Jase

So the club are gonna drop the asking price on Abraham because no one was willing to pay the 40m? lol And how nice of us to "help" West Ham when they don't with Rice...

cc @Vesper

Narrator: No, he won't be.

Quick question, since you're implying that buying is the solution to all our problems, what if those solutions struggle next season? Then what? Go out and buy more next year?

I guess he's wrong about one thing here but Dortmund's outgoing sporting director Zorc went in on the 'Haaland isn't for sale' stance... https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/Chelsea-fc-transfer-rumours-news/2021/7/30/22602122/borussia-dortmund-director-still-not-worried-about-haaland-rumors-hot-air-hypothetical-Chelsea-bid “He can’t leave if we don’t agree. That’s a fact. We made our position very clear in an interview with his advisor. And by the way, Erling himself said in his media round in Bad Ragaz that he will play for BVB in the coming season.” “That is a purely hypothetical question [turning down €175m from Chelsea]. A: Because this offer is not there and is not expected. And B: Because we are a football club that is geared towards achieving sporting success. Every shareholder knows that this is our job — while maintaining the economic balance. We don’t have to sell Erling. In addition: When these figures were circulating in the media, some protagonists were probably still dreaming of the Super League. This is hot air.”

I really don't understand this idea that a team can only improve by buying players. Is buying really the only solution to improvement? We may have 1-2 spots to plug but this team is still young and has room for improvement. They aren't the finished article or at over the hill point yet where we definitely have to buy to rejuvenate the squad etc.

Since you were talking about the ESL and those 3 clubs...

NOTHING IS HAPPENING! NEED SOME ENTERTAINMENT!!

Grealish tweeted that on the day of the Manchester derby back in 2012. lol

Is he even back for pre-season? If he just came back, then I doubt he will feature this Sunday.

Aston Villa are really going for that striker...

Still doesn't come from Tuchel directly, does it? The media have been loosely using Tuchel/the club whenever they report about our striker chase. There's more than one way to skin a cat, if we can't get the wanted ST.

I'd imagine we would sign someone else if we don't sign Haaland.

Were the reports concrete though? I think everyone expected him to go to Liverpool and hence why when news broke out that we got him, everyone was caught by surprise.

Do you have inside info that says Tuchel wants a ST more than anything? Am sure the club have tried or are trying to sign a big-name ST but at this point, it's hard to tell what exactly are they doing. I mean, if we could afford the deal now, one would imagine we would have put in some sort of bid by now. The club could obviously be negotiating quietly and all that but based on recent reports, there doesn't seem to be any inkling that that's happening. If we're relying on selling players to raise funds, then we certainly haven't raised enough and it doesn't look like we'll have enough time to raise funds to throw in a bid before the "deadline". For all we know, the club might have moved on and quietly trying to sign someone else while the media, who don't know have a clue, are just recycling old stories to get clicks, a bit like how the Kounde deal has come out of nowhere. As for what City and United are doing, like the others have mentioned, don't think getting Grealish improves City a great deal. He's just similar to/like every other attacker they already have in their team. United may have signed Varane and Sancho but if our last season is anything to go by, then people should know that it doesn't mean that will translate to immediate improvement, especially when the manager is not at the highest level.

Obviously anything can still happen but it's kinda amusing that Fjortoft chose to focus on the words of an external adviser as opposed to the words from the club's CEO, sporting director or soon-to-be sporting director. Yes, the club people will always say their star player is not for sale bla bla bla but on the flip side, would an external adviser know everything that's going on within the club's board?

Joins Coventry on a season-long loan deal.

On the contrary, both are back (assuming I did not misrecognize Christensen in the background).

Is it any guarantee that Villa will go after Abraham if/when they sell Grealish? They haven't really been linked with Abraham all summer and haven't looked like they're targeting another ST either. It looks as though Dean Smith wants to add attacking players to play behind the ST if the pursuit for Emile Smith Rowe and now Leon Bailey is anything to go by. They have of course also signed the likes of Emiliano Buendia and Ashley Young.

West Ham close to signing Martin Braithwaite from Barcelona apparently.