Koulibaly done to Chelsea.
Koulibaly done to Chelsea.
It was done 24 hours ago mate.
We seem to be operating very differently to the Abramovich era. Going straight in for established stars. The Operation is undefeated, so you fear for Raheem the Dream.
No it wasn't.Originally Posted by Waffdon
Never really been a striker so he'll be fine.
He may not be the pure footballer that a Grealish or a Foden might be [although at one point he did look to have that in him] but he's a damn sight more effective in run of the mill Premier League play.
I saw Chelsea linked to Lewandowski, now that'd be an operation job.
Any truth in these Delap to Southampton rumours?
I'm a twit
4 year deal for Koulibaly on [undoubtedly] mega money seems pretty game. I've never really known if he's a physical unit type centre-half or one who might keep going and going. Has always been a beast when Liverpool have played Napoli [and probably one of the main reasons they have such a poor record against them].
Shit, he's costing €40m as well?
I only know him by name given how often he's been linked to Premier League teams over the years but irrespective of the price and his age (I mean, Thiago Silva ffs...), I still wouldn't know if he's overrated, a legit defender or a potential flop in the making.
Chelsea probably still need more defenders to come in and so it'll be interesting to see if they gel quick enough. I doubt they'd have finished 3rd last season had their defenders not scored so many goals early on in the campaign either so those goals will need to be replaced somewhere. Is Sterling the answer to that? I don't know. Chelsea seemed quite robotic? static? (not sure of right word) when attacking. Kind of like they'd get into the final third and not really know what to do.
Chelsea after Kimbempe now as well.
That would be an odd signing. He’s never came across as that good of a player. They also don’t need another left sided centre half (Koulibaly/Colwill/Sarr) is more than enough unless he’s planning to use Koulibaly on the right.
I’m not surprised about the spending by the yank. It was in the proposal that they signed that they needed to commit to spending said amount but that’s also not taking into account the way he operates at the Dodgers.
There's loads of rumours they're going to sell Colwill.
I am excited (is that even a word that applies to a 33 year old man who really prefers cricket and golf? I don't think so) to see Sterling, he's obviously a quality player and should go well alongside the more languid Havertz.
Add centre backs and one quality midfielder and we could, oh I don't know, hold off Spurs for 3rd.
Just seen that. Christ, they’ll really never learn.
They've stayed at the top of English football for 20 years now by fucking off the academy players and buying in experience.
I had no idea Armando Broja was ours until recently. He could be fun as a battering ram off the bench.
Every good young player over the past decade was at Chelsea at some point in their youth. Neil Bath GOAT
Kimpembe would be a disaster.
Why did City sell Sterling?
More long-term upside on the yen.
Apparently a Saudi Arabian team have offered Ronaldo 250m euros over 2 seasons to move there. Lol if true.
I would suggest he goes back to Juventus but it would probably finish FIAT off.
They've offered Hideki Matsuyama double that to play golf sometimes, he should negotiate hard.
Joining up with Peugeot has already put that candle out.
He’d be mad not to go for that in fairness.
Lewandowski would challenge for the golden boot for sure but I'd think that no matter if he joined Chelsea, City, us, Spurs, even United whilst Sterling, in my mind at least seems to get a proper raw deal. He can play on the left, on the right, he's direct and he scores goals. He does miss a lot of chances too but that's probably only the 'biggest' flaw.
I'd take Grealish over Foden too. Foden just has no likeability factor at all.
As a side note, @niko_cee check your inbox, I haven't a clue if they are even sending via mobile as it takes me to a different page after submitting.
PSG said no to him from what I read. Shame too because it would have been quite nice to see both Messi and Ronaldo in the same side even if they are winding down.
They won't miss him much given their quality but I was more surprised they sold him directly to a potential rival. Same with Jesus tbh, not that Arsenal are rivals but it could come back to haunt them.
Haaland will score goals but wasn't he rather injury prone for Dortmund last season?
Apparently so, we are going to have a team of 18 year olds.
What are his throw-ins like?
Do I remember Rory playing for Southampton or was it Sheffield United?
Southampton indeed.
Supposedly they played better without him last season and his chance conversion is poor.
Look forward to him pocketing Haaland and Nunez again.
I'm still not convinced it's going to happen but...
At 175cm, I'm struggling to name a shorter PL CB. Do any of note exist in the modern game? He's gonna get raped in six different ways before being tried as a fullback and them offloaded by the next manager next summer.
Daley Blind? He worked out well.
Bummed to death in an aerial battle with Ivan Toney it is, then.
Roberto Ayala was about that size, so the Argies obviously have a history of smaller CBs.
I was going to say how big is someone like Soyuncu, but I see he's over 6 foot.
Higher aerial duel win % than Van Dijk last season
Gary Medel played centre half quite often and he was about 5ft6. Must be a South American thing. Cordoba was tiny as well
It probably works down there as they spend less time pumping crosses into the box and more time with a mostly useless 'number ten' poncing about in front of the lines trying to carve little outside-of-the-foot balls through tiny gaps, and no one is allowed to tackle him.
Their refs (like Italy) also use the 'designated hardman' convention whereby if someone is a recognised 'tough defender', you are allowed to do whatever you want and not get penalised. Ayala was a prime example actually.
Don't give me 90s football references, we have Cannavaro and shit for that back when ebony monsters were still being fenced in as CBs so that the gammon could have all the fun in attack.
Brighton in for Calvin Bassey if Cucurella ends up going to City. He's looked pretty great when I've seen him for Rangers, and £40 million odd in the black from those two transfers would be hard to complain about.
Wasn't it 65/20 the other week? It will happen, but with United paying half of the wage dispute off (which is probably what the incentive-based reduction is).
Yeah it was 65/20 but with the proviso the add-ons hadn't been sorted. This is now "FULL AGREEMENT" but as you said, the suspicion is they've upped the guaranteed amount to help Barca pay off the wage debt.
Is the "he's not actually much interested in joining United anyway" chat coming from anybody reliable?
All the reliable UK based journalists have said he's open to coming. All the Spanish journalists are saying he wants to stay.
Surely in this day and age you don't bother with formal transfer negotiations unless the player has told you they will come.
Definitely not, a guy on the Arsenal podcasts who is a journalist for the Athletic and has club contacts etc said the other week when Jesus was dragging on that it is unspoken now but everyone is tapped up prior to the club offering a fee so either the player or at least the agent has given the green light to the suitor before the approach. I suspect some agents might want a new mansion and encourage approaches thinking they will talk their pet idiots into it later though.
The general feeling belief is that his first preference would be to stay at Barca, but given that doesn't seem like it's going to happen he's happy to go to United. His agent is maintaining the "he wants to stay" line with the media until he's paid what he's owed by Barca.
You'd think FDJ would be Xavi's ideal midfielder. He must be bobbins.
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