Hanzen

Hard to disagree. In regards to Andrey Santos I believe you should switch it around. - I'm yet to see any huge red flags or major reasons that would signal he definately needs a loan move. He's a pivot. They're not really meant to excite; but to create stability. Besides, he's young - just moved from Brazil. It's pre-season. I'd keep him around and let him have a slow integration to the PL. A loan with loads of gametime could be good - but so could being at the club. With Cesare Casadei I think many are somewhat biased due to his amazing display in the u20 WC. No doubt he's a huge talent. There's ups and downs to his game still. Not to sure about this one. Wouldn't mind keeping him if we lack options in midfield. Could be interesting with a loan to a PL/Serie A club and letting him play week in - week out.

Improved or not... the problem is that we've just lost Wesley Fofana to a long term injury. It would have made sense selling him a month ago - but the timing of the sale now just seems odd. If rumours are true and we're looking to sell both Chalobah and Gallagher despite having had a long term injury for Fofana while not having closed Caicedo it surely must mean that the club has had a clear plan from the start to do so - regardless of injuries. Selling homegrown players is somewhat ideal due to the finanical part of it. Still, this one seems strange. Hopefully it'll all turn out to be part of a bigger picture by the end of August.

I really hope so. Sadly I can't see Brighton giving up their valuation. At the same time it would be foolish of them to end in a lose-lose-lose situation over £10-15m. We'll end up without our main target. Caicedo won't get his move - probably end up somewhat unhappy. - Brighton will keep an unhappy player while losing out on a massive amount of money. My guess is that we'll get him if we move closer towards them in some regard. I imagine the payment strucure being crucial as well. The higher the bid; the better the terms. If we somehow manage to convince them of £80m it'll be with a high payment upfront or a short period (1-2 years probably) to pay off the total amount. - With £90m it'll most likely be more favorable terms for us while £100m will be the most ideal terms. Still get the feeling that this one could go on towards the ending of August with us just splashing £100m and giving in. Enzo vibes to some degree.

Only 37 days? Feels like way more.

I've seen quite a lot of Kudus when he was playing in Denmark for FC Nordsjælland. He's definately an offensive player (CAM/RW/ST); not a CDM. Can't see us going for him with an ambition of trying to make him a defensive asset. If we go in for him it'll probably be as RW/CAM. Speaking of Nordsjælland. Their academy in Ghana (Right to Dream, red.) has produced several amazing talents over the past years. - Sulemana, Adingra, Kudus - to name a few. The latest talent to break through is Ernest Nuamah (LW/RW/ST). Scored a hattrick in the opening game of the Danish Superliga yesterday. PSG has made af bid for him this summer already. IMO that's someone we should make a move for.

Indeed. There's no doubt it'll be a clear breach of FFP. But what can anyone do? Ban them from the UCL? They're not in it. Perhaps they'll get a fine. Maybe even a transfer ban. But they won't care if they manage to secure one of the best players in the world in his prime. It's sportswashing - and despite it being disgusting, it'll probably work to some extend with the league already getting publicity due to the transfers. - Sadly they'll probably also get more viewers.

Exactly. Several young English players have taken the route to Germany with succes. Hard to say why it didn't work out. Fair point - haven't watched any of his games for Leverkusen really. My point is that if he'd been good enough, I'd assume that he'd also been playing some kind of role under Xabi Alonso. Since the start of February he has only played four times; all substitutions that sum up to a total of 67 minutes ... thats in roughly four months.

Because he was poor. He ended up on benched for them. During the year at Leverkusen he was involved in 14 Bundesliga (600 minutes of football) games. Only managed to produce one assist and no goals in the proces. I remember when Bayern wanted to drop £40-50m for him even though he'd just ruptured his achilles. Sad to see one of the brightest prospects from Cobham fall through this way.

Not sure it means anything for Sterling really. If Ângelo goes on loan we'll have four wingers in total inluding Olise. Probably Mudryk/Sterling on the left and Olise/Madueke on the right. One can only hope that a sneaky Saudi offer will come in for Sterling though.

Not that Guehi is necessarily is bad in the air; but that statement is simply not true. Thiago Silva is excellent in the air despite his height. - Last season Guehi had a worse "Won % of Aerial Duels" than all our current defenders except 1.92m Chalobah.

Well, that's something to work with for Pochettino though. He's young and lives in - and comes from - London. Knows our club from his time in our academy. His brother, Richard, also plays for us. Most personal factors would be ideal and path the way for an easy transition. 2G//11A in 37 games in his first PL season is a decent output. He seems to have a sharp left foot; brilliant technique. That's needed as most of our players can't seem to find players with a cross even if their life depended on it. I'd really love this deal. My only worry is the hamstring injury he suffered during the U21 EC. It's hard to know when he'll be ready - but it'll likely take at least two months from now. When he returns, will he be affected by the injury? These type of injuries usually affect acceleration and sprinting, but as technology constantly improves it could be that the rehabilitation will be better as well. With Olise it's a chance I'd take for sure.

