OneMoSalah

This window is already a bust. Isak, David, Murillo from Forrest now 🤣

Great all skills which are absolutely useless in the real game but enough to get Chelsea twitter pages thinking he will be the man we desperately need haha. My concern is, if he was an absolute gem he’d definitely have been involved more with Xavi at Barcelona in the same way Balde, Fermin Lopez, Yamal & Cubarsi had been over his tenure. Thats one thing he got right, his trust in young players and I think this lad got 7 appearances. I know they have Lewandowski & the lad from Brazil but I think Xavi showed if your good enough your old enough on several occasions with those players.

Cheaper yes, lower wage yes but at least a quarter of the player if not worse.

Don’t get why they wasted 2 summers trying to convince him. Just shows how arrogant and stupid the sporting directors are. If a player says no and signs a new deal at Palace ahead of coming here, why even go back? Would take the figures around his salary with a pinch of salt. 90% of the time these are vastly inflated. Next it will be our board didn’t want to pay him an obscene salary so thats why he turned us down.

Solanke? Really? Has scored double figures once in his career as a premier league player no thanks. Fucking embarrassing selection of targets by these co sporting arseholes. Just sack them already.

He has surprised me how often he has played but I don’t think his performances were quite as good as the treble winning season. Stones injuries probably played a bit in him playing as often the season just passed but he has definitely done better than I’d expect. Probably would of had a nightmare here regardless though just the rule of thumb. Will get another good look at him today in the Euro game v Scotland where we will probably make him look like prime Maldini too 😂

No not me. I am tattoo free 🤣

Think he’s going straight into their squad, like Vini and Rodrygo did when they moved and joined Madrid at 18. Different league, more technical and less physical. Maybe thats the plan with Paez too. Oscar signing was similar back in the day straight from Brazil to England but again, different types of players and different ages also. I think Strasbourg could be a useful loan for him if he is needing a season or two to adjust to the difference in South American and European football, given what I’ve seen he look’s very lightweight. Unless he is that good he has to be included from the off.

Are you saying La Liga is as physical as the Prem? It is not. Also Endrick’s physique is different compared to Paez. Completely. Just look at images of two of them. Endrick will be able to handle himself very well in Europe, Paez looks very lightweight still hence why perhaps a spell in France may help him adapt better when he does eventually get here.

Still a lot of hype for this kid - some of it rightfully so and then some of it as usual OTT. Does anyone else think it could be smart if he spent maybe a season at least or at a push 2 in France just to get himself more physically ready? Would it make too much sense? I mean I don’t think he is going to be physically ready to play in the Prem from the get go. It’s a big jump in terms of intensity and physicality from South America to Europe. Not even talking about the difference in quality. I am hoping that going to Strasbourg is a part of the plan for him. Similarly to how it was for Angelo, even if he didn’t particularly excel, physically it would have been more challenging for him and a good step for his development in that way as opposed to arriving straight in England.

We already have a talented CF who is young. In fact we already have numerous talented young players. This criteria for recruiting for the squad set by these sporting directors is absolutely ridiculous and will never bear real success. Clubs recruit these sort of players to develop and sell on for profit, usually to bigger clubs. You don’t build a 25 man squad which is between 70-75% of these kind of players. At this point we need some actual proven quality and not talented could be quality. Apparently Boehly wants to copy Real Madrid (the newest laugh at Todd’s expense) by signing all these talented players. Difference is Madrid only sign 2/3 of them every couple of years. We’ve signed about 10-15 of them. In 2.5 years.

We wouldn’t be signing a young CF if the objective is to go out and recruit a more established striker afterwards. Why would we? I mean we already have Jackson and Duran would be the second young CF in our squad. They have to play to develop so it wouldn’t make sense. Clearlake and the co-sporting directors apparently want to become more efficient in the market and sign players below a certain age so you can forget the likes of Toney, Oshimen etc who are going to cost big fees. Sesko is going to resign at Leipzig too. Maybe our hands are forced a bit with Broja potentially going to Everton but the Duran deal is a bad one, everyone can see that. I’m assuming more efficient in the market means that Tosin and Duran (potentially) will be brought in to replace Silva and Broja (potentially).

