Cahill skippered the Blues for long spells of the 2016-17 campaign, although Chelsea legend John Terry was officially the Premier League club's captain last term.

Terry left Stamford Bridge for Aston Villa this summer, however, and Blues boss Antonio Conte has revealed that 31-year-old defender Cahill will lead the team into the new season.

"I think that it's right to continue with Cahill, if he plays, it's right he's the captain," the London Evening Standard quotes Conte as saying. "Why? Because he stayed in Chelsea for many years and played a lot of games and showed good characteristics to be this."


Cahill joined Chelsea from Bolton Wanderers in 2011, and the 55-time England international has made 239 appearances for the London giants, managing an impressive 25 goals in the process.

Chelsea have been linked with an array of other star names in the past few weeks, with versatile Arsenal midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain rumoured to be in talks over a move to Stamford Bridge.
Conte, whose side travel to Singapore for the next leg of their Far East tour, is hopeful of landing another player before heading back home in a week's time.

"In Singapore, Rudiger and Morata will arrive, maybe someone else," he told reporters. "I hope. I know very well that the club is working strong, very hard to try to make me the best way to work.

"This season the target is the same but it won't be easy, because you can see Man City, Man United, the other teams as well are trying to reinforce and we are changing a lot. More from necessity, not because I wanted to change."


Juventus full-back Alex Sandro and Atletico Madrid attacker Yannick Ferreira Carrasco have also been touted as possible targets for Chelsea.

This is just sad

TO ALL MAN UNITED FANS INVADING THIS THREAD

After all, Lukaku's hold-up play is less than exemplary. Morata's tidier work with the ball at his feet may help to bring others into play. One famous assist at Bayern Munich last year even saw him run from his own half and beat three men before squaring the ball. Morata has six assists in his last 24 hours of football. Lukaku has half the assists in twice the time.

Of course, it is time that will tell whether Chelsea got the better deal. But for now the club can content themselves in the knowledge that a solution to their Costa conundrum has been found. Morata will be the man tasked with replacing the team's talisman. It is a gamble, for sure. But it is an educated one.

If you are going to pick out any aspect of a striker's performance that may be repeatable year-on-year then shots per 90 should be the metric you use," Ben Pugsley of the statistical analysis website StatsBomb explains. "A striker is more likely to reproduce his shot volume year-on-year than any other countable aspect of his performance."

As long ago as 2013/14, during Morata's previous spell at Madrid, he averaged more shots per 90 minutes from inside the penalty box than any other player in La Liga. Those numbers remained encouraging upon his return. Only Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi had more shots from inside the box per 90 minutes than Morata last season.

Any suggestion that he padded his stats by scoring meaningless goals in heavy wins should be dismissed too. Morata scored late winners against Athletic Bilbao and Villarreal as well as opening the scoring in narrow victories over Celta Vigo, Deportivo and Espanyol. His goals were important, directly earning 13 points. Even Ronaldo's only delivered an extra 14.

Having also scored in the Champions League final for Juventus and been his country's top scorer at European Under-19, Under-21 and senior championship level, it amounts to a proven track record of big-game goals. They will be needed. Costa's goals earned more points than any other Premier League player last season, despite Harry Kane hitting nine more overall

Only a certain Lionel Messi (76.5 minutes) scored a La Liga goal more frequently than Morata (88.7 minutes) last season, while only soon-to-be-former teammate Isco (31.3%) had a better conversion rate than the frontman (27.3%) of players to score 10 or more Spanish top-flight goals last term.

Yet there is more to Morata’s game than just goalscoring, even if this is an important facet for any striker. His selflessness in the final third creates chances for teammates as he drag defenders out of position by pulling to the flanks.

Morata played and won the UCL, scored in big knockout games, while Lukaku was chasing his first touch across muddy fields in the league cup

Good in the air and at holding up the ball, with clinical finishing ability, quick feet and excellent movement, Morata drew comparisons to Real Madrid and Spain's Fernando Morientes due to his playing style.
During his first season at Juventus, he stood out for his pace, energy and work-rate on the pitch, while his technique, opportunism and positional sense saw him score several crucial goals.

A versatile and well-rounded forward, Morata is capable of playing as a main striker or linking up play between the lines, and can even play out wide on the wing. He is also an accurate penalty taker.

spartacus11:


if morata put pen to paper and Costa still dey Chelsea, then make we increase d asking price self, if ATM nor fit pay make d guy sit down for bench all season

Antonio Conte’s side have agreed an initial £58 million fee with Madrid which could rise to £70m after add-ons.

‘I am very happy, God willing, tomorrow I will be at Chelsea, a club that has always wanted me,’ the striker told Marca.
‘I’m not disappointed about anything, I’ve won four titles here [with Real Madrid], but now I only think of putting on the Chelsea shirt.

