Rekin

I agree. I think though that perhaps this might be the season where Wenger tries to adapt his gameplan a bit, and therefore Matic is attractive to him. Honestly, the dream would be if Matic plus say £40m (for example, could be more I guess) could be converted into The Ox and Sanchez. That would instantly give us a class RWB and a world class striker. Man, that would turn this window into one of our best ones. I do realise it is a forlorn dream though.

Interesting situation. If Matic goes to Juventus, it might help smooth the Sandro transfer while also not strenghtening a direct rival. If he goes to Arsenal, we might get a young English RWB that is better than Moses. I guess it comes down to who we prefer.

It doesnt really matter if he is announced today or tomorrow. Clearly he is ours, unless some major knee problems were ID'd. It was said he might work on his fitness as Cobham, so it matters even less than before how fast his transfer is announced.

Wow, to me he sounds like a lunatic. He is talking about Juventus dying in 2006, where in fact the team has been subscribing to the Scudetto for several years and been in the CL-final two times out of the last three. Sounds more like this is the first time in a really long while where he is able to say things like "I TOLD YOU GUYS" without coming off as a 100% clown. I would be willing to believe that Juve is reluctant to sell players to Conte, but then again I think they are relucant to sell Sandro to anyone. And of course the club is trying to operate at a profit. We already spend a lot of money each window, and we have managed to win the league twice in the last three years. If anything, the results have vindicated our recent transfer activities. Which company drastically change the way they operate while being succesfull? I also think we need to chill a bit with the bashing of the club until the transfer window closes. Right now it is starting to look bad, but the next two weeks can change a lot. By the end of today we should have three new players signed, and Danilo seems to be following soon.

So its better to miss out on a potentially amazing transfer because of one month's absence? Makes no sense to me.

Why? He might miss the first month, but the season is a bit longer than that.

He has a sick son and didnt want to leave Italy. Milan and Turin are close to each other, so it is more managable than moving to London. Bonucci was the one pushing for the move, as he didnt get along with Allegri to put it mildly. Consider it a similar situation to Costa vs Conte, with Italy representing Atletico in this scenario. In my opinion this is not on the board.

Difficult question which striker to go for. There is no clear target as all of them have some issues: Lukaku - Not great against tight defenses, inadequate technique, price was £100m. Belotti - Good characteristics but only one really strong season despite being 23, while also being almost as expensive as Lukaku. Fear of being a second Immobile. PEA - Not very physical, relies much on pace while being 28. Expensive, would also take a huge salary. Morata - Good fit in terms of the skills he would offer, but have not had a single season as the first choice striker despite being 24 already. Furthermore, really expensive. We can remove Lukaku as he is gone, but honestly I think he would be my fourth favorite out of the above options. The three remaining targets would all cost a similar amount, with Belotti most likely asking for the lowest wages. It's really difficult, PEA seems like the highest impact choice, but being 28 also means that if it takes a season for him to adapt and start scoring regularly, then he is already 29 and we are again in the middle of looking for a new striker (unless Abraham steps up). Belotti seems like the kind of striker that would work quite well in PL, and I problably want him the most of those above, even though it is really close. There are also outside options such as Keita Balde or Moussa Dembele, but those would be even more risky.

It's too bad that you fail to understand the point. You can apply the thought to plenty of players, Matic and Rudiger were two examples. Does this make it a little bit clearer?

1. I do not doubt, nor am I questioning, that CaptainConte has seen Morata more than the rest of us. Therefore, his opinion should be met with gratitude. Having said that, it is important to remember that fans often see the same player in very different ways. I mean, do we need to look further than Nemanja Matic? Some fans here and on other forums worship him, while others see him as a highly limited and immobile player. Same can be said about Rudiger in Roma. It is simply a matter of perspective, not a universal truth. 2. I find it funny that some people are acting as if Morata's record last season is irrelevant. The poor guy just cant win, can he? Sure, he was an impact player but hey, he DID provide an impact, he scored goals where others struggled to do so. Since when is that something to use against him? He has in the past scored against Bayern, Real Madrid and Barcelona, more than Belotti or Lukaku can say. 3. We need to look at a couple of facts. Yes, he was not the starter in Juventus and Real Madrid, but both clubs value him very highly. The spanish national team values him highly. Conte values him highly. Manchester United valued him highly. Does this not mean anything? I do not think he should cost £70m at all, but then again its the market that dictate prices, not supporters. If he is put at such a high cost and clubs such as Chelsea and Man Utd didnt instantly go "Fuck Off!", then clearly they see something that we miss.

