Non-Chelsea Transfer Pub

[nadavTKL 1,787]

the only difference between your "realistic squad" and my squad was song/allan vs vidal. if our problems was the big games, how exactly does having song change anything? how does song change anything at all? average player. would rather have mvg or use more of RLC.

cos we were very very very lucky with injuries. we were lucky that we went out of FA cup and CL so early. we had to play united/arsenal and pool at the same time as there were CL semis, you think we would have put the same players? how would u rotate the team then? start mikel and rambo in the pivot or a half dead matic who looked totally worn out by the end of it. if we want to compete for PL and CL along with domestic cups, we cant have such a small squad. and to win trophies you need quality not just quantity like pool.

so arsenal have an old squad? united have an old defence which gets injured? injuries can happen anyway. how is it not needed? look at bayern's options, barca's options, RM's options.

so you are saying that every transfer is about the club willingly selling their players? we are the best team in england, the pull is there. if we make a good offer, juve will readily sell and vidal would readily come. thats what big clubs do, they make things happen.

Vidal is a big difference between our squads. And you're talking like Vidal isnt playing for one of the best teams in Europe. If he was playing for Lazio i would understand, but he plays for Juventus. Their ambitions are very similar to ours.

If you dont like Song thats one thing, he's only an example, but i also talked about Allan or any other CM that fits.

Talking about injuries, i think my squad have enough cover. Off course your squad is ideal but i dont think its realistic to have so many Top midfielders.

Mikel almost didnt play last season, if you replace him with a CM who can also replace Matic than its an impvorment from last season. Cuadrado didnt play last season and was awful, Turan is a big impvorment on him. Thats 2 players to add to our current (playing) squad.

Matic, Cesc, Ramires, New CM; Oscar, Willian, Hazard, Turan, Traore, Remy. 10 options for 5 spots. I cant see the need in having more options. But i cant see a place for another midfielder who needs to play almost every game (like Vidal).

R.Madrid back-ups for midfield last season - Isco, Illarramendi, Khedira, Jese, Silva.

Barca back-ups for midfield last season - Rapinha, Xavi, Pedro, Roberto, Munir.

Bayern back-ups for midfield last season - Martinez, Rode, Gotze, Muller/Alonso/Thiago (depends who starts).

Both teams have small squads.

Arsenal have a big squad, especially in midfield, filled with not-great players or players who're constantly injured for half a season.

[Yeboii 1,844]

Has Kenedy been officially announced?

[didierforever 7,349]

Vidal is a big difference between our squads. And you're talking like Vidal isnt playing for one of the best teams in Europe. If he was playing for Lazio i would understand, but he plays for Juventus. Their ambitions are very similar to ours.

If you dont like Song thats one thing, he's only an example, but i also talked about Allan or any other CM that fits.

Talking about injuries, i think my squad have enough cover. Off course your squad is ideal but i dont think its realistic to have so many Top midfielders.

Mikel almost didnt play last season, if you replace him with a CM who can also replace Matic than its an impvorment from last season. Cuadrado didnt play last season and was awful, Turan is a big impvorment on him. Thats 2 players to add to our current (playing) squad.

Matic, Cesc, Ramires, New CM; Oscar, Willian, Hazard, Turan, Traore, Remy. 10 options for 5 spots. I cant see the need in having more options. But i cant see a place for another midfielder who needs to play almost every game (like Vidal).

R.Madrid back-ups for midfield last season - Isco, Illarramendi, Khedira, Jese, Silva.

Barca back-ups for midfield last season - Rapinha, Xavi, Pedro, Roberto, Munir.

Both teams have small squads.

Arsenal have a big squad, especially in midfield, filled with not-great players or players who're constantly injured for half a season.

a big team needs big players. the difference between a CL winning team and a round of 16 CL team will be quality players like vidal. ATM's ambitions were similar to ours. we got costa, luis out of them. we have the money, juve dont.

how does your squad have any cover? did we have any cover last season when a couple of injuries meant a bench of solanke and brown on the bench? your squad has the same exact numbers. at one point we were in a situation where matic and cesc could both get suspended for arsneal and united matches. who would you play then? song? who is this extra CM? allan is off to napoli. song is no better than mikel. also, mikel dint play that many minutes and that was the problem. we need a player who needs to take the workload off cesc and matic. 1 and a half year and matic has not been injured. one injury and we are screwed.

also, i need to get an answer to this. end of the season. PL on the line. CL semis. we are playing united-barca-arsenal-bayern. so we have a total of hazard-willian-turan-oscar-cesc-matic to rotate in. cos there are levels of difference between them and our others.

