Ruben Dias

[NikkiCFC 7,946]

We are linked with him lately and for some reason I have a feeling we will get him. What do you guys think, especially @Johnnyeye who is a Benfica fan? 

[Blues Forever 1,232]

He is very good and would be cheaper than someone like Romagnoli, Koulibaly, and Skriniar.

[Vesper 28,796]

50 minutes ago, Blues Forever said:

He is very good and would be cheaper than someone like Romagnoli, Koulibaly, and Skriniar.

multiple points

Koulibaly is now too old (he turns 30 right after next season) to buy (especially for the near 90-100m the poison dwarf will still demand, that ship has sailed)

Skriniar is 85% likely going to Shitty in January (they are desperate due to Laporte going down for what will likely be damn near the rest of the season or so and they WILL meet Inters crazy demands (probably close to 90m or so) more than likely)

Ruben Dias is not cheap anymore, Dias has a £60million release clause in his contract, with Benfica attempting to raise that to £80million (may have already done so, reports are sketchy),

Romagnoli is the best shot (along with the utter beast Konate from RB Leipzig) for a WC CB. Milan have FFP issues and they are a shit team with zero path back atm and if we are ever going to prise him away (as they  will once agan have no CL, and will probably miss out on Europe altogether as they are 12th atm, the teams in front of the, other than Parma and Verona are mostly not flukes.) this summer is the BEST chance we will have until he is too old to buy as a long termer (he turns 25yo in 2 months, so we would get 6 prime years out of him for sure, maybe 7).

 

[Blues Forever 1,232]

52 minutes ago, Vesper said:

multiple points

Koulibaly is now too old (he turns 30 right after next season) to buy (especially for the near 90-100m the poison dwarf will still demand, that ship has sailed)

Skriniar is 85% likely going to Shitty in January (they are desperate due to Laporte going down for what will likely be damn near the rest of the season or so and they WILL meet Inters crazy demands (probably close to 90m or so) more than likely)

Ruben Dias is not cheap anymore, Dias has a £60million release clause in his contract, with Benfica attempting to raise that to £80million (may have already done so, reports are sketchy),

Romagnoli is the best shot (along with the utter beast Konate from RB Leipzig) for a WC CB. Milan have FFP issues and they are a shit team with zero path back atm and if we are ever going to prise him away (as they  will once agan have no CL, and will probably miss out on Europe altogether as they are 12th atm, the teams in front of the, other than Parma and Verona are mostly not flukes.) this summer is the BEST chance we will have until he is too old to buy as a long termer (he turns 25yo in 2 months, so we would get 6 prime years out of him for sure, maybe 7).

 

Never said Dias price is cheap but definitely would be cheaper than those names i mentioned. Romagnoli would be great but my only concern is he want to stay in Italy and even if Milan want to sell him, he would cost around £90M - £100M or probably even more since he's Milan best player and their captain.

[Vesper 28,796]

13 hours ago, Blues Forever said:

Never said Dias price is cheap but definitely would be cheaper than those names i mentioned. Romagnoli would be great but my only concern is he want to stay in Italy and even if Milan want to sell him, he would cost around £90M - £100M or probably even more since he's Milan best player and their captain.

I think Romagnoli can be had for £75m to £80m max, as long as he wishes to come. He only has 2 years left on his contract after this season. If he does say no and/or renews, we can grab Konate for the same price or near it. I rate both above Dias, who is not Big 5 league proven. Do not get me wrong, I do rate Dias, just not at the level of those we have already mentioned. 

The only other remotely available one I rate above Dias is Marquinhos.

Varane is not available more than likely,  nor is José Giménez (120m new release clause). Obviously not available are van Dijk, Laporte, Lucas Hernadez. Sule and de Ligt, and Lenglet.

So, assuming Skriniar is snapped up by Shitty, there literally are only 4 (maybe only 3) real targets in my book

Romagnoli

Konate

Marquinhos (maybe available, maybe not)

Dias

If we miss out on all, then fuck it, I guess it is Áke.

REALLY want Romagnoli or Konate (tbh both, but we are not going to sell 2 of the 4 main CB's we have now, unless Rudiger is looking like he is now fucked for good health-wise, and if he is, we will get shit for him anyway.)

