Going on loan has become almost a rite of passage for the developing footballer. He makes his way through the youth team ranks, impresses in his late teens, and then looks to bridge the gap to the first team by taking in a temporary spell at a professional team, pitting his wits against fully grown adults. A cursory glance at the England World Cup squad reveals that eleven of them…
So Who Are We Going To Sign?
It’s been a funny week already, and it’s still only Wednesday. With the World Cup thankfully over, silly season is now fully upon us. A quick look at Newsnow for the past 24 hours see us linked with no less than ten players; Torres, Aguero, Kaka, Alves, Coentrao, Suarez, Pazzini, Balotelli, Annan, and Lukaku. There are more… The scattergun approach in selecting our potential transfer targets currently seen in the…
Leave Ashley Alone
Nasty, evil, vindictive, horrible and hated. Funnily enough I’m not talking about Ashley Cole, but the red top rags that seems intent on driving him out of this country. The worst offender by far is The Sun, who today today stoop to a new low, digging up old school reports on Ashley, in order to ‘show’ what a nasty man he is. Not only is this publication a breach of…
Introducing Tomáš Kalas
A few weeks ago, Chelsea’s latest signing Tomáš Kalas gave an interview to deník.cz in his native country. The 17 year-old defender, capable of playing at centre-back or full-back, impressed during the summer’s European Under-17 Championships and sealed a move to Chelsea in June, with most media outlets breaking the story on Wednesday. As a means of introducing him to his new fans, here’s the interview transcribed. You must be…
Blues Capture Kalas
Chelsea have signed highly rated 17 year old Czech defender Tomas Kalas from Sigma Olomouc, for a reported £5 million. Kalas however, will not be joining up with the club until 2011, as he’s been loaned back to Olomouc for the coming season as part of the deal. Neil Bath spoke today, confirming the transfer and also giving his opinion on the latest Czech player to join the club. “Tomas…
Mesca Joins Chelsea…At Least, We Think So
Every so often, you get a youth team signing which is largely unannounced, and generally lacking in great detail. It’s the nature of the beast – clubs are understandably protective of their young, and of their actions at academy level. However, news always eventually comes to light, and after a few months of uncertainty as to the strength of claims in the Portuguese media, it would seem that Chelsea have…
Torres Rumours Gather Pace
I’m not one for idle gossip, especially in the badlands of the transfer silly season, however one story has been doing the rounds for the duration of the World Cup, and has gathered pace aplenty today. Yes, Torres to Chelsea seems to be the story on every hacks laptop right now, with rumours of Roman jetting out to the World Cup to talk personally with him, about a deal that…
Young Blues Add Two More Reserve Dates
Chelsea are continuing to prepare for an uncertain Premier Reserve League campaign in the right way. In an announcement apparently only made (so far) in the club’s official magazine, two further friendly dates have been added to their schedule. The Blues will host Manchester United on August 8th before a fixture against Blackburn Rovers on August 18th. Both fixtures are presumably at Cobham, but that remains to be confirmed. Keen…
The Class of 2010: Chelsea’s New Scholars
Summer time. The winds of change are once again in the air as far as football goes, and whilst teams throughout Europe prepare for their coming season, squads are being shaped at youth and reserve level. Part of that annual process is the induction of a new group of first-year scholars, which Chelsea have officially announced today. It’s a smaller intake than last season’s bumper double-figure tally, but like twelve…
Eight Go Pro As Blues Look To Future
Whilst Monday sees the Chelsea first-team return to Cobham for pre-season, the younger generation are already back in Surrey after their summer breaks. For eight teenagers, the hard work starts now as they signed their maiden professional contracts. James Ashton, Billy Clifford, Aziz Deen-Conteh, Rohan Ince, Milan Lalkovic, Josh McEachran, Philipp Prosenik and George Saville put pen to paper yesterday afternoon to secure themselves senior deals, and whilst it’s a…