King Kante

Barca have €1.3bn of debt and they're still up against the La Liga cap. That is also before you get to all the deferred payments they need to make to players. For instance, Pique is reportedly owed €80m over the next two seasons; which is why they're starting to brief against him in the press. This is also before we get to the fact that they still haven't registered AC because they don't have the means to do so just yet. If Bart man was still in charge, then sure Barca may have continued the crackhead antics. However, Laporta is much more sensible and will have Barca focus on more sound principals.

Barca aren't buying anyone for serious money. They're still fu*ked financially no way are they buying a €50m+ player. I mean it looks like they will have to sell FDJ to balance the books as they currently stand.

De Ligt would be a dream signing at CB.

Barca owe Pique €80m alone, so yeah, they're not buying anyone.

I have always been of the belief, that Conte got the same treatment as every other manager at Chelsea since Jose Mk.1 in that he was allowed to make suggestions but they would only be that. Imo, that window continued the theme of us only buying players in the 21-27 year old bracket unless we needed a quick patch as we are/were obsessed with only buying players with 'resale' value. Imo, Conte wanted players like Vidal and got given Baka/Drinky, Crandreva and got Zappa. Lukaku. The notion that he got more say on transfers than the managers around him, has never made sense to me.

Tbh, we are going to take a while to get our transfers done. We have just had a change in ownership and we have a lot of issues in terms of contracts and deadwood. For me, the most pressing concern is James and Mount. They need to be pinned down to new contracts before anything else as otherwise we could drop the ball on them like we did AC and Rudi. That said, I am impressed by Spurs work, they're improving the holes they have quickly and at low cost. Just out of interest are there still people out there that believe Conte was the main man directing transfer strategy in 2017?

Tbh, I don't think Ampadu comes back. However, if he does, then I think he can play a squad role in a similar fashion to RLC or Trev this year. Obviously not saying he is a player to rely on for the first XI.

1) That is like saying that the Dippers wouldn't have an issue if they lost both Robinson for the season an TAA for significant portions. City are probably the only team in the league that can afford to handle such a loss and that it because they've spent a ton at FB/WB as Pep knows the value of them in modern football. 2) You seem to be quite against the 3atb system which is a bit problematic for your arguments. First is that there is zero evidence TT is going to move away from this. Dislike it as much as you like, prioritising players that means a change in system is very unlikely to happen (which is why I previously said, CM isn't an issue compared to other areas unless we move to 433 or something similar.) 3) Who are these players you are talking about? Ziyech who played in the Dutch league? Lukaku who stunk it up at Utd and had to go to Italy to stat pad? Havertz, Pulisic and Werner in the Bundesliga who had acres of space to run into every week? Apples and oranges unfortunately. I mean, Lukaku was a known Donkey from the get go, not many players have come from the Dutch league and torn it up - only ones that come to mind are Jaws and RvN and the Bundesliga affect had also been seen with Sancho who was another previous flavour of the month. 4) Go for it buddy. You seem to be hoping TT is going to wake up tomorrow and suddenly shift us to a back 4, which will cause massive issues with our remaining CB's in Silva (best in a middle CB position) and Trev (who probably isn't good enough but is functional in a 3atb.) As I said, we shift to a back 4 then CM becomes a big issue, however living in the real world where we aren’t shifting to a back 4 and have Gallagher coming back (who deserves a chance) the other areas - CB, WB and CF/AM - are of a much greater need for this coming window. CM does need addressing in the medium term but we need to go with the most pressing issues as of now, with you know, the system we actually play rather than the one you want us to.

FDJ is a premium player. If we actually have a chance of signing him, then he has to be signed even if I don't think (as I've explained above) CM is a pressing issue. Only CM's I would be interested in are: Bellingham Rice FDJ However, the first two are impossible this Summer and FDJ is questionable.

I would say what was more disastrous was losing Chilwell, having to ask an Alonso with no legs left (if he ever had them) to play essentially a full season as LWB1 and then having no adequate replacement for Reece who we can drop in. After that, I would say a AM and/or a CF who can be relied on to score consistently apart from Mount (who does a shed load of Donkey work he gets absolutely no credit for) was also more problematic. That is also before we get to losing our 1st and 3rd most important CB's. So, yeah, I have CM as a bit of an afterthought atm, simply because we cannot solve all our problems in one window and the other problems are more pressing. Not really fair. Yes, he isn't a world beater where he can go in and drag those teams to safety by himself (especially as both those teams where of a standard that meant they should be relegated.) However, equally I would say Ampadu is someone we can use as a means to fill a squad place if we flush Sarr and RLC to get some capital to fill the holes we have.

I do not think it will be disastrous, maybe not ideal, but not disastrous. At the moment, my concerns are more to do with CB, LWB, a New AM and getting shot of Lukaku. Only after that is sorted would I think about CM. However, even then I would probably place RWB cover for Reece above that as well. Only time I would really start to get all hot and bothered about CM is if we switch to a 433 or something but I cannot see that happening.

Yeah, I think we'll just wait out the Rice situation. The boy only wants to come here and he is insanely priced at the moment. We'll just do what Real/Bayern do and wait until he is either free or in his last year. He has also turned down significant wage increases as well. This tells me he has somewhere he wants to go as people need to remember that avoiding signing a new contract means that you're giving up £100k+ on your current wage x 104 weeks or more when holding out/running down. That is a big risk as you cannot account for injuries.

