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Who's playing in front of our back four then / #6 ? Gallagher certainly not. Mount certainly not. Kova? Nope. Even Jorgi, who'd be the best fit in theory isn't up to it imho, not with Thiago for me as that combo just lacks a minimum of speed. Thiago is fine if he's got to do the occasional sprint / tackle if one of the other two CBs are overrun - but I doubt we want to see him doing that within a high line every other minute. He'd also be totally burned out after a couple of matches if he's got a lot more sprinting to do. Ampadu I don't know about but I doubt we're building our complete system around a player that occasionally played that position with 21yo and 2100mins PL football under his belt. Just don't see it happening. Our problem last season wasn't the back four (lack of) or back five (dross). But that we didn't have good back ups for our wingbacks who missed a lot of games and are integral part for us creating chances.

Where is Mount playing?

Without a proper DM and Thiago still in the mix I recon we won't see a 433 on a regular basis.

What‘s he like? remember seeing his name pop up at times (and he‘s got a nice name to memorize) but that had nothing to do with Chelsea

Anybody seen this fella play RB? Just saw he did play that from time to time and we desparately need a James back-up that is at least decent. Wasn't fan of Azpi doing that depsite being kind of solid there. Even more extreme is the Chilwell backup since we don't even know if he's able to get back to where he left off.

Dunno, ofc the Lukaku transfer is as bad as it can get and the previous transfers mostly didn't really work out at least the way they should but the squad overall won convincingly the CL and played a good role in the title race for half a season - while the downfall in the second half wasn't down to reasons directly regarding Marina. I think it's mostly two things (while latest transfers didn't help of course): a) having a face up top that is directly and 100% linked to Roman means bad PR for a new owner. That's just how it is. b) you'd want somebody in that is invested in the project / club long term and not on his/her way out. Somebody who can be held accountable. As for TT, I don't think he's not interested to be involved at all. But there is a huge difference between being integrally involved in the whole process or discussing certain targets that are already filtered out - while also not having to think about a total budget and whatever else.

Nevertheless: going after the sentiments in this very thread City would have done great business selling their poor back-up to us for what, 40m, but for some reason they prefer keeping said player for that money risking to leave us with say Koundé in the process - a player some said would eventuall replace Ake in the City squad... So what is it? Maybe he's actually not that bad a player and apparently City know that.

posted the exact same vid yesterday too. If we can tame him he's going to be a great addition - and since we have a great team structure I think that's not that far fetched. Especially with Koulibaly and Thiago at the back.

Marquinhos cerainly is an established world-class defender which is also the reason why PSG will never sell him. But it wasn‘t Marquinhos who stabalized the Paris defense: it was Thiago. Kimbembe is a cert starter for France for a reason and if he makes the next step - nobody can guarantee that he does ofc - there aren‘t that many defenders above him. How old is he anyway? 24? We need defenders that are competent at passing and well versed with defending in the oppo‘s half - Kimpembe is used to that.

Didn't Ake help out as a LB at city at times? Even if that'd be rahter highly defensive I like this prospect because that's been something Alonso never really could do: shut down his side completely which made us incredibly vulnerable. I also read that Ake could in theory play a DM - so if he could help us out there in case we need a back-up I'd much rather have him there than Challobah who IMO should focus only on his CB play. When TT was still in Paris I always defended Kimpembe because I saw this kind of untamed beast that had all the raw qualities you'd need to become an elite CB. And I thought he improve much his consistency, his main deficit, in the second season of TT. But eversince I saw him it seemed he stagnated or even regressed. Red cards galore, no consistent composure etc.pp. - how much this is down to a toxic or at least very strange PSG locker room / team chemistry, I dunno. Anecdote: After TT failed against United in the CL (also partly due a stupid mistake by Kimpembe playing handball) it seemed he had lost the locker room afterwards in the fallout and there were serious rumors about Kimpembe openly discouraging younger players to follow TTs instructions - think he has a weird brother too who's not afraid to step in with some stupid social media stuff - so once PSG decided to keep TT and bring in a new director (Leonardo, lol) everybody was thinking Kimpembe has to go. Can't keep such a player. But both of them sat down and found a solution somehow. Kimpembe then plays the IMO best season of his life, very consistent and focussed, even Captain at times. When it was clear that Leonardo wanted TT out asap and they played against Lille, their hardest rival, in the following season he even did this tackle to prevent a loss which ineveitably would have equalled TTs sacking (except Leonardo's masterplan was always to sack him during Christmas eve.. 24.12.) Kimpembe injured himself during this sitution, missed the next games IIRC, and if you look at the slo-mo you see that this happens during his sprint which he still follows through making the decisive tackle. Loved him back then and hope he can step up becoming the player that he can be within a more reliable and stable club.

Kimpembe, grown up? Nah.. Would having three left footed CBs on the pitch mean that they could rotate and change positions all the time to confuse rotating attacking players? The headache!

I thought they did that already? I presume that right now they try really hard to figure out how to fit Sterling into their squad so that they can hijack him.

Leadership is a good point - we will be missing it heavily in Rüdiger's (and Dave's too) absence. Imagine Thiago would be out for a while! From what I read so far it's one Koulibaly's traits - would have been eventually Napoli's captain next season for example - so more power to him! I don't agree with your last sentence which I find straight generalizing but we can bet that especially after the whole Lukaku debacle our signing process will vet player's "personality" even more intense. One would hope so at least. Also Sterling checks out in that regard too imho so that's all quite promising. Ake seems a teamplayer as well.

