🔵View from the Bridge - Chelsea FC news and analysis🔵A star is born
The rise of Estevao, demise of Madueke, and a transfer surprise
👋Good morning Blues. It was a successful weekend for Chelsea in the Club World Cup and a mixed start to the women’s Euros. If you’re enjoying this free newsletter please consider it sharing it with another Chelsea. It really helps. Now for all the latest, as always, from View from the Bridge.
📰 Headlines
The biggest (mostly non-transfer) Chelsea news.
🔵Chelsea play Fluminense in the Club World Cup (CWC) semi-final this evening. The winner will bank at least £22million for reaching the final.
🔵Ahead of the game, Enzo Maresca has been speaking to the media - Bobby Vincent, football.london.
⮑On Noni Madueke’s future: "Personally, I think the same noise was before the Palmeiras game. We gave him 30 minutes and he was very good. I have no doubts, if we need, Noni will help us. Hopefully he can deal with that [noise]."
On strikers: "Joao [Pedro], Liam [Delap], Nico [Jackson], they know exactly about no.9s at Chelsea. I said already many times, in my idea, I prefer to have four, five players scoring 10, 12 goals each than one striker with 40 goals. We expect next season more goals from our attacking players."
🔵Chelsea overcame Palmeiras and Estevao Wilian in their quarter-final on Saturday morning. Estevao scored a stunning equaliser in the second half but a late own goal put CFC through after Cole Palmer’s opener - Highlights.
🔵UEFA have fined Chelsea £27million for breaching financial rules - Martyn Ziegler, The Times.
The club agreed a settlement for going over squad cost regulations with demands to get to within the boundaries or risk a sporting sanction further down the line.
Last result: Palmeiras 1-2 Chelsea (Palmer 16’, Giay OG 83’, Estevao 53’) - FIFA Club World Cup. Lincoln Financial Field.
Next fixture: Fluminense (FIFA Club World Cup) - Tuesday, July 8, 9pm. MetLife Stadium, New York.
💸Transfer talk
Cutting to the chase with the gossip you actually need to know, rather than sheer speculation.
🚨Jamie Gittens has been announced as a new Chelsea player on a seven-year contract - Seb Stafford-Bloor, The Athletic.
As the Reading-born winger returns to England, Steve Madeley has profiled exactly why he is among Europe’s best dribblers.
⮑“Only Jeremy Doku of Manchester City and Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal attempted more take-ons per 90 minutes last season in Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues,” he writes.
🚨Arsenal have agreed personal terms with Madueke and will now start talks with Chelsea over a fee - David Ornstein, The Athletic.
He is expected to cost over £50million, which is not certain to be accepted by either team - Sam Dean and Sam Wallace, The Telegraph.
🚨Mohammed Kudus is prioritising a move to Tottenham this summer - Fabrizio Romano.
Chelsea made an offer for him earlier in the window but had their part-cash-part-player deal rejected.
🚨Joao Felix is keen on a return to Benfica this summer but has admitted that he could stay in England - Neil Banerjee, GOAL.
🚨Carney Chukwuemeka is in talks with Dortmund over returning on loan next season - Ben Jacobs.
🚨Chelsea among the teams monitoring Ethan Nwaneri’s Arsenal contract situation with the 17-year-old not yet keen to extend his stay without guarantees over gametime - Alex Crook, talkSPORT.
🚨Milan manager Max Allegri has confirmed that Mike Maignan will not be leaving San Siro this window - Arthur Ferridge, London Evening Standard.
🚨Nicolas Jackson doesn’t want to leave Chelsea - Rahman Osman.
For more transfer news and updates on a daily basis, Simon Phillips at Si Phillips Talks Chelsea has daily blogs and stories.
⚽Cobham to Kingsmeadow
Catching up with the women’s and academy sides.
😢It was a case of mixed fortunes at the women’s Euros over the weekend.
The large England contingent were beaten by France, who saw Sandy Baltimore and Oriane Jean-Francois shine in a 2-1 win.
Lucy Bronze, Hannah Hampton, Keira Walsh, and Lauren James all started with Niamh Charles coming off the bench. Aggie Beever-Jones was an unused substitute.
England next play on Wednesday at 5pm against Netherlands. France face Wales at 8pm on the same day.
🏆In a full roundup:
Guru Reiten grabbed an assist in Norway’s 2-1 win against Finland on Sunday. They face Iceland in the final Group A game on Thursday at 8pm.
Livia Peng kept a clean sheet as Switzerland beat Iceland 2-0, also on Sunday, and will play Finland on Thursday, this time at 8pm.
Sjoeke Nusken played 90 minutes in a 2-0 win for Germany against Poland on Friday. They are up against Denmark at 5pm this evening.
In the same group, Nathalie Bjorn and Johana Rytting Kaneryd started Sweden’s narrow 1-0 victory over Denmark, also on Friday. They are in action against Poland at 8pm tonight.
🧤Elsewhere in CFCW news, Becky Spencer has joined permanently, this time on a one-year deal with the option to extend following her loan spell for the final three months of last season - Chelsea Women Daily.
✅16 scholars signed for Chelsea during their celebration evening last Thursday with announcements to follow - ChelseaYouth.
Every player who was offered a professional contract agreed to stay - The Chelsea Spot.
❌Former Chelsea academy manager Jim Fraser has NOT joined Manchester United - The Chelsea Spot.
