Superblue

Because this news has directly come from Barca media and Bayern media sources. Now would their preferred moves be Barca and Bayern. They most certainly could be. That doesn't rule us out of signing either though. Despite the Barca media, the suggestions are that Raphinha hasn't called off talks with Chelsea and rejected us outright. If he had the bid would be taken off the table, so this suggests immediately we have more chance of signing him than Barca's media reports suggests. He has every right though to ask for time to see if Barca are serious about signing him. De Ligt has the same opportunity. If we agree a fee with Juventus for him and Bayern also agree a fee then he has a choice to make and it might not be us. The signs though outside of today's reports from Bayern sources suggest that De Ligt would like to join us if we can agree a fee with Juventus and evidence would suggest this to be the case by us still negotiating for him over other alternatives.

People losing shit over every tiny bit of news need to give their head a wobble. It's transfer window. It's silly season. Some deals will happen. Some deals won't. If we agree a fee with Juventus, I think De Ligt will happily make the move.

The one thing I would say about Ronaldo is, unlike Lukaku, he's genuinely elite and there is an unquestionable desire and thirst to be the best and be a winner. In the right environment, those characteristics rub off on younger players. However, I would be seriously concerned about the ability to press teams high up the pitch with him. It was a huge issue with Lukaku last season where having just that one player not capable of pressing in sync as a unit left us a lot easier to play against. I have real reservations that at the very top of the modern game (and bearing in mind we have to compete in a league with Liverpool and City) you can carry a passenger anymore, no matter how good that player might be.

Spurs have just spent £60m for a similar profile of player. Why are they being commended for spending a huge amount of money for someone who isn't first choice? Besides potentially full back/wing back options to add to Chilwell and James, I'd rather see us spend money on 2 or 3 players who, like you said, will be first choice additions. Hopefully we can get Sterling and De Ligt over the line shortly and everything will calm down from there.

To be fair we've got Gallagher and Broja coming back from loans, amongst a number of other players who may have the opportunity of breaking into the first team squad next season. Gallagher and Broja on their own is £60-70m of talent.

This is something that does make me laugh. 90% of this forum were against us signing Kounde and said he wasn't good enough. It looks like he's no longer our number one priority and we're looking to bring in someone else who I think most people feel is an upgrade on Kounde. Because that deal is a big one and we seem to have switched targets from pre takeover to post takeover it isn't going to happen overnight. People are complaining that it's taking time. People would have likely complained too if we'd already signed Kounde. Can't seem to win.

I was in that camp for a while if PSG were desperate to get him out, then he might have been worth a punt to take on loan on favourable terms. But I actually think that form is less about motivation and more that injuries have taken their toll on him. He's had a lot of ankle problems in recent years and when you have a player who's numbers have been consistently dropping the last 3 - 4 seasons and he's now going to turn 31 during this season, I would have serious doubts he'd be able to give us what we'd be hoping for. The exact same reason to be honest why I don't think Hazard would be a good idea.

I think James could play in midfield and play there effectively, although not sure if he'd suit a holding midfielder and curb his attacking instincts. But to do this we'd need to buy a legitimate top quality right back and currently when the team and squad make up has so many question marks it feels unwise to try and plug a gap by taking away one area which feels 'locked down'. Ake would seem completely pointless to pay big money for and play him in a position he isn't really used to. I think out of everyone currently in our squad and given I'm not sure how good he'd be as a centre back in a back 4, I think Chalobah probably has the best qualities to play there, and still being young could be moulded for that role. He does have experience playing in midfield too which helps.

The international players return I believe at the end of this week. I think the Sterling deal is as good as done and it'll get finalised sometime around then when he returns from holidays, etc. De Ligt I think there will also be clarity on this week, from what it sounds like we're not too far apart from what Juventus want. Although we all know Italian clubs will regularly move the goalposts with little notice. Ultimately though these two players seem to be the priority signings currently, and hopefully we can get them both in the door before setting off for the US tour.