Nah, it will just lower the post count a little bit =)

Just take a moment to consider exactly HOW trash-tier news-sites would have any idea about this. Matt Law might not be correct 100% of the time (which is kind of hard to be as a journalist, as you rarely get 100% of the picture in a world where things constantly change) but he is far, far more reliable than The Sun, Metro or Express. He is saying that the deal is basically done, but that the deal was delayed by a slight injury on Bakayoko's behalf. This forum would really benefit from banning the worst news outlets like RedCafe is doing.

Dont listen to him. Many Roma fans rate him highly, and think he can become excellent with more experience. Apparently Florenzi with his 8 games last season is a better defender...

What exactly is your point? We know for a fact that Roma fans rated Rudiger, we can only speculate whether they would be over the moon to have Cahill. Furthermore, there is 8 years between them. If they are at a similar level now, would that not be great news for us? Plenty of time for Rudiger to develop and become a better player.

They had the second best defense in Serie A last season. Unless you are saying that Serie A's offensive players are garbage?

Roma fans think highly of him. It should be enough to at least tell us that we are getting a good defender.

Dude, do you realize how these things work? He belongs to the wealthy champions of Serie A, two-time CL-finalists in the last few years and is one of the absolute best in the world in his position. They do not want to sell him, he does not want to make himself impossible. This is a really difficult deal to complete, unless CFC is willing to suddenly add £20m to their offer. In a window where we want to spend over £200m, we need to be a bit more careful with the spending on each individual deal. If we suddenly show a willingness to pay whatever it takes, what is to stop other teams from adding even more millions to the asking prices of their players? Keeping that in mind, Chelsea need to play it cool and not look desperate. Perhaps they are working on buttering up Sandro, making him push for the move more? Perhaps they are having negotiations every couple of days with Juventus to find a price both can agree on? Maybe Juventus are unwilling to negotiate until they have offered Sandro a new contract first? There are a lot of unknown factors, and it is just so counter-productive to constantly moan about how shitty the board is. This is the very definition of a deal that is going to take a long, long time. Do not be surprised if it takes a month or more to finish. The facts are that we know that Conte and Chelsea wants to buy up to seven players this window. Several of those to slot into the starting eleven. That is a lot of money. Just because United can spend £100m on Lukaku, does not mean that we can do so just as easily. Furthermore, we still havent secured a new CF. If we spend £80m on Morata, then £70m on Sandro we are already up to £150m. Add in £35m on Bakayoko and £35m on Rudiger and we are looking at £220m. That is a huge amount of money, and we still havent adressed the RWB and RW position then. The job that the board has is not simple, do you realize how fucked this club would be if the supporters were in charge of the negotiations? I too want Conte to be happy, but so far we have really only lost one of our main transfers. It is too early to panic.

Fuck him. Back when we were linked with Sandro, VVD, Bakayoko and him he was always the least exciting transfer for me. Poor first touch, low football IQ and questionable technique. He has the physical aspects to make the most of counters and to bully some defenders, but he can kiss much of that goodbye now that he will go up against packed defenses. Also, if it is true that he had been talking with Conte for several weeks about playing for us, and then chose to go to Utd anyway it just shows what kind of loyalty/dedication he has. There is no world where I think £100m is good business for him. And I do not even mean that from a commercial perspective, I mean in terms of ROI on the pitch. We have a strong team that can support a good striker to get the 20 goals a season. What we need in order to move forward as a club is someone who can get 20 goals, but also make the players around him better. That was never going to be Lukaku. I have my concerns about Morata, but there can be no question that he is the one target we have had who would be able to actually improve his teammates. It hurts losing Lukaku to United, if he would have gone to PSG I would care 0%, now it is some prestige lost. Having said that, I honestly believe we are better off without him. I know people are (very) upset with the delay of our transfers, perhaps there is some truth to us paying for our inertia. I do however believe that there is much we do not know going on behind the scenes. Imagine we end this transfer window with these players: Morata Sandro Rudiger Bakayoko Danilo/Ox Caballero Mahrez/other RW Would that not be amazing? Great width, while upgrading the parts of the team where we struggled. Pre-season is about to start, and I am a strong believer that it is imperative for a new player to be there in order to have a good start. If we have not signed at least four of those players within two weeks, you can count me in the "board is fucking up" team, but until then at least I will remain calm about the state of things. Rudiger, Caballero and Bakayoko seem certain, it is the rest where the rush is starting to be felt a bit.