The people driving recruitment are the co-sporting directors, have been since January last season. The two of them need to go ASAP. This club isn’t Brighton or Monaco - they are out of their depth. The justification is going to be that he's under 23 and data they have on him will look good. Thats been the prerogative since they came in.

Because they don’t have a fucking clue. Or somehow think Mudryk is good enough. Jhon Duran? Doesn’t even start at Villa. £40m? Wow. Fucking hopeless. Winstanley and Stewart need to be sacked.

The key player? How’d you figure that? Chances are he will play either as a LCB or LB again. If the key player in our team is going to be a LCB when you look at our squad containing the likes of Enzo and Palmer then god knows 😂 Irrespective I think it’s clear he will play a lot this season and he also played a lot last season also. If he is pushing to jump ship again (was huge speculation last summer too) after playing regularly last season then maybe we have to just cut our losses. He wasn’t fully convincing either when he played as a CB which I think is fair to say. He is very lucky Badiashile was a bomb scare when he did play also because if he wasn’t his minutes could of been significantly less.

Yeah its quite modest despite the figures thrown around when we signed him. It is an insane salary for a player who has done next to nothing in the shirt 🤣

Could yes. Palhinha would of been good for us though. From the get go. No chance we get Chiesa, as mentioned above, not under the age of 21 so be far too old 😂 Will see if this continues to happen. Wouldn’t make any sense if not.

Newsflash…. these sort of clauses are negotiated and standard in most player sales at that sort of level. Yes the fee mentioned in the video are likely wrong but I am sure we had these clauses put in Hazard, Kepa and Courtois deals when they joined Real for CL/La Liga wins. Nothing new

€45m apparently. But will see. Had another good season too. I think Bayern were going to pay a premium last summer as Fulham wouldn’t have had time to replace him as it was late in the window. But yeah he was ready made, good to go instead of so ending the £80 odd million on Lavia & Ugochuwku. Him and Caicedo would of been brilliant options and could play in tandem also with Gallagher/Enzo playing more free.

I just don’t think the club, co sporting directors and fans can just keep on flinging the word project around as the clubs actions in particular don’t show that the leadership are actually wanting to follow through in a project. Anything but, based on managerial appointments and sacking, they are proving that they want more instant success. And the manager is as big a part of a project as any player is, if not bigger. Then when you consider how long it will likely take most managers, particularly ones with a lack of experience at the highest level, to try and figure out a squad as young and unproven as ours. I don’t see why people should be that patient given Poch finally started seeing and figuring out what he could and couldn’t get out of certain players. This season would probably of been much better from the get go with Poch still there despite my feelings on how poorly the season started and was until maybe January/February. If it takes Enzo Maresca a season or two to do anything, he won’t be here as simple as that. Particularly given how we’ve just effectively sacked somebody who got 6th place. I don’t think the word project can be used as such or Enzo-Arteta comparisons as a 6th place finish is a much better starting point that Arteta also had. Burnley demolished the championship but if thats the barometer for a club like Bayern Munich or us when we looked at Maresca, then certain aspects of top level decision making is going in the wrong direction at both clubs. Don’t forget Burnley spent the best part of £30m in the championship and then a following £110m this season just past upon promotion to the PL so it’s not as if he was competing with a squad that lacked investment. Far from it - ultimately they were not good enough and naive tactically. For me it is almost a certainty that the Pep factor has heavily contributed to Kompany and Maresca’s appointments. And will contribute to many others in the future, as it no doubt did with Arteta (although he had huge links and connections to Arsenal from his playing career).

