Vesper

PSG's Kylian Mbappe further eclipses Neymar with Time magazine cover http://kwese.espn.com/football/blog/the-toe-poke/65/post/3666618/zamora-novelty-anatomical-kit-maintains-spanish-lower-league-tradition

Courtois move to Real Madrid has been anything but a 'dream' so far http://www.goal.com/en-in/news/courtois-move-to-real-madrid-has-been-anything-but-a-dream/myah9wam5aax10uk066anqq0i The Belgian was expected to be an instant star at the Bernabeu but he has struggled for regular game time and top form since his move from Chelsea It seemed like the usual banality, but Thibaut Courtois was on the money when he said he wouldn’t instantly become No.1 as he was presented as a new Real Madrid player. Yet from the outside there didn’t look to be much doubt about the Belgian’s status after he arrived from Chelsea for £35 million (€40m) in August as Madrid’s main summer investment. Arriving after an impressive World Cup campaign with Belgium that saw him keep three clean sheets as his country finished third, Courtois was supposed to succeed Keylor Navas. Real Madrid had tried unsuccessfully for three years to replace the Costa Rican goalkeeper, coming closest with a swap move for Manchester United’s David de Gea which broke down on transfer deadline day in September 2015. Courtois did not join Madrid to sit on the bench, but his start to life at the Santiago Bernabeu has seen more downs than ups. After a mistake against Alaves that cost Madrid a point last Saturday, he has faced criticism. snip

Man City & Barcelona battle for Ajax pair De Jong & De Ligt https://www.goal.com/en-sg/news/man-city-barcelona-battle-for-ajax-pair-de-jong-de-ligt/1fqf0tae7ai8o1hsp2anp2xper Both clubs have been working to sign the Netherlands internationals and in recent weeks each has believed that the other has the upper hand Barcelona and Manchester City have gone head-to-head in the race to sign Ajax prospect Frenkie De Jong, Goal understands. The two clubs each believe that the other has an advantage when it comes to landing the 21-year-old, who is being chased by Europe's biggest sides. And the situation is further complicated by a mutual interest in Ajax centre-back Matthijs De Ligt. Barca spent the summer trying to open negotiations with Ajax for De Jong, withGoal having revealed that former technical secretary Robert Fernandez spoke with Ajax director of football Marc Overmars on numerous occasions , but the €30 million (£26.2m/$34.8m) fee on offer was well below the Dutch club's valuation. De Jong has spoken of his desire to play with Lionel Messi at Camp Nou on several occasions, and sources at Manchester City had been of the belief that the Primera Division champions were in pole position. But senior Barca sources now believe that it is City who have the upper hand thanks to a recent push by sporting director Txiki Begiristain, who has travelled to Amsterdam for talks on several occasions. Barca are resigned to the fact that they would not be able to match City's financial muscle, although Manchester United's Paul Pogba does feature as an alternative midfield option. Paris Saint-Germain's Adrien Rabiot, whose contract is up next summer, is also under consideration. There is a feeling within the Catalan club that City could even try to buy De Jong in January and loan him back to Ajax until the end of the season. De Jong, for his part, insists he has no plans to leave the Amsterdam club : "For the moment I'm staying at Ajax, at least another year and maybe two or three more, I'm really enjoying it here," he told Elf Voetbal on Thursday. Yet that public stance is not enough to put off his suitors. City are chasing midfield reinforcements after missing out on top target Jorginho to Chelsea in the summer, and the Premier League champions are also drawing up their plans for next summer's window. A January move has not been ruled out; last season they moved to bring in a centre-back and a forward to aid their push for honours. The versatile De Jong, who can play in several positions in defence and in midfield, is regarded as a special talent by virtually every leading European club and City do not want to miss their opportunity to sign him. Ajax are hoping to take advantage of the situation to recoup as large a transfer fee as possible. City have also been working on a deal for Wolves midfielder Ruben Neves , although the Midlands club have indicated that they will fight hard to keep the 21-year-old Portugal international, or at least hold out for as close to £100 million as possible. It remains to be seen whether City are ready to buy just one midfielder - an effective replacement for Jorginho - or two. Lyon's Tanguy Ndombele is another player that City have been watching closely for several months. snip further confirmation of my previous Shitty post Meanwhile we just sit on our hands and watch Eden's long goodbye (and will lose over £100m in valuation when he does leave in the summer, or even more if he leaves on a free in a little over a year and a half), offer contract extensions to ageing 30-somethings Luiz and Willian that will take them to 34/35 years of age, will probably lose Kovacic back to RM, are now supposedly once again chasing yet another Italian CB (Romagnoli) that will more than likely end in a giant stall/price gouge and partial window-wrecking, time-wasting failure as has almost every Serie A negotiation over the last 4 years, are also apparently going to offer an extension to an already too slow LB, Alonso, that will also take him well into his 30's, are failing to unload almost ANY of our large pile of deadwood, and, finally, are playing our young players so sparingly all but Ampadu may end up bailing out, CHO possibly on a free.

