Vesper

I do not like our future being gambled on via a rapidly in decline, rapidly ageing striker. I also cannot believe we are bollocksing up so many deals (ie Barella and Paredes as fresh examples) yet again. I see almost zero mid to long term strategic vision and planning, and almost no efforts to sort out past disastrous moves like Drinkwater, etc. He alone is a massive £70m black hole on our balance sheet.

We either wont or cannot buy shit, every negotiation lately goes haywire. The Pulisic deal is primarily a marketing deal IMHO and supposedly took Marina over A YEAR PLUS to do!. They have apparently fucked up BOTH Paredes and Barella deals. I have almost zero faith that if we lose Emerson we will buy one of the only true class LB's who are remotely available atm there are only seven who are truly class who are even in semi-fantasy-land, available Lucas Hernandez Junior Firpo Ben Chilwell Alex Telles José Gayà then 2 lesser ones Alejandro Grimaldo Ferland Mendy after those 7, its a BIG drop off All I have seen is that we are interested in an Emerson clone in Rogerio, another Brasilian LB whom Juve are trying to pawn off on us, basically the same or worse atm as Emerson, although maybe has some potential (he is 21yo, so not some ultra young kid), but is a part time starter on loan at a middling Serie A team (Sassuolo) WOLVES are trying to get him! Are we really now going after players that teams one year removed from the bloody Championship are chasing?????

The board is destroying the club. We are selling needed players before we have replacements, we are not selling the insane amount of deadweight we have (or at huge losses), we are missing out on target after target (the latest 2, if true, are Barella and Pareds, which make me rage). WE are getting bullied by Juve over the Higuain (Higs in is also potentially a huge disaster, if he doesn't come good) deal to include a player we payed £18m for (Emerson) as part of the deal, which leaves us NO backup LB as well. I see NOTHING being done to try and sort Hazard situation out, we may end up losing him for well over £100m less than he is worth. The club is being slowly destroyed right before our eyes.

FUCKKKKKKKKK (if true)

The only 3 on that list I really really want (Verratti is far too expensive, well over £100m to prise him away fro PSG I am still sure of) are one we have (Jorgi) and then the 2 we are strongly linked with, Tonali and especially Barella. Just hope we can pull it off. Paredes is also another (albeit non Italian) who I have liked for years, so it is nice to see the club at least trying for players I rate and like a lot. Now, we all need to truly hope that Higuain finds the Sarri fountain of youth and goals, lolol. If he comes good, I will be the first one to eat my words and say for the 2nd time in last 3 years I was wrong on a player, just in the opposite direction. I truly thought Bakayoko would come in and play like he did in Monaco, and sort of is now in Milan. I even went back and watched like 10 Monaco games of his to see if I had just projected overly-positive vision, but nope. He has really really good there. Came here and was one of worst big money EPL busts in last 15 years. And yes, I am so disappointed that Kovacic cant score. So gifted technically, and seems to have a great football brain, but almost zero end output.

If we don't wrap up Barella with a buy and a loan-back this January, the bidding war on him next summer is going to be crazy. There just are not many young, crazy talented and high energy big motor MFers out there. He is a special player IMHO. If SMS had his drive, Lazio would have no problem getting over £100m for him. I cannot think of hardly any players who could literally play all 3 of the Sarriball MFer positions besides Barella. Frenkie de Jong is clearly another. Probably SMS, Saúl Ñíguez (maybe, not sure about him in a Regista role) and maybe Pogba (again cannot see him happy in a Regista role). Tanguy Ndombele probably could handle it. Houssem Aouar might be able to adapt, I so dread him going to Shitty or Victimpool. Same for Donny van de Beek, but he and Aouar are both more offensive than defensive players. Marcelo Brozovic and maybe Fred. Thats about it that I can think of. The older examples are Nainggolan and Vidal, but again, its the DH part that they might not like so much.