‘I want to grow up, if I didn’t I wouldn’t have left. I’d like to thank Zidane and wish him luck for the upcoming season.

‘Thanks to all the Madridistas who supported me. I will always wish Madrid the best. The last time I wore this shirt was in Cibeles.'

spartacus11:


whether na HEADER YASHDER WAISTDER LEGDER BELLEDER, so far ball end up inside opponent net, its fine by me

In fact next season is between Chelsea vs MUnited, RM just make d party sweet for me, see competition chaiiii

European football journalist Mina Rzouki on BBC Radio 5 live

If you offered me the choice between Morata and Lukaku, I wouldn't even think about it.

I would pay £20m or £30m more if I had to and I would bring in Morata.

That is because I would always prefer an intelligent player in my team. Even if he doesn't score as many goals, even if he doesn't do whatever he needs to.

If he is more intelligent then he can be moulded quicker, he can do what he needs to do. And Morata has Champions League experience. He was second top scorer for Real Madrid despite not starting.

He has done it at Juventus and he has done it at Real Madrid.

He understands, he has the pace, he is intelligent, he links up play, he can be a counter-attacking threat.

Morata's conversion rate last season was 27%, the highest of any striker to score 10 or more goals in La Liga in 2016-17; he scored 15 goals from 55 shots.

Morata's goals won Real Madrid 13 points in La Liga last season; only Cristiano Ronaldo won more for the side with 15.

Chelsea have 17 first-team players on their books, not enough for a match squad

Three of those players are goalkeepers, leaving the champions short in key areas

First teamers like Nemanja Matic, Kurt Zouma and Diego Costa are set to leave

Others such as Kenedy and Charly Musonda lack competitive experience

CapitalCee:


I get you, your are right. But my comparison is the leagues Ligue one and EPL not zlatan and bats. No one is slating Batshauyi for his last year performance, he can come good. But it's your Chelsea scummies trying to take cheap digs at a particular club whenever they want to make a normal comment even on issues not related to their mudslings, they somehow squeeze it in.

CapitalCee:


My brother Rashford is a 19 year old academy graduate whom the manager want to systematically ease into the team proper,and he stepped up the plate to ably replace ibrahimovic when needed even at his age. the other is a big money signing, They are not the same. Moreover Conte didn't trust him to lead the line that was why he instead used midfielders as substantive strikers in the absence of Costa. A 33m pounds striker not trusted by the manager at the time of need is a flop by any standard, but I won't label him a flop yet, since he wasn't signed for just a season, he can come good next season and justify his price tag.

funlord:




You are trying to be clever by half in order to save your impotent strikers skin but that can never work once I'm in the building! Was rashford bought for £33 million plus? He is an academy product for _fucks sake! And who said batsuya should not grab minutes? Was it not his horrid form that earned him a permanent place on shekpes bench? Who buys a player for £30m plus that can't get in the starting line up? So the clubs plan is to begin buying costly bench warmers?


In martials first season he scored 17 goals and won an FA cup...compare that to the bats numbers and tell me why he should not change his first name to flopsy?

CapitalCee:

What I stated is fact this man, Batshauyi has not scored up to ten goals in a decent league, is it a lie?

Batshuayi finished the season with 5 goals in only 236 minutes of Premier League action, equaling a rate of one goal every 47 minutes.

CapitalCee:


Batshauyi=Ligue one 17 goals. EPL 5 goals(mostly in dead rubber games)

Ibrahimovic= Ligue one 38goals in 31 Apps. EPL 17goals in 27 apps. Which is stronger?

Now I don't have anything against Mitchy he seems to me to be a nice guy and a good player, my issue is why being insecure? and will not let the opportunity to take a dig at a particular team to pass, even though they are fallacies.

Batshuayi finished the season with 5 goals in only 236 minutes of Premier League action, equaling a rate of one goal every 47 minutes.

CapitalCee:

What I stated is fact this man, Batshauyi has not scored up to ten goals in a decent league, is it a lie?

On 23 August 2015, Batshuayi scored his first goals of the season, a brace, in a 6–0 victory over Troyes.
Club president Vincent Lebrune said soon after "There is not a single top 15 world club that is not interested in Batshuayi. He is one of the most wanted players on the market. There were a lot of offers for him this summer, but he didn’t want to leave. He’s proving himself on the pitch, and if clubs want him then they are going to have to pay around €50m."
By the mid-season break he had 11 goals from 19 games, behind only arch-rival Paris Saint-Germain's Zlatan Ibrahimovic with Marseille in 10th and PSG in 1st,and finished the league season with 17 goals.
He added two more goals from five games in the Coupe de France, one being in the final, lost 4–2 to PSG on 21 May 2016.