RM backups - isco (would walk into our team), khedira (quality backup), jese (quality backup), illa (decent)

barca - pedro (quality backup), xavi(quality), mascherano (if there was a problem in mid, he would come in, quality), raphina (supposedly better than thiago)

chelsea - [considering we start with hazard, willian, turan, cesc, matic] oscar(quality backup), ramires (decent), mikel (seriously), remy (a striker), rlc?, traore?

each of those teams have quality backups. thats what we should be aiming for.

[Oscar 441]

a big team needs big players. the difference between a CL winning team and a round of 16 CL team will be quality players like vidal. ATM's ambitions were similar to ours. we got costa, luis out of them. we have the money, juve dont.

how does your squad have any cover? did we have any cover last season when a couple of injuries meant a bench of solanke and brown on the bench? your squad has the same exact numbers. at one point we were in a situation where matic and cesc could both get suspended for arsneal and united matches. who would you play then? song? who is this extra CM? allan is off to napoli. song is no better than mikel. also, mikel dint play that many minutes and that was the problem. we need a player who needs to take the workload off cesc and matic. 1 and a half year and matic has not been injured. one injury and we are screwed.

also, i need to get an answer to this. end of the season. PL on the line. CL semis. we are playing united-barca-arsenal-bayern. so we have a total of hazard-willian-turan-oscar-cesc-matic to rotate in. cos there are levels of difference between them and our others.

RM backups - isco (would walk into our team), khedira (quality backup), jese (quality backup), illa (decent)

barca - pedro (quality backup), xavi(quality), mascherano (if there was a problem in mid, he would come in, quality), raphina (supposedly better than thiago)

chelsea - [considering we start with hazard, willian, turan, cesc, matic] oscar(quality backup), ramires (decent), mikel (seriously), remy (a striker), rlc?, traore?

each of those teams have quality backups. thats what we should be aiming for.

Vidal is not a realistic buy, unless Juventus is getting Oscar the other way.

[nadavTKL 1,787]

a big team needs big players. the difference between a CL winning team and a round of 16 CL team will be quality players like vidal. ATM's ambitions were similar to ours. we got costa, luis out of them. we have the money, juve dont.

how does your squad have any cover? did we have any cover last season when a couple of injuries meant a bench of solanke and brown on the bench? your squad has the same exact numbers. at one point we were in a situation where matic and cesc could both get suspended for arsneal and united matches. who would you play then? song? who is this extra CM? allan is off to napoli. song is no better than mikel. also, mikel dint play that many minutes and that was the problem. we need a player who needs to take the workload off cesc and matic. 1 and a half year and matic has not been injured. one injury and we are screwed.

also, i need to get an answer to this. end of the season. PL on the line. CL semis. we are playing united-barca-arsenal-bayern. so we have a total of hazard-willian-turan-oscar-cesc-matic to rotate in. cos there are levels of difference between them and our others.

RM backups - isco (would walk into our team), khedira (quality backup), jese (quality backup), illa (decent)

barca - pedro (quality backup), xavi(quality), mascherano (if there was a problem in mid, he would come in, quality), raphina (supposedly better than thiago)

chelsea - [considering we start with hazard, willian, turan, cesc, matic] oscar(quality backup), ramires (decent), mikel (seriously), remy (a striker), rlc?, traore?

each of those teams have quality backups. thats what we should be aiming for.

You're ignoring i also want a new CM who will play, not another Mikel. I dont know if it will be Allan or Song or whatever, but i do agree we need that CM. I said Allan or Song because it looks like all the other CMs are off to other clubs (Schniderlin, Kondogbia, Imbula etc). Allan also looks like he's off to Napoli. We need someone, i just dont think it could be Vidal when Juve want to stay competitive and are losing Pirlo and Tevez this summer.

