🇭🇷 Mateo Kovacic

[Vesper 30,195]

20 minutes ago, Unionjack said:

I know mate. Dodgy stuff these bath salts.

Its the Flakka you need to be carefull about! Can just imagine Morata doing some on the pitch!

I dont know how much more some of you want. We have right now possibly the best CM in the PL and you're still not happy.

I'm chuffed!

I LOVE the MF 

love the GK, (backup is shit, wished we had sold Caballero and bought Reina but oh well) Kepa is a DREAM signing, I rate him over all but

Oblak,

De Gea (not in 2,3 years)

CUNT Courtois (and Kepa is potentially better than all 3 of those)

and maybe maybe Alisson and Ederson (but not sure, I think I would still take him, as he is also only 23)

 

Love the RB mostly (I think Azpi will be able to learn to integrate more effectively on offensive end) and Zappacosta is far from a dog for a backup

Love 3 of the CB's (AC, Rudiger, Ampadu, but sooo wish (I am his only fan here!) we had gotten Rugani (not Caldara, but Rugani) as Luiz and Cahill are shit

and LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE LW (obviously)

 

 

BUT

and this is my honest gut feel, I may be shown to be wrong

I think we are fucked at LB Alonso is going to be a nightmare I fear,as he is sooo slow 

LB can be a strength, NOT a weakness IF Emerson is finally fit and plays up to his potential, which is MASSIVE. I only rate (in order) these 7 above him IF Emerson plays to level

David Alaba (best LB and best fullback by miles on the planet)

Alex Sandro

Marcelo 

Benjamin Mendy  (will soon pass all but Alaba in 2 or 3 years )

Jordi Alba

Lucas Hernández (soon just under Mendy for third best as Marcelo and alba slow down)

Alex Telles   (Insane he is still at Porto, I think he moves for sure in next 3 weeks)

 

 

RW is a hugely problematic area, I am NOT at all sold on William, and Pedro looks old the last couple of games, we are idiots for not doing whatever it took to sell him and buy Bailey or Malcom (38m Barca paid for him!!) or Ousmane Dembélé  (probably too much money so never really pushed him, BUT he is by far top upside) or Zaha or Suso (who some some here wrongly slate, IMHO)

I SOOOOOOOO wish swap for Martial for Willian had gone down which leads me to the TRUE nightmare

 

 

STRIKER

Morata

Giroud

Abraham (is NOT a Cheslea quality player at this point)

 

is doom ahead level potentially bad

 

still waiting to hear any legit reason why we didn't fix this, other than fantasy land hope that Morata finally comes good

 

hopefully next year we come to sense and grab Icardi or Martial (if he isnt sold this summer to a non EPL team) or Dybala (who I think can move from 2nd striker to main man and is only one who I MIGHT rate besides Kane/Griezmann (maybe Griezmann, I think icardi is better, many do not) over Icardi 

holy shit, Dybala would go for 30 league goals alone in Sarriball with Bailey as RW and our new MF, plus Hazard

 

looking ahead

 

if Morata implodes and LB doesnt come good and RW is fucked

 

we so so need to

Buy

LB

Alex Sandro (next year is last year I push him,as he will turn 29 in middle of 2019-20 season) or Alex Telles for LB, Faouzi Ghoulam is same almost exact age as Alex Sandro, so next summer is his last go round for me with him as well.  José Gayà and  Alejandro Grimaldo are the last good options. Alaba is too expensive and Bayern wouldn't sell him for less than £100m (he is worth £80m IMHO)

 

RB (if Azpi goes or struggles in a back 4 Sarriball, then we scramble, there is slim pickings, In order

Nélson Semedo (If Sergi Roberto is not moved to MF and retains RB for Barca, it KILLED me when we didnt get him (Sergi) last year)

Djibril Sidibé <<< cannot believ a club has not grabbed him, he is the2nd best on this list (maybe best)

Benjamin Henrichs (if he rebounds weshould grab him, but he has big competiton now as Bayer leverkusen brought in Mitchell Weiser from Hertha Berlin (heinrichsis NOT a happy camper atm)

Nordi Mukiele (who RB Leipzig just bought, so probably a no go)

Joe Gomez (LPool will never sell him to us and I really think (as he is a natural CB) that they pair him with Van Dijk soon)

Thomas Meunier (a good steady player, nothing spectacular, but he would do if we have to replace Azpi. His yellow card suspension fucked up Belgium v France in WC)

