Sideshow Luiz

Get in! So excited for the matches to start. Let's go!

But, there are reports that he was bound to Juventus. City fan logic: Either someone is forcing him to Chelsea against his will, or he's a mercenary. He has the chance to play with Ronaldo.

Before we pick up the phone

They're thinking ahead?

That goal's sealed it. RM should just go for Mbappe next summer. They'll never love Hazard like we do, so just leave him alone.

Not happening unless Pedulla says so.

Shit, the reports have us going all FIFA career mode this window.

That was my concern too as soon as this became a story. I hoping that he's seen as a back-up to Kante and Bakayoko is out the door.

That's the question. I've never really liked having strikers out wide, myself. But, we'll see.

No way. If we were to mirror Napoli, Sarri has a front 3 of an inside forward (Insigne), CF (Higuain/Milik as target men, Mertens F9), classic winger (Callejon). The left side of the pitch is full of skill (and most of the attacks went down the left), the right side full of graft. Callejon up and down the flank, Allan as a B2B, Hysej (sp?) not getting forward nearly as much as the LB, sort of like a wide CB. This is a pretty good write up:

I was thinking that if he didn't sign, we would have to sell him. But, now, I know his value will be less next summer, but we've been waiting for so long to see Hazard under a real attacking manager. He was brilliant in Conte's first season. I want to see Hazard in Sarriball, here at the bridge. Maybe we can make a deal with him. Sign a new contract (to keep your value up), and if you want to go next summer and Real make X bid, we'll sell.

Dybala is maybe the only player I can think of that would be an adequate replacement.

I hope he's wrong about Higuain. Unfortunately, he seems to be generally correct. Except for time-frames.

Fair enough, I just think that's the level we'd be looking at. Maybe Brandt from Leverkusen. For me, Martial has to play in the middle, I think he's a bit wasted out wide. Not sold on Bailey yet.

I think Isco is out of bounds as well. I think we'd be in the Pulisic kind of range. Barca went out and got Dembele, which was a gamble. But, it's easy to gamble when you have Suarez and Messi. how wrong could it possibly go?

that's a fair point. It would be nice to have a comprehensive attacking system full of stars. But, I don't disagree with you.

Impossible to replace. Though, if he doesn't sign by the end of the window, we have to really consider selling him. But, we need to buy replacements first. Unfortunately, I have no idea who those could be. Everyone we could get is young and kind of unproven (much like Hazard was). Every time I've seen Asensio, he hasn't impressed me. Don't see the hype.

I highly recommend this site: https://footballia.net/ You have to register, but it's free. Tons of videos of full matches of every club. It's one thing to see the highlights of the Sarri-ball goals, but the full matches show when it's not coming off, which happens.

Now, if we were to pay a Giroud type fee, then we can talk. But, between Giroud and Morata, I'm not sure what Higuain brings to the table. I know it's not my money, but I'd rather the cash went to an attacking midfield player.

You look at Higuain's numbers under Sarri and at Juve. Look at Morata's number with us and with Juve, maybe Sarri can turn Morata in to Napoli's Higuain. He's got to at least work with him first. I'd be hesitant to splash the cash until we know what we've got on our hands. Especially since Morata is younger and we just bought him.

Also:

I feel like Morata can do just as good of a job as Higuain.

I know everyone here has watched every youtube video out there of Napoli highlights, but if you are interested in watching some full matches, I've recently found this site: https://footballia.net/ It's free, but you need to register. It's not just Napoli, there are tons of matches from all over and going way back as well I'm currently watching the match, whose highlights are in this article from 2017 on Sarri's style of play and who does what (Willian could be really important): http://breakingthelines.com/tactical-preview/the-sarri-effect/ It's a 7-1 spanking of Bologna from 2017: https://footballia.net/matches/bologna-fc-ssc-napoli-serie-a

I'm not convinced it's a plus strictly from an on-field point of view. But, swapping out a keeper that wants to leave who's out of contract next year and worth quite a bit with a keeper of anywhere near the same standard (if not better as people say) with 5 years on their contract is a huge plus.

We've seen a fair number of children at the club over the years.