Superblue

Napoli fans thought the same about koulibaly originally. First minutes for these two and they have our two worst midfielders sat in front of them.

Agree but we have been without kante and arguably a whole 1st choice defence and keeper. Lots of improvement needed in this department but we at least have big changes in personnel to help with this.

This is why some were so intent on us buying golovin. If we're not buying another midfielder this summer then RLC and barkley will play big roles this season because they're both miles ahead of bakayoko and drinkwater.

It's only fair that jorginho gets to play with bakayoko and drinkwater to realise the shite we were working with last season.

Great assist from bakayoko. He's a great 12th man for the opposition.

And we've moaned all these years about Cahill when he only cost us £7m. The prices in the last couple of summers has escalated beyond belief.

This may explain why we were trying to screw more money out of Barcelona for Willian. I think he'll be the key to this deal because it will sweeten things for Mourinho and I don't see a deal happening without Willian. I don't think he'll be too bothered about Martial joining us because in the long term he won't be at United if it blew up in their faces, it is likely the board who are far more reluctant.

I believe we are a striker away from being able to challenge again. There are obviously weak areas in the team and squad but every club has the same and that can be worked around if we have a striker who is scoring 18-20 league goals a season or more. The other key area was a midfielder to help us control the game in the middle of the pitch and we've addressed this. Hopefully there will be 2 or 3 more quality additions, but if the club can at least bring in somebody to replace Morata I would be pretty content that we are more than capable of getting back into the top 4 this coming season.

Given the price being quoted it would have been a very smart piece of business. I wonder, if his biggest concern was gametime coupled with Monaco's interest in him, if we couldn't have come to an agreement to buy him and loan him to Monaco for next season just to appease him. He is definitely the sort of person I see in a couple of years time us being interested in at 2-3 times the price Monaco are paying.

I'd love Martial here, there appears to be a lot of untapped potential. My only worry is if we are viewing him to come in and be our first choice leading striker, he hasn't really yet proven himself yet that he could do this. Would it be a similar situation that we found last season with Morata who had never had the experience of being the main man at a big club and crumbled under the pressure. However it could be a masterstroke and I could understand how his raw pace and direct nature would fit under Sarri.

It might sound ridiculous, but flying back because his partner is going into labour is the sort of decision Mourinho will likely hate as he demands full commitment from his players. I wouldn't be surprised if it pushes a further wedge between them both which can only be a positive.

Hopefully it'll lead to some transfer activity over the next week. To be fair Sarri may well have wanted some time with the current players to see what he had and assess what he would need.

The problem is finding that level of keeper and retaining them. We've had Cudicini, Cech and Begovic all as substitute keepers who were all of that standard but none of them were prepared to stick around for very long because they were good enough to go and start for another Prem team a bit lower down the table. It doesn't make sense for the club to go and buy a really good keeper as second choice, pay a fair chunk of money for them based on the current climate when they are likely to average about half a dozen games a season and then within 12 - 24 months want to leave at likely a loss of their value because they haven't been playing regularly. If all the other top clubs had 3 excellent keepers with the two reserves good enough to put substantial pressure on the number 1 I'd happily argue why Chelsea aren't either but its not the case.

I'd happily do that for £20k per week!

Cech had been playing in Ligue 1 and for his country for 2 years before we brought him and had a lot of first team experience at a far higher level than Blackman. It's like saying let's chuck in some random 18 year old and give them a chance because the likes of Messi and Ronaldo were playing first team football at that age. Chelsea have been blessed with getting hold of two very young keepers in Cech and Courtois, with a lot of first team exposure and experience and above all, good enough to play for us at an early age. These two will go down as amongst the very best keepers within their generation. A lot of keepers won't start peaking until well into their 20's and even into their early 30's so I'm more than happy for Blackman to still be going out on loan and getting first team experience and exposure. At the moment he is not good enough to start for Chelsea and unlike other positions he isn't going to get substitute appearances here, so will literally have his experience and exposure to first team football completely stunted.

His level currently is the Championship. You want to chuck him into challenging for the number 1 spot? As far as keeper's go he's still young and still needs to develop. If he does well at Leeds this season, I would look at next season if he can get a role in a lower Prem team and build up from there. We've already seen with Loftus-Cheek what a waste it is if they are both not out on loan and not getting any chances at the club.

Makes sense for Blackman to go out on loan and develop. All things equal a third choice keeper doesn't even play for the first team during the season.

Wow, I know the keeper went to Wolves. Have all the other players that left Sporting moved clubs yet?

