Vesper

You think Kane to Real and Icardi to Spuds? Surely not Arse, they are sitting so good at striker.

I have literally no idea who we are really going after, if anyone. I do not see much happening, so will be pleasantly surprised if we make 2 or 3 bold moves. I am already resigned to Eden leaving, I just hope we get something of value for him. As I predicted Barca has decided to not sell Demebele (well they will if you give them his 400m euro release clause! lolol). The only true left wingers (so this rules out Messi, Salah) near Eden (so replacement level) are Kylian Mbappé (he only plays on the RW due to Neymar Neymar Ousmane Dembélé (eventually) Leroy Sané (eventally) CR7 (but only for a year or 2 max, and is already a bit diminished) thats it and the last 3 are arguable atm (soon Ronaldo goes off list) NONE of those 5 (and obviously not RW-ers Messi or Salah) are ever going to play for us, or at least not for YEARS and years. Every other option at LW is massive drop-off, Asensio included. We need to just cut our losses and accept we no longer will have a top 1, 2, or 3, or 4 player in world (other than Kante at DMF, but he will never play their under Sarri) for a good long time (barring a miracle Icardi buy) at any position. What we CAN have is a smartly put together young, athletic with a shit tonne of top 10 or 15 players with depth. We are nowhere near that and need to start pruning the old and the deadwood away damn quick, before these possible bans and bad losses (Eden and CHO, who I also think maybe or even probably leaves) truly sink us for years. I do not see any moves in this direction. I have been in a funk every since we told Barca to take their £65m for Willian and piss off (and thus missed out on a 33m Malcom), plus didnt sell Morata for £60m and tried to extort £75m (which is MADNESS) from AC Milan (and thus didnt grab Icardi for only £98m in July), AND finally, when we didnt sell Luiz for £30m to PSG and immediately buy Thilo Kehrer (which PSG then did). We shall see what happens. I will keep posting who I truly think are great targets, I just do not expect any to come here, at this point. Nicolas Pepe will end up my latest heartbreak, lol (and he even just said he DREAMS of playing for Chels on French national telly! FFS!) PS We so so dodged a bullet over SMS (not that we would have paid the 135m quid Lazio was demanding to one and all). He has looked like shit this year (1 goal, 1 assist in 19 games). I just watched him labour through a mid table loss to Atalanta. He was really poor. Also, (and I own my mistakes) atm, Leon Bailey is also a disaster. His dodgy W.I. fam and biz managers have fucked up his head so bad. He looks a shadow atm. Maybe we could get him on the cheap and rehab his play (I really have faith in Sarri in terms of improving players). He is still really young and that whole Bayer Leverkusen team (other than Havertz and probably Tah and Wendell) is in a bad place atm, I think their manager, Heiko Herrlich, is doing a poor, poor job, given the crazy talent they have.

Huge miss if we do not get him. Instead Sarri is chasing RB Hysaj (when LB is a massive weakness) and right-footed (when we need a left-footed RW) Pulisic who will cost well over £100m together. Meanwhile nothing on the CF front that I can see either, other than gel hair offering himself pathetically to La Liga and Serie A.

Liverpool handed major boost as PSG chief confirms Adrien Rabiot wants to leave https://metro.co.uk/2018/12/17/liverpool-handed-major-boost-psg-chief-confirms-adrien-rabiot-wants-leave-8258599/ Liverpool have received a major boost in their pursuit of Adrien Rabiot after Paris Saint-Germain’s sporting director Antero Henrique confirmed that the midfielder will not be signing a new contract. The 23-year-old has been in negotiations with the French champions for several months with his current deal due to expire at the end of the season. But Henrique admits PSG have now pulled out of talks with Rabiot and says the midfielder has indicated that he wants to leave the club. Liverpool, meanwhile, have been monitoring Rabiot’s situation and reports in France have claimed that Jurgen Klopp‘s side have held discussions with PSG over a potential transfer. And PSG could now decide to sell Rabiot in the January transfer window to ensure that they do not miss out on a transfer fee for the France international. snip

Chelsea and Arsenal boosted in Anthony Martial race as agent is ‘very pessimistic’ over new Manchester United contract https://metro.co.uk/2018/12/17/chelsea-arsenal-boosted-anthony-martial-race-agent-pessimistic-new-manchester-united-contract-8258255/ Arsenal and Chelsea have been given a boost in their pursuit of Anthony Martial after his agent admitted he is ‘very pessimistic’ over Manchester United’s chances of finalising a new long-term contract for the forward. United have triggered Martial’s one-year option to keep him at the club until the summer of 2020. The 23-year-old’s current deal had been due to expire at the end of the season but United now have a further 12 months in which to sell or agree a new contract with the player. Martial’s agent, Philippe Lamboley, claimed in the summer that the France international wanted to leave United following months of failed contract negotiations. Both Chelsea and Arsenal have been monitoring Martial’s situation, but United’s hierarchy refused to sell in the summer despite Jose Mourinho being open to letting the forward leave Old Trafford. snip

