Erling Haaland

[milka 3,393]

Erling Haaland to #Chelsea is 'very unlikely', according to reports in Germany. 

Edited March 25, 2021 by milka

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

3 hours ago, Azul said:

What's going on in Qatar is horrible. It's literally modern slavery. However I don't believe that these football organizations speak up because of their moral compass. 

They're not consistent when it comes to the World Cup in Russia, or the Uyghur concentration camps in China. Why? It's all business for them that's why.

I know there is no consistency but how does it help Norway football federations business interests ? I think there is some moral reasoning behind it even though it is just a meek beginning, it is a beginning. What is Norwegian football federation supposed to do about the uighurs tho? They have not played China or had any cooperations with them since the story broke

about Russia, sure it is a dictatorship but the wc itself did not involve human rights violations to the same extent as Qatar. Everyone has to pick their battles

 

[Azul 1,615]

6 hours ago, Jason said:

I think if we don't get Haaland, we might just stick with what we have and then just pray the current crop of attacking players will come good next season. 

Giroud or Tammy might leave though, and we will definitely need a replacement. Maybe Aguero on a free might be a good short term solution. Who knows?🤷

Edited March 26, 2021 by Azul

[Jase 43,479]

3 hours ago, Azul said:

Giroud or Tammy might leave though, and we will definitely need a replacement. Maybe Aguero on a free might be a good short term solution. Who knows?🤷

Giroud maybe.

As for Abraham, part of the reason why there were rumors about him going is if we buy Haaland. If we don't get Haaland, then we might end just keeping him. We might just go with Havertz, Abraham and Werner as the choices for leading the line. Havertz and Werner of course can play in other positions as well and if this is how we're gonna go with things, then we don't have to worry too much then about keeping everyone happy etc.

[Atomiswave 6,117]

11 hours ago, King Kante said:

Nah, Dortmund by all accounts want the fee upfront. Utd work on a debt model, so buy all their players with it and spread the money out over the duration of the contracts. Barca and Real also use this method. That is why all three have massive bank debts. 

Utd also have the problem that the Glazer's are currently pumping over $100m into the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the moment to circumnavigate the NFL cap rules. They are doing this by signing a lot of expensive players with 'signing on fees' with contracts with voidable years rather than giving them a fixed salary for each year. 

This works as follows: 

Tom Brady - $50m signing on fee with something like $9m incentives. They gave him a 5 year contract with 3 voidable years as the geezer is 44 in the Summer (thus meaning they cancel his contract in 2, which is when he wants to retire.)

That consequently makes his cap hit for next year as approximately $11.8m rather than $29.5m (approx.) as this then allows them to sign more high quality players to the team as the NFL have very strict salary rules. They are doing this as their team is in a 'win now' phase where the owners have to pony up right away as they only have 2-3 years before they have to rip the side apart and rebuild (owing to age of players and the salaries.)

This is great news for the Bucs as their team is now an absolute powerhouse. However, it is costing the Glazer's serious coin. Here is the signing on fees they have laid out in the last few weeks (all approx.): 

Brady - $50m 

Suh - $5m

David - $20m 

Gronkowski - $6m 

Barrett - $38m 

Succop - $4m 

Godwin - $15.5m 

That is around $140.5m they have shelled out on signing and they still have other players they have to sign/restructure to get under the cap and have a full squad. So, essentially Utd cannot finance it as all the Glazer's money is going into the Bucs and they cannot buy Håland with debt. 

Barca situation is also bleak. Laporte got £100m+ loan but that need to finance existing debt, Messi's new contract for the first year (his re-signing was a pledge) and they have to buy other players, whilst the ones they have got won't attract much owing to contracts (similar to us with the dregs.) 

Real also have similar issues with their stadium build/debt payments/existing costs etc. 

That consequently only leaves City, Chelsea and PSG as options who can finance it this year. By all accounts Håland won't go to PSG due to the quality of the league (although this could be BS) which then just leave us and City who can do it this year. 

If he stays at Dortmund this year, then 8 clubs could probably buy him as the buyout is low and they can finance it with debt. They are: Munich, Utd, Juve, Barca and Real, along with the 3 that can afford him this year. 

