Leif

Honestly i'm thinking Tottenham more likely than us or Arsenal. It's time for them to act on the fact they've come so close to a league title again, only to miss out due to lack of depth (IMO). Having more options would really appease everyone there. Arsenal fans would be deluded with hope if they signed him on the other hand. Us? I don't think our fans would be excited, and that could be good - he could only over-perform.

I think Conte's interest is sparked by Morata's pro attitude and elite mentality. He's a player you can keep on moulding and creating until you're happy with him, because he's that happy to improve his game if he can. But yes, the idea of him leading for a Champions League contender would be truly shocking. I would've thought a brilliant career for him would be made from just leading the line for a club like Sevilla. It seems he's stuck between jumping from top club to top club since it looks good on his resume, missing the fact that an even more impressive career & player can be created by playing for lesser teams.

Now that's a statement, admitting to speaking with a club all the while the player's been saying how loyal and dedicated they are to their team. Perhaps after experiencing the Roma curse of not being able to win anything, he's shifting from idealist to realist.

Only 4 strikers have scored more open-play goals than Llorente this season (Lukaku, Kane, Costa, Ibra.) Not bad company. Hindsight makes the outrage of being interested in him laughable. He's been a top player from day 1; Sevilla is actually the only place he couldn't show that, just like Cuadrado only failed here, and succeeded everywhere else. From Athletic Bilbao to Juve to Swansea, his goals-per-game ratio has actually become even better each time. Getting more clinical with age. There is no player who'd be better for us coming off the bench, if he'd be happy with that.

Yet it's somehow some sort of imagined fallacy that Madrid will be targeting both? He has a lot of sense Costa, that he does. Someone send Costa one of these essays debunking why Madrid would ever be interested etc. Don't forget to be verbally aggressive since you're obviously right.

The 1 indisputably cool fact this season is that while Rom is quite ahead in the goalscoring charts compared to his peers, they're only even near him because they've taken a handful of penalties each. Romelu's scored 0 pens. In terms of open-play goals if we only count them, then barring Costa, the highest league scorers are sitting around 14 goals a piece to Lukaku's 21. Pretty much the opposite of Lacazette who has as many penalties as open-goals scored. I don't want to sign Lukaku, but he'd be getting 30 goals in France vs. the likes of Cavani sitting on around 20. Shame would be though, he'd be offering less on the field than the players scoring half the amount. Thus it'd be called a tinpot league, and top clubs would be far more interested in the more technical players. Not many clubs in this day and age would like Inzaghi leading their line, and that's sort of what would happen here. You gain goals and lose dynamism.

Yet another fraud who'll be leaving us, and yet he'll be 'a scapegoat'; 'it's always someone, who next, Matic?'. Naw. Every player we shit on ends up being allowed if not encouraged to leave, because the manager & his superiors aren't blinded by blue-tint. Matic, Cahill & Willian are the last of the 'how on earth are they playing for Champions?' club. (One's here for HG, one's not horrific enough for the board to sell considering the circumstance of us repurchasing him, while the other on paper is the perfect squad player.) Perhaps Moses/Alonso will follow, but I think not, they'll know their place if relegated to the bench and still offer a decent bunch. Thrilled at the prospect of removing bad apples.

Indeed. When I see a player like Cahill for example kiss or grab and hold out our badge, all I'm seeing is 'Please like me! This is the best club i'll play for, i never want to downgrade!!! Ly guys!!!'. It isn't real at all; at the best of times it's when a player's gone through a really shit period and just wants to celebrate over-passionately when they break a streak. As for Diego, any player who aims to leave us after 1 underperforming season is judas.

More goals from open-play than Aguero this season.

Dele Alli has as many goals from open-play this season. Lacazette's a penalty merchant with 4 stylish goals per season vs. sides with players we hear nothing of.

But - A player guaranteed to have more mind-farts than anyone else in his position in the team is not captain material, nor vice captain, at all. If he was Peruvian or German he wouldn't even be considered.

I think since seeing Sanchez/Ozil not achieve anything at Arsenal, and RVP leaving only to finally win things, there's been a nail in Arsenal. Since then, truly only recently, I believe youngsters will have grown aware that Arsenal's more fantasy than reality now in terms of fulfilling footballing dreams. On paper they offer a lot, but in the real world they don't. It was worth the gamble when it was less than a decade since their last league win, but it's so far gone now since they won shit. They're a joke, in every country, surely France included. The draw anyway was Wenger, not any players or hierarchy at Arsenal. If he goes, their identity becomes something we've never seen before, and suddenly French players won't have a youth-loving French manager to play for. If Wenger does stay, I think from his unique perspective, he'd probably be thinking he's on his last 1-3 years, and won't want to bother 'moulding' a young player (even though he barely needs it), so I'm sure he'd just plow on as he does now, no change in policy, acquiring experienced players who don't play (Perez). Adding to that, signing Mbappe wouldn't change any of the opinions from critics. Most people bagging on Wenger are London locals, and most local Londoner's are not your average young person on Twitter scouting every player for 3 hours at a time; they barely know this youngster, and will presume it's another Sanogo. It'd do nothing to appease them.

