Alejandro Garnacho

Attacking Midfielder (R) - Chelsea
19 Sep 2038
Sunday
Process

Marked for Alejandro Garnacho

633 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

13 Sep 2038
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Age has not caught Cole Palmer yet — 8.61

At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.61 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Player ratings

Wesley Fofana pops up at the right end — 6.40

6.40, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.

Squad

Enzo Fernández in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chelsea this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moisés Caicedo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Market

Preston come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Chelsea did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

A move Gabriele Garonetti would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Gabriele Garonetti is living that version at Chelsea, and it tends to show in the first month.

Match

Chelsea see off Cardiff City

Three points for Chelsea, 2‑1 the final word against Cardiff City in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Match

Cardiff City blown away early

There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Cardiff City tried to reorganise, Chelsea did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.

Market

Cardiff City are about to pick up the phone

A conversation is coming this week. Chelsea will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.

In brief

Back issues
631 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

30 Aug 2038
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Chelsea let it slip despite Kendry Páez

Kendry Páez had done his part in building a 4-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Leeds United were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.

Player ratings

Both of them Kendry Páez's — 9.17

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.17, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Alejandro Garnacho yet — 9.29

At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.29 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

Steven Harris: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chelsea have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Enzo Fernández in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chelsea this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Chelsea turn down Ipswich Town for Chizzy Ezenwata

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

Wesley Fofana falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Market

Cardiff City join the queue for Dastan Sätpayev

Add another name to the list: Cardiff City have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dastan Sätpayev. The answer from Chelsea has not changed — yet.

Squad

No hiding place for Levi Colwill

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Levi Colwill, and the manager let it.

In brief

619 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

7 Jun 2038
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Daniel Graham breaks a bone — 72 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 72 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Reece James has been here 18 seasons

523 appearances across 18 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.

Squad

Alejandro Garnacho signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alejandro Garnacho commits to Chelsea for another 2 years.

Market

Chelsea may not be able to give Estêvão what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Estêvão wants continental football; whether Chelsea can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Market

Only the photograph left for Liam Delap

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Liam Delap will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chelsea the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Tempers go at Chelsea

Filip Jörgensen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

In brief

617 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

24 May 2038
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Kendry Páez

24 goals and a season average of 8.00 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Match

The cup run ends for Chelsea

2‑3 against Manchester United, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

Squad

Daniel Graham breaks a bone — 86 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 86 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Alejandro Garnacho yet — 8.39

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.39 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

Number 200 for Wesley Fofana

200 goals for this club, and somewhere in the stand there is a person who can still tell you where they were for most of them.

Squad

Tempers go at Chelsea

Enzo Fernández was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Match

Chelsea keep winning on the road

5 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.

Market

Only the photograph left for Yisa Alao

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yisa Alao will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chelsea the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Marc Guiu at his very best

Marked 8.40. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Chelsea.

In brief

608 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

22 Mar 2038
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

The run at home goes on for Chelsea

39 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Match

Chelsea refuse to drop out of the race

Position 1, 72 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.

Squad

Wesley Fofana is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.67 with 23 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Nobody wants to play Chelsea right now

7 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Player ratings

Alejandro Garnacho, 33, rolls back the years — 9.51

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.51 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Squad

Enzo Fernández in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chelsea this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Wesley Fofana falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Market

Tayo Subuloye is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chelsea is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Match

Chelsea get the job done against Aston Villa

A 2‑1 win over Aston Villa, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

In brief

599 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

18 Jan 2038
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Chelsea make home a hard place to visit

34 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.

Match

Chelsea make it 11 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Chelsea have 11 straight wins of it.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Wesley Fofana yet — 9.06

At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.06 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Market

Reece James raises the bar for Chelsea

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Chelsea heard it as anything else.

Squad

Tempers go at Chelsea

Enzo Fernández was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Market

Preston come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Chelsea did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wesley Fofana is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad

Wesley Fofana is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.40 with 12 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Squad

No hiding place for Alejandro Garnacho

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alejandro Garnacho, and the manager let it.

In brief

591 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

23 Nov 2037
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

Age has not caught Alejandro Garnacho yet — 9.39

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.39 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

Ângelo keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Chelsea may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Tempers go at Chelsea

Wesley Fofana was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Market

Steven Harris is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chelsea is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Moisés Caicedo falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

Kendry Páez is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.47 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Whatever happens, Chelsea do not lose

6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Player ratings

Kendry Páez was on a different afternoon to everybody else

9.50. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

Match

Chelsea get the job done against Aston Villa

A 3‑1 win over Aston Villa, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

In brief

590 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

16 Nov 2037
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

The run at home goes on for Chelsea

29 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Player ratings

Wesley Fofana, 36, rolls back the years — 8.99

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.99 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Squad

Enzo Fernández in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chelsea this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Only the photograph left for Ryan Kavuma-McQueen

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ryan Kavuma-McQueen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chelsea the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Wesley Fofana falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Moisés Caicedo

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Player ratings

Kendry Páez was on a different afternoon to everybody else

9.74. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

Squad

Kendry Páez is carrying Chelsea

9 goals and a season average of 7.39. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Match

Chelsea find a way past Brighton

Brighton made Chelsea work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

In brief

589 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

9 Nov 2037
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

The run at home goes on for Chelsea

28 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Match

Cup progress for Chelsea

A 5‑1 win over Reading, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?

