Happy international break Chelsea FC supporters. The club may be off until Oct 1, when they’ll stage a London derby at Crystal Palace, but there are no shortage of news items to discuss. So much so that we had to break this up into two different Chelsea news and notes columns. Part one, covering Americans Christian Pulisic and Gaga Slonina is at this link.
We start with some transfer rumors, albeit rather far-fetched ones. Romelu Lukaku, currently back with Inter Milan, on a loan deal, could be used as a piece in a package to land Harry Kane from Tottenham Hotspur.
Really? Harry Kane leaving Tottenham for Chelsea- GTFOH right? Well, NBC Sports is running with the idea, or at least running the narrative put forth by Calciomercato, whom they cite in the article. The report in the Italian media, sourced by NBC, states that new manager Graham Potter is a huge fan of Kane (I mean who isn’t right?), but Inter have an option to extend the Lukaku loan deal another season.
Of course, if anyone is going to sign the Tottenham talisman, they’d have to really shell out boku bucks, so it would make sense that a player going the other way might be involved. And if that player happens to be someone known to coalesce well with Antonio Conte, and thrive under his tutelage, well…maybe we’ve spent enough time already down this rabbit hole.
Mason Mount currently hasn’t scored or assisted for 133 days. pic.twitter.com/9wJDTNz6iv
— ?? (@clinicalkai) September 21, 2022
Let’s just move on already, to Mason Mount, who is a top trending Twitter term right now for no reason other than football fans being bored on international break. As you can see, he’s trending just because a lot of soccer fans are just discussing either a. how bad he is this season, b. how great he was last season, c. both, d. his reputation overall, and whether or not those reputations are warranted.
But they said that Mason mount can’t create chances….? pic.twitter.com/OI5u0e3zOY
— ? (@clinicalmount_) September 20, 2022
Finally, Chelsea announced the termination of commercial director Damian Willoughby, immediately, after having received evidence he sent “inappropriate messages” before he took the gig. The Telegraph reports that he had sent these messages to a football finance agent.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Bank (TheSportsBank.Net) and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and he co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast, part of Edge of the Crowd Network. Follow him and the website on Twitter and Instagram.