Transfer Talk Topic

[Max Fowler]

Let’s get this done. If we sign caicedo I will get a tattoo of Chris, McCreadie, Paul, Ham, Celery, Matt, and Moly helping Boehly throw Tuchel out of the dressing room.
 

 

 

 

[Floyd25]

22 hours ago, Max Fowler said:

We can still be optimistic that Todd has learned from his mistakes and longer-term he can rebuild us bigger and better.

Exactly this, whilst I’ve criticised him for several things myself, I don’t think it’s fair to blame him for everything that made last season a disaster. Nevertheless we have no choice but to hope that he will learn from mistakes in the future, because reality is he isn’t going anywhere, like it or not. 
 

I have to admit though, picturing him writing 4–4-3 on a tactics board cracks me up, a revolutionary formation he came up with that day…surely not.

Edited June 15, 2023 by Floyd25

[Max Fowler]

13 minutes ago, Floyd25 said:

Exactly this, whilst I’ve criticised him for several things myself, I don’t think it’s fair to blame him for everything that made last season a disaster. Nevertheless we have no choice but to hope that he will learn from mistakes in the future, because reality is he isn’t going anywhere, like it or not. 
 

I have to admit though, picturing him writing 4–4-3 on a tactics board cracks me up, a revolutionary formation he came up with that day…surely not.

Multiple things can be true.

Blame Boehly & Eghbali for the vast majority of what went on last season.

Still have some hope they can get us out of it.

No need to be in denial or re-write history.

[Max Fowler]

 

Not on my radar but an "extra" body in midfield for next season.

[JaneB]

33 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

I dont think it was ever suggested it was at HT.

Oh ok but why do I keep reading that it was then? 

[Max Fowler]

13 minutes ago, JaneB said:

Oh ok but why do I keep reading that it was then? 

Yep - supposedly Boehly was denied entry with his kids at half-time during the West Ham game.

[RDCW]

1 hour ago, Max Fowler said:

Multiple things can be true.

Blame Boehly & Eghbali for the vast majority of what went on last season.

Still have some hope they can get us out of it.

No need to be in denial or re-write history.

Yes

[Holymoly]

1 hour ago, Max Fowler said:

Yep - supposedly Boehly was denied entry with his kids at half-time during the West Ham game.

"Supposedly", the new allegedly? Referencing back to the offer of having a tattoo of a few of us on your bum though? Maybe make the offer with a touch of jeopardy? Maybe do it if Pochettino is still in post on match day 1?

[Willian Dollar Baby]

9 hours ago, Ham said:

Yes but was his poor form the result of niggling injuries? He eventually had to have surgery on an ongoing issue in the abdominal area.  

In prior seasons he was the hardest working player on the pitch. This season he was a shadow of himself.

 

You only have to look at the insane number of games he's played at 24 to know we've run him into the ground. He didn't become a terrible player over night and it's no coincidence that he struggled with multiple injuries this year. 

He will go on to do great things in his career and we will wonder just how our Champions League winning academy kid, possibly future captain would end up at United. 

[Willian Dollar Baby]

I have probably fallen into the trap, as I'm sure others have, of believing every story that comes up. I do believe it's fair to wait until the windows done, where the issue lies is trust.

With Roman I was usually confident we would be smart, so far the evidence on the new ownership has been very worrying. The concerning transfer rumours don't help to counter that but let's wait and see. The errors made previously and huge sums spent mean this window is vital, given the huge turnover needed it could go very wrong. 

There has been a growing trend under Clearlake of accurate rumours being linked to a few key people on social media. I really do not understand this strategy and much prefer when we used to do our business quietly.

[Max Fowler]

 

 

[martin1905]

3 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

 

 

Literally just been told by my mate that it's done and he's coming.

 

[Original 21]

Things seem to be moving on Caicedo…

[Bob Singleton]

18 minutes ago, Willian Dollar Baby said:

I have probably fallen into the trap, as I'm sure others have, of believing every story that comes up. I do believe it's fair to wait until the windows done, where the issue lies is trust.

