BlueLyon

Well if thats the case, then I dont know why we are even discussing this. I thought you believe we shouldnt pay over the odds for any player where the selling club would want ridiculous money. Going by that, we both agree we should not bend to selling clubs for ridiculous fees, however when players are of exceptional quality, we should pay the price, like I mentioned in the begining

I know he improved alot, but even then he didnt convince me entirely. Obviously there are not many strikers out there, but my pick would still be Belotti, then Morata and then Lukaku. I have no idea how we are not interested in Lacazette though? Auba is not my cup of tea either. There is no need for such videos tho, I have seen enough of everton games And if I have to go to ytube, I prefer videos Player VS specific team, that shows his all touches in the game, gives alot more reasonable conclusion if I cant watch full games.

I like Luiz alot, he is a leader and character and he had brilliant season, but we had to switch formation and who knows how is he going to play next year. He had awesome season as sweeper and made few mistakes, but he will need another top season to be considered reliable CB IMO. But I dont consider him as perfect signing, with him, we cant play 4 at the back and if you look at whole situation, we have aging and sometimes unreliable Cahill, Luiz, and Christensen, Ake, Zouma; three youngsters. Neither screams reliable top CB to me, take from that what you will, but dont let PL title hide that our defense is far from perfect and to me it makes sense why Conte wants to add another CB. And he cost 30m, thats hardly a good example when he was still quite expensive and back then known as unreliable. Same with Alonso; very very good season, better than expected, but yet again we are still looking for improvements. Both Luiz and Alonso are short gap solutions because we didnt pay the price for top players who could be starters for many years to come. Now nobody expected Luiz will be this good, and nobody knows how would Koulibaly or Laporte or whoever else we were linked with, but its clear as day we will need some improvement in this are still. Koulibaly I dont know, maybe he will come good or not, he had poor season, but indeed with Stones we avoided alot of trouble by not paying that fee. However I said then he is not worth that and in fact he never was, while for example Sandro is a proven player, well worth his fee even if its a high one and if we want top LB, we pay the price, simple as that. Now dont get me wrong, I think Luiz and Alonso could do it for another season at Chelsea, uccess would be that we dont bow to Juve demands for Sandro, instead sign someone twice cheaper and he turns to be brilliant player. However Alonso is not that. He is good player, and just maybe he can make it as starter once we complete our team, but honestly he is miles away from players like Sandro or Alaba. We paid less but for lesser player and if media knows anything for the same reason we plan on getting another top LB. I dont want spending like City or United does on single player costing shitload of cash, because good players alone dont generate good results, it takes chemistry. But if we are interested in particular player, then we get him. If Juve wants 50 for Sandro, thats alright, he is proven player and we need good LB for several years. For example, we bought Ivanovic for smaller fee and he turned into world class player here. But we also bought Carvalho for big fee back then because we wanted the man. Would it be better to refuse Porto and chase cheaper alternatives? Who knows, he became best possible CB we could have at that time. If we were buying him this year, we would probably low ball and settle for someone else. About Baba, then I must be misinformed, I always thought he cost in region of 25m euros, which was alot again for someone unproven. The club easily pays alot for talented unproven players, but always hardballing with established ones, perhaps it has to do with resale value? I completely agree with you sometimes we shouldnt bow to teams if the fees go crazy, but when player is top level and we need to strenghten that area, I have nothing against spending.

Agree, Conte is somewhat a middle man between Mou and Pep. Pragmatic, but still trying to implement fluid football. Afterall he still played with Tevez and later bought Morata, both good techical players in juve to fit his style. Llorente was there too, but his career in Juve was not what it was expected. Maybe I was not as clear as I thought, but not for a second I think Morata is already very good striker. His link up is good, but he will need to be alot better in finishing and leading the line. However I am certain from what I saw, he has ability and potential to be realy realy good and thats why I hope we sign him instead. So to speak, Lukaku weakness is techical, and Moratas is finishing, leading the line. I think Lukaku will never be world class in techical department, while Morata can improve finishing and leading the line greatly with regular gametime and experience. It true however that I hope Chelsea tries to control games bit more. We are realy poor at keeping possesion and under pressure. Better midfielder and wingbacks are crucial here, but so is techical striker. Obviously if goal for Conte is to recreate the counter attacking power team like old guard Chelsea, then Lukaku definately fits more. However that team advantage was experience and efficiency even in biggest games, something this team has yet to show. We are not even as close as imposing as in 2004-2010.