We most certainly do. Want't there a link / rumour to some German guy or young talent from the Bundesliga a while ago? Would be enough imho and could be already in the bag but waiting to be anounced after Sterling got presented. Todd wouldn't his very first signing being some unknown prospect nobody heard of before - even if the signing makes 100% sense.

Hard to say. I do think he can be a complicated (or rather complex) type of person at times, complicated not meant as a negative, and I do believe he is very demanding. And like everywhere else there will be players/people that prefer a rather less intellectual/demanding and a much more simple approach (say one prefers rather to play under Carlito than Tuchel for example). Just a guess. Other top clubs have good managers as well (and can guarantee CL football - even Barca can do that - while we atm have to fight it out due the competitive nature of the PL). What we do have to take into account is that the players we are after are linked to the absolute elite juggernauts of the game. Real, Barca, Bayern, City, Pool..eventually Juve too. Those clubs have a global following (City being the extreme exception here) and history that we just can't compete with on an eye to eye level - and some of them have also (much) better perspectives to win titles. On top of that I think we pay less wages than those clubs for top signings - which after all is said and done the very main pull.

That's some good news for a change!

I'm quite familiar with Gnabry. As I said, he's a good player, heck very good alright, but I wouldn't call him versatile. He's also nobody for the right flank but somebody you would want nearby or inside the box because finishing is his best trait by far. Don't get me wrong, excellent trait to have - lol- but he's a completely different profile than Raphinha. I'd say he's quite dependent on others to create and set up chances that he converses but not a creative type of attacking player in my book. And imho that's something we need the most - and Sterling clearly has it in him to create dangerous situations on his own.

I he versatile though? Not sure about him. Somewhat strange player, good of course but hard to judge imho. At least for me.

Or he's an anti-vaxxer, can't enter the US, unless with a magic carpet ,and that's how they want to brush it under the carpet? Bad, I know. 😄

Every top club is looking at Gvardiol, that's not the point. The player knows that. The thing is we can't afford to wait forever how the markets unfolds and have to fix our defense at least partially at some point. We are in no position like City, Pool, Madrid (or Barca) that can make players wait patiently / refuse to sign the first decent deal offered. And as far as I understand: it's not like Chelsea pay the highest wages either. Also, nobody knows for certain that we don't sign him later this window as well. Gvardiol is an example. Bremer is linked to Juve in case DeLigt leaves, Koulibaly as well but in his case we all know that Napoli just as easily eventually decides not to sell him like they did numerous transfer windows before.

Of course one has ultimately to wait and watch out for the real performances but Sterling is as PL proven as it gets. I'd argue you will hardly find an equivalent for significantly less money. My only issue / doubt with Sterling is that I see in him the (much much) better version of Pulisic..which struggles heavily to find a good spot in our tactical setup. Can Sterling do that due higher ceiling and more experience? If yes, it's a huge leap forward imho. Laporta just makes himself look like a clown here. His very own scouting system should be able to tell him what and what not those players he's signing are capable of. And if that's too crazy a concept for him to understand he should ask himself why City wanted to sell those players. 😉 Ferran is a class player though. There is also no guarantee that Koundé, Bremer, Koulibaly, Botman, De Ligt, Gvardiol et al do perform from the get go - and they cost a fortune as well. To bring in a versatile, experienced, PL proven player that is used to perform in a system with heavy ball possession (which clubs from under the top 6 play such a system?) at a time where everybody knows we're in dire need to sign not one but at least two top CBs isn't bad business in my book. IMO whether we catch up to City a notch or not isn't really that much determined by Ake, who after all was their back-up last year, and by another CB that they might or might not bring in but whether Haaland works or not (or whether he is injured often or not), whether they also sell Bernardo or not and whether Grealish kicks in or not. Because from that perspective, if Haaland isn't really working out - at least in the first season - then selling Sterling who can almost guarantee you 15+ goals a season could be equally questioned. And it would have been good business by us as well. But that's all very much conjecture anyway. Let's wait who still leaves our squad and who's brought in and then we got the whole picture. It's always been clear to me that this window will be incredibly hard because of the sanctions and then the late takeover with our higher ups all leaving the building. IMO, if this transfer window isn't a disaster and halfway decent it's almost a win for me within this context. As frustrating as it is.

Sure, us needing not one but realistically two top CB makes us pay top dollar. No question. If we keep the 343 while also losing Azpi and Alonso without signing proper replacements I'd argue we defo should keep Colwill as Ake will have to cover multiple positions. We also can't assume that Thiago can play as many games as he did last season. On top of that we still need a Rüdiger replacement (not regarding position but impact on the field) which Ake isn't in my eyes.

Can't imagine why he would come to Chelsea tbh - only explanation for me would be that he had a complete outfall with the higher ups at Bayern ultimately (yet Barca can't find enough money - which seems impossible hahaha). Not totally impossible but he's a model professional so not that likely. The main / sole reason IMO why he wanted to leave is the Ballon d'Or. You can shoot as many goals as he does but he needs the bigger global reach Barca or Madrid have to really have a shot at the trophy. Last thing I would want to read is some LongtimeLurker post saying there are already personal terms agreed upon etc pp to get my hopes even higher up 😄

What about that Antony fella? 😄 The thing is that James is kinda our unofficial RW to some extent - at least regarding scorers. I'm not 100% sure I'd like to see James play RB in a 433 (for example) playing much more defensively with a true RW in front of him, yet most likely no elite RW. And if we keep the 343 we need a RW that supplements James' runs and isn't occupying the same spaces. That's what I though was great about the Raphinha signing who I imagined can partially switch roles with James situationally - mybe a reason he rather goes to Barca. 😄