Sideshow Luiz

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.

Yeah, I heard it billed as "here's the kind of players I would like". Which is why the links to former players is odd. The Jorginho signing is amazing though. There isn't a lot of time before the season starts and having Jorginho involved in the training will (in theory) make it a bit easier to get the team playing the right way, since he's the metronome.

Another article on Sarri: https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/next-chelsea-manager-maurizio-sarri-announced-confirmed-antonio-conte-sacked-a8444646.html?utm_source=reddit.com Guess the writers have had them at the ready for a while now.

Me too. Like the Bonucci and Chiellini rumours when Conte joined. I'm hoping that this ends up in a similar fashion.

I still see RLC's future as a box to box midfielder if he can get his fitness sorted out. His touch is a bit clumsy and he get by people with his power rather than skill (from the limited amount that I've seen him). With his frame and his attacking mentality, he has the tools to be a really good box to box.

I thought Sarri was billed as the type of coach that doesn't need specific players. Also, I agree, Rugani and Higuain can stay at the bottom of the list. An RW and attacking midfielder should be a higher priority than both of those. IMO.

Agreed. After the way the fans turned on Iazzard he was probably thinking "I could be next".

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/07/13/maurizio-sarri-short-time-prep-chelsea-new-season-questions/

Don't have to do that. I just did a cut and paste from reddit, so the formatting is garbage. People may prefer to read the one you did up. I'm also loving using the word "gazumped" again. It feels like it's been a while.

He's going nowhere. If you want to play "let's test Chelsea", then we're talking 3 digits, and the first number is a 2.