SydneyChelsea

Alaba, Brozovic, Zinchenko, Renato Sanches in that order.

Reckon that bloke just ripped @dkw and me off Obligatory link to Paul Quinn, an actual expert. One way to interpret our transfer window "win" is that our £488m in sales is actually £488m in hopeful credit notes due from other equally-indebted clubs. It's gamblers borrowing from other gamblers.

FWIW the original article was made up by ESPN Brazil, which is as reliable as Nicolas Jackson 12 yards out from goal. They tacked on some speculation to a short interview and called it "news". For selfish reasons, I think he's in the perfect position. Like in 2005 where Mourinho could start Duff and Robben and bring on Joe Cole in the 60th minute, we lose no attacking momentum if one of Palmer/Rogers gets subbed off. Estevao can change a game off the bench. Sort that midfield situation solidly and we could even see Estevao starting at his favoured no. 10 role which actually allows Rogers and Palmer to take up their favoured inside right/left spots.

I think there's two seperate but worthwhile points you and @The Rising Sun are both making: Perhaps for the first time under BlueCo we have a positive value on our playing squad. Losses on the likes of Fofana, Gusto, Neto, Mudryk, Gittens and maybe Lavia are offset against likely gains on the value of Pedro, Palmer, probably even Rogers and Caicedo in this market. This is great news for Clearlake and their lenders, but not so relevant to the club. In an inflationary market we are unlikely to secure equivalent replacements for the same price and in a deflationary market we won't receive the expected sales. Asset value doesn't matter in football terms, spending does. We've spent an unimaginable amount of money with little to show for it. That's still a problem and while we are able to cover our mistakes due to favourable selling conditions, that isn't always going to last. We have to get much, much better at recruitment. There's some dangerous PR coming out of BlueCo suggesting that Winstanley should be praised for the window sales, and that it was the recruitment and the 'model' that guaranteed us the prices we received. That is foolish nonsense. The market was inflated by a number of macroeconomic conditions that are unlikely to be repeated and are certainly not sustainable. We will not be getting 50m for Garnacho or 65m for Jackson or 125m for Enzo Fernandez equivalents in future years. BlueCo need to have some humility and take an accurate perspective, and not squander a second-chance that we might never get again.

I think that's why he was (jokingly) called Messinho because his dribbling style is very similar to Messi. Not the fastest off the mark but his close control is so good he doesn't lose speed when on the dribble, meaning if/when you fall for his fake you are left in the dust. It's the kind of playstyle that IMO ages very well, not just Messi but it makes me think of Zola, Iniesta, Busquets who still gave people twisted blood into their 30s. Messi definitely developed an elite first-step speed later on, and still has it, hence why he was still able to sit Rice and Anderson on their arse in the WC semi-final at the age of 572. Definitely something for Estevao to keep working on. Also, the idea that "bulking up" makes you slower is just...wrong. I don't know how anyone who has lived through the era of Usain Bolt or Cristiano Ronaldo can still come to that conclusion.

I know he's been compared to Aguero but that clip against Middlesbrough reminds me so much of young Rooney or Tevez. The kind of forward you just deploy up front and they cover all three positions. Blows past defenders with either strength, speed or just streetwise skill. Equally likely to nutmeg you or chop you down. Will look 35 at age 24 and will be in their mid-50s at 30.

Neither of those players are likely to be more Premier League ready than Essugo may or may not be. Which actually makes it more surprising that BlueCo didn't try, in fairness. He had a single injury in his senior career at 20, how is that 'injury-prone'?

Arsenal have been largely outplayed by us in every game for the last two years but come away with the result, usually through a red card and/or set piece goals. Perhaps its time for the reverse.

I understand Chilwell and letting them pre-borrow Ahanor, but giving them Disasi...?