Morata is the best fit for our team of the four top strikers "available" right now based on profile, I have zero doubts about that. He is fast, very good technique and passing while also having a high football IQ. The big concern is how he will adapt to the league, and how long each game he can last on his highest level. IF he manages to adapt, and improves his stamina, I think he will be a far more valuable player for us than Belotti or Lukaku. I just feel that £80m is a crazy price for him.

Di Marzio has been accurate this far, if he says Lukaku is a done deal then it is a done deal for sure dammit!

Seems Bakayoko and Rudiger are expected to be signed roughly by the time we start pre-season (according to Matt Law [I know, he is not been the beacon fo truth lately, but it supports what Di Marzio and other more reliable outlets have reported]). Progress on Sandro is also said to be positive. I know these things get mentioned often, but it seems plausible that these three will arrive this summer. We are also said to be looking for a CF, RW and RWB. It will be interesting to see who the club goes for. I have seen some (pretty bad) sources mention Keita Balde from Lazio as an option for a CW/RW hybrid. I have seen too little of him to comment his capabilities, but I have a friend who says he is a true gem. Also pretty cheap by CF standards. Morata Hazard Mahrez Bakayoko Kante Sandro Danilo Rudiger Luiz Azpilicueta Courtois Honestly, I would not be surprised if this is the lineup we see for next season. All of these have been mentioned as targets by Matt Law, Di Marzio or The Guardian). Say what you will, but I think it is quite a bit strong, and has a lot of talent on the bench.

I dont think it addresses a single thing that I wrote in my answer to you. If anything, the conclusion seems to be that Lukaku will get goals, something I clearly wrote several times.

I fully agree with you. His first touch and technique are far from perfect. I consider them a bit above Costa and Lukaku, but they would in no way be considered his main strengths. The same applies to both spotting the pass, and executing it. I do however feel like Belotti can still improve in this aspect, he seems to me like a player that is still improving every season in some aspects. Put him under a good coach that works in his weaknesses and he can become world class.

I see where you are coming from, but I disagree with you. While I do enjoy the WhoScored ratings, they are just numbers that do not take everything into consideration. B.Silva was rarely the finisher, nor the main star in Monaco. Hazard was the superstar of Lille who took penalties and was put in goalscoring positions. Silva excels in retaining the ball, passing and using his technique to create space for others. They are both on a very high level, but have different roles. Silva still had a respectful return, and also performed in the CL. Lukaku is a very good goal-scorer, but those goals has come in teams where he gets a lot of space. Many of his strengths would evaporate against packed defenses, and while I do not doubt that he can still score a respectful amount, I just doubt that he is going to become a high impact player that can change the game on his own. That is something that you must be able to ask of a player costing £100m. I would like to think that when clubs pay big money for young players, there is also an expectation/hope that the player in question is able to take the next step in his development when surrounded by better players than before. I wrote some time ago that I was hoping Conte could help Lukaku become more than he is today, but honestly I am not sure that there is much more. Lukaku is a player that is fast, very strong and a capable finisher, and in my opinion his development curve has hit its peak. Is the player he is today worth £100m? I would absolutely disagree with that. I think that Belotti and Morata have yet to show how they would perform week in and week out as the spearhead of a good teams attack, and therefore it is harder to value them for me. Will Lukaku score goals wherever he goes? I think so. Is he a player that you want in the CL against elite defenders, or in the PL against teams parking the bus? In my opinion no. The problem is that whomever Chelsea gets, there will be a risk attached. I do however prefer buying a player that I believe can become world class, rather than one I believe will never reach it. There are also numerous Belgian and Everton supporters who thought £80m was way too much for him.

Its the nature of things. When Lukaku seemed certain to come here, RedCafe was calling him a donkey. Now that he seems to go to them, he is the next coming of Christ. Supporters are fickle, and can one week call for the heads of the board, and the next week worship them. Ultimately we do not know what is going on behind the scenes, and CFC might yet have its best transfer window.