Superblue

Out of curiosity what is Barca's annual TV rights? This deal is for 25 years so in a break even position places the 10% rights at around £10m a season. If Barca's TV rights are £15 - 20m a season this seems like an awful and desperate decision. Even more so over such a lengthy period where these rights could easily be multiple times bigger by the end of the deal.

Mount on the left and Sterling on the right.

The Richarlison rumours this morning, to me, feel more like keeping lines of enquiries open whilst we're still doing business. Not necessarily saying I'm a fan of it because I'd rather we just target our main targets and not settle for lesser options, but a lot of reports suggest we've opened enquiries over multiple players this summer and are trying to keep options open and available. There might be a concern losing out on both Raphinha and Dembele, and until someone is in the door we maybe want to know how far along deals are. Personally I'd rather deals like that just bypass us. It seems we've held an interest in Richarlison but he hasn't been a top target like Sterling for example seems to be. Ultimately it's a lot of money for Spurs to spend on someone who in my opinion is nothing more than a backup and rotational player for them. They've been begging for a legitimate backup to Kane for years and I suppose this gives them that but he doesn't get in their strongest XI over Son, Kane and Kulasevski.

Yeah I'm not sure whether RLC would fancy it but having said that I'm sure he'd get a glowing report from Tammy and Tomori on playing in Italy as both seem to be enjoying it over there, and Lazio do have a manager in place who has probably got the most out of Ruben, and shown the most faith in him, in his career so it may be tempting for him depending on his situation here. If we were to bring SMS in, it's another body that pushes RLC further down the pecking order. Having said that, Tuchel does seem to like RLC, there just appears to be a frustration there of him not playing to the potential he has which unfortunately has been the case most of his career to date. Until we get someone in to cover and/or rotate with Reece at right wing back though I'd argue RLC is actually probably second best option there in our current squad options unless someone like Dujon Sterling can come back and impress in pre season.

We offer Emerson, RLC and Kepa into the deal, Lazio will still probably want 60m cash. It's an Italian thing.

There you go.

It feels Dembele is sat somewhere in the middle of all this. The bid for Raphinha last night from us seemed to be a statement to Dembele that we won't get strung along, and in turn Barca's posturing today might be similar. Either way it feels that Dembele has completely lost any leverage in negotiating with either club. He almost appears to be the runners up prize now.

If it was ourselves or one of the teams at the top of the table challenging for trophies then there might be more willing to give a discount to a team abroad as opposed to joining a rival. But in Leeds case, it doesn't greatly affect them in their position selling to us. The expectation is that we'll finish above them regardless and whilst they play the player twice a season, said player will also play twice a season against all the teams Leeds will be rivalling for league position. For them just getting a bigger deal and more money to reinvest is a better solution. They might be willing to bend very slightly but if we've played our cards and the offer is on the table, they're not going to make a deal with Barca for a lot less and I don't see how Barca can negotiate a deal anywhere near the bid we've put in. Leeds would probably happily keep him another season. If Raphinha wants to do that and wait for Barca then nothing we can really do but move on. I'd still like him and I guess we'll see over the next couple of days how this plays out, but what I don't want is in a year or two of coming here he wants a move to Barca and becomes a problem we could do without.

Up to him if he wants Barcelona, but I don't see it happening this summer. They're not prioritising him over Lewandowski and for them at present Dembele seems a more cost effective option if they can get him to re-sign.

There's this too which I think is just as impressive. Tuchel wants the forwards to press from the front and win the ball high up the pitch. We lost some of that edge as the season went on last year (and when Lukaku played too) and I feel targeting Sterling and Raphinha is definitely a nod by Tuchel to getting that part of our game up to scratch.

I believe Deco also acts in a scouting capacity for the South American market for Barca. The issue for Barca is simply where are they going to find the funds to make a bid worth Leeds accepting.

Gross is £120k per week. I don't think that sounds low or unreasonable. Would imagine he's on half that or less at Leeds.

Agreed. It's not been lost on me the profile of player Tuchel is looking at here to improve his attack - Premier league proven, mid-20's (so should arguably be at or near the peak of their powers rather than potential), and both players have been playing in teams that press the ball aggressively and play at a quick tempo. I agree on Havertz, he's significantly improved this aspect of his game compared to when he first joined the club and the difference between him and Lukaku up top was night and day. Add Mount to the mix who's always been excellent in that department too and we look like having the foundations of a good group of attackers to counter press the ball out of possession.