I would sell AC and Zouma and buy them both,  but zero chance of that happening I fear. We certainly will have the cash to do, especially if we get super lucky and do pull Werner for only 25m, and say miss out on Chillwell, and instead grab Malang Sarr for around £35m, and do NOT buy Sancho, and only spend half of his 120m or so on a winger.

Total bill

160m for the pair of both Romagnoli and Konate

25m Werner

35m LB Malang Sarr

60m for a RW (Nicolò Zaniolo is my new first choice and then maybe Ziyech even, although I am still sketchy on him for multiple reasons, so say 3rd option of Oyarzabal.

Total bill for 5 WC or soon WC players (and all young, unless we bought Ziyech, who would be 27)

Only £280m

Same, or maybe less, than Mbappe alone will cost some club.

Add in (it wont happen) Camavinga (turns 18yo next season) for DMF/CMF hybrid (at say £50m) eventual freak Kante replacement down the road, we would have a CL/League potential winning team within 2 years or so, all for only 330m.

GK Kepa, Willie, Cumming

CB Romagnoli,  Konate,  Rudiger, Tomori (Guehi flipped for Cumming if needed)

LB Sarr, Emerson

RB Reece, Azpi

DMF Jorginho,  Camavinga (CMF too) 

CMF Kante, Kovacic, Gilmour

AMF Mount, RLC

LW Pulisic, CHO

RW Nicolò Zaniolo (AMF too), Willian

CF Tammy, Werner (can play winger too), Bats

Crazy good team, and can sort out the oldsters down the road over next 2 years (Willie, Azpi, Willian)

And if no Camavinga add on (sob), just use Conor Gallagher (which is far more likely to happen)

And brings gross cost back down to only £280m or so (£240m if you swap Romagnoli or Konate for an Áke buy, and only £200m TOTAL if you keep Zouma and only buy one of either Romagnoli or Konate) if we drop only only £200m, and simply clean out the loan dregs, and Barkley, etc etc, that means we made well over £300m net PROFIT at the end of the day in transfers counting Kovacic and Pulisic buys, and subtracting the outlays from all the sales of late and the ones to soon come.

 

[Johnnyeye 7,441]

13 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

We are linked with him lately and for some reason I have a feeling we will get him. What do you guys think, especially @Johnnyeye who is a Benfica fan? 

sorry for the late reply mate, Ruben Dias seems like a really good prospect, but to be honest with you i haven't been following too many Benfica games lately, so i can't comment a lot on Ruben's performances, i need to see more of him to make a fair analysis, i'll keep you up to date. Cheers

[killer1257 3,282]

Was not great against Leipzig. They conceded two goals and he did not look good in those Moments

Gesendet von meinem SM-G920F mit Tapatalk

[Superblue 6,370]

On 25/11/2019 at 7:56 AM, Vesper said:

I think Romagnoli can be had for £75m to £80m max, as long as he wishes to come. He only has 2 years left on his contract after this season. If he does say no and/or renews, we can grab Konate for the same price or near it. I rate both above Dias, who is not Big 5 league proven. Do not get me wrong, I do rate Dias, just not at the level of those we have already mentioned. 

The only other remotely available one I rate above Dias is Marquinhos.

Varane is not available more than likely,  nor is José Giménez (120m new release clause). Obviously not available are van Dijk, Laporte, Lucas Hernadez. Sule and de Ligt, and Lenglet.

So, assuming Skriniar is snapped up by Shitty, there literally are only 4 (maybe only 3) real targets in my book

Romagnoli

Konate

Marquinhos (maybe available, maybe not)

Dias

If we miss out on all, then fuck it, I guess it is Áke.

REALLY want Romagnoli or Konate (tbh both, but we are not going to sell 2 of the 4 main CB's we have now, unless Rudiger is looking like he is now fucked for good health-wise, and if he is, we will get shit for him anyway.)

I would sell AC and Zouma and buy them both,  but zero chance of that happening I fear. We certainly will have the cash to do, especially if we get super lucky and do pull Werner for only 25m, and say miss out on Chillwell, and instead grab Malang Sarr for around £35m, and do NOT buy Sancho, and only spend half of his 120m or so on a winger.

