Chelsea Transfers

[Vesper 30,169]

Man United out of Haaland running as Real Madrid emerge as favourites

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/soccer-transfers/story/4574005/man-united-out-of-haaland-running-as-real-madrid-emerge-as-favourites

Manchester United are out of the race to sign Erling Haaland, sources told ESPN, with the club ready to focus on alternative attacking options having been made aware the Borussia Dortmund forward favours a summer move to Real Madrid.

Haaland, 21, is expected to leave Dortmund at the end of the season due to a €75 million release clause becoming active in his contract at the Bundesliga club this summer.

United failed to sign Haaland from FC Salzburg when he moved to Dortmund in January 2020, despite the club maintaining a long-standing interest dating back to his emergence as a 16-year-old at Molde in Norway. Sources told ESPN that senior figures at Old Trafford believe that Haaland is destined for Real this summer and that United are not in a position to persuade the player or his advisers to reconsider his options.

With Edinson Cavani out of contract and likely to leave at the end of the season and Cristiano Ronaldo 37 next month, United are focusing on other options to solve their search for a proven goal scorer.

ESPN reported in December that Real are attempting to sign both Haaland and Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe this summer, although the LaLiga champions face strong competition from Manchester City for Haaland, who will command wages of £30m-a-year at whichever club he decides to join.

But despite City's interest and ability to compete with any financial package presented to Haaland by Real, the Premier League champions lag behind favourites Real in the battle to sign the Norway international.

The turmoil at Old Trafford has severely damaged United's prospects of signing Haaland, although sources have said that the dismissal of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as manager in November -- Solskjaer gave Haaland his debut at Molde -- has not contributed to the team's diminishing hopes.

Sources said that although the Haaland camp are admirers of the work done by United interim manager Ralf Rangnick at previous clubs, the prospect of signing for United while they remain in a period of transition, and potentially out of the Champions League, has made the 20-time English champions an unappealing proposition considering the other teams in the race to sign Haaland.

United know that Haaland does not see them as a viable option in the present circumstances and are focusing on the recruitment of a permanent manager rather than devoting time to the pursuit of a player who favours a move elsewhere. 

[milka 3,393]

 

Edited January 22, 2022 by milka

[Vesper 30,169]

1 hour ago, milka said:

 

I really have to question our scouting programme

 

[Blues Forever 1,232]

12 minutes ago, Vesper said:

I really have to question our scouting programme

 

You have to wonder how Scott McLachlan is able to retaining his job for a long time. 

Edited January 22, 2022 by Blues Forever

[milka 3,393]

Chelsea are very interested in Ousmane Dembele from Barcelona and are willing to pay a fee to take him on loan for the rest of the season. {Onda Cero}

I wonder exactly where Dembele would play  🤔

[Jype 6,398]

1 minute ago, milka said:

Chelsea are very interested in Ousmane Dembele from Barcelona and are willing to pay a fee to take him on loan for the rest of the season. {Onda Cero}

I wonder exactly where Dembele would play  🤔

Haven't warmed up to the idea of signing Dembele at all, but I suppose a six month loan wouldn't be the worst outcome. We'd get to see how well he fits in the team and if he proved a success, he could then be signed as a free agent in the summer but if there were too many question marks over the signing the club could just cut ties after the season anyways.

[OhForAGreavsie 6,072]

On 22/01/2022 at 00:46, Superblue_1986 said:

I agree.

I know that our opinions on Chilwell differ as I rate him higher then you do and consider him to be a more than good enough left back for us to be challenging for trophies (put it this way, if Chilwell was the biggest problem position for the club I think we'd be doing extremely well) but you are spot on with what we should be looking for as an alternative left back/left wing back option for him.

Chilwell could take a long time to get back to that form he was showing pre-injury. He may never even get back to that, it's not a given and shouldn't be taken as one. So we have to plan ahead that we may need a player capable of usurping him as first choice. But Chilwell injury aside, we should be doing that anyway.

Trying to buy squad filler options doesn't cut it anymore, especially with the strength a team like City show. The academy can supply the squad filler as a starting point for some of their inclusions within the first team picture. I don't want to see a Zappacosta style signing, I want to see 2 wing backs/full backs on both sides capable of being considered first choice, and where one is absent, the other can slot in without a noticeable drop off in quality.

We don't have that at the moment, and if it can't be rectified in January, then I believe alongside making some potentially big decisions on Lukaku's future, a right and left wing back of starting quality is probably the greatest importance in the summer transfer window.

Man I love this forum. Post after post is worth reading regardless of whether I agree with the poster's opinion or not. Thank you SB, and for the record I agree with virtually every word you wrote here.

I don't doubt the contribution Ben was making in the run up to his injury. My concern is whether that was merely good form, or a genuine demonstration of his level. Obviously we would all like it to be the latter but I won't believe it is until that level is maintained consistently. I can't set aside the fact that Ben was regarded as second choice earlier this season. Whatever TT's thinking might have been behind that decision, the decision itself is at least an amber warning for me. Especially when we consider that any manager who selects Marcos Alonso does so in full knowledge of his strengths AND his weaknesses. Given my pre existing questions about Ben that amber warning flashes bright with me.

