Simon1991

I think you misunderstood the premise here. He is not saying African players are inherently inferior tactically, he is saying african countries as footballing nations don't have the same levels. To your point, french players from african origin play within and benefit from the french footballing structures.

Many great players who have never won a Ballon d'or. Saying it is due to racism as you implied is far-fetched, to put it nicely.

What african player was unfairly denied a ballon d'or?

He plays in a double pivot for Brighton mainly, and usually as a number 8 for Ecuador. He's a CDM, but not a lone CDM like a Fabinho, Casemiro etc.

There is also a fine line between being modest, and cheap. We don't know N'golo's relationship with money. We know he drives a Mini cooper, and that's about it.

Until he freaking received a 100M/a year proposal. And no it's not, it's extremely relevant. Let's not fool ourselves here, that kind of money will get you 99.9% of footballers his age in a similar situation.

"who've made it clear any fee must be significantly more than €25M." So yeah they're saying 25M won't cut it ;). Somewhere in the 40-50M range should do the trick though, i imagine.

Yes that's a legit concern. At the same time he gives the impression his game is not as intense as Kante or other mfer's. Medical team also closely look at physical data for decision making now; so i want to assume he'll get a rest if he needs one, or at least have his load properly managed during training.

This VAR call (or absence there of) is ABSOLUTELY scandalous, i just can't believe it. Do we know how was officiating the VAR? After the 5 min it took to call the obvious offside, the corruption could once again not be any more blatant. I am so pissed off once again.

😂😂😂

I usually agree with most of your must buy, but you probably got it wrong on Meslier. He's really not that good, great reflexes on his line but that's about it IMO. I've seen him commit many direct mistakes, awful footwork too (very De gea-esque). Does not pass the eye test for me, and i stumbled accross the below stat backing that up. Have too say i was not surprised at all. One of my fav young keepers out there is R. Sanchez, but i would not mind us riding on Kepa's form for next season, and assess Slonina then.

Harwood-Bellis has been immense for Burnley i hear, doubt City would even entertain a sale to us haha. I'd probably take Tomori out of the lot, but he'd cost a fortune and i hate when we buy back players we sold for a fraction of the price.

I agree with that, and can clearly see him in a double pivot, next to Enzo for instance, but just not yet. Unlike some people who see him slot in in our midfield directly (hype around newly signed players is a wonderful thing isn't it), he does not seem to be PL ready, as @OneMoSalahpointed out. Technically very raw still, and will need to hone his skills. Loads of potential though, and seems to possess a warrior mentality which is always a plus! Very excited about this young lad, but for the long game.

Capology has him listed and verified at £100k/week, which is very reasonable. Relatively easy to offload he things go sour, and tied to a long deal at "low wages" if he turns into a superstar.

Yeah fair point. And I think the argument was weak to start with. Almost any player will want to come and play for Chelsea. We are still one of the best clubs in Europe and offer high wages. Why would any player not already in a top club not want to come and play here? IF you're not a striker that is. I can see why strikers would have doubts about a move when it's widely known it's though to make it here as an attacking player.

You really want to focus on that bad touch, and ignore the rest of his game? He ran like a mad-man all game, that's normal to expect a lack of lucidity after putting on efforts repeatedly.

Wow, people trashing Kai really? I would be questioning footballing knowledge of anyone saying he played a bad game today. Can't believe some of the posts i am reading.

Yeah not sure why so many people are so keen on Dembele. A very talented player on his day, no doubt about it, but injury prone, inconsistent and attracted to drama, who would also be paid massive wages. All in all a massive gamble IMO, even without any transfer fee per se.

Can we now just all agree that Chalobah is simply not up to the required levels? I like the man, but not good enough i am afraid. Come on Chels, extra time!!!

Jesus, another deluded left winger who wants to see evil everywhere. If they suck they suck, regardless of the colour of their skin. Gee that agenda is so tiring at times.

This, exposing your double standards once again and your clear agenda against Mason. If Mount scores a tap-in, the assist giver did 99% of the work, but when Ziyech scores tap-ins, you praise his goal return. It's one or the other my friend.

He's a Youtube player, will make a wonderful pass or a great goal, after 10 absolutely horrendous misses. He's very decent off the ball and presses relatively well, but we can (and should) certainly expect more from him on the ball. Inconsistent is the word for his ball usage I guess. @NikkiCFC, a player can score a goal and still have had a pretty shitty performance. The goal will "save" the day for the player, but it does not mean that the bad performance did not happen. It's funny what you mentioned about the Newcastle game and the disallowed goal, him hitting the post and whatnot. I watched the game and he was arguably the worst player on the pitch (first to be taken off if i recall correctly). But watched MOTD that night and they would only show clips with Ziyech's involvement, to the extent that one would believe he was the best player on the pitch that day if you had not seen the game. As always you focus on G+A only, that's not all there is..

@NikkiCFC, @Milan and all the others, could you please not spoil the other games? Some people including myself wait for the surprise when we watch MOTD at night; and i already got spoiled on 3 games in the first few pages of this thread. This should only be the Chelsea game, please. Thanks :).

@MoroccanBlue was being sarcastic..

Yeah, i'm sure it's not something our 20+ physios are looking at when picking a line-pup, get a grip please. "All of our midfielders are out of form. Lukaku efect." Wut?