Jype

Would assume any sell-on clause (if one even exists, let alone at 25%) only covers the profit Inter make on the transfer. Inter paid around €75M for Lukaku so at €110-120M the sell-on fee wouldn't be all that much, around €10M at most and probably even less if the percentage is lower than 25%. Do you have a source saying the clause is there? It would have been crazy for Inter to accept a 25% sell-on clause for the full sale price, because it would mean they have to sell for €100M just to break even and if Lukaku had failed at Inter he'd have been impossible to sell because Man Utd would have taken 25% off the price which would already have been below what they paid for the big man themselves.

So what's your solution? Do nothing to address the problems up front and just pray for Werner, Havertz find their shooting boots for the next few seasons and that Broja and Soonsup-Bell develop enough over the next 3-4 years to be regulars at age 21-22? JSB is 17 and Broja is 19. If anything, getting a 28yo Lukaku should be great for them. By the time Lukaku is 'finished' (which most here think is in 2-3 years because all footballers supposedly turn shit after 30) they're still at a decent enough age to start getting more regular game time.

What's the logic behind this? Getting 21yo Haaland is fine but 28yo Lukaku destroys the youth?

Would think he's learnt his lesson by now, and is keeping with the healthy and professional diet wherever he plays. 😂

He's definitely not the same player as he was in his last season at Man Utd. After the World Cup 2018 he was seriously out of shape and had built up way too much muscle mass, which made him slower and not as agile. Even if that's the only change (which I disagree), him getting on a better diet and training regime has made his physique much more suitable for his playing style.

Impossible to say without having taken part in the discussions... IF it's true that Dortmund would only sell Haaland this year for €200M then it's absolutely crazy money compared to anything Lukaku would go for. Not only would the transfer fee itself be €70-80M more, but also taking into account Raiola and Haaland dad's ridiculous agent fees the difference would easily be a lot more than €100M. We also don't know the wages Haaland would command, earlier there were some silly rumors about him being after a minimum of £400-450K/wk which would no doubt also be 50-100% more than Lukaku's wage. Don't get me wrong, I would absolutely love having Haaland and I'm sure the club would too. It's been widely reported that Haaland has always been the club's number one target for this summer, so if the transfer doesn't happen then it was clearly never a realistic signing to begin with and the club have abandoned the pursuit because it's either not financially viable or Dortmund just really don't want to sell. If Haaland is off the table, Lukaku is a great alternative.

I think it's really arrogant for people to think a player like Lukaku is somehow beneath the level of Chelsea as a club, and that the club should be entitled to have a Haaland, Lewandowski or whoever of that caliber. Lukaku these days is a really good player and I know I'm quite alone with my opinion but I'd really like to see him back if/when Haaland is out of reach. Aside from the very top few strikers in the world Lukaku is about as quaranteed as can be to score +20 goals a season in the PL. Yes he's not a perfect player and yes he has his flaws, but the fact still remains the club desperately need a top class striker and Lukaku fits the bill. I for one am not confident at all about landing Haaland even next year when every top club on Earth will have a go at him. I've said before that I'm willing to see out the coming season with the current set of players and hope they (especially Werner) can improve in front of goal enough to stay competitive, but that was always assuming Lukaku is off the table as well. If Haaland, Lewandowski etc. are out of the question but Lukaku is within reach, I say go for it.

But at United he didn't play in a well-organized attacking setup, especially under Mourinho the whole team were all over the place. He's also improved as a player since then, and I don't see many Inter fans being frustrated with Lukaku. He might not be the most technical striker out there but he's a lot better than Tammy in most aspects of the game.

If £150M gets you either and they're both available at the same price and similar wages, I'll take Haaland any day. Kane might be more proven, especially in the PL, but has a growing amount of injury worries every season and is 7 years older so thinking 3-4 years in the future Haaland's value should be multiple times higher than Kane's. And if Haaland could be extended beyond the initial 5-6 year contract then he could easily end up staying for almost a decade at the club, something Kane certainly wouldn't be able to do. Not that either of those two are available to us sadly.

