Jype

Yeah. I think Guehi is going to continue at Swansea so it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to have Ampadu there too.

Yeah, in Serie A a 29yo player is still considered a young prospect.

Juve paid €90M for Higuain when he was a few months away from turning 29. That seemed stupid at the time too, although GH had scored a lot of goals in Serie A the season before.

Yep they will play Internazionale or Getafe. Getafe were in horrible form since the La Liga restart (only 1 win in 11) so shouldn't be that hard for Inter to qualify. That QF game for Leverkusen would take place on Monday 10th August.

I don't get the fans sometimes. If you like Kovacic, that doesn't mean you should shit on Mount to make the former look better. Or vice versa. How is it that difficult to appreciate both for the different types of qualities they both bring to the team? Kovacic is a good shout for the club's POTY but Mount also had a cracking debut season overall and at times has been absolutely integral to the way Lampard sets up the team.

The thing is though, Havertz made his wishes about leaving clear to Leverkusen already a year ago. Or at least that's what the reports are saying. So if that's true then it's more a Hazard 2018-19 type of situation when the club had already convinced him to stay another year the summer before and he was happy to do that with the promise of a move the following year, but what would've happened if the club still refused to sell Hazard a year later? Same way Havertz might not be happy if he's been promised a move this year and Leverkusen were to go back on their word. It's all about the EL and always has been.

Saying all the right things in his interview. Seems like a great guy.

Willian doesn't even need selling, just don't extend his contract and he will leave on his own.

Ginter could be a good shout for a CB signing if he can handle the physicality of the PL. Him and Rüdiger could form a solid partnership, already knowing each other from the NT and all that. Having a core of German players can't be a bad thing. Send Christensen their way and make it a direct swap, everyone wins? AC was great for Gladbach during his loan years so he's still probably highly rated at the club.

Would be an absolutely ridiculous transfer window if Marina were to land Werner, Ziyech, Havertz, Oblak and possibly some defensive reinforcement too. Not that I believe for a second getting Oblak is even remotely realistic. That said, I didn't believe Werner and Havertz either when rumors of those first came out.

Yeah, maybe. I could reluctantly accept him staying if it's on a 2 year deal at most and with an agreement between Lamps and Willian that his role will get smaller over time. And on reasonable wages, roughly the same as he makes now. Not that it's money out of my pocket anyway if he does get more but I just don't want to see years of mediocrity rewarded just because he hit form at the right time after the restart.

Maybe. But based on his contract demands alone I would assume he still sees himself as one of the very best players in the squad, even after the new arrivals in attacking positions. Why else would he demand to be the club's second highest paid player after Kante? And even if he were to agree a smaller role, why should the club pay him that kind of money if his new squad status didn't match the wages anymore? Aging players with diminishing roles should take smaller wages, not get a huge pay rise to their current deals. Either way, I'd assume we're going to know more within the next few days. His short-term contract is almost at the end so a decision will have to be made soon.

Yeah, and just like David Luiz I can't see Willian taking it very well if he suddenly wasn't a key player anymore. We already saw it under Conte that Willian's ego is too big for him to only play a squad role. And that to me is really ironic considering he's not and never has been a world class player by any means. All that, aside from it totally shafting CHO, is why I don't think it's really that good of an idea to extend his deal. People here have been saying "oh well, he's still a good player and can play AM4 role" but in reality it doesn't work like that with a player who still thinks so highly of himself that he demands £200-250K/week wages on a long-term contract which would also break the club's age policy that has been in place for a long time and is something the club didn't budge even for players like Lamps and Terry. David Luiz is so far the only player the club gave in on contract length demands and look how that ended up. Willian's been a good servant for the club but it's finally time to move on. I'd have thought the time was years ago but maybe that's just me.

Don't think this Onana to Leverkusen rumor has any legs. But if for whatever reason it does happen, Marina might as well tell Leverkusen to send Hradecky to London on the same flight with Havertz. Good goalkeeper and only 30yo too.