But in that case we will just fall of the cliff. Either the club we are buying from will hold us for ransom or they will sell to someone who will pay. They wont drop the price just because we said we wont pay. Neither will any other club sell to us for less money, because regardless of how we buy, our public picture is already clear that we have plenty of money. If you think we can get someone like Lukaku or Morata or Sandro or Mendy cheaper than other clubs just because unlike them we are not willing to pay, you are wrong. They will sell to highest bidder. Unless like I said its about one of those 10% of players that is not just about money and we can pursue with good project, coach etc. Sadly the market has gone crazy. In the past, when good, maybe not their wanted offer came to smaller club, they accepted it. Today, they wont because they know they will sooner or later get better offer, offer they demanded for their player. Smaller clubs have become bit cocky about their best players and kudos to them. I agree when we talk about players in general, we shouldnt just pay the cash. Lets say we miss on option A, we shouldnt pay twice over for the option B just because we need someone. But when we realy want option A, when its the perfect choice, then I say pay the damn fee and be done with it. If Monaco wants 50m for Bakayoko and we see Tollisso available for 35m brilliant. But if we target Sandro and dont want to pay 50, when we paid 30m! for Baba few years ago, I dont see what is the board thinking. In past years we bought Luis, Baba and Alonso, and while it can be considered all right alternative, alot of money went into these players (Luis fee was returned, but Baba and Alonso cost 50m combined). And we are still on market for top LB. Because we didnt want to pay alot for that one top LB when we could. Same is with RW. Pedro and Willian are alright, but Salah and Cuadrado were flops. Wouldnt be better if we just paid the fee for whoever quality player we were linked with? Yes we saved money and we actualy managed to win two titles in past 3 years which is not bad. But its clear as day we still need improvement in both areas and we are likely need to pay alot of money one day to improve. Sure Azpi, Eden, Kante, Tibo were absolutely brilliant deals. But we were in total rebuild back then. Now we have decently established team with 2-4 top players missing, I think we should invest bit more to complete it and not haggle on every deal and get alternatives in the end.

I agree, if anyone needs to be blamed is Chelsea buying policy as whole. We did some great deals for relatively small money and Im happy we dont throw cash around, but literaly every big club has money and is willing to spend as much as necessary to get those players. Psg reported summer budget of 220m today, which is crazy. If we wont pay then someone else will. I think there is about 10% of players we can convince to join us for less money and that will be a problem if we want quality players. But I am dissapointed we are willing to throw 40m for Bats, 30m for Baba,...and at same time not some more for players of actual high quality.

Haha so true. But I think we can forget about selling Costa for big money.

No. He will help improve us as a team and Eden as team mate because he is better footballer! He is more sound techicaly and makes him easier to connect with team mates. Lukaku is better poacher, but I want our striker to be more versatile. Obviously we need other areas to improve, now your just mixing apples and oranges. But having Morata in a team will give us more fluid football rather having Lukaku. If you dont see that, then we can stop discussing. Lukaku finish is better, but Morata is a more complete player. Tbh, we could argue that Morata is actualy better header than Lukaku too... What exactly does Lukaku have rather style based on outmuscling opponents? He is quick and decently strong, making him perfect to hold on ball and push through defensive line. If there is space, he is quick enough to run past them. He also has decent touch and dribbling, which comes helpful in certain cases. But against better defenders, he becomes very limited, because he is not that good dribbler or passer. He can run into space rather well, but intelligent defenders mark him out of game. We should just stop discusing this, we both have opinion and its harder discusing on forum than in person, making it difficult to get to any conclusion. I get it Lukaku had brilliant scoring season, his goalrecord is amazing, and his physical atributes make him good striker, but I prefer Morata who is more techical. Neither will change the opinion, so lets see who we end up with and hopefuly they make a good striker for at least next 5 years.

