Vesper

Fulham v Watford HD stream http://streamspn.com/tv/nbcsn Watford scored in the 2nd minute already, but should be a decent game

Those are strikers, not AMF's That list (AMF) is really short for me (Isco ain't happening, unfortunately and I dun trust Fekir's knee after the scouser scum passed on him over it) 3 names Talisca (January move) Kai Havertz (if no Talisca in january, this is my actual favourite, BUT don't want to fuck up Bailey deal and make Bayer Leverkusen think we want to strip their team ( I would!!!) Carlos Soler

would much prefer (if Hazard leaves) Marco Asensio (only way he would ever come here is if RM tossed him into a Hazard deal, and they won't do it) Federico Chiesa (by far the best option that is realistic) Anthony Martial (I am far far more interested in him as a striker than as a LW, buy he is still an an option there) Vinícius Júnior (same as Asensio, buy maybe a WEE less unlikely) Mikel Oyarzabal (can play inverted RW too, like Bailey) but great video of Lozano blowing away one of my hated players, Jordi Alba!!!

Well, TBF, those are my pipedream 'anyone on planet' picks unfortunately, I do not any will come to pass (and that was only listing CB/Fullbacks) even Telles (and José Gayà) looks to be off the table now, grrrr I do not think we can get Sessegnon atm for LB either (not with our current board and our fiscal policy) see this post for LB options atm (Firpo is my newest top 4 or 5 LB recco) unless it's a rating list, I almost always list realistic and/or great value targets

Been pushing Neres a lot lately as my 2nd RW target after Bailey (Chiesa is an inverted LW). De Ligt is out of our price range already. Frenkie de Jong is going to be world class soon. Probably van de Beek too. As a footie fan looking historically, it's a shame they can't hold on to their players and go back to glory days, but such is the modern financial game.

I am the same, I almost NEVER go for the biggest star names in my wish list, especially if you have known me for years and have seen me name the same players I do now, but before many were even at top of valuations THE club I admire business-wise the most, by far, is Bayern Munich, they are extraordinarily focused on having a template on how to run their transfer business, and always fucking end up with many players I adore. They have never once, that I can recall, bought the worlds number one player at a certain position, BUT they sure as hell have develop multiple ones into that position, ie Neuer (at one point) Hummels, arguably, (at one point), Kimmich (now) Alaba (now) Lewandowski (at one point), Arjen Robben (at one point) Casual footie fans would probably not even have a clue about many of my favourite targets,and I have NEVER, EVER once wanted Messi, CR7 or Neymar on our team. Mbappe, hmmmm, he would be my ONE exception,but it isn't going to happen unless Ratcliffe buys us and says fuck it!! here is 300m quid I don't need, take it PSG! lolol I have always fancied KK and Varane, from well before they were the top 2 CB's on the planet, so that's not fair for a person to say I am front running on them Niklas Süle is deffo not that well known, but would love to have him, same for Aymeric Laporte and my last top 5'er, Marquinhos (pretty well known NOW, not when I started wanting him) David Alaba is best fullback on the planet, yet most casual fans will not know much about him. Lucas Hernández the same, and REALLY not well known before the WC. Alex Telles still is really obscure, and even Alex Sandro is not a full stop household name (he is getting too old now to buy at Juve crazy price, as you are aware I have said before) Most punters will rant about Marcelo or Jordi Alba I can go on and on but you get the point, I have very specific ideas of who I like for player targets, I never just go for the obvious, 'OMG! I want most famous player at every position!!' rot like I see and hear daily (NOT on this board, I mean in general life)

Maurizio Sarri favourite Kalidou Koulibaly speaks out on why he refused the chance to join Chelsea He would have been a fine signing to help the Italian translate his methods to England https://www.football.london/chelsea-fc/maurizio-sarri-favourite-speaks-out-15185954 Napoli centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly has explained why he turned down the idea of a Premier League move to commit his future to the Serie A club. He was one of Maurizio Sarri's most important players during their time together in Naples and was said to be a target for Chelsea and Liverpool. An excellent example of what the Italian looks for in the a defender, the Senegal international is a commanding, ball-playing centre-back who combines impressive physical attributes with composure and skill in possession. His pace and strength made him the enforcer within the Napoli rearguard under Sarri but he was also a key component in how the team built moves from the back, and was also a threat from set pieces. New manager Carlo Ancelotti will need to rely on Koulibaly's quality to cope with the transition from playing the Sarri way to less tactically demanding game plan. The former Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid coach could have found himself in a tricky situation had the defender bought into the idea of leaving Italy for England. Instead he decided to stay and sign a new deal with Napoli. He is now under contract until 2023. Antonio Conte was heavily linked with a move for Koulibaly in the summer of 2016. The centre-back was one of a number of targets identified by the ex-Juventus boss in Serie A. In the end, the Blues signed David Luiz from PSG. <<<<<< SHOOT ME NOW! Speaking in an interview with Radio Kiss Kiss in Naples, as reported by Calcio Mercato , the 27-year-old explained why he turned down offers to leave. "I try to be a real person," he said. "For me it was very important to repay the trust that everyone has in me. "I had the chance to renew until 2023. I thank everyone, the president, the staff and all the players. The staff has really helped me a lot. "I am very happy to be here, I am confident for the future and I am very happy in Naples. Renewing for five years for me is a very normal thing, I hope to repay this on the field." snip

