Jase

I wonder where are we with the whole Haaland thing. Last we heard is the club are exploring options to sign him and that was like 2 weeks ago. Nothing reliable since then. Are things progressing, but slowly and may or may not come to anything or nothing has happened or nothing will happen? Would be nice to know where we are with the striker search...

Possibly but then again, Bayern would be aware of his age and they won't go OTT when it comes to paying wages. It's a reason why Alaba ended up leaving.

It's unlikely that Bayern will sell Lewandowski this summer but this keeps persisting... Sport Witness quoted Sport1 and Bild in that piece.

This is why people should never have high hopes for a transfer to begin with, especially when no one has said anything about us being in at an advanced stage etc. Otherwise, people will just end up disappointed, left cursing others and heck, even resorting to conspiracy theories! Maybe this Hakimi transfer was never really on for us anyway, particularly when you consider the price Inter want. If this club didn't want to pay 60-70 million for Van Dijk, then it's no surprise if the club are reluctant to spend that kind of money on a defender. And regardless of whether we just won the Champions League, are on the up etc, we have no god's given right to just expect players will choose us over others (PSG or not).

I know Real Madrid's financial situation doesn't look great but I would find it hard to believe that Perez won't try to find some way to sign someone big this summer. Apart from Alaba who they got on a free, going two consecutive summers without buying anyone big feels very un-Perez/Real Madrid.

To add onto what @King Kante said, you're talking about a club that chose to let Lewandowski go to Bayern for free as opposed to selling him (they even increased his salary for that final year to get him to stay, IIRC) and a club that could have sold Sancho last year for more money as opposed to this year, albeit not by much it seems. Dortmund are a club that seem to know what they want and when they decide on a stance, they won't budge from it (unless something unforeseen/unexpected happens). The money there may be tempting and Dortmund have suffered a financial hit like everyone else in this pandemic but they aren't in a desperate financial situation, like Inter for example. They are still a club that wants to be competitive - be it winning a domestic cup, ensuring the CL money continues to pour in (finish in the Top 4 more importantly), making a run in the CL and/or maybe challenging/winning the Bundesliga.

Financial factor aside, Real Madrid are gonna have to rebuild that squad sooner or later. It's stale, some of the players are already old (including Benzema) and some are just average. Plus when you look at their struggles last season, it's no surprise they're looking at Haaland (or Mbappe or whoever else). Benzema was their top scorer with 30 goals and their next highest goalscorer is Asensio and Casemiro...on 7 goals. How would Benzema and Haaland coexist? I wouldn't rule out someone like Ancelotti to make it work. This is the same manager that made Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema (remember the famous BBC?) work as a front three with someone like James supporting them from midfield. He always finds a way.

If the negotiations for Tomori were anything to go by, Milan won't get anywhere with this.

Why go for Mbappe this summer when they can get him for free next year?

I don't see what Mane's goals drying up has to do with having a CF or not when that approach has worked for Liverpool under Klopp. It just so happened that Mane suddenly had an average season - in a pandemic season no less - and it's also why Klopp bought another option in Jota but he got injured and missed out for several months. Maybe Kane won't need to drop so deep but it's still known that Guardiola tends to like someone who can drop deep, link up play, create chances for others etc to have that fluidity going forward as opposed to someone just sticking around the box waiting for the ball to come. Missing the point again...

Where did I say Haaland is bad? I was simply disagreeing with MoroccanBlue’s point about the striker not needing to be part of our buildup play and that the striker getting involved in the buildup play was the cause of our poor conversion rate last season. And getting players in and around the box wasn’t a problem last season. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have got to miss so many chances! People only criticized Firmino for not scoring goals last season because Mane’s goals suddenly dried up. No one said anything when Mane and Salah were plundering goals in the seasons before last. As for Kane…

