Vesper

Harry Maguire is staggeringly overrated the best CB's on the planet atm IMHO (this does not mean they are available as of now or that we should try and buy them, for example, Koulibaly is too old for the monet Napoli want, it is madness to pay £100m for one full season under 30yo) 1 VVD 2 Raphaël Varane 3 Kalidou Koulibaly 4 Aymeric Laporte (when healthy) 5 Milan Skriniar 6 José Giménez 7 Marquinhos 8 Alessio Romagnoli 9 Ibrahima Konaté (when healthy) 10 Matthijs de Ligt (has fallen off a bit, I expect him to rise again as some age off) 11 Lucas Hernández 12 Rúben Dias 13 Clément Lenglet 14 Dayot Upamecano 15 Antonio Rüdiger 16 Caglar Söyüncü 17 Stefan de Vrij 18 Harry Maguire 19 Diego Carlos 20 Éder Militão 21 Gerard Piqué (age) 22 Niklas Süle 23 Benjamin Pavard 24 Iñigo Martínez 25 Diego Godin (age) 26 Joel Matip 27 Yeray Álvarez 28 Nico Elvedi 29 Samuel Umtiti (when healthy) 30 Konstantinos Manolas

might be, I guess we see what happens in the summer unless we end up buying Zaha (if we do that will mean dozens of articles were talking a different line of bullshit) and even then, someone will buy him, so we find out that way

his lone goal for us (in his debut)

the actual transfer fee is fair but if the agent really wants bloody £42m that's a deal killer

he just said this too https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1223788/Jadon-Sancho-Chelsea-transfer-decision-made-Frank-Lampard-Dortmund-latest-news-gossip Transfer expert Ian McGarry claims Dortmund demanded £103million for Sancho. And he believes there would be an additional £42.6m which would go to the winger’s agent making it a huge outlay for Chelsea. Sancho has also been linked with Liverpool and Manchester United in recent weeks with his Dortmund career seemingly coming to an end. snip IF true zero chance we dump out £145m (and if the pound goes down versus the euro it could quickly move to over £150m) for him, hell no fucking criminal cunt agents Emeka Obasi <<<< his agent (Elite Project Group LTD)

delete dupe

Real Madrid: "The problem with Jovic is Jovic" Ljubisa Tumbakovic, manager of the Serbian national team, has spoken out about what he feels are the issues with Los Blancos' €60-million striker. https://en.as.com/en/2020/01/02/football/1577995644_124753.html

what we truly need is to learn when to cut bait and ditch shit for far too long we cling onto dregs or ex good players who anyone with a brain could see would soon be dregs now we are doing it all again playing cunty-cunt with selling to Inter or Juve so we will fuck about, lose out on Chilwell, never make a move for Telles, claim the rest are too expensive and say 'DAMN, looks like Alonso and Emerson and Emergency-Azpi are it after all once again, relax it will be FINE' (pro-tip, no, no it will NOT) now we are reportedly renewing Zouma until he is over 30 (thus no way we are selling) Lamps not wanting to pull trigger on Ake because he thinks AC will come good (and thus Ake is gone for good, as the buyback clause expires) dithering about over Kante (his role and also potentially cashing in as his role now is NOT working out at all) <<<< BIG ONE all the piss-poor buys and loanee dregs who we cannot sell hopes and prayers for CHO and RLC to recover from what could be career-wrecking injures the INSANE lack of movement on strikers (not talking Werner as that is out of our control, we just need to buy some lower-priced upgrade for now and get Bats and Giroud the fuck off the books)<<< thsi soon changes I think, so yay! Bats now is supposedly staying <<< THIS NEEDS TO NOT HAPPEN, it is madness to think year after year that he is ever going to be Chels material Pedro and Willian are TOO OLD, especially IF we renew Willian I understand Sancho is out there, but ffs, we might get Chilwell'd there too and end up with FUCKALL other than some dice roll hope and prayer or (HELL NO) an 80m Zaha calamitous buy Mount, well I have no clue but if we toss ALL our AMF eggs into his and the super injured RLC baskets we are again courting disaster, hopefully our academy kids come good like Anjorin and Gallagher (wo is not an AMF anyway) UTTER LACK OF CREATIVITY overall Azpi is the perfect summation, along with Willian, AC, Pedro, Bats and Alonso of failing to sell players OFF when you know they are not good enough or are spent and too bloody old, worn-out I really think Lamps is obsessed with Moussa Dembele, and I actually think he would take him over Werner or maybe even Lautaro Martinez if Dembele turns into yet another French BUST (they are legion) we are SOOOOO fucked if we miss out on Chilwell and refuse to buy Telles and claim Gaya and Grimaldo are too expensive (they are, especially Gaya, and I just do not rate Grimaldo that much, despite the argy-bargy this draws from his fan club) we are fucked unless there is some miracle LB rabbit/hat-pull I am missing Same goes for Sancho, IF we do not buy smart IF we miss out on him (hint, £80m Zaha in, me OUT...of my mind) we get those 3 massive areas wrong, and the CB's don't do what Lamps is convinced they will do, PLUS we cock-up on Kante overall we are going to drive into big old Arsenal or worse style ditch bad bad bad overarching methodology and zeitgeist here from the board on down really in a mood this morning, eeeek just sick of reading articles that re-enforce the assclown level