Player ratings

Both of them Liam Delap's — 8.97

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.97, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Aarón Anselmino scores twice — 8.90

Two goals and a mark of 8.90 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Jamie Gittens yet — 9.27

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.27 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

Malo Gusto says Chelsea went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Alejandro Garnacho signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alejandro Garnacho and Chelsea agree another 2 years.

Player ratings

Up for the corner, and Dário Essugo delivers — 7.78

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Dário Essugo scored, was marked 7.78, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

Squad

Tempers go at Chelsea

Enzo Fernández was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

In brief

588 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

2 Nov 2037
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Geovany Quenda hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chelsea can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

Wesley Fofana, 36, rolls back the years — 8.73

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.73 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Squad

11 seasons of Josh King

183 appearances across 11 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Chelsea know what they have.

Squad

Alejandro Garnacho signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alejandro Garnacho and Chelsea agree another 2 years.

Squad

Enzo Fernández in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chelsea this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Stefan Bajčetić raises the bar for Chelsea

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Chelsea heard it as anything else.

Squad

Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moisés Caicedo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Market

Only the photograph left for Yisa Alao

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yisa Alao will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chelsea the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Match

Chelsea find a way past Derby County

Derby County made Chelsea work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.

In brief

586 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

19 Oct 2037
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

A hiding for Chelsea

Beaten 2‑5 by Manchester United, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Player ratings

Alejandro Garnacho, 33, rolls back the years — 8.92

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.92 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Match

The wait goes on for Chelsea

5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad

Cole Palmer in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chelsea this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Ryan Kavuma-McQueen is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chelsea is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

A muscle injury sidelines Mateus Mané for 15 days

Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Chelsea will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Squad

Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wesley Fofana is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad

Enzo Fernández gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Match

7 goals as Chelsea and Manchester United go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Chelsea and Manchester United, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

In brief

585 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

12 Oct 2037
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

43 unbeaten for Chelsea

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 43 matches without defeat is a foundation Chelsea did not have in the autumn.

Match

Chelsea make home a hard place to visit

25 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.

Squad

A fracture rules Cole Palmer out for 14 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chelsea will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

Chelsea throw away a 2-goal lead

2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Nottingham Forest the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Chelsea will enjoy reviewing.

Player ratings

A brace, and Kendry Páez takes the afternoon — 9.07

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kendry Páez provided it, and the 9.07 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Robert Sánchez

There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Alejandro Garnacho yet — 8.42

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.42 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Market

Moisés Caicedo raises the bar for Chelsea

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Chelsea heard it as anything else.

Squad

Enzo Fernández in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chelsea this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

  • Market Joshua Miller is on his way
  • Match No end in sight to Chelsea's wait for a win
  • Squad Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
584 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

5 Oct 2037
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Still nobody has beaten Chelsea

The unbeaten run reaches 42. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Squad

Cole Palmer breaks a bone — 22 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

Tottenham punish Chelsea for switching off

2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Kendry Páez will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Chelsea escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.

Player ratings

Kendry Páez scores twice — 8.97

Two goals and a mark of 8.97 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Geovany Quenda hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chelsea can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

Alejandro Garnacho, 33, rolls back the years — 10.00

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Filip Jörgensen

There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Market

Cole Palmer wants more than Chelsea are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Filip Jörgensen signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Filip Jörgensen and Chelsea agree another 2 years.

In brief

581 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

14 Sep 2037
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

39 unbeaten for Chelsea

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 39 matches without defeat is a foundation Chelsea did not have in the autumn.

Match

The run at home goes on for Chelsea

23 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Squad

Cole Palmer breaks a bone — 45 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings

A brace, and Wesley Fofana takes the afternoon — 8.86

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Wesley Fofana provided it, and the 8.86 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Alejandro Garnacho yet — 10.00

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 10.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Market

Chelsea turn down Brentford for Geovany Quenda

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Robert Sánchez

There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Squad

Enzo Fernández in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chelsea this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Only the photograph left for Joshua Miller

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joshua Miller will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chelsea the goodbyes have quietly begun.

In brief

580 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

7 Sep 2037
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Still nobody has beaten Chelsea

The unbeaten run reaches 38. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Match

Chelsea make home a hard place to visit

22 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.