he certainly can score at youth level, 47 games, 33 goals the last 2 and a quarter years

Chelsea star Ethan Ampadu hobbles off for Wales against Spain in frustrating injury blow for teenager https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/7474765/ethan-ampadu-injury-wales-spain-chelsea/ CHELSEA and Wales starlet Ethan Ampadu hobbled off in his country's friendly with Spain. The 18-year-old came off after falling awkwardly in a challenge and was replaced by Andy King after 50 minutes. Ampadu has been in fine form for the Welsh this season, especially in their 4-1 win over Ireland. But he has found game-time hard to come by at Chelsea as Maurizio Sarri continues to overhaul their midfield with new boys Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic breathing fresh energy into the middle of the park. Ryan Giggs has one eye on Tuesday's clash with Ireland in Dublin, where Wales can keep alive their hopes of Nations League promotion and put the Irish in danger of relegation to League C. Ampadu was class against the Irish in Cardiff and bossed the middle of the park before being substituted. Snip

Alcácer has 2 more goals tonight for the Spanish national team, he really is on fire. I am not, btw, saying at all we should target him, just admiring his play this year.

Michu knocked us out of the 2013 league cup at the Bridge. Yes, he quickly tailed off, and was a bust overall, but he was 4 or 5 years older than Piątek when he came to the league, and his one good season was basically a fluke. He also played at AMF quite a bit and was never a classic striker. Other than pipe dreams like Dybala and Icardi, the options for a truly class under 30yo striker who is actually available really fall off quickly. Piątek at the moment (emphasis on atm) seems the best option. Belotti seems to be a one season wonder atm, and Werner will be insanely expensive for a player who is still not truly an established WC striker (that may change this year, but if he further explodes, his price soars well above £100m). Maybe we (so risky we get stuck with another Morata) roll the dice on Maximiliano Gómez of Celta de Vigo or Giovanni Simeone of (eeek) Fiorentina. If we don't get Icardi, Dybala, or Piątek, perhaps the best route is to go stop-gap with the 31yo (32yo in February) Cavani from PSG. I think he has 2, maybe, maybe 3 good seasons left in his tank after this one, as he takes super care of his body, like CR7.

We have to be looking into him HARD. Barca and Bayern now want him badly too. Along with probably all other big teams. 14 goals in 8 and a half games so far for club and country.

Yes, sorry. I finally figured it out, lolol. It was a massive fuck up, you are absolutely right. It is becoming too common with him. Arfffff. Hopefully he works it out.

WHAT A PASS by Ruben Neves, What a player he is turning into! 2 1 Portugal Fuck us all if Shitty get him I think he is better than SMS, I certainly would take him over SMS

Piatek just scored, he REALLY looks a beast. We must surely make a move for him!!!

Poland vs Portugal HD streams Slaski, Chorzow , Poland https://www.vipleague.bz/poland-vs-portugal-streaming-link-1 https://soccer-live.stream/poland-vs-portugal-live/stream-1 http://ripple.is/football/3517-poland-vs-portugal a tonne of targets playing, including Krzysztof Piatek Piotr Zielinski Karol Linetty Bartosz Bereszynski Rúben Dias Rúben Neves João Cancelo Bruno Fernandes Hélder Costa Danilo Pereira NO. NAME 22 Lukasz Fabianski 5 Jan Bednarek 15 Kamil Glik 3 Artur Jedrzejczyk 18 Bartosz Bereszynski 14 Mateusz Klich 10 Grzegorz Krychowiak 21 Rafal Kurzawa 20 Piotr Zielinski 23 Krzysztof Piatek 9 Robert Lewandowski SUBSTITUTES 16 Jakub Blaszczykowski 11 Kamil Grosicki 1 Wojciech Szczesny 19 Marcin Kaminski 7 Arkadiusz Milik 4 Tomasz Kedziora 8 Karol Linetty 12 Bartlomiej Dragowski 6 Jacek Góralski 13 Damian Szymanski 17 Damian Kadzior 2 Rafal Pietrzak POR 4-3-3 1 Patrício 19 Mário Rui 6 Dias 3 Pepe 2 Cancelo 14 Carvalho 18 Neves 20 Pizzi 17 Rafa 11 Silva 10 Silva NO. NAME 1 Rui Patrício 6 Rúben Dias 3 Pepe 19 Mário Rui 2 João Cancelo 18 Rúben Neves 14 William Carvalho 20 Pizzi 11 André Silva 17 Rafa 10 Bernardo Silva SUBSTITUTES 13 Danilo Pereira 9 Éder 22 Beto 16 Bruno Fernandes 21 Cédric Soares 15 Sérgio Oliveira 12 Cláudio 4 Luís Neto 5 Kévin Rodrigues 23 Hélder Costa 8 Renato Sanches