Reus's problems were always injuries, he is an insane talent, crazy good player

If you want to know why Victimpool is IMHO the best team in the world all you have to do is look at my all world best XI at this exact instant in time GK Alisson (Oblak 2) CB Van Dijk 1 (Koulibaly 3) CB Varane 2 (Laporte 4, when healthy, if not then Skriniar) LB Robertson (Alaba 2,and of the rest of top 5, other than Chilwell, 2 more are ALSO on Bayern, in Lucas Hernandez (who is injured and plays at CB now mostly) and then the teenage explosion, Davies) RB Alexander-Arnold (Kimmich 2 and then the biggest drop off at any position, it is truly crazy the difference between 2 and 3) DMF Casemiro (only because Kante is no longer used there, but IF he was Kante would be number 1) (Fabinho 2, and arguably 1) CMF Frenkie de Jong (Saúl Ñíguez 2, de Jong has been immense for Barca, unlike de Ligt for Juve) Kante as a CMF is not even close, sorry AMF De Bruyne (then the biggest gap between 1 and 2 with Kai Havertz probably holding on to 2, but barely, he desperately needs to get off that fucked up Bayer Leverkusen team, Bernardo Silva is close, but is played more at RW atm) LW Mane (Neymar 2, JUST nosing out Sterling) RW Messi (Salah 2) CF Mbappe (Lewandowski 2) Bindippers have 5 number 1's and two number 2's Barca 2 number 1's Real Madrid 2 number 1's Shitty 1 number 1, and a number 2 PSG 1 number 1 and a number 2 Bayern 3 number 2's Atletico Madrid 2 number 2's Napoli 1 number 2 Bayer Leverkusen 1 number 2 put that together, add in Klopp, and it is not a shock at all that they are doing what they are doing The truly terrifying thing is that I really think Klopp make make a move for Saul (who can play LB if needed too, but might be gone elsewhere, who knows and has had his RC lowered to 85m), Havertz (who is German and is not having the greatest year so a bit lower in cost) and Werner in the summer, all 3 will cost around 200m and he has spent shit so far for the past 2 windows and has insane revenue coming in, especially if they win the CL again (they basically have the EPL wrapped up and you know they will be a monster in the FA Cup) I do NOT see them making a move for Sancho, too expensive for what they need they already have a RW backup coming back from loan, in 22yo Harry Wilson who is know worth well over 30m they also might make a move for CB Diego Carlos from Sevilla to replace Lovren, especially if they do not land some or even miss out on all 3 above