I personally think we'll buy Ake back. There may be some players above him like you mentioned but I think the board will look at the chance of buying him back for £40m (when you have reports linking him with other top clubs for the £70-80m bracket) as very sound business. I actually think that the other top clubs would be more interested in targeting him (in my opinion he would slot in at Liverpool and City) but I think its well known that we have a buy-back clause on him and it's probably widely expected that we'll look to trigger that clause. The only way I guess this wouldn't happen is if someone could broker a deal with Bournemouth in January when we're still banned but I don't know the legalities of that if we have some form of 'first refusal' within the contracts.

And even with the other options there are some question marks around them too given their potentially large price tags. As you mentioned Dias isn't playing in one of the top european leagues at present, Konate is another very young and relatively inexperienced defender (do we need to be adding such to what we already have) and with Skriniar and Romagnoli, I always worry about buying players from Italy. In recent times, not many go on and have great success in other top leagues because I feel the style in Italy is so much slower. Jorginho took time to adapt to the frenetic pace of the Premier League and I would worry a bit about centre backs coming from there and being able to instantly excel over here.

Ake for me is a really interesting one because when I've seen him this season he's looked very good and looks a cut above Bournemouth with all due respect. The question will be can he elevate his game further to play at the very top level. A number of players find that next gear and relish playing with more pressure and alongside better teammates. Liverpool are probably the biggest beneficiaries of this in recent years when buying the likes of Robertson, Van Dijk, Wijnaldum and Mane. We've had our fair share over the years (Duff, Joe Cole, Cahill, Kante to a degree). But there are some players who get 'found out' moving up to that level and struggle. Drinkwater is the pretty obvious one in recent times for us. It's actually my biggest worry if we were to buy Zaha who I think relishes the big fish in a small pond situation he has at Palace.

I think Ake has the attributes to make the step up, but until that chance is taken you don't know. But I think in today's market (and given the Maguire transfer), £40m is potentially shrewd business and if you asked me who I think Lampard would move on if Ake was to re-join then I would probably say Christensen who I think is now 4th choice in the pecking order for Lampard.

[Vesper 28,796]

3 hours ago, Superblue_1986 said:

I personally think we'll buy Ake back. There may be some players above him like you mentioned but I think the board will look at the chance of buying him back for £40m (when you have reports linking him with other top clubs for the £70-80m bracket) as very sound business. I actually think that the other top clubs would be more interested in targeting him (in my opinion he would slot in at Liverpool and City) but I think its well known that we have a buy-back clause on him and it's probably widely expected that we'll look to trigger that clause. The only way I guess this wouldn't happen is if someone could broker a deal with Bournemouth in January when we're still banned but I don't know the legalities of that if we have some form of 'first refusal' within the contracts.

And even with the other options there are some question marks around them too given their potentially large price tags. As you mentioned Dias isn't playing in one of the top european leagues at present, Konate is another very young and relatively inexperienced defender (do we need to be adding such to what we already have) and with Skriniar and Romagnoli, I always worry about buying players from Italy. In recent times, not many go on and have great success in other top leagues because I feel the style in Italy is so much slower. Jorginho took time to adapt to the frenetic pace of the Premier League and I would worry a bit about centre backs coming from there and being able to instantly excel over here.

Ake for me is a really interesting one because when I've seen him this season he's looked very good and looks a cut above Bournemouth with all due respect. The question will be can he elevate his game further to play at the very top level. A number of players find that next gear and relish playing with more pressure and alongside better teammates. Liverpool are probably the biggest beneficiaries of this in recent years when buying the likes of Robertson, Van Dijk, Wijnaldum and Mane. We've had our fair share over the years (Duff, Joe Cole, Cahill, Kante to a degree). But there are some players who get 'found out' moving up to that level and struggle. Drinkwater is the pretty obvious one in recent times for us. It's actually my biggest worry if we were to buy Zaha who I think relishes the big fish in a small pond situation he has at Palace.

I think Ake has the attributes to make the step up, but until that chance is taken you don't know. But I think in today's market (and given the Maguire transfer), £40m is potentially shrewd business and if you asked me who I think Lampard would move on if Ake was to re-join then I would probably say Christensen who I think is now 4th choice in the pecking order for Lampard.

