Jype

No. They were short on money when they first bought Lukaku from United in 2019 and they managed to negotiate a payment plan across multiple years. Remaining payments amount to the 43.8M if the article is to be believed.

Not to mention that stadium would be majestic as fuck.

Haaland wouldn't be 'long term' either, Raiola will make sure of that. After all, the pizza man will need new agent commissions every few years..

Now this is the kind of shithousery I can fully get behind. 😂

@R2D2 any thoughts on Lukaku winning Serie A's player of the year award? 😏 "With 24 goals and 11 assists, he is the first player to reach 20 goals and 10 assists in a single Serie A season since the data was collected (2004/05 season)." "The ranking was drawn up taking into account the advanced analyzes of Stats Perform, made starting from the tracking data recorded by Netco Sports. The rating system, patented in 2010 with K-Sport and scientifically validated, considers not only statistical data and technical events, but also positional data. This allows to analyze crucial aspects such as movement without the ball and therefore optimal movements, game choices, contribution to the technical and physical efficiency of the team, which allow an objective and qualitative evaluation of performance. For the final calculation, all the matches played in Serie A TIM, TIMVISION Cup and PS5 Supercup were considered. The Best Overall Award of the 2020/2021 season went to Inter player Romelu Lukaku."

There's a reason Morata has not been a consistent starter for most of his career clubs so far, it's because he's not a good player and definitely not a good goalscorer. Lots of people had doubts in 2017 over Morata's goalscoring consistency. At the time he'd been used mostly as an impact substitute both for Real Madrid and Juventus and he'd never shown good enough form to become a starter and had only once scored 15 league goals in a season (while his second best scoring season was 8 league goals for Juve). I have no doubt Lukaku would score 20 goals in the PL and another 5-10 across cup competitions if he joins. The team is set up perfectly for a striker like him, we create lots of chances but the only problem is finishing them off. Lukaku is a much better finisher inside the box than any of Werner, Havertz, Mount etc. so he'd definitely improve our goals scored record, at least against the mid table sides and bottom clubs. I too have some doubts over Lukaku in the top matches but finishing off some lower level teams is what's caused a lot of our problems in the last couple of years so a good finisher like Lukaku would fit in like a glove.

What's the point of comparing Morata's stats from 2021 for Juventus to decide how good/bad a signing he was in 2017? Morata in 2016/17 played 45 matches and had 18 goals and 5 assists for Real Madrid in all competitions. Even though Morata was a few years younger at the time, if you want to make a fair comparison those are the stats you need to compare 2021 Lukaku with. Another comparison is Lukaku to this day has scored 160 league goals in the PL / Serie A. Morata is the same age and has scored 84 career league goals in La Liga / PL / Serie A. There's zero doubt that Lukaku is the much better player between those two, whether we're comparing their history or their current level.

So you rate those players lower than Morata, Bakayoko, Drinkwater and Zappacosta? Okay mate.

Pulisic, Ziyech, CHO obviously want to start more games but they also need to start showing why they deserve to be starters. Werner, for all his flaws, has been the best out of the bunch and is definitely ahead of the other three at the moment. Mount and Havertz will definitely expect to start most games and and probably will too, even if Lukaku joins. Based on their current forms, I'd say Lukaku, Havertz, Werner and Mount would all start plenty enough games for all of them to be happy with their roles. Ziyech and Pulisic already had some complaints this season for their lack of play time and I don't see their situation becoming a lot better next season either, unless they drastically improve their play. Like I said, last chance for them next season. For CHO I'm not really sure what to do with him. He always shows glimpses of good form when he plays and the quality is definitely there, but he's wildly inconsistent and Tuchel is now the third manager after Sarri and Lampard who has said something about his work ethic and motivation levels so maybe they're onto something? I don't see Hudson-Odoi's situation improving enough if he stays at the club so maybe a change in scenery might do him some good. But because I still rate his talent, I would hate to lose him on a permanent deal because there's definitely the chance of it coming back to bite us in the ass like KDB/Salah. A loan deal to a slightly smaller club would be my pick for CHO, and if he performs well with regular play time he can definitely still return and replace Pulisic/Ziyech later on if those two don't start performing.

Yea I agree that there's still maybe one player too many for the optimal amount of rotation. Don't think Lukaku would be the one to have problems with rotation tho. He'd still be the only real striker in the team (assuming Giroud and Tammy will both be gone) and he'd definitely start most games and only sit out when another kind of approach would be needed (ie. false 9). It would be the likes of Pulisic, Ziyech and CHO (if he stays) who need to be worried. Think next season will be last chance for Pulisic and Ziyech to show their worth, otherwise they'll be moved on, especially Pulisic who will have just two years left on his contract and 2022 the club will then need to decide whether to extend him or try to sell him.

