Kurt Zouma

[NikkiCFC 8,300]

27 minutes ago, Vesper said:

with Varane collapsing and VVD out for the season, you could make a case Laporte is the best healthy CB in the world atm

although if you ignore age, Ramos probably for me (although that will not last forever and he is still a mega cunt)

only other competition would be (and this is arguable as fuck)

José Giménez (when healthy for a long run)  
Matthijs de Ligt  (I would not personally list him as such)  
Marquinhos  (my number one CB target)  
Kalidou Koulibaly (has rebounded from last season)

maybe (doubtful) Romagnoli
 

 

Would you take Ramos for free next summer? 

And why is Laporte not capped? 

[Rapkun 668]

40 minutes ago, Vesper said:

Insane that Laporte is STILL uncapped, lolol

I think Deschamps doesn't appreciate it when players threaten to switch national teams in order to get called-up, as was the case with Laporte and Theo Hernandez. Both of them will likely never be called in the french squad until Deschamps is gone.

[Vesper 30,118]

10 minutes ago, Rapkun said:

I think Deschamps doesn't appreciate it when players threaten to switch national teams in order to get called-up, as was the case with Laporte and Theo Hernandez. Both of them will likely never be called in the french squad until Deschamps is gone.

he is a fool then

both are superb

[Vesper 30,118]

although Theo had a rough night tonight v Lille

 

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

6 hours ago, Rapkun said:

I think Deschamps doesn't appreciate it when players threaten to switch national teams in order to get called-up, as was the case with Laporte and Theo Hernandez. Both of them will likely never be called in the french squad until Deschamps is gone.

Acm and shitty are really lucky to have them. Uncapped wc players are a rare treasure. likely to have a better career and stay injury free longer. I wish more of our players would reject call ups. It sounds harsh asking them to retire from representing their country but in fact you are just helping the corrupted fifa so there is no fair representation anyway. 

[Vesper 30,118]

6 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

Would you take Ramos for free next summer? 

And why is Laporte not capped? 

hell yes

and I do not know

pure pettiness by Deschamps it sounds like

[Jase 43,479]

15 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

In the squad over Upamecano, Laporte, Kounde...

 

1. Still don't understand how these international matches are being played during this pandemic.

2. Still don't understand how the national teams thought it would be a great idea to organize an unnecessary friendly, on top of the other two matches, in this congested season, in the middle of a fucking pandemic.

[Tomo 21,751]

2 hours ago, Jason said:

1. Still don't understand how these international matches are being played during this pandemic.

2. Still don't understand how the national teams thought it would be a great idea to organize an unnecessary friendly, on top of the other two matches, in this congested season, in the middle of a fucking pandemic.

And what If this pandemic goes on for years? Do we keep international football off the menu until then? A move that would rob players of a huge number of caps, some of which will end up getting denied the chance to play for their country during the entirety of their peak years.

International football may be boring to most of us fans but to players it's the total opposite, take that away from them and you will suddenly find a high number of demotivated footballers (for example, Thiago S had practically admitted playing in the next world cup is the main thing keeping him motivated and fit in what should be his twilight years).

[Jase 43,479]

35 minutes ago, Tomo said:

And what If this pandemic goes on for years? Do we keep international football off the menu until then? A move that would rob players of a huge number of caps, some of which will end up getting denied the chance to play for their country during the entirety of their peak years.

International football may be boring to most of us fans but to players it's the total opposite, take that away from them and you will suddenly find a high number of demotivated footballers (for example, Thiago S had practically admitted playing in the next world cup is the main thing keeping him motivated and fit in what should be his twilight years).

How about not playing during this second wave, third wave or whatever of the pandemic that has forced countries to go into lockdown again? How about letting players finish the season with their club and let them go play all those international games with their country in the lead-up to the Euros next year (similar to what happened after the restart last season at club level with the domestic and European competitions), instead of risking everyone's health with all the unnecessary travelling, going from one team's bubble to another etc?

If we want to play international football right now, fine, then play only the competitive matches. Why have another stupid friendly on top of the competitive games? International managers, especially, often complain about players being worn out by the time they get to a summer tournament and all and here they are, organizing a friendly, a needless match that risks the players to the virus, to injury etc in this already congested season. How is this even logical?

Like it or not, the pandemic has forced people to change the way they do things, has forced people to adapt to the circumstances, has maybe forced people to do things in a way that they probably don't normally do. People shouldn't act like everything is still normal and try to force things to look normal right now. Nothing is normal at the moment. 

[Tomo 21,751]

9 minutes ago, Jason said:

How about not playing during this second wave, third wave or whatever of the pandemic that has forced countries to go into lockdown again? How about letting players finish the season with their club and let them go play all those international games with their country in the lead-up to the Euros next year (similar to what happened after the restart last season at club level with the domestic and European competitions), instead of risking everyone's health with all the unnecessary travelling, going from one team's bubble to another etc?

If we want to play international football right now, fine, then play only the competitive matches. Why have another stupid friendly on top of the competitive games? International managers, especially, often complain about players being worn out by the time they get to a summer tournament and all and here they are, organizing a friendly, a needless match that risks the players to the virus, to injury etc in this already congested season. How is this even logical?

Like it or not, the pandemic has forced people to change the way they do things, has forced people to adapt to the circumstances, has maybe forced people to do things in a way that they probably don't normally do. People shouldn't act like everything is still normal and try to force things to look normal right now. Nothing is normal at the moment. 

Football has adapted, they're playing without a crowd (or in some country's reduced numbers), putting tight safety measures in to protect players which has worked excellently (football wouldn't have got the green light to resume let alone carry on during lockdown 2.0 had they not) and players have to follow strict rules when away for a match (for example no one would have raised an eyebrow at Greenwood and Foden getting a bit horny in normal times). Also every player will be tested before they switch from club to International bubbles.