This suggests Tuchel would like to start recruiting and moulding the team into being able to play with a back 4. Still not sure how easy that will be this coming season. I don't see many "fits" in a holding midfielder role available on the market, and the make up of our defence is still preferential to a back 3 at present. We can obviously look at one or two defensive signings with an eye on their ability and flexibility to play both 3 back and 4 back formations but ultimately I think there would be a big transition for this. I guess we'll have a better idea in the pre season friendlies coming up.

And this is exactly why a lot of the transfer news needs to be taken with a pinch of salt until something is officially confirmed. Barcelona could very well reach an agreement with Leeds and if they do, it's pretty obvious he'll go there. But the Spanish and Barca media are doing what they and Madrid always do - try to bully and pressurise situations to their advantage. Whilst we hold firm with our bid it gives Leeds leverage to hold out on Barca. I know he only has 2 years left on his deal but I think in Leeds situation it's a different situation to view. He's their best player and it's more valuable for Leeds to stay in the league so even if they sold him next summer they'd still look to command £30-40m anyway. Another year helping to establish the club in the Prem could easily be more valuable than the £20-30m they might lose from his transfer value.

So from what this appears, until Leeds confirm otherwise, they've had a bid from Barca which they've not deemed acceptable yet, but the Barca media are putting pressure on to deem that it should be an acceptable offer.

I'd be inclined to offer something similar, maybe slightly higher than Barca are offering but then include significant incentives that would allow him to earn around double that fee based on appearances, win bonuses, etc. I understand the argument and risk around him that his best period at Barca has been in the last 6 months when playing for a new contract. The talent is obviously there but maybe the carrot needs to be dangled to get the best out of him.

I don't understand how people get sucked into the same senses of insecurity every transfer window. We're always linked to a stream of players, it's the nature of the beast. And to compound that this summer, the new ownership are having to establish links and relationships pretty much from scratch with executives of others clubs, player agents, etc. Hence why we end up with a meeting with Jorge Mendes becoming a link to Ronaldo. We will sign players this summer but its important to sign the right players. Regarding the Raphinha deal and whether it's made us look stupid I disagree. I believe we've been informed by Deco that his priority is Barcelona but if they can't buy him this summer then we would be his second choice. The club has taken a chance and rolled the dice on this deal to see if they could push it through and if it doesn't work then so be it. I'd rather that bold approach and proactive effort to get a deal done that they want, rather than just monitoring the situation. Pretty sure the old ownership would have waited until later in the window to see if Barca would do anything and looked to swoop in late when a deal might be able to be done. Let's also note that so far all of this Raphinha news has come from one Barca source (Gerard Romero). I've no idea how reliable he is, or if he is a mouthpiece for the club. He's currently suggesting Leeds are willing to accept a bid in instalments of €60m which seems to still be a fair drop from the total deal we've proposed to Leeds. However also tonight, he is also reporting that Dembele is likely to renew and Barca are confident of doing a deal for Kounde for €45m (bearing in mind all the talk last summer and now this one has been at least €60-70m when we've been linked with Kounde). Other reports regarding Barca suggest that this influx of money yesterday was just to cover the financial year, register their free signings, etc. Until I see something concrete, i.e. they actually agree a fee with a club, sign and register the player, etc I'm very sceptical about their position. If we'd have been given as firm a 'no' as is being reported from Barcelona's end then I don't think (1) a bid would have been made, and (2) a bid would certainly have been taken off the table by now.

Leeds will do well to replace his output as he's far and away their best player. I don't think they'll be too upset if he ended up staying. The saving grace for them is with the World Cup in the winter, Raphinha can hardly sulk too much or refuse to play and jeopardise his position in the national squad.

