🔵View from the Bridge🔵Calm before the storm
Next stop: The Premier League.
👋Good morning Blues. It’s been an eerily quiet few days since the last edition. Excitement is building ahead of the return of competitive football. Here’s all you need to know about what’s been going on.
📰 Headlines
The biggest (mostly non-transfer) Chelsea news.
🔵Chelsea players will donate part of their Club World Cup bonus to the family of Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva - Adam Crafton and Mario Cortegana, The Athletic.
£11.4million was allocated to be split equally among those who played in America with another equal payment to go to Jota’s family worth around £360,000 before conversion costs and tax.
🔵The club’s sporting directors (Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart) have signed six-year contract extensions - Matt Law, The Telegraph.
Recruitment chief Joe Shields and Sam Jewell have also penned new contracts until 2031.
Like player deals, these are heavily incentivised and based on meeting targets and performances.
🔵The Premier League returns on Sunday with the visit of Crystal Palace to Stamford Bridge.
Enzo Maresca will hold his pre-match press conference at 9:30am today (Friday) - Live stream.
For updates, Bobby Vincent (football.london) will be at Cobham with live text and a full transcript afterwards.
Last result: Chelsea 4-1 AC Milan (Coubis OG 5’, Pedro 8’, Delap 67’, 90’) - Friendly. Stamford Bridge.
Next fixture: Crystal Palace (Premier League) - Sunday, August 17th. Stamford Bridge. 2pm.
💸Transfer talk
Cutting to the chase with the gossip you actually need to know, rather than sheer speculation.
Kid you not, it has been a genuine challenge to find actual transfer updates since Tuesday, so instead of baiting you in, here is the briefest of roundups on what has really happened.
🚨Chelsea have no interest in signing Gianluigi Donnarumma from Paris Saint-Germain this summer - Bobby Vincent, football.london.
🚨Bayern Munich are considering a move for Christopher Nkunku once Kingsley Coman completes his transfer to Al-Nassr - Peter Rutzler, The Times.
Contrary to some reports, it is said that Nkunku is not interested in returning to RB Leipzig.
🚨Chelsea are open to letting Alfie Gilchrist leave on loan if they are unable to find a suitable permanent home this summer - Ben Jacobs.
🚨Manchester City have entered the race to sign Xavi Simons from Leipzig - Sacha Tavolieri.
🚨Borussia Dortmund made an approach for Renato Veiga but deemed him as being too expensive - Fabrizio Romano.
For the latest transfer news on Marc Guehi, Alejandro Garnacho, and Simons, check out the London is Blue podcast special with Ben Jacobs for more.
⚽Cobham to Kingsmeadow
Catching up with the women’s and academy sides.
✈CFCW have taken a 26-player squad, also to the Netherlands, for a six-day training camp, as mentioned on Tuesday - Full list.
New signings Livia Peng, Mara Alber, and Ellie Carpenter are all involved whilst Sam Kerr is back as well. She has been seen with her teammates involved in Sonia Bompastor’s sessions already this week.
📺Three of CFCW’s early season Women’s Super League (WSL) games have been moved due to broadcast changes - All confirmed TV changes.
The first away day, at Aston Villa (September 14), will now kick off at 12pm.
Matches against Leicester City (H) on September 21 and West Ham (A) on September 28 have moved to 12pm and 2:30pm respectively.
👋Women’s team defender Maelys Mpome has joined Brighton on a permanent transfer - Chelsea FC.
💪The boys Under-18s beat Watford at Cobham in a friendly on Tuesday with goals from Lewi Richards, Chizzy Ezenwata, and Sol Gordon - The Chelsea Spot.
🏆Next up for Hassan Sulaiman’s team is the Otten Innovation Cup in the Netherlands.
Chelsea play Monaco this afternoon at 3:30pm UK time before facing Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC on Saturday at 11:45am and then Atletico Madrid at 3:15pm.
There will be a knockout bracket to follow on Sunday. You can watch the games, here.
⚠The U18s have been drawn with Palace, City, and Sheffield United in the Under-18 Premier League Cup - YouthHawk.
🆕Chelsea’s Under-21s will play against PSG, Dinamo Zagreb, Benfica, and Real Sociedad in the Premier League International Cup next season.
👀Sticking with the U21s, Calum McFarlane’s side will face Northampton Town, Shrewsbury Town, and Walsall in the EFL Vertu Trophy.
🙌Season ticket holders for either the men or women, plus all supporters under the age of 20, can claim a free ticket to all PL2 home games at Kingsmeadow this season - Chelsea FC.
😋Finally, for an academy specific preview, Parth Gupta has an in-depth look at what is to come from Cobham, including why it’s a big season for Shim Mheuka, and who to look out for.
This is a brief extract:
“That clutch gene will almost certainly be required in Chelsea’s chase for silverware this season. This U17s group have won almost everything in recent years, packed with ridiculous individual talent that you all saw feature for the U18s last season as schoolboys.
“More excitingly, plenty inside the club are just as fascinated by the current U16s, especially with their overall team play and style.”
👀Inside SW6
A look at what has been going on at the club and a noticeboard for events and other tidbits.
🤬The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust have reiterated their stance that Vivid Seats, a company with investment from Todd Boehly, “is a stain tainting much of the good work that Chelsea FC is doing to combat illegal ticket resellers.”
It comes after football finance expert Kieran Maguire found that there are over 1,200 Premier League tickets up for sale for the first weekend of the season despite not being an approved site and there being an active anti-fraud campaign ongoing.
🍫Chelsea have confirmed a partnership with Cadbury’s to provide British Sign Language interpreters at all home games for the men’s and women’s sides this season - Chelsea FC.