I really don't get why everyone is so keen on Dembele. That kid was practically a meme for everything wrong with Barcelona and has only started playing when needing a new contract. Now everyone wants him? Not sure that is wise at all. In fact, kind of reminds me of how everyone/a lot of people forgot just how bad Lukaku was so they said 'they were hopeful' he would be good this time around in the PL.

Everyone complains that the Dippers are great at making signings and that we always mess the majority of ours up. Dippers then come in with a large offer for one of our players, who is still young, and people want to take it? OK....

Barca are broke, they can't even register AC atm and may have to sell FDJ to balance the books. No way they shell out £70m here.

Big no. If we look at the totality of his time at Barca he has pretty much been an absolute disaster who has stole a living for 4.2 years with poor attitude to training and diet. Personally, all I see in his past 8 months is someone trying to earn their next fat contract.

So, what does MG do exactly then other than number crunch like any basic accountant can do? According to this logic, she doesn't have any say on footballing decisions nor does she have enough power on the financial side to kill moves, all she does is crunch the numbers like a bookkeeper straight out of Uni or the stay at home parent seeking a bit of part-time work. That consequently means she is either a dancing monkey or at best a figurehead to be shot down. Personally, I don't think she is either and is in fact someone with power, agruably the person who had/has the most power outside of RA/TB which consequently means responsibility. Therefore, if she does have the responsibility of signing off deals and running the clubs strategy from a financial perspective, then she should have the power to kill off deal that either make no financial sense or are bad financial moves. Thus, I really don't see how she can be absolved from serious blame as: A) in my scenario since she is a person with power, who has made some bad mistakes. Or; B ) in your senario she is a person without power and does what she is told and goes along with it. Either way, it isn't a good look and I would argue my thoughts actually make her look better.

Be interesting to see what happens with the kit sponsor. Three I reckon are gone. I believe that deal was £40m per season. Hopefully we can achieve something like £45m+ and it not be plastered oversized on the shirts.

I think me and you have broadly the same opinions however as soon as we brought Lukaku it was always going to be like this. I'd imagine the deal will be something like two year loan, and the owed money for those two years gets waived i.e. (approx) €20m a year and his wages get covered. For me, Lukaku isn't going back to Inter/Italy for more than two years' and there isn't really another team that will take him, I mean lets be serious PSG don't need him and Bayern are far too intelligent in the market not to recognise his lack of ability. Another reason for him only going back for two years' is due to the tax he has to pay, as I believe for your first two years you get a preferriential tax rate in Italy. That is why he was so keen to leave in the first place as he was about to be taxed up the arse. I also believe that a 'pay cut' in Italy would still result in similar take home pay for him as he gets at Chelsea. All in all, we have to be realistic. He was an absolute disaster from the get go, I called it day one. Now the situation is just about avoiding the worst outcome, which is him here next season pointing like a statue and rocking the boat and then being stuck with him for four more years'. What really needs to happen is that the person who sanctioned this has to leave. I have seen some tweets that Granny may go in the shake-up in the boardroom. Personally, I place quite a lot of blame on her as whilst she may not have done the scouting she should've known the financial implications of this deal and also had enough knowledge of football to understand that he was a potential/guaranteed worse signing than Kepa, Baka, Drinky, Torres etc; all deals she should've been aware of.

Personally, I am expecting big things from Kai next season. He has shown good progress since he has been here and now just needs to get the consistency together. I know a lot of people see him as a £70m player and that means he should've performed from day one, but he came in so young and has been moved around a lot/misunderstood I don't think that is necessarily the right way to view him. Imo, he is the kind of player like KdB was at his age, where everything is there, you just need him to get the consistency (which takes time/faith.) As for a CF, if this season has shown us anything it is that we don't really need a pure No.9. To win the PL at the moment you need a line that presses as a unit and like mad men. Obviously, taking chances has to improve but you most certainly need the former first. If I were in charge, I would personally take a hard look at Jesus. He isn't perfect or elite but he would slot in nicely imo and give us an option until someone else either takes the place or turns up in the market.

From what I have read about Barca for the last year and a half, I would say this isn't to out there. I am not sure if it is quite $500m bad but they will need a cash injection and sell someone like FDJ to be able to sign players to relatively big time wage deals. This is why they cannot get an agreement with Dembele (he is wanting super wages) and they are shopping in the bargain bin in the transfer market.

FDJ is a model pro, he isn't going to say anything else and will want it to be clear if he leaves it is because he had to owing to Barca needing the dollar.

Loan him to someone else or accept a low fee. Either way he cannot be here next season. Obviously not a great situation but sometimes you need to take the hit to save yourself from a bigger hit down the line. I mean, we keep him, then it'll not just be the £100m hit, but a £100m hit with 4 x years of £350k+ a week plus the Drama.

JT was a elite CB and the best CB of the past 20 years. Anyone saying anything else just has an axe to grind or doesn't know enough about football. As for JT the man, he does leave quite a bit to be desired which is why be probably won't ever be a manager, even though he would probably be good at it. That is the cross he has to burden going forward.

I don't care if we have to loan Lukaku, we simply cannot have another season of him standing around pointing again and/or sitting on the bench posting tweets or doing silly interviews. Yeah, it isn't great, but I think we just need to lube up and accept the shafting on that one.