Non-Chelsea Transfer Pub

[the wes 7,212]

A source close to Wilfried Zaha says there are doubts about whether Arsenal can afford to sign him this summer.

Palace have rejected a £40m Arsenal bid and they value Zaha at closer to £100m.

We are told Palace would not be interested in taking players as part of a swap deal – that would only ever happen as a last resort.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

6 hours ago, the wes said:

English players are overpriced look at Drinkwater for example 

Exactly. But you must be an idiot to pay these fees.

[MoroccanBlue 5,306]

Piazon, Baker, Brown really haven't improved since they were 18 have they? 

[Vesper 28,844]

9 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

Piazon, Baker, Brown really haven't improved since they were 18 have they? 

SELL them all

wuthless

[the wes 7,212]

9 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

Piazon, Baker, Brown really haven't improved since they were 18 have they? 

No 

[the wes 7,212]

4 minutes ago, Vesper said:

SELL them all

wuthless

Baker as been the biggest let down I had high hopes for him at one point he's went down the same path as Josh mceachran 

[Vesper 28,844]

Revealed: When De Ligt to Juventus can be announced 

https://www.calciomercato.com/en/news/revealed-when-de-ligt-to-juventus-can-be-announced-41942

Italian Serie A giants Juventus are on the verge of completing the signing of Ajax highly-rated defender Matthijs de Ligt, as per La Gazzetta dello Sport, with the announcement arriving as early as in 48 hours.

The 19-year-old became the hottest property in the world of football after an inspirational season for the Dutch club where he has helped the team in qualifying for the UEFA Champions League semi-finals.

Since then, De Ligt has been linked with a move to numerous big clubs in Europe including FC Barcelona and Paris Saint Germain (PSG). However, the Dutch international finally agreed terms with the current Italian champions and it was confirmed by his agent Mino Raiola as well.

 

Snip

[the wes 7,212]

Real Madrid are set to challenge Barcelona for Neymar's signature this summer, Sky Sports News understands.

Reports from Spain on Wednesday suggested Real Madrid president Florentino Perez is interested in bringing the PSG striker to the club.

It is claimed PSG officials have a stronger working relationship with Real Madrid than Barcelona, but no formal offers have been made at this stage.

[communicate 2,703]

22 hours ago, the wes said:

Real Madrid are set to challenge Barcelona for Neymar's signature this summer, Sky Sports News understands.

Reports from Spain on Wednesday suggested Real Madrid president Florentino Perez is interested in bringing the PSG striker to the club.

It is claimed PSG officials have a stronger working relationship with Real Madrid than Barcelona, but no formal offers have been made at this stage.

If this is true. Rodrygo and vinicius can pretty much kiss their career goodbye if they stay in Real 

[Vesper 28,844]

Barcelona finally sign Griezmann, will Neymar be next? It's complicated

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/barcelona/story/3899070/barcelona-finally-sign-griezmannwill-neymar-be-next-its-complicated

As expected, there was a delivery at number 10 Calle Hernandez today. Just after 1 on Friday afternoon, a car will pull up outside the offices of La Liga in north-eastern Madrid -- a smart, seemingly ever-expanding building that stands above the A2 motorway heading from the capital to Catalonia -- and a man got out carrying €120m. His name is Sevan Karian, he greeted two other men, headed inside, and left. Soon after, there was an announcement: at long last, Antoine Griezmann is officially a Barcelona player.

A year on from the broadcasting of a documentary called "The Decision," in which Griezmann agonised over whether to stay at Atletico Madrid or join Barcelona, only to turn down the Camp Nou club, Griezmann is heading to Catalonia after all. Within months, he regretted that decision and has reversed it.

Barcelona had hoped to negotiate Griezmann's transfer, to pay the money in instalments, but in the end they have had to pay the buyout clause. They were always likely to: indeed, the buyout clause is the mechanism that has made all this possible: just as last year his clause temporarily fell to an eminently payable €100m, this year it dropped from €200m to €120m on July 1. It was an open invitation and Barcelona accepted it.

Paying it took a while, which was pretty silly as they had known they were going to do this for months and had always known that July 1 was the date. Barcelona had to gather up the money, get it signed off, prepare the paperwork and then help Griezmann do the delivery -- it is officially the player who buys himself out -- but it is done. Griezmann should be able to join the other Barcelona internationals in preseason training on Monday. Before that, there will be photos, thumbs up, and a few words. A presentation is penned in, but they're not sure when.

And then it will be on with work.

Which takes them to the next target: another man who turned them down a couple seasons ago. Turned them upside down, more like.

With Griezmann done, there are six long weeks ahead in the transfer window that might, just might, end with Neymar heading back to the Camp Nou. Which for now means: nothing.

Sit.

Wait.

Watch.

Think a bit, too. And there is a lot to think about.

Think back to 2017, and the last time a massive signing went the buy-out route; to the comedy scene of a lawyer in a bowtie and a straw hat travelling round Spain trying to give away €220m -- he went to Barcelona's offices before he went to the league's but they refused to see him -- to release Neymar from the Camp Nou. Think back to the Barcelona director claiming to be "200% sure" Neymar was staying. To Gerard Pique, the same Pique who (rightly) enjoys pointing out how the media publishes fake news, announcing: "he stays". Only for Neymar to go.

