FM24: Chelsea FC - Blue is the Colour

[ThanatosAFC]

Chelsea FC thread FM 24

 

 

 

Location: London

Founded: 10 March 1905

Ground: Stamford Bridge (40.341)

Nickname: The Blues, or The Pensioners 

Kit Color: Blue

Rivals: Tottenham, Arsenal, West Ham, Leeds Utd & Millwall

 

Chelsea Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, West London. Founded in 1905, the team play their home games at Stamford Bridge. The club competes in the Premier League, the top division of English football. It won its first major honour, the League championship, in 1955. The club won the FA Cup for the first time in 1970, their first European honour, the Cup Winners' Cup, in 1971, and became the third English club to win the Club World Cup in 2022.

Chelsea is one of five clubs to have won all three pre-1999 main European club competitions, and the only club to have won all three major European competitions twice. They are also the only London club to have won the Champions League and the Club World Cup. Domestically, the club has won six league titles, eight FA Cups, five League Cups, and four FA Community Shields. Internationally, they have won the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Europa League, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Super Cup twice each, and the FIFA Club World Cup once since their inception. In terms of overall trophies won, Chelsea is the fourth-most successful club in English football.

The club has rivalries with neighbouring teams Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, and a historic rivalry with Leeds United. In terms of club value, Chelsea is the eighth-most-valuable football club in the world (as of 2022), worth $3.10 billion, and is the eighth-highest-earning football club in the world.

 

Club honours: 

League Titles:
First Division/Premier League: 1954-55, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2009-10, 2014-15, 1016-17 
Second Division/First Division/Championship: 1983-84, 1988-89
Cups:
FA Cup: 1969-70, 1996-97, 1999-2000, 2006-07, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2011-12, 2017-18
Football League Cup/EFL Cup: 1964-65, 1997-98, 2004-05, 2006-07, 2014-15
FA Charity Shield/FA Community Shield: 1955, 2000, 2005, 2009
European Competitions:
UEFA Champions League: 2011-12, 2020-21
UEFA Europa League: 2012-13, 2018-19
UEFA Winners’ Cup: 1970-71, 1997-98
UEFA Super Cup: 1998

 

Chelsea squad/line-up.

Edited November 11, 2023 by ThanatosAFC

[mhaffy]

Great to see an FM24 Chelsea thread is underway. 

Haven’t been able to spend as much time on FM24 as I wanted until Saturday when I finally had the time to get my usual main save with Chelsea underway. I was very underwhelmed with the quality of the existing staff (coaching, recruitment and medical) and have spent the whole weekend and this morning sorting this key area out with plenty of mutual terminations and hiring of better quality replacements. All areas now best/2nd in league and will hopefully stand me in good stead for a while.
Just about to set up my scouting assignments now that the new recruitment team is in place after getting necessary WP clearances and I can then focus on the team and tactics. I currently have two tactics set; a 433DM and a 4231DM and am not sure which will me my main one yet. I have assigned individual training based upon the 433DM for the first team, U21’s and U18’s but this will undoubtedly change over time as I tweak the tactics and roles.

Currently at 27 July 2023 in game after 3 successful pre season friendliest with 4 more scheduled before the season opener away at Man Utd! 

I am expecting a very different type of save this year given the real life squad overhaul and the large number of talented youngsters the club already have. Keeping the squad happy and deciding who to keep/loan/sell going forward should be interesting. I set the game up using the Original game mode with the first transfer window disabled - no chance of offloading Sarr and some of the others still at the club until January. Planning on scouting for young players that can become home grown but not expecting to have a large transfer budget (currently nil) and may have to rely on monies raised from player sales.

Has anyone else started their FM24 save and if so how are you getting on and  what tactics/approach are you using?

Edited November 13, 2023 by mhaffy

[Mr Teal]

22 hours ago, mhaffy said:

Has anyone else started their FM24 save and if so how are you getting on and  what tactics/approach are you using?

Only 3 league games in so far, two wins against Newcastle (away !!) and Palace I think, and draw against Fulham. 4-2-3-1 vertical Tiki Taka, new positional play is making this really enjoyable. I have Enzo roaming up from MC position while Chilwell fills up his position from the left wb.

[mhaffy]

3 hours ago, Mr Teal said:

Only 3 league games in so far, two wins against Newcastle (away !!) and Palace I think, and draw against Fulham. 4-2-3-1 vertical Tiki Taka, new positional play is making this really enjoyable. I have Enzo roaming up from MC position while Chilwell fills up his position from the left wb.

I was wondering about 4231 VTT and was using clean slate version successfully in pre season. Lost first competitive match 1-0 away at Man Uts despite having better chances; lost to late goal from free kick after VAR check…. I may well add 4231 VTT option - are you using the preset with Chilly as IWB and Enzo as DLP? Agree re new positional play which adds new dimension to tactics.

Edited November 14, 2023 by mhaffy

[Mr Teal]

3 hours ago, mhaffy said:

I was wondering about 4231 VTT and was using clean slate version successfully in pre season. Lost first competitive match 1-0 away at Man Uts despite having better chances; lost to late goal from free kick after VAR check…. I may well add 4231 VTT option - are you using the preset with Chilly as IWB and Enzo as DLP? Agree re new positional play which adds new dimension to tactics.

I'm still tinkering with Enzo tbh. When I have him as DLP (S), I feel it's a little cluttered in the middle when Chilly joins. But I had results. My recent game was home and I tried Enzo as Mezalla and it seems perfect - he was taking Mudryk's position on the left as Mudryk is an inside forward - and Chilly was acting as a holding midfielder, and, sometimes even joining up attacks. I will test some more but it's possible that for home games I will have Enzo roam a bit and for more difficult away games I will leave him as DLP.

Edited November 14, 2023 by Mr Teal

[mhaffy]

Early December now and very pleased so far with my clean slate Positive Fluid 4231 tactic; 3rd in Premier League with 33 points from 15 games having scored 31 and conceded 5. Some really great build up plays and goals with new positional movement in match engine certainly helping. Squad under pressure though due to injuries (Fofana still out and joined by James, Jackson,Sterling and Broja) and numerous available players showing Low fatigue and high injury risk due to match load. Nkunku just returning from his long term injury but I have yet to give him any minutes.
Gallagher performing very well as back up DM with 7.15 average rating; 15 players in the squad have average ratings of over 7.  
Fingers crossed Nkunku stays fit and starts performing well with goals/assists.

Quick update after posting above:

Just drawn 1-1 with league leaders Liverpool but Mudryk now out for 3-6 weeks! 

Edited November 17, 2023 by mhaffy

[mhaffy]

Up to 13th February now and, as I expected, the teams form dropped. The injuries played a part but the real problem was the January transfer window which affected team morale and team cohesion! Chilwell had his head turned by Saudi teams and I sold him for £60m; he is now on ridiculous wages of £825k p/w. Saudi’s then came in for Sanchez and Chalobah who I sold for £38.5m and £39m respectively. Their wages are now a crazy £625k p/w and £600k p/w. I managed Sarr, the one player I went into the window wanting to sell in a deal worth just over £6m.

Before selling Chilwell, Cucurella started demanding more playing time and my firm response left him and 5 other players unhappy! Not great for team morale/cohesion and results not great. My plan at DL is to train Colwill up as IWB, the role I use on that side, witch Curalella becoming his backup. With the potential of the youngsters at the team, and those out on loan, I only plan to bring in quality established players when essential. Having lost Sanchez, a quality GK upgrade for the long term was needed with Petrovic remaining back up. I had been scouting GK and met Unai Simon release fee of  £64m to get him in now. A good upgrade. Squad now slimmed down, GK upgrade signed and still decent quality/cover at DL with £44m still in transfer pot and wage headroom of £500k p/w - I’m happy with outcome.

Currently 6th in table on 50 points after 25 games with 52 goals for and 15 against. Have recently made a few tactical tweaks to try to improve form. Hoping to improve league position and get Champions League spot…. Time will tell….

[mhaffy]

Great end to 1st season, beating Man City 3-2 in FA Cup Final. Unai Simon has turned out to be a great signing, consistently delivering good performances and making some crucial saves. We ended up with the best defensive record in PL conceding just 26 goals over the whole season while scoring 86. Ended up in 4th place on 79 points securing Champions League place and earning me a new contract. Have been really enjoying the football my 4231 Asymetric tactic has been delivering with 17 players having average ratings over 7. Washington developing really well, scoring 16 goals, with Badiashiel scoring 8 from corner set pieces. 
A couple of physios are retiring, along with 3 scouts so I will need to do some staff recruiting in preparation for 24/25 season. I need to add some quality/ depth to the squad for 24/25 given Champions League fixtures and, with Silva past his best another DC is needed - Colwill is my 1st choice DL and Cucurella will probably leave after not getting improved contract - I have already lined up a promising young back up to Colwill. £58m in transfer kitty, before any sales. 

Edited November 23, 2023 by mhaffy

[mhaffy]

Just seen Monthly board Performance Review. As part of the B- I was given for tactics the board were “concerned by the number of goals conceded…” . A very bizarre comment given we had the best defensive record in the premier league conceding just 26 goals in 38 games.

The supporters performance review expressed being  “concerned by the number of goals conceded…”
Were they actually watching the games? I sometimes wonder if the comments in these reports are random rather than being linked to actual data.

 

Edited November 23, 2023 by mhaffy

[masta p]

@mhaffy keep the updates coming 

Can't wait to see how you are progressing

[mhaffy]

1 hour ago, masta p said:

@mhaffy keep the updates coming 

Can't wait to see how you are progressing

Progressing well after decent first season. Signed 4 players and said goodbye to about 20 - far too many in all squads when players returned from loans. Players signed were Diomande and Inacio as DC for £42m and £38.5m with Ozcan signed as potential cover for the “whining” Cucurella who keeps asking for a pay rise. He is on £110k and under contract until 2028 so I keep resisting , despite other players supporting him. If he pushes for transfer my plan is to sell him with Oscan being Colwill deputy at DL - Maatsen doesn’t really have enough potential. Ozcan loaned out but can be recalled if problems flare up with Cucurella. Also signed Moscardo for £13.75m, and loaned him back to club, as future DM prospect ; Gallagher playing well when called upon but susceptible to wayward passes late in game. Main transfers out were Lukaku to Saudi team for £29.5m, Kepa to Spurs for £17.75m and Sarr for £5.75m mandatory fee at end of loan to Real Sociadad. Silva off in January window for £1.5m. Estevao lined up to join in 2025 as cost of 9.25m. 
In early December and after 16 games we are 5th in PL on 33 points , scoring 30 and conceding 17. Liverpool top on 36 points. Knocked out of Carabao Cup in first match away to Villa but top of Champions League table with 14 points from first 6 games - with two home games left we should hopefully auto qualify as one of the top 8 teams.

Having to rotate the squad heavily as 3 games in a week is not unusual! Setting lots of team bonding sessions to keep team cohesion high; currently very good. Low fatigue showing for lots of players. I have not changed my tactic, which still produces some lovely attacking football but have been tweaking some player instructions late in game to try to avoid conceding late goals. Really enjoying this years version and the ME.

Squad size is 30 and higher than I usually like to have but is definitely needed if you play a pressing tactic given that there seem to be lots more niggly, short term injuries in FM24. I am not complaining as it feels realistic, but you do need a big squad to compete on several fronts. So far managing to keep players happy with their game time.

 

Edited December 1, 2023 by mhaffy

[mhaffy]

Great finish to the season beating Tottenham 5-0 in last game to clinch Premier League with 87 points. Man City were second on 84 points losing 3-2 at Arsenal in their final game. We scored 87(1st), 14 from corners,  and Conceded 32(2nd) with 56% (4th) possession. Only tweak to my tactic since previous report was to be “more disciplined” rather than “more expressive”. 
Not great in cups losing 1-0 at Villa in 3rd Rd Carabao Cup and 2-1 at Arsenal aet in 5th Rd of FA Cup. Real Madrid beat us 3-2 on agg in Qtr Final of Champions League and are playing Man City in Final.

Player rotation was key given the high number of games. Jackson was top scorer with 15 followed by Nkunku and Casadei on 10. 11 players scored 5 or more goals and 22 players scored in competitive games with 13 averaging over 7. 8 Chelsea players featured in the top 20 premier league average rating table.

Very pleased with continuing success of tactic; team bonding, match tactic, match practice, set piece routines and match reviews are regular features in my first team training. Having high team cohesion, very good most of time, certainly seems to help performances.

Only potential issue looming at moment is that 9 players are concerned over their playing time - linked to my regular rotation approach, trying to field team of fresh players whenever possible in each match.

Club World Cup starts soon… 🤞…

Edited December 14, 2023 by mhaffy

[mhaffy]

Lost to eventual winners PSG in Qtr Final of Club World Cup and just finished transfer window. Enzo has continually been performing poorly in training and never willing to take advice - probably has low professionalism. I have had enough of his “attitude” and he has now joined on loan deal that should become permanent. Lavia developing well and will become Enzo’s starter replacement. Real Madrid came in for Jackson, a squad player for us, and I accepted offer of £55m. Maatsen off to Juve, Gallagher to Barca for £43m and Stirling to Al Ittihad for £58m - good to get his wage off the books! Paez has joined us and performing well at AML as Winger support. Scouts found Ricky Dhaliwal (4-5 star PA) who can play DL/DR so I signed him for £22.5m from Wolves as prospect for future. Brighton were relegated last season so I excercised Ferguson relegation release clause of £50m and he has started well - not great training performance ratings to date and I fear he may have low preofessionalism. Scouts also found Estevao  and he joined for £9.25m from Palmeiras; another potential 5 star player. With plenty of transfer funds I decided to splash out on Scalvini on deadline day to strengthen DC and also provide good quality as a Defensive Midfielder option. Squad remains strong with good depth and plenty of good prospects for future developing well in U18’s and U21’s. 
Started season with two wins  but then lost at Everton despite dominating - hopefully a temporary setback. Home to Spurs when players return from International break…. 

[tcoleman1]

So my first game with Chelsea didn't go as expected (or to be fair it did compared to the our season in real life).

Dominated a lot of games on xG but couldn't convert (familiar story) and by January I was 8th/9th in the league, out the Carabao Cup and FA cup at the 3rd round. I had multiple players fall out with me for teamtalks which to be honest weren't overly harsh considering the performances. Every game I played the press said I'd be sacked if I got a bad result.

Overall I felt like I rushed the save, wasn't happy with my staff, tactics, approach etc and didn't feel that invested in it for various reasons so essentially self-sabotaged and got the board to sack me. To be fair based on how the board and fans felt towards me I would have been sacked at the end of the season unless the results improved massively.

I'm waiting for a couple more editor files to be released in the next day or so and will start again. Have read through a lot of what you guys have been doing regarding tactics so going to actually try and create my own style rather than just blanket pick what the coaches say fits the XI the best.

[mhaffy]

1 hour ago, tcoleman1 said:

Overall I felt like I rushed the save, wasn't happy with my staff, tactics, approach etc and didn't feel that invested in it for various reasons

For long term saves I spend ages going through staff, squad and tactics before clicking continue for the first time. Seemed to spend even longer than usual for my Chelsea save this year as the initial staff were poor and lots of mutual terminations and then recruitment needed to get coaching stars up to minimum 4 for every category etc. Scouts and medical team also poor initially. 
For tactics, like you,  I like to build my own rather than just go with recommended and the best X1 - given the quality of staff at start of game I would have little faith in their opinions anyway. 
I have been enjoying this years FM a lot more and am progressing quicker than usual. Getting good quality scouting team in place, and setting up ongoing recruitment focuses to continually look for young talent has meant I spend almost no time at all manually looking for players in this years save; relying on gems that the scouts find. Playing matches on extended highlights, rather than comprehensive as in previous years, has also speeded things up so that I make more progress in the time I have available. When determining my tactic I still watch in comprehensive until I am happy with it. 
Hoping your new save goes better and that you “get into it” and enjoy it. Keep us posted on how it goes….

[mhaffy]

Good steady progress since last update and it’s now 2 February 2026 after close of transfer window. Sitting top of league with 60 points after 23 games -  10:points clear of Villa who have played a game more. Since our loss to Everton on 30/8/25 we have only lost once in all competitions; a 1-0 defeat at Real Madrid in Champions League. Only 4 draws and 30 wins. Due to play Man City or Swansea in EFL final and away to Everton in 5th round of FA Cup. Do not know opponents in last 16 of Champions League yet.

Still  using same tactic but occasional changing AML to W(S) from IF(S) if player picked has good left foot. I tell him to cross from byline. Amazed at consistency of performance, despite heavy rotation. As 3 matches most weeks I tend to use available training slots for team bonding, match tactics, match practice, match review, set piece routines. Keeping team cohesion high, very good, with excellent club atmosphere and manager support seems to help on the pitch. I have used 32 players so far in Premier League, using fresh players whenever possible. A few player issues re playing time but managed them well so far, even managing to reduce playing expectations in some cases. 16 players averaging over 7. Despite having a young squad, most of them are rated to be at least good premier league standard for current ability (2.5-3 stars in my squad).
Currently  have £216m in transfer kitty having sold James to Real Madrid ( he was keen) for £71m(£95m)  deal. I duly signed Scalvini for £75m and have also agreed deals for more promising youngsters. A few players were unhappy with the sale of James but after confronting them this seems to have been resolved.

Datro Fofana outperforming Ferguson as striker at moment but Ferguson has a lot more potential. Ferguson not particularly good in training and does not readily accept criticism but hopefully mentoring can help resolve. Unfortunately I suspect he probably has low professionalism. Diomande has turned out to be a great find by scouts and purchase; able to play well at DC or DR. Casadei also progressing well as Shadow Striker and considered to be a Leading PL player, close to his full potential.

Hoping to keep form going and collect some more silverware in second half of the season.

Edited January 2 by mhaffy

[mhaffy]

Just finished the 25/26 season with a fantastic 3-0 win away to Man City. Failed to win every competition we entered with a young team but they should improve ! Lost to PSG in Qtr Final of FIFA Club World Cup but won Community Shield, EFL Cup (3-0 v Man City), FA Cup (3-0 v Arsenal) and Premier League with 99 points, well clear of the chasers. After thrashing PSG in 8-1 on agg in QF of Champions League we went out to Real Madrid 5-3 on agg after having Palmer sent off early in home tie which we lost 4-2. During the Premier League campaign I used about 35 players with 27 qualifying for medals. We scored 69 (4th) but only conceded 22 (1st). My tactic continues to get results with xGF 88.66 (1st), Crosses completed 244 (1st), Chances created 211 (1st), Shots For 670 (1st - Liverpool were 2nd with 532), Shots on target 289 (1st). The areas that could do with improvement are the Underperformance in xGF of 19.66 (1st) and our poor Conversion rate of 10% (20th). We clearly create the chances, take the shots and are on target with 44% of our shots (10th)  but do not convert enough. Hopefully this will improve as the young strikers develop and improve their attributes.

I started the season expecting Ferguson (a £50m buy from Brighton) to be my main Advanced Forward. His attributes were better than my other options and he was reported to be a  "Very Consistent Performer" with Finishing shown as a Pro. However he trains poorly compared to rest of squad, seems to have attitude problem when criticised and his performances blew hot and cold. Ferguson has a Balanced Personality and is Media Friendly style; my beleif is that he has low professionalism as a hidden attribute based on his training and I will probably offload him. Datro Fofana was my surprise package scoring every 85.80 mins, with only Haaland 85.11 performing better in the Premier League! Fofana's attributes are not as good as Ferguson but he does train well and perform well so he became my lead Advanced Forward. Having a Resolute personality (professionalism will be high) ,"Enjoys Big Matches" and being a "Fairly Consistent Perfomer" he has shown himself to be the better option. Fofana also won the Champions League Golden Boot award, scoring 9 goals and providing to assists in 9 appearances with an average rating of 7.34 and was included in the Dream team rather than Mbappe. With 29 goals in all competitions over 2336 mins playing time Datro Fofana was easily our top scorer with a goal every 80.55 mins - very impressive.

I have a lot of young players coming through including Estevao in U21's and will probably have registration issues in 26/27 - I may well have to offload some players, including Ferguson and probably Nkunku (often injured). Careful squad planning for 26/27 is urgently needed to get the balance right. I have £219m transfer budget available but need to trim squad before recruiting more as i already have 7 high potential youngsters joining in July 26.

25/26 First Team Squad at end of season

25/26 Premier League Medals awarded

25/26 Premier League Table

Thought that it was about time to post the tactic that I have been using

There are a few added player instructions:

AF Move Into Channels, AM (S) Dribble More, Stay Wider, Mark Tighter, DM Get Further Forward, BPD Dribble More

I do make in game tweaks to close games out (GK the back 4 and DM all told to Take Less Risks. Tempo reduced, time wasting increased, Closing down reduced and I slow the pace down In Transition. If the stroger foot of my AML is his left then i set him to Winger (S) and tell him to cross from byline. I also sometimes move AF into STC L slot and the Shadow striker across towards the AML.

Really enjoying this release of FM24 and looking forward to a successful 26/27 with this developing young squad.

Edited January 27 by mhaffy

[dido53]

Started out wıth chelsea and everythıng went smooth ın fırst year won the league and cups.I dont wanna buy much because already have bıg squad and youngsters.How dıd you get any performance from reece james? ı play hım as wıng back but he averages barely 7 what role should ı use hım?.Second season havıng hard tıme to wın games also open to hear ıdeas

[RandomGuy.]

Used the "realism mod", skipped a year, then picked a team who'd sacked their manager. Chelsea had finished 7th so in i went.

Absolutely gutted them as far as i could. Over £300m sold. Sanchez, Kepa, Cucurella, Maatsen, Badiashile, Thiago Silva, Chalobah, Sterling, Nkunku, Broja, Fofano, Lukaku, the ones i can remember from memory gone permanently, with Wesley Fofano loaned.

Some moaned about no Champions League, some i didnt rate, and Nkunku wanted to go to Saudi.

In came...

Verbruggen (GK from Brighton), van Hecke (CB from Brighton), Hickey (FB from Brentford), Doyle (DM from Man City), Almada (AM from Atlanta), Dolberg (CF from Anderlecht)

Wanted a more streamlined, younger squad, so Chelseas own youths had a pathway. Performances meant my initial line up has changed from my plans, but its fine. Mudryk a key man so far and top scorer.

We sit 6th at the start of December. Id been using Lavia as a DLP in the DM position but he seemed to constantly drift away and even when i changed him to a DM he done the same. Doyle coming in and just sitting there has saved my season. Originally Almada was on the left and Enzo started at CM, but Mudryk came in and started scoring/assisting so i cant drop him.

We also have Maurits Kjaergaard who'd been signed the previous season from RB Salzburg. He is 3rd choice behind Enzo and also 3rd choice behind Angelo. Hes been injured a fair bit so never really had a chance to show what he can do.

[Urke17]

Started my save with the latest patch. Sold couple youngsters to bring some backup forward since Jackson is the only decent available option, and brought Gabigol for 14m. 

Preaseason was just fine, everything looked well, but when season started i got a brain damage. Could barely score, all players were around 6.4, 6.5 average rating except Petrovic, it was very hard to make some improvement. Got defeated from all bigger clubs, while was having hard time to win easier matches against Shefild, Luton etc.

Finished both FA and Carabao Cup in first matches, true horor.

Then, i decided to replace Tiago Silva and Sterling with Disasi and Mudryk, made some improvement, and now i am sitting at 6th place 4 matches before the end of the season. 

My conclusion is, i have never had more difficulties like now, it is very realistic and hard in this save, i never had this kind of situation, i am playing FM since 2008, and i was shocked. 

Will share some more information and pictures when the season is closed.

 

[poma]

I've stopped playing as Chelsea because they are SO bad in the game, and it seems impossible to do anything about it.

Can't defend, can't score from open play, useless at set-pieces (even when hire a top-class set-piece coach not a single goal from corners in 38 games in the league)

Have played FM since forever but Chelsea is getting worse every year in FM (like Irl) i know 

It's all about finding balance and i never use or used "fancy" tactics, just simply basic 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, 3-4-2-1

 

But you guys succeed so  i must accept that I'm probably useless at FM24 then 

KeepUpTheGoodWork

[RandomGuy.]

I'm sitting 6th with 3 games to go, no chance of the top 4 but not safe in Europe yet.

Bournemouth won the Carabao Cup so 7th won't get Europe, and I went out of the Europa League to Fiorentina in the Quarters. 

Unsure if I'll get sacked if we don't make Europe tbh.

Had been flying in December and looking like title challengers, decided not to do anything in January due to the insane transfer debt already at the club, but regret that a bit now. Got an injury crisis in February and the form just plummeted. 

Not sure what to do in the Summer. Add the more promising loaned out youths to the squad and hope the extra depth stops us dipping so bad, or gut the club completely and go big on proven players?

I've already got ~15 players leaving the youth squads, whole place needs streamlined to me.

[RandomGuy.]

Summer budget was £90m and £110kp/w, so I won't be getting a couple of prime age stars. No Champions League + ridiculous wage bill + ridiculous transfer debt starting to hit. Probably another season of trying to cut the wage bill and sort the finances to fund an a better squad.

Chilwell away for £40m plus a raft of ones who were out on loan like both Fofanas means we have some form of extra budget building. Wouldn't be massively upset if James, Caicedo and/or Fernandez moved on, could likely raise £150m+ and save a huge amount of wages on players who have never justified the expense. 

Got Moussa N'Diaye signing from Anderlecht for £3.5m and small wages to play back up LB with Chilwell away. Frimpong from Leverkusen ready to go if/when a Saudi Arabian side goes for James again. 

Multiple sides looking at Fernandez which would allow Paez to slot into things.

As it stands my side is...

But ideally I see...

- James, Enzo, Caicedo and probably Jackson away

- Sign Frimpong as a RB

- Lavia becomes back up to Gallagher + Paez becomes back up to Almada

- Angelo/Deivid go out on loan as regulars 

- Back up CB, hopefully high potential and English, signed to compete for RCB

- Quality RW signed, ideally prime age and high quality 

- Potentially try and get Evan Ferguson if there's enough budget left

Would leave us like this and with 0 budget, but this was a mess that was always going to take years to sort.

Edited March 24 by RandomGuy.