Chelsea had been scouting Mathis Amougou for the past two years before taking a decision to sign him in the January transfer window from Saint-Etienne.
Significantly, Chelsea were not the only club following his progress, especially after he was voted the third-best player at the 2023 Under-17 World Cup.
Bayer Leverkusen had seen enough to be convinced. The Bundesliga club tried, but failed, to sign him last summer. Other Champions League teams from across the top five European leagues were also beginning to make their interest known during the January transfer window after seeing him make 17 appearances in Ligue 1.
Up to this point, Chelsea had been erring towards waiting until the summer or next year to make their move to acquire Amougou. But in the final days before the deadline, the club opted to bring their plans forward to ensure they did not miss out to a rival.
Chelsea see Amougou as a No 6 they can develop. It is a position they place great importance on and one they want to find more depth for. Among those operating there for the under-21s, the club rate Kiano Dyer and Sam Rak-Sakyi highly but see Amougou and Dyer more akin to Romeo Lavia, who has made just 13 appearances since joining from Southampton for £53million 18 months ago due to injury.
Amougou is being lined up to join Strasbourg on loan next season so he can get more regular first-team football. However, the benefit to joining Chelsea now is he can spend the next few months acclimatising to life at their base in Cobham and the style of play Chelsea use without too much pressure on his shoulders.
[Simon Johnson - The Athletic]
#CFC #Chelsea #ChelseaFC #ASSaintEtienne
Significantly, Chelsea were not the only club following his progress, especially after he was voted the third-best player at the 2023 Under-17 World Cup.
Bayer Leverkusen had seen enough to be convinced. The Bundesliga club tried, but failed, to sign him last summer. Other Champions League teams from across the top five European leagues were also beginning to make their interest known during the January transfer window after seeing him make 17 appearances in Ligue 1.
Up to this point, Chelsea had been erring towards waiting until the summer or next year to make their move to acquire Amougou. But in the final days before the deadline, the club opted to bring their plans forward to ensure they did not miss out to a rival.
Chelsea see Amougou as a No 6 they can develop. It is a position they place great importance on and one they want to find more depth for. Among those operating there for the under-21s, the club rate Kiano Dyer and Sam Rak-Sakyi highly but see Amougou and Dyer more akin to Romeo Lavia, who has made just 13 appearances since joining from Southampton for £53million 18 months ago due to injury.
Amougou is being lined up to join Strasbourg on loan next season so he can get more regular first-team football. However, the benefit to joining Chelsea now is he can spend the next few months acclimatising to life at their base in Cobham and the style of play Chelsea use without too much pressure on his shoulders.
[Simon Johnson - The Athletic]
#CFC #Chelsea #ChelseaFC #ASSaintEtienne
👍21❤5🤡2
Enzo Maresca ahead of Brighton & Hove Albion [A] in the Premier League:
🏥 On team news:
“Nico [Jackson] is injured and will be out until the international break. Probably he will be back after the international break.
“We knew he had a muscular problem but not how important it was at that stage. His reaction was good, so we didn’t think it was going to be a big injury. Unfortunately, he had a scan which has shown the injury, and he will be out for six to eight weeks.
“Marc Guiu will also be out for a while. He has a muscle problem, a hamstring issue as well, and will be out for a little while.
“Reece [James] is okay. He was rested against Brighton in the FA Cup, this was planned to give him a rest.
“He’s had a bit more rest in the last few days but he is okay to be involved tomorrow, yes. We are very happy to have Reece with us.
“Romeo Lavia is in the process to come back with us, Benoit Badiashile is exactly the same and Wesley Fofana has started to work with us again as of two days ago.
“It’s good he is back working with us but we cannot rush him and he will still need at least two or three weeks working before he can be ready to play. But, of course, it’s great to see Wes back with us.
“Lavia is still a little way off being back, I think he could be the same as Nico and looking at after the international break for a return.”
🤔 On the striker situation:
“Christo [Nkunku] is a solution but not the only solution. I said many times I consider Christo a very important player from the start.
“It could be a solution [to have a winger as a no.9], for sure. Noni [Madueke], Pedro [Neto] or even Tyrique [George], they can try and be a solution for us. Jadon [Sancho] with different kind of skills.
“I said since day one that Christo is not a nine, he is an attacking midfielder. We know very well that Christo is not a nine.”