The ‘Sign with Fingers’ campaign is in collaboration with the Chelsea Deaf Supporters Group and National Deaf Children’s Society as a first for the PL and WSL.
⛔John Terry has revealed that he is finished with management in football - Jack Rosser, The Sun.
“I’m done in terms of coaching,” said JT. “I’m enjoying my life, I’m working in the Chelsea academy.
“My role’s a part-time role, I love working with the kids, I love passing on my knowledge and experience to those boys.”
🤝 71% of you had Chelsea to finish between second and fourth next season, in the results from Tuesday’s poll.
In fact, 98% had CFC in the top four, with an ambitious 27% going for the Blues to be crowned champions.
Only 2% had Chelsea between fifth and seventh, nobody opted to go for lower!
📆On this day…
A look back in club history to something memorable.
😪Unfortunately we start with tears again. In 2019, Chelsea lost the UEFA Super Cup to Liverpool on penalties.
Frank Lampard’s young team put up a brilliantly brave performance in an entertaining game but fell just short.
🤪On a better note, in 2016, Antonio Conte’s first league game was won 2-1 against West Ham at Stamford Bridge thanks to a late Diego Costa goal.
There were some serious celebrations from that one as Conte jumped into the crowd.
😁In 2009, Didier Drogba scored twice, including another last minute goal, this one extremely fortuitous as it came from a cross, as Chelsea started Carlo Ancelotti’s first year in charge with a narrow win over Hull City at Stamford Bridge.
☺In 2007, Jose Mourinho saw Chelsea come from behind away at Reading as they won 2-1 with Drogba scoring again.
😛Before that, in 2004 Chelsea got the Mourinho era underway with a close 1-0 over Manchester United.
Eidur Gudjohnsen scrambled home on that day with what became a famous result.
😯Rounding off the wins, going all the way back to 1970, Peter Osgood and Ian Hutchinson scored against Derby County to claim victory at a very different looking Stamford Bridge!
👏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.
👕The much-anticipated third kit release has been teased with a reveal set to come ‘shortly’ - Chelsea FC.
We already know what it is going to look like with numerous leaks, but the drop is always a fun day for all.
🎟Applications for the UEFA away scheme are now being accepted with a maximum of 250 season ticket holders being selected - Chelsea FC.
The club explains: “Season ticket holders with 155 loyalty points or more and members with 137 loyalty points or more will be able to apply for a place on the scheme.”
The deadline is on Wednesday, August 20 at 5pm.
🖥Talk from the terraces
This is the part where we show you what is being said about Chelsea by other fans, pundits, or analysts.
We are in true season preview territory here, so sit back and soak up the positivity around Chelsea and what successes it could lead to.
🔥In his full examination of the club, The Athletic’s Liam Twomey says:
“Maresca looks refreshed from the three weeks off he was so looking forward to when interviewed on the MetLife Stadium pitch during the Club World Cup victory celebrations a month ago to the day.
“He should also be more confident in the capabilities of his squad and in his own ability to maximise the tools at his disposal through a long season.”
In the latest episode of Straight Outta Cobham, with Twomey, Luke Bosher, Matt Davies-Adams, and Dominic Fifield, the group assess the Palace threat and do their own pre-season talk.
🔍Meanwhile, sticking to The Athletic for a little longer, Twomey teamed up with Mark Carey to break down the tactical approach heading into 2025/26.
“Many outside the club might only admit it grudgingly, but Chelsea’s extraordinarily well-funded project under Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly has finally achieved football legitimacy,” they say.
“On the ball, Maresca’s preference is for his side to build with short passes from his goalkeeper, often with the aim of baiting opponents into a press that creates space higher up the pitch. Chelsea are very capable of moving the ball forward quickly in such situations, with plenty of speed in their attacking line and an elite transition passer in [Cole] Palmer to release them.”
🔮BBC Sport’s Phil McNulty has Chelsea down to finish fourth. He says:
“Chelsea will be right in the hunt for trophies domestically and will relish their return to the Champions League. They usually find a way to win silverware and I expect them to so again, but not the Premier League.”
🤨And we’re sorry to do this, but Jamie Carragher’s comments on Chelsea going out of the Champions League group stage need flagging.
He was asked for a ‘hot take’ ahead of the season and claimed that they would fail to make it through.
Carragher has been boiling the blood of Chelsea fans for a while now and his latest suggestion has only caused more anger. That came on Sky’s The Overlap including more from Gary Neville and Roy Keane, Ian Wright, and Jill Scott, if it’s your cup of tea.
🙌Here, we would much rather promote genuine Chelsea analysis from experts who follow the club much more closely.
For that, we have Daniel Childs (AKA Son of Chelsea) with his views on what the next 10 months or so hold. If you want a written version, that can be found HERE.
But if it’s a podcast you’re after, then Jai McIntosh and Simon Phillips can supplement all of this Chelsea content with their chat below on the club’s transfer window signings.
💭View from the Bridge says
Our take on the latest Chelsea news.
You can never stop the new season nerves and there is a weird sense of everything going a little too perfectly for Chelsea right now. What is going to spoil that?
It feels strange writing this and knowing that by the next edition, a Premier League game will have been played and the campaign will finally be underway.
Who knows what is to come but for once, there isn’t a sense of dread at Stamford Bridge and that is refreshing.
Enjoy Sunday’s game and see you on the other side✌
📸Picture of the week
A standout snap from the world of Chelsea.
The picture of Kerr back in training is already further up in the newsletter, and that could easily have made this section.
So, let’s go for this one of Kerr and her teammates, Erin Cuthbert, Millie Bright, and Guru Reiten on the plane instead.
Edition number: 17
Total subscribers: 983