If Olise was smart enough to secure a release clause he’s also smart enough to know he holds all the cards. He could go whenever it suits him. If he thinks game time might be a problem at Chelsea he could have a chat and say he’ll stay where he is for now til he sees how the dust settles and Pochetino sorts his team out but let them know he’d be interested in January or next summer. Possibly wishful thinking but you never know.

Fabrizio Romano: "It’s true that Palace are not entirely happy with how the Blues have approached the Olise deal. But Chelsea feel they behaved fine and did nothing wrong. There’s something to clarify between the clubs, so it’s not ‘here we go’ yet, but Chelsea are confident."

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What would be that "something"?

I am not a bot. No, seriously, I'm not.

Sorry, but in my book once a player has gone I don't want him back on loan. It's clear Olise is using us as a stepping stone to the bigger boys (I don't blame him for that) but if we take a player on loan I'd want it to be to cover a genuine short-term need. We have Ayew on the right whilst we bed in any youngster we buy this window and if we buy a decent youngster, then as was the case with Olise, he'll be playing regularly in the second half of the season.

Too many on this site under-estimate Freedman's ability to find good players. I'm not talking about paying up to £1m for teenagers with potential but paying in the £10m-£20m range for the likes of Eze, Olise (yes only £8m), Doucoure, Guehi and even Richards, none of whom had PL experience before arriving.

With the Eze and Wilf money to spend I believe Dougie will get a few decent players across the line before the end of the window.

Edited by doombear (17 Aug 2023 11.50am)

100%. And to that to add to that. Once he is gone I would rather his injury his something that takes a lot longer to recover from.

Sorry, but I never wish a player harm even when they've gone. For me, once they've gone I generally forget about them and focus on the new guys coming in. The one exception is for youngsters who have come through the Academy and who the club have felt weren't good enough and have sold or released. So I will be interested in how O'Brien does at Lyon, Hannam at Stevenage and even Street at Cheltenham.

Edited by doombear (17 Aug 2023 12.10pm)

Dazza's holding a glass to the wall in the room next to Dougie's office.

Red and Blue Army!