BlueLyon

So Chelsea wanted to loan him out and are now considering Drinkwater for 30m? How does that make any sense? In that case, when you said Nate wanted to leave and we had no other option, its not realy as simple as that. Possibly Nate just wanted opportunity here, but we decided to loan him out because we will get other midfielders, hence he then decided to leave permamently. If Drinkwater actualy ends up here, I wont realy understand what exactly does our board want to achieve... We had Bertrand Traore, Ake, Zouma, Nate, we still have Baker, Christensen but more and more it seems they wont play big part of this team. We have plenty of decent squad fillers at least, yet seems the board or Conte doesnt rate anyone. And I bet they will be at least decent wherever else they will play. In my eyes our squad was more than good enough if we kept most of youngsters and Matic for squad depth and added new signings Rudiger, Baka, Morata, Caballero and two new fullbacks. Instead our squad is thin as fuck. And if we cant convince young players to stay, how did United convince Martial? How did Real convince Kovacic, Asensio? There probably comes the part where we threat our loanees/youth as products. And they know that so they dont give a shit either, like Solanke who left to Pool.

Actualy they changed their market policy. Before it was very limited, I remember Conte wanting top fullback, but he didnt get one. Eventualy Juve signed Alex Sandro. They also splashed the cash on Higuain, Dybala, Bernardeschi, Costa,... Back then under Conte, Pirlo, Tevez, Vidal, Pogba,...came for peanuts. Its true Juve sold quite a few players too, but regardless they spent more.

I know he wanted to play...but the second part is where the problem lies. We should do everything in our power to keep Nate. Btw I read Nate decided to leave to avoid another loan, is that true?

Realistic is relative. Was Neymar realistic few months ago? If we throw 40m at lets say Goretzka, who knows, maybe schalke would accept. Or Seri, Sanson, Parolo,...there are quality midfielders around, either cheaper, better or with more potential than Drinkwater. I rather pay Real 60-70m for Kovacic than 40m for Drinkwater. All we are doing atm is replacing good players (Matic, Diego) with good players and now it seems we are going to overpay twice for decent backup midfielder. BUT where is the improvement on first 11 since last season? We are not that great that we only need some depth since we will play CL too. We need quality first 11 players or at least players who have such potential. We need wingbacks, Im actualy quite positive Sandro will be cfc player, now we are looking to add RB aswell. But we ultimately also need someone in mould of Eden. If no one else, Lanzini would be allright, but obviously board wont bring another attacking mid before we sell either Willian or Pedro. About Drinkwater, unless we are looking for english player, in that case we already had Chalobah who is decent enough to be 4th choice midfielder, I dont see point of buying exactly him for that stupid money.

They signed Tielemans, Meite, Kongolo, Ghezzal, not to mention Lopes and Maximin who are super highly rated in france, have returned from loan. Their team also has some quality talent like Jorge, Toure and Boschilia...they will be fine. Edit: i just saw Maximin was sold to Nice...I have no idea why the hell would Monaco sell such promising player...

No sense in spending that much on CB when we need wingbacks and midfielder. I dont understand why we dont put these 60m that are supposed for Vdv plus whatever we would be giving for Drinkwater in a bid for someone like Kovacic. Quality young midfielder who would improve our 11 greatly. Just imagine Kante-Bakayoko-Kovacic midfield. And for our attackers, we could add Lanzini who is quality. But instead we are lurking around ok players and players where we are already quite filled.

Im actualy happy manchesters got all the hype again. It means the pressure will be on them more than on us. If we focus on our job, we can surprise the league once again.

Not sure if anyone here knows Malcuit but he is worth a look...he moved from saint etiene to lille this summer and I think he will get proper recognition under Bielsa. Was very good in etiene.

I think there are two major reasons why the board makes the transfers. 1.) the transfers go along with Chelsea club and its idea, not the idea of manager. Because if the manager gets the sack, its possible his players are no longer useful for next manager etc. Instead we have board making decisions on players and we pick managers fitting those players. 2.) if Conte openly wants lets say Alex Sandro, what happens with Alonso? After having good season and now suddenly benched? Obviously the relationship would not be as good anymore. Or if Sandro or anyne else doesnt come, Alonso would then be in awkward situation, knowing Conte wanted to bench him, but now has no other option. IMO its allright if the board makes decisions. But in our case, the board doesnt seem to be ambitious enough and find the weaknesses in this team that need improvement. Therefore they should listen to Conte, but either they dont or they are failing to bring targets that were picked. Either way, it points towards failure. Ridiculous example but still, PSG had Draxler, Lucas, Pastore and Di Maria, yet they sign Neymar. Ambition. Improvement. United has Valencia, but they are keen on another RB. City has plenty of attackers, yet they added Bernardo Silva. We should not follow that footrprint of overloading the squad with big money players, but we should go the middle way, which improves our team in places that need more quality or quantity. It seems we are not doing it.

