Reddish-Blue

I feel like we moved away from those types of signings (e.g. Azpi, Ivanovic, Zouma, Alex, Cahill, David Luiz). They all had experience and they provided very good service to the club over the years. It's a shame we had to see Ivanovic and Azpi get absolutely rinsed in their last seasons at the club but once you lose that bit of pace, it's quite hard to play as a fullback in the modern game. You're right about that but it doesn't seem like any of those 25-27 year old players are on the clubs radar. I wouldn't mind a Gary Cahill/David Luiz type of signing just to help out the young guns and get some experience back into the side. (Losing Jorginho/Kante/Azpi in two transfer windows will be a huge blow in terms of experience).

@robsblubot agree with your points about signing more established players ready to come in and play from day 1 but the problem is, we tried that route with Koulibaly and now we're stuck with an ageing defender getting 300k a week and very likely playing 20 games a season. Andreas screwed the club over by initially verbally agreeing to sign a contract extension, then asking for a shorter extension then just declining the offer altogether and leaving us on a free for Barca. The guy was an academy player and could have at least signed a 1 year deal to get us a transfer fee but he didn't and left us with a huge hole at CB which we're still trying to solve. I'm not convinced on Fofana just yet. Badiashile looks solid and Colwill be a huge addition as he's got all the tools to be a very very good defender.

As per yahoo sports and Kinsella: "Brighton are ready to test Chelsea’s resolve over Levi Colwill with an improved offer of around £40million for the defender" I don't see that being anywhere near enough.

imagine if the Saudi league actually ends up helping us by taking Lukaku and KK's wages off the books!

I agree with you on this but I just wonder whether he would be keen on another Championship level loan after starring for his national side (U20/U21). Maybe he'd be better off with a loan to La Liga/Bundesliga for a year, would give him a chance to test his abilities and the level of competition would be a good indicator to see how he is developing. I feel like he won't get any minutes at Villa with so many experienced options and I doubt Brighton go into next season without a proper Caicedo replacement.

Lukaku also said similar things but then when his agent told him he'd get a nice payday from Chelsea, he immediately changed his tune and agreed to the move. I like Onana as a GK but not sold on him for 50 million.

Reece only needed 1 loan, Mase was on loan for 2 seasons before being given a shot in the first team (and that may not have happened if it wasn't for the transfer ban and Lamps being the interim coach).

or put him in the Caicedo deal, win win for both sides. They won't lower the Caicedo valuation but they want us to accept below par for Colwill.

@OneMoSalah Feels like you've got it the wrong way around. It is much easier to look like the top player at West Ham as they really don't have anyone else at that level. As for the Rice to Ugarte comparison, I'd take Ugarte any day of the week. The way he played against Arsenal's midfield in Europe was something else. PSG got a steal for around 60 million. I can also see why we were keen on him, that would have been a very nice South American midfield duo under Poch. If Arsenal really do end up splashing anywhere near 90 million for Rice, they'll end up hating themselves in a few years time as he's not the player to elevate them over City for the title.

@LAM09 that would actually be an improvement on where the club is at right now. From memory I don't recall Arsenal finishing 12th in their 'bad' seasons under Wenger/Arteta. We need a new spine to the team like what Mourinho built back in 04-05....and all the super glue fixes over the years are finally catching up to us and unlike teams like Liverpool, United we don't have class players who can score goals for fun and bail us out from bad performances (Salah, Rashford).

Maybe because they already have Rodri, Phillips and others to fill that role in the side. They want Kovacic as a possible replacement for Gundo... Caicedo isn't needed at City, they already have a solid midfield Compare that to us and right now we're looking at Enzo - Gallagher and whatever youngsters are out on loan to fill the midfield next season (as both Kovacic/Kante are out the door).

Why did we even bother signing this guy? Just let him go on a free like Barkley...he's got zero chances of playing here again and I'm not sure why he is being loaned out, he's not a 'potential' first team player that we are hoping will develop.

@Pizy I feel like the bigger losses from that UCL winning run was actually Rudiger & Christensen on free transfers. Both were elite defenders on their day and it was a shame to see them both leave for nothing and we end up spending 55+ million on Sideshow Bob at LB and 300k a week on the ageing KK. The only player of the list you mentioned that should be kept is Mount (as he's the academy boy) and he'd be very useful for Poch's tactics as a squad player but as he rejected Chelsea's offers, there is not much we can do now other than hold out for a good fee from Man United.

Maybe not a McAllister price but they can't expect a club to pay 90+ million when the next highest bidder is unlikely to cross 70-75 million...(e.g. United) Brighton can hold out for a good fee but let's be honest if we're putting up anything north of 75 million, they're not really in a position to decline that sort of offer...they could go and get 2-3 quality players for their Europa League campaign next season.

So many stories with West Ham, guys like Bowen & Antonio from the lower leagues, Noble as their sporting director... Congrats to them for getting the win when it mattered!

Feel like they will have to compromise on the price as Lavia won't want to waste a season in the Championship. He'll probably go similar price to MacAllister, only 19 and just played a season of PL football, has the tools to be a very good midfielder.

If we don't have leaders, then we should go into the transfer market and get leaders from other clubs. City got Dias, Rodri, Stones, De Bruyne, Gundogan as leaders to fill the Kompany void and they continue to dominate I don't think we've signed a leader in our team since Cahill/Thiago Silva joined...which is concerning. No wonder why we're at least 20-25 points away from the likes of City...

Bissouma wasn't as dominant as Caicedo for Brighton. There's a reason why one of them was linked to a few clubs for 20-25 million yet the other one is being linked to a 70-80 million move this summer... Bissouma was like Cucurella, a system player that looked good in Brighton's system but as soon as you take the player out of the system, you see their limitations. Caicedo reminds me of a more refined version of Leicester Kante...

They also lost their best CB to injuries and their best youngster in Saka appeared to fall off a cliff at the end of the season (couldn't score at all). It's easy to say they lacked leaders & experience but if it wasn't for all those youngsters stepping up during the season (up until the last 5-6 matchdays), they wouldn't have been in 1st place. City are just a machine at this point, them getting the best striker available and also getting a pretty damn good 'backup' in Alvarez for peanuts is just amazing transfer business on their part.

Massive impact for Roma (who were interested in potentially selling him to raise transfer funds).

You can't blame them after the huge issues with KK & Cucurella Also, no UCL revenue next season and very likely the season after it as well (based on current quality in the squad).

It's a shame that only one of those names is a potential game changer.... We're still going to struggle for goals for next season unless Mudryk develops really quickly under Poch.

If it wasn't for Lampard in that transfer ban season, there's every chance Mount doesn't even become a first team regular.

I don't think we were on the same "boat". Haaland always mentioned that he had a soft spot for City due to his father playing there. He was never going to choose Chelsea over the top clubs that wanted him (City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich all had significant interest in getting him). As for the Lukaku deal, we were the fools and Inter were the ones laughing their way to the bank.

It is really up to Ugarte now. If he wants to play in a competitive league, then he'll chose PL football.