And i dont think we need to keep Oscar if we get Vidal+Turan, and i dont think we can give enough game time for everyone in that midfield. Thats our only difference.

"how does your squad have any cover" - We literally have the same number of players for Midfield. If you're talking about defense, we also have the same number, you just wrote Christensen and another one, players who wont play.

I just wrote: "With couple of players from the academy for the HG thing"

Our Problem wasnt numbers in the squad, it was the squad players who were not good enough (Mikel, Cuadrado/Salah/Schurlle). If it was my choice, still being a bit realistic (meaning - no Vidal) our back up options for midfield were:

Oscar, Gustavo/Kondogbia/Allan, Ramires. 3 decent-great options. Plus RLC, Remy and Traore.

* "raphina (supposedly better than thiago)".... You shouldnt have wrote that. Although he seems very good.

[Unionjack 7,531]

A big problem that we have is the size of our squad. Or should I say the lack of size of our squad. At the start of last season we had what? 22 lads. Already this is small. Mou said in a few interviews early season that he enjoyed having selection problems. Yet we know that we could ourselves name the starting 11 most weeks.

There was only 1 position last season that I really had no problem of which of the 2 started and Im sure we can all guess who they were. IMHO we have serious problems concerning depth and all it takes is a couple of untimely injuries (like we knw sods law will happen) and we will be up shit creek. So its not only the 1st team that needs upgrading in places we have to look at. I dont see why we shouldnt TRY to get as good an alternative for each position as we can. If it means 1 is going to have a hissy fit not liking being 2nd best then hes got to try bloody harder to be a starter or piss off.

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

I think that people are underestimating the strength of our current team.

Courtois

Ivan Cahill Terry Azpi

Matic Cesc

Willian Oscar Hazard

Costa

Analysing the problems with this squad... A lack of pace at centre back. Mostly Terry's fault, but the areas he benefits means that it outweighs being able to play a high line (Cahill-Zouma does not work, and neither would Varane-Zouma). But to improve it, we could include Zouma in more games to basically be Terry's legs.

In central midfield, Matic Cesc is still fairly good. The problems with it is that it is liable to be pressed as Cesc is not great at defending and caves in on the ball when pressured at times. Playing Zouma there can work but only in emergency situations because it completely ruins the fluidity of our game, with Matic-Zouma that is. But he arguably does the job that Mou wants better than Mikel, who is NOT GOOD ENOUGH for us. Those that do only think it because they have not seen him play in a while. Zouma can fill in there when possible and Song's dynamism would offer an alternative of sorts so Cesc could go to number 10 without our passing game being completely ruined.

Attacking midfield; there is only one problem with it. A lack of goal scoring prowess. There are variables in the squad that can change that - Cuadrado coming good would be one of them, and Oscar on form makes us play much, much better. Next season will be crucial for him. We'd all like Reus, but it's unlikely tbh. For me, the only way our AM 3 will be improved is if somebody comes in with a too-good-to-refuse offer for Willian (ie >£40m) and Reus or somebody of his calibre is available, cos Oscar ain't going nowhere and neither is Hazard.

Strikers; there is no chance that what happened last year will happen again - both our first and second choice strikers being injured at the same time. Traore is coming in, I'd be unsurprised if he becomes shared 3rd choice with Solanke next season.

Those that mention the Champions League; it was not down to the quality of the squad that we lost our match. It was because we simply didn't want it as much as PSG did. Well, and some poor marking in the box. If we'd played it like we were playing against Arsenal at home last season, we would have won comfortably.

[didierforever 7,349]

You're ignoring i also want a new CM who will play, not another Mikel. I dont know if it will be Allan or Song or whatever, but i do agree we need that CM. I said Allan or Song because it looks like all the other CMs are off to other clubs (Schniderlin, Kondogbia, Imbula etc). Allan also looks like he's off to Napoli. We need someone, i just dont think it could be Vidal when Juve want to stay competitive and are losing Pirlo and Tevez this summer.

And i dont think we need to keep Oscar if we get Vidal+Turan, and i dont think we can give enough game time for everyone in that midfield. Thats our only difference.