Edited January 23, 2022 by OhForAGreavsie

[DDA 9,937]

35 minutes ago, Jype said:

Haven't warmed up to the idea of signing Dembele at all, but I suppose a six month loan wouldn't be the worst outcome. We'd get to see how well he fits in the team and if he proved a success, he could then be signed as a free agent in the summer but if there were too many question marks over the signing the club could just cut ties after the season anyways.

I understand why anyone would have their reservations on Dembele because I share the same concerns with his history of injuries and mediocre performances for Barca... but I watched him the other day vs Madrid and he was easily the best player on the pitch for some time In that match.. I think if TT got him here and could channel his focus.. we could could a serious player on our hands.

[Superblue 6,372]

2 minutes ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

Man I love this forum. Post after post is worth reading regardless of whether I agree with the poster's opinion or not. Thank you SB, and for the record I agree with virtually every word you wrote here.

I don't doubt the contribution Ben was making in the run up to his injury. My concern is whether that was merely good form, or a genuine demonstration of his real level. Obviously we would all like it to be the latter but I won't believe it is until that level is maintained consistently. I can't set aside the fact that Ben was regarded as second choice earlier this season. Whatever TT's thinking was behind that decision it's at least an amber warning for me when we consider that any manager who selects Marcos Alonso does so in full knowledge of his strengths AND his weaknesses. Given my pre existing questions about Ben that amber warning flashes bright with me.

No doubt his form pre injury was above any previous levels he had performed at so maintaining that would always be the biggest question mark. In a way though the same could be said of Reece on the other side who had a period this year similarly at a level higher than he has shown previously. Ironically when Chilwell went down injured, I felt Reece's performances dropped a couple of pegs down before he got injured too.

What cannot be denied though is the alarming drop off in both the offensive and defensive facets of our game linked directly to the loss of Chilwell and James.

I firmly believe if Liverpool lost TAA and Robertson for half the season you'd see a significant drop off in their attacking quality and chance creation. People questioned Pep when he first came here wanting to spend huge sums of money on a number of full backs that could be relied on. It's no longer the position you can make do with someone steady and in our situation particularly under Tuchel, the wing backs are the most important players on the pitch for getting the balance between attack and defence. It is critical this is sorted if not January, then in the summer.

[Superblue 6,372]

47 minutes ago, Jype said:

Haven't warmed up to the idea of signing Dembele at all, but I suppose a six month loan wouldn't be the worst outcome. We'd get to see how well he fits in the team and if he proved a success, he could then be signed as a free agent in the summer but if there were too many question marks over the signing the club could just cut ties after the season anyways.

It's an awkward one to assess the risk levels because it's not like the case of Saul where you can lock him into a future deal if things go well.

If Dembele came here and was a success, the likelihood is we would be competing with other top teams for his signature in the summer on a free and his wages may have just gone up a fair few grand for a deal.

I think given his injury record and the way his Barca career has seemingly spiralled it's probably a lower risk to do a loan deal and see what he can offer to us. Knowing our luck though he'll be one of the few loan signings you'd actually want to keep permanently and instead he goes elsewhere in the summer!

[OhForAGreavsie 6,072]

7 minutes ago, DDA said:

I understand why anyone would have their reservations on Dembele because I share the same concerns with his history of injuries and mediocre performances for Barca... but I watched him the other day vs Madrid and he was easily the best player on the pitch for some time In that match.. I think if TT got him here and could channel his focus.. we could could a serious player on our hands.

I first came across him when watching Rennes to follow Boga. At first I just tuned out again when Boga wasn't starting but eventually I saw Dembele play and was sold instantly. From that moment he was a high priority target as far as I was concerned. It was discouraging however to read claims by his agent (his dad or brother at the time) that they had turned down a move to Chelsea the season before. I'm in favour of trying again.

[Vesper 30,169]

Håland just did his knee

do not know how bad

[Mário César 1,252]

Just now, Vesper said:

Håland just did his knee

do not know how bad

?

[Vesper 30,169]

1 minute ago, Vesper said:

Håland just did his knee

do not know how bad

he is still in the game

[Vesper 30,169]

Just now, Mário César said:

?

he came down badly from a header

[Tabu 0]

I heard that TT would like to sign Lewandowski for 2 years + 1 year option? How reslistic would this be?

[Tomo 21,751]

1 hour ago, Tabu said:

I heard that TT would like to sign Lewandowski for 2 years + 1 year option? How reslistic would this be?

I'd be a bit apprehensive due to his age and the recent signings to the Prem from the Bundi but I'm honestly getting to the point I'll take Morata back if the trade off is getting shot of Rom.

[Pizy 18,903]

The hell would Lewandowski leave the most comfortable job in football to come to the PL? He can basically show up each game in his slippers and pajamas on that Bayern team and score 35+ for the rest of his prime years.

[Tomo 21,751]

24 minutes ago, Pizy said:

The hell would Lewandowski leave the most comfortable job in football to come to the PL? 

Zlatan did.

[Tabu 0]

The contracts of the 3 captains (Neuer, Müller, Lewandowski) expire in 2023. Talks are set to take place in spring. The tendency with players over 30 is to give them a one-year extension each [@SPORTBILD]

 

This solution is possible with Neuer and Müller. Both are not pushing to change clubs anymore in their career and have great ties to the club. Lewandowski, however, wants the club to acknowledge him via a new long term contract. He also doesn't want to take a pay cut [@SPORTBILD]

From Bayern's perspective, giving Lewandowski a new long term contract on €24m/year is a risk considering his age [@SPORTBILD]