Vesper

I think the Euros will help make him a better player absolutely look at Michael Jordan, IMHO the greatest athlete ever (at least in the last couple centuries) he not just failed, but got crushed in the playoffs multiple times before he started winning winning every championship he played in bonus NO MINO THE CUNT

lol, I tend to think this is closer to the truth insane how many dozens (hundreds?) of stories have been tossed out (made up?) about us reaching 'agreement of personal terms' or that 'we are in daily contact with Håland,' blah bah blah , etc etc' ffs it is just sickening

🤬 new depths of pure bollocks being simply made up now I wish these cunts could be criminally charged for lies

the chatter is that RM want to swap Varane + a wee bit of cash (or no cash) for Pogba IF that happens, the FOR SURE Alaba is locked into one of the CB slots, as they just lost both of their starting CB's I think the other CB's they still will have are trash Éder Militão Nacho Jesús Vallejo so that means they have to buy another class CB PLUS perhaps Mbappe (I think they make an attempt) or Håland (same) not that many class CB's out there who are RM ready (and not some younger, less proven ones, like Lacroix or Botman) I come up with 10 I would say the main ones I can see them chasing are (and some of these would be outrageous in price) the three almost impossible ones Matthijs de Ligt Marquinhos Alessandro Bastoni then Jules Koundé (they would be crazy to have a CB pairing so short as Alaba and Kounde, both are well under 6 feet) José María Giménez (not at all sure if he would play for RM though, probably really doubtful) Milan Skriniar Pau Torres Kalidou Koulibaly Aymeric Laporte (Citeh are very likely to listen to offers, Pep is not happy with him, which is just so strange, but hey, shit happens) Alessio Romagnoli

Promising Chelsea starlet set for a medical at PL side after agreeing loan move https://astamfordbridgetoofar.com/2021/07/01/Chelsea-ace-billy-gilmour-set-for-norwich-medical-after-agreeing-loan-deal/

Tiemoue Bakayoko 'turns down new contract offer from Chelsea because he wants return to former loan club AC Milan this summer' - as player's agent confirms Serie A giants are an option for the forgotten Blues man this year https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-9743533/Tiemoue-Bakayoko-turns-new-Chelsea-contract-wants-return-former-loan-club-AC-Milan.html

why do these people (not the poster) keep confusing/conflating EUROS WITH POUNDS?????? it is NOT £160m that he said it is €160m ffs that is £137m a massive difference £23m is more than we will get at one time for most of our dregs up for sale (ie. per dreg, lol) and they (the two people in the vid) made an error themselves with shit maths its €150m that is double the release clause (if it is €75m as they claim), not €160m that is only £128m as long as there is not a crazy '2 or 3 years and he can go for what you paid plus a little tiny profit' bullshit (and there might be one) £128m is a fucking steal for Håland (as long as there is no other huge funny money shit involved (which again, there might be)

Wank-Bissaka 😹

‘Double it’: Some fans react as their 25-year-old attacker is linked with Chelsea https://www.thechelseachronicle.com/transfer-news/double-it-some-fans-react-as-their-25-year-old-attacker-is-linked-with-Chelsea/ Chelsea are being linked with Wolverhampton Wanderers attacker Adama Traore – but some Wolves fans on Twitter have responded by claiming he should cost a lot more than the reported price tag. Well-respected journalist Matt Law, speaking on the London Is Blue podcast, claims that Chelsea do have interest in the Wolves speed machine. It is understood that a fee between £20-25million could be enough for his signature. Traore, who earns £46,000-a-week, is an extremely unique player in the Premier League. The 25-year-old is unplayable on his day for opposition full-backs. He can breeze past defenders like they are not there with raw pace and power that makes him stand out from the crowd. However, his final product is holding him back. The right-winger is part of the Spain squad at Euro 2020 this summer, but has only had one substitute cameo so far in the tournament. Traore is really effective for Wolves off the bench to frighten the life out of defences. He’s someone that Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea are looking at, which isn’t a massive surprise when you consider he can play as a wing-back or winger. The Spanish flyer does look like someone that has never fully unlocked his potential manager, so perhaps a fresh change could help the ex-Barcelona talent.

thank fuck we didn't have Ole at the wheel, or we would not have won shit

as a RWB he blows them away, he is by far the best RWB on the planet and is only going to get better

