Jase

Well, it's tough to get a clear picture because we wasted half a season playing freestyle football under Lampard and then Tuchel has come without having much time in between games to actually work with the players. It is partly enforced due to the congested schedule but all the constant chopping and changing isn't helping either. Lampard got Top 4 last season and Chilwell was supposedly the only signing that he wanted. The rest were the board's ideas.

I think Dortmund are prepared to take the hit with selling Haaland for cheaper next season. They can use him to make sure they have a good chance of qualifying for Champions League in 2021/22 season. Otherwise, no guarantee they can find a replacement with similar output. And this is the same club after all that didn't sell Lewandowski to Bayern in 2013, let him run down the final year of his contract and ended up losing him for free.

You quoted the wrong person.

Man City and Liverpool have the benefit of their squad being together longer and are at their peak age. Ours aren't there yet but they can get there. Those 2 clubs didn't get to where they are now (excluding Liverpool's form this season) without 1-2 seasons of suffering. The funny thing is, will Tuchel even get much say in our transfers? Our past history suggests it's unlikely. Plus, he's only got an 18-month contract (no sign of us wanting to extend that yet) and part of the reason why we hired him - or why we went for a German manager - in the first place is that they are familiar/generally OK with working this setup of the board making the big decisions over transfers while he just coaches the players. The problem is, if we can't/don't get Haaland, then which proven goalscorer can we get? Kane is impossible (LOL). Lukaku very unlikely, unless Conte leaves and/or Inter's financial situation blows up. Other than those two alternatives, the rest aren't quite at the highest level. And the funny thing about us talking about all of this is that it goes out of the window if we don't qualify for the Champions League. lol

They are taking a financial hit, like every other club, but not sure they're in a desperate financial situation that they have to sell their best players if they don't qualify. Am sure Dortmund are aware that they might not qualify for the Champions League when they set their Haaland price tag, assuming it's true.

We've been discussing a lot about potentially signing Haaland this summer but imagine if we don't finish in the Top 4! lol

But who's gonna buy them? Only United were seriously interested in Sancho last summer. Are there more clubs suddenly interested now? Even United seem to have cooled interest in him. Haaland could of course be sold but if Dortmund stick to their asking price, will anyone pay that kind of money for him?

Yes but one would imagine or hope that our players will get better individually and have better understanding of one another the more they play together. True but on the flip side, City don't have a true goalscorer and yet they are so far ahead in the league while we don't have a true goalscorer and we're just about clinging to 4th. Also, Liverpool went toe-to-toe with Man City for the last 2 seasons without a clinical striker leading the line, albeit they do have Mane and Salah mostly banging in the goals. It's a long shot but if our players can increase their output by at least 10-15 goals, then we might make this work if we don't get Haaland or any top striker out there. The Athletic did a piece today on the best Plan Bs to Haaland and none of the names suggested are really inspiring - Alexander Isak, Bamford, Andre Silva, Patrik Schick, Dusan Vlahovic, Donyell Malen, Myron Boadu. Guessing the likes of Kane, Lukaku weren't mentioned because they're obvious alternatives but won't be easy to acquire.

As expected, Morocco have qualified for the AFCON next year. So, Ziyech and Mendy will be missing games for us next January.

Maybe it's the pandemic season factor but City are gonna win the league (and potentially more) almost without a proper striker this season. Their top scorer in the league is Gundogan (12 goals). After that, it's Sterling and Mahrez (9), Jesus (7), Foden (6), De Bruyne (5), Stones (4), Silva and Torres (2). That we need to be more clinical is undeniable but we also need to be better at creating clear chances consistently, something Tuchel has also been pointing out. Our non-penalty and non-own goal xG has only been higher than 2 once out of 14 games under Tuchel.

So, we'll have 3 days to rest/prep between the second leg vs Porto and this cup semi-final.

How big is the "spend big on the right one"? Are we willing to just spend more than 100 million on a striker? I highly doubt we'll get Lukaku unless Conte leaves in the summer and/or Inter's financial situation suddenly gets worse. Otherwise, he's the main man of the club and Conte. No way they're gonna sell him to and even if they do, he'll cost A LOT.

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2021/03/26/injured-kante-to-miss-france-games?cardIndex=0-6 Kante did some tests on his hamstring problem today and they revealed a "small lesion". Anyone knows what that means and how long will it take to recover?

If Haaland goes nowhere this summer, then next summer is gonna be LOL when his release clause activates.

Nominated for PL Manager of the Month again, along with Graham Potter, Brendan Rodgers and Solskjaer.

Assuming it's true, who's gonna pay that money in this particular summer? And that's without counting the agent fees for Raiola.

Yeah but then a pandemic happened and everything changed course. Any chance of something similar happening again? 😅

Giroud maybe. As for Abraham, part of the reason why there were rumors about him going is if we buy Haaland. If we don't get Haaland, then we might end just keeping him. We might just go with Havertz, Abraham and Werner as the choices for leading the line. Havertz and Werner of course can play in other positions as well and if this is how we're gonna go with things, then we don't have to worry too much then about keeping everyone happy etc.

I think if we don't get Haaland, we might just stick with what we have and then just pray the current crop of attacking players will come good next season.

FFS!!!

But he is one of Lazio's main assets, if not the main one. They have no need to sell and I don't think Immobile is necessarily interested in leaving either. Moreover as you pointed out, he's already 31 years old and we know the club's stance when it comes to players over 30 years old.

Seems like this will happen soon...

And Euro 2020 finishes on July 11...