Vesper

and we have two other left backs who may end up better than Hall Zak Sturge (1.88m big 18yo) and, of course, Maatsen, tearing it up at Burnley

Yikes!

wtf Why the racism m8? I am part Lebanese (so I can claim some personal agency on this one) and that anti Arab bollocks is embarrassing to see here.

Fuck!! We should have a club in a nation not constrained by the sanctions buy him, and then sell him to us and toss them a couple million for their trouble. No clue if that is legal, but so many non football deals are done like that.

garbage in, garbage out 😓

neither Osimhen nor Bellingham are worth €150m due to FFP it's just too much and there ARE other options out there if no FFP, fine, but them both plus everyone on my dream list, lol but FFP is here still Enzo was unique other than Bruno Guimaraes (and he was a step down IMHO, plus not available) there were no true other options for Enzo every player except for Messi for now (Saka will be his heir as the best RWer, along with Foden, then a massive drop off as Salah is ageing out soon, he turns 31 the end of spring this year), Håland Mbappe and Tchou (no, Rice is nowhere near his level as a trad DMF, nor is Rodri, nor is Casemiro) has an option a player who is now no longer at the top of his game, BUT who has no real heir, is Kante (Barella atm is the closest, with Caicedo perhaps 2nd closest, but neither can polish peak Kante's boots)

the absolute 'prongers in the batty' buys (not even going to get into shit loans like Saul, Falcao, and that fat fuck slug Higs) going way back to 2010-11 were bold were disasterclass Torres was wayyy back, and then Bats, Donkeybakayoko, and Drunkwater started the HUGE modern era of misery in the market from every angle bold red (11, 10 modern plus Torres) are just raw fucked, and that could go to 13 if Wes Fofana and Sterling crash out I am being generous and NOT counting Jorginho as a bad buy, nor Kai (yet, he is moving in that direction quickly) nor putting CuCu in the red (he CAN get there though) Wesley Fofana Leicester City Leicester €80.40m (potentially either just an overpay OR it can go red disasterclass) Marc Cucurella Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton €65.30m (we paid double what he was worth, potentially a red) Raheem Sterling Manchester City Man City €56.20m (potentially either a decent buy or disasterclass) Kalidou Koulibaly SSC Napoli SSC Napoli €38.00m (his INSANE salary for 4 years makes it SO bad) Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang FC Barcelona Barcelona €12.00m Romelu Lukaku Inter Milan Inter €113.00m Timo Werner RB Leipzig RB Leipzig €53.00m Hakim Ziyech Ajax Amsterdam Ajax €40.00m Kepa Arrizabalaga Athletic Bilbao Athletic €80.00m Christian Pulisic Borussia Dortmund Bor. Dortmund €64.00m Álvaro Morata Real Madrid Real Madrid €66.00m (at least we sold him for a decent price so no truly epic red disaster) Tiemoué Bakayoko AS Monaco Monaco €40.00m Danny Drinkwater Leicester City Leicester €37.90m Davide Zappacosta Torino FC Torino €25.00m Emerson AS Roma AS Roma €20.00m Ross Barkley Everton FC Everton €16.80m Michy Batshuayi Olympique Marseille Marseille €39.00m David Luiz Paris Saint-Germain Paris SG €35.00m Abdul-Rahman Baba FC Augsburg FC Augsburg €26.00m Kenedy Fluminense Football Club Fluminense €8.00m Juan Cuadrado ACF Fiorentina Fiorentina €31.00m Filipe Luís Atlético de Madrid Atlético Madrid €20.00m Loïc Rémy Queens Park Rangers QPR €13.20m André Schürrle Bayer 04 Leverkusen B. Leverkusen €22.00m Fernando Torres Liverpool FC Liverpool €58.50m Yossi Benayoun Liverpool FC Liverpool €7.00m