Its very important for striker to be good in tight space man. Just look at Suarez, Lewa, Aguero, heck even Benzema for that matter. It makes their teams alot more dangerous because striker there is not just some figure waiting for ball, but actively involved in whole attack. I didnt say striker has to be as good as midfielder obviously, but I was pointing out that stats mean very little and that quality on ball is more important, despite stats dont show it. Hence why Modric is much better than Cesc, despite racking like 10times less assists per season. I saw those stats of Lukaku against big teams. And? I evaluate Lukaku based on number of games I saw. And he performed rather poor in most of games against top teams. Even if there was an odd goal, he was not involved in whole play. That is thanks to how poor Everton was as whole, but still. I dont think he can have as good game overall as Morata had against Bayern for example, due to his limitations on the ball, regardless of how improved. Im not making Morata sound like Bergkamp, because I stated many times he has the flaws. But he has ability to become very good ball playing striker, cant say the same for Lukaku. If Im making Morata sound so great, you make Lukaku look like next Henry. Its all about the style. Lukaku is more robust and Morata is more elegant on the ball, I would like us to try different approach, if we are selling Diego, actualy get a striker that has better control than Diego. What has totalvoetbal to do with this? Yes Im not a giant fan of CBs dribbling through midfield, keeping possesion for 90min and pass pass pass. Doesnt mean I dont like balanced attacking football which requires skilled players. When Chelsea plays against teams, they close down and park the bus or press us very high. It means there wont be much space, and collective game will be very important. Lukaku thrives on space and counters, but not so much against packed defence. If we will play every big game defending and waiting on counter for next 5 years, then maybe Lukaku will turn into brilliant buy. But I would love slightly more attacking fluid football and here Morata fits the bill better. Do you even understand Im not blowing Morata out of water thinking he is next Messi? No, but he is IMO the best option among strikers we seriously were linked with that being Lukaku and him. If I could I would get Lewa or Belotti, both are better choices, but its not happening. Therefore my pick would be Morata, a personal preference of his style of play.

Milan reached agreements with Keita and Biglia. They sure mean business this summer.

Higuain is brilliant scorer too and I wouldnt have him here in a million years. Why? Because he is a potato in big games. I hope for the sake of fluid football and better link up between our attackers, we get Morata. Very best players can play in tight spaces, thats why Modric is miles ahead of Cesc ever will be, regardless of all the stats you can throw. Morata can play in tight spaces and certainly has potential to improve his finishing (nevermind he already scored 20 in limited time, ending second best scorer at Real for current season). Lukaku's touch and control have improved alot since 3 years ago, but that doesnt say much, he was a donkey back then. Even today he is not as great under pressure. If we want to dominate opponents and if we ever want to play nice football on regular basis and push Eden to next level, we need skilled striker too. Outmuscling opponents is not working against top sides anymore.

Yes he did, but we should keep it on the low because its easier to negotiate.

Not too happy about getting him, but will do as alternative, since we are quite short there. Pedro has been much better than him, so I would stick to him for next season if he keeps the level.

They have been seriously linked with De Sciglio and they have Spinazzola on loan. Neither is as good as Sandro, but who knows, maybe for right price they will let him go. However I doubt we will pay 50m or however much they want.

You do know he said China is not an option because he wants to play next world cup? Obviously there could be many many other things, like personal dissagreements with Conte or his desire to return to Atletico which Im sure Conte is not fond of. But the way we are dealing with this situation is beyond embarrassing. Like I said, its allright if Costa leaves for various reasons, but this shouldnt be brought to media by Conte and Costa. Bottom line, shit attitude or not, commited or not, he has been next to Eden the KEY player for two PL titles. If things go south with next striker, I will be seriously pissed at Chelsea for making Costa as easily replacable as this, because he is still best striker we had since Drogba. The last thing I want is getting a nice striker who will bang 30 goals per season and turn into hiding in every bigger game like Higuain, because in such case I prefer a loose cannon like Diego.

Tbh United will get a good striker one way or the other. Be it Lukaku or someone else. As long we get proper striker and it works, I couldnt care less if Lukaku or whoever else bangs them for United. The same why Im not jealous of City and Aguero, because we have Costa (at least when he is on form haha). People look at other clubs way too much. Its inevitable that United and every other top club will improve. But as long we do, which is only thing that matters, we will be alright.

