Pizy

Either our club have become masterful at keeping things secret from even the most reliable journalists since all of them are silent regarding us or we really aren’t doing anything yet. If Haaland is our main target and if we actually planned on trying to get him surely we would’ve started the process by now? He’s not at the Euro’s, the window has been open for a while, and preseason training is starting for clubs across Europe soon. It’s not like we’ve had to wait for some sort of deadline before we could make our move. The fact that we’ve known for months that a striker is needed and didn’t immediately spring on one once the window started probably means that Haaland is impossible this summer.

I’ve been thinking lately that it may be best to target a top class playmaking midfielder if we miss out on every striker target which looks more and more likely. We have Jorginho who is the deep lying recycler, we have Kante who is the all rounder who hunts down the ball and springs attacks, and we have Kova who is brilliant at receiving the ball in small spaces and carrying it forward (and then having no clue what to do with it in the final third). What we don’t have is a central midfielder who can consistently pick out world class passes and through balls. A Pogba/De Bruyne/Bruno Penandes/Fabregas sort of player. Maybe with that sort of player we can get away with Havertz and Werner as our main strikers for a season.

United are basically going to sign 3 players that would slot right into our team nicely. Three players who if Chelsea signed we’d be delighted with. But no. It’s crickets here.

I have a sneaking suspicion that we will be linked with and sign a striker out of the blue that nobody was really thinking or speculating about. Who that is I have no clue.

Yes, and because of that they probably know that Haaland ain’t happening now. Otherwise we’d probably hear about discussions with his agent or some sort of indication that things are moving. Reports a few days ago said that we weren’t even in contact with him. If I had to bet the club is probably working on backup plans right now for a stopgap until next summer. Whether that’s a striker or a midfielder of some sort.

Finding it less and less likely now. Dortmund would probably kill their chance at a CL spot if they sold he and Sancho both.

Barella is indeed a beast. Small guy but fights like a lion. Still salty that we didn’t manage to snag him when Sarri was here and we were heavily linked. Probably an untouchable for Inter now. I really hope the club/Tuchel’s thinking isn’t giving RLC or Barkley that roster spot. They’ve had chance after chance to prove they’re good enough and they just aren’t. They’re midtable players. If that’s what’s going to happen I’d have just kept Billy who’s better than both.

Tammy is in that weird position where he’s probably a bit too good for a small club near the bottom of the PL but not good enough for a top club. And then there are those ambitious middle of the table clubs like Villa who probably think they can do better than Tammy at this point. Think it will be a real struggle to offload him this summer on a permanent transfer for the big price we’ll demand. May have to go on loan and audition for a season before any club will pay decent money for him. As for other PL business, I’m really impressed by what Leicester are doing. If they can keep their key players fit for the whole season they can be legit title contenders.

Depending on how Mbappe’s contract situation goes, it’s entirely possible that one club could end up signing both he AND Haaland for peanuts next summer. Probably what both Spanish giants are hoping for.

Struggling to think of anyone for either question. Unless we tried to convince United to part with Pogba I don’t know of any other top class midfielder who could walk in to our team in place of J5 or Kova and add 10-15 goals in the league. The striker conundrum is even more difficult.

If we don’t sign a striker, who is someone in midfield that could come in and add lots of goals since I see that mentioned as an alternative? There are hardly a bunch of Bruno Penandes’ laying around out there who can score 15 from midfield. And with Mount being a near certain starter it’s not like we have an opening there anyway. Just can’t imagine we’d let Giroud go and I also can’t believe TT would totally freeze out Tammy if he we weren’t dead certain that some striker is brought in. May not be Haaland, may not be Lukaku. But I think a striker will be bought. Unless of course everyone’s wrong and Kai is our permanent center forward which would be interesting.

I would bet a years salary that PSG still won’t win the CL next season.