"how does your squad have any cover" - We literally have the same number of players for Midfield. If you're talking about defense, we also have the same number, you just wrote Christensen and another one, players who wont play.

I just wrote: "With couple of players from the academy for the HG thing"

Our Problem wasnt numbers in the squad, it was the squad players who were not good enough (Mikel, Cuadrado/Salah/Schurlle). If it was my choice, still being a bit realistic (meaning - no Vidal) our back up options for midfield were:

Oscar, Gustavo/Kondogbia/Allan, Ramires. 3 decent-great options. Plus RLC, Remy and Traore.

* "raphina (supposedly better than thiago)".... You shouldnt have wrote that. Although he seems very good.

we are simply going in circles now.

gustavo - wolfsburg dont need to sell. one of the financially well to do clubs

kondogbia - just moved to inter

allan - napoli.

if we are talking about "realistic" how are any of them realistic? song is not an upgrade on mikel. which is this new CM that you want. i honestly dont see any options out there. maybe bastian if he decides to leave bayern. sometimes we need to go OTT to improve the squad and go that extra mile, thats how you win a CL and be the best in the world.

as for the squad cover point, what i had meant was, again given the previous situation, or any injury to matic/cesc, the supposed "cover" is very very lacking in quality. the numbers might be the same, but it is not enough "cover".

[nadavTKL 1,787]

we are simply going in circles now.

gustavo - wolfsburg dont need to sell. one of the financially well to do clubs

kondogbia - just moved to inter

allan - napoli.

if we are talking about "realistic" how are any of them realistic? song is not an upgrade on mikel. which is this new CM that you want. i honestly dont see any options out there. maybe bastian if he decides to leave bayern. sometimes we need to go OTT to improve the squad and go that extra mile, thats how you win a CL and be the best in the world.

as for the squad cover point, what i had meant was, again given the previous situation, or any injury to matic/cesc, the supposed "cover" is very very lacking in quality. the numbers might be the same, but it is not enough "cover".

You are making it very hard...

I mentioned Kondogbia, Allan and Gustavo as my ideal options for CM. Those were my top options in the beginning of the summer. Thats the kind of CMs i want in our squad instead of Mikel. I know Kondogbia is gone and Gustavo is very hard to get.

Most realistic in this point - or a few days ago - are Song and Allan (Napoli didnt closed the deal, but it doesnt matter cause we're not doing anything to get him) . Thats the reason i wrote them in my squad.

"which is this new CM that you want. i honestly dont see any options out there" - i can also say i want Vidal, i wish he'll come, i just dont think its doable at all. Its like Reus, "lets sign Reus, lets sign Vidal".

There are not many options for midfield, most of the potential options went for new clubs. It also doesnt seem like Chelsea wanted someone... there were reports about Pogba and Song, i think thats it.

[CMS 382]

not at all.

you look stronger by improving on your weaknesses.

our weaknesses - RW : no improvement so far. player(s) available - reus, sterling (not really for 50mil pounds), turan (but with barca on the lookout, we don have much of a chance).

CM : we cant go into the season with matic and cesc as our main CMs. rambo and mikel can do a job but thats about it. dont think we can compete in CL semis with them against the big 3. available - VIDAL.

squad depth - defence - with luis leaving we are down to 5 first team defenders. ake and kalas seem to be on their way to middlesborough.

Well teams don't want to sell. But if they choose to listen, they want our youth players included in all the transactions. Besides, there's no one with those kinds of quality available to fill those holes for a decent price. We are all aware of it. All the top teams have the same problems. We are not alone. Look at Begovic now, Now they want 8 million plus RLC, or Bamford or Moses included in the deal or flat out 10 million. We sold Petr for 10.9 for crying out loud. By the time we get a decent replacement, we would have paid out what we earned for Petr and end up not getting anything close to him in return. That's just the back up GK. We should not have sold him before getting a replacement in place. At least not to Arsenal. But something tells me we will have the last laugh on this deal. Barca offered 71 million for Pogba, and its not enough. Go figure.

