Dries Mertens

[Unionjack 7,531]

30 minutes ago, Superblue_1986 said:

If true regarding his release clause, that would be a phenomenal signing for the money and give us two genuinely good strikers to share the burden. If he's available for £25m though I would imagine quite a few teams in for him.

But this is part of the reason why I'd rather us not think short term in this window and buy stop gaps. Barkley is a very good piece of business in my opinion and anyone else who could be purchased at knock down fees (Sanchez?) or represent great value despite in January, but beyond this I'd rather us 'make do' and do our main business in the summer.

Problem is tho I dont like them neither but we need stop gaps right now.

[Unionjack 7,531]

I thought we should give this thread an upgrade as it SEEMs Sarri likes the idea of him joining us

Maurizio Sarri wants Dries Mertens at Chelsea but Antonio Conte failed twice to convince club to sign him

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/06/19/maurizio-sarri-hoping-first-succeed-chelsea-manager-antonio/

 

The six stages of Dries Mertens’ evolution from winger to world beater

https://www.planetfootball.com/quick-reads/the-six-stages-of-dries-mertens-transformation-from-winger-to-world-beater/

[mccg 1,528]

That might help his Belguim bud Hazard happy ? Who knows with these modern day footie players

[manpe 10,861]

Just get Sarri and stay away from Napoli, waste of time.

[Unionjack 7,531]

37 minutes ago, manpe said:

Just get Sarri and stay away from Napoli, waste of time.

Whenever we get a new manager we expect a line of his old players as his entourage but it never happens.

But I think it might be a good start to at least try to let him have a couple as he must see a need for them.

But Martens age and our board aren't a good equation to start things off.

[ulsterchelsea 3,221]

No way we're signing him. I'm not overly concerned with age but the club definitely are. 31 now and a big fee...not happening! We will sign a like minded player for sarri 

[OneMoSalah 8,776]

There is a gentleman agreement in place that if we get Sarri we cannot activate any release clauses.... so I doubt we're getting any Napoli players via release clauses, which means we aren't getting any because no way are we paying shitloads more for them. Plus I think we'll see a totally different Pedro if Sarri comes in, I know Pedro isn't an outstanding footballer by any means but in a team with a style similar to Napoli, I can see him being a different player completely. Although we still need attacking improvements, not saying we don't by any means. 

[Alabama 1,992]

13 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

There is a gentleman agreement in place that if we get Sarri we cannot activate any release clauses.... so I doubt we're getting any Napoli players via release clauses, which means we aren't getting any because no way are we paying shitloads more for them. Plus I think we'll see a totally different Pedro if Sarri comes in, I know Pedro isn't an outstanding footballer by any means but in a team with a style similar to Napoli, I can see him being a different player completely. Although we still need attacking improvements, not saying we don't by any means. 

Leave this dude and go for Nabil Fekir...Malcom and Bailey ain't bad either... just have high hope Fekir

[Unionjack 7,531]

2 hours ago, eemanyooel said:

Leave this dude and go for Nabil Fekir

Been shouting that in my sleep!

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

1 hour ago, OneMoSalah said:

There is a gentleman agreement in place that if we get Sarri we cannot activate any release clauses.... so I doubt we're getting any Napoli players via release clauses, which means we aren't getting any because no way are we paying shitloads more for them. Plus I think we'll see a totally different Pedro if Sarri comes in, I know Pedro isn't an outstanding footballer by any means but in a team with a style similar to Napoli, I can see him being a different player completely. Although we still need attacking improvements, not saying we don't by any means. 

Yeah agree about Pedro. He really needs a strong system. Regarding the RW position i'd say we need a more direct (both on and off the ball) player on that position.

Looking at Napoli under Sarri their left side plays very different from their right side. Insigne constantly moves inside the half spaces while Ghoulam provides the width and attacks the space in the wide area and Hamsik will link up with Insigne and make a lot of forward runs. 

On the other side it's different. Hysay doesn't push forward as much, Allan doesn't make many forward runs either that means that Callejon has to keep the width more and is mainly responsible for making those forward runs in behind. 

While it's not certain we'll set up the same way, looking at our best players Hazard, Kante, Azpi. They would fit the roles of Insigne, Allan, Hysay perfectly so it would make sense to set up in a similar fashion.

 

 

[Unionjack 7,531]

16 hours ago, Belgiannutt said:

Yeah agree about Pedro. He really needs a strong system. Regarding the RW position i'd say we need a more direct (both on and off the ball) player on that position.

Looking at Napoli under Sarri their left side plays very different from their right side. Insigne constantly moves inside the half spaces while Ghoulam provides the width and attacks the space in the wide area and Hamsik will link up with Insigne and make a lot of forward runs. 

On the other side it's different. Hysay doesn't push forward as much, Allan doesn't make many forward runs either that means that Callejon has to keep the width more and is mainly responsible for making those forward runs in behind. 

While it's not certain we'll set up the same way, looking at our best players Hazard, Kante, Azpi. They would fit the roles of Insigne, Allan, Hysay perfectly so it would make sense to set up in a similar fashion.

 

 

That has helped me understand some of Sarris style  clearer than watching countless YTs.

Cheers chap! 

[ulsterchelsea 3,221]

At this stage I'd happily take him 

[ZanSnake 1,211]

Doubt Napoli's dickbag would let him leave, especially with us taking Jorginho...

[Superblue 6,370]

40 minutes ago, ulsterchelsea said:

At this stage I'd happily take him 

I thought we had a clause with Napoli to prevent us buying their players?

[Pizy 18,368]

We wouldn't sign Higuain due to his age but would then sign Mertens who I believe is older? After Giroud confirmed he's staying and reports of Batshuayi playing a part under Sarri, I highly doubt we're after another forward now.

[Jase 43,479]

27 minutes ago, Superblue_1986 said:

I thought we had a clause with Napoli to prevent us buying their players?

Yeah..pretty sure De Laurentiis mentioned it and I wouldn't believe that Mertens rumor one bit since it came from a French source. 

[Jase 43,479]

12 minutes ago, Pizy said:

We wouldn't sign Higuain due to his age but would then sign Mertens who I believe is older? After Giroud confirmed he's staying and reports of Batshuayi playing a part under Sarri, I highly doubt we're after another forward now.

Mertens can play as a wide forward too, no? Not that we will sign him anyway.

[ulsterchelsea 3,221]

38 minutes ago, Superblue_1986 said:

I thought we had a clause with Napoli to prevent us buying their players?

I assume that was media bullshit....but then this is very likely the same soooooo! Who knows