Jase

Kane did not turn up for Spurs training again. So much for being a consummate professional...

That makes absolutely no sense to clubs from a financial perspective, other than making sure you have the player in your books. Why would they agree to 150 million now, especially during this pandemic, but don't get to reap the benefits immediately? Why do that when you only have to pay half of that money next year? And from the player's perspective, why would Haaland want to get stuck at Dortmund for another season if he's gonna commit to another club this summer? Imagine if that club go on and win a major trophy while Haaland doesn't get anything because he's stuck at Dortmund. Am sure he would rather just stay there for one more year and then have the club of his choosing in 2022.

Going by the reaction here and elsewhere, if it's between Lukaku and Ings, people might just take the latter and roll with it...

http://sportwitness.co.uk/Chelsea-continue-to-insist-on-signing-chiefs-fear-they-could-hardly-say-no-to-official-offer-from-blues/ According to Belgium's Het Nieuwsblad, the club could make one final attempt for Lukaku with a potential offer of around €130 million. The club would try to make room by selling Abraham and Batshuayi ASAP (not sure if they mean raising funds by selling them or make space in the squad by selling them). But even if Inter accept that bid, it'll come down to whether Lukaku is willing to move given that he's happy and all in Milan.

I don't disagree with that point at all but wouldn't that also be the case if we get Haaland anyway? There are also rumors that the club may be open to selling Ziyech and/or CHO. Would like to think that we are not that dumb to sell both LBs in the same window. One may go but not both.

😅 At least he's reliable.

Tuchel said that he could play him there in the future but he also said that he played Pulisic at RWB because Azpi and James weren't ready/back yet and it was an opportunity to give him more pre-season minutes to build fitness etc. Now one could argue that he could have Zappacosta there but we know he's not going to stay and there's no point in Tuchel focusing too much on him.

It's easier to go test a club if they have financial issues (but doesn't mean they will budge) compared to one that doesn't like Dortmund. Maybe it was just a natural flow of events or coincidence but everything that happened yesterday seems rather "coordinated". First, Simon Johnson's article on Lukaku was published in the morning - saying there had been two bids and a third one may follow. Then, Matt Law popped up in the afternoon and also said the club are going after Lukaku and later in the night, we got reports, which came out after the press embargo time, from Italy that Inter have rejected our bid (our third one if you believe Simon Johnson). It all feels like someone just sat down and decided to write a script on this.

Never mind Conte, the club didn't even back Mourinho back in 2015 after winning the League Cup and Premier League. If the club didn't back our most successful manager in terms of trophies won, then should we surprised if they are doing the same with others? That said, I don't even think this is "not backing the manager" case. Sure, the manager will have input but the club have always acted on what they see is best for the club (the rights and wrongs of their decisions are another debate). Ultimately, what they say goes. It's precisely why we wanted a German manager and why we got someone like Tuchel in because they are used to working with this model at a club. It's similar to Klopp at Liverpool where he will get to have his say but at the end of day, the club are the ones that make the final call and the manager has to work with whatever he's given. As for Lukaku, yes he's a striker but are the club really that desperate to spend 100 million+ on a 28-year-old with no resale value? It seems to go against their recent transfer policy and it will rule us out entirely of getting Haaland next year, even if the odds don't favor us of getting him then.

Hey, everyone's favorite Belgian journalist is back...

Would like to think that Dortmund have assessed all the possible scenarios and if they really aren't gonna budge, then I don't think they care what we do.

Can we seriously just close the transfer window now? It's just so fucking tedious!

Almost impossible is not totally impossible. At least we would still have a chance then, however small it is. Get Lukaku and that chance is practically gone completely.

If we go for Lukaku, we're practically spending 100m+ on a 28-year-old with no resale value (doesn't seem in line with the club's recent transfer policy) and it will also rule us out of signing Haaland next year. If people think our chances of signing him next year now are slim, it will be non-existent if we get Lukaku.

Aah okay. My bad.

Think it's clear that the club want an out-and-out #9 and not another second ST.

Premier League VAR revamp to cut soft penalties, save 20 offside goals

What are you having? Mind sharing?

That's on Goal? Saying that we can take advantage of Inter's financial difficulties is like when people keep saying Dortmund won't say no to a big money offer for Haaland, even though both are seemingly not budging at all. And what if Lukaku really doesn't want to leave at all? All the reports are saying he's happy and settled there and it even looks that way going by his recent Twitter posts.

If we all believe/think that Inter and Dortmund won't sell Lukaku and Haaland respectively late in the transfer window, then we should know it by the end of this week for the latter and next week for the former if anything is going to happen. Dortmund's season begins this weekend with the DFB Pokal and Inter's begins next weekend. The league seasons all start next week.

Surprised you did not mention the defensive disasters we had under Lampard that season. lol