Mancini and Vialli: a friendship deeper than the sea https://theathletic.com/2679972/2021/06/30/mancini-and-vialli-an-italian-football-friendship-deeper-than-the-sea/ Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Mancini are standing on the terrace outside La Piedigrotta, the restaurant where they used to go out for dinner with the rest of the Sampdoria team twice a week. To them, it’s Carmine’s place, their place, where the guazzetto alla ligure — or fish soup — is as good as ever and if you’re not careful, Attilio Lombardo might use his spoon as a catapult to fling a meatball in your face. It was here that the class of ’91 gathered in May to celebrate the 30th anniversary of what the Doriani call the “schudetto”, the club’s one and only league title, a night to charge glasses and have a laugh. And yet as Mancini stared out over the water, his mind turned to Wembley and the extra-time defeat Sampdoria suffered in the 1992 European Cup final. “We’d always won at Wembley,” he sighed. It’s true, Sampdoria regularly played and triumphed in front of its famous towers when participating in the now-defunct Makita Tournament. “There’s always a first time,” Vialli consoled him. “You either win or you learn, right? You never lose. Think about the good times.” Look on the bright side, smile and take the positives. It was quintessential Vialli. Last Saturday, a little over a month after that reunion in Genoa, the two of them won together at Wembley. Watching Vialli run down the steps, shuffle past the little gate between the stands and the pitch, and embrace Mancini, who turned straight into his arms as if he knew his former strike partner was there, carried away in the euphoria caused by Federico Chiesa’s goal against Austria was one of the moments of the European Championship. In future, when Vialli tells Mancini to think about the good times, they’ll always have last Saturday night along with the memories they made as players. The depth of feeling between these two runs deeper than “o Ma” — Genovese for the sea. “Roberto has been my hero since I was 14,” Vialli recalled on Che Tempo Che Fa, the show hosted by Sampdoria fan Fabio Fazio on RAI. “We met for the first time at Coverciano (the national team headquarters where, as you read this article, they’re currently working). People were already talking about him even then. We must have known each other for how long? Forty years? He had a foot in my goals and I had a foot in his.” Friends like these are what we all look for in life. Sampdoria’s former owner Paolo Mantovani, a father figure to Mancini and Vialli, appreciated how special the bond between them was and tried to surround himself with it. When he wanted a new pet, he didn’t buy one man’s best friend but two and the dogs running around the garden at his villa in Sant’Ilario were named Roby and Luca. “I’m not sure whether I should be happy about that or not,” Vialli laughed, “but it’s true.” Luca and il Mancio were roommates at the Astor hotel where Samp used to stay before their home games. They’d call up the team’s chef Giorgio Parri, King George as he was known, for midnight feasts of spaghetti alla bucaniera. “When you spend the night before a battle under the same roof, when you go through the same joy and pain, when you accomplish the same mission and you’re more or less the same age, how can you not be friends,” Vialli asked. When the “Goal Twins” weren’t at Carmine’s, they were dancing ’til dawn at Carillon in Portofino or playing a game of Cirulla at Edilio, the restaurant next to the Luigi Ferraris, with the other Seven Dwarfs as they were known. Vialli was Sleepy, Mancini Dopey and Moreno Mannini, Samp’s old right-back, Sneezy, although he had such a good poker face he used to clean everybody out at cards. After Italia ’90, which were “anything but Notti Magiche” — Magic nights — for Mancini, who didn’t play a single minute and Vialli, who tweaked his groin, pulled a thigh muscle, caught bronchitis and lost his place to Toto Schillaci, they flew off to Mauritius with Fausto Pari — now Mancini’s assistant — and the Tsar, Pietro Vierchowod to get away from it all. The former strike duo celebrate Italy reaching the quarter-final (Photo: Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images) Upon returning to Genoa, Vialli — still not over the disappointment — asked Mantovani for more time to decompress. In return, Vialli promised to turn a negative into a positive. He vowed that Samp would win the Scudetto which is exactly what they did for the first and last time in their history. It was a sporting miracle every bit as incredible as the bald Lombardo’s hair growing back on the final day of the season — when he wore a wig for a week, gladly following through on the dare he set himself on a bus ride to Turin when an injury-hit Samp side, on its way to play Juventus, cheered itself up by going from player to player, asking them what they would do in the event the Blucerchiati were crowned champions in May. It was Lombardo who pursued Vialli down the Wembley steps last weekend to join