Every striker gets bullied sometimes. Costa proved himself in many big games, cant be said the same for Lukaku who just happens to be prone on dissapearing against better teams. I dont defend Costa, which part here u dont get? Im willing to sell him because he is loose character and unreliable, but only if we get proper replacement. However I dont like the fact people shit on Costa every day, since Costa doesnt deserve that crap he gets on forum, not after all he did for us. I only mentioned Lukaku international career for one reason since some belive he will be instantly better around better players, which is not the case in belgium team. But yeah Costa is bad for spain too.

Good post, I just wanted to point out that stats you mentioned show just a little bit of who they are. On paper it seems to be clear that Lukaku has the upper hand in dribbling and passing, however that is not entirely true. Many times the dribbling stats are misleading, like with Adama. Its not how many times certain player dribbles, but more when he does it. Verratti and Bakayoko have very similar dribbles per game, and we both know that Verratti is much much more composed player in tight areas. Morata and Lukaku are similar in that aspect. For example, Lukaku makes a dribble with no end result. In stats he racked that dribble, but they wont tell you those dribbles were rather useless. And as of now I havent seen him dribble in a way to create chance for himself out of nowhere against better teams. Morata, having played with better players, learned when to release the ball in order of fluid football. He knows he is not the only good player on team and needs to cooperate to win. Lukaku on other hand has status of main player at Everton and everything there is orchestrated for him. If he wants to shoot, he shoots. If he wants to dribble, he dribbles. And it works against smaller sides, but against more organised teams with better individuals, it doesnt work. And he doesnt have that passing, ball control ability to break such opponents with his teammates. What happens after the dribble is quite more important than dribble itself. And IMO Morata here acts as more mature player. Knows when to dribble, when to pass. If we talk about stats, Morata has much better pass percentage, which further confirms he is more composed player. Dont get me wrong, on medium level Lukaku is nearly your perfect striker. But I wonder if he can perform at the highest level which is obviously the whole point. I dont want another striker who will break every third attack with attempted dribble or shot. Lukaku is ambitious but not in the right way. He believes he is brilliant player already and tries one thing too many, but thing is he is not yet such good player and for team as whole, thats not realy a good sign. I see what you meant with his hardwork. Indeed he is improving every season and works hard to get better. But on the pitch, he doesnt track back enough and help his teammates. Im not sure how will this pan out with Conte. Dont forget the bust up with Williams, which was the very same situation we will try to avoid once we sell Costa. Whoever will work out better, I hope Conte gets his man. Be it Lukaku or Morata. The last thing we need is board signing and forcing Conte to work with someone he doesnt want to, because our striker needs whole support from coach to improve.

Conte brought Morata to Juve, Morata said he would love to work with Conte one day. It seems logical, no? How do you know he is going to Milan? And yes he has been linked alot with Chelsea and United lately, so there is definately interest (or at least papers say so). But to inform you, he said he wants to stay in Madrid in interview after final.

I respect your opinion, but when you start pointing out stats of how much Morata or Lukaku dribble, Im not sure what to think of that. Morata is miles better in ball control. Dribbling doesnt mean anything if there is no context. Watching both players in games gives you context. For example Adama Traore has most dribbles of all players, but he is average player at best. Same for chances created. Its clear as day Morata has better vision and pass even if stats dont show it. Then you say Lukaku is extreme hardworker and question the same for Morata... Lukaku is not half the worker Morata is. Perhaps you have Madrid Morata on mind where he indeed doesnt have extensive need of tracking back (unlike he did in juve), because Real is much more free flowing team and Morata is main striker there unlike in juve when he was partnered up front, but even then he is still very hardworking. I think Lukaku has football style of powerful striker (obviously given his size), but he doesnt use it to max potential. One thing is to bully smaller sides, something else to bully top sides which he hasnt yet. Just wondering would you prefer Inzaghi over Drogba? Man, even for strikers, goals are not everything. Both Lukaku and Morata are good strikers, you fancy one, I fancy the other, based on their styles and mentality. We will see how things end up at Chelsea and hopefuly it works for us whoever it is, because thats most important.