True lol...their team on other hand would look pretty decent with him and if they keep others. I can see pool in top4 if they bring quality cb which vdv is. Pl this year will be exciting, hopefuly we bring some reinforcements before sept 1st or it will be risky like last season.

First real test of the season.

I think he will be fantastic for liverpool in next few seasons

They also signed De Sciglio who can play both sides and atm, he is Alves replacement. If they get Spinazzola too, I imagine they will play Spinazzola on left and De Sciglio on right side. I dont know much about Spinazzola, but he plays LB for Atalanta and italy (and he realy impressed there), so I guess that would mean they got Sandro replacement. I just find it hard to believe they would push so hard for Spinazzola to be only their backup, if they were looking for Sandro backup, there are plenty of easier alternatives to get. Or maybe Cancelo on right and De Sciglio on left. Either way, as much I want Sandro here, if that happens, Juve defence would look significantly weaker. Alves-Bonucci-Chiellini-Sandro to Sciglio-?-Chiellini-Spinazzola...

IMO Drinkwater being decent midfielder and english player, 37 fucking million pounds for him is the most retarded thing I heard this summer. I hope the board and fans are not as desperate to actualy accept this fee and make excuses.

Just because there are no rumours, doesnt mean its not happening

Just looking at players who came, we did good job yes. Morata, Bakayoko, Rudiger and Caballero are all good players. But looking at the situation from afar, this summer has been piss poor once again. We had two things, improving squad in quality and quantity. Month later, we are even thinner in depth and its hard to say Morata is better striker than Costa or Bakayoko better than Matic. We made player for player replacements, but we still lack depth and a big question if we brought clear quality that will elevate us to next level. Finaly looking at fact we have zero proper backup for midfield and wingbacks, it says enough how much work we still need to do. Our team lacks competition and thats why it seems sometimes the players dont even give a shit. Because there is no one to replace them. And even if there are, we sell them (Matic). Our squad at start of last season featured nearly world class Eden and Costa in attack, super Kante and last minute buys in defence which turned out quite good (Alonso and Luiz). This season we have (apart from injuries) replaced Matic with Bakayoko who I believe is at least as good, but still atm leaves us with no competition and backup after Matic sale, Morata who is promising but not nearly as deadly as Costa, Rudiger who is IMO good option. But apart from that, we only made player for player replacements. Absolutely zero actual improvement in squad depth, competition and top class quality in areas we needed to improve (wingbacks and maybe midfield). There are 3 more weeks and we simply must get Sandro, proper rwb and midfield backup. Not to mention our current squad looks fatigued as fuck, lacks desire and not nearly fitness ready like last season. As for money balance, yeah it looks good, but I couldnt care less. Not a single top club gives a shit about it anymore.

I did generalize, but I wasnt too off. About 90% of members wanted to get rid of him, just check Costa thread for proofs. That said it was similar situation with Eden last summer. But then suddenly everyone changed their mind...

Guys stop with this fucking bullshit. Everyone here wanted to get rid of Costa because he had rotten mentality, regardless of goals or contribution. Everyone prefered "nice" striker, but no one thought that such striker might score less or have less presence. You got that nice striker. Not single one has right to talk shit about Morata because thats the striker type everyone preffered over Costa. On Morata note, I think he will come good and we need to give him more regular playtime in our best 11 along Baka and Eden. But yeah like I said million times, losing Costa is something everyone will be regretting because when inform, the guy was easily top 3 strikers in the world, rotten mentality or not.

Im just curious whats the point of having bigger squad and Conte complaining if even in a fecking friendly where you can make 6 subs, Conte makes his 1st in 70th minute?!? Yes our bench isnt world class, but ffs we could easily play Morata, Musonda, Boga and Rudiger earlier in game like this. About the result itself, not sure what we have learned tho, the squad didnt improve since first friendly, our new signings are not getting regular playtime, our young players dont get proper chance to impress. We went with literaly our best 11 available today and their attitude was still like they are on holidays. Much much space for improvement.

What was the name of song just before the second half kick off?

Then we should play Bats Morata in 3:5:2. No point playing Willian when he is in such shit form

Hopefuly Musonda and Morata get introduced for second half, althrough that most probably wont happen.

Well obviously we are not as good without Eden as we are with him. Same for Barca without Messi... Once Baka will be fit, Cesc wont be in first 11 and that will improve our movement in middle too. But we do need two new fullbacks and backup midfielder. No idea why is Morata not playing. Putting him on bench might kill his confidence from the start.

Indeed why did board sell Matic if we dont have replacement already lined up. I know Baka is Matic replacement, but he is not fully fit and that should be enough to keep Matic until then. Now we only have Kante and Cesc for midfield, one not being good enough.

So true lol. I still like both. Atittude or not, we were winning trophies and whenever on pitch, Costa showed passion for Cfc. Im sure Aurier would too. And in the end thats what matters.