him in piling on Mancini and who knows maybe he’ll get his hair-piece out again if Italy win the Euros. “Don’t believe anyone who tells you football is a war,” Vialli said. “It’s a sport, a game and you play games with your mates.” As a player working under them, who wouldn’t want that for their own team? A band of brothers, best friends for ever. “Any excuse to get together is a good one,” Vialli said. And no more so than in the winter of 2018 when Gabriele Gravina, the president of the Italian Football Federation, reached out to see if he might consider serving as head of the delegation — or team leader — at the Euros. At the time, Vialli was undergoing a second punishing round of chemotherapy. The pancreatic cancer he had been treated for was back. Originally Vialli thought he had done something as innocuous as trapping a nerve while playing golf. He asked his friend Gigi Buffon to put him in touch with the specialist he’d seen after the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. But there was clearly more to the shooting pains in his glutes than sciatica. “I started feeling a way I’ve never felt before,” Vialli wrote. “It’s as if I’ve become someone else. I feel empty, drained, without an ounce of faith and positivity. I find myself crying often. I try to go for walks but even a few steps are difficult. So difficult that I simply give up.” Mancini and Vialli pictured together at Sampdoria in 1989 (Photo: Claudio Villa / Contributor) He lost 16kg and began wearing extra layers, jumpers under chunky knits, to look bulkier. His daughters drew his eyebrows on and did his make up while he underwent chemo in order to help him “look like what Gianluca Vialli is supposed to look like”. A stag emerging from the forest, as his old coach Vujadin Boskov famously described a confident, young Vialli. He didn’t want his friends and loved ones to worry. “This is a protective measure. To protect them, but also myself. The way they speak to me, relate to me, joke with me… I don’t want that to change. Ever.” It was while receiving treatment that Vialli began studying Asian philosophy and compiled quotes, mantras and stories to help him think and stay positive. They have since been published in his second book Goals, which has been translated into English by my Golazzo colleague, Gabriele Marcotti. “They are now a part of me,” Vialli explained, “They are my spiritual strength… my armour.” Vialli, however, never saw cancer as a battle. “I am not a warrior. I am not fighting cancer. It’s too strong an enemy and I wouldn’t stand a chance. I am a man on a journey and cancer has joined me on that journey like an unwanted travel companion. My goal is to keep moving, keep walking until he’s had enough and leaves me alone.” Vialli accepted the FIGC’s proposal out of a love for his country and the opportunity it provided to keep busy amongst friends. “I’m at a stage in my life when I want to inspire people,” he said at La Gazzetta dello Sport’s Festival of Sport. “I want to try to help people and make a contribution. I hope to add value but I also want to learn too because I’m a curious person.” Curiosity has always distinguished Vialli. You see it in his university degree, his book the Italian Job that seeks to understand his own football culture and the one he experienced in England, which has become a second home to him. Culture fascinates him and Vialli’s presence at Coverciano seems to have been mutually restorative. The “sunny disposition” he lost came back during his initiation, when he sang Lucio Battisti’s Canzone del Sole — the Sun Song — in front of the squad, a ballad about falling in love, first times, and how the outdoors and contact with nature has a revitalising effect. When Mancini’s assistant Lele Oriali was absent for the Nations League game against Poland in November, Vialli returned to the bench for the first time since his days managing Watford. At one stage the ball rolled out of play, next to Italy’s dug-out. Vialli picked it up and kissed it before tossing it back. It was a gesture of love. Vialli was two and he already knew what he wanted to be when he grew up. His mother threw him an orange ball and he instinctively kicked it. That was it. That ball gave him a career, it made him friends, it gave him a purpose. Vialli and Mancini pictured in 1991, the year the pair won the league with Sampdoria (Photo: Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images) Typically when Vialli sat back down next to Mancini he reflected on how it made him feel. “I had always been by Roberto’s side on the pitch. It brought back memories, reawakened old emotions.” The same ones that we saw in their celebration at Wembley, which were so evocative of the late ’80s and early ’90s when one congratulated the other on a fine goal they’d just scored for Samp. To adapt his own line, that “is what Gianluca Vialli is supposed to look like”. The one people know and love. A best friend to Mancini and inspiration to many. “Life is 10 per cent what happens to us,” Vialli says, “and 90 per cent how we deal with it…”