Thats it out there in terms of quality RB's who will be remotely available (and some probable not)

 

Striker

Icardi, Martial or Dybala for Striker (Belotti if he rebounds in a huge way is an option too) NOTHING ELSE IS FUCKING GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME GODDAMNIT If we bought Ciro Immobile next summer, he turns 30 within months. MAYBE Timo Werner, if he explodes this year

 

RW

and Bailey or Demebele or Zaha or Christian Pulisic (if he progresses) or Federico Bernardeschi or Federico Chiesa for RW

 

MF

hold onto Kovacic (if he comes good) or if Real will not sell him to us then go after SMS (if he isnt sold this window or January and yes, this is a pipe dream) or Isco or Talisca (huge drop down from Isco, but still super good) or Saúl Ñíguez (pipe dream) Other options are Amadou Haidara (I am a HUGE fan of this 20yo, he has insane upside) Julian Draxler, Nabil Fekir, Carlos Soler, Ryan Sessegnon (first time I bring him up) Kai Havertz, Pablo Fornals, Miralem Pjanic (last year for him as well, as he turns 29 in April) Thiago, Corentin Tolisso, Piotr Zielinski (I rate Kovacic over him) Bruno Fernandes

CB 

(Rugani will not be available, I think he comes huge with Juve this year) One of the following  

Kalidou Koulibaly (next summer is the LAST year you hear me push him, as the year after that he is 29) 

Marquinhos (if still at PSG, and he will be a shit tonne of money), 

José Giménez (TOUGH pull)

Benjamin Pavard (if available, and he can spell Azpi at RB)

Matthijs de Ligt (if available, and he will be so expensive too, even though only 19 next year)

 

then if none of them,drop down to young young

Thilo Kehrer (I REALLY rate him)

Malang Sarr

Dayot Upamecano

Issa Diop (if he is great at West Sham)

Panagiotis Retsos

[robsblubot 3,595]

8 minutes ago, Sideshow Luiz said:

The way I understood the deal, was that we wanted a GK and a midfielder.  But, we couldn't sell Courtois until we got a GK.  It was going to be virtually impossible at that point in time to get a quality player for both positions with whatever budget it seems that we had.  

So, we get Kovacic on loan, now we can spend twice as much on a keeper (which we did).  We got both positions sorted and now Courtois can leave.  Everyone wins.

So, if there is a deal in place for Kovacic, then it's all about FFP.  Much like how Mbappe went to PSG on loan last season.  We need him now, but we'll buy him next season.  Why would Madrid agree?  Because it greases the wheels for the Courtois deal.

Now, if this is all true, and how it pans out, and people are saying that Marina needs to have some of the stuff taken back about her (which I agree, this would be a really good piece of pull it out of your ass business).  Then, imagine (100% not true, but imagine) if it turned out that Courtois knew about all of this, and staged his protest to force Madrid in to action?  Worlds would be shattered.  

very optimistic view of our dealings, but even at face value there would still be plenty to blame in the lack of planning around #1 Gk and paying what they paid for an unknown.

It also does not explain why there is no buy option. The problem of all this is that even if Kovacic does not want to return to RM, RM can set whatever price they want effectively auctioning the player to the highest bidder.

It's interesting how people want to give credit to folks who show time and time again a complete lack of long-term planning. We have these weaknesses in the squad *because* we wasted too much money in bad players and overplay for good ones. Unless we are claiming resources are unlimited, which does not seem to be the case.

[Sideshow Luiz 2,310]

1 minute ago, Robguima said:

plenty to blame in the lack of planning around #1 Gk and paying what they paid for an unknown.

 

21 minutes ago, Sideshow Luiz said:

this would be a really good piece of pull it out of your ass business.  

I suppose I should have stated that pulling it out of your ass is not a viable long term strategy.

5 minutes ago, Robguima said:

It also does not explain why there is no buy option.

 

34 minutes ago, Sideshow Luiz said:

So, if there is a deal in place for Kovacic, then it's all about FFP. 

 

The buy option, or lack there-of has been discussed.  So, if Madrid had plain refused to include an option, then what?  Don't do it?  Because you're not getting 100% of what you want, you just say no to the whole thing?  Go out and buy 2 40M "good enough" players instead (that we'll "upgrade" next season)?  Unless we are claiming resources are unlimited, which does not seem to be the case.

