Sam Alabi

Defensive Midfielder - Chelsea
1 Aug 2032
Sunday
Process

Marked for Sam Alabi

307 Edition

The Chelsea Chronicle

14 Jun 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

Chelsea make their move for Marco Palestra

$78.9M on the table at Manchester United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Transfer targets

Manchester United tell Chelsea: Erling Haaland is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Market

Vítězslav Jaroš agrees terms with Middlesbrough

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Chelsea people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Market

Mykhaylo Mudryk turns Watford down

“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.

The dugout

Benoît Badiashile 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.

Transfer targets

No deal for Hayden Hackney at that price

Chelsea offered $3.9M; Everton said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.

Market

Vítězslav Jaroš 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.

Market

Emiliano Martínez 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

Words exchanged at Chelsea

Bryan Mbeumo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

In brief

  • Transfer targets The paperwork begins on Mikey Moore
  • Squad A row about effort at Chelsea
  • Squad Sam Alabi gets the move he always wanted
Back issues
289 Edition

The Newcastle United Post

9 Feb 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Liverpool come back empty-handed

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

Market

Marselino Ferdinan 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 Newcastle United can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

Harvey Barnes, 34, rolls back the years — 7.81

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.81 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Market

Chancel Mbemba has one foot out of the door

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

Market

Estêvão 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 Newcastle United hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Boardroom

Newcastle United to lose Sam Alabi for free

There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Sam Alabi 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Newcastle United

Tyler Dibling and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Newcastle United

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Harvey Barnes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Romain Faivre signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Romain Faivre commits to Newcastle United for another 2 years.

In brief