⚽ Premier League 2025/2026 Discussion Thread ⚽

[Sarah Azhari]

Losing Cucurella is not a good start for Xabi Alonso. Their LB options aren't great now. There is Hato who is still very young. He can't be trusted in the starting lineup most of the time.

There is a player named Wiley as another option who is much worse.    In short, I hope Xabi Alonso makes a good signing for the position. He missed the opportunity of signing Grimaldo...

Chelsea and Xabi aren’t too concerned about losing Cucurella because Chelsea already has a replacement in Denner as the left-back. Chelsea signed Denner first, which is why they were willing to let Cucurella go. Moreover, Denner is a promising young player who had a great season with Corinthians.

[9ja Amaka]

Chelsea and Xabi aren’t too concerned about losing Cucurella because Chelsea already has a replacement in Denner as the left-back. Chelsea signed Denner first, which is why they were willing to let Cucurella go. Moreover, Denner is a promising young player who had a great season with Corinthians.

In my opinion I think Chelsea losing Cucurella is both a loss and a gain for them. Being a gain is that they are letting a player that us not willing to play for the club leave, which I think it's a good one for them, because the worst they can do is to keep a player that is not ready to play for them. On the other I hand I also think it's a loss, because Cucurella is one of the senior player in the team with a lot of premiership experience. He is tested and trusted on like Denner that it's just a potential and we don't know how he is going to adapt to the premiership.  Anyways I hope it works well for them, because I really admire their courage for letting a player like Cucurella leave the club

[Velvet78]

Chelsea and Xabi aren’t too concerned about losing Cucurella because Chelsea already has a replacement in Denner as the left-back. Chelsea signed Denner first, which is why they were willing to let Cucurella go. Moreover, Denner is a promising young player who had a great season with Corinthians.

Really? Do you believe a 18-year-old LB gives them more confidence now? He is a very young defender. He needs time to improve and probably it will take him at least a few years!

Cucurella was a ready player. I don't believe Xabi Alonso will be satisfied with only this signing for the position. He would like to have a more experienced LB for his starting lineup choice.

[Abbatty]

Losing Cucurella is not a good start for Xabi Alonso. Their LB options aren't great now. There is Hato who is still very young. He can't be trusted in the starting lineup most of the time.

There is a player named Wiley as another option who is much worse.    In short, I hope Xabi Alonso makes a good signing for the position. He missed the opportunity of signing Grimaldo...

Chelsea and Xabi aren’t too concerned about losing Cucurella because Chelsea already has a replacement in Denner as the left-back. Chelsea signed Denner first, which is why they were willing to let Cucurella go. Moreover, Denner is a promising young player who had a great season with Corinthians.

Currently Chelsea are not looking at denner as cucurella replaced but rather they are looking to sign Rayo Vallecano left back pep chavarria to play as their left back next season. He is experienced, 28 years and also had a brilliant season last season. Chelsea board promised to bring in experienced players and that why are trying to get him and Xhaka.

Well Alonso have been very active in all these signings, the board have put trust in him and are allowing him to have a major say in all these transfers. So far no real signings has been made but contact have been made to a lot of players.

[Swordsoffreedom]

Chelsea and Xabi aren’t too concerned about losing Cucurella because Chelsea already has a replacement in Denner as the left-back. Chelsea signed Denner first, which is why they were willing to let Cucurella go. Moreover, Denner is a promising young player who had a great season with Corinthians.

You are probably right. Chelsea are not too worried about losing Cucurella. They already have a worthy replacement.

Another important thing is that chelsea management is probably looking to reorganize the squad now. So Chelsea will not stop any of the players in the squad who want to leave. They will let players go. But of course at a  decent price. They are not interested in selling players at a loss.

They have given the responsibility to a  manager as talented as Alonso. Alonso strengthened the Leverkusen squad and won  the Bundesliga title. And perhaps that is why chelsea want to give Alonso the responsibility of building the squad.

[Nightwatchmare]

Losing Cucurella is not a good start for Xabi Alonso. Their LB options aren't great now. There is Hato who is still very young. He can't be trusted in the starting lineup most of the time.

There is a player named Wiley as another option who is much worse.    In short, I hope Xabi Alonso makes a good signing for the position. He missed the opportunity of signing Grimaldo...

