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…
Ofori-Twumasi Goes Posh As Exodus Begins
A number of Chelsea’s reserve team were expected to find pastures new this summer, and on the first day of the summer transfer window, Nana Ofori-Twumasi has led the way in being the first to find a new club. The Ghanaian-born England Under-20 international has signed a three-year deal with Peterborough United, who were relegated to League One in 2009/10. It’s an interesting move for the versatile defender, who has…
News On Premier Reserve League 2010-11 Revamp
For a number of years, there have been more than a few murmurings of discontent with the Premier League’s reserve structure, with the highest profile managers in the country speaking out against it. After a number of teams withdrew from participation in the league over the last twelve months, the Premier League has acted upon change, with effect from the 2010/11 season. The previous North/South split, of a simple home…
Anelka On Way Home
All together now – Coming home, he’s coming home… Nic’s been chucked out of the French squad and sent home in disgrace. Pardon me if I don’t weep into my baguette. Excusez-moi if I don’t join the general hue and cry about his foul-mouthed tirade. While I am sorry for the man on a personal level that he has missed out on some World Cup appearances, this has been tempered…
New Fixtures, New Season
With the release of the coming seasons fixtures announced this morning, it seems the good old fixture computer has given us a nice start to the season, and a none to friendly finish, on paper at least. Now we’re old enough and wise enough to know full well that football is played on grass, and not paper, yet our opening run of games looks straightforward enough, starts with West Brom,…