Yes, plus everything I read in the beginning of his name being linked to us said he really wanted to go back to Boca Juniors. I was just trying to come up with a way for 1 Jorginho to stay as our starting DH DMF 2 We can buy and groom the best under 21yo DH DMF prospect atm on the planet with less pressure (perhaps a case could be made for two 20yo's, Sander Berge (turns 21yo in 4 weeks) from KRC Genk or Arne Maier (just turned 20yo 10 days ago) from Hertha Berlin) 3 Have cover for Jorginho for the next 6 months in Paredes and then sell him to his number one wish club (Boca, who can sell their starting DH DMF, Nahitan Nández, to Cagliari with the Barella money) 4 Buy Barella (who can play DH DMF bt is better in a more forward role) and loan him back for 6 months, so his pregnant wife is happy and can give birth in Sardinia with Nicolo at her side), and then in summer he comes to the club he has said he most wants to come to (Chelsea) 5 Let Kovavcic go back to Real in summer (Barella is an upgrade), and they will more than likely sell him to his favourite place (well was) Inter Milan, who are very interested in buying him back. Everyone thus ends up at clubs they most want to be at. IF we miss out on Tonali, we keep Paredes, as he is hardly a bad player, in fact right NOW he is far beyond Tonali, who is only 18yo and very raw, albeit exceptional in potential. We could always moved for Tonali later, but the risk is that he will be 3, 4 times the price. Barella and Paredes are two different type players. Barella is pretty unique, as he is such a beast defensively whilst maintaining a very forward thrusting games, and he can score more than Kovacic. Paredes is a very fluid player, great passer, and prefers the deep lying role more. I rate every player I have mentioned here, a lot, even Nahitan Nández (although he is at the bottom of this list) but some are just better suited for Sarriball than others IMHO. Sarri obviously likes Italian players. There is a huge shortage of them at most positions 'this is every really good Italian MFer (all positions) there is not a lot , 15 total some marginal the truly good ones are in bold, there are only 7 if we got Barella and Tonali, we would have half of their top MFers in order of age 18yo Tonali LOVE HIM 19yo Nicolò Zaniolo AMF Roma next 2 years will be crucial to see if he progresses, Arsenal and Real are really sniffing around, especially Arse 20yo none, literally, no 20yos of any real talent 21yo Barella LOVE HIM 21yo Rolando Mandragora CMF Udinese (I rate him a bit too) 21yo Manuel Locatelli DMF Sassuolo (has regressed at Milan, so they dumped him for only £9m, I think may come back to bite them, not Chels quality atm) 22yo Lorenzo Pellegrini CMF Roma class class player, no place here really in Sarriball, especially if we did get Barella, almost every big team wants him 23yo Bryan Cristante CMF Roma another player I really rate, he is more defensively sound than Pellegrini, so maybe would be a better fit for Sarriball (the Barella role) Frank Lampard was his idol growing up 24yo Roberto Gagliardini CMF Inter Milan For some reason he is way out of favour, wants to leave, Inter have rejected bids for him so far 24yo Marco Benassi CMF Fiorentina a bit of a late bloomer, really smooth silky MF, like a poor man's Pellegrini, Inter want him back 25yo Manuel Lazzari Right MF, SPAL decent player, plays RB too, Napoli might want him for that 26yo Marco Verratti CMF PSG the best Italian MFer, toss up between him and Lorenzo Insigne for best Italian overall player, I think Barella has potential to pass Verratti 26yo Daniele Baselli CMF Torino similar to Benassi, really nice player 27yo Jorginho DH DMF Chelsea 27yo Riccardo Saponara AMF Sampdoria is oki, nothing special 28yo none, literally, no 28yos of any real talent 29yo Giacomo Bonaventura CMF AC Milan out for year with horrid knee injury, may be finished, was oki, not great before' 30yo and above, none, Claudio Marchisio, who turns 33 tomorrow, is simply too old, and that is really the case for another ex great one, 35yo Daniele De Rossi

Chelsea go all in to keep Callum Hudson-Odoi: Club to offer teenager £70,000-a-week deal to tempt him to stay at Stamford Bridge https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6604295/Chelsea-Callum-Hudson-Odoi-70-000-week-deal.html Chelsea are prepared to make Callum Hudson-Odoi one of world football’s best-paid teenagers to keep him at the club. Bayern Munich have made their intention to sign the 18-year-old this month abundantly clear, the Germans’ latest offer worth in the region of £35million — an incredible fee considering Hudson-Odoi has not started a single Premier Leaguegame yet. The teenager is understood to be keen on a switch to the Bundesliga because he feels Bayern are more likely to give him regular first-team opportunities. snip

