Ben Jacobs’ piece for Simon Phillips’ Substack is full of really juicy information, as ever.
It comes in the form as a long reflection on the pretty shocking draw with Sheffield United at the weekend, with plenty of speculation and information about Mauricio Pochettino’s job thrown in.
The line coming from the ownership, via Jacobs, is that the strategy has been a “four window” one, with everyone on that end hoping for things to be judged when we reach the summer. A key part of assessing all that will be seeing how well our sales go this summer.
One mentioned with interesting detail here is Armando Broja. After recovering from injury he played here and there in the first half of the season, before going on loan to Fulham in January. This has proved another disaster, with the striker barely featuring since the move.
Jacobs says that Chelsea are “hoping for around £35m” for the striker. But if he can’t get off the bench for a mid table team, that just seems hopelessly optimistic.
Speculative Premier League interest
Crystal Palace are said to be “tracking” the forward, but value him at under £20m. A far more realistic proposal.
We hope that our entire financial future isn’t being based around ludicrous valuations like that, otherwise we really might be in trouble with FFP and PSR. At least Ian Maatsen should fetch the £35m we’re banking on. Broja and Romelu Lukaku don’t look like they’ll be coming close.
That June 30th deadline is looming larger and larger.