Saúl Ñíguez (but will never happen, sob) I know we disagree but I would take him over any other CMF on planet, except maybe (and now age comes into play, as he turns 30 in 15 months) Kroos SMS included, although SMS would be the next one IF we lose Kova (NO!!!) then i would dearly love to rip away Piotr Zielinski from the poison dwarf

Raphaël Varane please, LOLOL (I know, total pipedream) Isco is probably a bridge too far (plus Kovacic would be recruiting a player who would massively cut into his playing time) but for sure Álvaro Odriozola for our Azpi eventual replacement backup seeing as Pavard is looking more and more like a no go, same for maybe Hysaj And IF Hazard goes there, Asensio or Vinícius Júnior

Also,Luiz's bad habits (temper, rashness) are starting to rub off on Rudiger. Rudiger, as long as he goes back to coolhead play, will be crazy good in Sarriball. He needs the calmness of AC and Amps around him, not volcano-in-waiting Luiz.

WOW, just WOW!! He is one mental rotter. As confused as Morata, maybe more so, and a far more vindictive person, I might add. Morata seems a nice enough bloke, just has lost all confidence. How the fuck did he NOT know that Navas was realllly good (although i personally never wanted him ever)???? 3 in a row CL's, ofttimes with spectacular saves. SMDH. I hate the Emirates btw, seems totally synthetic and bland (sorta like the team!!)

I do have to add, looking again at Lazio, I am shocked he is renewing, they have been utterly hollowed out. IF (big ifs grant you, but certainly was possible) SMS, Immobile and my GK fav target before I found out Kepa was available (Strakosha) had all left Lazio literally (and I am sure many will argue, but I do rate him to a point) would have had one truly good player left, ONE. AMF Luis Alberto, who most of you will slag off due to his Scouser bust experience (he is vastly better now IMHO). After that you have an immense drop off in terms of quality across the board. LW Joaquín Correa (could slide up possibly to near Alberto level, we shall see) then an even bigger drop off Soon to be 30 DMF Milan Badelj RB Adam Marusic (mostly known for being attacked by Aleksandar Kolarov for choosing to play for Montenegro and not Serbia, lol) https://thelaziali.com/2018/09/04/aleksander-kolarov-adam-marusic/ and 2 Brasilian young CB's Luiz Felipe (21) and Wallace (23) who are hardly world-beaters being the only others one worth really anything, unless you rate (I do not) CMF new boy Valon Berisha None of them are remotely at Chelsea bench level. I guess SMS likes being a big fish in little pond atm

Sergej Milinkovic-Savic to Pen New Deal in 'Matter of Days' Amid Exit Rumours https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2796907-sergej-milinkovic-savic-to-pen-new-deal-in-matter-of-days-amid-exit-rumours Lazio midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic will sign a new contract with the club in a "matter of days," according to the team's sporting director Igli Tare. The Serb was linked with an exit throughout the summer transfer window following an exceptional 2017-18 campaign for the capital club. However, Lazio were able to keep the player beyond the transfer deadline. It now appears the Serie A side are set to secure not only the future of Milinkovic-Savic, but also star forward Ciro Immobile. Tare was asked about both players signing new deals by Sky Sport Italia (h/t Chris Burton of Goal). "It's just a matter of days now," he said. "All will be signed at the start of next week. The agreements have been in place for some time now." snip a lot more at the link No release clause BTW, so this really sinks hopes for Manure, Real, PSG, Barca, Shitty (and us) pro con https://www.90min.com/posts/6177081-man-utd-target-sergej-milinkovic-savic-set-to-sign-new-lazio-deal-within-a-matter-of-days https://sport.sky.it/calciomercato/serie-a/2018/09/20/calciomercato-lazio-tare-rinnovi-immobile-milinkovic.html I now think it is safe to say we can probably soon pull him from all discussion. I am really surprised he is staying, BUT, Rome (Milan as well) is so hard to prise players away from, it's a crazy cool place to live, especially if you are getting paid millions of pounds a year to play footie. Look at Nainggolan for perfect example (and Milan being the only city to finally get him to leave Rome). Rudiger was easier because, in part, (and sad to say), racism in Italy is still pretty shitty if you are black (he has spoken on this before). It is also why I thought we had a great shot at Koulibaly (although naples is amongst the better places for players of colour (still can get nasty though), compared to the north.