Squad

Cole Palmer breaks a bone — 54 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

Emanuel Emegha leads the rout of Crystal Palace

4‑0, and Emanuel Emegha took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Chelsea tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Market

Geovany Quenda asks to leave Chelsea

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Player ratings

Stefan Bajčetić shuts the door

Defensive actions: 31, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.

Player ratings

A brace, and Emanuel Emegha takes the afternoon — 8.27

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Emanuel Emegha provided it, and the 8.27 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Alejandro Garnacho, 33, rolls back the years — 9.20

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.20 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Squad

Enzo Fernández signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Enzo Fernández commits to Chelsea for another 2 years.

In brief

557 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

30 Mar 2037
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

32 unbeaten for Chelsea

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 32 matches without defeat is a foundation Chelsea did not have in the autumn.

Squad

Kendry Páez is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.97 with 18 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Chelsea make home a hard place to visit

18 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.

Squad

A fracture rules Peter Morris out for 53 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chelsea will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Enzo Fernández in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chelsea this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Only the photograph left for Ármin Pécsi

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ármin Pécsi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chelsea the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Wesley Fofana falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Player ratings

A goal and an assist for Cole Palmer — 7.22

Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.22 beside his name.

Match

6 goals as Chelsea and Sheffield go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Chelsea and Sheffield, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

In brief

554 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

9 Mar 2037
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Chelsea tear Birmingham apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Birmingham, and it could have been more.

Squad

Kendry Páez is carrying Chelsea

14 goals and a season average of 7.88. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Squad

Peter Morris breaks a bone — 75 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings

Mateus Mané scores twice — 8.97

Two goals and a mark of 8.97 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Match

Nobody wants to play Chelsea right now

6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Wesley Fofana yet — 9.13

At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.13 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

Tempers go at Chelsea

Enzo Fernández was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Market

Ryan Kavuma-McQueen is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chelsea is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wesley Fofana is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

549 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

2 Feb 2037
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Still nobody has beaten Chelsea

The unbeaten run reaches 21. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Kiano Dyer

22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chelsea lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Alejandro Garnacho is carrying Chelsea

11 goals and a season average of 7.98. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Squad

13 seasons of Wesley Fofana

365 appearances across 13 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Chelsea know what they have.

Squad

Shumaira Mheuka says Chelsea went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Market

Chelsea turn down Cardiff City for Aarón Anselmino

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Stefan Bajčetić wants more than Chelsea are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Market

Ármin Pécsi has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chelsea they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Boardroom

Chelsea to lose Charlie Holland for free

There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Charlie Holland has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.

In brief

547 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

19 Jan 2037
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Whatever happens, Chelsea do not lose

19 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Kiano Dyer

36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chelsea lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Geovany Quenda breaks a bone — 17 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

Chelsea refuse to drop out of the race

Position 2, 53 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.

Player ratings

Cole Palmer scores twice — 9.29

Two goals and a mark of 9.29 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Match

Chelsea strike at the death to beat Wolverhampton

There were 88 minutes on the clock and Wolverhampton had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Chelsea did not stop to explain themselves.

Squad

Alejandro Garnacho is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.92 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Filip Jörgensen

There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Market

Chelsea say no — this time

The offer from Everton for Ármin Pécsi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

In brief

546 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

12 Jan 2037
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Whatever happens, Chelsea do not lose

18 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Squad

A fracture rules Geovany Quenda out for 25 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chelsea will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

Both of them Estêvão's — 10.00

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 10.00, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Squad

Filip Jörgensen keeps Chelsea in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Squad

Alejandro Garnacho is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.87 with 9 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Cole Palmer yet — 8.83

At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.83 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Market

Chelsea say no — this time

The offer from Birmingham for Dastan Sätpayev was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Squad

Enzo Fernández in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chelsea this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Michael Bailey has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chelsea they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

In brief

545 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

5 Jan 2037
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Whatever happens, Chelsea do not lose

17 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Squad

A fracture rules Geovany Quenda out for 32 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chelsea will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

The season belongs to Alejandro Garnacho

An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Chelsea have had the benefit of it.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Cole Palmer yet — 9.26

At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.26 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Market

Chelsea say no — this time

The offer from Cardiff City for Noah Sadiki was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Squad

Alejandro Garnacho is carrying Chelsea

8 goals and a season average of 7.82. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Squad

Tempers go at Chelsea

Enzo Fernández was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Market

Only the photograph left for Ryan Kavuma-McQueen

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ryan Kavuma-McQueen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chelsea the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Market

Birmingham watching Dastan Sätpayev

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Chelsea have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

In brief

541 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

8 Dec 2036
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Geovany Quenda breaks a bone — 63 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

Nobody wants to play Chelsea right now

5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Cole Palmer yet — 8.62

At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.62 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

Robert Sánchez has been here 12 seasons

226 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.

