20 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vítězslav Jaroš will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chelsea the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Apr 2032
Levi Colwill 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: João Pedro. 2‑1 against Bournemouth, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
Player ratingsJoão Pedro was on a different afternoon to everybody else
1 for Reggie Walsh, marked 7.84, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Bryan Mbeumo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Mar 2032
Levi Colwill 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Bryan Mbeumo is on it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.21 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
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.
Squad22 Mar 2032
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levi Colwill 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Chelsea can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Chelsea and Leicester City in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
“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.
It had gone 7 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Levi Colwill 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.
A 1‑0 win over Manchester City, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kolos waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Chelsea is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Successful dribbles: 30. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“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.
“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.
Bryan Mbeumo 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.
“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.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Levi Colwill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Axel Disasi will call it something else in private.
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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.
Chelsea had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Tottenham, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Levi Colwill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Connor Barrett has just signed for Chelsea, and for once the answer mattered.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Level with 93 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Chelsea had all but put away. Wolverhampton will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Chelsea, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bryan Mbeumo 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.
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.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad9 Feb 2032
Levi Colwill 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nicolò Ledonne has just signed for Chelsea, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
“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.
“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.
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
Deadline passes with 4 signed and 8 gone
That is the business done at Chelsea until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Levi Colwill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
The most awkward business a club does is signing tomorrow's answer while today's is still in the building. Francesco Camarda comes from Pescara for exactly that purpose, and the handover will not be discussed publicly by anybody.
Everything agreed with Wolverhampton, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
“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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Francesco Camarda has, at Chelsea, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Manchester United have kept their man, and Chelsea go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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.
Chelsea offered $5.8M; 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.
“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.
$2.0M on the table at Blackburn Rovers. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Bryan Mbeumo 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.
The offer from Oxford United for Alexander Collins 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.
Squad12 Jan 2032
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levi Colwill 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.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Chelsea will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“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 name of Geovany Quenda has come up in conversations Chelsea were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Chelsea did not have in the autumn.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Levi Colwill 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.
Bryan Mbeumo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Geovany Quenda 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.
Player ratings29 Dec 2031
João Pedro was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.61. 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.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
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.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Levi Colwill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jamie Gittens. 1‑0 against Sunderland, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Derby days make names, and João Pedro made his against Tottenham. 2‑1, bragging rights secured, and one half of town will be tired of hearing about him by Tuesday.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Mykhaylo Mudryk obliged against Swansea City. 5‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Chelsea.
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.
Position 3, 36 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.
“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.
Bryan Mbeumo 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.
Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them, with his name on it, and it is a year of bragging rights for Chelsea and a story that will outlast his contract.
13 seasons and 284 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Levi Colwill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.26 — 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.
The fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes Chelsea will be judged on one thing only.
Two goals and a mark of 8.18 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Squad24 Nov 2031
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levi Colwill 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Chelsea and Bournemouth in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chelsea will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Bryan Mbeumo 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.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Levi Colwill 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.
9 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.
With 8 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: João Pedro. 1‑0 against Everton, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chelsea will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Chelsea, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
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.
“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.
Squad10 Nov 2031
Levi Colwill 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.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.91, and 2 involvements.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chelsea will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Donnell McNeilly provided it, and the 8.01 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings3 Nov 2031
Denner could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.93
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.93, 0 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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.
“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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Levi Colwill 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.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Chelsea now know that too.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chelsea will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Levi Colwill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The target is the manager, the approach is real, and the compensation clause is the whole conversation. Clubs deny this kind of story right up until the photograph.
At 32 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rodrigo Gomes. 1‑0 against Swansea City, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
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.
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.
Squad29 Sep 2031
Levi Colwill 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“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.
The dugout29 Sep 2031
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
Successful dribbles: 34. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
Bryan Mbeumo 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.
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.
Squad22 Sep 2031
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levi Colwill 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.
The approach has been made to Kenya Police and the answer is somebody else's to give. These things are settled in private and reported in public, usually in that order.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chelsea will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Crystal Palace will replay every second of the added time for a week.
“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.
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.
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.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levi Colwill 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chelsea will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
“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.
“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.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Brighton moved on, Calvin Ramsay reports back to Chelsea, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Levi Colwill 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cheltenham Town waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Chelsea is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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.
“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.
Boardroom1 Sep 2031
Chelsea close the window on a squad of their own making
30 in and 17 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
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.
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
SquadLevi Colwill falls out with a teammate over standards
Chelsea asked and Barcelona said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
0‑3 to Manchester United, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
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.
Bryan Mbeumo 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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Chido Obi is a Chelsea player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Chelsea have lost him in all but the paperwork.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Chido Obi is living that version at Chelsea, and it tends to show in the first month.
The offer from Wolverhampton for Shumaira Mheuka 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Levi Colwill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Chizzy Ezenwata is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The approach has been made to Liverpool Montevideo and the answer is somebody else's to give. These things are settled in private and reported in public, usually in that order.
10 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
The clubs have shaken hands with Ipswich Town; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
“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.
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.