AC can fetch £40m or close so it would be a wash money-wise. My main concern about Áke is his lack of size. He is shorter than I am by  a cm. I guess that is oki, but it sure would be nice to have a 1.94m, 95kg beast like Konate to pair up pur other CB's and even Romagnoli is around 6 feet 2 and a half inches and strong as hell, plus a great ball playing CB. He is an exeption to Serie A CB players I think, as is Skriniar and Koulibaly (too old to buy now for what Napoli will want.)

I will not go bonkers if we end up with Äke. I will go bonkers if he do not upgrade at LB (Chilwell or die at this point).

We also need to buy a decent striker (hello £25m release clause Werner, even though we have little chance) and a great RW.

Agree on Zaha, hard pass, and also a hard pass so far on Declan Rice (at the insane money West Sham will demand).

I am not certain of anything this summer. If we completely sit tight and hardly buy anything, we are courting big trouble perhaps. Trying to remain very positive atm. Especially on Kepa, who we need to fix quickly.

LB and Kepa are the two positions driving me cray, but at least Kepa can be coached better. Emerson and Alonso are simply nowhere near good enough.

[Superblue 6,370]

5 minutes ago, Vesper said:

AC can cet h £40m or close so it wpuld be a wash money-wise. My main concern about Áke is his lack of size. He is shorter than I am by  a cm. I guess that is oki, but it sure would be nice to have a 1.94m, 95kg beast like Konate to pair up pur other CB's and even Romagnoli is around 6 feet 2 and a half inches and strong as hell, plus a great ball playing CB. He is an exeption to Serie A CB players I think, as is Skriniar and Koulibaly (too old to buy now for what Napoli will want.)

I will not go bonkers if we end up with Äke. I will go bonkers if he do not upgrade at LB (Chilwell or die at this point).

We also need to buy a decent striker (hello £25m release clause Werner, even though we have little chance) and a great RW.

Agree on Zaha, hard pass, and also a hard pass so far on Declan Rice (at the insane money West Sham will demand).

I am not certain of anything this summer. If we completely sit tight and hardly buy anything, we are courting big trouble perhaps. Trying to remain very positive atm. Especially on Kepa, who we need to fix quickly.

LB nd Kepa are the two positions driving me cray, but at least Kepa can be coached better. Emerson and Alonso are simply nowhere near good enough.

Understand the height concerns with Ake. To be honest I think he's slightly shorter than Tomori and at times I think Tomori looks a little short for a centre back. However Ake does seem to have a good spring on him to challenge aerially. The hope is always going to be Rudiger getting back to full fitness and being the leader and dominant force in that defence. If he can do that then I think Ake and Tomori would both compliment him rather well, whilst Zouma would essentially be Rudiger's backup as the strong, powerful centre back (whilst Zouma is not quite top level, I do think he's shown more than enough this season to be a good enough squad player).

I agree left back must be a priority. The way that Lampard has us playing, having two full backs capable of getting up and down the pitch and offering great delivery would improve the number and quality of chances we are creating ten fold. 

For the release clause Werner would be a helluva buy but I can imagine he would be in huge demand. I'm very intrigued by Haaland. I know that Leipzig apparently have an opportunity to buy him but I guess that would be dependent on if he wanted to move there. He's one of those players that is still largely unproven but has shown so much potential so far that he could be a star in the making, at a time when I don't think the striker market is at its best with regards to depth and availability. If Tammy keeps improving and keeps scoring throughout the season it makes it much easier to take a risk on someone like him when you already have the fall back of a striker scoring goals.

And then we obviously need an 'x factor' type player I think to take things up a notch or two. I personally would love us to buy Havertz who looks seriously good but I'm not quite sure how or who would need to make way to get the best out of him within our side. The other issue we have is given how attack minded we are at the moment someone like Willian is pretty important to maintain the balance of the side. So if the aim is looking to replace him next summer it's not just trying to buy someone with top attacking quality but also someone whom maintains the whole balance of the team.