so (as the add-ons are hard to reach) they likely paid only 900K pounds more (close the same inflation-adjusted) than Arse paid for Pepe roflmaooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

coin flip if he can IMHO there are only 20 players who can potentially have a transcendent effect on any team , and some are rapidly ageing out soon Messi CR7 Lewa Mbappe (the euro choke is utterly meaningless other than for banter) Håland KDB Neymar (I now, I now, he is hated, but shit, I would take him here if he came on a free, lolol) Kante and then the more iffy ones (again I mean NOW for some, as many on this list are not young at all, or are in the end of true prime age, and some are based off future play) Kane Sancho Lukaku Salah Oblak Grealish VVD (if healthy, and yes I know he is 30yo in 9 days) Kimmich Alphonso Davies (speed kills) Hakimi (speed kills) Foden (future forward his potential is just massive, perhaps more than Sancho) Pedri (future forward, he deffo possesses Xavi/Iniesta potential, time will tell) everyone of those 20 players fundamentally changes the team they are on and finally we have 2 that COULD make the list soon Havertz Mount

LOL, the base fee (£77m) is only £5m more than what Arse paid for PeePee (and Ornstein is reporting £72.9m ie. 85m euros, not 90m euros) and his wages are not bad at all £250K PW for 5 years Manure did damn well hat tip to the cunts for a change

Marina doesn't target the players, she is the fee/contract power

2 points 1. It never said it was the sole or even main reason. 2. We paid the most agent fees in the EPL (not all of UEFA) at a wee bit over £35m for the whole 12 months, BUT that includes all those buys, plus agents' cuts from loans (IF they were not paid by the loanee, as FIFA banned motherfuckers from working BOTH (or even all 3, if you count the player getting raped as well) sides, like that piece of dogshit Mino did with the Pogba deal, where BOTH Manure AND Juve paid that cockwomble, and SO DID POGBA himself, a triple play payday, he ended up pocketing almost 50m euros!) that reduced our intake from those, etc.

this is likely bollocks, but at this point, who knows Tuchel blocks this 30-year-old star’s Chelsea exit against Granovskaia’s wishes https://astamfordbridgetoofar.com/2021/06/30/tuchel-blocks-marcos-alonso-exit-from-Chelsea-despite-granovskaias-plan/ Transfer News: Thomas Tuchel blocks Marcos Alonso exit from Chelsea According to transfer news from Express, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel blocked an exit for Marcos Alonso. The manager is said to have gone against transfer chief Marina Granovskaia, who wanted to sell the Spanish wing-back to Barcelona. Alonso has had a stop-start career at Chelsea so far. The 30-year-old played his best football in the first two seasons after joining when Antonio Conte was in charge and used him as a wing-back. Over the next two years, Alonso struggled to play in a back four as a conventional full-back. However, right in Thomas Tuchel’s first game, Alonso was restored not only to the starting XI but also to the wing-back role he flourishes in. Since then, he has featured for the side but not on a consistent basis due to Ben Chilwell’s presence. It was looking as if Alonso was pretty much on his way out of the club as Barcelona wanted to sign him. However, Tuchel is said to have gone against Granovskaia as he wants to keep the defender at all costs. The manager apparently wants to keep him due to the flexibility he offers.

just tossing those articles out there for discussion, I am not endorsing their reasoning