Willian's extension would be a total slap to the face for CHO. I for one don't think we even need a fourth winger because having Puli, Ziyech and CHO is already more than enough when Mount, Werner and potentially Havertz can fill in there when needed (which in turn would open up more game time for the likes of Tammy, RLC etc. in their respective positions). Tammy / Werner / Pulisic / Ziyech / CHO / Havertz / Mount / RLC / Kovacic / Kante / Gilmour / Jorginho That's 12 players for 6 positions in the team (assuming Havertz is completed) which would be quite good for squad depth and quality. If Willian continues who will be the odd man out? And that's even without counting players like Giroud, Barkley whose futures are still up in the air. If either of them are still part of the squad next season there will definitely not be enough game time for everyone to stay happy and keep developing. Fact is with three new signings (Werner, Ziyech, Havertz) some will have to leave and I'd hate to lose or totally marginalize any of the academy lads (CHO, RLC) just to keep Willian around.

Good point. Last few years the best teams in the league (especially Man City and to a point also Liverpool) have had many different goal threats to rely on instead of just a single main man. Early days for them but it looks like United are going to be like that too (Martial, Rashford, Greenwood, Bruno and maybe Sancho if they get him too). Tottenham for example are totally reliant on Kane to score the goals for them and whenever he hits bad form or gets injured they're fucked. Same for us previously when Hazard was the only one consistently hitting ~15 goals in the league. It certainly looks like Lamps is trying to break away from that kind of style and go the same route with the likes of City by having many versatile and potentially top class attacking players in the team. Having players like Werner, Tammy, Pulisic, Havertz who can all hit at least 10-15 goals a season with maybe one or two closer to the 20 goal mark would be huge. That way the team won't suffer so much from injuries / rotation and it helps especially against the low-block teams when they can't just mark the main goal threat out of the game and get away with at least a draw. And having a creator like Ziyech will certainly help breaking down defenses who sit deep and let us have all of the possession in the attacking third. None of the current wingers / AMs offer the same kind of creativity as Ziyech.

If we're talking about league goals only, the last time a Chelsea striker scored more than 20 in a season was ten years ago in 2009/10 with Drogba. Even Diego Costa never got more than 20, though he did score exactly that amount in both title winning seasons. So I don't think it'd be reasonable for people to ask a new signing to hit more goals than any Chelsea player in more than a decade. 15-20 in the PL for Werner in his first year would be totally fine, as long as his overall play is good. At Leipzig he got a lot of assists as well so if he can continue creating some chances for his teammates as well that'd be really good.

Looks like Leverkusen are leaving the decision of EL involvement in Havertz' own hands. He could still decide he wants to play before leaving.

You know something the rest of us cunts don't?

I'm halfway there too.

What an end to the half. Giroud the handsome bastard strikes again. #nohomo I came prepared with a bottle of gin and some beer. Good way to calm my nerves during the game and either celebrate or drown my sorrows at FT. Looking good so far, now just need to keep this lead and Leicester to win to make it a perfect day.

Yep, 9 of his 13 goals have been from penalties. So not that many goals form open play but plenty of assists.

He has a release clause at 111m€, however good or bad he's done this season won't change what is written on his contract. There is probably a reason (besides coronavirus) as to why no one has got him at that price but if Inter's finances are fine why should they sell him for any less either just because a broke ass Barca come calling? I'd say around 70m€ could represent fair value for Martinez but for Inter it'd make little sense to sell him for that price because who could they realistically get that is better at that price? Only 22yo so still a lot of room to improve. Getting him to sign a new contract would be really good business by Inter.

Going to be scary as shit today every time Ruben Neves is holding the ball at 25 meters.

Yep. Overall this season the wingers have played roughly this much across all comps: Pulisic 2200 mins Pedro 1200 mins Willian 3400 mins CHO 1400 mins Total amount: 8200 mins. So that's around 4600 minutes gone with Willian/Pedro and Ziyech alone can't claim all of that. Pulisic game time should increase next season with him being on fire at the moment so let's say he gets 3000 minutes, assuming he stays fit that is. Ziyech should also be looking at 2500-3000 minutes, depending on how he settles in. With CHO the next in line to take the winger spots he should still be getting like 2000-2500 minutes next season. Let's not forget he'd already have hit +2000 if he wasn't injured so much.