In any case, if it comes down to getting some stopgap option like Ings (or similar) then it can wait till the end of the window and just get someone near deadline day who's still available. In the meantime we have four competitive matches (and one friendly against Spurs) before the window closes so we can get some kind of idea how Werner, Havertz etc. will get on this season. If they bang in goals for fun during those early games then maybe a striker is not as necessary as people think? And if it still looks like a striker is desperately needed then there will surely be some players of Ings-like quality available later on, so no point panicking and getting someone like that in now.

😂 Their biggest ever club legend treats them like shit. Funny stuff.

His transfer to Arsenal was only confirmed last Friday, so at most he'll have had a couple of training sessions before yesterdays game.

Yea I wouldn't expect any of them to play against Spurs so quickly just like the Havertz, Werner, Kante etc. didn't feature against Bournemouth in last week's friendly. A few of the latest arrivals will probably feature in the Super Cup to get some match fitness before the PL starts.

I would rather just gamble on Armando Broja than buy someone like Danny Ings. I probably rate Lukaku higher than most on here and would actually like to have him at the club if/when Haaland can't be signed but him wanting to stay at Inter is a warning sign. Has he found a perfect home at Inter and that's why he's playing so well, or can he reproduce similar level performances elsewhere too? And if he reluctantly accepts a move because Inter get a bid too good to refuse, is money his only personal motivation to return? A lot of question marks over Lukaku.

Rest of the lads are back in training today.

Or maybe the club just rates Livramento higher and made that clear to Tino himself too. If the deal really includes a buy-back clause at a reasonable value (<20m) and the player would be happy to come back, then I don't mind the sale. Get a couple years of PL experience at Soton and if he proves good enough then buy him back, and if not then he was never going to make it at Chelsea anyway.

Was also a clear offside, so in the end no goal was the right decision and if there'd been VAR it wouldn't have been given.

Ziyech what the fuck 😂

Seems Werner's finishing hasn't gotten better over the summer. 😆

Werner to Havertz, 1-0. Great pass by Timo.

Bailey is an interesting signing by Villa. Couple years ago he was rumored to be on the radar for some bigger clubs too (including Chelsea) but for some reason a move never happened. Even if they're losing Grealish, they've now signed Buendia and Bailey in attack so they should be able to handle losing their star man pretty well.

Emerson was always going to be sold though, and I'm quite surprised it hasn't already happened because surely his performances at the Euros made his stock go higher in Italy. Tammy has two years left on his deal so if he can't be sold for the full asking price now then he definitely won't fetch the same value later either. Tuchel obviously doesn't have use for Tammy so it makes sense to sell him to the highest bidder now, even if it means the club have to lower the asking price a little bit. I don't know what snowball effect you think those two are going to set off but I wouldn't expect much.

How so? Wasn't it reported a couple days ago by The Athletic (Simon Johnson) that the club have been extensively scouting Kounde for the last two years? 1-2 years ago there might still have been some doubts whether he's actually quality or just one of those players who had a good season and then faded into obscurity but he's kept his level and actually continued his development at Sevilla so it makes sense for the club to go for him now when another CB is needed. Also said on the article that Kounde is one of the players Tuchel put on his targets list for this window when he first joined the club in January, so if that's all true then it's pretty much the furthest away from a panic buy you can get.

Why does City going for Grealish affect our pursuit of Haaland in any way? I agree with @Pizy that while Grealish is a gem of a player he doesn't make City any better than they already were because they can only field a fixed amount of attacking players at once and the ones they already have are just as good as Grealish. I think with Grealish signing they are slowly starting to phase out KDB who's already 30yo and beginning to have more and more injury problems.

Agree. Loved watching Rüdiger in the second half of last season, but pre-Tuchel I'd been wanting him to get sold for a good 1-2 years. At the moment I guess I'd look how he plays till around November-December and then decide whether to open contract talks or start preparing for him potentially leaving on a free transfer. He can start negotiating with other clubs in January but even if he hasn't signed a renewal before then he could still easily end up staying if he doesn't get the contract offer he wants from other clubs either. I believe the club's highest paid players get around £250-300K/wk and based on his overall performances in the last few years I don't think the club should give Rüdiger that much. At the moment his salary is likely somewhere in the £100K/wk ball park so asking for 2-3 times that much is unwarranted unless he first proves the second half of 20/21 season wasn't just a purple patch and is now his actual level in the long term.