Chelsea doesn’t necessarily need to sign a striker right now https://theprideoflondon.com/2021/06/29/Chelsea-doesnt-necessarily-need-striker/ Chelsea won the Champions League for the second time one month ago today. Despite some underwhelming debutants, a managerial change, a domestic struggle and a few other hurdles during the campaign, the Blues managed to win club football’s largest prize. Thomas Tuchel will now be given a preseason to address any concerns he has in his side as Chelsea looks to defend its title. Part of this process requires the addition and subtraction of some first team players. The transfer window opened up earlier this month and although the Blues have been relatively uninvolved thus far, that isn’t expected to be the case in a few weeks. The continent’s top players, and a plethora of Chelsea targets, are still involved in the 2020 European Championships. This means the transactions of said prospects are relatively impossible for the time being; that won’t be the case for long though. Roman Abramovich has reportedly given Tuchel a massive budget to work with as he chases more trophies. One of the main positions that Blues supporters have begged their team to address is the striker spot, but that might not be necessary right now. Chelsea doesn’t exactly need a new striker at this moment in time. Three names have been heavily linked with Chelsea, each would be dream signings. Those individuals are Harry Kane (Tottenham), Erling Haaland (Dortmund) and Romelu Lukaku (Inter Milan). Each potential transfer poses its own unique challenges though. The mountain to climb in the pursuit of Kane is Daniel Levy’s stubbornness. A deal for the English No. 9 is unlikely due to the rivalry between the two clubs, but there is no doubt Marina Granovskaia will try to work her magic regardless. Stubbornness presents itself as a worthy opponent again as it relates to the Haaland rumors. Dortmund has shown the world during the Jadon Sancho saga that it means business. When the so-called “world’s largest selling club” puts a price on a player, it stays true to that figure until the fee is paid or the window slams shut. Haaland’s price tag is massive, so it’s truly a question of whether or not Abramovich considers the striker worth the money. Lastly, Lukaku has publicly expressed his desire to remain in Italy, despite the departure of Antonio Conte. Any move for the Belgian forward would require a large fee, but at the end of the day, the player decides what his future holds. If Chelsea is unable to secure the services of any of these strikers, it’s got a few more options. Alexander Isak and Dusan Vlahovic are two promising, young stars the Blues could pursue. They both enjoyed fantastic domestic seasons in La Liga and Serie A respectively, but there are questions about the longevity of their successes, unlike with the aforementioned trio. Supporters of the reigning European Champions don’t always see eye-to-eye, they do all agree that Chelsea cannot revert back to its pre-transfer ban strategy though. The Blues purchased a handful of individuals during that period who are widely regarded as horrible deals in hindsight. For this reason, it’s not necessary for Chelsea to target a striker on the market should Kane, Haaland and Lukaku stay put. The Blues had their fair share of attacking struggles last season. They didn’t always play the free-flowing, attacking football some have hoped for under Tuchel. Nevertheless, Chelsea got results. A top four finish, an FA Cup final appearance and a UCL trophy are nothing to dismiss. It’s easy to blame the No. 9s or a manager’s tactics when teams aren’t scoring, but perhaps it’s something more. It was recently concluded that the Blues’ problem is the fact they do not create enough chances; as opposed to the strikers’ play. If Chelsea is unable to sign Kane, Haaland or Lukaku, it should focus its resources on identifying a proper playmaker. The Blues currently have a handful of players capable of playing striker in Werner, Kai Havertz, Tammy Abraham and Olivier Giroud. It must be said that until the latter two are sold, they are still a part of this teams’ plans. Out of those four individuals, Tuchel should surely be able to make something work given the fact they’re all proven goalscorers. Having a world class No. 9 at your disposal never hurts. Elite goalscorers are a luxury in modern day football. That being said, it’s not required to succeed. One doesn’t have to look outside of England to see examples of clubs succeeding while lacking a traditional striker. Liverpool won the Champions League and Premier League with Roberto Firmino up top. Man City won the Premier League and made a UCL final last season playing a false nine for the majority of the campaign. As mentioned earlier, the Blues won the Champions League with Werner and Havertz rotating up top. A world class striker was nowhere to be found in any of these teams (at least not yet in the latter’s case), yet they achieved great success in the world’s two biggest leagues. The Blues are still in a position to triumph if they don’t bring in a striker this summer. Havertz has seemingly found his form at Euro 2020, which is music to Tuchel’s ears. The 22-year-old is one of the most lethal finishers in England on his day and he played well whenever deployed up top last season. Many fans—myself included—would like to see the German get a run of matches leading the line because Chelsea may have itself a true talent already at Cobham. All of this goes without saying the talk of strikers is contingent upon the outgoing moves and potential transfers. The discussion shifts to not needing a “starting caliber No. 9” if both Giroud and Abraham depart. Further, if any of Kane, Haaland or Lukaku become available, the Blues must act swiftly to sign them. If none of this happens, however, Chelsea will be fine with what it has up top so long as it creates more goal scoring opportunities.