King Kante

This kind of sounds like the Dipper's without the poverty and the murdering.

Yeah, starting to feel something is going on with this one. If it was just a case of argeeing a fee you would've thought it would've been done by now. That said, it is Granny doing the negotiating so maybe not, as without a buyout to activate or a reasonable priced gentleman's agreement, we always seem to take forever or not get things done.

Daily Mail reporting that Messi wants to leave, so it must be true: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8633221/amp/Lionel-Messi-tells-Barcelonas-hierarchy-wants-leave-summer-frustrated.html This article also has one of my favourite captions for a while: 'Messi's current £635million buy-out clause is a concern for most potential suitors this summer'

Kepa says Hi.

Yeah,I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago, but Palace sent him out on loan for two years with no break plus a buy out clause of £7m (or something similar.) With the way they cannot score goals, it was an insane move.

Indeed. It wasn't actually a great bit of skill, it was principally shocking defending.

If you played him week in, week out as the CF1 you probably would get 15+ goals out of him. The problem is his all round game. I mean, this is a CF that really struggles to comprehend the offside system as he is forever standing in a offside position. The you have the problem in that he cannot dribble at all, that is an issue against packed defenses. Height and size wise, he is average so isn't able to dominate a CB like Giroud can. Passing is average. Off the ball movement outside the box is poor, although in it, he is good. All in all, his all round game is poor, but he does come alive in the box. For me, he will never be a Chelsea player but he may find a niche at a smaller club where he doesn't need to get involved in build up play.

Yeah but that was despite of him rather than because of him. On another forum I was going ape sh*t when we were linked as I knew he was dog sh*t and owed his entire career to Fabinho who should've been the one we brought. To this day, I seriously doubt Timmy was scouted as anyone that watched him more than five games would've known he was dire. He is a classic example of why you shouldn't judge players on youtube clips and stats.

Do not really see the need for such a disdainful reply. 1) I was just spit balling an idea. I wasn't saying it was something we should do, rather I was seeking what peoples opinions of such an idea were. 2) Our AM's next year are Puli who is great but picks up a lot of injuries, CHO had a bad injury, only 19 and hasn't shown any form since being back and Ziyech who is new to the league and has large questions about who quickly he will adapt to the physicality and speed of the league. After that, you have Mount who is not even a wide player who should be playing No.8/No.6 and Werner, who most people would want played through the middle plus, like Ziyech is new to the league. 3) The age profile of our attacking players reads: CHO - 19, Puli - 21, Werner - 24, Ziyech - 27 and Mount - 21. That is incredibly young. On top of that, the two peak age players (Werner is just about this, are new to the league.) This is why I thought another year from Willian was a good idea so you can help transition the side. I mean, if Ziyech takes time to adapt (which I think he will) and Puli gets injured again (likely) you're down to playing Werner out on the wing with an inconsistent CHO on the other side, or asking Mount to play out of position again. As I said, I wasn't saying it is a priority, I was just asking for peoples opinions as whilst the attacking players look exciting, they are very young as a collective and two of them have to adapt to the league.

Barca just got ripped a new one.

With our AM's being - CHO, Puli and Ziyech next year, with Werner and Mount able to moonlight there, what would peoples opinions be of taking a Bale or Coutinho on loan if they could be had with no loan fee and on under 70% of their current wages?

To do fair, what would you do if you had just been told you were being offered to West Ham?

Honestly, if we buy Chilwell for an insane price, I am off to see Granny and do this.

Yeah, those are direct comments as well, not a 'source' close to the player. However, it just seems impossible unless we can involve Kepa in the deal and AM agree he is still worth a sizable chunck and are willing to pay his wages. That for me seems incredibly unlikely.

Oblak has said he will review his situation after the CL finishes.

This Chilwell business reminds me of the late 90's were any decent English player was considered better as he 'knew the league'. If we are serious about him, I have to think this is SFL as it kinda reminds me of something Harry Redknapp would've done. That said, not sold on Tags either. Telles for me is the one to go for just for his delivery/scoring ability. He kind of reminds me of Belletti who if playing these days would be rated a lot higher than he was in the 00's due to the way the requirements for a FB have changed. As for Rice, he is such an incredibly difficult transfer to pull off. Wet Spam's best player, only 21 and has a contract to 2023 with an additional year option. Personally I can't see him here even next year unless he goes for the strike option and he doesn't seem the sort.

All this talk of lines is making think of Mutu for some reason.

