Pizy

Yeah, I’m not blaming him a bit here. Some of our fans are calling him an idiot for rejecting us but it’s just smart from a business POV. He’s young enough that he’s got plenty of time for a big move.

I’m thinking this was his plan all along. He used us to get his new £100k per week contract.

We need to get a wide attacker in the mould of the ones Liverpool keep signing. Salah, Mané, Jota, Diaz. Wide attackers that are hyper aggressive and all about trying to score rather than create. Olise wasn’t that. Never understood why we’d be after a player who is best known for crosses and long passes when we need someone to put chances away. Especially one who was injured.

If true, Reece’s biggest asset (his monstrous frame) is also his biggest liability. Being built like a tank is what allows him to dominate almost anyone in physical duels but there’s also a reason why you don’t see many footballers in his position at that size. Because all that muscle is prone to injury. Here’s to hoping it’s not serious again.

As I’ve said for days here, I was VERY skeptical about buying a long term injured player who even when fully fit didn’t score goals. We need a goal scoring attacker before the window closes who can contribute from the day he signs.

And just as I post that the Palace CEO announces that Olise HAS INDEED signed a new contract. Wow. So that’s that saga over with in mere days. I PRAY this latest Brennan Johnson rumor is bullshit. He’s terrible and nowhere near Chelsea quality. Just get Kudus!!!

Palace were clearly desperately hoping that no big clubs got word of that tiny release clause and in addition that his major injury he’s currently recovering from meant that they’d keep him and probably offer him a new contract. Now they’re flailing in panic and anger that they were dumb enough to have that clause. Big clubs “tap up” everyone all the time. It’s called business. Clubs talk to agents and gauge whether their clients would be interested in moving. That’s clearly what’s happened here like it does with EVERY transfer ever. Palace going to court and trying to prove that we personally called Olise or something is laughable.

Yeah, I don’t get this either. Wtf does Palace crying have to do with anything if we’ve triggered his clause? They should be angry at themselves for inserting such a low release clause.

Some of our fans are acting like Hall is a nailed on, guaranteed superstar. I just don’t see that in him. Looks like a very promising youngster like the many others we have. He doesn’t look like a Reece James or Levi Colwill level prospect where you can tell years in advance that they’ll be world class eventually.

Hall is definitely promising and I can see why it stings for a Cobham lad to leave. But just in recent seasons we’ve sold 2 other super highly rated fullbacks in Livramento and Lamptey. Have we really missed them? Nope. Will we actually miss Hall? IMO, I don’t think so. We’ve got Chilly, Maatsen,, Cucu for the time being and even Colwill who can play in the LB/LWB spot. And we’ve got 50 young midfielders. So tell me a scenario over the next few years where we say to ourselves “damn, if only we had Lewis Hall around still.”

Only thing that bothers me is WHO we’re selling him to. Hall himself I just don’t rate as much as some of our fans do. I’m seeing some big Chelsea accounts on Twitter going crazy as if we’re selling Salah or KdB again. He’s a promising lad but he doesn’t look a future world class player or anything. Wish were selling him to a small PL who we could simply go back to and re-buy if he becomes amazing. Instead, at Newcastle nobody is every going to get him since they’re the richest club in the world now and will be competing near the top 4 for good.

If he’s pushing to go and the club get £35m in pure profit what can we do? Tell him that maybe, possibly, if this, this, and that all fall into place you might get a chance next season? Sounds like he had his head turned as a boyhood Newcastle fan and sees his path to regular first team football clearer there. Which is true. It’ll be super annoying selling to a rival and especially if he plays very well, but I won’t lose sleep.

Just terminate his contract and let him walk like we did for Auba.

Maatsen is an actual fullback. So if we can somehow shift Cucu it should be him that stays, imo.

Well if the club are expected/planning for a potential transfer ban they damn sure better sign us a top class striker before that happens!

For someone slow he sure looks like our most dangerous attacking outlet and likeliest goal scorer pretty often. Could’ve score a couple of times against Liverpool last weekend. His recovery pace defensively can be suspect but that’s anyone who’s playing wingback due to the attacking positioning.

The Chilwell slander I repeatedly see from our own supporters on Twitter is insane. When fit he’s arguably the best LWB in the league and in a back 4 with top class midfielders in front of him I think he’ll do a great job as well. Not to mention he has become a genuine leader in the squad and is Vice Captain to Reece apparently. I’m seeing Chelsea fans angrily saying that we should sell Chilly rather than Hall. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ As @Mhsc mentioned above, it would indeed SUCK to lose Hall and we should do all we can to avoid letting him go to a direct rival like Newcastle, but where is his route to first team football here now? Midfield is completely loaded with quality and if Maatsen stays he’s more naturally a LB than Hall is. Even if we sold Cucu he’d still have Chilly and Maatsen in his way. We probably have to reluctantly let him go but I think a buy back or at the very least a first refusal option should be negotiated.

After the preseason he’s just had I think Poch would request he’s kept if the board ask. If the club can find a destination for Cucu I would think Poch would rather let him leave than Ian. Maatsen for me has “instant regret” written all over him if we were to sell him. Has absolutely everything you want in a modern fullback. If he were to go to a smaller PL club and replicate the season he had last year with Burnley you’d have City or one of the other Big 6 offering £50-60m for him. The club should be currently shopping Cucu around all of Europe right now. Preferably a club that we aren’t directly competing with like Newcastle.

Maatsen should absolutely be extended and kept. Yeah, I don’t get it either. With our new look midfield and a more aggressive, pressing style the goalkeeper should be under much pressure most games. So Sanchez should be more than good enough as our #1 this season. We just played against one of the most lethal attacks in all of football with Gallagher as the DM and a defense that have literally never played a game together before and Sanchez didn’t have to sweat much after the opening 25 minutes. He had a couple of sloppy passes but that’s to be expected. He showed immediately in that first match with some catches of corners what he gives us that Kepa didn’t.

I doubt it. Any fee we get at all would be a bonus at this point. Anyways, I see this morning that Liverpool have turned their attention to Doucoure of Palace in their desperate search for a DM. I wonder if us quickly wrapping up Olise could fuck them over again. Palace losing so many of their best players in one summer may be too much for their owners to sanction. Zaha, Olise, and Doucoure all going? Hope they demand £90m from Liverpool.

The fee we’re asking now for Ziyech must be super low after all that’s happened. Probably be almost giving him away just so his wages and the headache are away from the club.

Yeah, Oli would be perfect if he was 3-4 years younger. There’s gotta be someone similar to him when we bought him out there for us.

Is there a 30+ year old striker out there somewhere who is still clinical and hungry to challenge themselves at a top club? We could do with that even if it’s a loan. That way we can have a stopgap and then reassess the striker market a year from now.

When Jackson is already a young and relatively unproven striker I’m can’t imagine Poch would want to keep this kid Washington here.

This is all happening so fast that it’s hard to really appreciate just how unprecedented it is to completely and totally rebuild an entire midfield in the span of 6 months. And not just any rebuild but one that sees us signing 3 of the best young midfield talents in Europe. Imagine telling a Chelsea fan a year ago that J5, Kante, Kova, and RLC would all go in such a short period and we’d replace them all nearly instantly.