Chelsea missing out on Timo Werner January transfer could be good news for Frank Lampard Chelsea look unlikely to sign Timo Werner from RB Leipzig this month, but that could be a good thing for Frank Lampard. https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1223633/Chelsea-transfer-news-Timo-Werner-January-RB-Leipzig-Frank-Lampard-gossip-rumours Chelsea missing out on Timo Werner in the January transfer window could actually pan out as a positive for Frank Lampard. Express Sport understands the Blues are keen on the RB Leipzig forward as they seek to strengthen this month after their FIFA transfer embargo was halved. Lyon’s Moussa Dembele and Fyodor Chalov of CSKA Moscow are also on Lampard’s wishlist and Werner would seemingly be the most expensive option of the trio. Chelsea have made enquiries about the Germany international but Leipzig, sat top of the Bundesliga and into the last 16 of the Champions League, do not want to sell their leading striker. Instead, it looks as though Chelsea will seek a £20million move for Chalov before returning to either Dembele and Werner in the summer. Lampard is looking for better back up to top goalscorer Tammy Abraham, who has provided 14 goals across all competitions this term - at least eight more than any other Chelsea player. And according to Goal, that may be a strategy that suits Chelsea and Lampard well. They report that Werner has a clause in his Leipzig contract that means he is available for a cheaper fee in the summer than he would be this month. Leipzig may be more willing to do business then and it would likely take a massive offer to prise him away from the Red Bull Arena midseason. Werner has produced 23 goals and 10 assists in 25 matches, including an incredible 18 goals in 17 league games, putting him only behind Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski across Europe’s top five leagues. snip

I do not really follow american football (NFL I mean) much but Victimpool reminds me (or is starting to) of a team, the New England Patriots who for ages (20 years now, back when I was a wee kid) have went out and purchased very specific players that fit exactly what their coach and management wanted and put them into a system they have a few mega stars (some amongst the best to ever play at that position, like Tom Brady who is still world class into his 40's ffs, he is the American Maldini, lolol) but then they take other far less talented players and raise them up to an integrated team that is just a monster year after year their coach, Bill Belichick, is a fucking genius, as yank football has such a short player career span for 80% or so of the players, the turnover is crazy high due to the utter brutality of the game https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nfl/tom-brady-and-the-patriots-appear-vulnerable-do-you-want-to-bet-against-them/2020/01/03/9cdf156c-2e38-11ea-bcd4-24597950008f_story.html snip People go to ashrams and consult sages for that kind of ­be-here-nowness. The thing is, the Patriots actually practice it. If they have shown one quality over the past 20 years, it’s concentration in the face of threat. That unwaveringness is hard to properly appreciate; the numbers boggle. They have reached 40 percent of the Super Bowls played since Robert Kraft bought the team in 1994. They have had one losing season since Belichick was hired in 2000. During Belichick’s tenure, there have been 192 coaching changes around the rest of the NFL. Their 125 wins over the past 10 regular seasons is more than any other team — by 22. Over that span they played through two royal weddings, the death of Bin Laden, the abdication of Pope Benedict, Lady Gaga’s meat dress, legalization of same-sex marriage, volcanic eruptions, ice bucket challenges, Pokémon Go, data breaches, cyberattacks, multiple Netflix binge-watches, the Kaepernick protests and the #MeToo movement.

also, I would not be shocked at all if Klopp turns Minamino into a bit of a baller, there is obviously something there that really caught their eyes, as Salzburg have other players I rate over him, especially Dominik Szoboszlai, who I can so see becoming a fucking monster under Klopp and eventually (he is only 19yo) solving their AMF issue (the only semi-weakpoint other than overall depth that they have)

Please tell him he's joking' - Some Chelsea fans react to player's apparent wish Chelsea: Fans react to Michy Batshuayi transfer update Chelsea forward Michy Batshuayi is ‘highly unlikely’ to leave Stamford Bridge in the January transfer window, according to Sky Sports. https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/premier-league/chelsea/chelsea-fans-react-to-michy-batshuayi-transfer-update/

not that this needs saying but... NO, we are NOT buying the 29yo-in-June Kalidou Koulibaly for £100m, not now, not in the summer, not ever, that ship sailed long ago it is madness how many articles are saying this https://madaboutepl.net/2020/01/chelsea-kalidou-koulibaly-100million-transfer-news/ https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/10664405/chelsea-tottenham-kalidou-koulibaly-napoli-transfer/ https://www.90min.com/posts/6529579-spurs-chelsea-in-talks-with-kalidou-koulibaly-s-agent-over-huge-100m-deal https://www.futaa.com/za/article/199668/chelsea-in-talks-to-sign-kalidou-koulibaly-for-100million etc etc etc