Liverpool do have Salah and Mane to score the goals but the person leading their line - Firmino - is not a #9, is he? As for City, pandemic season or not, no one got close to them at all, just like in their past title winning seasons under Guardiola. They still scored goals and racked up wins (including a run of 15 consecutive league wins in a 19-game unbeaten run), again just like they did in their previous title winning seasons under Guardiola. Regarding Kane, one could argue that he's not much of a typical #9 these days considering his tendency to drop deep to link up play, create chances for others etc. He's more like a half 9, half 10 these days, which may explain why Guardiola is going after him given his tendency to not really play with a typical #9. I know you aren't sold on our current attackers when it comes to converting chances but as demoralizing as seeing countless of chances being wasted last season, I don't know why people just assume that will remain the case forever with our attackers. I don't think it's absurd to think they would contribute at least 5-10 more goals next season (even more so when you look at past numbers of Havertz and Werner for example), given each of the attacker went through different problems last season.

The point is, a striker leading the line should still be expected to contribute to the overall team's attacking play, a lot or not. There is a reason why a pure goal poacher, a striker who just stands inside the box to stick the ball in doesn't work anymore, certainly not at the highest level and at big clubs. IIRC, this was mentioned by others but a reason why we were probably able to create so many chances last season was because how we operated as a unit, how the attacking players were involved in the buildup play, interchanging positions, moving and dragging players out of position etc. Converting chances was of course the problem but that was down to individuals. Bringing someone like Haaland may help with the conversion but it'll also alter the way we play and the chances created may or may not decrease. Liverpool and City, for example, have shown that a team can thrive at the highest level without having a traditional #9 leading the line. P.S. There you go with the essay-esque reply again. 🤣

IIRC, I saw the news that Italy got vaccinated prior to the Euros while Spain were fast tracked for vaccination after Busquets' positive case before the tournament. Not sure if other sides have gotten vaccinated but don't think all have been. Athletes are also getting vaccinated before they travel to the Olympics in Japan. So, it's not out of the question that maybe the players should have been vaccinated before the Euros, especially when it's taking place in so many countries and teams have to travel from country to country. EDIT: Yup, Italy and Spain did get vaccinated before the Euros. https://apnews.com/article/premier-league-ciro-immobile-europe-italy-health-6c57bf8ad24c95c9eb682d2c295a4b44 https://theathletic.com/news/spain-euro-2020-squad-coronavirus-vaccinations/LWD6LxS7CDlx

I don't see what the system has to do with our conversion rate. The system is about the team overall, how the players function as a unit while the conversion rate is simply down to the players. Our attacking players still get at the end of chances, no? Different case if we aren't creating chances because that then is more down to the system. Focal point or not, Haaland should still be expected to contribute in buildup play. It was the same case with Drogba, Costa previously. They contributed to our attacking play and also scored goals while being a focal point. As I have mentioned before, if we get someone - be it Haaland or someone else - to score the goals, then great but we also won't get anywhere if the others don't score more. One person can't be scoring the goals only. So in some ways, we still need the others to find better form in front of goal.

Wait, are you saying that we need a pure poacher leading the line and one that does nothing else apart from scoring? What I said there with Tuchel is that he indirectly puts the blame on the work the players have to put in without the ball, not with the ball and has nothing to do with the buildup. Given our Champions League success was a prime example (and a good template for success) of the 11 players putting a shift in offensively and defensively, I'd be surprised Tuchel suddenly veers away from that. Haaland or not. I don't think the problem is whether that striker is too involved in the buildup or not (didn't stop the likes of Drogba and Costa from scoring goals in the past). All our attackers get chances to score. It's only the final execution that has been the problem.

Wouldn't necessarily mind Abraham staying if need be but that would require a u-turn from Tuchel and both parties to reconcile. The club may also have to live with the fact that Abraham may not sign a contract extension and he will have only a year left come next summer.

Haaland or not, we need another striker. Assuming both Giroud and Abraham are leaving, it's very risky to go into a long season with just 2 options to lead the line and neither of them are a typical #9 either.

You don't think Tuchel will make Haaland get involved in the build up too? Tuchel often mentioned how the attacking players likely get affected with their decision making/execution in the final third because of the work they put in off the ball. And think the issue is not whether Haaland is the answer, but whether can the club afford to spend big on him. If the answer is really no, then obviously we go to the alternatives like Isak etc.