piatek on loan, option to buy. 

dont rate him personally, think he isa decent finisher, but not great technically and doesnt offer much in the build up. 

Why bother getting the transfer ban reduced if we didn't actually have any plans to sign anybody? I can understand not wanting to sign a stop gap player or panic buy, I don't want us doing that either, and I would rather sign nobody at all than bring in expensive rubbish like we have done in recent times. But we have scouts looking at players all over the world, are they seriously saying there isn't a single player out there that we couldn't sign to improve this squad? You ask the manager what type of player he needs, he tells you, then you go looking for that player. They have had plenty of time to look around, all of summer, the period where the window was closed, this transfer window. Surely they can do better than Cavani or Dembele?  

I agree with @abramovich, the person or people in charge of finding the right players hasn't been good enough for a while now. I don't believe for a second that there aren't any players around that are available, that is just nonsense.

I see Minamino has started again for Liverpool. Signed in December. Been training with the first team for a month. Started two games already.

Nobody is expecting him to tear up trees but has been introduced gradually into the set up. Got to admire how professionally Liverpool identify and introduce their targets into their system.

Today's rumours link us with Piatek and even Ollie Watkins of Brentford. Probably no substance behind either.

43 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Why bother getting the transfer ban reduced if we didn't actually have any plans to sign anybody? I can understand not wanting to sign a stop gap player or panic buy, I don't want us doing that either, and I would rather sign nobody at all than bring in expensive rubbish like we have done in recent times. But we have scouts looking at players all over the world, are they seriously saying there isn't a single player out there that we couldn't sign to improve this squad? You ask the manager what type of player he needs, he tells you, then you go looking for that player. They have had plenty of time to look around, all of summer, the period where the window was closed, this transfer window. Surely they can do better than Cavani or Dembele?  

I agree with @abramovich, the person or people in charge of finding the right players hasn't been good enough for a while now. I don't believe for a second that there aren't any players around that are available, that is just nonsense.

Our fine was reduced too. Maybe that was more our target?

3 hours ago, Socrates said:

I see Minamino has started again for Liverpool. Signed in December. Been training with the first team for a month. Started two games already.

Nobody is expecting him to tear up trees but has been introduced gradually into the set up. Got to admire how professionally Liverpool identify and introduce their targets into their system.

They can't lose a game and have a full squad full of depth, yet they secured Minamino even before this window started. We act like we have no urge to sign anyone, like we are in a better situation than Liverpool. We need some better scouting.

3 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

Why bother getting the transfer ban reduced if we didn't actually have any plans to sign anybody? I can understand not wanting to sign a stop gap player or panic buy, I don't want us doing that either, and I would rather sign nobody at all than bring in expensive rubbish like we have done in recent times. But we have scouts looking at players all over the world, are they seriously saying there isn't a single player out there that we couldn't sign to improve this squad? You ask the manager what type of player he needs, he tells you, then you go looking for that player. They have had plenty of time to look around, all of summer, the period where the window was closed, this transfer window. Surely they can do better than Cavani or Dembele?  

I agree with @abramovich, the person or people in charge of finding the right players hasn't been good enough for a while now. I don't believe for a second that there aren't any players around that are available, that is just nonsense.

I am not even sure that we do have scouts scouring europe and south america for players. All we ever seem to get linked to are the same players that everyone else gets linked to. I think our scouts are those bl00dy idiots on Sky Sports, Dharmesh Seth and that Kharvo fella.

I cannot remember the last time we made a major coup or marquee signing. When did we last unearth a bargain or potential starlet that we brought into the team.

On 25/01/2020 at 11:48, JM7 said:

What about Dyabla? He was close to leaving and hasn’t signed a new deal. 

Would be my dream signing, but sadly a dream is all that transfer will ever be.

Clearly the right players aren’t available. I am not shocked we haven’t made a signing. I would rather we wait and get our top targets in the summer. You have to remember these people have contracts and most aren’t actually available. Just because we want to sign someone doesn’t mean they want to/the club want to sell them. 

9 hours ago, CFCCAN said:

I've said this before a few seasons ago, I think our scouting staff is very poor which leaves us going after the 'obvious' targets which are also being targeted by others so the price increases....meanwhile Barca making a 67m bid for Ben Yedder from Monaco to replace Suarez, never read any other clubs after him...if he's good enough for Barca is he not good enough for us? Is the club telling us that there isn't one player in South America or Europe that is not good enough for our misfiring team, or is the Board looking at our games saying 'Well hell the team plays well going forward they just don't know what to do with it when they get to 20 yards from goal, and that's the coaches job to sort that out, not just buying another player'..... and up to a point I agree with them if that's the reason for not bringing anyone in. 

Good point but Barca has to be the worst example of doing good business. A player bought 6 months ago for £36m is now worth almost 2x the amount? Also  Loaning out a £100m+ player.

They will most likely end up selling Ben Yedder next season if he ends up there because they are paying Messi €1m/ week and need to finance it somehow.

 

I think we have found our solution to the attack problems. 

Ollie Watkins! 

A few links from Italian journos to Piatek from Milan these last few hours. These might just be links to drive the price higher for Spurs I'm not sure.