Report: Chelsea are in contract talks with defender Kurt Zouma https://www.thechelseachronicle.com/club-news/report-chelsea-are-in-contact-talks-with-defender-kurt-zouma/ he is already signed until 2023 so looks like zero chance we are selling him if we are going to renew him until 2025 or so (he turns 30 in October 2024 btw to put a future-forward look onto this) if the reports are true about Lampard balking at buying Ake due to his belief in AC then expect no moves for CB's until 2021 at the earliest as we will keep the 4 main ones we have, plus we have Guehi and Ampadu waiting in the wings (although I sorta expect Guehi to be loaned out for 2020/21) I have no idea what Ampadu's best position is or if he is even good enough for us he seems to have really taken a step backwards (he supposedly has really bad growing pain issues as well) we cocked up (what else is new for the board, they have a profound lack of football sense far too often) by loaning him to the wrong Bundesliga team, as RB Leipzig are loaded at their back 4 are are now the title favourites so will not have a lot of games they will risk playing him at

he is basically a dice roll Russian league players are so hard to rate as it is often against shit lower in the table teams, although if you are into ultra violence as a punter, then it is the top league on the planet, lololo the one RPL CF out there (deffo short term due to his age, he turned 31 at the end of August) that I feel could come into the EPL and do well is the 1.96m tank Artem Dzyuba of Zenit, who is also a great passer

Manchester United offered Arsenal target Adrien Rabiot as Juventus prepare new bid for Paul Pogba https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/04/manchester-united-offered-arsenal-target-adrien-rabiot-juventus-prepare-new-bid-paul-pogba-11999502/ Juventus are prepared to offer Adrien Rabiot to Manchester United as part of their bid to sign Paul Pogba, according to reports. United re-signed Pogba from Juventus for £89 million in 2016 but the France international now wants to leave Old Trafford. Juventus are in the running to sign Pogba for a second time and the Serie A champions are reportedly confident that an agreement can be reached with United. According to The Sun, Juve believe United would accept a deal worth around £85 million to sell Pogba in the January transfer window. The report claims that Juve value Rabiot, who was signed on a free transfer last summer, at £25m and are ready to offer an additional £60m cash. snip Rabiot is easily worth £35-40m IMHO, so £60m cash plus him is right on or near the £100m asking price that Manure want now for PP. IF Juve offered us Rabiot for only £25m, I would bite their hand off. He is only 24yo still and is streets ahead of Barkley for instance. I watched a lot of him at PSG, and he can be a force at times. I can see Juve maybe upping the cash to £70m or so just to get it over the line. Rabiot destroyed Messi and Barca in early 2017

Gabigol drops farewell hint to Flamengo after Chelsea and West Ham make approach https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/04/gabigol-drops-farewell-hint-flamengo-chelsea-west-ham-make-approach-11999617/?ito=newsnow-feed Gabriel Barbosa has appeared to have bid farewell to Flamengo supporters after reports in Brazil claimed that Chelsea and West Ham have both made an approach for the striker. The 23-year-old has spent the last year on loan at Flamengo and scored 43 goals in 59 games for the Brazilian club. The striker, who is known as ‘Gabigol’, scored two late goals in the Copa Libertadores final against River Plate in November and ended as the tournament’s top scorer. Gabigol also played against Liverpool during Flamengo’s defeat in the Club World Cup final last month. Flamengo have been keen to sign the Brazilian forward on a permanent deal from Inter, but reports in Brazil are now claiming that he has two offers from the Premier League. snip

Bayern Munich willing to let Jerome Boateng join Arsenal for no transfer fee https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/03/bayern-munich-willing-let-jerome-boateng-join-arsenal-no-transfer-fee-11998380/?ito=newsnow-feed