Instead, he is at the Wasserman agency as the Head of Youth Recruitment.
📝The UK’s youngest senior player ever, Chris Atherton (now 16), has joined the Cobham system from Northern Irish side Glenavon FC - Tom Coley, football.london.
🤗As hinted at in Friday’s edition, Chelsea have now confirmed the signing of left-back Kian Best after he left Preston North End.
🆕Released goalkeeper Luke Campbell has signed with Nottingham Forest on a three-year deal.
👀Inside SW6
A look at what has been going on at the club and a noticeboard for events and other tidbits.
🤕Reece James is fit and well after dropping out of the starting XI to play Palmeiras in the warm-up - Jack Drury, The Chelsea Chronicle.
🔍Joao Pedro was added to Chelsea’s wishlist in January with his name kept out of the public domain ahead of his transfer - Simon Johnson, The Athletic.
It wasn’t until May that interest was firmed up with recruitment staff who already knew him providing character references despite concerns over his discipline.
Pedro’s preference to stay near London helped Chelsea beat Newcastle to his signature.
📆On this day…
A look back in club history to something memorable.
👋It has now been one year since Maresca was unveiled as the new Chelsea men’s head coach at Stamford Bridge.
It hasn’t always been a smooth ride under the Italian but he delivered a successful first season in charge and is now aiming to build on that.
🤐On the manager front, in 2008 it was Luiz Felipe Scolari’s turn to be announced.
He would go on to last just 36 games before being sacked.
👏Supporters’ Trust
A noticeboard dedicated to you, the fans. This is your community area and your space, so please do get in touch to be featured.
🎟Tickets are on sale for the Fluminense semi-final for a little over £10, which is a fraction of the price that Chelsea have set their own friendlies at Stamford Bridge against Milan and Bayer Leverkusen - Kaveh Solekhol, Sky Sports.
📌⮑To have your own say, offer feedback, or promote a Chelsea-related event, please get in touch using this form - it’s the only way of definitely having something featured in this newsletter!
🖥Talk from the terraces
This is the part where we show you what is being said about Chelsea by other fans, pundits, or analysts.
With Estevao taking the spotlight on Saturday and two new signings in attack, there is a heavy Brazilian and winger sense to this section.
❓For starters, why do Arsenal want Madueke? It is a question many have been asking, and Ahmed Walid from The Athletic has taken a look.
“Arsenal’s focus on attacking those areas plays to Madueke’s profile, and his ability out wide would offer Arteta an additional option, and the chance to rest Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli more often,” he writes.
“Arsenal’s interest in Madueke makes sense considering how Arteta’s team likes to attack and the importance of their out-of-possession phases. Madueke’s directness and ability to create shooting situations are skills that suit Arsenal, while his finishing and improved crossing are areas that can be developed.”
🔢And are Chelsea making a mistake if they do sell Madueke? Kieran Doyle-Davis dives into the numbers behind his performances and what the right asking price should be.
⭐Possibly taking his place at Chelsea is Estevao. The 18-year-old will join up with Maresca’s squad in the coming weeks after moving to England.
What sort of role will he have and how will he fit in? BBC Sport’s Nizaar Kinsella broke that down in his video on the player.
😁If you’re after a breakdown of Estevao’s goal against Chelsea (and the potential impact of it), CFC Central (AKA Sam), wrote glowingly about the majesty on show.
“What happened in the 53rd minute was wizardry of a different kind,” he said.
“Fervent whispers of it had it been heard from a distant continent for some time now, witnessed the morning after on clips floating around social media.”
🤝Jacob Steinberg, The Guardian, can’t help himself but imagine what the linkup with Cole Palmer will be like.
“The good news for Chelsea is that Cole Palmer and Estêvão Willian will be on the same team when they next share a pitch,” he says.
“Even better, it seems two of the most gifted young forwards around already have a connection…
“Any hopes of keeping the hype machine from going into overdrive with a player regarded as the best Brazilian youth product of his generation had disappeared long before he found himself trying to knock his future employers out of the Club World Cup.”
Finally, Umir Irfan (Sky Sports analyst) has been impressed by the transfer business conducted.
“Bright and exciting Joao Pedro cameo. Top player and to be expected. Think Chelsea’s business has targeted good quality this window. Delap excellent this tournament too.”
“Everyone who Chelsea have been linked with or signed this window have been good names and profiles. Impressed generally. Not sure where they all fit in though.”
💭View from the Bridge says
Our take on the latest Chelsea news.
Well, a good week for Chelsea. They are into the semi-finals after taking the Gareth Southgate route through the Club World Cup and all of a sudden there is positivity.
Although the Madueke news is dividing opinion, Estevao’s arrival and Pedro’s cameo from the bench have really got people talking.
It would be speaking too soon to look ahead to Sunday’s final but Chelsea can be quietly confident of getting to that stage. It will be nice to see Thiago Silva with some of his old teammates as well.
For now, that’s all from View from the Bridge but do tune in on Friday for the second dose of your Chelsea content.
🗣Who am I? I’m Tom Coley, a senior football writer for football.london and a Chelsea nut. I’ve been writing about the club for more than eight years now and have followed them for almost two decades.
I’m chronically online, scouring the news for Chelsea stories, so I’ve taken it upon myself to do the hard yards and compile it all into one place for you. Coming in twice a week, I’ll have all the latest Chelsea news and analysis right to your inbox.
Edition number: 9
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