Chelsea Transfers

[Strike 7,483]

7 hours ago, DDA said:

Many of the Chelsea fan channels are reporting Mane to Chelsea is very close!!

What the...

To be fair none of the bigger reliable guys have reported. Nothing from Law, Romano and Co. 

[DH1988 1,348]

In fairness I can see Gundo leaving City and being replaced by Kova, £20m or so. Rather he goes to Bayern or just anywhere abroad really, as he'd slot into City. You can for sure tell that his heart isn't in it lately, I imagine it's quite difficult to soldier on being on £100k a week.

[Mário César 1,250]

but why should kova want to stay with us? he is unhappy and he probably want play in championsleague

he's been with us for 5 years. Its normal that he want a new challenge 

[Superblue 6,372]

1 hour ago, OneMoSalah said:

Pure stupidity. Firstly - letting Jorginho go in January and potentially now Kovacic in the summer. Wait and see us drop 120m on Rice through desperation although for half the price he’s exactly what we need.

Premium quality MF players are going to be an issue to find so selling someone like Kova, particularly to City or United who will offer more £ than Bayern, would be so Boehly-Eghbali retarded its out of this world.

 

Also Emi Martinez no thanks - go and get a proper GK ffs. Not competent enough for a possession based team and also seems to be under the impression he is some sort of world class GK when in reality he was a bench warmer at several clubs for about 10 years.

I think letting Jorginho go in January was the right move, unless you feel he should have been given a new contract. If we had been anywhere near challenging for the league with Arsenal then maybe it would have been more of a consideration but in our position as good as writing the league season off and having just signed Enzo, it was a good amount of money to bank on a 31 year old who would have been leaving on a free 6 months later.

Kova falls into a similarly difficult category with what to do with him next season. He'll be 30 during next season, has never had the best injury record and I don't think has played particularly well this season. With a year left on his contract, do you renew and look at keeping him here on a 3-4 year contract? Especially if Kante signs back up as we'll have two similarly aged, similarly injury prone players in the same position being relied upon. 

As a side note, there's also been a lot of talk that Kova doesn't want to sign a new contract and would like a new challenge anyway. With this in mind, it makes sense to sell now than let him leave on a free in a year's time. I understand the position the board are taking with this, especially when they walked through the door to see two players worth millions leaving on free transfers last summer. 

[Mário César 1,250]

depends on kova

if he want to stay, ok but if he want a new challenge, its better to sell now and get some money for him 

[Pizy 18,888]

How much I now care about Kova leaving depends on the midfielder we bring in. If we get a top player in then I’m fine seeing him walk. Love him, think he’s brilliant when in form. But if we can get Lavia or Rice I think it’s a situation like Jorginho/Enzo where we’re getting a long term upgrade.

Like J5 it be annoying seeing him at a domestic rival but it’s not like he a match winner or gigantic difference maker who will haunt us like a striker or creative player.

[Clockwork 1,794]

Ugarte is my personal favorite as our DM signing, the more i watch and read about him the more i am convinced he would be the best signing. 

 

[Strike 7,483]

Now is the time to make the move for Ugarte. Release clause is 52 million

[Vesper 30,141]

On 08/05/2023 at 04:44, Clockwork said:

How has Aurélien Tchouaméni Played this season? I know most of you were disappointed we didn’t sign him.

he has played well but with the rise of Rodrygo as their prime RWer, Valverde (who often played winger) drops back to MF with the old heads Kroos and Modric in the big games, like most of the CL knockout stage so far

Camavinga, another superb MF player, has had to shift to fullback to get regular playing time (and has down amazingly well at LB, which has really staniled Real's left side)

I think Real always were the only team in the CL who could possibly knock off Citeh in a 2 leg tie as log as Benz is healthy, just due to their incredible Eiro cip record, drive, talent, and experience

I still expect Citeh to beat them in Manchester, but zero shock if Real somehow get to the final, where either Citeh or Real will destroy either Milan side, IMHO

there is some chatter that IF Bellingham does indeed fo to Real (they are the clear frontrunners atm) that maybe, mayve Tchou will be sold, bit I so so doubt that as Kroos and Modric simply cannot go on forever

Real are the one great team who do not really use an AMF system (Valverde is the closest they have but he far more often plays as a CMF or a winger)

IF Bellingham does go there, and they keep Tchou, they easily have the best MF on the planet, especially for 2023/04, as I expect that Kroos and Modric stay for at least one more season

Real will have 2 of the up 3 over 30yo MFers still in Kroos and Modric (the 3rd is of course De Bruyne, but he is an AMF, not a CMF nor a trad DMF nor a deep holding DMF)

then as for 30yo and younger non AMF MFers

they would have all the top ones except for 4 (Barca's Pedri and Gavi, plus Kimmich and then, a wee bit down, Barella):

Bellingham

Valverde

Tchou

Camavinga

the only other top top (at the level of all those players listed above on any team) MFers left, who I have not yet listed so far are all AMFs:

Musiala

Wirtz

Bernardo Silva 

and (although he is more of an SS so I hesitate to include him), a HEALTHY Nkunku

bottom line

I do not think Real sell Tchou, and I do think they get Bellingham, so Real will be fucking loaded at MF

 

I think the only MF players of any type (assuming Real does pull Bellingham) that the insanely spoilt Real fans look out and say, damn, I would so wish he also had them are these 4:

(De Bruyne, but he would necessitate a change in their playing structure, although if he was younger (he turns 33 right after next season ends) they might do) plus 3 who would not really entail a change like that: Kimmich, Gavi, and Pedri (and the last two are hated as they are Barca, lolol, BUT zero chance Real would turn them down IF they had a way to get the, which they do not)

They would take Barella I am sure IF they truly craved him, but I do not see that 'he is a top 1 or 2 2 target for a window' level in the past nor the present. Kimmich would be a perfect Modric deep holding replacement, but he is Bayern for life, I think, or at least until he is too old to be truly still at Real level as a full time starter (he has around 4 more seasons at that level IMHO, as I do not see him as Modric freak level older MF player, in terms of MFs Modric is atm one of kind).

