King Kante

Well, I didn't go to bed for quite that long but I did think I'll leave it for a while to allow Lukaku to show all his fabulous abilities that he learnt in Italy to shine through that you were so confident about. How is that going for you? Enjoying the statuesque performances where he stands in position pointing to where he wants the ball played, rather than, you know, moving the line by making off the ball runs so the AM's/CM's can actually play him in and give the AM's an opportunity to run off their markers? Really that crazy? I mean what goal or game has he played where we can say he has played really well against a top side (a skill that he had apparently learnt in Serie A?) I mean my whole issue with him was that beating up the likes of Zenit and Villa didn't make a €100m signing. From what I have seen so far he has been pocketed by VDV (even in the first half before we went down to 10 men), Dias and the Juve pair (i.e. the only decent CB's he has really come up against) then had pretty much the same sort of games as Giroud and Tammy had against the others. Only goal you can maybe say he got other than those two was his second against Villa when the game was already won. Additionally, last time I checked Giroud was outscoring Lukaku in Serie A on a minute to goal ratio and that was with Lukaku taking penos.

Lukaku's first touch is pretty poor, thus I have evidence for the reference. Juan's only interactions with people on here is through odd posts here and there and he has no idea of what they're like in real life.

Oh, no! Juan is upset about people talking bad about signing a donkey* he likes for €130m. We had all better watch out! He sounds really big and scary typing away on his keyboard calling people names and trying to psycho analyse them. * In football, especially in the United Kingdom, a player who is considered unskilful is often dubbed a "donkey",[35] and the term has a similar connotation in poker https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_references_to_donkeys

For €130m? Yes. When you spend the sort of money that we are on Lukaku, you're pretty much all in on him for five years. At Utd, he had a good first four-six months then was largely crap as people knew how to deal with him in that system. Expect something similar. Some people on here are are getting bamboozled by him stat padding by scoring tap ins at Inter.

Honestly, I'd would have preferred to have kept Giroud or even give Tammy another year.

You can if you see 2015 to now as a whole instead of isolating 2017 and shifting it to Conte. Barring last season the club have been pulling this nonsense for six years now.

Lukaku when he isnthe biggest and fastest player on the pitch: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9NiumzzcmEI

Torres wasn't worse than Kepa. He was bad but Kepa is the all time winner in the worst signing stakes. £72m with £170k a week for seven years for a funsized GK with T-rex arms who is essentially a training cone when shots are placed in a corner has no equal.

Me if Lukaku signs:

Apart from City and the Dippers, who gives us open space to run into in the PL?

Take away last Summer and the club have been an absolute disaster (if this happens) in the transfer market since the end of the 2015 season.

If we are going to a back four we better not be thinking of playing Kounde in that.

Fairs, I didn't see that.

To me it reeks of a 2015-18 signing.

Mount may be pushed back to the Pivot which may explain the lack of bids/news on a CM. Not sure this will work but it may be being considered.

Yeah, against the low to mid rank sides. He always disappears in big games as his weaknesses are so obvious. Honestly see TT having an aneurysm watching him playing upfront.

If I bump into Granny, I am recreating this sceen: https://youtu.be/DDLpKrTVJKc

He is the same as ever. Just that he now plays in a worse league so his touch doesn't look that bad. £100m on him at this point is madness.

He does look older than he is, but he was born in Belgium so faking his age is a lot harder to do than in some other countries.

Indeed, I can't see someone from Dortmund running into their boardroom, phone in hand with Law's article, shouting "sell, sell, sell..........you never guess what Chelsea are about to do if we don't budge! Their going to call our bluff and buy Lukaku for £100m! 😨😨😨😨😨"

For me it is pretty clear that the board since around 2007 have had a policy of scouting/picking the players with the manager getting one pick (maybe two at times), and particularly post 2012. An example of this would be Jorgi for Sarri, Chilwell for Lampard, Torres for Ancellotti, Robinho (failed) for Scolari, Costa for Jose (Cesc may have been a pick but not sure as Jose hasn't ever really gone for many Cesc type players.) AVB's I think was meant to be Rodriguez (or whoever that FB from Porto was that we didn't get.) Additionally, I see no real change in transfer strategy from pre-Conte to Conte's regin to post-Conte (bar last Summer which was kind of like 03-06 again) if you look at the age demographics of the players. If you scan the period from 2012-18 we seemed to have a policy of primarily using funds for players u26, then adding the odd experienced player via buyout/gentleman's agreement (Luiz, Cesc, Pedro) or using a loan/emerangy buy when desperate (Giroud, Pato, Higuain.) Personally, I really don't see the majority of the signings under Conte as being any different to what went before and after. It was more that the players brought were just bad and he was a lighting rod because of how he carried on in his second season. I mean the season before Conte we went on a spree to buy Baba, Hector, Papy and Pedro (the buyout/gentleman's agreement buy) with loans for Falcao and Pato then after he left, we went to buy the biggest dud of all in Kepa. The idea that 2017 was all on Conte doesn't really wash with me as we were still making disastrous decisions either side of him. I mean, lets's be real, if we go out and buy Lukaku at 28 for £100m, when he clearly doesn't fit the managers style of play (the irony of doing this now when Conte clearly wanted him in 2017 is not lost), how is the strategy been different in anyway? Some people point to players coming from Italy, but their are numerous examples of us buying from one location at points - Belgium 2012, Spain 2015-2016, France 2016-18 (think we brought just as many players from France as Italy during Conte's time) etc. If people want to complain about how Conte behaved in his second season, I don't really mind (as whilst I have sympathy for him in that the club weren't providing him with the players he wanted) he did give up and appeared to behaving in a manner to get himself sacked to get his payout.

Well what could he do with some of them? Who was behind Baka and Morata if they weren't picked?

Yeah, but the club gave him Morata instead. Kind of sums up why I find it amazing so many people think Conte was directing the transfers. Personally, Lukaku in Conte's counter attack system makes sense, in Tuchel's counter attacker/high press one it makes no sense.

Wants to leave England.

If we buy Lukaku for £100m, I don't ever want to hear again that Summer 2017 was on Conte when since then we have brought Kepa for £72m and then potentially doing this.