100%, the interview is of course his idealised version, but reading it a bit critically you can absolutely see he that is the case and he is trying to now pin it on Balogun for turning it down, and minimise Camara's disappointment at staying. It's pretty obvious they came back to us when Balogun initially fell through and they needed a big sale. I'd go so far as to say that we probably could have reasonably felt like we were doing them a favour by not demanding a lesser price given their desperation. In the end, Scuro fumbled it badly, their club is going to face serious consequences if they can't flog someone to Turkey or Saudi by the end of the week, and they have two pissed-off players. He should get the sack for it. We were naive and dumb for relying on it, as well.

He is absolutely the type to "forgot my wallet" at the counter

It seems painfully likely that City are unable to be found guilty in a substantial manner, probably to the extent of questioning whether PSR is enforceable or not.

In fairness, you could remove both knees and he'd still be just as mobile

This squad would have won back-to-back-to-back Champions League titles from 2020-2022

No, in fairness, Scuro has fronted the media and outlined a statement (transcript) His initial words were taken out of context and it was only one Twitter moron (Ben Jacobs) who made up that Liverpool 'contacted' Monaco and asked them to wait. There's no evidence to support this, in fact it sounds like Jacobs has merely exaggerated the obvious fact that many clubs were interested in signing him either this season or next. It's clear Chelsea were the only ones making a concrete bid this season. Scuro even admits that Chelsea had been pursuing it for 10 days, but Monaco were unwilling to sell unless Balogun fell through. The saga is entirely Monaco's fault, but we are also to blame for leaving it so late in the window and not protecting our own interests. Fernandez wasn't the CM we needed or were trying to replace, it was Santos. We got distracted by having to fire-sale a bunch of players and Sanchez and then pursued a target we knew was unlikely unless certain circumstances fell into place. Overall, though, it is not going to be a huge problem.

Despite my earlier posts I will concede that we arguably should have been actively pursuing a CM as soon as Santos left and Scott/Wharton were clearly impossible. It's the consequence of having to sort out sales and loans for an army of unwanted players and leaving the opportunity to do so right to the last minute. It may have been the right decision to prioritise the sales/loans of all those players but if we didn't buy them in the first place, we wouldn't have that problem.

You absolutely can. None of the attributes you mention here are any less crucial for a top-quality defender. That's why Bayern seem to transition a top-level full-back to top-level central midfielder every three years (Lahm, Alaba, Kimmich), and why many defensive midfielders ably deputise in defensive positions. The reality of modern football systems is that central defenders are playing the role of DMs a decade ago thanks to higher defensive lines. Look at where Lacroix or Colwill operate and compare it to footage of Matic or Obi Mikel. Guardiola and Arteta don't even bother with fullbacks because they basically have 6 central defenders on the pitch moving through midfield and out wide. I can think of one minor difference in one specific situation, and that is a DM is sometimes required to receive the ball back-to-goal whereas a central defender is unlikely to need to do so. Fullbacks are marginally more experienced in doing this. It is not a deal breaker though, since you really shouldn't have a system where your DM is commonly receive balls with a blind spot, that's asking for trouble, and if it is the case the team should be structured to allow the DM to wall-pass back and around the press. Mild digression here - there seems to be this pervasive idea that defensive midfield is some sort of hallowed, infinitely complex position that requires a degree in philosophy to even comprehend. At the end of the day it is a football purity test where if you praise the DM instead of attacking players it shows just how knowledgeable about football you really are. At the end of the day a good footballer is able to play the same role in multiple positions. Malo Gusto is not a good footballer, that is our actual problem.

Ironically, Caicedo first came to fame by single-handedly destroying Arsenal while playing as an inverted RB for Brighton

This deal apparently is a no go but depending on their injury status, Zinchenko, Brozovic and Alaba would all be very good fits for Alonso's system.