So if we believe Matt Law and Tuchel is targeting the likes of Adama/Hoffmann for the wing-back role, it would seem like we're continuing with the 3-4-3 next season. Traore as a winger is nowhere near good enough for a top club but as a wing-back he might be an interesting option because of his freakishly good physique and good dribbling skills to take on defenders. Tuchel tried CHO as a wing-back and it seemed to be working reasonably well but towards the end of the season he wasn't getting any more games at WB (or any other position for that matter) so it's obvious there was something Tuchel didn't like about him there. Looking at the rumored transfer targets, we might well be seeing a super-charged version of the Conte title season. A midfield of Rice-Kante would be quite similar to Matic-Kante in the Conte era and I feel wing-backs of Chilwell-James/Adama would be a huge upgrade on Alonso-Moses. Lukaku would play the 'diegocosta' role and the likes of Werner, Havertz, Mount, Pulisic, Ziyech would operate behind the front man like Hazard/Willian/Pedro did for Conte. Depending on opposition some games would still be played with Havertz as false-9 or Werner up front so there should be plenty of game time for six players competing for three places in the team. Don't see a role for CHO in there though.

Quoting Oasis lyrics to mock Man City and the Gallaghers. Great trolling from the club's twitter admin. 😂

What an embarrassing take by Micah Richards. He must feel like a silly cunt now that his comments backfired in the worst possible way. Not only did Chelsea win the biggest club trophy out there only a few months later with Mason Mount and Reece James both playing key roles, they also did it in the final against Micah's beloved club Manchester City. You couldn't make it up. 😂

Damn, what a view.

Looks good on him, doesn't it? If France win the Euros, surely he gets it?

Ouch, Kevin De Bruyne just tweeted he's fractured his nose and orbital bones in the collision with Rüdiger.

What a special performance from Kante today. Imagine ever doubting his form and injury record under Sarri and Lampard... Looks a totally different player now that he's playing in a solid tactical setup and played in his best role. Lovely little guy.

Mason Mount, European Champion. Has a nice ring to it. Created the winning goal today too.

Rocking my 2012 home shirt with Drogba on the back for this. Don't think I've worn it during a game since the Munich final so let's hope it's a lucky charm for tonight. 😎

Who are the others? Of the top of my head I can only think of Samuel Eto'o for Barca and Inter in 2009 and 2010.

The Muricans are so used to having cities pay for their stadiums with the tax payers' money and owners threaten to move the 'franchise' to another state if they don't agree to it so they can't fathom the idea of clubs actually paying for it themselves. Americans should stay the fuck away from European football, no good thing can come from their involvment.

Wouldn't say missing 18 big chances over a full season is crazy at all. According to PL stats last season Tammy missed 22 and in recent years players like Salah, Mane, Vardy, Aubameyang etc. have always missed around 15-23 over a season. Even Kane regularly clocks around 15-18 big chances missed a year. Only crazy thing is that he ended up with just six league goals despite having a ton of chances. If he can start converting even some of those next season, as well as score the occasional goal from opportunities not classified as 'big chances' he's set for 15-20 league goals easy. In his career Timo has never underperformed his xG by this much so he just needs to have a bit of luck on his side, get his confidence back and most importantly stay the fuck onside and he's good to go. Btw for Lampard the stat is simply not true. In the PL they only started keeping count of 'big chances missed' in the 2010/11 season so Lampard only has a few years worth football listed there. Not counting his brief stint at Man City, he scored 28 non-penalty PL goals for Chelsea while missing 17 'big chances' between 2010-2014. Obviously a much better ratio than Werner this season but nothing out of the ordinary. And I guarantee if they tracked such stats when Lampard was constantly banging in 20 goals a season in prime he'd be high up on the list too like pretty much every other great player. It's not really a surprise that the best players who score the most goals also miss the most chances because they get into more goalscoring opportunities than shit players playing for shit teams.

Under Tuchel I think just one, Atletico at home. Only been starters together a few times tho.

The answer is lots of alcohol. 🍻

He's not going to join Tottenham. 😂 Real Madrid could be a possibility if Conte actually does leave and wants to join another club immediately. Or he can take some time off football and join another club mid-season or next year.