exiledblue Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 14 hours ago, Blue Moon said: Could always put him on the back post ... Put him in goal, he is a big lump and the ball always bounces off him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ham Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 Anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Singleton Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 ☝️ New one to me. Not previously linked to us (Jan or last summer) and until this tweet I hadn't seen anything written about him recently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaneB Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 18 minutes ago, Ham said: Anyone? I mean, how many players do we need? 🙄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Tucker Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 30 minutes ago, JaneB said: I mean, how many players do we need? 🙄 Well yes, Jane, you'd have to wonder, wouldn't you? It all seems a bit silly to me = that's assuming that there's any truth to the rumour, of course! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Singleton Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 Seems more a 'pie-in-the-sky' story than anything genuine. Yes we have to sell players; that's obvious. But selling Kepa over Mendy when Kepa is better with the ball at his feet and is (marginally?) the better of the two. 🙄https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-11806833/Mason-Mount-Kai-Havertz-Chelsea-stars-limbo-club-aim-address-two-year-deals.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Singleton Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 6 minutes ago, Michael Tucker said: Well yes, Jane, you'd have to wonder, wouldn't you? It all seems a bit silly to me = that's assuming that there's any truth to the rumour, of course! There's a lot of lazy 'journalism' about just now. Half the Brighton team have been linked, and now (on top of Nkunku and Gvardiol who have been genuine targets for a while) we're starting to see more Leipzig players linked (I wonder why?) If you read the original Sports Witness article, it claims we've been interested for quite some time and claims they mentioned this last October. Then look at that October link and it's actually a story about Nkunku with Szoboszlai only getting mentioned because he was the player doing the pre-CL press conference that day. Nothing about Chelsea (or any other club for that matter) being interested in him. Given how many central midfielders we already have, I'm not sure - other than a genuine DM - that we're looking in that direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boratsbrother Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 1 hour ago, JaneB said: I mean, how many players do we need? 🙄 We can't ever have enough midfielders who can't score, create or defend. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xceleryx Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 2 hours ago, Bob Singleton said: Given how many central midfielders we already have, I'm not sure - other than a genuine DM - that we're looking in that direction. Enzo is really the only locked in CM we have to build around, so we're likely to see plenty of change in this area come the summer. Kovacic and Mount have uncertain futures and may be shipped off before next season if they don't agree new deals to avoid losing them for nothing. Kante is sounding like he'll extend but is a complete unknown quantity at this stage until he's actually back on the park and playing football again - and even then we may still need to have an insurance policy on him in reserve. Gallagher could be sold because of his home grown status to help balance books, and Loftus-Cheek is just straight up not good enough. This leaves Zakaria, another walking sick note that we don't current own, and hopefully won't in the future. We could seriously be looking at 3-4 midfield additions being needed depending on how the futures of the aforementioned pan out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xceleryx Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 Moises Caicedo has signed a new deal at Brighton until 2027. You'd have to think he's now off the list as a target this summer, not just for us but also Arsenal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My Blood Is Blue Posted March 4, 2023 Author Share Posted March 4, 2023 6 hours ago, xceleryx said: Enzo is really the only locked in CM we have to build around, so we're likely to see plenty of change in this area come the summer. Kovacic and Mount have uncertain futures and may be shipped off before next season if they don't agree new deals to avoid losing them for nothing. Kante is sounding like he'll extend but is a complete unknown quantity at this stage until he's actually back on the park and playing football again - and even then we may still need to have an insurance policy on him in reserve. Gallagher could be sold because of his home grown status to help balance books, and Loftus-Cheek is just straight up not good enough. This leaves Zakaria, another walking sick note that we don't current own, and hopefully won't in the future. We could seriously be looking at 3-4 midfield