Luiz4Chelsea

I'll admit it's a suspicion at most, and a risky one at that. Of course he's talented, just like Sancho, but in his 99 appearances for us he's never truly convinced me outside of counter attacks. But you're right, he has many years to work on that.

Why not? We can't be sure yet if Sancho will cause us any trouble at one of our rivals. I find them both quite similar in style and find them both too predictable to break PL defences down, not convinced either of them will set this league on fire. Both are custom made for the Bundesliga where they can exploit the spaces. If some PL club offers big money on him I'd go for it

Hahaha I've read it's Leicester. I wouldn't mind selling them Callum, even to Liverpool, I'm simply not convinced he'll ever set this league on fire, for me he's built for the Bundesliga. Would obviously have to be a very good offer, like 40m GBP. The link with Kounde on the one hand makes sense on the other hand doesn't. I feel like we can only afford for CHO to leave if Koundé comes, but it wouldn't make the 90m EUR any less painful

Let's be real, everyone is completely clueless. Every 5 minutes another outlet declares this deal off or on and always with different numbers. Time is certainly running out though

We need to pay the bloody clause then, can't let 15m EUR spoil our season. - Who's gonna play LCB if Rüdiger is unavailable at some point? Pretty sure Koundé can play on both sides quite well - If Kounde doesn't come we probably can't let CHO go to Dortmund simply because Azpi + James are more tied in at RCB and we need more backup for RWB. That loan itself could easily generate 15m EUR in his value. We should also push hard for Niguez loan + option to buy, Simeone didn't sound like the deal was totally off yesterday. Surely Niguez can see now how much play time he'd be getting If a neutral window is a 5/10, I think we're currently at 6/10 with the potential to jump to 9/10 with these two deals. Lukaku alone lifts us loads and we've had some very good sales, but the Billy loan and the Zouma sale were clearly sealed with their replacements in mind and now seem quite unnecessary if those don't materialise. With no added CM Billy would have seen good playing times and with Zouma in the squad and the addition of Chalobah we could have let CHO leave. I know you're a master negotiator and I have great belief in our current squad, but I believe this time we just need to pay our dues

Seems to be quite seriously linked with a Dortmund loan. The more I think about it, as long as we wrap up Kouné (freeing up James+Azpi for RWB), I really like the idea. In two weeks we'll face Villa (a team we're expected to dominate) and Reece will be booked, and still I can't picture CHO playing over Azpi. Azpi has a fraction of the attacking skill Callum has, yet I feel like he's more likely to score a goal or provide an assist than Callum would be. It seems to me like Callum has reached a total mental block; without regular performances he's anxious not to make any mistakes when he plays, ends up being very predictable and rarely helps to break teams down. I know we aren't massively stacked in attacking options but I also can't see what would have to happen for Callum to get the playing time he needs to believe in himself, beyond League and FA Cup. Would 6 out of Pulisic, Werner, Ziyech, Mount, Havertz, Lukaku, Azpi or James have to be unavailable? Dortmund would be the perfect destination for him. I actually find him extremely similar to Sancho - fast skillful wingers yet a bit overconcerned with their form and the elegance of their movement making them quite predictable; at this point Sancho is a better finisher though - and I believe he could tear the Bundesliga apart. Once that happens we might have a spot for him, but we might also have the opportunity to sell him to the Bundesliga for good money (either to Bayern who might like to snap him away from their rivals or to Dortmund who might wanna use the Haaland money to prove they're not just a selling club). I'm seriously glad we didn't go for Sancho this summer. Dortmund fans understandably feel like 85m EUR is a bit cheap in the current market, on the other hand I suspect he won't even be worth that for United. I can't help but feel like both Sancho and CHO are much better suited to the Bundesliga where they can exploit the vast spaces with their pace and directness. There they can be superstars, Bayern and Dortmund draw massive international attention after all. In the Premier League I struggle to see what Sancho will offer to United over what we already have in Callum, other than more self confidence and better finishing from running at German goals for three years. Someone like Pulisic, while inconsistent so far, at least possesses the creativity to break down defenses in this league. I'm all for a loan with no option to buy (which would be based on his current value), I feel like it would be a great deal for every party involved.