Completely agree. Would be foolish to sell him now - especially with Fofanas injury in mind. There's also a chance that he'll grow with the responsibility of being a more experienced player in the squad.

Hard to judge by a pre-season game against a low tier opponent. Personally I'd take the chance to sell him if the opportunity arrives for >25m. Doubt it'll happen though. For me the strenghts of Cucu is his ability to press high and break up play while he also seems to have stamina to keep running - both are attributes that could be ideal under Pochettino. Still not sure it's enough to cover his complete moments of disaster in defensive decision making and positioning - not to mention mediocre marking at best. If we decide to give him one more season to prove himself; fine. If not, oh well... also fine.

He's only 26. Should have plenty of good years in him. He does seem like more of a box-to-box midfielder IMO. - At Milan he was primarily playing as the 8 - not an out-and-out 6-role. Personally I believe that the club are looking at at defensive-minded midfielder that can help Enxo gaining more freedom in the midfield. Could be wrong though.

Agree that Chalobah doesn't seem to have a cealing high enough for a starter role at a team that consistantly want to challenge for the PL and CHL. Laporte is a left-footed CB. He's been playing in the LCB-spot most of his career. We probably need a right-footed for the RCB-role. - Marquinhos also features in the LCB-spot - but will potentialy be able to play all over the centerback-line. Sadly I can't see PSG selling - or him choosing us right now. Upamecano is an interesting shout. If Bayern were to consider offers we should definately try. On the other hand there are quite a few decent talents we could look into. Personally I'd love to see either Antonio Silva or Bella-Kotchap. Lacroix is antoher option. All of the above would be investments for both now and the future (ie. Thiago Silva won't play forever).

Exactly. Brighton has a clear tactic and system where everyone knows the their role. This allows players to unfold... I mean, look at March or Gross. Not sure that Caicedo will necessarily flop per say. But we did see Bissouma doing exactly what Caicedo is doing when he was playing for Brighton. - Now he's one of the biggest disappointments of last seasons PL. That could happen as well for Caicedo - but on the other hand his performances for the NT has also been decent. He looks great for the role we want him in. If he furthermore manage to free up something for Enzo it'll be massive. However, there are other options available for less - that statistically aren't much different.

True that 😂

My fear exactly. We need quality and experience. Still wondering why we didn't went for Milinkovic-Savic at €40m. And yes! Three or four new quality players are indeed needed. - Even if Caicedo comes in, we still need a backup CDM. We need depth/quality in RW. We need backup in CAM. We need a quality leading ST. Let's hope that something happens. Otherwise I can't see us ending higher than Brighton, Villa, etc. Gives me some sort of 2010's Arsenal-vibes to settle for a top 10-finish in the PL. 😶

I agree. We're currently in a peculiar situation. Highly unproved squad. Some key players furthermore missed the initial flight to USA due to injuries. Last summer I remember at lot of concern as well over the lack of transfers. All of a sudden it exploded. - We might see the same this year. It seems that outgoings are the primary focus and then we start building. The new sporting directors probably does have a plan. I doubt the fact that our owners are American changes that.

I think I get where you're going. However, I've never mentioned double figures anywhere as a criteria for succes. It's not that I think that Cherki isn't a talent. As mentioned he has massive skill and creativity already. He's interesting. Besides, it's easy to shape data towards any agenda. Below you'll see actual data for Hazard - not just goals. Hazard: 09/10 (18Y) 52M; 10G/13A Hazard: 10/11 (19Y) 54M; 12G/14A Across two of his first seasons as a senior he managed 49 G/A in 106 matches. He didn't explode at 21. He did it way before. Saka, well. We could just as well have taken any other CAM/RW for that sake. Not sure how he's chosen in this comparison? Some talents does take more time to get into the first team. Cherki was there at 16 - Saka only started playing first team football at 18. Since then he's played four full seasons as an integral part the team in all seasons. He didn't just explode last season. Anyhow. My point was that it would be sad if he was one of the young talents that bursts to the scene at an extremely early age only to fall through. Despite playing 3-4 seasons at Lyon, this is his first season where he's close to really breaking through. Again, this is in Ligue 1 - at a club where a player that Arsenal didn't need managed 27G/5A. He could end out taking another step next year - and he probably will. Though he could also end up as Mastour, Januzaj and Bojan Krkic (or Ben Arfa/Taarabt; ie. players that never fulfilled their potential). All I'm saying is that there's some riscs given that he already has somewhat a reputation of being lazy despite being 19Y. With this in mind there are some potential areas that reminds Taarabt/Ben Arfa - absolute magicians that were sadly deemed lazy. Is he what we need right now? At €43m I'm just not so sure.

