The Skipper

Of course we can survive. Think long term. Football isn't just about the next season coming up, and we have been given a nice season off from Europe to rebuild. Christensen in my opinion is good enough to be a top CB in the near future, and he can play here for a very long time. We need to sign a new CB but I don't want to see us spending stupid money when we have a very good CB coming back next year. We should be able to pursue top four without spending stupid money on a CB that's not really much better than him. Patience is a virtue. It sets out club up much better in the long run.

Them trademark, long-ass Barbara posts. It's been a while. Haha.

This guy really brings an air of positivity to the club that I haven't seen in a long, long time. With Jose it was always 'us vs. the world' but Conte seems to bring a passionate humility about him. He seems so hungry to succeed, a hunger I haven't seen in Jose for a long time, probably not since his first stint. I feel like he'll utilise our youth a lot better than Jose too, we have one of the best academies in the world and some very talented players that just need polishing. I think Conte can do that. He has the track record. Let's hope a few guys come through soon. Early signs are extremely positive.

I hope he improves his technical finesse a bit. He has the ability to but he's too inconsistent with his basic technical stuff sometimes. He has got an interesting future ahead of him though. I'd give him a chance.

Unless we ship out Pedro and/or Cuadrado, it won't happen.

It's fine. Football fans are fickle. After a few good performances people will forget. De Laurentis knows this. I admire how he keeps extorting so much money out of clubs for good players - who just shouldn't be sold for the amount they should be. It's a stubborn stance but still.

People are forgetting that we have Christensen coming back next season... I wouldn't blame the club for not really over pursuing tbh.

I think Oscar, Cuadrado, Pedro and Moses can all go over the next season/season after tbh. That leaves us with Hazard, Willian and Kenedy. We sign someone like Isco or James to fill the void and hope someone like Musonda or Boga (or both) makes that step up in Spain. That leaves us oozing with quality in Hazard, Isco/James, Willian, Kenedy Musonda and/or Boga. It's so easy to achieve this. Personally if I was building this team in the future I would go for: GK: Courtois, Begovic DF: Zouma, Christensen, Azpilicueta, JT(one more season maybe, as a back up to integrate Andreas?), a new LB, a new CB. Kenedy/Ake/Aina to fill in defensively. MF: Fabregas, Matic, Kante, RLC, Chalobah. AM: Hazard, Isco, Willian, Kenedy, Musonda, Boga CF: Costa, Batshuayi, Traore, Solanke. That's 25 players I believe. Full of academy and HG players but also filled with talented squad players. All we've done here is sold: Cahill, Baba, Ivanovic, Mikel, Oscar, Cuadrado, Moses and Remy. (Lots of funds!) Bought: a new LB, a new CB and Isco. This is actually very doable. Makes too much sense for it to happen though.

If I was a Napoli fan I would love him.

You must be mad if you think Emenalo alone decides who we bid on pal.

Don't forget this guy is versatile. Very adept at CB too.

Matic is nowhere near as dynamic as Kante because he isn't anywhere near the athlete Kante is. As a B2B he'd probably resemble someone like Schweinsteiger in his prime.

Hopefully he has a big season and takes La Liga by storm. Time to start integrating these talented youths into the squad. Either as squad players or hopefully the first XI (as would hopefully be the case in Charly's situation).

Dude talks too much sense.

Please. We have enough talent in midfield with the likes of Chalobah and RLC (as squad players). If we're buying another midfielder let us at least buy a superstar.

Andre Ayew is not a striker. At all.

Kinda reminds me of Raul Meireles tbh.

He's retiring here.

Fabregas was not 10 times worse, let's not rewrite history now. Matic was very awful last season, one of our worst players. He definitely has something to prove this year.

It's extremely excessive. I would take James for around that price though, especially if we say flog Oscar for £30m.

We're not linked with him but I think he'd make a great addition. I think he's been put to the side a bit at Real, do you think we can get him at a cut rate price?

I don't think you're being harsh at all. He doesn't provide much to the team at all. Going down the Mikel route IMO.

I would say Kante is in the same mold as Nainggolan tbh. Won't be surprised to see Mikel stay as a back up DM. Or we ship him out and sign a proper CDM. Of course Kante can play there but it's a bit like putting in Essien at CDM, not using him to his best capabilities.

That's the main thing I'm delighted for. We actually have options to play differently as the situation requires, without compromising quality too. If Matic regains form our midfield isn't too bad actually. We need to ship out Oscar and attain a better player and I'd be very happy with our midfield.

This guy is easily the best ball winning midfielder in the PL. His anticipation is outstanding. One of the reasons Leicester scored vital goals was due to Kante nicking the ball in moments where the opposition thought they were comfortable in possession and setting up great counter attacking possibilities. He's going to be massive in the big games.