Good fee. Hopefully they wrap it up soon. Shame things didn’t quite go smoothly for Broja here, there is a decent player in there just doubtful he’s ever going to be the level we need. Plus, still properly needs to play every week to develop and gain form/momentum. Dyche may get a tune out of him in all fairness. Still remember the our own Haaland shouts after he scored 7 goals or something for Southampton 🤣 Should have went on loan again following that.

Pep’s last assistant before Enzo was actually Juan Manuel Lillo, who left City to go to Al Sadd. Don’t think he put up any trees so to speak and eventually ended up returning to City. Then for Arteta, it took 2 to 2.5 years to make any sort of real progress with Arsenal in terms of turning them into a title competing side. And even then they threw it away the first year. Lets not forgot how often their fans wanted the club to sack him up until that season. And you mention Enzo assisted Pep in a treble winning season. What makes you think an assistant manager has such a huge role in terms of actual coaching? A lot of them don’t tend to do a lot of the actual hands on coaching, the other coaches on the staff do the majority of the sessions. They are usually a buffer between the players and manager and will do the likes of opposition studies or analysis than actually on the grass doing drills. Just because someone’s worked with Pep, I don’t think that should be a huge indicator or point to make people believe he will be a success or the right choice. At all. For example, whilst he was lower on the list, by all accounts Vincent Kompany has ended up walking into the Bayern Munich job on Pep’s recommendation and his teams were hilariously and hopelessly battered most weeks in the Premier League. Hypothetically, say Enzo goes down the Arteta route, are people really going to be content to wait another 2 seasons? Given the shit we’ve seen the last 2 seasons? Clearlake and these co-sporting directors have a lot to answer for so if this appointment doesn’t work out it would be another naive move, an even more embarrassing one as such, hiring a guy predominantly because he worked with Pep as an assistant manager for 1 season.

Olise a better talent and more impactful player than Alvarez? Not a chance. City didn’t have the best start at the beginning of the season but Alvarez stepped into the void left by KdB who was injured, racking up like 15 goal involvements in his first 20 games. This whilst playing upfront instead of Haaland when he was injured, in tandem with Haaland as a 10 or off the right. Still doubtful Pep will let him leave or he would want to leave City as I think he has underlined his huge importance to them but if he were available and wanted to come here, we should be all over him. Never mind Olise. Yes Alvarez is not an out and out tradition number 9 but certainly someone who can play that role still to huge effect. Has real ability to get in behind teams and find space whilst also being able to link up nicely with others.

Not going to lie but Van Dijk was much much better at Southampton. Not even remotely close in comparison. Not even a small comparison can be made to Gary Cahill either, as Gaz was already a fully fledged regular international for England playing at a pretty good level before we signed him whilst captaining Bolton. I just hope that Tosin isn’t going to be our number 1 CB. As a squad player, he will be a reasonable enough signing but if he is going to be an undisputed starter, I am a bit worried. If by some minor miracle Wesley Fofana is in good nick for the next season, I’d imagine he will eventually be leaned on as our number 1 CB - which again is risky as I’ve never believed he’s worth the fee we pai/has the ceiling. If Trev goes, Tosin has to be his direct replacement. He cannot be Thiago’s replacement.

Wouldn’t really say genius. Closer to desperation as the Maatsen & Chalobah summer deal’s didn’t happen although the terms work out favourably for now with the hotel ownership. But we won’t be able to pull a stunt like that again, similarly with the 8 year contracts. If the club didn’t make the unnecessary signings like Ugochukwu & Washington as well as not overspending on several players wouldn’t have been an issue in the first place though. All the uncertainty around FFP and PSR has been self inflicted by absolute stupidity in the market. But was the same when we signed Enzo, Caicedo and Lavia in 2 windows. Or the whole net spend shit last summer. Apparently he was a genius then. They are far from from it, same with the co-sporting directors. Pedro Lima signing when he have Reece and Malo. Sigh. Also Ederson? Here? Not a chance. More chance Lukaku starts as our number 9 next season than we sign Ederson.