We are buying (or trying to buy) a new centre back regardless. Sarri wants Romagnoli now, which I would be thrilled with. Lolol, Sarri literally has went after the only 3 top quality, under 30yo Italian CB's now Rugani, Caldara, and now Romagnoli. Probably will fail on all three. Bonucci will be 32 this coming spring, and there are only 2 other under 30yo's who are EPL level atm (and they are a drop down in quality to point I don't think they are Chelsea-level.) Gian Marco Ferrari, a 26yo from Sassuolo and Filippo Romagna, ex Juve 21yo, now at Cagliari. Weird coincidence, every one listed abive except Romagnoli and Rugani are born in May. Finally, on pure speculative potential, there are 2 Alessandro Bastoni 19yo on loan at Parma from Inter and Marco Varnier 20yo at Atalanta, on loan from Cittadella (with obligation for Atalanta to buy in summer 2019). He has a bad knee injury now though.

Try FIVE more years if they give him that 3 year extension. FFS our board are numpty cunts. There is a ready-made Hazard replacement Mbappe But zero chance Roman drops that tyoe of quid, especially as we are going to get raped on the Hazard sale and also his visa ban by the UK government. He needs to sell the club IMHO. We desperately need a new stadium to compete with the other big 10 or so euro clubs revenue-wise as well. We also are going to get burnt to ash if that FIFA 8 max loanee rule comes into effect. We will have to sell over 30 players into an insanely flooded market. Massively choppy waters dead ahead.

Ahhh, the start of the 2nd. I half misread and thought of the goal. Yes, that was a horrific play by AC, Luizianly brain dead. Luck boy he was that Sturridge some how bolloxed it up. I think some of it has to do with rustiness from lack of playing time. I also can see him demanding a transfer. If he isnt going to play, I cannot fault him.

Matt Law is alnost never wrong. He is by far the best Chels journo. Looks like Eden is soon gone. We have to step the fuck up and make a play for Mbappe. Dont give a fuck about cost. Along with Eden and Messi, and yes, Neymar, those are the 4 best players in the world atm. No sympathy for our fucked up board who will probably lose over £200m simply in valuation loss on just the Courtois, Costa, and Hazard sales alone. Really getting sick of Roman's shit people. He is starting to face up as though he is aiding them (or at least doing nothing to block them) in destroying our club atm. I think, if he has made up mind to sell, he might, just might, be purposefully trying to leave it in shambles so his halcyon days look better upon reflection several years from now. That would be a very Russian thing to do.

No clue what you are talking about, AC had nothing to do with that goal. Cesc fucked about clearing it, then Azpi gave the ball back right before Sturridge scored off the rebound from Caballero's block. Doubt me, look at it right here https://www.fullmatchesandshows.com/2018/09/26/liverpool-vs-chelsea-highlights-full-match/#3 the sequence starts at around 57 minutes and 20 secs on the game clock

REAL MADRID WILLING TO PAY €120M FOR HAZARD IN JANUARY https://readchelsea.com/2018/10/10/real-madrid-willing-to-pay-e120m-for-hazard-in-january/ Thats only £104m and it's in January, which always carries a premium. They will offer even less next summer. We are going to lose over £100m in valuation if he doesn't renew. The board will end up partially destroying the club's future. There is zero chance they drop the £200 to £250m needed to try and replace Eden plus buy a truly WC striker like Dybala or Icardi. All the clubs know we will be desperate and will quote us insane prices. Fiorentina will probably want £80m to £100m for Chiesa. I think Icardi's 2 week window release clause in July 2019 will go up to around £120m or so from the £98m it was this last July. Dybala will cost at least £140m to £160m from Juve. Leon Bailey for RW will, if he has another great year, probably be in the Chiesa price range, far above the £65m or so it would have taken to buy him this summer (basically we could have taken the £65m from Barca we turned down for Willian and bought a nine year younger, better player for par in terms of net expenditure). Instead of sorting these urgent things, the board is ludicrously fucking about offering ageing 30-somethings like Luiz and Willian extensions that will take them close to 34, 35 years old, thus washed up players worth almost zero and offering almost zero to the team by then. Horrific business over the last 5 years or so when viewed from the big picture perspective. Double digit numbers of massive, window-consuming FAILS on potential buys, ridiculous low ball sales of players who are now global superstars, and shameful purchases of flotsam like Drinkwater, Morata, Bakayoko. Not to mention the Courtois nightmare that will now be duplicated with Eden, but hopefully without the acrimony.

