Clockwork

He is great going forward but struggles defensively. He played a lot of games as a AM/FW as the season went on. Overall i think he would be a good signing.

Important to note that Chelsea are paying Costa to stay away from the club and stay on vacation. So far that is the most telling evidence, and shows Conte/club really wants him out. So far nothing to suggest Costa is not willing to fulfill his obligation.

Maybe not way better, but comfortably better though. GK is their biggest weakness, they need a upgrade.

If that is their plan why would they loan him out to Chelsea or even Milan. A loan to a Bundesliga side would be ideal, much more likely to be guaranteed starter. He would also get accustomed to the league, culture, and language. This would be the best plan for a player in your long term plan. Bluelyon is absolutely right Sanches would need time and patience. He is far from a finished product, a loan to EPL and Chelsea is far from a good move for his development.

He said they are very good players but not world class, that is definitely debatable argument. As hot takes and controversial statements go that is very mild. I personally find it much more ridiculous if you can't tolarate any opinion that doesn't see Kante and Azpi as world class.

Not sure if I said this a while back, imo out of Bakayoko, Morata, and Rudiger. I believe he will be our best signing.

The thing is both Bayern and Inter played with greater numbers in midfield. Inter had Brozovic, Borja, and Gagliardini which puts them in a good position to win the midfield battle vs Kante and Cesc. Also their forwards Perisic and Candreva were much more willing to help in the buildup. Personally see the issue tactical and the main underling issue with the 3-4-3 system we have in place. I think any team that can do the following effectively are in a great position to win the game against us. Have more numbers in the middle, and stop easy movements from our WBs. Fortunately most clubs in the PL can not do that effectively, but the better sides in the league and Europe can.

Good option for midfield not RWB. He wants to play in midfield too, with Nelsinho signed he may gets his wish there.

Wish we could go after Patrik Schick, his transfer to Juve didn't materialize. Do not believe the dodgy reports of him having heart problems. I think Juve negotiated very early for Schick but later changed their plans and went after Bernardeschi and Costa. Valued around 25m, i think this would be a great piece of business and even better he is left footed.

What overestimation do you see from some? I don't think anyone is tipping him to be a future star or anything, most comments allude he can play at this level and could be fourth choice after Hazard, Pedro, and Willian. I think more or less that is fair, he can do a job when called upon sparingly.

Agree, although i think the white socks design from Nike will look much better in combination with the rest of the kit. But i do prefer the blue socks. The best sock design from Adidas was this;

Anyone seen Grimaldo extensively? i have seen him and Telles on very few occasions, but came away much more impressed with Grimaldo.

No urgency to sell Fabinho, he is on a long term contract. They can get another year out of him and still sell him for equal if not higher price next summer.

Why does it matter who was Conte first choice? Clearly Conte rated both players wanted either player, Morata is at Chelsea and Lukaku is at United. Both have to show their worth next season. Even if Lukaku was Conte first choice, he would never admit it and signal that to his new striker. He would never publicly announce the club record transfer was not their first choice.

At the moment he is definitely staying at Madrid, he will be Marcelo backup. And he has the versatility to play CB, which they may need with Pepe gone only left with Ramos, Varane, and Nacho at the position.

Money has something to do with no doubt, but its not like he is going to China/Russia. PSG has equal if not better chance to win the CL than Barcelona, and rumor is they are also adding Alexis Sanchez. Outside of Madrid they have the most complete team in Europe.

This is the type of player we should be going after. A player who will tilt the balance of power for years to come if he decides to join one of the PL clubs. Just like Ronaldo did at United and Hazard has done at Chelsea.

Alonso situation is outside of football though, Aurier has fallen out with 2 different managers at PSG. He is very undisciplined, Conte will not work or tolerate such players.

I do not think he is intelligent player tactically, he is very intelligent from an attacking standpoint when given complete freedom. But when given more assignments and asked to main positional sense he struggles with them.

This is what i was talking about a few pages back. This is ridiculous, you are equating decision making on the ball with general football IQ. Based on what you wrote, than you probably think Christino Ronaldo is not a player with high football IQ. That would be stupid because, off the ball Ronaldo is the smartest player in the planet. A player can struggle with on the ball decision making, and still be a smart player in other aspects. Also a player can be a great decision maker on the ball, and lack intelligence elsewhere. For example Ozil, very intelligent on the ball but other aspects he seriously the lacks intelligence.

She is still wrong, there is many aspects of the game. Such generalization is ridiculous. Lukaku is much more smarter player in the box and off the ball. Morata is better than him on the ball and outside of the box. Generally fans with poor understanding of the game label a player lacking football IQ/intelligence based on one or few aspects of the game. For example Angel Di maria is a great example of such misunderstanding. He is not a great decision maker in the final third, so he is often labeled a player lacking intelligence. But if you you looked very closely of his understanding from a tactical and positional sense you wouldn't think that. Also if you considered that ADM can play almost every position on the pitch and play that position really well you might think otherwise.

Sneijder was pretty close to Veratti height maybe an inch or two taller. Mourinho doesn't care about the money, its not his and he knows he will not stay long at United anyway. I don't know if Verratti to United will happen, but ultimately what i take away is Raiola is much more likely to get him away from PSG.

He signed Cesc and Ozil, Verratti is more mobile and better defensively.

What the heck this guy flopped really hard at Madrid, now they are going to make a profit out of it.

With all that said, i think he is most suited to play alongside another striker. I really doubt he will play up top alone.