The offer from Doncaster Rovers for Harry Johnson 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.
Chelsea offered $63.6M; Aston Villa 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Chelsea have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Bryan Mbeumo 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.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levi Colwill 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sheffield Wednesday have kept their man, and Chelsea go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The name of Harry Johnson has come up in conversations Chelsea were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Filippo Faggi has improved at 28, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Chelsea have gone to Aston Villa with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Chelsea offered $4.0M; Southampton 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.
“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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Mike Penders has, at Chelsea, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
Spartak Moscow have accepted the money. What Chelsea do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Shrewsbury Town waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Chelsea is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Harry Johnson had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Chelsea offered $4.0M; Bristol Rovers 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Hull City is saying, and nobody at Chelsea is enjoying the guessing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Levi Colwill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Chelsea can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Luton Town waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Chelsea is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
“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.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Chelsea, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Obolon for Edward Hughes 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Levi Colwill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Francisco Trincão was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
In brief
The dugoutMatteo Ruggeri has become a man the manager trusts
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcus Edwards will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chelsea the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The offer from Floriana for Joe Rankin-Costello 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Levi Colwill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Harry Johnson has come up in conversations Chelsea were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Levi Colwill is on it.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Przemysław Płacheta had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Chelsea, and it is not being withdrawn.
Francisco Trincão 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Edward Hughes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chelsea the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad23 Jun 2031
Levi Colwill 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Chelsea can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chelsea, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Chelsea have lost him in all but the paperwork.
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.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levi Colwill 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.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 6 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chelsea, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Francisco Trincão is on it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Chelsea have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Chelsea, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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.
Bryan Mbeumo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levi Colwill 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.
Nobody at Chelsea will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A clause somebody insisted on years ago, in a negotiation nobody remembers, has just paid Chelsea $1.9M. Dastan Sätpayev left a long time ago; the paperwork stayed.
“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.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Chelsea, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Marcus Edwards has agreed terms with Newcastle United for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad2 Jun 2031
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levi Colwill 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Samuel Iling-Junior and Chelsea agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The phone has started ringing about Edward Hughes again, and this time the name on the line is Burton Albion. Chelsea are listening politely and promising nothing.
Bryan Mbeumo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Levi Colwill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Chelsea will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Chelsea know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
In brief
The dugoutAxel Disasi knocks on the manager’s door
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Harry Johnson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chelsea the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Levi Colwill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Chelsea will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Chelsea know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Chelsea. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
2 goals in 9 games at New York Red Bulls — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Chelsea updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“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.
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.
Squad12 May 2031
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Gomes 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.
“I did not go to New York Red Bulls to sit and watch. I want to come back to Chelsea and fight for my place.” 8 appearances in 39 matches say the rest.
Nobody at Chelsea will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Charles De Ketelaere signs something — a contract at Chelsea or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout12 May 2031
The manager has not finished forgetting Mamadou Sarr's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
In brief
The dugoutCalvin Ramsay asks for a word with the manager
Position 8 on 59 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
“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.
Francisco Trincão 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.
Squad5 May 2031
Levi Colwill 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jonathan Macaulay is living that version at Chelsea, and it tends to show in the first month.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 90. Sunderland had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chelsea, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutLevi Colwill has become a man the manager trusts
Bryan Mbeumo 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.
Squad28 Apr 2031
Levi Colwill 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Chelsea can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Bryan Mbeumo is on it.
The dugout28 Apr 2031
the manager faces the questions
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” the manager after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Something was said to Jamie Gittens and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Chelsea know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Harry Johnson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chelsea the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes Chelsea will be judged on one thing only.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Gomes 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Francisco Trincão is on it.
“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.
The dugout21 Apr 2031
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 the manager left the room before anybody could ask which.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Edward Hughes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chelsea the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levi Colwill 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.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Getting past Emiliano Martínez has become the hardest job in the division
14 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
The fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes Chelsea will be judged on one thing only.
Successful dribbles: 30. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
Squad7 Apr 2031
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levi Colwill 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Charles De Ketelaere’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout7 Apr 2031
Half-satisfied: the manager on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Bryan Mbeumo 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.
13 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Emiliano Martínez has given nobody the chance.
Squad31 Mar 2031
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Gomes 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.
Nobody at Chelsea will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Chelsea know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout31 Mar 2031
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” the manager was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Chelsea dressing room was either.
Leicester City will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Chelsea were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mohamed-Ali Cho provided it, and the 8.74 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Harry Johnson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chelsea the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Levi Colwill 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Chelsea and Leicester City in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Getting past Emiliano Martínez has become the hardest job in the division
12 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of João Pedro at his very best
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Jamie Gittens at his very best
“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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Gomes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 Mar 2031
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by the manager to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody at Chelsea will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
1-4, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
“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.
Bryan Mbeumo 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.
Squad3 Mar 2031
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levi Colwill 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.
14 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.
Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
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.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Chelsea did not have in the autumn.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Levi Colwill 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Swansea City spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Leo Cardoso 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.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Gomes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not go to New York Red Bulls to sit and watch. I want to come back to Chelsea and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 27 matches say the rest.
