OneMoSalah

Not really. Currently its mid season, late in the window, their in a title race and still in the CL. It makes no sense to sell unless they get their valuation - which is the buyout clause. Plus sell on fees to River Plate is 25%. So the more the better. If they truly value their player at £106m and he was to leave for cheaper they’d look like idiots. Particularly if he was to become this world class elite level midfielder for the next 10 years that he is touted as. It would be like if we sold Hazard in January for cheaper and not the summer - where we stood our ground and got what we wanted.

They weren’t willing to structure the deal the same way we did. Even the Shakhtar director said that.

We overpaid for all 4. One way or another. No doubt the clubs/agents seen Boehly coming a long way off and thought result. And no doubt many more will and we will oblige. Plus throw in the bid for Anthony Gordon as well in the summer - Jesus Christ, I suppose it could have been a lot lot worse but there is still convincing to do. For me, realistically only Badiashile, D. Fofana, Andre Santos and Madueke so far scream out to be signings made by the club & new personnel in place. Mudryk at that price screams Boehly driven as does Joao Felix because again, the finances involved are insane for what could only be 6 months. Plus Mudryk was never ever somebody talked about here until Arsenal went in for him in this window.

Intrigued to see where he goes, he certainly looks ordinary playing for that Brazil u20 team though. Maybe physically he’s more developed than the others (or seems more evident in the game v Argentina than Peru) but even then, technically he looks very very limited. His passing is very basic for someone who has that much time on the ball, very safe in his choices (especially against Peru). If thats the level he’s at he’s going to need a few good loans in Europe to adjust to playing at a faster tempo and under more pressure. That clips against Peru looks like the sort of performance your able to go see down at the local park every Sunday. The stats may look good but how many times does he pass it backwards under next to no pressure? How many times does he break the lines? He doesn’t affect the game greatly in any way with the ball which for a midfielder in a team who dominated the ball in the way Brazil did, is pretty useless. And in the game v Argentina, Brazil didn’t have a lot of the ball so whilst Santos may have scored he was very ineffective in possession. Few decent recoveries and tackles but just looks lost when he has the ball. I’d hate to see a good pressing team go after him. I feel he would be someone to trigger a press on because you’d fancy him either not taking a huge risk in passing it forward or being sloppy in possession.

I think its fair to say after what we paid for Koulibaly (salary & contract length), W. Fofana, Cucurella and Mudryk the club is still as it always has been. There’s been no real change on that front, still overpaying, still handing out silly contracts, no real plan for building the squad in areas it needs urgently - good reinforcements at CM & RB last summer/ this window should of been high priorities, particularly this window, not 2 wingers and an attacking midfielder for the best part of say £130m minimum all in. And with the rumours that Graham Potter is desperate for a MF player this window, I wouldn’t be surprised if we go and do something stupid. Boehly & co still have a lot of work to do in convincing people. I mean we’ve probably been properly linked to maybe 40 players since Boehly took charge. He's signed what 13 as it is. Barely any sales either - selling Ruben, Ziyech and Pulisic should have been a priority in the summer/at least now with 2 more wingers signed. The “project” is still a mess.

Newcastle, Arsenal, City and United all look much better sides than us at present. Much better sides than us. The top 4 as it is now I would say is how it would finish barring a minor miracle. Unless Spurs gatecrash it but they don’t typically start games to the second half and there is some sort of lingering around Conte leaving that may derail the second half of their season IMO. I mean throwing money at all these players is fine but do people honestly think GP is going to get enough performances and momentum to fire us back up the table whilst all of these clubs drop points to make the top 4 this season? Yet alone seeing folk talk about competing to win everything next season based on the signings of a guy who granted looked decent in the 25 mins v Liverpool but wasn’t difficult to do in a pretty poor game, a player we haven’t even seen play for us yet as well as the fact we don’t really play a number 10/second striker at current so will have to change the system again (Nkunku) and Enzo, who we are no closer to signing? I get being optimistic but I would think next seasons targets should be based on how this one ends. If we finish 6th-10th next seasons aims is top 4. Wouldn't think we should be worrying about competing for the PL title in the next 2 seasons or so if Potter is going to still be around, as he will need time to build something and undoubtedly expectations will need to be managed despite a huge influx of cash - although there is excitement around certain players and targets.

