Tomo

He's (Ake) is not close to as bad as people are making out (as City's delight with him staying shows) but yeah £50m was far too much and I'm glad we've walked at that price.

Not really, he is non existent in attack. At a push a squad player for RCB.

Wingbacks often do venture into the middle of the pitch in this system. It may sound far fetched but is it any more so than Milner and Delph playing fullback?

With Maatsen and Alonso leaving I'm trying to convince myself he may be tried as an inverted wingback.

At the risk of sounding pedantic it will be the Kimpembe (who only plays in his position) transfer that will likely be what loses him not Ake (who can play in multiple positions). Also I keep hearing this "strengthen a rival who will buy a better player with the cash" but the main reason Ake struggled for game time is because they have three bonafide world class centre backs (yes that includes Stones) getting in a 4th will leave one of said world class centre backs seriously short of gametime and potentially causing a locker room issue (a City fan signed up to the Shed End and explained the situation in detail on the Ake thread).

This has given me a little bit of hope.

I wasn't that bothered about Tomori and Guehi but yeah Colwill would be unforgivable. Only slight justification would be if we start challenging hard for the big two immediately.

If K2 is going to be RCB (I know he was left for Napoli but Rudi was a lot on the right for Roma but he adapted fine to the left) then I think there's room for both. My opinion on Ake will be pending the price and how it affects Levi.

I'm sure we'd all be happy if Colwill created the 3rd most open play big chances per 90 out of the whole PL like Callum did but sadly I can't imagine it from CB.

This year it's PL proven if he went out and showed he could handle this league on loan at say Southampton the next argument will be he's not proven here. Sometimes (like with James) it's just too obvious. FYI I'm not even against signing Ake aslong as the price is right, there's room for both. But what if we had that mindset with James, Mount and even Trevoh to an extent? If Todd was demanding the title at all costs I could (somewhat) understand it but Tuchel is too good a manager to fail at top four.

I'm usually far from someone who wants youngsters chucked in just because but Colwill is James 2019 level of next to sure thing.

Colwill is the key for me, aslong as there's a pathway for him that matters the most this summer.

If you want us to shop in the same market at this club you need need prepare yourself for this to happen more than it doesn't. We could have gone for Lenglet, Vieira Richarlison etc and already have had them through the door "nice and early".

And what's the alternative build around them and make constant excuses/allowances for them like United do with Maguire? Accountability is why we can recover from a relative crisis reasonably quickly.

All but two of those players listed were absolutely shit for us and all but two have been since. I can think of many reasons top class footballers won't want to sign for Chelsea but a bunch of shit players being held accountable for their performances I very highly doubt will be one of them.

Who?

So why are you holding Raphina's preferrence on TT? My point exactly.

Kaka choose Real Madrid over reuniting with Carlo here, Neymar rejected us under Carlo, Gerrard rejected peak Jose twice, young Torres rejected peak Jose to go and play for a vastly inferior Liverpool, Pogba rejected us with Jose here.

Is it any more of a risk than a number 9 with questionable at best suitability to TT's tactics? Last summer i was cautious about even Haaland for that very reason. Kai up front facilitates us playing football the way TT prefers which allows for great team performances even when the German is having a poor game in himself (case in point Real away), a new striker that we have to start everygame could fuck up the tactical dynamics again even if he scores the expected amount never mind pulls a Lukaku.

Go all in on Kai at false 9. Let's learn from our error of last summer. By all means get a decent striker who we can use to mix things up a bit when required but it's no coincidence the last three Champions have used the f9 system.

That's a bit unfair. Joe Cole actually got relegated for West Ham but he did ok when we got him. Andrew Robertson got relegated twice yet look at him now.

For me he's much better than Pulisic in everything but finishing but that one's for another day. I feel he gets an overally harsh press in our fanbase. I got it to a point under Lampard but whenever he's had a solid 5-10 game run of starts under Tuchel he's performed (barring his finishing which will likely never be top notch but hopefully Sterling and Havertz will offset that going forward). Our best form of last season he was starting regularly and was our best in the front three, and then was unfairly sidelined again after one so so game vs United only to then come up with crucial contributions against Villa, Spurs and the CWC final before the injury that took him out for the season.

If we miss out on both I'd give Callum (3rd highest for open play key passes and big chances created ITL last season) a strong run on that side. I think he would suit a front three involving Kai and Sterling well and him and Reece have unbelievable chemistry.

He's played in fluid and high pressing/energy teams for pretty much his whole career. All bar one of his season's as a full time EPL player have been under either Brendan or Pep. On paper he's a perfect fit although i'm slightly paranoid about City fans feeling he's not been as good last two years.

On an actual maybe like Maatsen or even Broja i'd agree but Colwill is Reece 2019 levels of next to certainty. I was basing my post on the rumours assumption TT wants to revert to back 4 as @MoroccanBlue touched up on. Apologies should have made that clearer.