The loss of Cucurella looks very bad for Chelsea and Xabi Alonso,  but on the brighter side I think it's a good one for them. Cucurella looks like a player that is so eager to leave the team,  so I think it's a good decision to sell him. It's better you have a player that is ready to play for the club than to have one that really don't want to play for the team, because that will even be more of a problem. I think what Xabi Alonso needs to do now is to get another left back that is ready to play for the club, the player might not be at the level of Cucurella,  but is willing to play for the club.

The loss of Cucurella does not look very bad for Chelsea and Xabi Alonso because they never try to convince him to stay, they accepted Real Madrid's bid without wasting time, i believe Chelsea already have their eyes on another left back for them to be okay with Cucurella moving to Real Madrid. Chelsea did the right thing in selling Cucurella because even before Real Madrid showed interest in Cucurella, he said if he is given the option to cut his hair and join Real Madrid, he would cut his hair, which shows his mind is in Real Madrid not Chelsea.

[Volgastallion]

Losing Cucurella is not so hard to overcome i mean they have much biggers problesm right now than that, i feel like they have first to focus on build a much hard and better spine of the team im refering to the central defender the first midfielder and the number 9, if Enzo Fernandez is also sell they have there a much bigger problem than the Cucurella one.

[jakdanyel]

https://www.ccfc.co.uk/news/2026/june/30/frank-lampard-signs-new-contract-until-2029/

Frank Lampard has extended his contract at Coventry. He started his manager career not great actually. But it looks like he is taking the right steps to improve it.    Wishing him good luck in this tough PL journey!

Losing Cucurella is not so hard to overcome i mean they have much biggers problesm right now than that, i feel like they have first to focus on build a much hard and better spine of the team im refering to the central defender the first midfielder and the number 9, if Enzo Fernandez is also sell they have there a much bigger problem than the Cucurella one.

They are expected to sign Xhaka for the midfield soon. It would be a nice transfer honestly as they lack a leader in the area. All midfielders are quite young as you know.

They need better defenders at the same time. Colwill can stay, he is skilled. However starting with Chalobah there are names who don't deserve this team.

[MorganaX]

Losing Cucurella is not so hard to overcome i mean they have much biggers problesm right now than that, i feel like they have first to focus on build a much hard and better spine of the team im refering to the central defender the first midfielder and the number 9, if Enzo Fernandez is also sell they have there a much bigger problem than the Cucurella one.

Chelsea might have a big problem next season because of all the loop holes in their team and it gets worse because now they didn't qualify for any European football and that's one of the reasons that make players want to come to a club and looking at the way everything is actually set up now with the club it's gonna be hard to add some names to their squad especially for the new manager to try and see to major improvement in the squad.

[LUCKMCFLY]

I think they would also fit in well at Real Madrid. Real Madrid is a team that lacks players in that position and needs someone to manage the game effectively. They haven't been able to fill that gap since Kroos and Modric left. So, if Rodri or Enzo were to transfer to that area, I think it would be a logical move for Real Madrid. Because we can see that Real Madrid still has deficiencies in that area. They've made good transfers in other positions, but they still need players there.

Yes, that's exactly right, I have no doubt. It's just that I don't see Enzo or Rodri fitting in with Real Madrid's style. I don't know how to explain it, but I just don't see them as a good fit. I mean, their style isn't like Modric's or Kroos's, who are obviously on another level. I'd say a midfielder should be a different kind of player, someone who is very creative and has that attacking vision that's always sought after. That's what's needed.

[Callido]

Yes, that's exactly right, I have no doubt. It's just that I don't see Enzo or Rodri fitting in with Real Madrid's style. I don't know how to explain it, but I just don't see them as a good fit. I mean, their style isn't like Modric's or Kroos's, who are obviously on another level. I'd say a midfielder should be a different kind of player, someone who is very creative and has that attacking vision that's always sought after. That's what's needed.

Both players can fit into Real Madrid style of playing, I don't see how both players can't fit into the team play, Rodri is a DMF and Enzo plays similarly like a DMF, while Modric is a creative CMF, there is role either Enzo or Rodri will play for Real Madrid, i think they both will be good addition to the club, or either anyone of them who will be joining the team.