Pretty much the same for me! @RIP Mourinho I do think we need some more experience and/or higher tier players though. I mean - look at a club like Aston Villa. They've signed Tielemans and Pau Torres as of now. They're linked to Moussa Diaby. That's three very good signings IMO. - I'd even say that all of them could possibly walk into our XI at the moment. We've signed Jackson - potentially a guy with a high cealing, but also unproved and a player that was just a medical check away from Bournemouth six months ago. I'd hope for something like this XI (4-2-3-1): GK: Kepa / Slonina / Bettinelli RB: James / Gusto RCB: Thiago Silva / Fofana / Humphreys LCB: Colwill / Badiashile / Samuels-Smith LB: Chilwell / Maatsen CDM: Enzo Fernandez / Caicedo / Andrey Santos / Hall / New CDM CAM: Nkunku / New CAM RW: Madueke / New RW LW: Mudryk / Sterling ST: Broja / Jackson / New ST In CDM: Amadou Onana / Romeo Lavia / Fabricio Díaz CAM: Matheus Franca / Florian Wirtz / Joao Felix RW: Jeremy Doku / Yéremy Pino ST: Dusan Vlahovic / Lautaro Matinez / Short comments for these. Onana is young and seems like classic CDM. Tall, pretty fast while also being agile and obviously strong. A bit of Bakayoko/Zakaria similarities - but interesting option nonetheless. Lavia - another interesting prospect.Could see a bidding war for him though. Otherwise, Fabricio Díaz who captained Uruguays U20-side to winning U20 WC could be an option. Franca is someone where there's been some noise already. Ideally a loan unless he really impresses in pre-season. Another CAM-option... Wirtz - what a talent. Not been too lucky with our latest German starlet from Leverkusen - and with Diaby potentially being sold it'll be hard to get him. Also had a massive early in his career. Lastly, my ideal CAM/SS/RW. Felix... Yes. Some doesn't like him. Apparently Pochettino is in this group. However, he has the ability to due the unexpected. A real creative force whom with the right coach and confidence could be lethal for us. Other options for the RW could be Doku or Pino. Both young, with Doku being extremely fast while Pino is technically gifted. To end our incomings I'd get a new frontman. There's clearly not many top tier strikers available out there, but Vlahovic or Lautaro could be options. Loan Chukwuemeka Vale Angelo Gabriel Hutchinson Casadei Datro Fofana Sell Hudson-Odoi (£10-15m) Cucurella (£25-30m) Lukaku (£35-40m) Aubameyang (£0-5m) Ziyech (£5-10m) Gallagher (£40-45m) Chalobah (£20-25m) Ampadu (£5-10m) Sarr (£0-5m) Total: £140-185m Something like this would be my hope.

This one definately has some Taarabt/Ben Arfa vibes about him. There's been some noise in regard to him being lazy and arrogant. Exciting player with enormous skill and creativity. As some have mentioned he doesn't look very pacy - but neither were players like Eriksen and Deli Alli. - Both performed great under Pochettino. Eriksen probably as the more hard working part. He's interesting - but not to sure if he's worth the €43m that's being quoted. 5G/10A in 83 Ligue 1 games. Sure, he was very young when he his named was first introduced to the big stage - but it has since taken 2-3 seasons for him to really break through after that. Last season was first decent season with 4G/6A in 34 games i Ligue 1. Still, this was in a team where an 31-year-old Lacazette managed 27G/5A in 35 games.

Exactly. Huge mistake by Caicedo his representatives. Could end with a lose-lose-lose situation simply due to them not demanding a release clause. We'd lose out on our primary target while Caicedo will end up distracted and unhappy - potentially. Brighton will get to keep a player that most likely doesn't want to be there and miss out on a somewhat big amount of money. It seems that it is a waiting game for everyone else but the player to see if the other part will budge. Hopefully we'll up the fixed fee a bit and find a solution. Would be interesting to be a fly on the wall for these apparant daily conversations... CFC: "We want Caicedo. He want us; you know it - we know it! Here's £70m +15m in bonusses. That should be more than fair." BHA: "No. But how about £120m instead? After all you gave £60m for that Cucu-guy we had as a left back. We like Moises - he's twice as good." CFC: "How about now? Same offer" BHA: "Wait, what" CFC: "This was indeed a pleasing and constructive conversation. Talk to you next week." One week later... CFC: "What do you think of £70m + 15m then?" ...

Those are likely supects if this doesn't go through, it seems. Wonder why we didn't go for a guy like Milinkovic-Savic. £35-40m 'ish for at player with routine that's in his prime - seems like a good deal. - Could be that our scouts are seeing some riscs. I can't see Brighton deciding not to sell at all if a fair offer comes in; they're said to have a non-written gentleman's agreement that he is to be sold this window. The key here is knowing what Brighton deems as fair. Probably £100m+ or something like that. Obviously it would seem that we believe it's possible for less. Can't imagine us not having a list of options in case we can't reach an agreement with Brighton.

Read that too 🙄 Didn't they also put in a bid for CHO during last week?