My point wasn't that I think he is good or not. I have not seen anything of him but one youtube video of highlights and some statistical analysis. My first point was, that the initial set of stats that Vesper quote were poor as they didn't give any insight into how many shots the GK's were facing a game and anything on cross collection/distribution. My second point was that I find a lot of people on here (and this is not just Vesper) who claim x player is amazing or y player is this and z player is that. What I find amazing is that so many people are able to watch enough 90 minute games of various teams around Europe, some of which have zero or close to zero tv coverage, to know so much about individual players. As I indicated to make a judgement on a player you need to watch 5-10 full 90 minute matches of a player to do this as a minimum. Statistics and YouTube clips aren't enough as they virtually tell you zilch about their: off the ball work, temperament, quality of chances created/finished, defensive structure of the team and how important the structure is to the underlying statistics of the individual, quality of opposition faced etc, etc. Rajkovic could be the new Yashin for all I know, I cannot tell as all I have seen are stats and one youtube video. Therefore, I cannot vouch for him as I do not know any variables about him. I just do not know how there are so many people on here who know so much about so many players playing all over Europe.

Only stats I want to see from a GK are: 1) Average shots per game faced and save percentage 2) Cross collection per game and success rate (with details on how many faced per game on average.) 3) Long range pass completion. 4) Overall pass completion. The stats above are poor indicators as we do not know what their respective defensive units are like. Personally from that list I have only seen Donnarumma play enough, whilst I have seen a bit of Onana. Personally, I am not sold on Onana as he has poor handling (he saves stuff but palms it into danger a lot and he doesn't get his hands on enough so has to push/punch too much for my liking.) Donnarumma, I was quite a big fan of a couple of years ago but he hasn't progressed as much as I thought he would've by now. As for the others, I am really interested to know how many people have seen these boys play more than 5 full 90 minute games. People these days tout players having only watched match highlights/youtube clips and looked at their stats. That for me, isn't enough.

Amapdu will be an automatic starter for Fulham. Mark my words, at worst this boy is going to be a Scott Parker type player at the very least i.e. Captain of a midtable side. His potential is huge if he can stay fit and develop.

If they want €100m, lets see if we can include Batsh*t somehow. A lot of people are fooled by his scoring record. Hopefully, we can pull a fast one on them.

Because Dross is a moron. It was exactly like Valencia were he insisted on taking the penalty even though Jorgi is a suprior PK taker. That was just one of the many things he did last night that just further hammered home how he doesn't fit here.

I do not disagree completely, my problem with it is that we went too extreme with it. When it comes to the loan players, a lot of them were brought to flip (i.e. buy low, then sell for profit.) I think however, we have at times gone too far as the amount of contracts meant that any downturn and we would be in trouble (this could've just been a stock market crash and not something like Covid.) I personally, buy and flip things and invest in equities and sometimes you need to sell slightly lower than you wish to free up capital and to ensure you're not over exposed. I feel, that Chelsea should've done this more as the risk was always there if a downturn came. I am not saying they should've brought and sold vast numbers every year, it is more that the numbers are dangerously high and it is going to cost Roman a lot. As for people who said Batsh*t should be our No.1 striker at the start of the season, those people shouldn't be taken seriously. Apart from his stats, which are good, his actual game play is incredibly poor and anyone who has seen him properly should have seen it. I am fairly new on here (around 6 months I think) however on another Chelsea forum I was saying everything that is being said about him now pretty much since he has been here. This is also why I often ask people who tout players if they have actually watched the player in question for more than 5 whole games as youtube and stats aren't enough.

Indeed. He should really be our GK3 for next season. Obviously with the disaster that is Kepa, that isn't going to happen but that is where he is currently at for a team that wants top 4 and do well in the cups.

Yes, this is true. However, taking that option is a risk. For instance, what happens if he blows his knee out like Van Ginkle? What happens if he loses form again? When do you decided to cut losses when you already have a vast number of players on loan/surplus? For me, Chelsea have been a bit too hard core at times with the values they want with the loan players. I mean we had offers of over £30m for Batsh*t and we all knew he was sh*t but with a good scoring record. Kenedy we got offered £20m by Newcastle but we said £30m after his first six months at Newcastle. Sure, holding onto players helped us with the likes of Kalas, Hector etc. However, I think we have hoarded too many and their should've been more churn as we always ran a serious risk of being lumbered with too many players if the economy went south.