He could be worth a look. Had a cracker of a year last seasom but has struggled in a stale Milan team this term. He isn't perfect but there are two things that I really like about him:

1. He runs his socks off without the ball. Presses hard and runs hard to make space for others.

2. He scores most of his goals surrounded by defenders. He isn't one of these guys that relies on the ball being in behind the defensive line. He scores plenty of headers and seems to have a nack of making space for himself in the box. That suggests he could do okay against the deep defences we tend to face. 

Again we may just be being used to get better fee/contract from Spurs. But if we're actually in the market he is better Michy and Dembele. Sounds like he would be achievable as well. Hell I'd be happy to sign him just to piss off Spurs who want him to replace Kane

5 hours ago, forbzy said:

Today's rumours link us with Piatek and even Ollie Watkins of Brentford. Probably no substance behind either.

 

12 minutes ago, Spiller86 said:

A few links from Italian journos to Piatek from Milan these last few hours. These might just be links to drive the price higher for Spurs I'm not sure.

He could be worth a look. Had a cracker of a year last seasom but has struggled in a stale Milan team this term. He isn't perfect but there are two things that I really like about him:

1. He runs his socks off without the ball. Presses hard and runs hard to make space for others.

2. He scores most of his goals surrounded by defenders. He isn't one of these guys that relies on the ball being in behind the defensive line. He scores plenty of headers and seems to have a nack of making space for himself in the box. That suggests he could do okay against the deep defences we tend to face. 

Again we may just be being used to get better fee/contract from Spurs. But if we're actually in the market he is better Michy and Dembele. Sounds like he would be achievable as well. Hell I'd be happy to sign him just to piss off Spurs who want him to replace Kane

Two very different links eh? Lol

 

Why not both? Giroud is gone, bats is terrible and Tammy is injured. So why not?

Edited January 26, 20206 yr by axman2526

16 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

 

Two very different links eh? Lol

 

Why not both? Giroud is gone, bats is terrible and Tammy is injured. So why not?

Well Tammy proves that just because you're playing in the Championship doesn't mean you can't score a hatful in the PL.

Just now, Spiller86 said:

Well Tammy proves that just because you're playing in the Championship doesn't mean you can't score a hatful in the PL.

Exactly. So why not both? We started the season with 3 options? Is there a reason 2 of them plus Tammy could not play together.

Can send bats out on loan to palace.

1 minute ago, axman2526 said:

Exactly. So why not both? We started the season with 3 options? Is there a reason 2 of them plus Tammy could not play together.

Can send bats out on loan to palace.

Yeah wouldn't bother me if Bats left. I think the only risk is that preferably you want strikers who can play together. That's our challenge at the moment. Ideally we need to find a modern Anelka or Gudjohnsen who can play around Tammy as the man leading the line. Sadly no one comes to mind!

Expect a deadline rush to get a striker in, then the winter break to blend him in. I wouldn't be surprised if we make a 12th hour 50M bid for Inglis, because we seemed to be missing out on all the targets, and we really can't afford to wait another 6 months.

Doubt saints would take 50mill. Probably would want Zaha money that late on.

11 minutes ago, icecoolguy22 said:

Expect a deadline rush to get a striker in, then the winter break to blend him in. I wouldn't be surprised if we make a 12th hour 50M bid for Inglis, because we seemed to be missing out on all the targets, and we really can't afford to wait another 6 months.

I'd prefer we signed Nowan Atal. He's available for 40m and has had cracking season in Serie A.

11 minutes ago, Spiller86 said:

I'd prefer we signed Nowan Atal. He's available for 40m and has had cracking season in Serie A.

That's the thing with the market and way the club has been approaching the transfer, we aren't going to get our top targets, but there are still other options for second choice striker or are at Abarham's level, but we haven't done f* all, and it all leads to some last minute rush which we will most likely to regret in months or years to come.

4 hours ago, Gol15 said:

I think we have found our solution to the attack problems. 

Ollie Watkins! 

A proper football name right there 😉

Still nothing on Giroud leaving even thought a deal was supposedly imminent. I wonder if it’s been agreed and we’re waiting to sign a striker ourselves before signing it off. 

With 4 days to go and not a single concrete bid made to any club for any player, am i surprised? Not at all. Par for the course.

50 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

With 4 days to go and not a single concrete bid made to any club for any player, am i surprised? Not at all. Par for the course.

Matt Law from the Tele (who now seems to be the only journo with club sourced info since Simon Johnson and Dom Fifield moved to The Athletic) reporting we're still interesting in Cavani but "watching" the Piatek situation in case Cavani only wants to go to Atletico. Not pursuing a Jovic loan at the moment. Given that Cavani's Mum and Dad said he wants to go to Atletico last week seems a bit strange that we're not actively looking at alternatives.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2020/01/27/chelsea-monitoringkrzysztof-piatek-edinson-cavani-move-appears/

Edited January 27, 20206 yr by Spiller86

58 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

With 4 days to go and not a single concrete bid made to any club for any player, am i surprised? Not at all. Par for the course.

How do you know that?