80 teams (I had 187 when I was including the top few teams from many smaller leagues plus being more generous with the Big 5 and some from their 2nd tier) I am sure this list has what many will see as large faults (such as including Belgium teams, being too harsh on Italy and Spain, too lenient on Germany, etc) and so will make many spit the dummy 🤪 SL Benfica FC Porto Sporting CP Ajax Amsterdam PSV Eindhoven Feyenoord Rotterdam Club Brugge KV KRC Genk KAA Gent Rangers FC Celtic FC Fenerbahce Galatasaray Trabzonspor Besiktas JK Paris Saint-Germain Stade Rennais FC AS Monaco Olympique Marseille OGC Nice Olympique Lyon LOSC Lille RC Lens FC Nantes Montpellier HSC Bayern Munich Borussia Dortmund RB Leipzig Bayer 04 Leverkusen Eintracht Frankfurt Borussia Mönchengladbach VfL Wolfsburg TSG 1899 Hoffenheim SC Freiburg VfB Stuttgart 1.FC Union Berlin Hertha BSC SV Werder Bremen FC Schalke 04 Hamburger SV AC Milan Inter Milan SSC Napoli Juventus FC AS Roma Atalanta BC SS Lazio ACF Fiorentina Torino FC UC Sampdoria Genoa CFC Real Madrid FC Barcelona Atlético de Madrid Real Sociedad Villarreal CF Real Betis Balompié Valencia CF Sevilla FC Athletic Bilbao RCD Espanyol Barcelona Manchester City Chelsea FC Liverpool FC Arsenal FC Manchester United Tottenham Hotspur Newcastle United West Ham United Leicester City Aston Villa Wolverhampton Wanderers Everton FC Nottingham Forest Crystal Palace Brighton & Hove Albion Brentford FC Leeds United Fulham FC Southampton

Simon Phillips doesn't get enough love on here the bloke writes some really high quality articles exclusive to our site here and so few ever comment on them

if Felix does well and Kai keeps playing like shit then that is a good plan if am so frustrated with Havertz's lackadaisical play he seems to move at 7/8ths speed so disappointed, I thought would be a monster here he has not been a true bust, but not nearly good enough either we always end up with complicated situations, FUCK the only other clubs that I would put anywhere near us in terms of complications are Barca, Manure, now Juve, and those 3 don't have the HUGE stadium problems we do on top of all else (Juve would not even be on the list except for the Agnelli mafia finally going down) maybe soon Citeh too but not even Barca has as many plates of uncertainty spinning as we do

Victor Osimhen Dusan Vlahovic Randal Kolo Muani (€100m is crazy though) Jonathan David Ivan Toney (only if cleared of being banned for betting) Marcus Thuram Aleksandar Mitrović Benjamin Sesko Momo Cho Rasmus Højlund (born 4 February 2003) baby Håland in the making

Spanish Football Alonso family join select club where three generations have played for national team https://www.marca.com/en/football/spanish-football/2018/03/17/5aacdeaf468aebe6738b4626.html The Alonso family have entered a rare club where grandfather, father and son have all been picked for their national team, following Julen Lopetegui's decision to call up Marcos Alonso this week for Spain. On March 17th, 1955, Marcos Alonso Imaz made his debut for La Roja who lost 2-1 against France that day and now his grandson has been included in the squad to face Germany and Argentina later this month. In between, Marcos Alonso Pena, the father of the Chelsea full-back played his first of 22 games for Spain in 1981 when they won at Wembley . Despite performing at a high level with Fiorentina and Chelsea, it was beginning to look as though the latest player from the Alonso family would not make it to international level but finally he got the call from Lopetegui. He kept battling but with little expectation and even planned to travel to Dubai during the international break before hearing the news that he was included. Similar cases are few and far between in world football. The Slovac, Vladimir Weiss, who played for Espanyol, turned out for the national team as did his father and grandfather. In Northern Ireland, three generations of the Feeney family have played for their country as is the case with the Emam's of Egypt, the Salvinu's of Malta, the Forlan's of Uruguay and Javier Hernandez's family in Mexico. Marcos Alonso Imaz (16 April 1933 – 6 March 2012), nicknamed Marquitos, was a Spanish footballer who played as a defender. He was best known for his participation in Real Madrid's five European Cup conquests, mainly in the 1950s. Honours Real Madrid La Liga: 1954–55, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1960–61, 1961–62 Copa del Generalísimo: 1961–62 Latin Cup: 1957 European Cup: 1955–56, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60 Intercontinental Cup: 1960

his net worth is around £12.8 billion he has lost around half from his peak a few years back and I am hearing they want £7 or 8 billion for Manure he will need help, a lot of it

he was a big goal threat back in 2019/19 (10 goals, 5 assists in only 1955 minutes, he was a beast that season), BUT THEN he blew out his Achilles on that fucking yank NFL stadium shit turf, and it destroyed his career, as I predicted) same thing for CHO and his Achilles Injury, after we had turned down £40m from Bayern we are fucking cursed with injuries