In brief
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Matteo Ruggeri
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Nottingham Forest had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Chelsea ran out of time with Ajax. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
13 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.
“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.
Chelsea offered $1.9M; Manchester United 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.
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.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levi Colwill 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Marcos Enrique has, at Chelsea, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The clubs have shaken hands with Ajax; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
258 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Chelsea know exactly what they have.
Boardroom3 Feb 2031
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Chelsea until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Bryan Mbeumo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Levi Colwill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Barcelona have kept their man, and Chelsea go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Chelsea, and it is not being withdrawn.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Donnell McNeilly has just signed for Chelsea, and for once the answer mattered.
West Bromwich Albion pay $1.0M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Chelsea offered $400.0K; Blackburn Rovers 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Rodrigo Gomes 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.
In brief
SquadGetting past Emiliano Martínez has become the hardest job in the division
The dugoutLevi Colwill has become a man the manager trusts
Liverpool paid $51.8M and Chelsea took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The clubs have shaken hands with Newcastle United; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Crawley Town waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Chelsea is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Aarón Anselmino has gone, the accounts have $51.8M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Nobody at the club will say out loud who this signing is for, which is how you know exactly who it is for. Gavin Bazunu has been brought in to take a shirt somebody is still wearing.
12 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.
In brief
SquadGavin Bazunu arrives at the club he grew up with
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.
Chelsea have gone to Newcastle United with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The offer from Sheffield United for Samuel Iling-Junior 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.
“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.
“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.
$1.9M was the most the club would pay and Manchester United were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chelsea have done the hard part with Southampton, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
In brief
SquadWords at Chelsea training over how hard people work
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Chelsea have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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.
Bryan Mbeumo 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.
10 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.
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.
Squad30 Dec 2030
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levi Colwill 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.
Minute 94, against Nottingham Forest, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Chelsea can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
Nobody at Chelsea will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Danny Ward 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.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levi Colwill 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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The first defeat in 14 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Tottenham; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
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.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Chizzy Ezenwata has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
“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.
Bryan Mbeumo 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.
Squad9 Dec 2030
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levi Colwill 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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Player ratings9 Dec 2030
Aarón Anselmino was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. 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.
The fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes Chelsea will be judged on one thing only.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Levi Colwill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bryan Mbeumo. 2‑1 against Brighton, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Player ratings2 Dec 2030
Bryan Mbeumo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.51. 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.
The name of Jhon Palacios has come up in conversations Chelsea were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Marked 8.04. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Chelsea.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Gomes 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samuel Iling-Junior, and the manager let it.
The dugout25 Nov 2030
the manager has his say
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” the manager on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
27 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
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.
Squad18 Nov 2030
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levi Colwill 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.
90 minutes played. Charles De Ketelaere found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Leicester City went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Bryan Mbeumo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Levi Colwill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8.26. 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.
“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.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Shumaira Mheuka has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Salford City spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Player ratings4 Nov 2030
Ibrahim Mbaye was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. 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.
In brief
Player ratingsBoth jobs done by Mamadou Sarr — 7.74
SquadWords at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Bryan Mbeumo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Oct 2030
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levi Colwill 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Maxence Lacroix is on it.
The dugout28 Oct 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” the manager was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Chelsea dressing room was either.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Edward Hughes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chelsea the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Levi Colwill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Wolverhampton will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑2, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Chelsea were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Bryan Mbeumo 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Franco Lorenzón has, at Chelsea, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Levi Colwill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7 goals in one match, Charles De Ketelaere on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Chelsea and Wolverhampton.
“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.
“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.
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.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aarón Anselmino 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Chelsea can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Successful dribbles: 32. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Edward Hughes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chelsea the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A performance of 8.15 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Gomes 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.
“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.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Chelsea, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Geovany Quenda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Chelsea game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at New York Red Bulls runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
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.
Bryan Mbeumo 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.
The offer from Charleroi for Adam Armstrong 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Filippo Faggi is living that version at Chelsea, and it tends to show in the first month.
“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.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 23 arrived, 14 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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.
Chelsea had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at West Ham United, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The chase for Million Manhoef ended with $43.3M changing hands and Stoke City out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
“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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Million Manhoef has just signed for Chelsea, and for once the answer mattered.
“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.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Chelsea have gone to Stoke City with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Chelsea asked and Bayern Munich said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Kenan Yıldız was one of the reasons people came, and $236.1M does not replace that by itself.
“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.
$2.7M was the most the club would pay and Manchester United were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
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.
Bryan Mbeumo 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.
“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.
“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.
Kenan Yıldız 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.
At 17 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Samuel Iling-Junior is living that version at Chelsea, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
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.
Squad27 May 2030
Words at Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levi Colwill 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.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Chelsea can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bryan Mbeumo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Kenan Yıldız 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.
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.
Squad20 May 2030
Levi Colwill 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Chelsea know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The unglamorous genius of a well-written contract. Chizzy Ezenwata is somebody else's player now, and $330.0K has arrived because the people who sold him thought further ahead than the transfer window.