[Vesper 28,796]

On 11/28/2019 at 3:02 PM, Superblue_1986 said:

Understand the height concerns with Ake. To be honest I think he's slightly shorter than Tomori and at times I think Tomori looks a little short for a centre back. However Ake does seem to have a good spring on him to challenge aerially. The hope is always going to be Rudiger getting back to full fitness and being the leader and dominant force in that defence. If he can do that then I think Ake and Tomori would both compliment him rather well, whilst Zouma would essentially be Rudiger's backup as the strong, powerful centre back (whilst Zouma is not quite top level, I do think he's shown more than enough this season to be a good enough squad player).

I agree left back must be a priority. The way that Lampard has us playing, having two full backs capable of getting up and down the pitch and offering great delivery would improve the number and quality of chances we are creating ten fold. 

For the release clause Werner would be a helluva buy but I can imagine he would be in huge demand. I'm very intrigued by Haaland. I know that Leipzig apparently have an opportunity to buy him but I guess that would be dependent on if he wanted to move there. He's one of those players that is still largely unproven but has shown so much potential so far that he could be a star in the making, at a time when I don't think the striker market is at its best with regards to depth and availability. If Tammy keeps improving and keeps scoring throughout the season it makes it much easier to take a risk on someone like him when you already have the fall back of a striker scoring goals.

And then we obviously need an 'x factor' type player I think to take things up a notch or two. I personally would love us to buy Havertz who looks seriously good but I'm not quite sure how or who would need to make way to get the best out of him within our side. The other issue we have is given how attack minded we are at the moment someone like Willian is pretty important to maintain the balance of the side. So if the aim is looking to replace him next summer it's not just trying to buy someone with top attacking quality but also someone whom maintains the whole balance of the team.

Tomori is 5 cms taller than Ake, so there is that, lol.

Håland (the correct spelling, IF you have a Nordic keyboard, lol) is very intriguing, yes, but he is like Camavinga, a super young talent, potentially world class, but I have seen very few links to either from us. I would LOVE to sign them both.

Juventus and Manchester United among 20 clubs watching Erling Braut Haaland

Salzburg open to selling Norwegian striker in summer
Club hope market value will be €60m after his season

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/nov/01/juventus-and-manchester-united-among-20-clubs-watching-erling-braut-haaland

Manchester United and Juventus head a queue of more than 20 clubs monitoring the progress of Erling Braut Haaland, with Red Bull Salzburg open to selling him in the summer.

The Juventus sporting director, Fabio Paratici, was keen to sign Haaland from Molde in the summer of 2018 and was ready to offer €6m but the teenager was reluctant to join a side where he would sit on the bench or be loaned out. United have been aware of Haaland’s ability for a long time, with Ole Gunnar Solskjær and the player working together for two seasons at Molde in 2017 and 2018. United have scouted the 19-year-old on several occasions but they and Juve will face competition from, among others, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, Manchester City, Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Chelsea, all of whom have scouted him recently. In total more than 20 clubs have watched the young Norwegian.

Haaland joined Salzburg from Molde in January and has scored a remarkable 23 goals in 20 appearances for the Austrian side. This season he has 22 goals in 15 games, including six in the Champions League, making him the top scorer in the competition, one ahead of Robert Lewandowski. His value has increased with each goal this season and stands at around €40m (£34.5m). Salzburg bought him for around €9m in January but the club expect that they will be able to sell him for more than €60m in the summer.

They are hoping that he will have a season similar to that of Luka Jovic with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2018-19, when the Serb scored 27 goals in 48 games. The Bundesliga club signed Jovic on a two-year loan from Benfica with an obligatory €5m buyout clause before selling him to Real Madrid for €60m last summer. Napoli have also made contact with Haaland’s representatives, before and after his Champions League hat-trick against Genk, but were told that nothing will happen before the end of the season when Salzburg will put a value on him and see whether anyone is prepared to match it orwhether there is an auction to sign him.

snip

 

I completely agree about balance and Willian. He is so in demand becuase of his defence as a winger, there are very few (even at his age) better in the world atm in terms of that aspect of his play. Federico Chiesa is good on defence at times. Alphonso Davies too, especially for a teenager, but it looks like Bayern is going to convert him to left back, and to be the new Alaba (plus it is Bayern, they are so not selling him.) Great defensive wingers are super rare, that is why so many wanted Willian.