With Roman I was usually confident we would be smart, so far the evidence on the new ownership has been very worrying. The concerning transfer rumours don't help to counter that but let's wait and see. The errors made previously and huge sums spent mean this window is vital, given the huge turnover needed it could go very wrong. 

There has been a growing trend under Clearlake of accurate rumours being linked to a few key people on social media. I really do not understand this strategy and much prefer when we used to do our business quietly.

Rose (or Blue?) tinted specs, there, I'm afraid. We bought plenty of dross in the Roman era. There were players that could have worked out that didn't, and that's sometimes just one of those things (I'm thinking Danny Drinkwater as a potential member of that list, given how he and Kante had combined at Leicester), but Khalid Boularouz? Papy Djilibodji? Marko Marin? Steve Sidwell? There are plenty of others I could mention. So let's not kid ourselves that we got (almost) everything right under the previous owner.

14 minutes ago, martin1905 said:

Literally just been told by my mate that it's done and he's coming.

 

Fingers crossed... but then Ugarte was also a 'done deal' until it wasn't (not saying your mate said so; but according to many Twitter ITKs)

[Max Fowler]

26 minutes ago, martin1905 said:

Literally just been told by my mate that it's done and he's coming.

 

Amazing news. This guy is an absolute baller - IMO ahead of Rice.
Absolutely everywhere can be a new Kante for us.

[DannyLB]

Caicedo would be a real coup. What a midfield we're looking to have come next season. 

[Max Fowler]

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 15, 2023 by Max Fowler

[RDCW]

Sounds to me like Arsenal and Chelsea have had a word with each other and agreed a no compete deal for Rice and Caicedo respectively!

[Bob Singleton]

1 hour ago, Max Fowler said:

Amazing news. This guy is an absolute baller - IMO ahead of Rice.
Absolutely everywhere can be a new Kante for us.

Are you American? 😉

20 minutes ago, RDCW said:

Sounds to me like Arsenal and Chelsea have had a word with each other and agreed a no compete deal for Rice and Caicedo respectively!

Or Arsenal know they'll get Rice because of CL football, Chelsea know Arsenal will get Rice because of CL football, but both know Arsenal can't afford to buy both if they also intend strengthening elsewhere. Oh, and Caicedo is happy going to a club that will pay him more, with or without CL next season. All without either club talking to each other.



[EDIT]

Not at all keen on this automatic merging of replies. Sometimes it works, but more often than not it really doesn't!!!

Edited June 15, 2023 by Bob Singleton

[Willian Dollar Baby]

1 hour ago, Bob Singleton said:

Rose (or Blue?) tinted specs, there, I'm afraid. We bought plenty of dross in the Roman era. There were players that could have worked out that didn't, and that's sometimes just one of those things (I'm thinking Danny Drinkwater as a potential member of that list, given how he and Kante had combined at Leicester), but Khalid Boularouz? Papy Djilibodji? Marko Marin? Steve Sidwell? There are plenty of others I could mention. So let's not kid ourselves that we got (almost) everything right under the previous owner.

Of course there were mistakes but in general we made more good decisions than bad which were learned over a long period of time. 

For example not offering more than 1 year contracts to any player over 30, including JT and Lamps. We learned this the hard way by having players like Essien and Malouda contracted well past their best and unsellable. Already we've offered multi year deals to Koulibaly, (31), Azpi (32) and Aubameyang (33). The lesson we learned has been binned already. 

Also managers contracts, after a while we stopped offering more than 3 years. First managerial hire of the new era is Potter and his backroom team on a 5 year deal, £24mill paid to Brighton as well as a severence package. It seems we learned from that with Poch but it's an expensive lesson, particularly when we already had the policy in the club. 

I'm not writing the new ownership off completely there are just a lot of worrying signs.

[McCreadie]

12 hours ago, Max Fowler said:

You seriously think he is more knowledgable about football than any serious fan? Seriously?!