Analysis: Evan Ndicka agreement – are Barcelona overstocking? (Vesper's answer is hell NO, he will be their main left footed CB) https://www.football-espana.net/2023/02/03/analysis-evan-ndicka-agreement-are-barcelona-overstocking Barcelona have been very clear that they will pursue free agents under the guidance of Mateu Alemany, as they attempt to manage their salary limit issues over the coming seasons. Last summer Barcelona brought in Andreas Christensen and Frank Kessie on pre-agreed contracts, which has so far produced varying levels of success. Kessie has failed to make a major impact on Barcelona this season, but does have his work cut out. Always likely to be a rotational option at any rate, Gavi, Pedri, Frenkie de Jong and Sergio Busquets are clearly ahead in the pecking order this season. Meanwhile Andreas Christensen has gone from strength to strength. It was presumed by the vast majority that the Danish defender would be a rotational option himself, with Ronald Araujo and Jules Kounde occupying the central roles. Yet Christensen has forced his way into the side, forming a solid block alongside the Uruguayan with Kounde on the right. Barcelona saw Gerard Pique retire in November after the veteran barely saw any game time until an injury crisis required him to step in. Regardless it seems that Pique was forced out in part for financial reasons, with his delayed salary weighing heavy on the club. It leaves Barcelona with four central defenders currently, counting the three mentioned and Eric Garcia. Given Garcia has struggled for minutes in recent months, only being used to rest the others, it is surprising that Todofichajes have reported that Barcelona have a pre-contract agreement with Evan Ndicka. The French centre-back, 23, was an option for Paris Saint-Germain in January but after Eintracht Frankfurt rejected their bid, Ndicka has decided to commit to Barcelona ahead of next season. It would once again leave the Blaugrana with five central defenders. Despite Araujo’s fitness issues, all signs would point to this being one too many for Xavi Hernandez. With Barcelona struggling to register deals currently due to their salary limit, it would be a questionable use of resources, when the squad could likely do with another right-back, midfielder or forward before a central defender. Especially when considering Xavi has shown that he trusts Marcos Alonso as an emergency centre-back. Perhaps the Ndicka move is instructive though. If Alemany sees it as necessary to bring in another central defender, it might hint at one of two things. One of them would be that Barcelona are preparing for a summer departure in that area. While various sources claim the Blaugrana will need to make a major sale next summer, it would be strange to see them let Kounde, Christensen or Araujo out the door. It may be that Garcia looks for a new destination where he can play more minutes. The Catalan defender has been good in fits and bursts, but it looks unlikely he will be a key player at Can Barca for some time. It could also hint at Barcelona giving up on the idea of bringing in a quality right-back in the summer. With Kounde performing well there, the hierarchy may have decided to roll with the Frenchman on the right as a more permanent solution. It would no doubt be to the chagrin of Kounde, but without the resources to bring in a quality right-back, Ndicka could compete with Christensen and Araujo.

Rolling tally as of February 10th, 2023 of the 30 best (IMHO) overall under 30yo (Oblak is 30yo) players/targets who are still on the board for this summer (I am leaving Felix off this, as we should get him in the summer) and also not injured seriously or recovering (so no Chiesa, Wirtz, Oyarzabal, etc) Last criteria is that there is at least one player for every position (obviously IF Alphonso Davies were to become available, it is bye bye Theo as the only LB on this list). Jude Bellingham Josko Gvardiol Victor Osimhen Dušan Vlahović Rafael Leão Nicolò Barella Declan Rice Khvicha Kvaratskhelia Moussa Diaby Jonathan David James Maddison Moisés Caicedo Jan Oblak Randal Kolo Muani Bernardo Silva Sergej Milinković-Savić Jurrien Timber Leroy Sané Mikel Merino Marcos Llorente Martín Zubimendi Manu Koné Denzel Dumfries Alexis Mac Allister Matheus Nunes Roméo Lavia Dominik Szoboszlai Giorgi Mamardashvili Dani Olmo Theo Hernández and, as I always say, we must buy this youth: Arsen Zakharyan and in two years we must buy Warren Zaïre-Emery

saw this whilst looking at older posts I SO SO hope this is even halfway true

it is crazy puzzling , that is for sure last season he was still a super classy CB now he has just poofed in form (hell, the BASICS of CB play) with no injury(s) to blame I do not buy for a moment it is 'the pace of the EPL' look how many older (as in over 30, 31yo) CBs (who were never world beaters like KK) stick around and play and start for EPL sides Fabian Schär, who is is only 6 months (exactly, to the day) younger than KK, is having a world class season (not joking, he and Sven Botman have been a superb pairing) our Thiago, so much older, as well plus 2 more oldsters having massive seasons Tim Ream 35yo (and a yank) and Ben Mee 33yo

IF we are not going to buy a TRULY world class LB (the only 2 remotely available, and they are not really available, lol, are Alphonso Davies and Nuno Mendes) then we should just give shots to the 3 we have atm first Ian Maatsen Zak Sturge (1.88m 18yo, 19yo in June) Lewis Hall