A powerful striker would bully the defences, not vice versa. I saw Lukaku blocked against every better defence, hence I put Lovren example. For someone of his size, he sure isnt taking most advantage of it. You only look at goals. Lukaku 24 goals this season, 20 last season etc etc. He could be top striker, he can bang 4 against west brom or Bournemouth. Cool. I look his overall play in strikers. I rather stick to Diego or get someone who is much better technical player. Someone who can make others tick better and improve the whole squad. Someone who can be the leading guy in toughest games. Not just someone who needs the service. Obviously service is important and no doubt Lukaku would improve here, but he wouldnt turn into world beater individualy. He would still have same limitations as he has now. And since he couldnt do much on his own, he would need all the service from teammates. And if he doesnt score, then he is basicaly useless like Costa in some games. While if you have technical striker, you can count on his individual skill and Morata for a striker (at least of those available) is brilliant brilliant choice. If you saw Juve bayern last year, you can see how juve got shit after Morata was subbed for Mandzukic. He had huge impact. Morata is also twice as hard worker than Lukaku. And like you said, every striker can improve goal record later in career. Drogba started banging at 24 in france I think (then he left for Marseille one season and Chelsea at 26). Im pretty sure Conte prefers Morata all day long. But the board will end up with Lukaku. I hope you are right he will improve as much you say because in current state, he doesnt offer enough to lead us in CL. But maybe his goals will be enough to retain PL, I give you that. Bar against top 6, we would have a striker very capable of scoring in every game.

Yes indeed. Thing is as soon someone isnt playing well and mixed with some rumours makes people here call those players cunts too soon. The SAME thing was happening with Eden thread last year. But you cant say Diego isnt commited. He was about to leave, but in the end he stayed and gave 100%. Its not like he didnt give a shit. Poor form doesnt equal not giving shit. And people here made too quick conclusions on that china rumours that might aswell be bullshit. Another thing, it was well known past august Diego wanted to leave. But i dont see these comments that he is cunt and should fuck off when he was banging goals in autmn, were there? It only happend AFTER those china rumours that might be bollocks and fact he played worse. This is what I hate. People who acted like dicks afterwards and slated Costa. Diego said recently China was not option because he wants to play in world cup. He said he is happy at chelsea, but if chelsea no longer wants him, only option for him is Atletico. It gives different perspective to things. I dont mind seeing Costa leave as long we get proper replacement, but I will always like what he achieved here and for club. But the attitude of some people here pisses me off. But its pointless, Im done posting on that matter anymore.

But he is keeping the options open, no? Its the point of commitment. If he was commited to Chelsea, he would shoot straight he wants to stay like Azpi and be done. No maybes, ifs,... Its same with Diego, but the later actualy said straight he would like to return. And even after he didnt leave, he put great shift till february. Im just pointing that out as someone said Diego is not commited. Then in that case neither is Eden. But everybody treats him with respect. Actualy, last season, most were crapping on him too, right. After he had dip in form. So, If Diego puts good shift again, most people will love him again. Fickle.