[DDA 9,934]

25 minutes ago, Strike said:

Now is the time to make the move for Ugarte. Release clause is 52 million

Is he that good?

[bigbluewillie 1,930]

7 hours ago, DH1988 said:

In fairness I can see Gundo leaving City and being replaced by Kova, £20m or so. Rather he goes to Bayern or just anywhere abroad really, as he'd slot into City. You can for sure tell that his heart isn't in it lately, I imagine it's quite difficult to soldier on being on £100k a week.

Yeah must be terrible for him only £100,000 a week, don't know how he manages to live on that pittance.

[Vesper 30,141]

29 minutes ago, DDA said:

Is he that good?

IMHO, I  am a bit wary of dropping over £50m on Ugarte

much rather have Manu (used the first name Kouadio until this season or so) Koné, who is more, athletic, versatile, and a somewhat better on the ball player

now that said

I do think that our scouting is MUCH better atm, so surely they will not take him if the truly think the following is an issue:

some of my hesitation is that Ugarte in the games I watched him, is too rash and a might be a yellow card magnet in the reputation-driven shit PGMOL structure of picking on players who get a rep for rashness (the EPL is the worst for this, where refs carry into games far too much reliance past perceived experiences and go looking for players they think are predisposed to being goons, unless of course it is Manure or Pool, then they let most things slide, including that cunt thug Fabinho spitting on Hazard and getting fuckall for punishment, grrrr, and McTominay and Fred getting away with murder so often)

I admit that maybe I just happened to see a bad sample of games with Ugarte.

you can see some of the rashness here

I do think he has the potential to be a great partner for Enzo as a more crunching style DMF, and I do love top Uruguayan players on balance, they usually have huge motors

I am not going to lose my mind if we buy him (unlike many we have purchased, like KK (at the age he is), Drinkwater (probably my biggest tantrum) CuCu (massive tantrum by me too, especially as we on on the hook from £118m in toto, ffs), Auba, Sterling, Pulisic, Ziyech, Kepa, Bobblehead Luiz (the 2nd time, not the first) Baba, Higs, Zappacosta, and Lukaku) I was not happy with Sarr (and went bonkers when he actually started to play, he is one of the worst footballers we have brought in in the last 10 years), but he was a free, and finally, Barkley was cheap and worth the shot.

I cannot add Bakadonkey to that list, as I did not lose my mind when we bought him, he was my biggest bust in terms of players I thought would work out here who were utter SHIT. 

[Clockwork 1,794]

1 hour ago, DDA said:

Is he that good?

IMO he has a lot of the things you look for; athletic, physical, close control, tackle+interception, press resistant, man marking,work rate, etc. The only thing i don’t see is passing like Busquets, Jorginho, passers at a high level from a DM. But that would be unfair. We have Enzo to do that, so perfect player to combine with him.

 

[Clockwork 1,794]

22 minutes ago, Vesper said:

IMHO, I  am a bit wary of dropping over £50m on Ugarte

much rather have Manu (used the first name Kouadio until this season or so) Koné, who is more, athletic, versatile, and a somewhat better on the ball player

now that said

I do think that our scouting is MUCH better atm, so surely they will not take him if the truly think the following is an issue:

some of my hesitation is that Ugarte in the games I watched him, is too rash and a might be a yellow card magnet in the reputation-driven shit PGMOL structure of picking on players who get a rep for rashness (the EPL is the worst for this, where refs carry into games far too much reliance past perceived experiences and go looking for players they think are predisposed to being goons, unless of course it is Manure or Pool, then they let most things slide, including that cunt thug Fabinho spitting on Hazard and getting fuckall for punishment, grrrr, and McTominay and Fred getting away with murder so often)

I admit that maybe I just happened to see a bad sample of games with Ugarte.

you can see some of the rashness here

I do think he has the potential to be a great partner for Enzo as a more crunching style DMF, and I do love top Uruguayan players on balance, they usually have huge motors

I am not going to lose my mind if we buy him (unlike many we have purchased, like KK (at the age he is), Drinkwater (probably my biggest tantrum) CuCu (massive tantrum by me too, especially as we on on the hook from £118m in toto, ffs), Auba, Sterling, Pulisic, Ziyech, Kepa, Bobblehead Luiz (the 2nd time, not the first) Baba, Higs, Zappacosta, and Lukaku) I was not happy with Sarr (and went bonkers when he actually started to play, he is one of the worst footballers we have brought in in the last 10 years), but he was a free, and finally, Barkley was cheap and worth the shot.

I cannot add Bakadonkey to that list, as I did not lose my mind when we bought him, he was my biggest bust in terms of players I thought would work out here who were utter SHIT. 

Kone is a different player though, he is more of a B2B player than a true DMF like Ugarte, Rice, and Lavia. 

[Strike 7,483]

24 minutes ago, Clockwork said:

IMO he has a lot of the things you look for; athletic, physical, close control, tackle+interception, press resistant, man marking,work rate, etc. The only thing i don’t see is passing like Busquets, Jorginho, passers at a high level from a DM. But that would be unfair. We have Enzo to do that, so perfect player to combine with him.

 

We are reaching a point where every player needs to have a high level of passing - even the CBs