Fair, but I reckon both Van da beek and Pogba are likely to leave, they can get close to 100 there alone. If rumours are true and EH dont want Chels then fuck him, we move on.

[King Kante 1,643]

2 hours ago, Atomiswave said:

Fair, but I reckon both Van da beek and Pogba are likely to leave, they can get close to 100 there alone. If rumours are true and EH dont want Chels then fuck him, we move on.

Yeah, reports in Germany last year were saying Werner rejected us and had no interest too: 

https://www.the-sun.com/sport/premier-league/788920/timo-werner-Chelsea-man-utd-liverpool-transfer-rb-leipzig/

[Jase 43,479]

6 minutes ago, King Kante said:

Yeah, reports in Germany last year were saying Werner rejected us and had no interest too: 

https://www.the-sun.com/sport/premier-league/788920/timo-werner-Chelsea-man-utd-liverpool-transfer-rb-leipzig/

Yeah but then a pandemic happened and everything changed course. 

Any chance of something similar happening again? 😅

[Jase 43,479]

Assuming it's true, who's gonna pay that money in this particular summer? And that's without counting the agent fees for Raiola.

[Atomiswave 6,117]

2 hours ago, King Kante said:

Yeah, reports in Germany last year were saying Werner rejected us and had no interest too: 

https://www.the-sun.com/sport/premier-league/788920/timo-werner-Chelsea-man-utd-liverpool-transfer-rb-leipzig/

Yeah but shit change hands often so we will see. For the reported fee I wouldnt touch him, you can get 2 quality players instead. Plus that cunt Raiola will be some task.

2 hours ago, Jason said:

Yeah but then a pandemic happened and everything changed course. 

Any chance of something similar happening again? 😅

Ohh we will see similar shit happen, its very up and down.

42 minutes ago, Jason said:

Assuming it's true, who's gonna pay that money in this particular summer? And that's without counting the agent fees for Raiola.

With FFP binned I could see City go for him, PSG wont happen one way or the other.

[King Kante 1,643]

2 hours ago, Jason said:

Assuming it's true, who's gonna pay that money in this particular summer? And that's without counting the agent fees for Raiola.

PSG would, possibly City too if FFP is dead. That sort of figure would rule us out completely. 

[MoroccanBlue 5,383]

Call me crazy but I don't think City will pay that. This only leaves PSG but I don't think Haaland wants to go to France. 

He's going nowhere until Summer 2022. 

[Jase 43,479]

28 minutes ago, King Kante said:

PSG would, possibly City too if FFP is dead. That sort of figure would rule us out completely. 

If Haaland goes nowhere this summer, then next summer is gonna be LOL when his release clause activates.

[chelsea_4_eva 1,182]

Can you imagine 180M plus Raiola fees... eeeek

[ZAPHOD2319 4,819]

That is maybe one of Roman's smaller yachts that has completely forgotten he owns.

[Azul 1,615]

10 hours ago, Jason said:

Giroud maybe.

As for Abraham, part of the reason why there were rumors about him going is if we buy Haaland. If we don't get Haaland, then we might end just keeping him. We might just go with Havertz, Abraham and Werner as the choices for leading the line. Havertz and Werner of course can play in other positions as well and if this is how we're gonna go with things, then we don't have to worry too much then about keeping everyone happy etc.

That forward line is worrying, considering how we're struggling at the moment. Tuchel might change things though.

[Jase 43,479]

58 minutes ago, Azul said:

That forward line is worrying, considering how we're struggling at the moment. Tuchel might change things though.

Maybe it's the pandemic season factor but City are gonna win the league (and potentially more) almost without a proper striker this season. Their top scorer in the league is Gundogan (12 goals). After that, it's Sterling and Mahrez (9), Jesus (7), Foden (6), De Bruyne (5), Stones (4), Silva and Torres (2).

That we need to be more clinical is undeniable but we also need to be better at creating clear chances consistently, something Tuchel has also been pointing out. Our non-penalty and non-own goal xG has only been higher than 2 once out of 14 games under Tuchel.

[Azul 1,615]

16 hours ago, Jason said:

Maybe it's the pandemic season factor but City are gonna win the league (and potentially more) almost without a proper striker this season. Their top scorer in the league is Gundogan (12 goals). After that, it's Sterling and Mahrez (9), Jesus (7), Foden (6), De Bruyne (5), Stones (4), Silva and Torres (2).