There is also a theory going around that the details of a purchase agreement and the nature of it's existence has been kept quiet because Madrid didn't want to let other clubs know that they were a midfielder short and needed to get a new one.  This theory was making it's rounds on Reddit yesterday, and would normally be classified under wishful thinking.  But with Madrid buying Thiago and Kovacic making that post, it seems to be gaining some traction.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

what I'm hearing is his buyout clause is £44.2m. Utd triggered it but he didn't want to join them so we came in but with Kepa costing as much as he did, the club made an agreement to do a loan for accounting purposes. 

FFP kept us from making it official but it will be perhaps in January?

[MefiX19 1,092]

If his contract has an option to buy, then Marina should get a statue outside the bridge

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Told you guys, all hail the Queen

[Polo7 3,496]

Why hasnt it been disclosed whether there is a option to buy or not?! So annoying.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

3 minutes ago, Polo7 said:

Why hasnt it been disclosed whether there is a option to buy or not?! So annoying.

They probably kept it out of the contract for accounting purposes. 

[Polo7 3,496]

3 minutes ago, Chelsea Legend 11 said:

They probably kept it out of the contract for accounting purposes. 

This actually makes sense. If there is an obligation to buy then a provision would have to be made. Does anyone know our financial year end?

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

1 hour ago, 11Drogba said:

I don't know how people might know about the option if it was not mentioned though.

Insider

[Unionjack 7,531]

59 minutes ago, Vesper said:

 

RW is a hugely problematic area,

You know I agree with you

But dont you also think that our MF will help our forwards immensely?

And tell me why we cant play Eden on RW with CHO  PEDRO  EDEN

[Artandur 939]

If he does not want to go back to madrid at all, which seems to be the case, i strongly doubt he'd agree to come for london for a year only to go somewhere entirely else after that. I'm gonna assume he stays for now.

[Unionjack 7,531]

So hes number 17 then

Seems obvious now Modric told Kova he was staying. And RM knew this too.

IF theres no clause to keep then we have to use all our seductive powers to keep his arse here.

Cause even with how good Modric was in the WC, and his pay rise to equal Ramos he cant stop the clock. and at 33 how long can he keep going.

They will have a ready made replacement with us.

Get those lips puckered guys 

[11Drogba 2,000]

1 minute ago, Unionjack said:

we have to use all our seductive powers

lol

[Sideshow Luiz 2,310]

 

 

[The Skipper 20,609]

7 hours ago, El P. said:

His career is so stalled that he is somewhat scared to go back to Madrid. If he assimilates well in CFC, he isn't coming to Real.

Btw, if I catch him in Croatia that's the first think I will ask him. I caught Hazard once and took pictures with him, maybe I'll get lucky again.

EDIT: We were always doing interviews for Chelsea Croatia with our players. We did it with Delač, we are in constant contact with youth keeper Žiger (he is 17yo I think) and we got in touch long time ago with ex player Mario Stanić. But Kova is big fish to fry, hope to God we can get in contact somehow!  

Good luck. Private message me about this. 

[Vesper 30,195]

7 hours ago, Unionjack said:

You know I agree with you

But dont you also think that our MF will help our forwards immensely?

And tell me why we cant play Eden on RW with CHO  PEDRO  EDEN

I am thinking Eden as a false 9

[Vesper 30,195]

7 hours ago, Unionjack said:

You know I agree with you

But dont you also think that our MF will help our forwards immensely?

And tell me why we cant play Eden on RW with CHO  PEDRO  EDEN

How Hazard could become Chelsea's ‘false 9’ under Sarri

http://www.goal.com/en/news/how-eden-hazard-could-become-chelseas-false-9-under-sarri/thl0lkcd44ao1t19097jug9n5

[Unionjack 7,531]

5 minutes ago, Vesper said:

How Hazard could become Chelsea's ‘false 9’ under Sarri

http://www.goal.com/en/news/how-eden-hazard-could-become-chelseas-false-9-under-sarri/thl0lkcd44ao1t19097jug9n5

We used him seveal times and it worked OK to varying degrees. But never with an attacking system and this amazing MF

I really can't see why not. Start Willian or Pedro on RW and the other can be used as cover. I hope we at least give it a bash

And as the report said - it worked with Mertens.

[killer1257 3,282]

I think tht Pedro has the potential to be our Dries Mertens under Sarri´s system