I hope Marina manages to strike a good deal but ultimately I'd be happy with any fee. This would simply be a massive transfer. The term generational talent is very popular these days but here I suspect one, I don't get how a CB can be so composed and well-rounded at only 22. Bayern Munich just bought another highly rated 22 y o french CB, but place him next to Kounde and he starts looking real rough around the edges Make it happen Marina!

hahaha was always gonna be premature! Now he's gonna do his damage at United, would have preferred City tbh. Annoyingly this might be a better fit for him, fewer characters to clash with, just 10 players and 1 coach awaiting his brief before every game

Of course there's no need to panic but I got a feeling this deal would be special. Let's just pay up, read elsewhere 70m EUR would do the trick And I'm not too convinced of this "unimpressed" rumour, I'd bet Chelsea and Seville have been in contact over the past weeks and discussed how to move forward. He even said publicly everything can happen within the 31st, and if he wants it to happen a few days earlier then I'm sure there's no issue achieving that

What's your view on Koundé?

I'm loving this transfer window more and more, and I mean that on a holistic level. With only a few days remaining, I hope all the majour rumours will materialse, particularly CR7 to ManCity, Mbappé to Real and obviously Koundé and Saul to us. Let`s picture that scenario PSG and ManCity clearly feel the urge to "force" a UCL win and in my eyes they've found a very disturbing response to that - old trophy signings. For both the teams the focus will now shift entirely on the individuals. "Will Messi finally prove he can do it somewhere else? Will he be more impactful or Neymar? How will he correspond with Sergio Ramos? Can Ronaldo still dominate the Premier League? Could he become top scorer?" The players will be equally caught up with themselves, Ronaldo`s late push is basically a cry for attention. PSG might lose their actual young superstar, ManCity missed out on the striker that could have actually improved them as a team. Instead they've found players that will demand to play and be the coach's primary concern while not contributing as a whole player (certainly when tracking back). If that doesn't happen they will cause disharmony, in the case of Ronaldo I could picture that being the case from day 1 when he realises that City initially thought he - CR7 - is probably not worth 27m EUR at this point 😂. I'd actually feel much calmer about City with Ronaldo in their squad, same about PSG replacing Mbappe with Messi (even if he stays reluctantly and dissatisfied they've kind of already done that 😂). All the while we're keeping our head down thinking what characters and profiles could enhance our exquisitely competitive squad. Lukaku + Koundé + Saul would be another masterclass in that. What about you guys, do you also wish for all the remaining rumours to materialise?

Might be quite hard to define those for a CM. I want our CMs to become more attacking, but I don't really care how many goals and assists they collect. Didn't Kovacic display exactly what we want to see for the first goal against Arsenal? He didn't get any contribution for that

Wouldn't be surprised if United manage to bottle this

I know what you mean and I love all three of Jorgi-Kante-Kova, actually find they're being a bit too fundamentally criticised sometimes for not putting out attacker's kind of numbers (so it makes me all the happier to see the kinds of passes from Kovacic you mentioned). However playing Kova-Jorgi-Kante behind Werner-Lukaku would have even me worried of an extreme disconnect, with that setup our only option is to send the two strikers long or deep crosses from the wing backs. I also don't see the need to set up even more defensively than last time we went there and won 1:0, we've got quite a well balanced team and don't need to hide from them at all, particularly their central midfield. I think Mount will be absolutely key for transition if we play Lukaku-Werner, but maybe you'd like to see Kovacic over Jorgi which I could understand

Of course every player's situation is unique (even though I can't really distinguish the difference in your argument apart from their age) and it's absolutely possible that players have thoughts like this. However the truth remains that we have lost a first team player we didn't want to lose exactly one time, and never on a free transfer (far from it in fact). Yes it seems to have happened a few times this summer so maybe there's a bit of a trend but so far our management of our players' contract situations has always been flawless. If they keep their current form I consider it extremely unlikely to see even one of them leave on a free next season, in part because they're not the typical candidates for that move: - They haven't outgrown the club (Donnarumma) - They're not super old (Silva, Ramos) - They're not super young and stuck in their talent status - They're settled in London and seem happy and well integrated in the club and team. - They've only found their immense form quite recently and in tailor-made roles within a very specific system (unlike someone like Wijnaldum), so it's not like all CL contending clubs have been longing to have the two of them in their starting 11 for years. Do you think Rüdiger would be likelier to start every game for Bayern, PSG or Madrid? - There's no reason why they would be offered significantly more money somewhere else. Yes they'd come on a free transfer but for Chelsea extending is like a free transfer too. - I don't understand your argument about Christensen, it sounds like he'd be thinking "if only I had gotten what I want earlier. Now that I've only gotten it so recently I should probably go elsewhere to find the same thing." I'm sure every true sports professional would be proud of sth they worked hard to achieve, not feel cheated they had to work for it. - They're at one of the most promising and balanced clubs in Europe and would probably find it hard not to downgrade (unless they went to ManCity) Therefore, if they keep their form, I'm 70% sure both of them will still be at the club 2022/23 and 90% sure neither of them will move for free.