FourFourTwo's 100 Best Football Players in the World 2018: first 20 names released https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/fourfourtwos-100-best-football-players-world-2018-100-81 Ranking the best footballers every year is a nigh-on impossible task to get 'right' – mainly because there is no way to do so without aggravating at least some impassioned fans who will tell you straight up that Pablo Hernandez is the greatest human being that ever lived and if anyone is above him they can absolutely do one. OK fine, just Leeds fans then. But we at FourFourTwo Towers like to stick our necks on the chopping block each year, because frankly, you lot love it. This is the 12th consecutive edition of the #FFT100, and we're still going strong thanks to our trusted band of writers from around the world who help us compile this list. Even they can't agree, though, so we've had to weigh in with some opinions of our own to separate these superstars of 2018. First up, a note: this list of the best footballers in the world is largely derived from performances over the calendar year, but as ever we feel there should be a nod to overall class as well. After all, does one good – or bad – year define a player as such? We think not. You may disagree. We'll be revealing our list throughout the week, kicking off with the men at 100-91. Who will reign supreme? You're about to find out... snip

Sign him up!!!!!

MY EL and CL picks Bold means winner Viktoria Plzen vs. Dinamo Zagreb Club Brugge vs. FC Salzburg Rapid Vienna vs. Inter Milan Slavia Prague vs. Genk Krasnodar vs. Bayer Leverkusen (Krasnodar's best player, Pavel Mamaev, just got prison time extended until February 2019 over hooliganism attacks that he and Alexander Kokorin of Zenit did on a wild night out in Moscow in October). They attacked a Russian telly presenter, put her driver in a hospital, and smashed a resto chair over a Russian government trade minister's head becuase he is of Korean ethnicity. Zurich vs. Napoli Malmo vs. Chelsea Shakhtar Donetsk vs. Frankfurt Celtic vs. Valencia Rennes vs. Real Betis Olympiakos vs. Dynamo Kyiv Lazio vs. Sevilla (by far the best matchup, we dodged a bullet with one of them going out, Oly, Dynamo K, Fener and Zenit got so lucky that these 2 got stuck playing each other and not one of them, horrible seeding/draw, hopefully we draw the winner of one of those 2 other matchups ie. O v D, F v Z) Fenerbache vs. Zenit Sporting CP vs. Villarreal BATE Borisov vs. Arsenal Galatasaray vs. Benfica CL Schalke vs. Manchester City Atletico Madrid vs. Juventus Manchester United vs. Paris Saint-Germain hahahahaha Tottenham vs. Borussia Dortmund Meine Borussia Aus Dortmund, Wir folgen Dir egal wohin es geht, Auch in ganz schweren Zeiten, Werden wir dich stets begleiten. Verdampfe diese Scheiß-spuds. Lyon vs. Barcelona Roma vs. Porto (outrageous that these 2 both get gifted again, they should each be facing AM or Juve) Ajax vs. Real Madrid Liverpool vs. Bayern Munich Wir wollen Bayern, Wir wollen Bayern siegen sehen, Oh wie waer das oh wie waer das, Zerstöre die Scouser-Fotzen!

but but but Luiz! roflmaoooooooo Yes if Rudiger gives us 4,5 more years at this level he is in the top 3 IMHO.

Unfortunately, Havertz is now 95% Bayern bound.

Plus he is too old, we would get but one sub 30yo season out of him.

we can sort this whole debate... buy an upgrade LB! plus CF and RW (Pepe)

lol at Pep, he doesn't look happy

Soooooo want to sign him. Miles beyond William.

Izzy Brown injury update issued by Leeds United The attacker went off injured this afternoon https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/sport/leeds-united/leeds-united-izzy-brown-update-15564330 Leeds United have given us an update about Izzy Brown’s condition after the attacker went off injuredduring this afternoon’s under-23s match. Brown, 21, on-loan from Chelsea, went off injured during the 2-0 defeat against Barnsley at Thorp Arch. The bigger concern for many will have been Brown, who is returning from a serious knee injury, coming off injured. During the match, Brown played with a heavily strapped left hamstring and went off in the first half as a precaution. Furthermore, there’s no suggestion he’s experienced an injury to his knee. The attacker's hamstring will soon be assessed by Leeds United medical staff with an update expected in the next 24 hours. Brown has been out injured since January and signed for the Whites still recovering. It is hoped he’d soon be ready to make his first appearance for Leeds United’s first team. snip

Lol at Juve and PSG have not been good! Ridiculous tosh. In 32 league games between them, ZERO losses, 3 draws, 90 points out of 96. Shitty is only EPL team with a truly good chance IMHO. Victimpool were so lucky to not crash out. They dont have rhe depth. Gomez out will sting badly eventually. Juve Barca Shitty PSG Dortmund (my darkhorse) Those are the only teams I see with good chances to win. We shall see. I like my chances.

