LDN Blue

Well Kaejr is 27 which the latter two are 21 and 20 respectively. So I see where you're coming from, he can be a good stopgap until those two come to full maturity. However coming from the Turkish league I don't think he'll be preferred to the younger and more physically intimidating Koulibaly. Quick google search on the Dane shows Arsenal with a strong link to them, but I'm still unsure if Mustafi actually rejected them or not. This guy had bags of potential when he was in his early 20s.

I really hope we see a lot of him this season! His experience in Serie A must surely be a good asset for Conte, having had a chance to see him first hand at Napoli.

Forum's been quite slow to load initially and even browsing through it generally. All other websites on my browser load up quite quickly and the contrast is quite amazing. Didn't think this would be the case so early in the season?

I remember when Kjaer first came on the scene as one of the most sought out young defenders in the game , he was one of the famous Palermo hot boys so maybe @calculatingInfinity can give us some more information on when he was there. Surprised when he then signed for Wolfsburg over all the rumoured parties chasing him. How he's ended up at Fenerbahce since is somewhat of a mystery lol.

I guess the David Luiz jokes have run their course now, step up Kalidou Koulibaly Interestingly enough he is rated this highly in Serie A. Browsing around yesterday I saw many Serie A fans comment on how he was between 'top 5' 'top 2' and even some, not Napoli fans, that suggested he was on par with Bonnuci. I read his passing ability is actually incredible and so is capable of playing the ball into the channels for the running offensive players and he's comfortable playing it out from defence. They generally agree £60m does not match his valuation but in the days where we've seen Higuain and Pogba go for above £80m it's the cost of football's inflation. I'm easy on this. Though £60m will make his performances go under a microscope, it wasn't long ago City made Mangala the highest valued defender in the world and he was quickly discarded without much recourse. It's not like we don't have a billionaire financing us - even if he is financing a brand new Stadium also. Plus knowing the way things have gone this summer, it's probably going to be somewhere like £45-50m + Add-ons that eventually culminate close to £60m. You'd have thought we'd have an easier time with Napoli after we'd sent them Chalobah, but I guess in the grand context who is Nat to Kalidou..

General pessimism mostly. I see either the German club buying him outright or us sending him elsewhere for any number of unexplained reasons. Look forward to being proved wrong however..

Feel absolutely sorry for Ayew because he's a good player for sure. However, LMAO WEST HAM!! HAHAHAHAHA!! After declaring they wanted a world-class striker and being knocked back by Michy, Lacazette, Bacca, Ibra (apparently..) they finally sign someone and he's out for the rest of the year . For all our nonsense at least players aren't rejecting us (hasn't Mustafi knocked Arsenal back?!).

You're assuming this club is sane enough to a. Recall Christensen and integrate him & b. We don't sign someone to replace all 3 anyway! ..I admire your optimism but don't share it

The way I see it, the biggest complaint fans have at the moment is Hazard doesn't have enough creative and world-class players around him to help his own attacking prowess. If we sign Rodriguez who I think everyone can say is just shy if not world class already, then we have a very strong trio in Costa; Hazard & Rodriguez. Willian will also slide into this offensive united and so it looks quite powerful. However I totally agree with @Gilvorak. Don't see him as a Conte player in this system. He's okay with Costa, Hazard and Willian staying forward and not have to do too much defensively due to that compact midfield of Kante, Matic and Oscar. If we sign Rodriguez you'd imagine he'd be placed in a CM role and would struggle in that sense.

Nah I meant Lukaku lol. I'd rather pay £55m for James than £70m for Lukaku.

Mate, when we're linked to a £48m 25 year old defender, a £70m 23 year old striker.. I'd say this is quite cheap

I make this point often IF he is so good and IF he is so cheap then it begs the ultimate question, why has 'no-one signed him yet?'. At least when it was Luke Shaw people were more informed from watching the lad play for Southampton, England and United. Rodriguez's evaluation seems to come off a solid 2014 World Cup campaign that he had. As you said, he's good but you'd think he was Roberto Carlos' heir

Ah yes, TalkChelsea's favourite left-back .

I have to disagree to be honest. The longer it take to make this signing, the longer the guy's going to need to adapt to the league and properly get his footing. Not to mention with the panic that's attached to buying on deadline day, we're pretty much going to make Koulibaly more expensive than Stones . I mean it does help we only play Watford, Bristol Rovers & Burnley until the window closes, but you see what I mean. I can't comment on the guy's skills/ability, haven't seen him play. But I do find it slightly amusing that his name hasn't been mentioned in the past, for all the hype he's receiving. To only begin getting noticed at 25 strikes me as strange, not that I'm saying he's already too old lol. But the reason City signed Stones for £50m was as much to do with the fact he's 22 than the fact he's English or his perceived ability.

I know it was a poorly executed challenge in the end, but he certainly had the right to make the challenge. Adrian took far too long, thinking he had the control of Neur (Pep, you watching?) and then quickly panicked as Costa came through. I can't say there was any malice there, it was a Costa trying to wind up/hurt Adrian. In that sense, his temper was in control. His yellow was deserved, players have been told refs will come down on players getting rude. Let's see how consistent these referees stay though.

Played as expected, new manager syndrome is still quite fresh. But I guess when referees are booking Kante 3 minutes into the opening PL game, the Serbian offers much more protection. If we're going into the season with Ivanovic, Cahill and Terry as 3/4 default defenders then Kante and Matic will have to start, we become far too exposed. What I did like about our shape on the ball was how much more of a licence our fullbacks had with being allowed to go forward. Ivanovic is still a credible threat from the side, in the sense he can take defenders away from the real danger men (Willian for example). Kante's will to feed the ball wide played well into those tactics. If we are back to getting additional width from our fullbacks then Matic becomes more important in making sure our centre backs who remain back are protected.

If we wait until deadline day to sign a defender.............

They've tried to sign him before to be fair.

What a man

Wasn't this the same season he hired, sacked, rehired and sacked the same manager?

We should've signed Bailly

Knowing our luck, a Kante own goal

Koulibaly is an IF until I see otherwise. Granted re Zouma, however I worry to what environment he returns to. Partnering Terry/Cahill with Zouma won't be the biggest problem, but I worry about then the pressure that's on Zouma to basically be so at the top of him game he can cover Terry/Cahill's own shortcomings. I guess it's a moot point if we do sign Koulibaly, but should we not and end up signing a sideman we're going to be incredibly fragile at the back..

Scoreline's hardly surprising for two teams looking defensively dire . Not sure why I'm laughing, like we're not going into the season with Ivanovic-Terry-Cahill.

I know it's only the beginning of the season, but I really do question what Klopp's plans for this team are. He says no excuses because it's his team now, but he still has Moreno & Henderson starting the first game of his season. He's recruited some good defenders and the Sakho-Klavern partnership should come to fruition sooner than later. But his number 1 left-back is Milner ffs, the only reason Moreno is playing is because JM is injured! Behind that defence is the same mistake-prone Mignolet & Henderson ahead of them. JH definitely isn't a CM that a team going for top 4 should have. He's not dynamic or disciplined enough to play that role. He's lucky he's got Coutinho who can produce moments of such magic. Firmino is still too inconsistent to rely on and I'm not really sure why Origi isn't playing if he's got all these pacey players like Wijnaldum & Firmino. I know he's good at getting the best out of shit players, but he's at Liverpool ffs. They should be making signings that mean neither Moreno or Milner is starting at left-back?!