Varane reflects in depth on his life and career in football The defender spoke with French outlet Onze Mondial https://www.managingmadrid.com/2020/1/4/21049083/varane-reflects-in-depth-on-his-life-and-career-in-football-real-madrid-2020 interesting article

counterpoint (although this agent linkage does not begin until summer 2020): Chelsea handed transfer boost as Wilfried Zaha 'links up with super agent' Zaha has reportedly signed up with agent Pini Zahavi, who has close links with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and others at the club https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/chelsea-handed-transfer-boost-wilfried-21210636 Zaha served notice of his intention to split with his long-term agent Will Salthouse last September after failing to secure a move away from Palace, despite bids from both Arsenal and Everton . And the 27-year-old has now linked up with Israeli agent Zahavi, according to the Daily Mail - which should put Chelsea in the driving seat to sign him. Zahavi is believed to still be close to Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, after helping the Russian close the deal to buy the club from Ken Bates 17 years ago. He is also believed to have good relationships with many other people at Chelsea. snip

Chelsea boss Frank Lampard pulls plug on Wilfried Zaha transfer over dressing room concern https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1223726/Chelsea-transfer-news-Wilfried-Zaha-deal-snub-Frank-Lampard-dressing-room-gossip-update Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has pulled the plug on a transfer for Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha. The Blues manager has cooled on the Ivory Coast international because of his extortionate wage demands. Zaha is said to want a whopping £200,000-a-week to move to Stamford Bridge but there are concerns at how that would go down in the dressing room. Only two players currently in the first-team at Chelsea earn sums in that region – something Lampard is keen not to disrupt. Transfer expert Ian McGarry also believes it could impact ongoing contract negotiations with the likes of Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount if Zaha was paid the huge wages. He told Reach PLC’s Transfer Window Podcast: “They also had an interest in Crystal Palace’s left-sided attacking midfielder Wilfried Zaha, similar kind of player but 28. “I’m told that the wages Zaha is asking for Chelsea believe would upset their dressing room. “He wants in excess of £200,000-a-week. Currently there are only two players on that money at Chelsea which you may find surprising. snip

Barcelona set Ousmane Dembele transfer price as Chelsea, Liverpool and Man Utd circle The Catalan giants are prepared to let Dembele leave if they receive a bid of £85m, despite that representing a loss on the sum that they paid for him https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/barcelona-set-ousmane-dembele-transfer-21210012

Grimaldo is 60m euros (£51m) and is 10cms shorter than Telles and nowhere near as good as passer yes he is 2 years 9 months younger, but he is almost 20m quid more we should have purchased Telles years ago, as soon as Juve triple fucked us on Alex Sandro. He is a massive upgrade over Alonso and Emerson, 50 assists in last 3 and a half years, including CL, almost double what Grimaldo has had If not Chilwell or Telles (and we can do BOTH if we sell Alonso and Emerson and stop fucking about with their prices, especially in regards to Marina and Roman being butthurt towards Inter due to Conte) for around 40m to 50m net total spend by summer. We are in real danger of missing out on Chilwell in the summer, as if Pep stays at Shitty, Chilwell has already said he would love to play for him, and Pep is (what a cunt, as he has spent a total of over 200m fucking quid there just since summer of 2017!) unhappy with all his fullbacks except for Walker finally there is ZERO chance we drop £200m (120m for Sancho, 80m for Zaha) on just 2 wingers in the next 8 months it isnt happening in fact if Chilwell goes for 80m, and not 60 or 70m, I can so see us taking a pass my nightmare is a combination of things resulting in us going forward until at least 2021 or 2022 with Emerson and Alonso at LB, with the madness of Azpi there at random times just for shits and giggles Werner is only in the conversation at CF because of his RC being crazy low we are so not going to drop 100m or so on him or Lautaro or Dybala the club lost almost 100m net last year all those shit buys, crazy salaries, idiotic loans, horrid contractual management, and poor sales (plus a run down, small, out of date stadium) and missing out on CL multiple times are coming home to roost the days of huge spends are well done and gone atm I became aware of this a couple months ago, via my father's sources (I posted on this at the time) the club is in loss containment and then back to wealth extraction mode they truly need to liquidate the dregs and are failing at that, and stubbornly once gain bollocksing up sales as well it is criminal what we have done over the years with just Alonso and Willian, who I can see us taking a total loss of £100-110m on (no joke, if Willian walks on a free and if Alonso is sold in his 30's (he is 30 in less than a year) for peanuts) in failed sales revenue combined