Pizy

Looks absolutely dreadful to me. But many of them usually do until we see them actually being worn by the players.

I’m really warming to the idea of Rayan Cherki after being iffy last week. Been watching more and more footage of him lately. He has Hazard-like dribbling ability and is excellent at keeping the ball under pressure. Something we’ll really mid in the middle of the pitch with Kova leaving. The price would really reasonable for a player of his talent and age as well apparently. Feels like it’s just 3rd tier and Twitter rando’s linking us with him at the moment sadly. He’s a player we could go and sign tomorrow with zero problem if we wanted to.

Think about why he might me a little resentful and not super enthused at this moment in time. Last summer we binned him off for a 30+ year old Koulibaly without giving him a chance. Then in the very next transfer window we went out and signed another CB who has the same profile as he does (very young, left footed, ball playing CB who plays on the left). So he was probably thinking to himself “why would I return to Chelsea when there are two established left sided CB’s in my way when I can go elsewhere and start?” But at least now KK is gone so Colwill should legitimately feel that LCB spot is there for the taking. Plus Thiago will surely be retiring from European football after this season so he’ll be even more solidified in the team from next season on.

I mean, he’s under contract for effectively 3 more years, right? So he doesn’t actually have any leverage. He could be an absolute asshole and demand that he’s sold under any circumstances but we’d still have the final say.

Kolo Muani for me has the sort of skill set that would translate well in any league. I wouldn’t be concerned about him. Osimhen on the other hand I would be uneasy about spending £100+ million on.

That’s the vibe I get too. He probably thought he was ready for Chelsea last summer but we tossed him to Brighton as a favor to Brighton for Cucu. He then went on to have a very successful campaign there and is probably settled. At least I hope that’s all it is. Because with a new manager his situation can be improved. If this is another Mount situation and he’s had whispers in his ear from another massive team (Klopp at Liverpool in this case) then this can be a big problem.

Yeah, that was kinda cringe and a bit concerning, huh? Don’t know if it’s because he set roots down in Brighton and wants to stay there or he’s had his head turned by someone else. Up to Poch and the club to convince him about his place here.

The thing with Kepa is that he’s simply average. He’s not so bad that it’s a complete disaster if he’s our #1 for another season but at the same time it’s very anticlimactic because we could do much better. Seeing several of our rivals with keepers who can create goals from the keeper position and literally win them points whilst also being superb shot stoppers. Meanwhile, Kepa is extremely hit or miss with the ball on top of having severe weaknesses in specific scenarios like corners, crosses, and general command of his area.

Sure, may be worth a chance at like £40m or a season long loan with buy option next summer. You could spin that price positively because he’s still only 23 and may still realize his immense potential in a new team. But for £70m+? Nah. We can’t afford paying that for another striker that’s got a lot of risk attached to him. If we’re going to pay big money for another #9 we need to be 100% convinced that he’s going to be a hit.

Feels like these Italian news outlets get everything wrong. So hopefully this is yet another one they do.

Good. Put maximum pressure on both Inter and Lukaku. He absolutely cannot be allowed to come back to Cobham. If Inter don’t want to pay up then it’ll hopefully pressure him into accepting a Saudi deal. Inter are about to receive a nice payday from United for Onana so they can use that money to buy Lukaku for our asking price. Really though, why can’t we offer Lukaku + cash for Barella? A world class player right there that we don’t even appear to be trying for! 😩

Nintendo’s products are so absurdly popular that the thought of them needing to advertise on a football shirt is kind of silly. They’re also very conservative as a Japanese company and are tight as fuck with their money. I don’t think they’d pay some other entity tens of millions per year to use their logo.

Yeah, the hype seems a bit over the top right now. He looks very composed and mature for his age but he doesn’t scream sure-fire superstar to me. The talent is clearly there but we have to give him time. Lots of massive clubs have wanted him so they all see what he can become of developed properly.

Like Mudryk improving dramatically this season, I’m expecting Sterling to do the same. Don’t get people wanting him out. The agenda against him is weird. He can be a key player under Poch.

Should tell the cheeky bastards that if they send us De Jong permanently they can take Andrey on loan for the season.

Selling a player who hasn’t played a minute for us when the behind the scenes hype has been off the charts would be next level insanity. We’ve been seemingly desperate to get him to Cobham and amongst the squad since January when we failed to get his work permit. Even a loan there would be suicidal. A Brazilian going to Barca and becoming a star and then having to come back to his parent club? Good luck. It’s gotta be bullshit.

This is really weird, isn’t it? A very highly rated young player who has been linked with massive clubs transfers from one tiny French club to another small French club? He could’ve been an interesting fallback option for us.

Apparently he’s statistically one of the best ball playing keepers in Europe. I don’t have the stats on hand but it’s something I remember seeing recently. He’s no Ederson or Alisson, sure, but he will absolutely change the way United can play. And it’s a dimension Ten Hag can use that he couldn’t effectively last season. Like you, I’m fine with us not going for Onana. Think he’s really overrated. But I am kinda annoyed that we have comfortably the worst starting keeper amongst the big clubs. None of City, United, Arse, or Liverpool will have to worry about the keeper position any time soon while we on the other hand have to enter this season praying that Kepa is merely decent. Wish we could find our long term solution this summer. I quite liked the idea of Emi Martinez when we were linked months ago. But no chance a super ambitious club like Villa sell him to us.

United having a keeper that can actually pass out from the back and use his feet will definitely add a whole new dimension to their team. DDG was an amazing shot stopper for years but was woeful with his feet.

The speed of this clear out is crazy. You love to see it. I don’t have anything against Pulisic, though. If he was fit all the time I’d have kept him around for 1 more season. But he never is. He’s going to do very well at Milan if he does.

Poch is going to be speaking for the first time in about 15 minutes. Maybe he’ll mention what areas he’s looking to strengthen in. Give us a bit of encouragement.

Just wish there were some well connected journalists that could at least assure us that multiple plates are spinning simultaneously behind the scenes. That we’re actively speaking to clubs about transfers. Because right now it feels like we have our entire transfer team working on just Caicedo. And since that deal is dragging on and on we haven’t been doing other first team business. I thought for sure that this would be the week we’d announce a big transfer so the club could move past the bad PR with Mount. But looks like another dead week.

Quite rightly it seems like we’ll give him this season to see if he can be the player we bought from Brighton where he was great. He couldn’t have just become a shit player overnight. There’s a very good player in there and we should give him a chance.

If Caicedo were to go on and have another top season just like the one he just had I could put my hands up and say fair play to them for demanding Rice money next summer. He’ll then have proven that he didn’t just have a freak season and then revert back to a lesser level. But on no planet is he worth that after 1 great season. He isn’t Enzo Fernandez who has world class ability on the ball and starred at the World Cup. This isn’t Declan Rice who has been playing at a high level for several years in the PL. This isn’t a generational talent like Bellingham. We should put a take it or leave it offer of £75m + £5-10m in add ons in and if they say no, move on and target a couple of other midfielders. Brighton are risking really pissing him off if they price him out of two huge moves in successive transfer windows.

I want to see us making concrete offers for the players we really want like they are. They may fail with their initial bids but it shows the target players intent. It turns their heads and makes them determined to get their moves. If we put a bid in for Cherki for example or Wirtz, they may think it’s an opportunity they can’t pass up and ask their clubs to make it happen.