Non-Chelsea Transfer Pub

[communicate 2,703]

4 hours ago, King Kante said:

Tbf, Barca have never really been that great at transfers. The hit gold with a academy group and also got a few transfers right as well. However, there is a reason why pre-Messi they had only won one CL.

Crazy club, some of their transfer make 0 sense. Now messi no longer win game by himself and it shows all the problem. 

[DDA 9,941]

5 hours ago, Jason said:

If people thought our board was hopeless, just look at Barcelona's. It's so crazy how they clueless they have become. 

The majority of Barcs fans are convinced Bartomeu (current president) is out to fuck the club up as it's his final year in charge. They hate him. 

[Jase 43,479]

12 hours ago, King Kante said:

Tbf, Barca have never really been that great at transfers. The hit gold with a academy group and also got a few transfers right as well. However, there is a reason why pre-Messi they had only won one CL.

I don't know what their record before that is like but imagine spending over 800 million on players in 5 years and only about 2-3 players have made an impact in the first team. The rest are either struggling to adapt, have been loaned out or sold. That is just total incompetency. Barcelona are basically having the same problem that we did when we had Hazard - the board think everything is fine with Hazard (or Messi in Barcelona's case) around, he alone will win things for us and they will just neglect the squad building completely. Only difference is, Barcelona have taken it to the extreme with this. 

[Superblue 6,372]

12 hours ago, Jason said:

If people thought our board was hopeless, just look at Barcelona's. It's so crazy how they clueless they have become. 

Even under Pep their transfer success was very inconsistent (I personally think this has been the case throughout Pep's managerial career but that's another argument), masked by a phenomenal group of players that had come through the academy and others already at the club.

That Ukrainian centre back with the funny name and Zlatan come to mind of big price misses. The best buys were all domestic or former academy based players - Pique, Alves and Villa.

I think the last time Barcelona got transfers consistently right was under Rijkaard when they brought the likes of Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Deco, Henry, Yaya Toure, Abidal, etc

 

 

[King Kante 1,643]

1 hour ago, Superblue_1986 said:

Even under Pep their transfer success was very inconsistent (I personally think this has been the case throughout Pep's managerial career but that's another argument), masked by a phenomenal group of players that had come through the academy and others already at the club.

That Ukrainian centre back with the funny name and Zlatan come to mind of big price misses. The best buys were all domestic or former academy based players - Pique, Alves and Villa.

I think the last time Barcelona got transfers consistently right was under Rijkaard when they brought the likes of Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Deco, Henry, Yaya Toure, Abidal, etc

 

 

Agree. Before that they also brought Overmars and Petit for a large chunk and both flopped. 

[Vesper 30,182]

9 hours ago, communicate said:

Crazy club, some of their transfer make 0 sense. Now messi no longer win game by himself and it shows all the problem. 

the only players they have who are under 30yo during this coming season who remotely interest me would be

GK Marc-André ter Stegen   top five GK
CB Clément Lenglet   (only because he is left footed, but there are multiple other left-footed CB's I would take over him in a heartbeat)
RB Sergi Roberto    (and he turns 29 in 7 or so months, so is hardly a long term solution)
CMF/DH DMF Frenkie de Jong   by FAR the one I would grab off that team (along with ter Stegen), he is a superstar already
LW Ansu Fati   (we are loaded at LW, so no need anyway)

and a RB, Emerson, out on Loan at Real Betis

that is literally it

Antoine Griezmann turns 30yo in around 8 months or so

Dembele and Coutinho are on the chopping block

take the ageing Roberto off that list (I do not even know if Barca will keep Emerson to replace him down the road, as I do not rate Semedo that highly)

and you are down to three outfield players and a GK (and Fati, for all his immense promise, is hardly a proven player at 17 years of age)

for the amount of cash they have spent, it is madness they are down to that

[Vesper 30,182]

14 hours ago, King Kante said:

However, there is a reason why pre-Messi they had only won one CL.

an utterly amazing truth that so many forget

[Atomiswave 6,117]

13 minutes ago, Vesper said:

the only players they have who are under 30yo during this coming season who remotely interest me would be

GK Marc-André ter Stegen   top five GK
CB Clément Lenglet   (only because he is left footed, but there are multiple other left-footed CB's I would take over him in a heartbeat)
RB Sergi Roberto    (and he turns 29 in 7 or so months, so is hardly a long term solution)
CMF/DH DMF Frenkie de Jong   by FAR the one I would grab off that team (along with ter Stegen), he is a superstar already
LW Ansu Fati   (we are loaded at LW, so no need anyway)

and a RB, Emerson, out on Loan at Real Betis

that is literally it

Antoine Griezmann turns 30yo in around 8 months or so

Dembele and Coutinho are on the chopping block

take the ageing Roberto off that list (I do not even know if Barca will keep Emerson to replace him down the road, as I do not rate Semedo that highly)

and you are down to three outfield players and a GK (and Fati, for all his immense promise, is hardly a proven player at 17 years of age)

for the amount of cash they have spent, it is madness they are down to that

Yup Barca are fucked, alot of internal and external issues. I wouldnt mind Griezmann if the price is right, barca style doesnt suit him at all.