additions being needed depending on how the futures of the aforementioned pan out. This of course all changes if we end up relegated. Central midfield is an area we’ve all been screaming about for years now, so I’m all for seeing it be rebuilt in the summer, I just hope we get the right type of players in… a proper DM is vital, until that position is properly sorted we’ll get nowhere. Following that it would be nice to have a midfielder that can actually be a goal threat, but we can currently say that about all positions in our team. I hope Mount stays, I really do. He’ll get his first proper rest in years this pre-season and so I fully expect him to be back to his best next season. Would be such a shame to see him go, especially to a rival. Kovacic, I’d be ok with keeping, because of his experience, as that’s something we will lack quite a bit, however, with Kante likely extending his contract, I can see Kovacic being moved on. One of RLC and Gallagher I imagine will go, personally I would keep Gallagher and sell RLC, but I do worry it will be the other way around. I just think Gallagher is going to be a good player to have around; he works hard, has the fight and passion we lack and he can cover a few positions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROTG Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 7 hours ago, xceleryx said: Moises Caicedo has signed a new deal at Brighton until 2027. You'd have to think he's now off the list as a target this summer, not just for us but also Arsenal. More likely put another 20 million on his value Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROTG Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 1 hour ago, My Blood Is Blue said: This of course all changes if we end up relegated. Central midfield is an area we’ve all been screaming about for years now, so I’m all for seeing it be rebuilt in the summer, I just hope we get the right type of players in… a proper DM is vital, until that position is properly sorted we’ll get nowhere. Following that it would be nice to have a midfielder that can actually be a goal threat, but we can currently say that about all positions in our team. I hope Mount stays, I really do. He’ll get his first proper rest in years this pre-season and so I fully expect him to be back to his best next season. Would be such a shame to see him go, especially to a rival. Kovacic, I’d be ok with keeping, because of his experience, as that’s something we will lack quite a bit, however, with Kante likely extending his contract, I can see Kovacic being moved on. One of RLC and Gallagher I imagine will go, personally I would keep Gallagher and sell RLC, but I do worry it will be the other way around. I just think Gallagher is going to be a good player to have around; he works hard, has the fight and passion we lack and he can cover a few positions. What happens in the summer will more than likely determined by who is coaching the squad. I would suspect the new sports department are providing better information to TB on the working/structure of football with the summer recruitment being more targeted due to the additional think tank at the club 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xceleryx Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 2 hours ago, My Blood Is Blue said: This of course all changes if we end up relegated. Central midfield is an area we’ve all been screaming about for years now, so I’m all for seeing it be rebuilt in the summer, I just hope we get the right type of players in… a proper DM is vital, until that position is properly sorted we’ll get nowhere. Following that it would be nice to have a midfielder that can actually be a goal threat, but we can currently say that about all positions in our team. I hope Mount stays, I really do. He’ll get his first proper rest in years this pre-season and so I fully expect him to be back to his best next season. Would be such a shame to see him go, especially to a rival. Kovacic, I’d be ok with keeping, because of his experience, as that’s something we will lack quite a bit, however, with Kante likely extending his contract, I can see Kovacic being moved on. One of RLC and Gallagher I imagine will go, personally I would keep Gallagher and sell RLC, but I do worry it will be the other way around. I just think Gallagher is going to be a good player to have around; he works hard, has the fight and passion we lack and he can cover a few positions. Agree on the DM situation, that should be priority number one when it comes to the midfield. Without that being solved we'll continue to be imbalanced. I think Gallagher could somewhat fill that goalscoring option should he stay. Otherwise I'd love to have SMS here, he'd also be obtainable given he isn't likely to remain at Lazio after this season by all accounts. Look, hopefully Mount remains but there's the real possibility he leaves. Same applies with Kovacic, he's good enough to still play a role for us next season and it would be nice to keep some continuity opposed to virtually Enzo and a host of freshies, but I can also see him being sold. He'll be an easy sale and will still command a decent return. I feel the same re Loftus-Cheek and Gallagher, would prefer to keep the latter but feel we'll cash in on him and keep the god awful Loftus-Cheek instead. Really hope that isn't the case because Gallagher is the more useful player in the right setup, we're just not quite able do that right now because of the other limitations we've got. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xceleryx Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 57 minutes ago, ROTG said: More likely put another 20 million on his value Quite possible also. I think he ends up staying though with Rice being the cheaper alternative to whoever needs that type of midfielder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankLampard8 Posted March 6, 2023 Share Posted March 6, 2023 On 03/03/2023 at 21:26, Ham said: Anyone? I was aware of him as a talent as Salzburg but haven't followed him very closely since he went to Leipzig. He was supposed to be a big talent so i'd be intrigued to know how he is developing. I don't see it as likely though - he is another attacking midfielder who wants to play as a 10 or plays out wide and cuts in to create or take long shots (unless he has changed dramatically since arriving in Germany). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Singleton Posted March 6, 2023 Share Posted March 6, 2023 Stories emerging that we're about to sign up Man City's "Head of UK Academy Scouting", Stewart Thompson. So that'll be on top of Christopher Vivell, Paul Winstanley, Kyle Macaulay and Joe Shields. How long before the recruitment department is bigger than our already bloated first team squad? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob B Posted March 6, 2023 Share Posted March 6, 2023 Not including the likes of Jim Fraser (Head of Youth Development and Recruitment (!!)) and Neil Bath.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Singleton Posted March 6, 2023 Share Posted March 6, 2023 4 minutes ago, Rob B said: Not including the likes of Jim Fraser (Head of Youth Development and Recruitment (!!)) and Neil Bath.... Indeed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ham Posted March 6, 2023 Share Posted March 6, 2023 58 minutes ago, Bob Singleton said: Stories emerging that we're about to sign up Man City's "Head of UK Academy Scouting", Stewart Thompson. So that'll be on top of Christopher Vivell, Paul Winstanley, Kyle Macaulay and Joe Shields. How long before the recruitment department is bigger than our already bloated first team squad? Another reason for needing a 60k plus stadium. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Moon Posted March 6, 2023 Share Posted March 6, 2023 I had always thought that the 60k referred to punters, not players and staff …. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarefreeMuratcan Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 https://theathletic.com/4280870/2023/03/06/victor-osimhen-premier-league/ "Premier League move one day would be a dream – Victor Osimhen" We need to pull out all the strings to get this guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankLampard8 Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 1 minute ago, CarefreeMuratcan said: We need to pull out all the strings to get this guy. I'm not sure that's the expression 😂😀 I'm so torn on him. On the one hand he would cost a fortune, we've been burned before and I think he has a bit of patchy injury record unless my memory is playing tricks. However, he's the outstanding candidate on paper, surely? If someone has watched him more consistently than me i'd be intrigued to hear their thoughts on how he'd adapt to our team. Compared to Lukaku he does still seem like his primary move is running off the shoulder but he seems to be more about clever movement rather than sheer pace and physicality on the break. He also seems to be quite dominant in the air with a great leap, something that Lukaku never really brought despite his size. He's never going to contribute anything meaningful in the build up but if he bangs goals then i'll take it all day long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xceleryx Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 4 minutes ago, CarefreeMuratcan said: https://theathletic.com/4280870/2023/03/06/victor-osimhen-premier-league/ "Premier League move one day would be a dream – Victor Osimhen" We need to pull out all the strings to get this guy. Good luck. ADL will basically price him out of any move while he has years remaining on his contract, much like he's done with virtually every other good player they've had. So it'll either be pay up, like Juve had to do with Higuian, or wait until they're in the final year of their deal and getting a cut price deal. Also we'd have to improve tenfold in the supporting areas if Osimhen is to be a success, otherwise he'll end up isolated and looking like a cross between Tammy and Lukaku contributing little to general play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarefreeMuratcan Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 1 minute ago, FrankLampard8 said: I'm not sure that's the expression 😂😀 I admittedly looked it up after but didn't bother to change it. It's my new merged expression of 2 expressions 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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