Under Tuchel, we had a side that was set out tactically to excel in the biggest matches against the best opponents. Opponents who like to play football and allow space for our players to exploit. But as we saw time and again (and as we’ve seen for years now) there are loads of matches in the PL where we play deep sitting defenses or teams that set out solely to nullify and negate our attacking play. Or we create chance after chance only to not score and get sucker punched by some horrendous team. Don’t know what exactly changes if our personnel is the same. If Werner returns to his Leipzig form that would indeed help and if Ziyech pulls his finger out and steps up that’s another huge bonus that would be like a new signing. But surely we can’t start a new season merely hoping that these things happen. If every one of our rivals also stood still and didn’t improve maybe. But they aren’t. They’re all going to be making massive signings. That’s the thing. We have to try to force the issue. With such limited options we have to at least go big at one of these strikers and make their clubs say no. If that fails then I think we scramble until the very end of the season desperate for 4th place again. Simple as that.

Spot on. We are nowhere near challenging City over a 38 game season without serious investment in 2-3 positions. Never mind a much improved Liverpool and Man United. And then there’s Leicester who have already made 3 excellent signings and aren’t going anywhere. We simply don’t have the clinical goal scoring in our side to compete for the title as we are currently constructed. We may not need to plug as many holes as United do but the few holes we do have are much more glaring and important.

Mbappe gives off the vibe that he’s kind of arrogant and self centered to me. Not to CR7 or Zlatan levels of course but still. I can only ever see him at Real Madrid if he leaves PSG. Don’t think anyone else would be considered from his POV.

We’ve had reports over the past few days that we haven’t even bid or been in contact with our supposed top 2 targets (Haaland & Hakimi). So unless we’re secretly working on signings that no journalists have a clue about (which is entirely possible!) then we really may be doing nothing at this point. Maybe waiting in players who are still playing in the Euro’s. Or…..maybe we’re signing Messi and had to wait until today when his contract expired 😂😂😂

Rice would be a great signing for us or United but that valuation is nuts. Something like £60-70m with the English/PL tax you always see would be fair I think. But around £100m? That would be insane in the same way it would be for Grealish.

Sancho, Varane, and a midfielder (Camavinga, Rice linked) and they’ll have completed their team. Then they’ll likely make a play for Haaland next summer when Cavani leaves if we don’t buy him this one. Despite all that, I still wouldn’t back them to ever win a title with Ole as their manager. If they had a top class manager they’d be scary.

United may have several top quality signings sealed and delivered before we even actually bid on anyone. It’s like the reverse of last summer where we were doing business left and right and United fans were screaming bloody murder at their club for doing fuck all. The CL win has done a lot to calm the concern but seeing other teams starting to drastically improve while we’re silent is annoying. United we’re always going to go big this summer so it’s not a shock. But I figured we’d attack the market for the few needs we have and get our business done swiftly. That’s clearly not happening.

Duncan fucking Castles. Now there’s a name I haven’t heard in years since he was tricking fools into believing he had a clue. What’s our old buddy Tancredi up to these days? He was one of the original fraud “insiders.”

Would be a great signing for them, sadly. Assuming Partey can stay fit they’d finally have a formidable, balanced midfield if they sign Locatelli. With Billy going out on loan I would’ve figured we’d be in for him.

I think Sancho will be very good for them but I just don’t think he’s going to be the transformational, transcendent game changer that their fans think he will be.

Not buying the agent fees stuff at all with Hakimi. Didn’t we pay more in agent fees than anyone in Europe last season? Pretty sure I saw a report about that a couple of months ago. I just think he had his head set on PSG. And I’m sure they offered double in salary than what we did.

Biggest difference is that Liverpool had absolute assassins across their attack that could score at will. We’d be living on a prayer that Werner and Havertz score 20 each to have a chance at challenging for the league. At the very least we need a new striker even if we don’t strengthen anywhere else.

So basically fuck all is happening and we aren’t even close to signing anyone. We’re interested in targets that are either completely unobtainable or ultra difficult to negotiate for. Starting to get a bit concerned now, ngl. Very much starting to feel like that summer a few years ago where we basically told the manager to go again with the same side.