[Derekfunds]

Yes, that's exactly right, I have no doubt. It's just that I don't see Enzo or Rodri fitting in with Real Madrid's style. I don't know how to explain it, but I just don't see them as a good fit. I mean, their style isn't like Modric's or Kroos's, who are obviously on another level. I'd say a midfielder should be a different kind of player, someone who is very creative and has that attacking vision that's always sought after. That's what's needed.

Both players can fit into Real Madrid style of playing, I don't see how both players can't fit into the team play, Rodri is a DMF and Enzo plays similarly like a DMF, while Modric is a creative CMF, there is role either Enzo or Rodri will play for Real Madrid, i think they both will be good addition to the club, or either anyone of them who will be joining the team.

Seems Chelsea players like Real Madrid or Real Madrid likes Chelsea players because most or some of Real Madrid players are once Chelsea player and I am beginning to imagine the kind of relationship or deal that always make them want to buy players from Chelsea and I don't even know why Chelsea are selling some of their import and valuable players while they are still struggling to comport themselves and do better next season, Chelsea really underperform last season.

[Byebyebtc]

Chelsea and Xabi aren’t too concerned about losing Cucurella because Chelsea already has a replacement in Denner as the left-back. Chelsea signed Denner first, which is why they were willing to let Cucurella go. Moreover, Denner is a promising young player who had a great season with Corinthians.

In my opinion I think Chelsea losing Cucurella is both a loss and a gain for them. Being a gain is that they are letting a player that us not willing to play for the club leave, which I think it's a good one for them, because the worst they can do is to keep a player that is not ready to play for them. On the other I hand I also think it's a loss, because Cucurella is one of the senior player in the team with a lot of premiership experience. He is tested and trusted on like Denner that it's just a potential and we don't know how he is going to adapt to the premiership.  Anyways I hope it works well for them, because I really admire their courage for letting a player like Cucurella leave the club

Well it should have been different if Enzo Maresca was with Chelsea because Chelsea would have been in the champions league and those players will still want to play
I do believe that is as a result of the players wanting to play in champions league that make them choose to leave, every player wants to be in a big club, wants to win trophies and if Chelsea could deliver that they will definitely want to stay, and Enzo Maresca showed such potentials of that happening but we lost him I hope xabi does better.

[Rgram]

Losing Cucurella is not so hard to overcome i mean they have much biggers problesm right now than that, i feel like they have first to focus on build a much hard and better spine of the team im refering to the central defender the first midfielder and the number 9, if Enzo Fernandez is also sell they have there a much bigger problem than the Cucurella one.

Loosing Cucurella you say… they lost Rudiger and their back has being open ever since. Cucurella certainly isn’t the very best Chelsea could have hoped for but, his one of the best Chelsea had. He puts in his all and is always out to get goals when necessary. That’s what makes him special for Chelsea and having to loose him to the transfer market wouldn’t be funny for Chelsea, given the state the club is. Perhaps if it was a team that had some better replacement, it wouldn’t have mattered much but as it is, I think it does matter.

[rachael9385]

Chelsea might have a big problem next season because of all the loop holes in their team and it gets worse because now they didn't qualify for any European football and that's one of the reasons that make players want to come to a club and looking at the way everything is actually set up now with the club it's gonna be hard to add some names to their squad especially for the new manager to try and see to major improvement in the squad.

This is unpredictable because we don't know if Xabi is going to be able to make  significant changes in the team, although Chelsea have been backwards last season and they showed that they are inconsistent. I really hope their new manager would be able to fix the problem they have currently. After fixing the issue they might still go back to being in a terrible form.

[Black Mbaye]

Chelsea might have a big problem next season because of all the loop holes in their team and it gets worse because now they didn't qualify for any European football and that's one of the reasons that make players want to come to a club and looking at the way everything is actually set up now with the club it's gonna be hard to add some names to their squad especially for the new manager to try and see to major improvement in the squad.

This is unpredictable because we don't know if Xabi is going to be able to make  significant changes in the team, although Chelsea have been backwards last season and they showed that they are inconsistent. I really hope their new manager would be able to fix the problem they have currently. After fixing the issue they might still go back to being in a terrible form.

