Vesper

Where did you see this at? I have never seen one actually credible link to him by us, its just been pure tosh spread by bored Twitlers and dodgy Spanish, German, and Italian rags. He is too pricey and too old (no way would give him a 4 or 5 year deal, which is what he wants.) Karl-Heinz Rummenigge a month ago officially said zero chance they sell him this summer, and they almost never fuck about and switch course. Sandro Wagner is their only other striker, and unless they have some secret deal with Inter for Icardi, they would never leave themselves that vulnerable. They fully expect (I do not agree) that they will win the CL this year. All their top people have said this so many times this summer.

what a goal!!

Sky, always on the bleeding edge of reporting! LOLOL MAT'S MY BOY Chelsea set to swoop for £26.5million Inter Milan star Matias Vecino… a favourite of incoming boss Maurizio Sarri By Dave Fraser 5th July 2018, 5:16 pm Updated: 5th July 2018, 5:16 pm https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/6703772/chelsea-inter-milan-vecino-maurizio-sarri/

I still think that 100m euro bid came from Pep or Liverpool. But I guess we will never know. I still think Shitty is insane to not snap up a DMF. Fernandinho will be 34 next spring, and they have ZERO real backup. Interesting stat... other than Fernandinho, there literally is not a single world class DMF on the planet over 30 years old. None. Lucas Biglia of AC Milan (32, 33 in January) is the only one even remotely close, and I dont rate him at all. He has rapidly declined over last 2 years. It is probably (except for maybe a wingback who also has, if their manager's demands, a big defensive role as well) the most brutal position to play well on the pitch.

I am not saying this is a good idea, I have been against the Vecino deal from the beginning, having watched him play a lot compared to (apparently, given the reactions) many here. Vecino is not being signed for the Barkely/RLC role. He is so not an AMF and goalscorer. I see him as a Uruguayan Drinkwater. Maybe not quite that bad, but ffs, they are/were literally 20 other CMF's in the £25 to £35m range who would be far far better for us to sign (or could have signed, but now already snatched.) Leon Goretzka (should have signed him last summer (I have wanted him for years), he left on a FREE this year to Bayern, and he is MILES better than Vecino, lierally 2 different planets) Roberto Gagliardini Inter Milan (would take him over Vecino is a flash, he scored against us a few days ago) Houssem Aouar Lyon Jean Michaël Seri (Fulham stole him for £27m) Geoffrey Kondogbia Valencia Mateo Kovacic RM (probably above this budget limit, not sure) Lorenzo Pellegrini Roma Kevin Strootman Roma Tanguy Ndombélé Lyon (my number one choice) Nicolò Barella Cagliari Bryan Cristante Roma stole him for £22m from Atalanta, miles beyond Vecino Dennis Praet Sampdoria Fabián Ruiz Napoli stole him from a great little 2017-18 Real Betis team for £27m Giacomo Bonaventura AC Milan Yuri Tielemans Monaco Manu Trigueros Villarreal (a poor mans Fabregas, great value player) Amadou Haidara RB Salzburg superb 20yo CMF Thomas Delaney Borussia Dortmund was superb for Denmark in WC, rock solid player, same age as Vecino Jordan Veretout Fiorentina Max Meyer wild card, no team, so a free, let Schalke contract wind down, potentially world class, needs to get out of Germany, where pressure was insane

Sime Vrsaljko from Atlético Madrid to Inter, here we go! Done deal Agreement found for Vrsaljko at Inter: 6.5 million loan + 17.5 million right of redemption they got a great 26yo bomber of a RB for only £21 He was by far the best actually available option if we were going to keep Azpi at CB (and thus not chase any more CB's) Simeone is supposedly FUMING too, as all they have left now at RB is the soon to be 34yo Juanfran This sale makes no sense at all for AM (especially for the low price it brought in) Santiago Arias from PSV is now going to be subject of a bidding war between AM and Napoli

I am hoping that Baka and Drinkwater ARE sold, just starting to think it may not happen for both. It's a 50/50 I think, but as soon as one is gone, I really think they close out Vecino. The most consistent number (price-wise) I have seen Inter wants is €30m (£26.7m). I cannot see that being a deal breaker

Oh, for sure, he is in a no win situation, agreed. They just don't have the players to win anything major at this point. They did add Simone Verdi (who is going to be their new number 9), CMF Fabián Ruiz (would love to have him over Vecino as well), and a really good young GK, Alex Meret (who I could have lived with as a replacement for Courtois), but I just dont see them winning Serie A or going deep in the CL.

