Chelsea, Conte ‘mystified’ by discontent rumors, tease first signing for July 1 — report

It is rather impressive how a throwaway couple lines buried in the middle of a brief report from Gazzetta dello Sport blew up into a full-blown CRISIS in less than 12 hours, but hopefully all this nonsense will also die a death just as quick. (Of course it won’t; negative news like this lingers like the plague.)

All we can do is put our faith into sound reasoning (as opposed to mass hysteria) and trust the reports coming from those with actual connections to the club. Yes, there is a chance that Chelsea are lying to you. This whole world could be fake. You could be a battery in the Matrix. But at some point, you have to trust something. You can’t just run underground with the moles.

In addition to bringing word that Conte himself is rather mystified by all this hysteria, the Evening Standard’s Simon Johnson is also bringing word of Chelsea’s first major signing of the summer ... in two weeks ... for a backup goalkeeper ... but it’s a signing nonetheless!

While it’s not entirely clear to me why we’re waiting — doubtful it’s anything to do with Nike; in the case of Caballero, June 30th is technically when previous contracts end and players can thus switch registrations — not announcing players until July is entirely within Chelsea’s m.o. of recent years, with the club finishing most of our business in July and August. Cesc Fàbregas and André Schürrle are the only two major exceptions to that trend.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.