That we need to be more clinical is undeniable but we also need to be better at creating clear chances consistently, something Tuchel has also been pointing out. Our non-penalty and non-own goal xG has only been higher than 2 once out of 14 games under Tuchel.

They have extremely creative players though. KDB, Sterling, Mahrez, Gundogan, Silva etc are on another level compared to our attackers. Plus they've played with eachother for numerous seasons. 

A striker is very much needed, don't let City's success blind you. Besides, City didn't really have much of a challenge this season. United being 2nd sums everything up.

[Jase 43,479]

12 minutes ago, Azul said:

They have extremely creative players though. KDB, Sterling, Mahrez, Gundogan, Silva etc are on another level compared to our attackers. Plus they've played with eachother for numerous seasons. 

Yes but one would imagine or hope that our players will get better individually and have better understanding of one another the more they play together. 

14 minutes ago, Azul said:

A striker is very much needed, don't let City's success blind you. Besides, City didn't really have much of a challenge this season. United being 2nd sums everything up.

True but on the flip side, City don't have a true goalscorer and yet they are so far ahead in the league while we don't have a true goalscorer and we're just about clinging to 4th.

Also, Liverpool went toe-to-toe with Man City for the last 2 seasons without a clinical striker leading the line, albeit they do have Mane and Salah mostly banging in the goals. It's a long shot but if our players can increase their output by at least 10-15 goals, then we might make this work if we don't get Haaland or any top striker out there.

The Athletic did a piece today on the best Plan Bs to Haaland and none of the names suggested are really inspiring - Alexander Isak, Bamford, Andre Silva, Patrik Schick, Dusan Vlahovic, Donyell Malen, Myron Boadu. Guessing the likes of Kane, Lukaku weren't mentioned because they're obvious alternatives but won't be easy to acquire. 

[Jase 43,479]

We've been discussing a lot about potentially signing Haaland this summer but imagine if we don't finish in the Top 4! lol

[Azul 1,615]

4 hours ago, Jason said:

Yes but one would imagine or hope that our players will get better individually and have better understanding of one another the more they play together. 

True but on the flip side, City don't have a true goalscorer and yet they are so far ahead in the league while we don't have a true goalscorer and we're just about clinging to 4th.

Also, Liverpool went toe-to-toe with Man City for the last 2 seasons without a clinical striker leading the line, albeit they do have Mane and Salah mostly banging in the goals. It's a long shot but if our players can increase their output by at least 10-15 goals, then we might make this work if we don't get Haaland or any top striker out there.

The Athletic did a piece today on the best Plan Bs to Haaland and none of the names suggested are really inspiring - Alexander Isak, Bamford, Andre Silva, Patrik Schick, Dusan Vlahovic, Donyell Malen, Myron Boadu. Guessing the likes of Kane, Lukaku weren't mentioned because they're obvious alternatives but won't be easy to acquire. 

We can only hope they'll get better moving forward. However if we're going by what we're seeing right now, then it's not looking good. I know why you're trying to compare us to City and Liverpool, but they are just better at scoring than us. Before this season, Liverpool had Mane and Salah banging in goals for them with Firmino being the creative force.

Manchester City this season just have better midfielders and forwards then us, period. Not strengthening our attack and relying on the likes of Havertz, Mount, Werner etc to challenge City next season is just suicidal😂 They've not shown anything that tells me we can challenge for the title next season. Our defence has just been superb under Tuchel, we just need to fix our attack in order to challenge City who'll also sign forwards probably.

We have to remember that Pep and Klopp build their own squad by buying their own players. Klopp signed Salah/Mane/Firmino for example and Pep signed Mahrez/KDB/Silva/Sane etc. Who says that Tuchel is happy with his forwards at the moment? This is not his team and I'll be very surprised if he does not sign a forward, but we'll see what happens in the summer.

Out of all the names the Athletic mentioned, I rate Isak and Andre Silva. Both of have the potential to become very good in the future. I'd still like a proven goalscorer though.

 

Edited March 27, 2021 by Azul