Of course they do not have these levels of players, but as a mananger, he is pretty damn good Juventus UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1999 Milan Serie A: 2003–04 Coppa Italia: 2002–03 Supercoppa Italiana: 2004 UEFA Champions League: 2002–03, 2006–07 UEFA Super Cup: 2003, 2007 FIFA Club World Cup: 2007 Chelsea Premier League: 2009–10 FA Cup: 2009–10 FA Community Shield: 2009 Paris Saint-Germain Ligue 1: 2012–13 Real Madrid Copa del Rey: 2013–14 UEFA Champions League: 2013–14 UEFA Super Cup: 2014 FIFA Club World Cup: 2014 Bayern Munich Bundesliga: 2016–17 DFL-Supercup: 2016 Serie A Coach of the Year: 2001, 2004 Panchina d'Oro: 2002–03, 2003–04 Ligue 1 Manager of the Year: 2012–13 IFFHS World's Best Club Coach: 2007, 2014 European Coach of the Year—Alf Ramsey Award: 2003 World Soccer Magazine Manager of the Year: 2003 Globe Soccer Awards Best Coach of the Year: 2014 Globe Soccer Awards Best Media Attraction in Football: 2014 Enzo Bearzot Award: 2014 FIFA World Coach of the Year (Runner-up): 2014 Miguel Muñoz Trophy: 2014–15 Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2015 A.C. Milan Hall of Fame 33 total trophies as player for club and country, and as a manager, plus in 3 halls of fame (Roma not listed above)

I really think it will. Inter already has an overload of CMF's (Vecino, Radja Nainggolan, Marcelo Brozovic, Roberto Gagliardini (who I rate higher than Vecino), Borja Valero) and are on verge of signing Arturo Vidal from Bayern. They also have agreed fully with Atletico Madrid on RB Sime Vrsaljko. https://gianlucadimarzio.com/it/inter-accordo-totale-per-vrsaljko-le-cifre-delloperazione They need the cash, and Sarri is obsessed with Vecino for some reason. Roman and Granny spent the Inter post game discussing his transfer. I think it goes down (and I think is a waste).

At this point, the only player I see coming in is possibly Vecino, who is so not a scorer. Maybe a panic/consolation signing (he is free, which is our preferred price for most signings these days) of Bernard. Willian is going nowhere, Real have said the £100m dual buy story was (of course) bullshit. The Martial swap is a self-delusional projection of my own wishes. I doubt we will even be able to sell Drinkwater (unless Palace loses the plot and sprays 30m quid our way) or Bakayoko (Milan has said no, Sevilla dont have the cash to meet our valuation) for anywhere near a price the board will agree to. We are 80% probably just going to let Courtois's contract wind down and lose him on a free next summer. I predict big issues goals scoring and with LB, when Emerson is not playing. EPL and EL teams are going to so exploit Alonso slowness and lack of defensive skills. Players like Salah, Mahrez, Sterling, Zaha, Felipe Anderson, etc will open him up like a cheap tin of tuna, The board has zero ambition, and I really think the club may be in the process of being sold. I hope I am pleasantly surprised, but I see nothing going on at present to make that an outcome. The best we can hope for is Sarri to work magic with what he has.

That grizzled dwarf needs to go sod off.

Apparently we soon have Vecino too. Another waste of money that should go elsewhere. The problem with SMS is Lazio want over 100 million quid. I cannot see us splashing anywhere near that type of cash, especially as we are simply not being successful in selling our deadweight, We still have massive holes at GK (potentially, if Courtois goes) and at RW (potentially, if Willian is sold) and striker (unless Morata does a turnaround for the ages).

I am deffo not his biggest fan as well, and I think we should sell him ASAP, but I agree, this article seems a cheap shot over nothing much. I think he is entitled to take his allotted time off, as he is not some 21 year old kid with boundless reserves.

Yep. 5th year wedding anniversary this coming November.

Hate to say it (as I was an insanely huge fan, and I REALLY thought he had top ten CB in world eventually written all over him) BUT Zouma is perma damaged goods He is never going to fully recover, IMHO, from that cruciate ligament nightmare 2 years ago.

I have a suggestion for a new official nickname for Jorginhno I thinks it is inch perfect (like his passing) The Metronome

https://www.buildlineup.com/shared/5b5e54eb138c092e24abca00

I posted a really detailed comparison in the Rugani thread. Rugani is a better passer, yes, Caldara is more the hard nose enforcer type.

Tony Pulis's wet dream!!!!!

She said 'You're going where,no man has been before', I said, 'Wot?, what in your ear?'

Makes sense it's Kitson as the source. He is a ginger and the footie kit on his Twitter is orange! Only thing I really remember about him is Tony Pulis at Stoke called him a petulant prick. LOL. I think the only striker Pulis hated more was Berahino at West Brom.

waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too early to go there !!!!!!!

He is deffo one I do NOT want to sell. The guy is pure class and is a great changeup striker. He busts his arse every minute on the pitch and does all the dirty work.

Offer Juve Morata for Alex Sandro, straight swap once we have Martial then buy Bailey or Suso that would all yield a staring line up of GK Cillesson CB AC CB Rudiger (Luiz and Ampadu as backups) I dont care what we do with Cahill, have him park cars outside the Bridge LB Alex Sandro Emerson as backup RB Azpi Zappacosta as backup DMF Kante Bakayoko as backup (eek) we could sell Bakayoko IF their is time and get Vecino to keep Sarri from upping it to 5 packs a day CMF Jorginho Fabregas as back up Moses as backup sell Drinkwater PLEASE!! AMF Barkley/RLC LW Hazard CHO as backup RW Bailey or Suso Pedro as backup Striker Martial with Bats and Giroud as backup I would be sooooooooooo happy with that lineup