If the talk of a £200m war chest is accurate then Raphinha, Sterling and De Ligt if they all happened are going to use up an awful lot of that unless De Ligt's price can be driven down by player exchanges. I'm fine with that. They all seem to be first choice targets and they all feel on the face to be genuine quality additions to the squad. A couple of the loan players coming back in too, and there will be quite a significant freshening up of the squad. I just hope beyond the above three, there's maybe something in the budget to sort out the wing back areas too. Some real competition to Chilwell and James on either flank would be ideal.

Yeah the goal record throughout his career hasn't been great so we'll see if his output from last season is sustainable. He definitely has the talent there to do so and like I've said before we don't necessarily need a 20 goal player if we have multiple players get 8, 10, 12, 15 goals a season. Hopefully he is one that can fall into this bracket. Ironically I think we've missed Willian's ability to carry the ball since he left. None of our attackers do this as effectively as he used to and I can see why Tuchel would want a player of that ilk and someone who can be dangerous and creative in 1v1 situations. He definitely has the ability to not just open things up for himself but for other players too. He could form a pretty potent right hand side with Reece.

Difficult to judge as was only one season but 11 goals in 35 last season for a team that was bereft of genuine quality around him for almost the entirety of the season was a better return than Willian managed in 7 years here in the league.

Assuming the expectation is to still close a deal on Sterling, buying Raphinha would surely shut down any possibility of Dembele. It looks now like Dembele has no other option but Barca but that would be fine if it means that it would also end any interest they have now or in the longer term for Raphinha.

Not really sure about Raphinha at RWB - do you think he's defensively good enough to play there? Either way, if we did bring Raphinha and Sterling in for Werner and Ziyech I think that's a significant upgrade in the attacking options.

Player values will vary slightly but essentially £40-45m + one of Jorginho, Pulisic, Werner in my opinion should be fair game and would place a value on De Ligt somewhere around £70-80m. I'd happily do a deal that throws Emerson into the mix too. With that money Juventus could look at someone like Koulibaly or Bremer to replace De Ligt and they get an extra player to slot straight into their team. I think they'd have less worry buying someone like Koulibaly at 31 because he could probably comfortably play in Serie A for a few more years.

It's a much harder situation than usual in this circumstance I can fully understand because we've lost a couple of defenders in the window. But if the first choice option wasn't available then I'd rather us focus on a first choice option for right wing back that can genuinely rotate and compete with Reece James and then presents an option to play Reece in the back 3 during the season. We could also just put the block on any deal that involves Azpi leaving as well. I just don't want us buying our 4th or 5th choice option because we're desperate and still having to sink £40-50m to buy them anyway.

If Juventus play hard ball with De Ligt it does present a serious problem of consideration if he is, as it would seem, the number one choice at centre back for the club. Do you move on to another target that you're possibly less enthused about and still pay big money? Bearing in mind an opportunity will come up again on De Ligt next summer if he refuses to extend with Juventus because he'll only have one year on his contract at that point. I don't like the idea of moving for targets lower down the list, it's something we should be moving away from as we've been burnt this way countless times, none more so than Lukaku last summer. But in this situation it's easier said than done to remain patient when we do need some sort of defensive reinforcement this summer. Just a note regarding Skriniar. I like him but no way on earth should we be willing to pay what Inter are asking for him as he has one year left on his deal. If City end up selling Jesus and Sterling for around the £50m mark in the same contract situation, there's no way Skriniar represents any value whatsoever at 70-80m.

Are you talking about Cucurella? Because by 'he' I meant Zinchenko will likely go from a rotation option to backup at City if they sign Cucurella.

That will be the key. If City can't get Cucurella until next year, there's no way they sell Zinchenko this summer, it makes no sense to them for the upheaval. This is part of the reason though why some people need to be patient in the transfer window. Lots of moving pieces, not just at Chelsea. It's like buying a house on a chain, sometimes the selling club will want a deal in place for a replacement first. This is probably one which would take longer to resolve if we wanted to pursue it.

If City manage to sign Cucurella he'll go from squad rotation to likely backup.