Think about the damage it did. It was a lot. They're still due their day in court, for a start: Neymar vs Barcelona (Neymar has taken his former club to court regarding the non-payment of a loyalty bonus). Their forward line was split days before the season started. It's easy to forget the mess that manager Ernesto Valverde inherited. And that's just the short term: Barcelona's succession plan, well, that was gone too. In pieces. Neymar was Messi's partner, but also his successor. Barcelona looked weak and really rather silly. They reacted by throwing money around. Time will tell, but so far it doesn't look that well spent.

But Barcelona overcame losing Neymar. Well, sort of. Two league titles, a combined 30-plus points ahead of Madrid, were tempered by two successive Champions League disasters which weigh heavily on their thinking.

Now Neymar, too, has changed his mind. He wants to come back; he regrets what he did and wants to reverse it. His best mates, Messi and Luis Suarez, would like him to return.

And it turns out that Paris Saint Germain aren't that keen on him anymore. They're talking like it was nothing to do with them. "No one obliged him to come," president Sheik Al Khelaifi said, which was true. "We didn't push him to," which wasn't quite so true. PSG have talked about "commitment" to the "project", about how they don't want "star behaviour", which was pretty much what their project of signing big stars like Neymar guaranteed. For the first time, they're talking about a player, the player, being able to go.

In fact, they seem to be trying to force it. Neymar didn't show for training, PSG said. And it is the "PSG said" part of that phrase that matters most. In a statement, Neymar's father responded by saying: no, he wasn't due to train until next week, and PSG knew that. This is out in the open, and a split shared is a split deepened. In all probability, this was a hand played.

PSG sporting director Leonardo's words the other day read like an invitation for Barcelona to come and get Neymar at the same time as an expression of his doubt that they can, a doubt which is entirely legitimate. Barcelona don't really have the money for this. They do, though, have doubts of their own. They didn't plan for this; this is an opportunity that arose. But it is one that brings its own problems, they know.

snip

 

[Special Juan 27,429]

Looks like Antonio Conte is getting the players he wanted at Chelsea, Barella confirmed now and Lukaku close.

[Yeboii 1,844]

2 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

Looks like Antonio Conte is getting the players he wanted at Chelsea, Barella confirmed now and Lukaku close.

Wasn't it Sarri who wanted Barella?

[Special Juan 27,429]

18 minutes ago, Yeboii said:

Wasn't it Sarri who wanted Barella?

Yep and also Conte, I know that as a friend of mine was very close to someone in the club and he wanted Barella.

[Pizy 18,368]

I hope Conte kills it at Inter and revives them.  Serie A has been lame as hell for years now with Juve owning the league. Be nice to see a genuine title race. If only Milan could also get their act together.

Anyway, I see Arsemay lose out on that French league defender they've been after for months to fucking Spuds of all teams. They may legitimately have a worse transfer window than us and we can't even sign anyone. They better hurry up and improve the squad or their fans will be toxic within the first month of the new season.

[Special Juan 27,429]

Mr DT is already on suicide watch, it's only July.

[Fernando 6,464]

18 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

Yep and also Conte, I know that as a friend of mine was very close to someone in the club and he wanted Barella.

sigh Conte is the only manager that I feel like we screwed up. 

Everything in the past don't care for much. Well Mourinho first time. Mourniho second time, out of his depth. 

But Conte was top class and we would have build something nice with him. 

[OneMoSalah 8,778]

41 minutes ago, Fernando said:

sigh Conte is the only manager that I feel like we screwed up. 

Everything in the past don't care for much. Well Mourinho first time. Mourniho second time, out of his depth. 

But Conte was top class and we would have build something nice with him. 

Definitely.

He wanted Alex Sandro and Candreva (not an amazing player but would of done well at RWB and his final ball was 10 times better) to improve on Moses and Alonso.

He wanted Lukaku to replace Costa (still dont get why he wanted to bin him completely, he struck me as the typical mould of player Conte would want, top player, hard working, win at all costs, did it in big games - similar traits to what Vidal, Marchisio, Bonucci, Chielleni had).

Think he also wanted Nainggolan (got Kante instead) and Pogba too, glad we didnt get Pogba tbf though.

Think Inter will be a lot better under him, plus they already have half decent/good/very good players there like Samir Handanovic, De Vrij, Milan Skriniar, Diego Godin, Miranda, Roberto Gagliardini, Mauro Icardi, Lautaro Martinez, Ivan Perisic... a lot of experience and potential as well as a lot of definite fits for Contes 343 or 352 whatever he goes for.

[Jase 43,479]

12 hours ago, Special Juan said:

Looks like Antonio Conte is getting the players he wanted at Chelsea, Barella confirmed now and Lukaku close.

Fair enough if Conte thinks he's the right man to improve Lukaku but based on what we've seen, that's a really questionable signing for a club aiming to compete at the highest level again.