🧤 On whether Filip Jorgensen is the current number one goalkeeper:
“The Filip [Jorgensen] solution was also to give Robert [Sanchez] some time to recover mentally and physically in general. The idea is not game by game to change the ‘keeper. Our ‘keeper in this moment is Filip.”
(Via ChelseaFC & Bobby Vincent - Football London)
🏥 On team news:
“Nico [Jackson] is injured and will be out until the international break. Probably he will be back after the international break.
“We knew he had a muscular problem but not how important it was at that stage. His reaction was good, so we didn’t think it was going to be a big injury. Unfortunately, he had a scan which has shown the injury, and he will be out for six to eight weeks.
“Marc Guiu will also be out for a while. He has a muscle problem, a hamstring issue as well, and will be out for a little while.
“Reece [James] is okay. He was rested against Brighton in the FA Cup, this was planned to give him a rest.
“He’s had a bit more rest in the last few days but he is okay to be involved tomorrow, yes. We are very happy to have Reece with us.
“Romeo Lavia is in the process to come back with us, Benoit Badiashile is exactly the same and Wesley Fofana has started to work with us again as of two days ago.
“It’s good he is back working with us but we cannot rush him and he will still need at least two or three weeks working before he can be ready to play. But, of course, it’s great to see Wes back with us.
“Lavia is still a little way off being back, I think he could be the same as Nico and looking at after the international break for a return.”
🤔 On the striker situation:
“Christo [Nkunku] is a solution but not the only solution. I said many times I consider Christo a very important player from the start.
“It could be a solution [to have a winger as a no.9], for sure. Noni [Madueke], Pedro [Neto] or even Tyrique [George], they can try and be a solution for us. Jadon [Sancho] with different kind of skills.
“I said since day one that Christo is not a nine, he is an attacking midfielder. We know very well that Christo is not a nine.”
🧤 On whether Filip Jorgensen is the current number one goalkeeper:
“The Filip [Jorgensen] solution was also to give Robert [Sanchez] some time to recover mentally and physically in general. The idea is not game by game to change the ‘keeper. Our ‘keeper in this moment is Filip.”
(Via ChelseaFC & Bobby Vincent - Football London)
👍29❤7😁4🏆1
Some Interesting words from Maresca last night: 👀
Enzo Maresca:
“The reason why I said this [about finding the positives after FA Cup exit] is because we are not ready to compete in four competitions in one season. As I said, if there is something positive, it is we can focus on the two competitions.”
Enzo Maresca:
“I know that probably after a while when the club is not competing for important titles, [the fans] feel a little bit frustrated. But they cannot think that suddenly... we are competing for titles and winning titles.”
Enzo Maresca:
“Our goal, our duty is to bring this club to win or compete in four competitions but at this moment we are not ready. Am I confident it will happen? Absolutely. In the next five or ten years this club can compete, no doubt...”
Enzo Maresca:
“We are all ambitious. I try to convince the players every day that this club belongs to something different than where we are now.”
Enzo Maresca: “I grew up watching Chelsea winning games and competitions but this Chelsea is not the same as that one.”
Maresca: “There are clubs that have been together for three, four, five years but they still struggle. Why should Chelsea, after six months, be winning the Premier League, finish top four or win four competitions? Why?”
(Daily Mail, Standard Sport)
Enzo Maresca:
“The reason why I said this [about finding the positives after FA Cup exit] is because we are not ready to compete in four competitions in one season. As I said, if there is something positive, it is we can focus on the two competitions.”
Enzo Maresca:
“I know that probably after a while when the club is not competing for important titles, [the fans] feel a little bit frustrated. But they cannot think that suddenly... we are competing for titles and winning titles.”
Enzo Maresca:
“Our goal, our duty is to bring this club to win or compete in four competitions but at this moment we are not ready. Am I confident it will happen? Absolutely. In the next five or ten years this club can compete, no doubt...”
Enzo Maresca:
“We are all ambitious. I try to convince the players every day that this club belongs to something different than where we are now.”
Enzo Maresca: “I grew up watching Chelsea winning games and competitions but this Chelsea is not the same as that one.”
Maresca: “There are clubs that have been together for three, four, five years but they still struggle. Why should Chelsea, after six months, be winning the Premier League, finish top four or win four competitions? Why?”
(Daily Mail, Standard Sport)
👍18❤5