Pizy

I can at least somewhat understand from Mount’s perspective. He had a horrible season and was out of the picture as a key player compared to seasons past. He was highly unlikely to start at Chelsea this coming season. A fresh start elsewhere so he can become that again makes sense. But Havertz being seemingly SUPER keen and excited to jump to arguably our most despised London rival is gross.

What about DDG if United sign an expensive new keeper? Only 32 still. Liable for a howler every now and then but apparently still very good from what I gather. Is he better than what we have?

Onana may not be worth the huge money that Inter would demand but I hope it wasn’t just him or nobody for us. We should still be trying to sign a new #1 and Kepa can remain the guy if we fail to do so. Don’t just settle for him.

I really don’t get the hype for this kid at all. Having watched his YouTube highlights where anyone can look amazing, he looks very average to me. I don’t really see any special attribute. Compared to a bunch of these other strikers that are being linked with moves away this summer he is easily the least impressive to my eye.

I tend to agree. He was excellent at Brighton and couldn’t have turned into a dogshit player overnight. There’s a very good player there and I think he should get a chance under Poch.

Idk. I guess I’ll just hope for the best. We’ve brought in big name striker after big name striker and nearly all of them have been massive flops. So doing what most other smart clubs do and getting one for a reasonable price and developing them instead may be for the best. High upside, low risk. Again, I just hope that this is a Poch player and not our scouts and sporting team looking at stats and analytics on a sheet of paper and saying “we gotta sign this dude!”

I predict big, big things from him this next season. I think he will make all these opposition fans who have been laughing at him look foolish. He’s an unbelievable talent and even in that 1 minute clip above he looks insanely classy on the ball. If he enters preseason with full confidence and determination we have a serious weapon on our hands.

Think Boehly has a good relationship with the Saudi’s. Saw a pic making the rounds on Twitter the other day of him meeting with them. Maybe he can set up some sort legal money laundering scheme where a bunch of Saudi clubs can pay decent fees for our deadwood. 🤣

We just have to hope that for a striker target to come out of nowhere like Jackson it has been pushed by Poch. If this is a club signing to continue this massive youth drive we’re on then I’ll be worried. If Poch himself asked for him because he sees something special than I guess I trust his eye.

Will be painful seeing Kepa as our #1 again but as long as we strengthen everywhere else we need to I can live with it for 1 more season.

Ornstein is the first one to mention Tonali and Barella as potential targets. But two of the best Italian players playing at two of the biggest Italian clubs makes it difficult for me to see them 1- agree to leave and 2- their clubs agree to sell them. Barella speaks for himself. Would be a great signing for anyone in the PL. I was pretty impressed with Tonali when we played Milan even though they were pretty damn poor overall as a team. His tenacity and energy stuck out.

So unless Fofana goes out on loan we’re going to have 3 pretty raw, relatively inexperienced strikers who are 21 years old? Seems like one hell of a risk for such an important position. You’d think a new manager coming in would want a more trusted, “ready made” option that can instantly hit the ground running. Nicolas Jackson looks very talented but as I mentioned this morning, he feels like the sort of player a traditional midtable side like West Ham, Everton, or Villa make. Clubs where the expectations aren’t massive and they can take a season or two to grow and develop. I guess what should lessen the pressure is the price tag being very reasonable.

Gabri Veiga apparently. He looks like a proper baller but again, not a DM like we need. Veiga looks like a Mount replacement to me.

Wonder what the deal is with some of our other unwanted players, btw. Haven’t heard a peep about anyone coming in for the likes of Ziyech, Pulisic, Auba, or CHO. I know they’re all on big wages but we’re desperate to move them on so their transfer fees should be small. you’d think those cheap ass Serie A clubs would be all over Ziyech and Pulisic in particular. Let’s hope so.

Unless something comes from Ornstein, Law, or Fabrizio then I don’t believe it. Felix Johnston is just some Twitter rando who posts “exclusives” for clout. Every big club has someone like him on Twitter who posts things as if they’re in the know.

Kyle Walker leaving City. It’s a damn good thing we secured Malo Gusto when we did and that Reece is under long contract.

As promising as it is that we are going hard behind the scenes trying to address the midfield, I hope we start hearing some more concrete reporting in striker targets. That Nicolas Jackson dude from Villareal is the only solid link by reputable sources so far. And I just don’t think he looks good enough yet to lead the line for Chelsea. Looks like the kind of striker a West Ham or an Everton would sign. We’re about to sell the only dude who actually played as a striker for us last season to Arse and there’s no real sign that a replacement is close.

Hunting down and attacking the ball may be his BEST quality but not his only one. Also similar to Kante, Caicedo is good at not only breaking the play up but also picking up the ball and driving it forward. It’s not like we’re buying some player who is shocking on the ball. He can dribble the ball well and can handle being pressed. With Enzo to handle the creative stuff next to him I wouldn’t be concerned at all about what Caicedo can’t do.

Tbf, the way you just described Caicedo you can copy and paste to describe Kante. He didn’t score or assist often, isn’t technically excellent, doesn’t have any sort of creative passing, not really two footed, and his best attributes are his tackling, tenacity, and stamina. That’s exactly what we need if we’re replacing Kante. Someone who is as close to him stylistically as possible which Caicedo is. We DO however need to have a natural, disciplined midfield sitter, though. Caicedo isn’t a pure DM.

Comes back to them having a young squad. Most of their key players (Odegaard, Saka, Martenelli, Ramsdale, Saliba, etc) are all super young and not even close to their full potential yet. Liverpool paid the price for letting a bunch of their key players get old and didn’t invest in the midfield at all after a grueling 60 game season. Not really comparable. Of course there are no sure things, but I can’t see Arse falling away next season. All of their best players are back and with experience of challenging now. They add Rice, Havertz, and 1 or 2 others and they’ll be 2nd favorites after City easily.

Much as we hate Arse as a club we have to admit that they’re extremely attractive to any player after that season they’ve just had. They probably played the most exciting football of any PL club over the course of the year, they play a fast, free flowing style, they’re loaded with talented young players, and have a great manager. Rice probably looks at them as a safe long term bet. A couple of key additions and they’re genuine title contenders again. Plus, with some of the shit clubs that were in the late stages of the Champions League this past season there’s no reason Arse shouldn’t be thinking about going deep there as well.

Nah. You forgot Nkunku. Mudryk, Sterling, Madueke, and Nkunku as wide attackers/inside forwards is enough and I think an excellent set of options. I think we’ll see the real Mudryk this season and expect huge things from him. I’d agree normally. If we had finished 6th or just barely missed out on UCL qualification we could sell to these targets that we are on the up and the previous season was a blip. But I actually can’t blame any prospective signing from being reluctant to come here after seeing us finish 12th and in huge turmoil. Think it’s quite right that we have to show everyone that we’re “back” before we become super attractive again. While we supporters think last season was a minor blip and we’ll be right back up there challenging for top 4, players themselves may be skeptical.

Apparently Arse also want Lavia. They’re after pretty much all the same midfield targets we are. So it’s probably going to be difficult to get him to choose us when they can offer UCL football this coming season and seem so much more willing to splash huge money now.

I still maintain that Fofana will be a great signing. A much lighter fixture list this season and better coaching should be a huge benefit to him. Being able to stay fresher and fitter and actually play a long run of games in a settled team could see him realize his talent. Definitely not giving up on him.

I would’ve been super down and depressed a year ago about Gvardiol going to City after we got so close to buying him. But now that we’ve got two 20 year old left footed CB’s with sky high potential and a perfect coach to help them reach that potential I don’t care at all. Colwill in particular can become one of the best CB’s in the world.