This is crazy: Perhaps only Real Madrid’s Marcelo is ahead of Alonso in terms of the best players in his position on the planet right now. The Spaniard will be hoping to dethrone his left-back counterpart, and it looks as though he’ll be making that effort at Chelsea. Laughable. Marcelo himself is not even the best LB, he is horrid in defence and is in early stages of decline IMHO, due to age (31yo in spring) and a string of minor injuries. Apparently the author has never heard of David Alaba (best fullback on planet) Alex Sandro Jordi Alba (even though I detest him and will be 30 in March) Lucas Hernandez (I rate him 2nd best best LB atm, pipping Alex Sandro) Benjamin Mendy Jose Gaya (watch his Spanish national teams recent games to see what a beast he is becoming) Alex Telles Junior Firpo (my number one realistic target, best athlete on this list) Wendell Faouzi Ghoulam Maybe Andrew Robertson and Alejandro Grimaldo Most, if not all of whom would be upgrades over Alonso, especially in terms of defensive play. Most of them would instantly improve the team. Extending Alonso's contract for even 3 years takes him to within 6 months of being 34yo! He is slow as hell now at 27, soon 28. What do you think his pace will be at 32??? Fucking board (as they also want to extend 30-somethings Willian and Luiz into their mid-30's too) is completely losing the fucking plot. Cant wait to hear about Cahill, Cesc, Moses, and Drinkwater extensions! Maybe if we are really lucky, Morata and Bakayoko too!!

I meant that that was the reason for all the 'more quid' posts and articles running riot, not that I personally think money is the key driver when it comes to Eden. Unlike that twat Alexis.

Wow, Jardim is a really good manager. I doubt he is unemployed long.

Christensen annoyed, running out of patience sitting on Chelsea bench https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/chelsea-fc-transfer-rumours-news/2018/10/9/17954562/christensen-annoyed-running-out-of-patience-sitting-on-chelsea-bench Andreas Christensen, as usual, has been called up by Denmark for their upcoming matches against Republic of Ireland and Austria. He’s become a steady feature in the team, as much in defensive midfield as in defense, and yet he is still the second youngest player in manager’s Åge Hareide’s squad, with 20 caps to his name already at age 22. With almost 150 appearances in senior professional football, including 22 games in Europe, and 40 appearances under Conte last season, surely there’s plenty of things to be happy about. Well, not so fast. All is not well in the house of Christensen. Some might even say that something’s rotten, and The Danish Prince is getting very annoyed. It was only natural that as soon as Christensen was facing the Danish media, he’d be asked about his relative lack of playing time at Chelsea — 0 minutes in the Premier League, 3 starts (250 minutes) in the other competitions. After all, he played a ton of minutes last season and appeared to break the long-standing curse of no Academy player coming through the (loan) system and into the first-team. He was the chosen one (not to be confused with The CHO-sen One), the new John Terry, the successor to David Luiz. Snip

I think Shitty makes a move eventually for Pep's number one RW choice, Mbappe. Mahrez to me was a Bayern buy. Soak up all the best domestic players so your rivals don't strengthen themselves. In the EPL there are only 5 truly top class RW'ers (IMHO) Salah, Sterling, Mahrez, Bernardo Silva, and Zaha. Shitty have 3 of the 5 now. For LW it's only 3 true ones Hazard Sané Mané Martial I rate more as a CF, and Richarlison has the potential to get there, maybe, maybe Felipe Anderson, but probably not. Alexis has collapsed. Heung-min Son I just cant place that high (maybe my spuds hatred is biasing me). Shitty also looked like they possibly, possibly made a major blunder by selling Jadon Sancho (too early by far to tell but he certainly has exploded as an 18yo for Dortmund.) Sooo hope we dont lose CHO in same fashion. So out of 8 truly elite EPL wingers, Shitty have half. Bayern-level stockpile.

Perhaps it is because the rumours were/are we were offering him only £300K PW, when (for comparison) an absolute shit (due to continual lack of interest/effort) player like Özil is on £350K PW and his ex teammate, now Manure whipping boy Alexis is on £500K PW. Just my guess.

Lock em up!! Then......