Mhsc

I don't really buy this idea that Conte is desperate to get Lukaku. Osimhen is already his perfect striker, perhaps even more suited to his style of play than Lukaku, at a better age and without all the problems Romelu brings. Conte might back himself to get value out of Lukaku for a year or two, but I'm sure it wouldn't be his ideal setup. Much bigger risk than just continuing with Osimhen, and Conte very much likes a sure thing because he is a winner first and foremost.

Every Saudi take over is a good opportunity to flog some expensive stuff. Maybe we can get them to take on Sterling...

Sesko very different to the rest, totally different physique and athleticism and had upside potential that I don't see in the rest. In terms of squad building I do think Sesko was the most interesting player we've looked at so far as an alternative to NJ to play up top - maybe as a player he is not any better than the rest, but in terms of what he would add to our squad I saw him as more relevant than the rest. A lot of the other options I hear touted don't really impress me more than the idea of just letting Nkunku compete with NJ. The Alvarez option was the other interesting one to me. Of all the rumours I've heard all summer (for all semi believable transfer rumours for any position), only Alvarez and Olise immediately slot into our XI and improve us over night imo. Other than that its just players who might give us some extra depth in case of injuries and who knows, maybe over time could earn the right to be a starter.

It only makes sense if you assume that inflation of transfer fees will continue and not slow down. Then there is minimal risk and lots of upside potential in buying these players, as even if they don't improve you'll sell them for a profit in a few years. Continued inflation on fees can only really come from letting more and more Saudi billionaires buy football clubs though I'd imagine.

Jonathon David nice option to have in the squad, especially with the injury record of Nkunku. Not convinced he is an immediate starter or displaces anyone in our best XI though.

£200k+ base pw for Olise was too much imo, we have Sterling/Reece James on silly money but otherwise have done a fantastic job at bringing the wages in order. I agree with the clubs approach on wages. I have admired Olise for a long time but wouldn't break the wage structure for him. We are not desperate. Find it kind of hilarious how much everyone on twitter is panicking and saying the club is an embarrassment. They went after a good player and he chose to take early retirement on big money. It is what it is, can't blame the lad for taking the bag but personally I'm happy we're not that club.

Hence you'll see in my post I suggested he goes to Italy 😉

Just as Chilly only looked competent as a wingback when we played 3 ATB (even then imho he was overrated a bit), Cucu only looked competent when used as a fullback that tucks into midfield. Very different players with very different specialities and play styles. I don't really see Chilwell having a future with us and it is not really clear where he can have a future because who is playing 3 ATB with wingbacks these days? He is imo a poor LB and an atrocious LW, as he can't play or receive under pressure and he does not have the pace, acceleration, skill or intelligence to defend or attack effectively 1v1. He was only good when playing a very specific role that was sort of between the two where he could be a spare man with time and space on the ball, similar to Alonso when we had him, where defensive weakness was covered and both had good enough left foots they could be dangerous if allowed to pop up unmarked. Cucu I think genuinely can have a decent future with us, Chilly I don't know what he can do now, his career basically feels finished to me in England, maybe he could have a good run playing in Italy and still have a bit of a career.

Dortmund bottled that hard. Good luck Maatsen. Feels like about the right level for him.

Plus recent transfer windows have been insane with us over spending and being too desperate. We're in a different situation now with the squad mostly built.

The main argument against these no-names with minimal goal records imo is actually Broja, a player who I've argued is not good enough and probably never will be for Chelsea. I am no scout but I don't really see with any clarity that these targets are better than Broja. He also has amazing physical attributes. Duran to be fair looks like potentially an epic finisher on his left foot which might be an asset. But Fofana aint too bad at finishing is he, if that's all we want?

It is hard to imagine a worse player for a slow build up positional system where intelligence from the forwards is key. And what about how he betrayed the club and his teammates? And the manager? And that he is the least professional person we've ever had in the squad? Or that he is constantly overweight and unfit? Or that it has been years since he was any good, even then only in a very direct style of football? This is the worst idea we've had in this thread in the last 1000 pages or so imo.

So much disrespect on NJ as if top strikers always bang in their first season in PL Don't understand it myself. I've been humbled so many times by players that looked like they had something but weren't quite delivering, that I wrote off, that then turned out to be world class. Even Suarez had a frustrating start at Liverpool, being wasteful in front of goal, and people had basically written him off when he established himself as one of the most dangerous players in the world.

I am kinda happy to see a link to a literal who that I've never heard of. But his stats do not excite. Underperformed his XG and doesn't have good stats in... anything?

I agree unless we're going after some kind of phenominal beast that can do a VVD to Liverpool esque transformation to us. I am not aware of such a player that is a realistic transfer.

What's everyones thoughts on Guirassy at €17.5m? Might be a one season wonder? With Sesko off the market, at that price, it has to be tempting no?

Personally I have this deep seated unshakeable feeling there is a world class ball playing goalkeeper out there available for <£20m that just isn't in the right team / league to have grabbed the attention they deserve yet, I just don't know that we have the people to find them. It seems like we're pretty good at finding outfield players but have a blindspot at finding top talent at CB/GK. For me it is still the only totally missing piece in the puzzle. The GK needs to be as good as a ball playing CB with the ball at his feet and while ours have a level of competency I just can't see THAT level from any of them, or even close. And the system is only as good as its weakest link, if we don't get it sorted it will hold the whole team back for another season until they "have had time to identify it as a problem and resolve it" aka the curse of swapping managers yearly.

Sorry bro I've always been a 20 second man, what can I say?

It says that group are exceptions, everyone else is open for sale. Hilarious Mason Mount isn't on the list, I bet he's gutted. Terrible for his PR.

Forgot Olise is a proper London boy, that should help us a lot. Honestly might be an us vs Arsenal situation.

I don't really believe in any of this player trading stuff. For FFP reasons we want to buy and sell players in completely separate transactions surely. When was the last time anyone heard of a cash+player swap deal? I think it makes virtually no sense these days. Of course we could be open to selling them a player that we're comfortable selling, at fair market value. But that would have been the case anyway, you'd imagine.

If you took the reality of injury records out of that team it would certainly look like a side that could play some damn good football.

Utd might not be offering out fat contracts under new ownership. Doubt Arsenal or Liverpool will go crazy on salary. If City go in for him obviously it should just all be over, he'd be amazing for them and they would happily chuck him £250k pw.

I do think the scouts should get a BIT more trust than we're giving them, after picking up Cole Palmer, Gusto, and Nicolas Jackson as little known and affordable options that turned out to be really quite promising players (to say the least). Most of our horror signings really predate the current setup. They have obviously not excelled at CB or GK so far but otherwise most of the signings they have brought in with the intention they would actually be in the squad as serious options for the year are looking very promising and ended the season strongly. If they (especially Joe Shields) have a hard on for Duran then I would get behind the lad and see what he can do when he's in. May well surprise a lot of people.