I think he was outstanding though in his main job, that of a rock at the CB position. My wife and I were so much calmer with AC back that than Luiz. Also, AC had to be shaking off a lot of rust. he has barely played this year so far. Also, he was quick and decisive with his short passing game. I do admit he did no long bombs like Luiz can,at times,conjure up, but I thought Ac was great in helping Jorginho set up the offence quickly after a turnover. I can see why you said what you did, but if you reversed roles (Luiz popping in with literally NO playing time so), could you have said he would have had anywhere near the game AC had? I, personally think zero chance of that. I do think Ampadu is a special talent. Potentially better than almost anyone on the team,save Eden, Kante and Jorginho (I always leave GK out of this, but I will also say that I am 97.5% sure Kepa will eventually be a top 4 or so GK in world as well) That said, is CB his ultimate ending spot?Maybe, BUT, I do think, that in the back of Sarri's head, he maybe, maybe looks at Ampadu as a MF'er. He is almost TEN YEARS younger than Kante, lolol. Maybe he is Kovacic insurance (if Real FUCKS us and wont sell, which, after Eden not renewing is my greatest fear).I am not sure if Amps is a Kova type, I see him more as a DMF, but who knows. I think we all can safely say that we (Chelsea) have by far the most complicated squad out of the big 15 teams in Europe. Manure being 2nd (a LOT of that is on Mo!) I do not rate Arsenal top 15, they are lucky to be top 20 atm. We have so so many crazy, huge issues coming up, between Roman's ownership/political/visa issues, the new stadium (because of that) being on hold, the 2 nightmare contract renewal issues (Eden and CHO), Brexit possibly fucking us on our Euro players being treated as foreign, the increased UK-born quota maybe going UP, FIFA limiting loan army to EIGHT, when we have fucking 40, and an insane amount of deadweight that needs to be sold, with younger, spectacular players replacing them, and then (related) the cray cray supposed offers of extending Luiz and Willian until they are 34 or older (arghhhh). Good thing Sarri doesn't have Conte length hair, he may be pulling it out this time next fall (of 2019).

LOL, you will have to talk to my wife about that!! Vesper <<<<<< lesbi

I agree for the most part. Dembele almost made my list, actually probably should have. I threw almost all in, and many, like you said, are really young and unproven as of yet, but sometimes you can get lucky and/plan for the future. Pellegri (I really think he will be a special player, the next great Italian striker) Lincoln (also has HUGE potential) Cunha Kean would be the 4 that fit that category the most, probably. Lautaro Martínez will be interesting to watch. The first game I saw him play he scored an insane goal for Inter. If he comes on like gangbusters it would make it a wee bit easier to prise away Icardi. Immobile is too old to offer a 5 year contract to, he would 34 at the end and he doesn't want to leave Lazio at thsi point. What do you think of Piatek? He has had an incredible start for Genoa. If he does it the full year he maybe hard to overlook if the big 3 (Dybala, Icardi and Martial) are not doable for us. Simeone just below him, and I will place Maxi about there. I also agree on Werner and Belotti being gambles, unless they really step it up. I think Werner will get snapped up by Bayern if he comes good in a huge way though. Dybala and Icardi do scream 'come get me' for my own personal call, I just don't know I we can pull either off, especially Dybala. Real will get one or the other I am 80% sure. Messi is, however, a roadblock, at Barca, as he personally dislikes both Dybala and Icardi. I think he is a fool there. Messi is not a good judge of talent, it's by far his biggest weakness. He had a fit when Barca signed Ousmane Dembele, then wanted him sold, and now look what has happened. Dembele has exploded and I think will soon be a top 5 winger (either side counted) on the planet. He may be there now, if a person rates him over Sane and Bale. only TRUE wingers ahead if him are Mbappe, Neymar, Eden, and Salah IMHO, and Mbappe is a hybrid at times. I don't count Messi and Ronaldo as wingers. They play all over the pitch and CR7 seems to be a striker mostly now. As for Martial, many of us here see him a striker, and I have no clue if the board or Sarri even thinks like this. I so hope they do. Good chat!

Juve and AC Milan played a giant con game, with us as bargaining chip. Juve wanted Bonucci back and Higuain off their books, Milan wanted Caldara badly, plus a striker. Only way all the sides moved was to force through those players, with Morata to AC Milan the victim. Also, Higuain really wanted to stay in Italy, not come to pinball footie EPL where his lack of pace would be exposed. The real fuckup on our board's part was not using the 2 week in July window release clause on Icardi for only £98m. We could have covered half (or more) of that with a Morata sale. Icardi would be an insane beast in Sarriball. No one will convince me otherwise. He is a deadly efficient sniper, pacey, great at linkup play, and works like a dog on trackbacks. He is the complete package. Vastly superior to the soon to be 31yo Higuain. He is also well over 5 years younger.