Not sure if Eduardo is either mate. Not many teams will have the luxury of a Premier League quality as third choice keeper. At least he's been playing regularly at Championship level the last few years. I don't mind this signing. Having Eduardo is a complete waste of a foreign spot in our squad and not having a player like this helping to fill the homegrown quota helps contribute to somebody like Drinkwater being brought. It's not just the replacing Eduardo but its who we may potentially bring in as that extra foreign player which is the bigger positive.

Andre Gomes would be another ineffective waste of a signing that in a year or two's time we'd be struggling to offload.

How is Bakayoko and Morata not the problem? They came in to replace two first team players and failed miserably. The other root problem last season in my opinion was Conte. His tactics, his attitude, everything about him last season screamed negative and hindered the club. I genuinely believe that bringing in Sarri and buying into his philosophy will immediately give us a lift over last season. Hopefully this includes bringing in a striker who will score goals which appears to be lacking. And on the point of the players you mentioned. I believe Bailey will be better than Willian long term and probably Pulisic too but neither are at that level yet in my opinion and both are young coming from different leagues so there is a lot of risk there that they'll take quite a bit of time to settle. Is this what we need when we're already making significant changes this summer changing Conte with Sarri. Fekir isn't a natural winger so isn't a natural replacement for Willian. Also I fail to see how he is best utilised in a 4-3-3 when he plays his best football as a 10. Basing things on Sarri at Napoli he will want someone willing to play out wide on that right hand side and not be always looking to cut inside. I do think that Pedro and Willian could suit Sarri's system very well and more so than the players you mentioned. Whether they are better individuals or not is up for debate but the fit has to be right. If we sell Willian and replace him with someone that Sarri really wants and fits in great to the system then I'm all for that, but I'm not against keeping Willian like most people are because I don't see him as easily replaceable as is being discussed.

Yeah can't argue with this. However if reports are to be believed, Sarri really rates Willian. If we're to give him the best possible opportunity to be a success here and get his style working to the most effect then the right thing is to back him and keep Willian if that is somebody that Sarri wants? Maybe that is what the club have done and said to him that if the offers they receive reach a certain value then we'll have to sell but otherwise we'll make an effort to keep him. I also saw that David Luiz was quoted yesterday saying he has spoken with Willian who wants to stay so the idea that he will be a bad egg if he is forced to remain I don't think is necessarily true.

I understand that and under usual circumstances I would agree that the club should do this sort of deal from a business point of view and replace him with someone like Bailey but it's a bigger risk this summer in my opinion when we are out of the top 4. We only have to look at last season, the majority of people were happy to bring in Morata and Bakayoko to replace Costa and Matic and the idea that they were both younger and were better in the long term for us. However those two deals crippled us last season, Kante was left doing everything in midfield on his own and we had no goalscorer. £60m is a lot of money but in the current landscape it's not huge. There are some pretty average players going for similar money. We should know having paid a similar amount for Morata.

So on that basis we should sell Hazard and Courtois because they want to leave, despite it being a seemingly sure thing that any replacement we get for either of them will be a downgrade? Are there better players out there for the price? Richarlison is moving for £50m. I understand the idea of selling Willian and reinvesting in someone like Bailey or Pulisic but its a long term vision. That's all fine and well but now more than ever I believe we need to be focusing on the present and concentrating getting back into the top 4. We have a good blend of ages in the squad at present and I wouldn't look at our team and think it's old. It's of a good age but vastly experienced which gives us an edge over teams like Spurs. On that basis the safer bet would be Willian, as it would fully backing the manager. Also if we're wanting the likes of Hazard, Courtois and Kante to commit to new contracts and see the club's ambition then selling Willian and replacing with a young potential doesn't show short term ambition which is what they want to see to stay.

Agree with this. It's one of the things I constantly here about Hazard that he'd be so much better under a more attack minded coach, which I agree with. But the same has to be said about any of our attacking players, especially the likes of Willian and Pedro. Keeping the ball and attacking is far more effective for them than constantly sitting in front of their full back/wing back and defending. Sarri apparently really likes Hazard and Willian and sees them as key within his system so I actually see us keeping both of them this season and giving Sarri every opportunity to (1) be a success and (2) hopefully convince them their future is here (especially Hazard). On a side note people moaning about Willian's behaviour. Yes it wasn't great and he shouldn't have done it but there seems quite an overreaction on here. It's clear there were big problems between the players and Conte. If Willian comes back next season and is playing well people will soon change their tune and be glad he stayed.