Talk about he wants to go to China, however NO ONE made official confirmation on that. People just assumed he turned bad because he didnt leave to china, and now he is called cunt. Our worst player? Did I say he is not? Im just saying to have some respect to the man who brought us so many points over past two title winning seasons for fuck sake. Drogba performed at international level. Villa did. Van Nistelrooy did. Ronaldo did. etc. I dont want to put international career as example, but just point out that players like Eden or KDB dont improve Lukaku much. He also scored 24 and left a bunch of poor performances against top teams. Lukaku got outmuscled by Lovren fyi. Morata is not slow at all if you saw him play and Lukaku aint THAT quick. Maybe top speed yes, but certanly not acceleration. Im evaluating performances as whole, where is Lukaku in bigger games if he is soo better than Morata? Actualy, being good on ball is very good thing. It can make a striker very important player if opponent parks the bus or cuts off striker. Without good control, striker is just a donkey unless he scores that odd goal. And with Lukaku, is he that harrassing type of striker that will punish you for every mistake? No, he is too lazy. It makes many people wonder. Maybe not you, but Im not the only one lol. Funny, Morata was actualy brilliant for Juve in CL. You cant point out who Morata scored against. Thats literaly one thing you cant do lol. Morata was brilliant against teams like Real, Barca, Bayern,...Lukaku is known to choke in big games. If Lukaku was a chelsea lad, he wouldnt leave and moan three years of how good he is and how he is bigger than West Brom and everton. Eden is talking about Real almost every week. Many players were looking to go to other clubs in past. I dont recall them being called cunts. He also said he loves chelsea and if chelsea doesnt want him, he will only return to Atletico, but if not, then he prefers to stay here because he is happy. So based on that, he is useless cunt and all other stuff people said it in past? He was fundamental at Chelsea, show some respect before calling him names. One thing is to say, lets sell him because he is not playing well and not reliable. The other is attitude of you guys, treating him like some shit. Selling Costa was never my question as long we get proper replacement. But some of you guys are so low, calling Diego who did all great things for this club and now threat him like he was garbage. Its just pathetic. And yes media plays big part. People read those bs news about china etc, then see Diego not play well and suddenly; oh what a cunt, his mind is in china. BUT would you consider he might be tired? NO. Would you consider he is just playing worse like he did in nearly every season before even in atletico in second halves of seasons? NO. It must be china or atletico that messed up his head and doesnt give a shit anymore, right? All you hear he would like to return to Atletico one day. SO? He also said multiple times he loves chelsea and other stuff, you gonna just ignore that? Last summer he wanted to leave too. But he stayed. And played best six months at Chelsea after. How is that even possible if he doesnt want to be here? Right. Read response to previous guy. But yeah Im sure you got sad everytime he scored a goal for us right? You fans are unbelievable. Yes Costa acts cuntish sometimes, but he is still chelsea player. Show some respect to our players then. I never said we shouldnt sell him. If right offer comes, so be it. I agree Costa is cunt and I admit it. But you think I give a flying fuck? I would defend his actions everytime. Drogba was the same. He was our player too and I couldnt care less. We were winning, they show passion, score goals and at end of day we got 3 points and opponents cry about it. He is unreliable, but he showed passion for Chelsea over past three years and thats all it matters. Im just pointing out, just because Chelsea has better players, doesnt mean Lukaku will be better. Its certainly not the case in Belgium. Again, you throw goals. His performances for Belgium are average, doesnt matter if he scores those goals. In every bigger game for Belgium, he was absolutely average. Yes, Morata is more intelligent. Cant say much, other than recommend you to watch the games and look at body language, decisions, movement etc. And not just against pub teams. What good will be all that strenght if you cant use it? Lukaku was bullied by fecking Lovren haha. And he isnt that faster than Morata. But you made your point, Lukaku game relies entirely on his body propositions. Being nearly perfect athlete. However better defenders read their style relatively easy. Prime advantages of Lukaku are strenght, pace, height and movement. And yet, he gets bullied, and despite his presence, he goes into hiding against every better defense. He could be saved by skills, but he isnt as good in that department which is my biggest worry. I never said he is like Didier lol. I said Chelsea fans hope he will be like him here at chelsea. Sadly he decided to leave without putting a fight against Torres and Etoo. I always thought Kane has potential to be top striker btw, but I didnt bite the hype just after one season, I never do. Lukaku is nothing like Costa, this is my whole point. He doesnt show same motivation and desire. Balotelli has same ''profile'' too, yet he doesnt have the brain. In the end, you are completely right about one thing, I dont have proof. All I have is watching games as much I can. And from what I seen, Lukaku didnt convince me. Just like Cesc didnt convince me three years ago, and I was saying that, but everyone blasted me like now. Only to see after two seasons, that Cesc cant handle the pressure. I have same felling about Lukaku, but different areas. He will bang goals against west hams and leicesters, but there will be trouble against top teams. He can play them, maybe even score, but to put top performances on regular basis (what we need from new striker), I dont think so. But maybe Im wrong and he will be great, in matter of fact if we do get him, I bloody hope Im wrong. I just prefer Morata, for who I vouche he will be better striker than Lukaku over next 5 years, if both play regular football. Im certain to a point, anyone can save this post and quote me in few years if Im wrong.

"Unreliable piece of shit", yet the most important player along Eden in our last two PL titles. Great attitude towards our players mate. Unbelievable what media can do, stir the shit around one of our best players in years to make fans like you completely forget that and start hating said player based on what? Media bullshit? Most are willing to replace Costa at one point when we find proper replacement which Lukaku isnt.