I did see him play a couple times when I was watching a couple of other Celta players, Hugo Mallo their RB and captain, and Pione Sisto, their LW he didn't score, and TBH, he had off games where would place him on this list of my striker targets? In order: Paulo Dybala Mauro Icardi Anthony Martial (not as a LW) Ciro Immobile (downside, he turns 30 in middle of 2019/20 season) Andrea Belotti Timo Werner Krzysztof Piatek (really interested in him, he has exploded so far this year, H/T to UJ) Lautaro Martínez Pietro Pellegri (17yo wonderkid, now on Monaco) Giovanni Simeone Patrick Cutrone Jean-Kévin Augustin Lincoln - Flamengo (17yo Brasilian who Barca and RM are all over) Matheus Cunha Breel Embolo Lucas Alario Aleksandar Mitrovic Patrik Schick Moise Kean Myziane Maolida Mariano Díaz Davie Selke Santi Mina Paco Alcácer Kasper Dolberg

I wish!!! Let's say it did happen or we just flat out sold Alonso to them. Bad news now. I just was digging around and José Gayà's new release clause was raised to 100m euro when he signed a new 5 year contract. So there is a huge previous option now we have to take off the table for LB's. Also, get ready to pull the other best actually available option. Alex Telles. He is on verge of signing new 5 year deal with a reported 75m euro release clause. Porto turned down 40m euro from Bayern (they already have Alaba at LB FFS!!! Greedy cunts!) at the end of the window 3 weeks ago. Those were by far my 2 best options (along with the probably too expensive Sessegnon), as even IF Juve finally did agree to sell us Alex Sandro in the summer, he is probably too old now. I don't think we should pay £70m or so for a LB that we on get a season and a half out of before he turns 30. Remember there are only TWO superb LB's on planet over 28. Marcelo who turns 31 in May and is slowing down to point RM want Alonso for replacement, and Jordi Alba, who turns 30 in March. With Gaya and (grrrr) Telles off the table, it's down to a pretty small number of acceptable level replacements. Manure is not going to sell Shaw. TBH, I would take a healthy, pre-injury level Emerson over any of these except Sessegnon. But, is THAT Emerson ever going to emerge again? I am really getting worried. Also we need to try out Baba one final time. In order (and none of these are easy pulls, all factors taken in, Firpo is probably best shot, as the first 3 will be so hard): 1. Ryan Sessegnon (IF we would use him as a left back, he is by far the best option, albeit will be crazy expensive) 2. Alejandro Grimaldo - Benfica (so many big clubs want him, our odds are poor) 3. Wendell - Bayer Leverkusen (was a beast last night in the EL) BTW, it fucking sucks that Bayer has SO many players I drool over! Bailey, Havertz, Henrichs (gone now), Wendell, Tah, Retsos, 18yo Paulinho, (a probable superstar LW), Lucas Alario (striker option not discussed a lot), and Brandt. 4. Júnior Firpo - Real Betis (new addition, been watching him for 2 years, he is ready to play EPL ball, Shitty want him badly) 5. Layvin Kurzawa - PSG 6. Raphaël Guerreiro - Borussia Dortmund 7. Dalbert - Inter Milan 8. Theo Hernández - Real Madrid 9. Ferland Mendy - Lyon 10. Kieran Tierney - Celtic 11. Marcelo Saracchi - RB Leipzig 12. Aarón Martín - Mainz 13. Borna Sosa - Stuttgart 14. Hamza Mendyl - Schalke 15. Jorge - Porto 16. Toni Lato - Valencia

Maxi is the right name, lolol. He has real weight issues. Not sure if he could handle the pace of the EPL.

I meant in that role (AMF) and I deffo came across farrrr too harsh in my tone towards Kante. I had one too many martinis! Not joking. I would never trade him straight up for Havertz unless we are talking a 32yo or older Kante for 24yo or so Havertz (provided Havertz has continued to progress 5 plus years from now, of course). I am however, I admit, having trouble seeing Kante being used most effectively atm. He seems betwixt and between. I think he is the best DMF by far on the planet, but doesn't seem to play that role in Sarriball very much. If you could point me to some info on what Sarri actually wants out of him in his system, I would appreciate it. Cheers

Thank you!

I think Hazard/Giroud will run riot. Fuck West Sham. Tally ho!!

Damn, I totally forgot this. Fuck. Good catch. GRRRRR