nadavTKL

Was already reported in France in the last two days.

We cant really know who's to blame. Could be Mourinho, could be the board... anyway i dont think the fault is with Marina, as far as i know she only negotiate to close the deals, our real problem this summer was not having alternatives for CM and CB. Marina is not in charge of naming transfer targets, its Mourinho. So the questions are if he did it and how, and what did the board say about those names. We signed Cesc, Costa and Matic with Marina so i dont know how bad she was in closing deals...

Axel Witsel: "Zenit told me I couldn't leave. Even not for €70m. It's a pity as I hoped to leave, but I understand their decision."

In the end of last season i wanted 3 new players: RW (starter), CB (starter/squad player), CM (starter/squad). RW - Pedro happend very late, probably after the board panicked from the awful start, but im happy about the signing, think he's going to be very important for us. The negative part is the age, and the excuse is the limited market for top wingers. 8/10 CB - Dont know those two random CBs, the chance of them succsiding is better than nothing but its a pure guess by the club. The board acted strangly here, we chased Stones for a long time like he's the only CB we want (and if not him then no one), then it looks like the start of the season made them realise we HAVE to get a fast CB, so they throw all those late naive bids for 3-6 players reportedlely. Strange things can happen, and one of our new CBs can be the new Varane, but thats not good enough. 2/10 CM - Seems like we only pushed for Pogba, while i believe we're one of few clubs who asked about Koke and got turned down by him. Dont know what happend behind the scenes, who decided what, but the bottom line is that you got to have alternatives. A CM was a must. Ramires and Mikel are not good enough, and Matic-Cesc partnership is far from the real deal. We needed a box-to-box CM who can play next to Matic-Cesc in the big games or every game, we needed depth, we didnt got it. 0/10 (The scores based only on my point of view of 'what we need', i dont know what the club really intended to do this summer) To conclude we have to hope that our CBs and CMs/CAMs will contribute more than expected. But i have to say that the bigger hope is that Mourinho will start working with this squad, try new things and do some changes. Because our current form has nothing to do with new players coming or not. Its because of very poor handling by Mourinho since January IMO. I was ok with playing ugly from January to May just to win the league, dont mind that too much because i only wanted us to win the title, but i expected Mourinho to lift the squad immediately in the start of a new season, maybe do couple of things differently. * Of course there are also Begovic (seems like a great 2nd GK to have), Falcao (no big difference from Drogba probably) and Baba (I'll wait on him, wanted Luis to stay but Baba looks like a talent so lets see),

lol just watching Sky... Reporter 1: "I honestly dont think Stones wanted to move to Chelsea" Reporter 2 : "But he did hand in a transfer request..." Reporter 1: "No, i dont care about that, i have no interest in that"

Avram Grant's agent.

Got owned by...?

Last season the Fernandinho-Yaya partnership was awful for most part. It really depends on Yaya and his energy level.

First of all i meant the entire midfield, not just centrally. But, its very misleading what you did here... If you put KDB in "Central Midfield" you should do the same with Oscar and even Willian. CIty are playing the same 4-2-3-1 as us and KDB is an AM, like Oscar. Demchelis played DM a few times? and what about Zouma? And where is Ramires? not a CM in your books? This post makes you look like you have an interest, or you're just too grumpy about the club right now. Although i respect your opinion that City have the best midfield in the league.

They have exactly 22 players, 2 in each position. How is it too deep? Their depth in defense is very impressive, but their depth in midfield is not much better than ours imo.

Its just frustrating that squad-wise clubs that were on par with us last season (more or less), like PSG and City, are now above us, at least if City's signings will show their worth. PSG is a fucking dream team right now. Few days ago i thought we're certain to bring a CB and a CM, or at least one of them... hard to see it happening right now. Thats all we really need, those two quaility players (and playing like a normal team but thats a different subject). I thought the club got panicked enough to run with the money and bring two more. Its obvious the club wanted a CB (Stones, Varane) and a CM (Pogba), but they handled the alternatives so poorly it seems. Im really curious to know how it went, were there even any alternatives given by Mourinho? did he told the board "I want Pogba (Or Koke i guess), if not then X, Y, Z" OR did he just said "If not Pogba or Koke than nobody, i have my Ramires". And when it comes to CB, i dont think we had alternatives, it was a young future CB or nothing IMO. Then they panicked because of the horrible start of the season and went for Abdennour and such. Im praying the club already have something almost wrapped up. Getting started again two weeks from now with two new players might give us a push. Without it im pessimistic about any title hopes. Im sure CIty will have their slump after a great start, but we need to be there when it happens, if we wont they're going to walk it like we did last season or even more comfortably.

Sounds like a typical 'Chelsea Hijack' at the last minute, until it didnt work. In general, i think Mourinho went to this summer wanting only Varane, and if not him so Stones, as the "Ultimate Future CB". Then the season started and he saw his defense is shambolic, in present. IMO thats the reason to those late tries for Abdennour, Marqinuos, maybe Garay.

If pogba would have come he'll play instead of Willian/Oscar.

We need a manager, we dont have one right now. Pogba would make ZERO difference as long as the team playing like that.

Who cares?

It went like this with Gundogan this summer: 1. A statment that he leaves Dortmund. 2. Rumors about United, Bayern and Barcelona. 3. No one closed the deal. 4. Rumors in Spain about him asking for ridiculous wages / Suggestions that he was just failing medicals. 5. New contract in Dortmund.

Would need a serious u-turn by him and Dortmund right now... he looks settled in the team again.

Not true. Juventus rejected the second offer from Bayern.

Seriously, who really cares about this deal? I just cant get excited about it. For me Stones can turn into a world class CB and can also turn into a huge flop. If Mourinho wants another CB in the squad he will get one this week, and maybe a better CB than Stones right now. If its just the chance to get Stones, big deal, so we'll find a different "Future Terry replacement" next summer.

YESSSS Chelsea in Tel Aviv! I had that feeling

Witsel and Moutinho. Thats enough options for CM, if we wanted one of them. But i dont think we are.

If we want to sign Pogba it means we can spend around the same numbers of City this summer.

He said multiple times he wants to stay in Atletico and end his career there, he rejected Barca last summer and im sure he rejected more clubs (including us) this summer. If it was a possible move Koke wouldnt be in Atletico right now.

Thats from earlier today... havent seen someone posted it. According to L'Equipe 21 journalist, Michael Lefebvre, Chelsea have joined the race for Aymen Abdennour. (via @MIKL06)

Pogba was City's number one target this summer. Also Barcelona's. Pogba is a much, much complicated issue and a much more desired player in Europe. City didnt really had any competition for KDB.