Or else Chelsea have been told to defecate or get off the bowl
Tomori will also be having a word with Fat Frank to see where he fits in the big picture
My reading of Chelsea/Tomori is unless they proactively come back to the table, we will just pursue other avenues.
I do understand the criticism of Brands, I don't think you can be 18th in December, 18 months in to a role and not be under some scrutiny. I always backed him, but did understand the criticism (essentially I think he was not helped out by his manager last season when Silva was here). From a professional standpoint though- and he seems to hold himself in good standing in his conduct, I don't think Chelsea's conduct last season will have sat right with him. What I get from him is he seems to be about building relationships where it works on both sides. He's done deals with Watford when it was hard and also Napoli who are very tricky. He's well liked by Barcelona, respected in Holland and also dealt with Real Madrid. Ancelotti is a massive pull, but there is clearly a competence in dealing with these clubs that I doubt we had when it was Bill, Walsh or Elstone doing transfers. I don't think Barca or Real Madrid would have taken Everton seriously.
I digress slightly, what Chelsea did was poor form. I sense they had said something along the lines of "you can probably have Zouma, but give us time, it's a hard window with no "ins", and if it doesn't happen then you will get Tomori". A few days before the end of the window they pulled the plug on both deals. For Brands, who seems to work on trust, and goes late in windows as a result it put him in an awful position. We were lucky that not signing Zouma didn't really cost us, but it could have done. He put his trust in them, and they let us down.
Anyway, fast forward this summer, we put an offer in to loan Tomori, who seemed to be 5th choice. A good deal for all parties really. The player gets to play, Everton get a good CB, Chelsea get their player improved under the tutelage of Ancelotti, and following the Zouma experience a player who is not ready to play, ready to play. It looked like it was progressing, and then Lampard started dragging his feet and so the games began again. We seemed to move to alternatives quite quickly.
Maybe Chelsea have the view we will just hold on, praying that Ceasars hand falls the right way. They get a lot more from the Tomori deal that we likely do. I don't think Brands will be taken in twice, and it may be the last bit of business we do with Chelsea for a while.