Chelsea have signed plenty of players in the past where we might not have necessarily been first choice to the player and they've gone on to have successful careers here. I wouldn't look at Raphinha if we signed him and not want him because his preference was Barcelona. I'd be a little weary if he wanted to join Barca in the future and whether we'd end up with a sulky player on our hands but I think we'd get a bit of an idea of that by how this plays out. Ultimately, I think Barca are trying to keep their options open because they don't want to miss out on Dembele and Raphinha. They're trying to keep both open to ensure they have one. If our interest in both is indeed correct then we have some control over the situation currently - we may either get a free run at Dembele on a free from a strong negotiating position where he doesn't blister us with stupid wage demands, or we end up buying Raphinha for a price we appear happy to agree to pay.

The whole Raphinha situation might seem frustrating but a lot of the noise is coming from the Spanish media and Barca leaks. It's pretty obvious that his first choice is Barcelona and if he has been informed of interest at their end then I can totally understand him wanting to take his time to see how things evolve. But the Spanish media are spinning it as Barca being the only choice for him. If that's the case then we'll hear pretty quickly that we've been rejected by him. For now, I'd keep the offer on the table. Priority should be tying up deals for Sterling and De Ligt as close as possible to the start of pre season. Then we can come back to Raphinha and assess the situation. Keeping the offer on the table keeps the pressure on Barca to actually do something. It gives Leeds the leverage to hold out on them. We're not the ones scrambling in the deal. What I actually would not want to happen is if we withdrew too quickly and later in the window it becomes clear Barca can't make an acceptable offer and it paves a clear way suddenly for Arsenal to try and swoop in on him. He'd be a significant upgrade to what Arsenal have.

More likely as not to offend Juventus. If we or any other club, don't agree a deal this summer he'll stay there another season and I doubt wants grief from their fans if he's been caught specifically saying he wants to join Chelsea.

I get the impression that Barca would like him but he's not a priority signing. It feels like they're showing themselves to make a token effort to save face but ultimately know that they're not in a position to do so. If it encourages Raphinha to reject all advances and hold out for Barca in the hope they can agree something later in the window then power to him. The bigger risk for him would be for Barca to manage to find an agreement with Leeds to then struggle to register him and leave him completely in limbo which I don't think could be completely dismissed given their current struggles.

Anything regarding Dembele considering his contract runs out today?

Yeah it's easy to forget this doesn't really bother us English. As a society we're very much set in our ways, enjoy our own culture, language and for the most part, aren't prepared to venture too far out from our comfort zone. For the South Americans, Spain and Portugal are the closest countries over in Europe to their culture, language, etc in their home countries. It's a big attraction. Add to this the aura of Barca and Madrid and it's easy to understand the lure for some players to play for them.

Everybody losing their minds and thinking it looks like one big clusterfuck have to realise that Boehly is going to be making a lot of contacts, lines of enquiries, etc over the last couple of weeks as he's coming into this cold. A lot of this can be construed as us linked to player x and y (already the Richarlison rumours went from us trying to hijack the deal to apparently just an enquiry that went no further), but I'm sure there's a lot of work going on behind the scenes and until I see otherwise, I'll judge our summer when it's crunch time. People are worried about Spurs and they've made some good signings on paper but even if we only signed Sterling and replaced Rudiger in our backline I'd still have our squad over theirs, especially considering we also have loan players coming back in to freshen and beef up the squad if required. They have and always will be one lengthy injury to Son and/or Kane away from a disaster.

Telegraph reporting we enquired about Richarlison last night when Spurs were getting close and once were aware of the price we backed off. Hardly sounds like a hijack scenario if true.

Some reports seem to suggest this was necessary just to balance the books for this financial year and allow them to register Kessie and Christensen. If they want to trade at any respectable rate apparently they need two more of these economic levers to take place and they're not likely to simply go through over night. The result of what happens with Raphinha will determine where Barca are likely standing in all of this. I also cannot see them prioritising him over Lewa, even more so if they can still come to an agreement with Dembele on a new contract.