You make out like the first game he watched was after he bought the club. I actually said more knowledgable than you, not any serious fan, but that is perhaps splitting hairs. He has been to a lot more Chelsea games than I have in the last year. The point was never about his supreme football knowledge, it was about your assertion that he “knows absolutely nothing about football”.  As regards his quote about them not being the football experts to find the best talent, which elite club owner does? Clue - none. Much to the chagrin of ROTG he has been true to his word and put those experts in place. In about 3 years we will see if it was a success.

[Original 21]

This is looking positive…

[xceleryx]

14 hours ago, Sleeping Dave said:

Any midfield we have will be unbalanced according to you. I’m not even sure what you are referring to when you talk about balance, I doubt you’ve seen enough of the players to deem how they will work in a unit that’s actually properly coached. Santos and Hall are both CMs. Why they can’t play at CM and how you reached that conclusion is beyond me. Gallagher had 30 games at CM for Palace scoring 7 PL goals. Again, what are you making your judgement on? A chaotic season where not a single player passed as above average? 

Regarding Mount. I’ll eat my hat if Nkunku is deemed as the better player come end of next season. As for the Kepa vs Mendy discussion. Mendy has showed that he can be a great keeper. I’ve never seen anything of the sort from Kepa despite numerous opportunities to prove me wrong. He’s shit, plain and simple. I don’t care about how good he is at passing or dribbling. A goalkeepers first task is to make saves and prohibit the opposition from scoring. Kepa let’s in goals from well outside the box because he’s anticipation and technique is average at best. He will never be anything but a decent La Liga keeper. We need better. 

That's not remotely true at all, I've expressed what a more balanced midfield would look like on several occasions when talking about the team moving forward. Balance is just a blanket term that houses a variety of elements  - skillset, experience, immediate talent vs potential, and so on. Just as being a CM doesn't mean a said player is suitable for every role that can requested from the position - in this case a pivot. Think of it like not all strikers being the same. Some are target men that thrive physically, in the air, holding up the ball, etc. While there's others that are more your poachers, or guys that want to play with the ball in front of them by getting in behind and using their speed, and so on. My judgement is based on analysing the likes of Gallagher and Hall, their strengths, weaknesses, and how they ideally like to play. For instance Gallagher isn't a positionally disciplined midfielder, he thrives getting around the pitch and using his energy to get involved, by pressing, and making runs into the box from deep. He's also got a willingness to shoot and a decent eye for goal when around the box. As a whole his game typically lends itself more on the offensive side, which isn't really the purpose of a pivot. 

Re Mount and Nkunku. They are different players, but having watched both Nkunku is the more naturally gifted and offensively impactful player. We'll need to wait and see if that transfers across here. Not going to get into the Mendy vs Kepa debate, it's been done to death. Ideally neither are first choice, but right now there's a clearly better option out of the two based on present day performances. Hopefully in time we'll get an upgrade, but it's not as pressing of a situation as it is finding ourselves a DM and ST. 

[xceleryx]

5 hours ago, Original 21 said:

This is looking positive…

Hopefully get it over the line sooner rather than later. 

Would still like another DM to come in on top, that way we've got two genuine options to either rotate between or provide seamless depth whenever one is out and not having to begin plugging gaps - an issue we've had for far too long in more recent years. 

I know we may look at Andrey Santos or Casadei in pre-season but neither are really DM's either. 

[Bison]

1 hour ago, xceleryx said:

Hopefully get it over the line sooner rather than later. 

Would still like another DM to come in on top, that way we've got two genuine options to either rotate between or provide seamless depth whenever one is out and not having to begin plugging gaps - an issue we've had for far too long in more recent years. 

I know we may look at Andrey Santos or Casadei in pre-season but neither are really DM's either. 

If (and it's a big If) we do sign Caicedo then I would be all in on Lavia as well. He is nowhere near the finished article but I think he'd be an excellent project player for us that could become something special.