We all knew this would be the case. Be a waste of time trying to negotiate.

Would slow your roll a bit before claiming we can compete for everything next season yet. Or even top 4 this year. Likes if Nkunku, Mudryk, Enzo if we get him still not gonna be enough to make us go from where we are now to a championship winning side. And top 4 is still questionable this year either way. It would take a catastrophic collapse from the current top 4 teams. Still huge marks over Potter for me as well. Despite a bit of an improvement in last few games still been not enough improvement overall.

Until he leaves Benfica. It’s written into his contract. And if he renews there it will undoubtedly increase. I don’t know why people think now so more than ever that Benfica will sell Enzo, with just over a week left to go in the window, for anything less than the release clause. Not even considering the circus around the failed attempt at the beginning of the month. If thats the consensus at the club also then Todd Boehly’s “world class infrastructure” is truly full of morons. Just pay the fee if we want him. We’ve already overspent on Mudryk and Cucurella. Well lets be honest if it was any other club it would be complained about also and actions would be taken. UEFA have always been gearing up towards making FFP much more stricter and better structured over the years and we’ve really given them ammunition to do this. I mean it would be naive to think a club that has spent nearly £500m in not even one full season wouldn’t raise suspicions/make them interested into how they can get around their rules. Particularly considering we've had very little sales. Then, to look at it another way, it isn’t necessarily going to be feasible forever because not every player will sign a 7 or 8 year contract, particularly players over the age of 25. And eventually we will go for players who are in their prime because we cannot just keep buying u21 footballers forever. If it were Newcastle or City doing it and spending say 400-500m (speculative figures but they have the 2 richest owners in the PL) per window on similar deals there would be uproar. Just like the whole issues with their sponsorships etc.

Yeah us negotiating with Benfica… its more than likely going to be either pay the release clause or fuck off. As it always was when we tried last time and usually is with Portuguese clubs. I don’t see us offering say £90-100m over the spread of a long contract. And even if we did, are they really going to be inclined to accept it when the release clause is still £106m? After the initial pursuit at the beginning of the month? It makes no sense for them to take a lesser deal or a deal thats structured in a way to make it more beneficial for us than for them. Even more so when they know they will get that £106m release clause in the summer as more clubs will be better placed to make such moves. I think for sure Real Madrid, Man City, Liverpool will all be in the market for a statement signing in the summer and I think MFers such as Bellingham and Enzo will top most lists.

Frank sacked by Everton.

They were pretty stale to watch for a huge stretch aye but you could see (or I certainly felt from watching some of their games) that they at least had some patterns of play for building up and would say it was early doors but there was some sort of identity. I think their mentality also shifted though and they had to start gearing up towards doing the dirty parts of the game which Arsenal sides have never been particularly good at since the early 2000s. Although in comparison to now, they look a totally different team. Everything just looks right. As you’ve said he’s gotten rid of the older guys and gone with youngsters, which I think has helped but even off the pitch, I think they identified how badly they’d recruited over the years too and changed that. Even the Arsenal squad when Arteta first came in compared to now. Its been a radical shift of personnel. I think if they go on to win the league now next season will be even more interesting and a bigger challenge for him to go again. Barring City in the last however long, the defending champions have always gone and fucked it the next year.

I think at the time there was a lot of fallout from how awful they were starting to look under Emery and some of the signings he had made were busts. Not to mention I think its easy to forget that Wenger really had done a good job over the years without going crazy in the market whilst also losing his key players. Granted he maybe stayed too long but I think like the United position when Fergie left, it was always going to take maybe 2 or 3 different coaches or at least considerable time to get things right. No doubt Arsenals football wasn’t incredibly great in that first 12 or 18 months or so with Arteta too as a lot of it was death by possession but they had an identity of sorts. I think the development of certain young players have added a bit more spark and even from the amazon documentary you can see Arteta is clearly very demanding and set a lot of standards which I think as well with the likes of that, the pennies dropped with a lot of the players now plus the addition of guys like Zinchenko and Jesus who have won a lot will help. Even Xhaka seems a totally different player and everyone thought he was done there. What impressed me most about them in the game v United was that they still kept playing at a high level believing they would go on and win, where as in the past they would probably have crumbled and capitulated. They look pretty nailed on to go and become champions I would say.

