Pizy

Not sure that matters as Mahrez isn't a RWB. It's Willian and Pedro he'd have to beat out. Or maybe play on the left when Hazard needs a rest or is injured.

I'd take him without a doubt but wonder if he'd want to come here where there are already 2 quality players in his position. He can probably go to a club that's a level or two below us and be the main man and lock down a starting spot.

I know Just not sure if he and Mendy know each other well. Mendy and Baka seem to be great friends and I think I've seen pics of Bats and Mendy hanging out together as well. Having Hazard, Courtois, Kante, Baka, and Bats who all speak French could help him easily settle here. Even David Luiz speaks fluent French from his time in Paris.

I think he's certainly going to City at this point but if we came in with a late offer I'd imagine he'd seriously consider it. Lots of French speakers here including some of his friends like Baka, Michy, and I would assume Kante. I'm sure any player would prefer London to Manchester. He probably won't make the £150k a week City will offer in desperation but he'll make good money. Alex Sandro clearly isn't happening now and Mendy is probably the next best available.

I won't start worrying about the striker situation until we actually start the PL season. If we haven't signed our new marquee #9 by then I'll start shitting it. Would be better to have them get a good preseason in, but if he's a top class player he should be able to adjust quickly.

Yep. And then if we brought in Llorente as our backup he'd feast as well if Auba was ever injured or rested.

Reading around just about all our rivals forums and they almost all think Baka is a bum basically and that Fabinho is much better. Because Conte would've asked the club to pay £40m and make him our undisputed #1 midfield target if he was shite. We could've easily signed Fabinho if we wanted him.

He looks massive in the video the club posted! Poor N'Golo can't catch a break with his midfield partners!

Haven't seen anything remotely reliable yet...

I think he'd do well in our current side, but even better if we got upgrades at both fullback positions. Play a 3-5-2 with Cesc in midfield, 2 new wingbacks, and Hazard/Pedro/Wilian up top next to Auba and we'd blow teams away. Really not unrealistic, either.

Wonder how he'd fair against the thuggish defenders in the PL. We saw them at teams like West Brom & Stoke winding up Diego and hacking down Hazard at every opportunity. Then again, Liverpool and City have pretty small and slight strikers and do just fine so I suppose it wouldn't be too much of an issue. If only a source other than the terrible Mirror were reporting on this.

Oh, there will be! Maybe an even cheesier one.

July 1st, mate.

Didn't the Torino president say they would never sell Belotti to another Italian club? Anyways, it would just be weird to see us with a striker like Auba. Completely different type than we've grown used to here. It would be nice to have a striker with loads of pace. And I'm sure he'd link up well with our attacking players.

Okay, most. Stones, Sané, Jesus, Güdogan, Ederson, Walker, Bernardo. Mendy soon. Pretty clear these are all Pep players. All I'm concerned about is that Conte's excellent coaching can only go so far if we can't secure him top players. When our closest rivals are signing those top players and we have to settle I'll worry. So far we've done good business but are still miles away in some important positions. I hope to be surprised.

This season will be a completely different animal for us and every one of our rivals. Can we really afford to settle for 3rd or 4th choice targets while having a substantially increased fixture list and with all our rivals strengthening considerably? I'm not so sure.

He wanted both Alves and Walker. My point still stands, though. Since Pep has been there the City hierarchy have given him just about every target he's asked for. Quite the opposite here.

For sure. If Mourinho really wants him what should that tell you? That he feels he can improve the team! That should be reason enough to not even consider selling him there. Only way I'd be fine with it is if we immedietly used the transfer fee an reinvested it in another midfielder or similar quality.

I wonder what Conte's state of mind is right now. The transfers aren't happening quickly but they are slowly trickling in. We appear to be failing miserably at all of his supposed top targets (Bonucci, Van Dijk, Alex Sandro, Lukaku). Surely striker targets are being sorted behind the scenes but nothing seems remotely close. We have absolutely no depth at either wingback position. We don't have a single game changer in attack with Hazard out for a while and Costa AWOL. Then he sees Pep land his targets almost effortlessly with City just paying literally whatever it takes. Hope he's pressuring our board everyday at Cobham.

Yep. Bonucci leaving today was the final nail in the coffin for our chances at Alex Sandro. Whats really fucking annoying is that we'd probably still be willing to do business with them and sell them Matic after they utterly refuse to do business with us. Or worse, send him to Mourinho and help him strengthen our rival.

We could've just kept Ruben or forced Chalobah to stay if that's the case.

Already thinking about who else we'll sign in midfield. This is done. Kante, Bakayoko, and Cesc is nowhere near enough for a season in which we could potentially play about 60 games. Look at how strained Man United were last season. We can't allow that to happen to us.

Just imagine...

Just funny reading the United forum and seeing them all say he's average or not even as good as what they have there now. Cant wait to see him form a partnership with Kante and hopefully Cesc in a midfield 3.

Nice! Everything feels snappier for sure.