enzo. I'm saying Enzo. I think we need that profile. We've got the wingers. We've got the depth at the back now. Getting Enzo in. Gusto, I agree with you that practically it does make more sense and it'd probably be cheaper as well. But at the same time, we've seen Trevor, he's coming up right back this season. He's looked all right. Obviously, it's not his position, but I think he's warming to that position. Obviously, if we're able to have a midfielder that can create like a deep line playmaker that can drive the midfield forward and that can be that solid midfielder that we need defensively, then I think that will change much more than having another right back. So yeah, I'll go Enzo. Interesting. Okay then, Elizabeth, as I said, I want to touch upon the financial situation. As we've seen at the moment, Chelsea are kind of doing these long contracts in a way to pay these big fees and also sign multiple players whilst doing so. We've not necessarily seen a club do this before. It is definitely an interesting tactic. It could be high risk, high reward, but obviously if you give a player an eight-year contract and they get an ACL injury and not the same player anymore, you're obviously still having to pay these huge fees. So it has its benefits. It has its disadvantages. How do you feel at the moment about this transfer strategy that Chelsea are doing? Obviously, they are young profiles. The future is obviously very bright for these players, but it is quite risky, isn't it? It really is interesting and it's not unlike Chelsea to just completely break what's currently going on and do something completely new. Like you mentioned, Zac, it's high risk, high reward, but for somebody like Mudrik, for example, we only saw a little glimpse of what he's capable of versus Liverpool, but I thought that he was just phenomenal and that contract is looking better and better by the day. So I think it is a high risk strategy, but it also allows you to build your team now, which is something that Chelsea really want to do because they are looking at the attack, the midfield and the defence and having essentially a complete overhaul of the team and saying, okay, we want to get in all of these players. How can we do it? And I do think that it was quite smart how they have done it, but time will tell if it was worth the risk. Yeah, indeed. I think that's essentially just predicting the future, aren't you Sam, right now? You can't tell. I mean, obviously with Madawaki, he actually wouldn't maybe the biggest of fees, like maybe Mudrik or Enzo Fernandes could be, but he's someone who's injury record is patchy at the best of times. He's only 20 years old. It's not that bad. I think that has been like over hyped in terms of these injuries. They've not been like the ACLs and ankles, broken ankles and stuff. It's just been like the thigh injuries or the hamstring here and then. Obviously, if you're in a team like Chelsea, where there's rotation, we're forgetting players like Sterling, who's out injured. Do you know what I mean? We've still got a lot of wingers. Everyone keeps on mentioning that we've got a lot of wide men. So there's going to be that rotation, but at the same time, I think people, I wouldn't say they're worried because then they'll just think that I'm saying that they're haters, but at the same time, because they haven't seen it before, they haven't seen a team like Elizabeth said, use this system to get these players under long-term contracts so that we're doing it legally. Do you know what I mean? Yes, it might look a type of way, but what I get like kind of peace in is knowing that there's a hierarchy in place where they know what they're doing and there was a process to get those people in. So we have to trust it because the players that are being brought in, they are quality players right now. And also we've seen, we talk about how well Arsenal are doing at the moment, and we have to praise them because Arteta had a team, he weeded out the players that he didn't want or didn't fit his system, trusted the youth. One of which is Chelsea side. Literally, he trusted the youth and they were quality. And I think that that's something that a lot of teams are now starting to think of. So yeah, I'm trusting in how they're doing it. Interesting. I mean, obviously we've seen UEFA possibly now going to change the rule to kind of stop this going forward. I will play devil's advocate as well and also say, you know, if say Madrid wasn't good or say Chelsea side, Enzo Fernandez, and he also doesn't perform to be good, then the biggest risk is you can't continue to do this. I personally think Chelsea will also spend big in the next summer, but then the January after that, the summer after that, Chelsea won't be able to spend 200, 300 million like they are at the moment. Be lucky to spend 30 million with the way that these finances are going. And so you are very much banking on these players being good for the future. But that is football. That is half of football is banking on the future. And also, if you look at the profile of players or players that like are on multiple radars, like they're all quite young. Like, you know what I mean? Like if we talk about like the best players in each position, we're talking about 22, 23 year olds. You know what I mean? So yes, it can seem young and some of the profiles are like 19, 18. But at the same time, I feel like we're balancing it out. For sure, for sure. But at the same time, say that's 22 years old and he doesn't get better, then that could be, you've got that play for eight years, it's hard to sell and get the money back. But look, that's me playing devil's advocate. I'd much rather be like the positivity over on the left side here and saying that we're going to absolutely bang. Elizabeth, thank you so much for coming on. We really, really appreciate it. You've been fantastic. I'm sure we'll get you on more plenty as well over time to come or time to come. I've screwed up that sentence. But guys, thank you guys so much for watching. Check out Elizabeth's socials in the description below. Check her out, get in the comments. Let us know what you think of Chelsea's transfer strategy, what these players could do for the club. Do you like it? Do you hate it? Let us know down there. And of course, don't forget to like and subscribe to Football Daily.