Eden's performances at Lille were equal with but not better than Silva's current performances IMO. Only difference being, Silva's had more chances to prove he can do it outside of France, and taken every chance well. To not acquire him would be sad. Though personally I wouldn't play him on the right wing every single game. I'd have him share that right wing with another player, and then on other days, allow Hazard a rest and play on the left. He shouldn't be an automatic solid starter; that mentality has made too many players of ours adopt a lax mentality.

Well it better be in the Musonda role, i.e. not on the bench, because having one of the top 5 worst midfielders in the league* being a bench mainstay is not acceptable. Especially when there are better players already in the club. *Which is generous, because the only other midfielder down on this level is Cattermole. All of the teams bar Sunderland in or near relegation have far superior players than RLC who instead of wasting our time via 'development', would actually offer us experience. I'd sooner accept a Jack Cork, Yacob, Kouyate or Behrami coming off the bench. Equal or less wages too.

#1 - We can have different definitions over the word failure if you want. Lukaku failed to take his opportunities; De Bruyne took his. The latter succeeded, but was forced out. The former failed, because he was terrible for every minute he played. #2 - I don't understand your point. My point is that buying back a player you initially sold, for a mega-sum, is going to let everyone down, just as Pogba has, because expectations cannot be fulfilled. #3 - Don't let people's opinions affect your life as much as mine evidently do; I presume you have a lot of years left, and living this way will be stressful for you. On another note, I can't remember one bold opinion, think-piece, presentation of facts, nor unique POV coming from you. If I have to be one of us, I'd rather be the less lifeless.

We're literally the best team in Fulham

Our future captain, without a shadow of a doubt. RLC is a leader, who inspires all those around him. Nobody sweats more on the pitch than he. This game is ours now.

For Bayern, Madrid, Barcelona, Juve, 25 minutes is all the time in the world for them to score a goal or 2 to bring the game back into their hands. Our last 25 feels like the last 5 minutes

Costa jumps for grass as much as Neymar does.

We'll win the league by like 2 points after our borderline immortal run and people will still say it's good enough. Not at all. Games like this are not what champions are made of. 1 absent player and they can't even play.

He certainly doesn't have any left.

Michy's the only bench player who can come on and win the game. This isn't the game for Fabregas or shutting up shop with a youngster. But he can't do it with only 2 minutes.

I'd go with Michy til the end of the season. Remove the bad apple, it's spreading.

A reason to leave is simply the fact most of us fall for 'the grass is greener on the other side'. More fans, louder fans, larger-than-life ego-boosting TV pieces & newspaper articles, more money, better weather/quality of life, play for the same team your idol did which just happens to be the most prestigious team on earth, score more & get kicked less. He'd become a hero, even to fans who don't even support the likes of Madrid. Vs. Become a local hero for Chelsea, which he's done. Um, 'prove he can do it in England', which he's done. So what else do we offer him which others don't? Living in London? One of the biggest falacies in football. London is a shithole compared to its peers. More litter, stabbings & pretentious people than anywhere on earth. Doesn't even provide a healthy amount of sun/Vitamin D, nowhere in the UK does. It's only been a draw in the times of London vs. Manchester vs. Liverpool; days which are gone. What is the indication we're providing a long-term environment he & his family would stay happy with? There are better options than us. He's already one of our best ever players; he's already won the league; he will win the Champions League wherever he goes if anywhere. There's literally no reason to stay here much longer other than 'loyalty' which many are quick to point out doesn't exist anymore beyond Totti, DDR & Terry. Nainggolan is probably the only 'modern' player who so far has displayed 'loyalty' (which won't last much longer surely). Now why are so many players loyal to Rome, even though they aren't as successful as say, Chelsea? Great weather, great food, very vocal & passionate supporters & press. There's a reason we can't attract Nainggolan; there's a reason we failed to attract DDR. We are not the massive draw we were; none of the English clubs are. Whereas other countries have clubs only becoming bigger draws with more rapidly-growing fanbases.

Exactly. Just like Suarez is better than Pedro; but with our system, we'd obviously be more of a coherent team with Pedro, and thus he becomes the better player (for us). Same with Fabinho. Matic belongs in Serie A; Napoli specifically IMO. Whereas Fabinho would come on leaps & bounds with us. He's a Conte player. Very similar profile mentally & physically between him and Juve-Pogba. I'm sure no top team from City to Bayern to Barcelona to Juve to Madrid would want to touch Matic, but the majority would take Fabinho. That's not why we should get him, but it fuels the idea to do so. By some bit he'd also be the youngest player in our XI; and we've already seen clearly multiple times now, he'd be as good as the players around him despite his lack of being moulded by the very best coaches and peers. He's very special, moreso for his mentality to ensure he's great than anything, even if it means changing position.