Reddish-Blue

That makes no sense. Why leak rumors about trying to sign an inferior, older player?

Defensively he's weak but in terms of attacking, Mahrez would give us a second option...and he would take the pressure off Hazard.

Have we actually put in a bid yet for the Ox?

Pre-season means nothing unless you are a youngster (Christensen, Boga, Musonda, Tomori) or a fringe player coming back from loan (e.g. Moses) Michy was used because he was the only option available upfront. The kid has talent but he's not ready to lead the line for a title-challenging side. Even Henry mentioned this when talking to Skysports from a Belgian training camp, he said Rom and Christian accept the challenge, they want the attention whether it's good or bad, but the other two youngsters (Divock and Michy) are still learning their trade, they need to mature. He went on to say that Michy can pull off some of the most outrageous first touch finishes you'll ever see in training but he needs to understand how to adjust himself for those 40/60 chances in-game, if he wants to take the next step in his development.

He doesn't need a loan, he needs to play at his level, which is mid-table. Somewhere like West Ham or Southampton would be perfect for him. Just go out every week and play without pressure and enjoy football.

It's difficult for Michy because mentally he's not ready to play for a big club. He doesn't seem to thrive under pressurized situations. Look at the difference between Michy and Christensen. Michy looked horrible in both games when we needed someone to step up, as for Christensen, he looks like a ready made starting quality CB. He didn't seem fazed at all in either match, and as the best coaches have always said: 'you can't teach temperament, you either have it or you don't'.

It's easy. Find a club in 'crisis' and start linking good players. Eventually one of the rumors will stick.

He's been in Italy for his entire career, can't blame him if he's unhappy with the change of scenery in England. Plenty of managers/players have come to England and they simply fail to settle down. As for tactics/leadership, I think it's the opposite with Conte. He's good at getting 110% out of decent to average level players (Giacherini, Matri, Padoin, Moses) but in terms of tactics, he's never been that flexible during his stints with Juventus and/or the Italian national team. If we don't get any real reinforcements in this season, watch Conte get tactically beaten in the Premier League and the Champions League.

Hopefully you're wrong, it should be Morata at CF with Michy off the bench if we're chasing the game.. Boga/Musonda should get the chance to start on the wings with Pedro off the bench (assuming he's fit).

http://www.football-italia.net/108399/jovetic-turns-down-newcastle He turned down Newcastle as he wants to move to Spain...would have been a nice backup option.

Even if the offer is tempting, their board would be stupid to sell an elite player, capable of dragging his team over the line, this late in the transfer window. It would be like the Chelsea and Matic situation but worse. True but there's no guarantee that the Ox will join Chelsea on a free. He's already liked a number of posts on instagram about a potential move to Liverpool, maybe he fancies himself under Klopp's management. (just to point out, I'd love to see Ox on the right flank at Chelsea but I'm not getting my hopes up).

Who's going to offer huge money (apart from Manchester City) if they know the likes of Sanchez, Ozil can leave on a free transfer at the end of the season. The likes of Bayern Munich will be waiting with open arms for both of them (Ozil going back to Bundesliga, Sanchez potentially playing with his national buddy and winning titles both domestically and in europe, the storylines are just waiting to happen)

As expected. Why would Wenger want to strengthen a rival for a top-4 place?

1 out of 6 is better than 0 out of 6. I get the feeling that this will either be a 1-1 draw or some crazy scoreline like 5-3...

If Conte isn't getting his transfer targets, there has to be a reason. If he's being stubborn about signing 31 year olds who are too slow for the pace/intensity of the premier league, then I agree with the board's stance. We should be targeting players in the 24-27 age group as we have enough 'veterans' in the team (Luiz, Cahill, Fabregas, Pedro, Willian are all in that 29-32 age bracket)

We should just ask Atletico for one of their spare midfielders as part of the Costa deal.

Walker isn't a loss for Spurs as they already have ready-made replacements in Trippier and the young Walker-Peters.

How has Poch been screwed over? He gets to keep all of his players at the club and their is still time to add 1-2 decent players as depth. As for Klopp, he only lacks options at CB. At least Liverpool signed depth at the LB, Striker spots.

What's crazy is the fact that we couldn't keep Chalobah/Baker at the club as 3rd choice midfielder, even though everyone knew Matic was leaving. The Fabregas - Kante partnership was always destined to fail as their skillsets are incompatible. One's a runner, the other is a passer...but there is no linker/thinker in the middle of the park.

The Sandro to Chelsea door closed a long time ago. Juventus won't sell two top-class defenders in the same transfer window. It's interesting that out of the top 6 premier league sides, Chelsea is the only side who became weaker in the transfer window. Spurs lost no-one, United lost no-one & got Matic, City lost no-one, gained 3-4 quality players, Arsenal lost no-one, gained a striker & Liverpool are in the same position as they were last season.

The source is: http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/840619/Chelsea-Transfer-News-Antonio-Conte-Virgil-van-Dijk-Drinkwater-Oxlade-Chamberlain-Cancelo

Aurier is still blocked from entering the UK and that's part of the reason why United haven't finalized the deal with PSG yet. Ghoulam would be a nice signing but I don't see Napoli letting go of a quality player this late in the window.

Do you really think the club is going to spend 25+ million on a backup striker?

If you're a young manager, you would take the risk at Chelsea. Worst thing that could happen is you'll be sacked in a few months and a nice payout (e.g. Villas-Boas).

Let's be realistic, Tottenham won't sell Rose to Chelsea and I doubt Chelsea are gonna spend 50 million on a defender anytime soon. If we really needed competition, why not just pay Southampton for Bertrand. He's PL proven, knows the club, homegrown, generally 7/10 player, wouldn't cost a fortune.