I think Ziyech might be kept now to the summer at least. Granted he wasn’t brilliant but he had put a few good crosses in from open play and set plays. He really has a unique skillset despite not having blistering pace.

Jesus how many times are these players gonna fall over 😂 I think the game fizzled out after 25 minutes not done anything bar that Mudryk chance. Opportunity lost as Liverpool have been there for the taking.

Have to be honest, Badiashile looks very impressive. Still raw, likes going to try intercept in front of attackers when he shouldn’t but technically he looks excellent. Very cool on the ball. Left footer brings that balance to that position and makes our build up better.

There is a player in there but he should have gone on loan again I think. Has all the drive and athleticism but just not quite technically there yet for this level. I don’t know what sort of player he is, is he going to be a box to box player? A ball winner? A more offensive midfielder? Wow what a save by Alisson, bastard, but should be scoring that

Mount should have shot. Surprisingly Havertz also having a decent gsme so far, jesus christ, he must of been reading the forum 😂 Will Connor stop running the ball into people/crowded areas also?

Honestly he didn’t impress me in the CL or at the world cup one bit. Looked incredibly poor defensively. Just looks like a one way full back who would get torn apart in the PL. I mean if he’s going to cost £60-70m then I’d let them have him.

Actually I think he would suit Liverpool like a glove. Klopp’s high pressing footballing, he’d be a shoe in there. I get he’s struggled this season but he got 11 PL goals last season. Its a real shame he hasn’t kicked on and is struggling this season. Selling him would be a mistake.

Who knows with this mob? Wouldn’t be surprised at all. They seemed to have a hard on for defenders in the summer and wingers this window. Wouldn’t be surprised one bit if they went and signed a CB, further neglecting a CM and back up RB again.

If he cant carry the burden of scoring or assisting goal’s despite playing the majority of his career as an attacking midfielder/number 10/CF here and in Germany then is he really worth keeping? I don’t get it, I mean what’s the point in being an attacking player in this day and age if your not going to score goals or create them? I mean he’s supposed to be a once in a generation talent - the excuses he gets is ludicrous. Keep him for what? Maybe he should of been a holding midfielder or a centre back if the burden of scoring goals and assisting is too much for him 😂 “He’s a great guy to have as an option in the squad” Hmm, is he really? He is probably one of the most inconsistent footballers I have ever seen in a Chelsea shirt. I mean once every 3 months he will do something of note before going back to pretending he is an elite level footballer. Actually, tbf one thing I can think of that he has been consistent at is pressing opposition players into a position where they cannot really go anywhere before fouling them. “Hes a good big game player” When was the last big game he provided something? And when I say something I mean for us seen as the most recent one he did provide something but it was to give away a penalty to Man City. Unless we are classing Chelsea-Palace or Chelsea-Salzburg as big games this season. And even then if he didn't score in either you wouldn’t of noticed he was playing. I genuinely don’t see how he is any different to any of the other attackers we have/had, in particular Werner, Pulisic and Ziyech. He is clearly not cut out for this level which we aspire to reach. Sell whilst his value is high enough to recuperate some of the £72m we paid for him before its too late. If he cannot deal with the pressures of playing at a club of this level, he should play at a smaller club.

We will likely still be miles off in 3-4 years if we dont find good successors/upgrades for Jorginho and Kante and decent back up to James….. then the search for a good CF, plus I am doubtful that the likes of Wesley Fofana, Mudryk, etc are genuinely world beaters like the prices would indicate. Whats your hard on with the thinking Boehly throwing money purely at the wings is going to make any difference if he doesn’t sort key areas in the long run? I mean unless the intention is to play with a front 5 it would be moronic to just keep going for wingers/attacking midfielders.

To be champions again? I hope you mean get in the CL again. Because we aren’t going to be anywhere near the too 4 this season.

Lets hope the medical team and manager let him fully recover this time…. seeing as we seem no closer to acquiring a decent back up RB to continue overloading with attacking players.