Furthermore is players playing for international's (most of whom in country's significantly better off than England right now) any more "outrageous" than letting Everton or Liverpool (in the country's hot spot) host for example Southampton (where there's no real problems with the virus at this point).

Footballers are safer than they've ever been right now.

[Jase 43,479]

14 minutes ago, Tomo said:

Football has adapted, they're playing without a crowd (or in some country's reduced numbers), putting tight safety measures in to protect players which has worked excellently (football wouldn't have got the green light to resume let alone carry on during lockdown 2.0 had they not) and players have to follow strict rules when away for a match (for example no one would have raised an eyebrow at Greenwood and Foden getting a bit horny in normal times). Also every player will be tested before they switch from club to International bubbles.

Furthermore is players playing for international's (most of whom in country's significantly better off than England right now) any more "outrageous" than letting Everton or Liverpool (in the country's hot spot) host for example Southampton (where there's no real problems with the virus at this point).

We've gone through this before. Going from one team's bubble to another is always gonna be risky because we don't know how the other team's procedure and protocols over the virus. As we have seen across the top leagues or leagues within a country, the procedure and protocols aren't the same. Some appear to be done less rigorously than others. What happens if one country plays another smaller country and that smaller country don't have a proper testing in place and their players happen to have the virus, end up affecting the other team's players? Then what?

14 minutes ago, Tomo said:

Footballers are safer than they've ever been right now.

That's not true and you know it. We have seen many cases among clubs in Serie A, Ligue 1 recently. We have also seen an outbreak at Shakhtar Donetsk, Dynamo Kiev, Ajax for example that forced them to play weakened teams in the Champions League. There are also other examples. 

[Tomo 21,751]

8 minutes ago, Jason said:

 Some appear to be done less rigorously than others. What happens if one country plays another smaller country and that smaller country don't have a proper testing in place and their players happen to have the virus, end up affecting the other team's players? Then what?

If we start playing what if's we may aswell just shut football down again just to be on the "safe" side.

10 minutes ago, Jason said:

That's not true and you know it. We have seen many cases among clubs in Serie A, Ligue 1 recently. We have also seen an outbreak at Shakhtar Donetsk, Dynamo Kiev, Ajax for example that forced them to play weakened teams in the Champions League. There are also other examples. 

Safe as in terms of the measures being taken mean that they're almost certainly clear of Covid when they're on the pitch and they're also a lot less likely to pick up the standard illnesses aswell as pre Covid most players would have soldiered on if they feel like shit whereas now they won't be allowed to chance it.

Yes players have caught it but if anything that strengthens my point about how strong the safety measures are and that it can be caught at club level just as much as International.

[Jase 43,479]

6 minutes ago, Tomo said:

If we start playing what if's we may aswell just shut football down again just to be on the "safe" side.

Safe as in terms of the measures being taken mean that they're almost certainly clear of Covid when they're on the pitch and they're also a lot less likely to pick up the standard illnesses aswell as pre Covid most players would have soldiered on if they feel like shit whereas now they won't be allowed to chance it.

Yes players have caught it but if anything that strengthens my point about how strong the safety measures are and that it can be caught at club level just as much as International.

The virus may not even show up in players when the test is being done given there is an incubation period. We should be minimizing the risk of players getting the virus as much as possible (on top of not being overplayed) but here we are, trying to increase the risks.

And this is not about playing 'what ifs'. It's about taking pre-emptive measures, making pre-emptive decisions rather than only react to it when it's too late. 

[Vesper 30,118]

Everton and Tottenham ‘sent offers’ for player this summer – Club wanted close to €45m

http://sportwitness.co.uk/everton-tottenham-kurt-zouma-chelsea-transfer-rejected-45m/

 

Everton and Tottenham ‘sent offers’ to sign Kurt Zouma from Chelsea this summer, but saw their efforts rejected by the Blues.

That’s according to L’Equipe, who cover the player’s situation with France following his impressive displays for Chelsea.

The French centre back has established himself as the first choice alongside Thiago Silva at the beginning of this season and, a couple of blips aside, has earned rave reviews.

His displays have seen him return to the France setup for this international break and L’Equipe explain that the player knows this could be his last chance to impress, with a new generation waiting in the wings to replace him.

He needs to leave his mark, ‘as he has been doing in his club for the past few months’ where he has ‘won over’ Frank Lampard.

Things, though, could have been very different. The newspaper reveals that both Tottenham and Everton ‘sent offers’ for Zouma this summer and he would not have ‘looked unfavourably’ on ‘starting a new cycle’ at either club.

However, these approaches were rejected by Chelsea, who made it clear they wanted ‘nearly €45m’ if they were to sanction a sale.

That presumably never happened given he ended up staying, and it’s ended up working in everyone’s favour, with Zouma establishing himself with Chelsea instead.

It’s not surprising to see both of these clubs linked, though.

Everton remain admirers after Zouma’s loan spell there under Marco Silva, and Mourinho actually signed Zouma for Chelsea back in 2014.

There’s an established relationship with both clubs, but given they got the centre backs they needed from the Championship instead – in Ben Godfrey and Joe Rodon – it would be surprising to see this rumour come back again.

[NikkiCFC 8,300]

New contract it seems. Well deserved. He really won me over in the last 12 months.

Unlike him, Chris and Rudi should be sold. Next summer is the last chance to cash in with both having contracts expiring in 2022. 

Silva will get +1 option so we will have him next season no doubt.

Not sure it is good for young player like Tomori to sit on the bench so maybe he should go on loan.

So for next season: Silva, Zouma, maybe Tomori and we should buy new CB or maybe even two.

Ginter is possible, we should try swap for Chris, he already played there.