The £613million reason Brighton are surprising Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and more Roberto De Zerbi's Brighton sit sixth in the Premier League table, ahead of the likes of big-spenders such as Chelsea and Liverpool, and they do it on a fraction of the budget https://www.sussexlive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/brighton-Chelsea-liverpool-manchester-united-8130666 Brighton are continuing to punch above their weight this season, despite spending a fraction of some of their Premier League rivals. The Albion sit sixth in the table, opening daylight between them and big-spenders Chelsea and Liverpool, who are ninth and 10th respectively. Now new figures have shown how the Seagulls are doing more with less. The CIES Football Observatory has broken down the net spending (including add-ons) for transfers over the past five seasons and while it makes for fairly positive reading for the Sussex side, the same cannot be said for the Blues, Manchester United, Arsenal, and more. READ MORE: Alexis Mac Allister issues clue on his Brighton future amid Chelsea and Arsenal transfer links The figures state that Chelsea has the most negative balance since the 2018/19 season with a deficit of €749million (£663million), the Red Devils are second at -€670million (£593million), and the Gunners are third at -€544million (£481million). Jurgen Klopp's team, who lost twice to Roberto De Zerbi's men in January are are five points behind them in the table, have a net spend of -€313million (-£277million). For Brighton, their net spend is at -€56million (£50million) - that's a whopping £613.5million less than the Stamford Bridge side. Incidentally, in 2022/23 the Seagulls have a positive net spend of €104million (£92million), which is the best in the Premier League. Contrast that with Chelsea, who have a very negative balance with a deficit of €620million (£549million) this season, and United (-€240million or -£212million), newly-promoted Nottingham Forest (-€229million or -£203million), and West Ham (-€207million or -£183million) have been the most lavish in this regard. In recent seasons, the Albion have signed Kaoru Mitoma, Alexis Mac Allister, Tariq Lamptey, and Moises Caicedo for under £15million and they have sold Marc Cucurella, Yves Bissouma, Dan Burn, Neal Maupay, and Ben White for more than £150million. This makes the club's success all the more remarkable. The top 20 spending clubs via net spend since 2018/19, according to CIES: Chelsea -€749m Manchester United -€670m Arsenal -€544m Tottenham Hotspur -€477m West Ham United -€435m Newcastle United -€422m Aston Villa -€370m Wolverhampton Wanderers -€355m Juventus -€337m Liverpool -€313m Fulham -€271m Barcelona -€257m Nottingham Forest -€246m Leeds United -€242m Southampton -€237m AC Milan -€227m Everton -€219m Paris Saint-Germain -€202m Olympique Marseille -€192m Bayern Munich -€170m

Chelsea complete another transfer with £3million signing of Southampton wonderkid Jimmy-Jay Morgan has left Southampton to sign a three-and-a-half-year contract with Chelsea after tearing up youth football with his prolific goalscoring exploits https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/Chelsea-southampton-wonderkid-transfer-news-29177845

he can fuck right off he has ripped the club so many times there is no way back with me

Chelsea want to sell £33m player to promote young loanee to the first team https://www.thechelseachronicle.com/transfer-news/im-told-Chelsea-want-to-sell-33m-player-to-promote-young-loanee-to-the-first-team-journalist/ Journalist Simon Phillips has claimed to GiveMeSport that Chelsea are keen to listen to offers to Kalidou Koulibaly in order to create a path to the first team for Levi Colwill. The Senegal international was brought in to try and fill the void left by the departure of Antonio Rudiger to Real Madrid. However, Koulibaly has struggled to bring the form he promised from his days as a defender in Serie A. The tough time he has endured since his £33m move from Napoli has been culminated with his dropping from the team in recent weeks. His place has been taken by January signing Benoit Badiashile, despite coming into the club with little fanfare. The Blues are yet to concede in the three games the Frenchman has played since joining. Chelsea want to sell Koulibaly for Colwill Now, Phillips has claimed that the club are open to listen to offers for the player who joined just a few months ago. He said: “I’m told that Chelsea would be open to listening to offers for him in the summer, purely because they’ve got Levi Colwill coming back in.” Colwill has been enjoying a second consecutive successful loan spell away from Stamford Bridge, this time at Brighton. His performances have seen him break into a competitive backline that has been overachieving this season. He was even reportedly threatening the England squad, with him in Gareth Southgate’s thinking for when the next squad is announced. However, an unfortunate injury has proven to be a roadblock in his development, with him set to be out for a number of weeks. Chelsea fans will be delighted to hear that they are not looking to give up on the youngster already though, seemingly defying the temptation to cash in at a time money would be appreciated.