BEST WESTON Liverpool eyeing £20m transfer bid for Weston McKennie, the USA international Jurgen Klopp rates as a future star Schalke youngster has been scouted by Reds staff as he put in an impressive two seasons in the Bundesliga https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/8218671/liverpool-transfer-news-weston-mckennie-schalke/ JURGEN KLOPP is eyeing USA midfielder Weston McKennie. The Schalke youngster, 20, has been watched by Liverpool scouts during his impressive two seasons in the Bundesliga. Klopp will weigh up a £20million move this month or the summer to land McKennie, who is an international team-mate of Christian Pulisic. Pulisic has agreed a £58million move from Borussia Dortmund to Chelsea and the Reds target has similar potential on and off the pitch. McKennie played in midfield for USA in the defeat by England in November but can also operate in defence. That could be a factor for Klopp as he looks for cover following injuries to Dejan Lovren, Joe Gomez, Trent Alexander-Arnold and the departure of Nathaniel Clyne. snip

Chelsea identify Lobotka as Paredes alternative https://readchelsea.com/2019/01/17/chelsea-identify-lobotka-as-paredes-alternative/ Chelsea have reportedly identified Celta Vigo midfielder Stanislav Lobotka as an alternative signing to Zenit St Petersburg star Leandro Paredes. It is reported by Italian news outlet Calciomercato that the Blues have made the Argentine their primary midfield target this month, but other options are being considered.Maurizio Sarri’s side have been heavily linked with a move to sign Paredes in the January transfer window as the manager bids to strengthen the options at his disposal in the middle of the park. However, should Chelsea fail to tie up a deal for the former Roma man, it is claimed that they have lined up a move for Lobotka as a contingency plan. It was reported this week that the Blues had agreed personal terms with Paredes as they continued to make progress with their intentions of bringing the midfielder to Stamford Bridge. Nevertheless, a backup plan is believed to have been selected and the Celta Vigo star has emerged as a target. Lobotka has, according to Calciomercato’s report, also been targeted by Leicester City and Bournemouth, with interest from the Premier League building. snip I guess they are looking at my DH DMF targets/options list, lolol as seen here

These fucking Italian teams, grrrr They demand insane money when selling, and play constant price raise games, then try to force bargain basement rip-off prices when it is their turn to buy. £15.8m for a 26yo decent RB (and Italian too!) is hardly an unrealistic ask by us. We paid £22.5 m for him, so we are taking a 30% loss at that price. If we take that average of loss (from the offers) on all the players we received summer of offers for, that's around £200m in LESS revenue from those sales. It could be far more if we get really fucked on Eden. Zappacosta would start at around 10 or so EPL teams, he is hardly chopped liver.

Chelsea Eyeing A Move For This Bundesliga Winger: What Will He Add To Sarri’s Team? https://the4thofficial.net/2019/01/chelsea-eyeing-a-move-for-this-bundesliga-winger-what-will-he-add-to-sarris-team/ According to a recent report by the Mirror, Chelsea have enquired about the availability of Bayer 04 Leverkusen wide man Leon Bailey. In a recent interview with SportBild, as translated by the Mirror, the Jamaican’s step-father Craig Butler, who is also his agent, shed some light on the player’s future and said, “I am very happy that this change has come about. Leon did not develop under Heiko Herrlich,” “For Leon it is very important that he enjoys football, he lives alone in Germany, the family is in Jamaica, and if Leon does not have fun, it kills him. “Top clubs have come forward, Real and Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Roma, and in recent months they have been surprised that Leon plays so seldom, wondering why a top league player like him is suddenly sitting on the bench.” snip

He turns 30 in 13 months, so time is tight on him. I cannot see us making a mega money move for him, especially in the summer, as we would only get a wee bit over half a year of sub-30yo play out of him at that point. I would think our no multi-year contracts for 30 and over year olds would also come into play, as he would be 33 or 34yo at the the end of a 4 or 5 year deal.