The Turan guy is a joke. He does not like to train, doesn't like playing defense, does not like to run, I mean what the hell. German players are finding it tough in the EPl. The only exception of close recent was Ballack. Even Muller is struggling in the Bundesliga with Munich. The EPL is not a joke. We've learned from Torres. I'm with Chelsea on this. There's nothing out there right now worth buying for the price. I'd rather us play some of the youth guys instead. We are just looking for squad players anyways, with maybe one or two starters if ever. In two years we will be fantastic, with feeder players directly from the club. No one has bought anything of value anyways. What has City bought, or Man Utd or Liverpool or Spurs or Madrid or Barca that we can refer to as game changers. None, nothing, zitto.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

It seems Zouma staying and Luis leaving. It seems we will not buy new CB. LB for sure.

[didierforever 7,349]

You are making it very hard...

I mentioned Kondogbia, Allan and Gustavo as my ideal options for CM. Those were my top options in the beginning of the summer. Thats the kind of CMs i want in our squad instead of Mikel. I know Kondogbia is gone and Gustavo is very hard to get.

Most realistic in this point - or a few days ago - are Song and Allan (Napoli didnt closed the deal, but it doesnt matter cause we're not doing anything to get him) . Thats the reason i wrote them in my squad.

"which is this new CM that you want. i honestly dont see any options out there" - i can also say i want Vidal, i wish he'll come, i just dont think its doable at all. Its like Reus, "lets sign Reus, lets sign Vidal".

There are not many options for midfield, most of the potential options went for new clubs. It also doesnt seem like Chelsea wanted someone... there were reports about Pogba and Song, i think thats it.

dude, your initial point was that buying turan and vidal was overkill. that was the main point of debate. i have given my point of view in saying exactly why its not overkill. infact thats just good squad strength. 8 good players (midfielders that too) for 5 spots along with 2 19 years old (RLC and traore) is just very much viable for 60 odd matches.

the point is "realistically" we are not even looking to buy a CM that is not pogba. we have the resources and should definitely be looking to improve ourselves by getting players like vidal.

[Matterz 67]

I think people are just generally frustrated at the lack of any real action from Chelsea in the transfer window so far. Fact is that we do have a very good squad, yes we could do with a few more players to add some depth, but there just really isnt much out there this season worth looking at, especially at the prices being mentioned.

With the exception of Pogba and maybe Griezmann, who else is there? And those two are just insanely expensive.

I really just can't picture Chelsea spending 30mil plus for a squad player to add depth.

[Polo7 3,496]

I think people are just generally frustrated at the lack of any real action from Chelsea in the transfer window so far. Fact is that we do have a very good squad, yes we could do with a few more players to add some depth, but there just really isnt much out there this season worth looking at, especially at the prices being mentioned.

With the exception of Pogba and maybe Griezmann, who else is there? And those two are just insanely expensive.

I really just can't picture Chelsea spending 30mil plus for a squad player to add depth.

The window just opened ffs

[Matterz 67]

The window just opened ffs

I agree, even though the start of the season is less than a month away.

My point is not that it is early in the transfer window, it is that there really aren't many players out there who would add value to the squad we currently have. And those players will cost a fortune. So it is a difficult situation.

[the wes 7,212]

Has Kenedy been officially announced?

not yet mate

[Leif 6,006]

If Allan is truly off to Napoli we've basically missed out on the next-but-possibly-better-than Mascherano, if Javier had more legs in him. If he got a proper shot in the national team everyone would take notice. He plays like he's on steroids and coke.
If I were in charge of Juventus I'd try and retain Pogba, sell Vidal for £40m or thereabouts and replace him with Allan for what, £13-£16m at most i'd imagine.
*goes to jerk off over Allan*

[ulvhedin 526]

I don't know if anyone wrote that, but Carlos Bacca is oficially in AC Milan. Wonder who will Sevilla buy to replace him. They already bought Kakuta, and there are rumors about Konoplyanka going there

[LAM09 7,061]

I don't know if anyone wrote that, but Carlos Bacca is oficially in AC Milan. Wonder who will Sevilla buy to replace him. They already bought Kakuta, and there are rumors about Konoplyanka going there

Kono has already signed for Sevilla.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Lol people complain about our lack of activity, but now its possible we make Falcao, Begovic, Arda and Baba signed within a week...

Striker, midfielder, defender and back up GK, just like Mou said