Dec

Sell Tomori and bring in Alaba and he will cover LB and CB.

A family member of mine is an analyst at Leicester and we were talking about Chilwell. He says physically he's one of the best at the club, however, he just doesn't have the tactical capabilities to understand what is required. This is a major worry.

On top of Jype's comments, he hasn't played in a back four consistently for Atalanta. The last time he even played in a back four was in 2016/17 for Heracles in Holland. The transition to this would take some time.

We do need to close the gap and I agree that defence will win titles, but it's the attack that we have struggled with this season. We've dropped points against Bournemouth, Southampton, Newcastle, West Ham (x2) and Brighton this season despite dominating. If we put the ball in the back of the net more then teams won't get that hope that leads to us losing/drawing. Those 17 points alone would take us above Manchester City with an 80 point total and none of those are games we didn't deserve to win.

Azpi has made more key passes and crosses per 90 than Gaya. Lampard wants his Full Backs to provide an attacking threat and Gaya is not that.

I think it will be a big ask to sell that many players, but if want to sign the targets above then we are going to have to sell them + more to balance the books. Kenedy's contract is expiring in 2022 according to Transfermarkt.

If we say that the Hazard + Morata money has been spent on Kovacic, Ziyech and Werner then, in my opinion, we're looking at £20m in Hazard bonus £20m Barkley £20m Emerson £25m Zouma £30m Kepa £20m Bakayoko £10m Moses £40m Jorginho £20m Batshuayi £15m Zappacosta £10m Kenedy TOTAL - £230m £70m Havertz £100m Oblak £50m Rice £60m Chilwell OR £25m Tagliafico TOTAL - £245m minimum That means we really have to sell everyone listed, and that's a big question mark.

Does anybody know about David Soria? He made a great save against Real Madrid recently and seems pretty tall. I don't watch La Liga that much but at 27 he could be a cheaper GK option, though it seems he had a bad game against Villarreal and conceded a penalty in the game.

With Donnarumma's contract expiring next year, I'd much prefer us to double down our efforts to get him rather than spend €90m on Havertz. Even if we don't agree a deal, we could look at getting him on a free next year by unsettling him with an offer. Onana would be a cheaper alternative but the AFCON puts me off him.

I was talking about Alex Telles in response to King Kante's post. For some reason, the forum software used here creates a fatal error when I quoted it.

If we were to get a new Left Back, I'd rather the player tactically smart rather than quick. Being quick doesn't help Zouma become a great center back, despite his tactical flaws.

Telles is easily the most sensible buy. Low fee, currently on reasonable wages, right age profile and can deliver set pieces/crosses well from the left consistently. Not the greatest at defending but that is a trade off you have to accept with modern FB's as otherwise you get a Dave/AWB then everyone complains about their lack of ability in the final third. ---- You've just described Alonso.

Not the most reliable sources but I was looking at reports for the costs. The most recent report for Rice was The Sun at £45m and Munich want €60m for Alaba. Obviously costs can fluctuate as no journalist, especially not The Sun, will know but it was a rough estimate to show that Rice and Tagliafico are equally as costly as Alaba and Telles. Yes, there may be sell-on value for Rice, but in the short term he won't push us closer to title contenders, and that is what we need. We have Tomori and Maatsen breaking through for CB/LB and if we don't land Chilwell, who is my first choice LB, then Telles would be a better and slightly younger option for pushing us up the table than Tagliafico. If we were to get a goalkeeper, why not just spend big on Donnarumma? He's got only one year left on his contract and is young but experienced like Lampard wants. I'd love a deal with Romagnoli but I think that's a pipe dream to get both of those. Overall, I don't see the need for doing it on the cheap, even more so if they aren't that much cheaper.

Sorry I typo'd Alaba post and an error is preventing me editing. It should read £54m. This would bring the total to £90m and £15m above Tagliafico and Rice's cost.

Rice: £45m Taglifiaco: £30m TOTAL - £75m Alaba: £45m Telles: £36m TOTAL - £81m It's not that cheap. We could upgrade CB and LB with a lot more quality for just £6m more!