Squad

Alejandro Garnacho is carrying Chelsea

8 goals and a season average of 7.80. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Market

Moisés Caicedo raises the bar for Chelsea

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Chelsea heard it as anything else.

Squad

Wesley Fofana stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Wesley Fofana and Chelsea agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Market

Only the photograph left for Ryan Kavuma-McQueen

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ryan Kavuma-McQueen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chelsea the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Kendry Páez

Marked 9.69 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

In brief

540 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

1 Dec 2036
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Geovany Quenda breaks a bone — 70 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

Marc Guiu lights up a European night for Chelsea

3‑1 against Debrecen, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Marc Guiu was at the centre of the description.

Squad

12 seasons of Robert Sánchez

226 appearances across 12 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Chelsea know what they have.

Player ratings

Cole Palmer, 34, rolls back the years — 8.20

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.20 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Market

Cole Palmer wants more than Chelsea are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Wesley Fofana stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Wesley Fofana and Chelsea agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Match

Nobody wants to play Chelsea right now

4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Squad

Tempers go at Chelsea

Cole Palmer was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Market

Only the photograph left for Caleb Wiley

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Caleb Wiley will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chelsea the goodbyes have quietly begun.

In brief

539 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

24 Nov 2036
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

No mercy from Chelsea

West Ham United will want this one forgotten quickly: 9‑2, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Chelsea were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Squad

A fracture rules Geovany Quenda out for 78 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chelsea will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

A brace, and Cole Palmer takes the afternoon — 10.00

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Cole Palmer provided it, and the 10.00 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Match

Chelsea are in among the leaders

Position 2 and 31 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Player ratings

Wesley Fofana scores twice — 9.01

Two goals and a mark of 9.01 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

A day Marc Guiu will not forget

3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Squad

Tempers go at Chelsea

Enzo Fernández was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Alejandro Garnacho

7 goals and a season average of 7.73 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Match

Whatever happens, Chelsea do not lose

8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

In brief

537 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

10 Nov 2036
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Chelsea take Panathinaikos apart in Europe

4‑1. Nights like this are why clubs spend decades trying to qualify for this competition, and they arrive perhaps twice in that time. Everybody who was in the ground will describe it badly for years.

Squad

A fracture rules Geovany Quenda out for 92 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chelsea will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

Chelsea march on in the cup

Milton Keynes Dons are out and Chelsea go through, 6‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Match

Chelsea throw away a 2-goal lead

2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Birmingham the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Chelsea will enjoy reviewing.

Player ratings

A brace, and Alejandro Garnacho takes the afternoon — 9.53

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alejandro Garnacho provided it, and the 9.53 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Both of them Estêvão's — 9.25

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.25, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Squad

3 goals for Aarón Anselmino

The match ball belongs to Aarón Anselmino, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Wesley Fofana yet — 8.18

At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.18 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

Ármin Pécsi keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Chelsea may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

In brief

536 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

3 Nov 2036
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Geovany Quenda breaks a bone — 100 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 100 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Alejandro Garnacho has been here 11 seasons

472 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.

Squad

Tempers go at Chelsea

Cole Palmer was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Market

Only the photograph left for Caleb Wiley

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Caleb Wiley will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chelsea the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Market

Stefan Bajčetić wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Chelsea hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Wesley Fofana falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Player ratings

One of those days for Estêvão

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.99, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Player ratings

One of those days for Alejandro Garnacho

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.38, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Player ratings

Marc Guiu could have had three

17 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.

In brief

535 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

27 Oct 2036
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Geovany Quenda breaks a bone — 107 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 107 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

Geovany Quenda lights up a European night for Chelsea

3‑2 against Panathinaikos, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Geovany Quenda was at the centre of the description.

Player ratings

Geovany Quenda scores twice — 9.09

Two goals and a mark of 9.09 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Andrey Santos was immovable

31 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.

Match

Chelsea are in among the leaders

Position 3 and 23 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Squad

Tempers go at Chelsea

Filip Jörgensen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Market

Joshua Miller is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chelsea is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wesley Fofana is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Alejandro Garnacho

6 goals and a season average of 7.60 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

In brief

534 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

20 Oct 2036
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Cole Palmer

14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chelsea lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Only the photograph left for Noah Sadiki

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Noah Sadiki will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chelsea the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Tempers go at Chelsea

Cole Palmer was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moisés Caicedo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad

Kendry Páez is carrying Chelsea

7 goals and a season average of 7.57. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Match

Chelsea come up short against Liverpool

Liverpool left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Player ratings

One of those days for Kendry Páez

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.21, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Player ratings

The chances came and went for Marc Guiu

14 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.

Market

The Moisés Caicedo story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Moisés Caicedo signs something — a contract at Chelsea or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief