London is Blue Dispatch #003

Silly Season Turned Up To 11

Well… that escalated quickly. After a rocky start to 2023, and continued poor form in domestic competitions, Boehly’s Showtime Blues stepped up efforts to completely rebuild the squad. So far, the men’s first team has signed David Datro Fofana from Molde, Benoît Badiashile from Monaco, and João Félix on a short-term loan from Atletico Madrid. However, nobody could have seen the Mykhaylo Mudryk transfer saga reaching such a stunning conclusion on Saturday. This player was *destined* for Arsenal. He was *thirsty* for Arsenal. He was sleeping in Gunnersaurus pajamas (OK, that one was made that up). But, as we all know, Eghbali and Winstanley bought his flight, and Mudryk saw the light. (Insert new Willian song here?)🎶

On Sunday, Mudryk signed an 8.5 year deal (7.5 years + 1 year option) from the Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk. The deal costs the Blues €70MM euros + €30MM add-ons, and came with a truly bizarre, coordinated social media campaign from both clubs. Shakhtar president, Rinat Akhmetov, spoke afterwards and shared Chelsea will play their club in a friendly in Ukraine in the near future: "... and we will play a friendly against Chelsea at Donbass Arena in a Ukrainian Donetsk." Beautiful stuff. Slava Ukraini. 🇺🇦

So, in true London is Blue fashion, we turned on the bat signal on Saturday morning and quickly turned around the Emergency Mudryk Podcast. Friend of the pod, Nizaar Kinsella, joined us to discuss the Chelsea angle (essentially the who, what, when, where, and why for Chelsea to steal this player from Arsenal’s gaze). British-Ukrainian football expert, Andrew Todos of Zorya Londonsk, joined us to profile the player from his time playing for Shakhtar Donetsk. And we've followed it up with another CFC Central player profile out now! (He recently contributed a banger of a podcast on João Félix and also celebrated his birthday.)

Chelsea, ICYMI

• Chelsea paid tribute to the late, great Gianluca Vialli on Sunday before the Crystal Palace match. To say that emotions were high would be an understatement. “Luca” was beloved by Chelsea supporters. Watch this tribute that the club put out if you have tissues nearby. 

• On that note, if you’re looking for a good highlights package of Luca’s goals at Chelsea, we have you covered.

• Magda x Azpi: Magda Eriksson and Pernille Harder’s Sky Sports show, The HangOut, featured Chelsea men’s captain Cesar Azpilicueta this week. It’s an interview about allyship and inclusion in the game. Get in!

• Levi Colwill continues to impress at Brighton. Not only is he in consideration for an England call-up in March (says David Ornstein), but Matt Law reports that his future is at Chelsea and he will return from loan this summer. We are so excited about the future of our backline with Trev, Wesley, Benoît, and Levi.

• Harvey Vale is back at Chelsea after a less-than-ideal loan spell this fall. Let’s hope a new solution is settled soon so that he can gain the experience required.

• Arsenal will now try and go after Declan Rice in the summer window. It’s petty, and retaliation for Mudryk, but if they try, he will surely land at Chelsea. #itsachelseathing

Big Week of Pods

It's another B.W.O.P. at London is Blue:

• Mudryk Player Profile by Dan and CFC Central on Tuesday, January 17.

• Transfer Update with Adam Newson on Wednesday, January 18.

• Tinkermen Special on Thursday, January 19.

• Luca Vialli Tribute on Friday, January 20.

Back to London

That’s it for our third edition of the London is Blue Dispatch. Please keep the comments coming and let us know what you’d like to see from the newsletter! **Bill Belichick Growl**: “We’re on to Anfield”. It’s a big match Chelsea can win if they play to their potential. LiVARpool’s leaky defense vs. Chelsea’s under performing attack…what breaks first? Stay tuned! 🤷‍♂️

We hope you’re navigating the men’s team up-and-down season by ignoring the noise, sticking with your fellow Blues at the pub or on Discord, and thinking of the success to come. We know it has been a mixed season, but there’s always potential for Chelsea to go on a run of results and turn this around. That’s about as positive that I (Nick) can be. 😂

Finally, since I (Nick) have written this edition of the dispatch, I want to stir the pot and talk about the most overrated show I’ve seen in some time: The White Lotus (S1 and S2). It’s just so predictable and meh. A+ scenery…. and that’s about it. 😐

Keep the Blue Flag Flying High,

Nick