ATM it is 60% (maybe more) the scenario most likely to happen. Combine that with 2 years of transfer bans and no activity this January, it will send the club down to a mid table spiral. Been warning of all this since well before I joined here 11 months ago. The incredible fails in the incoming (poor players in plus failures on crucial buys due to botched negotiations ie. Nainggolan, Alex Sandro, Romagnoli, Sergi Roberto, Icardi, etc etc) transfer market and selling market (De Bruyne, Salah, Costa, etc) are catching up to us. The board is shit. Devastatingly bad record. It won't change until we are sold. It isnt like Roman is a brilliant self-made billionaire. His fortune, after numerous fails, is due to uber corrupt inside deals during the post-communist liquidation of state assets for pennies-on-the-pound prices. In the past 8 or so years, he has lost over 60% of his net wealth. He is now a huge target to be destroyed by the US/UK/NATO empire due to his ultra close ties to Putin. The ex-Sibneft crew runs Chels, especially now. They do not know football to an acceptable level. Time to sell. I know much of what I say about Abramivich is heresy in certain parts, but it is all true. It isn't rocket science to background it.

Where the hell was that Baka??? SMDH

If we lose CHO I am going batshit cray! I am at wits end with our ownership and board. I also want to know why he are chasing after a right-footed player (Puisic) for RW. Have not we learned out lessons on this with bloody Willian!!!! We are fools to not go after Nicolas Pepe. Tracking to 26 league goals and 17 league assists as a RW. Willian is tracking to 4 or 5 league goals and 9 assists

6.75 for me, started at 8.25 needs to figure out how to be more creative within the thuggish EPL game

I think he will be benched before the end of the season, I really do. As for tactical differences, a formational change to a back 3 is well beyond covering him up in a 4 3 3. In our 4 3 3 he cannot hide.

His wife is well and true manipulative bish, plus she is his agent. She doesn't want to leave Milan or so she says. She is a serial, mercenarial footie gold digger and now looks like she is going to keep him at Inter. I would rather he stayed there IF he won't come here. Inter is by far my favourite foreign team. Also, 'amiamo Milano' (the city itself) so it is easy for me to see why they want to stay. We both want to move there someday down the road. Overall, so depressing that we will probably never see Mauro in Chels Blue. I've wanted him since 2012/13 at Sampdoria.

Completely disagree. You once again are logically incoherent. You are conflating tactical setups with raw athletic performance. I don't care if Alonso attacks or not. He isnt even that good at that. What he also is though is too fucking slow (far slower than Roberto Carlos was or Marcelo is) and shit on defence to warrant starting for our team, no matter what tactical set up is played, unless we went to a back 3 with an additional two wingbacks, ie. Conteball. That isn't happening and every single one of my LB options would be an upgrade over Alonso. I am so sick of the twisted up versions of 'horses for courses' arguments about how bloody special the EPL is and that it is impossible to compare players in other leagues. It is simply not true. What is true is that Alonso is shit and needs to go go go. He will end up an anchor round Sarri's neck that helps get him the sacking, mark my words. I am not changing my mind on this anytime soon. I predicted this before we even we even hired Sarri, as the odds of the next manager sticking with a wingback system were slim to none. We will see who is right by the end of the season. He damn near cost us 3 points today against a shit team. It will happen again. His passing has been atrocious as well the last several games, so do not try and say I am framing this as an exclusively defensive ineptitude-centred argument. Bottom line, once again Roman and the board massively fucked up by giving a lazy, slow sod of a player a massive new contract. He is stealing a living. Blunders like this are now unfortunately par for the course. What well and truly pisses me off is Sarri trying to play us all for mugs by claiming that Alonso is almost (and may well soon be) the best left back in the world. No one who knows a goddamn thing about footie thinks that. It is ludicrous on its face. Cheers

I agree, so we need to buy an upgrade.

those are two different things Azpi being poor on offence at many times is on us, there is little another team will do (except ignore him more) becuase he is bad going forward Alonso being poor on defence is something the other team will attack, it is a huge problem he has to go, even before Willian now in my mind if we use a false nine, then CF doesn't matter so much, BUT we still need a CF, even before booting La Tortuga Alonso is the biggest defensive structural weak point on the field, he is just horrid he should have been red carded today, and had other major lapses, plus passed for shit again but he hit the post and thus almost scored and now all the fanboys/girls are out coo-cooing over that shit If Emerson isnt good enough, then we REALLY need to buy an upgrade and quick, before Alonso destroys our season via a series of disasters in games (he came damn close today) I am so at wits end I would even accept (along with my nine internationals I have posted elsewhere, ALL of whom are loads better than Alonso) Ben Chilwell Kieran Tierney as legit buys to give it a go if either gets to just 80-90% of Roberston's level for Victimpool, they are miles beyond Alonso