Conte: "It's very difficult to enter the market with these prices. I don't like to pay a lot of money. It's right if a player deserved it."

Conte on transfers: "It's very difficult to buy because, if you ask a player of medium level, they might ask for £55m." #CFC

Conte: "But for a medium player, it's right to pay the right price, not £20m or £30m. We must be patient and wait." #CFC

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is set to stay at Borussia Dortmund this summer.

The coveted Gabon hitman showed just why Dortmund are so reluctant to part company with their star striker with two confidently taken goals in a 3-1 preseason win over AC Milan in China on Tuesday.

"We have decided that Auba will stay with BVB," said Dortmund's sporting director Michael Zorc. "The transfer window is closed for him."

New head coach Peter Bosz, who has replaced Thomas Tuchel, unsurprisingly wants Aubameyang at Dortmund when the Bundesliga season starts on August 18.

"I am glad that he is in my team," said the Dutchman. "He is an extraordinary player and he has shown that once more against Milan.

"He's a great bloke and a great footballer."

Sky sources understand that Chelsea had recently been offered the chance to sign Aubameyang for £70m. The Blues missed out on the signing of Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United and Diego Costa is set to leave Stamford Bridge.

Revenue recap

In 2015, the Premier League sold television rights to its games for a record £5.136bn.
The new three-year broadcast deal started for the 2016-17 season, with payments made throughout the campaign.
The amount the Premier League shares out to clubs rose last season from a total of £1.64bn to £2.4bn.
Bottom club Sunderland earned the same amount as the previous year's winners Leicester (£93m) while Chelsea received £150m, an increase of almost £60m on the previous 12 months.

Is £30m becoming the norm?

Once considered a landmark fee, £30m deals are now becoming more regular. There were 10 for at least that amount last summer, and already eight which could yield that much this time round.

Pickford became the most expensive British keeper in history after Everton paid £25m - rising to what would be a club-record £30m - to sign the 23-year-old from Sunderland. Everton also spent £30m to bring in Michael Keane from Burnley.

"There are players like him who would probably have been worth £12m a couple of years ago going for £30m," said Smith, formerly a players' agent.

"£30m is a very big number, but it's become the norm."

However Wilson, of Sheffield Hallam University, said it was unclear whether transfer values might still rise further over the next few years.

"I can't see the value of the English deal increasing because Sky and BT Sport haven't picked up the subscription numbers they were hoping for," he said.

"Logic therefore says the value of transfers won't rise over the next five years, although there is room for increased international TV rights packages."

Summer transfer window: Record set to be broken in Premier League spending spree

Swansea's Gylfi Sigurdsson has been valued at £50m, Everton have spent £90m and Manchester United bought Romelu Lukaku for £75m - so is Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez right to call this summer's transfer window "a little bit crazy"?

Premier League clubs' spending has already surpassed £500m since the end of last season - and business analysts Deloitte say they are on course to set another new record by 31 August.

Teams spent a record £1.165bn last summer, rising to £1.38bn after the January window.

Football finance expert Rob Wilson says the market "hyper-inflation" means anyone selling to an English club is adding "at least 40%, if not 50%, to the deal".

And football agent Jon Smith says a £30m transfer - such as goalkeeper Jordan Pickford's move from Sunderland to Everton - is "the new norm".

This week Deloitte released its annual football finances, which revealed record revenues of £3.6bn for Premier League clubs in 2015-16 - and that was the year before an improved TV broadcasting rights deal kicked in.

It predicted that figure would be more like £4.5bn at the end of this coming season.

Its report also said overall debt is falling and forecast the 20 clubs combined would return to profitability in the coming years.


This transfer window comes a year after the new £5.136bn TV deal kicked in - a 71% rise on the £3bn negotiated in 2013.

In the 2014 window - also one year after the previous broadcast deal was struck - Lukaku, then 21, was sold by Chelsea to Everton for £28m. The Belgian forward's move to Manchester United is for an initial £75m, which represents a 168% increase in value in three years.

Also in 2014, Swansea signed Icelandic playmaker Sigurdsson from Tottenham for a reported £6.8m. The Welsh club now value the Leicester and Everton target at £50m - a 635% increase in value.

"Revenues keep going up, predominantly because of the rise in broadcast rights values," said Chris Stenson, a senior consultant from Deloitte's sports business group.

"Every Premier League club now has more money and are willing to spend that on players," he said.

"It is the wealthiest league in the world and increasing its value makes it more attractive to sponsors and commercial partners.

"So far we estimate Premier League clubs have spent about £500m in the transfer window, compared with £340m at the equivalent stage last year."