X-factor players (wingers and /or AMF and some of these are not available and some are a no go)

Mbappe

Neymar

Sadio Mane

De Bruyne (GRRRR)

João Félix

Ousame Dembele (IF his head is on straight)

Kai Havertz

Jadon Sancho

Bernardo Silva

Paulo Dybala

Nicolò Zaniolo (can play RW too, is left footed, big (1.90m) only 20, this is who I would go for

Christian Eriksen

Philippe Coutinho

Roberto Firmino (unique CF)

Timo Werner (as we can play winger too)

Bruno Fernandes

Nabil Fekir (still think he is damaged goods, which is a bloody shame)

Donny van de Beek

Hakim Ziyech

James Rodríguez

Houssem Aouar

James Maddison

Youri Tielemans

Pablo Sarabia

Martin Ødegaard
Reinier Jesus (Flamengo, AMF)

[NikkiCFC 7,946]

6 hours ago, Superblue_1986 said:

other issue we have is given how attack minded we are at the moment someone like Willian is pretty important to maintain the balance of the side. So if the aim is looking to replace him next summer it's not just trying to buy someone with top attacking quality but also someone whom maintains the whole balance of the team.

So no Sancho? 

[Vesper 28,796]

12 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

So no Sancho? 

I think odds are 50/50 he leaves in January, so that (unless we win our appeal, which I rate at a 25% chance max) pretty much pulls him off our board. I also do not see the club dropping around £120m on one player, unless PSG insanely called us and said, here, give us 250m euro (£213m) and Mbappe is yours.

Kane as well, we would drop £120 obviously (I would think). Same for Sterling. None of those are happening and if they did, it would be for a lot more than those prices. 

[Jase 43,479]

 

[NikkiCFC 7,946]

25 minutes ago, Jason said:

 

First Grimaldo now him... But tbh Benfica has always been selling club. Release clause don't mean much imo. I'm sure they would sell him for 60m, Grimaldo for around 40m... Just like Valencia would sell Gaya for around 50m. 

[Vesper 28,796]

12 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

First Grimaldo now him... But tbh Benfica has always been selling club. Release clause don't mean much imo. I'm sure they would sell him for 60m, Grimaldo for around 40m... Just like Valencia would sell Gaya for around 50m. 

not a chance any of those go that cheap

they have turned down big offers already

btw Grimaldo's RC stayed the same (60m euros) (£51m)

I would bite Valencia's hand off for Gaya at only 51m quid

there are only 4 good LB's in the world who are remotely available (unless we cut some crazy deal with Juve for Alex Sandro to come in the summer, AND IF we did that we are only going to get 2 MAYBE 3 years MAX out of him, as he turns 30 in middle of next season)

the ONLY 4 real quality LB's out there 

are

Gaya (and I SO doubt they will take less than 80m quid for him, he is the Spanish starting LB and a top 2 in the world now that Alaba has switched to CB (LUCKY fucking Bayern cunts have the next Alaba in converted winger 19yo Alphonso Davies, he was been a revelation there for them as Alaba went to CB, 5 goals and 4 assists already for club and country this season, he SHUT DOWN Sancho and Hakimi in der Klassiker)

Chilwell

Alex Telles

Alex  Grimaldo

that's it

there are no others worth buying who are remotely available atm to be our starter, I wish I were joking (maybe someone pops up on the radar this season, like Davies did for Bayern, I am watching Aarón Martín from Mainz, as Malang Sarr apparently is struggling with LB at Nice, I need to see more of him and also watching 18yo Rayan Aït Nouri of Angers, but he is only a potential, NOT a finished product at all )

we need to watch 21yo 1.90m Englishman  Lloyd Kelly on Bournemouth too

 

fucking Davies looks like he is going to eventually be a goddamn big big baller, GRRRRRR

wish to fuck (with our crazy good academy) we could produce a LB (I am NOT sold on Maatsen at all atm)

 

 

 

 

 

[NikkiCFC 7,946]

 

[NikkiCFC 7,946]

I wish we signed him.