Pizy

Can’t even blame the player at all either. We’ve been dragging this on for ages at this point. It’s going to be all about Nkunku. If we can’t just finally fucking get Leipzig to take him we’ll still get Xavi. If not he’s going to Spuds. He will thrive under Frank and slot seamlessly into that team. Then we’d have to watch what we could’ve had for years to come. Cannot let that happen.

If we chase Xavi Simons for months and not only don’t get him but let him go to arguably our most hated rival then I don’t even know what to say.

Writing Gittens off as a complete bust after a couple of appearances is silly. Saying that he already looks underwhelming isn’t going over the top, though. Because most of us thought that before we even bought him. I’m sure he’ll be “okay” in the same way that Madueke was. Which for £55m is really stupid business.

The Jackson to Bayern stuff rumbles on. I just do not see how a loan does us any good this window. Even with an obligation to buy next summer. How does that help us buy this week?

It would be pretty fucked up if we’ve been negotiating for and telling Xavi all summer that we really want him, agreed personal terms with him, and had him rejecting a bunch of other big clubs so that he can come here and then we switch to Fermín instead at the last moment. Especially if we were to end up paying a similar price. If we had never been linked with Xavi Simons at all and Fermín was the first choice all along I’d be happy with him. But it would feel like a huge letdown for me personally if we don’t get Xavi now. I think he instantly slots in and hits the ground running and he reportedly really wants to play here. With Fermín you’re signing a player who’s probably super sad and reluctant to be leaving his boyhood club. Who knows how he’d take to the PL.

Just had a look over on Barcaforum to see what they think of Fermín Lopez. They’re mostly really against selling him and think the reported €50m is far too cheap.

Better for us he doesn’t stay in the league though, no? If he kills it at another PL club whilst Gittens struggles we’ll never hear the end of it.

Kinda crazy to me that things aren’t super “hot” so far this week and that we’re apparently going to leave things to the last minute.

Does kinda look funny how Fabrizio hasn't heard anything about us and Fermin whilst Ornstein has whilst Ornstein has never said anything about Xavi when Fabrizio talks about him constantly.

Looks like the opposite is happening. 🤦‍♂️ Garnacho is the priority rather than Xavi.

He plays very similarly to Xavi Simons to my eye. Likes to be heavily in the mix in that #10 area. Excellent technically and great in tight areas as you’d expect with a Barca product. If we weren’t after Simons you can absolutely see why we’d be interested in Fermin. He perfectly fits the profile. But for me Xavi is slightly better and I think suits moving to the PL easier.

You think United would agree to get scammed like that again? 🤣 They’re run by idiots but surely they aren’t that stupid!

Thing about Fermin is that he’d likely be in the same sort of situation here as he is at Barca. Someone who gets decent minutes but isn’t a starter. So in that case why leave your boyhood dream club? This is why I’m thinking the link is a pressure tactic to get Leipzig to soften their demands. Perhaps we also need Xavi to push more forcefully as well.

Fermin Lopez is a classy player for sure but what is going on? Trying to pressure Leipzig to lower their asking price for Xavi? They won’t get more than what we’re offering if they force him to stay. His contract is running down.

Since it’s Bayern that probably means loan, right? 😑

He absolutely is a project player in my eyes. In terms of ability, that is. You can just watch him so far in a Chelsea shirt and see he’s still raw and nowhere near the finished article. The silly price we paid for him doesn’t change that.

It would’ve been annoying yet at least tolerable if young Rio had decided to leave Chelsea and killed it in Italy or Germany or something. In that scenario we probably could’ve potentially bought him back in a few years. But to see him at a direct rival where he could blossom into a superstar for 15 years is gutting. Things are kind of breaking just right for him too since as @MoroccanBlue says, they have only Gakpo on the left and haven’t been able to sign the new LW that they had wanted. Had they done so he may have never gotten these opportunities and been sent on loan. Stuff like this is always going to happen though sadly. When you have such a crazy good academy there will always be future stars who get away. For every Reece James, Colwill, or Chalobah there’s a Musiala, Olise, or Rio who gets away. Its kinda fucking annoying that we have produced some great defensive players that have made it as first team regulars but haven’t had a single attacking prospect become a superstar.

He’s more talented than both that’s for sure.

Jammy, lucky motherfuckers

You’ve been bang on about Konate for ages, @Vesper He's Disasi like in terms of composure and concentration.

That seriously fucks Newcastle even more, wow. He is their best non Isak attacker probably and now misses the next 3, yes? They'll be even more desperate in the market this week now. Offer them Jackson for £70m!

Newcastle need Nico Jackson ASAP!

Newcastle completely dominating Liverpool first 30 minutes but can’t finish to save their lives without a striker. If Isak was playing they could’ve scored 3 at this point.

I think we all were saying before we bought him that we massively overpaid for Gittens. Still such a strange deal for that much money. I guess this is where the Garnacho deal actually could work out despite me not rating him either. Could take some pressure off Gittens until he settles in since he’s PL experienced.

Wonder if it’s possible to negotiate/convince UEFA that a good faith effort was put forth with these players and that loan deals will suffice when trying to comply with this punishment. Because that seems to be the only thing we are receiving from every single club interested in our players. Loan offer after loan offer. As long as their are buy obligations I wonder if UEFA would go for it.