Whichever one is better atm gets the start in my book. That would entirely be up to Sarri.

A good start woukd be to decrease the influence his cadre of Jamaican clingers-on and the dodgy part of his family has on the lad. They have not served him well.

Yep, Gent play was why I rated him, shame they (Baggies) never got him. So cool you know him and his family.

Moses Simon was one of the players I was telling my West Brom mate (who knows someone who talks to the board) to have them go for for years. As a winger.

Barcelona vs Levante HD Streams 2018/19 Spanish Copa del Rey, Round of 16 https://www.vipleague.bz/barcelona-vs-levante-streaming-link-1 https://www.easysport.tv/games/barcelona-vs-levante/ http://shampionez.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html http://shampionez.blogspot.com/p/juventus-2.html http://shampionez.blogspot.com/p/juventus-3.html http://shampionez.blogspot.com/p/juventus-4.html http://www.sportnews.to/events/2019/copa-del-rey-barcelona-vs-levante-ud/

Chelsea closing in on January deal for midfield maestro https://playingfor90.com/2019/01/17/chelsea-closing-january-deal-midfield-maestro/ From an hour ago

Now that this is 99% a done, I am going to stop bashing the deal, especially as it is a loan with no obligation to buy. I truly hope he comes good, dog knows he need him to.

I wish we were looking at another Dutch teenager CB, who is only 5 months older than De Haas (who turns 19 February 1) De Ligt De Haas is someone who I actually do not know a tonne about The only other Dutch teen CB I have seen a bit about is Kik Pierie, teammates with Arber Zeneli at Heerenveen, and another 18yo. He is American born but plays and grew up in the Netherlands (his Dutch father met a US woman whilst there). He seems quite good, hopefully De Haas is as well

Surprised he didnt add English too

I apologise about the injuries part, that was over the top, and not appropriate for here. Totally disagree it is illegal. I never made any statement of action from my part, made ZERO threats. Just a bitter comment I am now sincerely apologising for, but the authorities would laugh at trying to take legal action on that. This isn't Orwell's 1984, and I have heard and seen massively worse from punters at games themselves. To round it off: I apologise MUTU. The stats part I am, however, correct in. Mbappe cost PSG wayyyyy over the figure you stated, £50m more, and inflation does matter. If the worlds most expensive car in 2001 was £1m, a car that in 2019 costs £1.2m is not a record breaker, as today that £1m 2001 car would cost £1.7m.

You have to take into account inflation or it is not a legit comparison at all. And your basic figures are wrong, irregardless of inflation. Furthermore, CHO will turn 19 two and half months into next season, if you get him in the summer, so it's not worth splitting up teens. To start to toss around 2 and a half months as some sort of significant paradigm-shifting cleavage is to engage in pettifogging. Your statement is simply wrong, as I just showed. It wasn't the 4th highest offer ever, you have to apply valid comparative metrics, and if you refuse, you then are choosing to enter the realm of sophistry, at which point I suggest no one take you for someone with honourable intentions. Finally, a nasty cheap shot from me, but a deserved one IMHO. IF Eden leaves, and we buy no remotely adequate replacement (I doubt we will) and CHO STILL refuses to renew, even though he very well could be a semi-full time starter, then I hope we shut him down, mothball him, ban him from training until he leaves on a free, and I hope your club suffers all sorts of calamitous misfortune, and misery henceforth, really bad shit, up to and including ruinous injuries. I always was neutral about Bayern, and have called them, up intil this year, the best run club on the planet, along with Juventus. If this shit goes down in a bad way, I will hate 'em for life. I am haĺf Swedish, half-Bajan, two of the most grudge-for-life cultures. Add in being a born and raised London girl, and nope, will never give up the hate and ill wishes. Book it.

You must be smoking some of Sarri's stash of Italian ditch weed, lolololol The board is overall HORRID at sales, pure shit, we are going to end up losing well over £250m (close to 300m if you add in the Courtois assfuck) on £620m in concrete offers last summer. When you start to talk about bad sales of great players (with current worth counted) the fucks up add up to around TWO THIRDS OF A BILLION QUID so NO Marina is not good at all