This will be difficult for Xabi. However, the Spanish manager is aware that he's undertaking a challenging task. Chelsea is a very strong team with a large squad, and expectations are high. Xabi must maintain balance and harmony within the team. Otherwise, he will suffer the same fate as other managers who have been sacked. After leaving Bayer Leverkusen, he managed Real Madrid, and if he is sacked from Chelsea as well, it would be very bad for his career.

[Catenaccio]

Seems Chelsea players like Real Madrid or Real Madrid likes Chelsea players because most or some of Real Madrid players are once Chelsea player and I am beginning to imagine the kind of relationship or deal that always make them want to buy players from Chelsea and I don't even know why Chelsea are selling some of their import and valuable players while they are still struggling to comport themselves and do better next season, Chelsea really underperform last season.

I really don't understand what you're talking about. In history, how many Chelsea players later became Real Madrid players and in return how many Real Madrid players moved to Chelsea. From my knowledge about football and transfer histories of two clubs, I don't see such things honestly. Real Madrid is a bigger club than Chelsea and they have much longer history and better tradition than Chelsea. The English club only became richer, bigger, more competitive and successful after Abramovich bought this club about 20 years ago and invested a lot of money for the club development.

This will be difficult for Xabi. However, the Spanish manager is aware that he's undertaking a challenging task. Chelsea is a very strong team with a large squad, and expectations are high. Xabi must maintain balance and harmony within the team. Otherwise, he will suffer the same fate as other managers who have been sacked. After leaving Bayer Leverkusen, he managed Real Madrid, and if he is sacked from Chelsea as well, it would be very bad for his career.

I am not surprised why Chelsea wanted to have Xabi Alonso as their head coach next season, and only surprised why Xabi Alonso accepted this offer. He can wait for an offer from Liverpool but perhaps he already got bad experience with Real Madrid and no longer want to become a head coach at a club where he used to be their star player.

In Chelsea and Premier League, Xabi Alonso will certainly have to work with more pressure because Chelsea are bigger club than Bayer Leverkusen and Premier League is surely a bigger and more competitive league than Bundesliga.

[rachael9385]

This will be difficult for Xabi. However, the Spanish manager is aware that he's undertaking a challenging task. Chelsea is a very strong team with a large squad, and expectations are high. Xabi must maintain balance and harmony within the team. Otherwise, he will suffer the same fate as other managers who have been sacked. After leaving Bayer Leverkusen, he managed Real Madrid, and if he is sacked from Chelsea as well, it would be very bad for his career.

Indeed Xabi wasn't expecting the situation in Chelsea to be an easy one for him as a matter of fact he is already prepared for what lies ahead because he knows how difficult it would be to revive the team. For a Coach that has been in Bayer Leverkusen and real Madrid he definitely has the experience needed to manage Chelsea, let's just see what he can do.

[giammangiato]

Indeed Xabi wasn't expecting the situation in Chelsea to be an easy one for him as a matter of fact he is already prepared for what lies ahead because he knows how difficult it would be to revive the team. For a Coach that has been in Bayer Leverkusen and real Madrid he definitely has the experience needed to manage Chelsea, let's just see what he can do.

I believe that the "difficult" experience with Real Madrid served as a lesson, certainly different problems and situations, but starting from a complicated team, managing difficult situations should not be a problem anyway.
The problem is just understanding to trust him, obviously not expecting him to be able to solve or fix the situation in a very short time (it could happen) but not expecting it.

[Futurexxx]

In my opinion I think Chelsea losing Cucurella is both a loss and a gain for them. Being a gain is that they are letting a player that us not willing to play for the club leave, which I think it's a good one for them, because the worst they can do is to keep a player that is not ready to play for them. On the other I hand I also think it's a loss, because Cucurella is one of the senior player in the team with a lot of premiership experience. He is tested and trusted on like Denner that it's just a potential and we don't know how he is going to adapt to the premiership.  Anyways I hope it works well for them, because I really admire their courage for letting a player like Cucurella leave the club

Losing Marc cucurella is not a big deal, because we have seen better players leave the club and they still went ahead to win a major trophy that same season, so as long as he is replaced with another top quality player, they wouldn't feel much of his absence.

I don't expect Chelsea to rely on the young lads to cover up for marc cucurella because they are already in advance talk with Royal vallecano to sign their Spanish left back which is 28 years of age and a major target for xabi Alonso, so if they can get that deal over the line, Marc cucurella will be easily forgotten next season.