[Vesper 30,182]

Just now, Atomiswave said:

Yup Barca are fucked, alot of internal and external issues. I wouldnt mind Griezmann if the price is right, barca style doesnt suit him at all.

as he is a striker, I could see him with 3 more good to great years (max), but they will never sell for a fair price, and he so doesn't fit our business model

after the next 3 seasons, he will turn 33 in the middle of the one after those, and will be near well spent (he may be the season before that, in terms of WC play)

[Special Juan 28,141]

According to the Mail Man City are in talks to sign Nathan Ake 

[Vesper 30,182]

15 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

According to the Mail Man City are in talks to sign Nathan Ake 

my main issue with him is that he is too short (1.79m to 1.80m)

if he was 6 to 8 cms taller, then I would have been all in for years

height matters in the EPL for CB's a lot more than other leagues

it is one of Zouma's biggest strengths (along his literal strength as well)

Zouma was a beast in the 2nd half yesterday, he showed unreal stamina, so I can see why Lampard gets how he is about our CB's, but Zouma is just SO poor on the ball

IF he had just half of Luiz's on-the-ball and passing ability (and zero of Luiz's mind meltdowns) he would be worth £80m

AC was great the game before

Rudiger was really good in both games

Tomori is the one who has had the fewest good games TBH, but he also has the highest potential

Alaba is the same height as Ake, but he is far better at positioning and also has better pace (although Ake is far from slow) plus he has shown he is far stronger than he looks

 

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

30 minutes ago, Vesper said:

my main issue with him is that he is too short (1.79m to 1.80m)

if he was 6 to 8 cms taller, then I would have been all in for years

height matters in the EPL for CB's a lot more than other leagues

it is one of Zouma's biggest strengths (along his literal strength as well)

Zouma was a beast in the 2nd half yesterday, he showed unreal stamina, so I can see why Lampard gets how he is about our CB's, but Zouma is just SO poor on the ball

IF he had just half of Luiz's on-the-ball and passing ability (and zero of Luiz's mind meltdowns) he would be worth £80m

AC was great the game before

Rudiger was really good in both games

Tomori is the one who has had the fewest good games TBH, but he also has the highest potential

Alaba is the same height as Ake, but he is far better at positioning and also has better pace (although Ake is far from slow) plus he has shown he is far stronger than he looks

 

Alaba has only become cb out of necessity tho and Bundesliga is more tactical and less physical than PL. but the main difference is that Alaba has elite technical abilities (often plays as no. 10 for Austria) which allow him to solve many. Ake is solid with the ball but his strength is his Mobility/ agility allowing him to be the more aggressive cb for the early tackles and blocks. His abilities to play out from the back have not really developed at Bournemouth.
Whilst we could somewhat use a defender with either skillset, I don’t see Ake as an upgrade on any of our defenders. Also he is 25 already, and looks a finished article . We should stay true to our new transfer motto and either buy absolute quality or nothing at all.

[Jase 43,479]

1 hour ago, Special Juan said:

According to the Mail Man City are in talks to sign Nathan Ake 

Came from The Athletic's David Ornstein. Also said we are still in the frame to sign Ake but haven't made any move. City the keenest one for him. 

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

[Azul 1,615]

https://mobile.twitter.com/whufc_news/status/1277001587228053504

Rumours are spreading that we are interested in Declan Rice. Frank Lampard apparently wants to play him at CB. These sources are not reliable, but what do you guys think of this idea?

[DDA 9,941]

We need a CB who can play passes directly through the lines to the cm's and St's like Laporte can. Not another CB who just plays safe passes to the fullbacks. Basically we need a ball playing CB with balls, preferably a tall one at that.

[Atomiswave 6,117]

22 minutes ago, DDA said:

We need a CB who can play passes directly through the lines to the cm's and St's like Laporte can. Not another CB who just plays safe passes to the fullbacks. Basically we need a ball playing CB with balls, preferably a tall one at that.

Such a shame Kouli costs so much and is what 29? He would have been a great signing otherwise.

[DDA 9,941]

9 minutes ago, Atomiswave said:

Such a shame Kouli costs so much and is what 29? He would have been a great signing otherwise.

Yea, 29. Would still be worth a punt but for nothing more than 50m. Napoli want silly money for him. Put's everyone off.

[Styl1994 188]

If Koulibaly was 26 or 27 we would definitely be going for him.

[King Kante 1,643]

55 minutes ago, Azul said:

https://mobile.twitter.com/whufc_news/status/1277001587228053504

Rumours are spreading that we are interested in Declan Rice. Frank Lampard apparently wants to play him at CB. These sources are not reliable, but what do you guys think of this idea?

For me, Rice should be converted into a CB and I do think he has potential to be a good one. The problem however, is that this is all based on guess work and there is no real proof it will happen. Further, he is only 21 and will still need to take quite a long while to develop. If the idea is to buy him as CB3/4 and hopes he develops (and we sell one of our CB's to finance it so there is not too much cost) then I am fine with it. If the idea is to buy him, then we think our CB's are sorted, then I am against the idea. 

CB in general is a massive problem worldwide as there is a lack of them and those that are WC/potential WC all play for top teams already. We really should've tried to get a deal done for a Laporte/VVD/KK by 2018 but instead we were too busy buying 2nd rate players instead.