I've always thought that City fans have more of a rivalry towards us than we have to them. As a millennial, PL-era, Australian fan: 3 - Arsenal - grew up watching us get turned over by them. Bridge's CL semi goal was a truly transformative moment. 2 - Liverpool - unfortunately the most supported club in Australia by some distance. Their success in the 1980s was widely covered here due to Craig Johnstone's involvement, then Kewell in the 00s coincided with another wave of relative success. Can't go anywhere in Sydney without seeing some Scousetralian full-kit w**ker.. 1 - Spurs - Inexplicably massive support in Australia. Virtually every second English ex-pat here supports Tottenham; I suppose that's why you kicked them out. When Postecoglou took over the situation was nauseating, couldn't go anywhere without some screen showing his fat mug or their disgusting jersey. But the main problem is their fans and their club are unceasingly arrogant, despite the club's trophy cabinet being emptier than @PloKoon13 Little Black Book of late. Spurs hold themselves in a category that has nothing to do with their achievements on the pitch, entirely underwritten by commercially-derived money. They are no different to Chelsea or City for that matter, other than we have trophies to show for it.

He doesn't get into the side ahead of Barco, who has virtually the same record, profile and comes with the added benefit of actually playing in the PL before. I think a lot of fans think he is a defensive Caicedo-type player. He is not, he is more akin to Jorginho.

I fully agree with what you're saying. There is no good 'replacement' for Fernandez right now and like you said, it was a once-in-a-lifetime to extract maximum profit from a problematic player. It's no different to Inter Milan selling Lukaku or PSG ditching Mbappe, sometimes a toxic player is not worth even the most extraordinary of outputs and their numbers mask an overall negative impact on the team. Maybe a bit of a conspiracy of our own here but that's my take on City too. I think it's telling that, despite knowing Maresca was a fan and that Fernandez was available all summer, City didn't meaningfully move for him until all of their other targets were signed, sealed and delivered. Illiman Ndiaye was more a priority apparently! Fernandez is clearly a vanity signing, a statement to give the impression they are backing Maresca. So the bolded part is just my view that as much as Maresca may have wanted Fernandez I don't think everyone at City fully agreed or that he justified the expected price. The side effect of not rushing into deals this summer (whether that was intended or not...) is that clubs know we have money to spend. The problem for them is they already know our top targets are Scott and Wharton, both of whom will necessarily have to be cheaper next season as their contracts run down. Anderson's transfer also created a very inflated midfielder market this season, but that effect wears down over the year. I really do think that keeping our powder dry either for January or next summer is the smartest play. We shouldn't undersell how good this window was on paper. If we don't make the top 4 or win a trophy, that's not on the recruitment.

I saw that their CEO was interviewed at the Conference League draw, and he said they needed to sell at least one more player (eg Camara or Balogun) before Tuesday to comply with the wage restriction. ...oops

It was (typically) dumb of BlueCo to go all-in on the unproven Camara and Roma's injury-prone Manu Kone and they deserve criticism for being naive enough to play along with Monaco after the initial rejection. Rather embarassingly they have put out PR pieces to Fabrizio Romano et al yapping about how "classy" we were at the deadline for deigning to let Enzo Fernandez go despite the last-minute issues. It makes the PR about "deadlines" all the worse too. That said I also don't know why some of our fans think that Man City have played some sort of game here; they clearly had to manage the tensions between reservations about Fernandez's quality relative to the price, and the need to be seen supporting Maresca publicly. The conspiracy that City deliberately delayed this to the last minute to some how inconvenience us is just plain weird. City weren't thinking about whether we were going to sign a replacement, and given we had nearly £200m in bonus transfer revenue after Jackson's sale, we had plenty of money to get a replacement organised if Fernandez's transfer really hinged on a replacement so that's on us. That said, we should be more appreciative of the business we have done this window. Alonso, Rogers and Lacroix make us a far better team than we were last season, even if our midfield is significant weaker.

No doubt, he was fantastic before Spurs. Then they Spursed him. I'm surprised he isn't with Big Ange at Al-Nassr already, tbh.