On 17/02/2026 at 03:16, TheCeleryKing said:

 Liverpool and Chelsea looking at £50m (€57.5m / $68m) for Murillo [23] of Notts Forrest. 

Back in for Murillo – a bit short for a CB maybe? But then again the same height as Thiago Silva – and he worked out just fine. Brazilian lads already at the club and so he will feel at home and he will be 24 this summer and although a little old for us, not too ancient.

 Chelsea are apparently listening to offers for Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile and Trevoh Chalobah

Murillo played years under Nuno and recently under Dyche, very hard to asses how he will fare playing for Chelsea.

If you want cb who is better than Chalobah at defending the box, just play Disasi.

Edited February 19Feb 19 by Bob stark

1 hour ago, Bob stark said:

If you want cb who is better than Chalobah at defending the box, just play Disasi.

What? The same Disasi who has constantly f**ked up and cost us goals?

I actually think getting CBs pairings that work well is a bit of an art.

Also they need a good relationship with the keeper as trust needs to be established.

When we had Terry and Cech it all looked so easy I think those times were an exception rather than the rule.

4 hours ago, Bob stark said:

If you want cb who is better than Chalobah at defending the box, just play Disasi.

You must be either drunk or huffing paint fumes

6 hours ago, strider6004 said:

I actually think getting CBs pairings that work well is a bit of an art.

Also they need a good relationship with the keeper as trust needs to be established.

When we had Terry and Cech it all looked so easy I think those times were an exception rather than the rule.

Issue is Maresca and Rosenior keep changing their back line. The best CB pairings are set, and never change barring any injury. Just pick a pair and stick with them for a 10-15 game stretch. The issue is they have a guy on £200k/w that can’t play consecutive games and needs to be “managed”, that is a big problem.

Going into next season for every CL/PL game barring injury it should be Levi + Josh or Sarr, let the chemistry build and go from there, it might be rough as they find their feet but gametime is the only way forward.

Trev is a fantastic rotation option, Fofana we should look to offload as he isn’t built for the game over here unfortunately.

12 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

Not really. If Van der Ven goes to Liverpool it gives Tottenham a clear run at Murillo.

He’s not signing for a relegation rival.

Let’s offload Fofana.

Forgetting he’s on £200kpw.

We really need to nail down a statement centre back. It’s a position we’ve constantly screwed around with and never got right. Everyone has a different opinion on the best pairing. Which to me means it’s not right.

Like I said break the bank for Van der Ven. I think we’d have more success buying from the league rather than experimenting with teenagers from lesser leagues.

I’d even go to the extreme and say if we’d have bought Harry Maguire back when he was out of favor he’d still be a starting centre back for us. That might be because his flaws are over exaggerated but mainly how poor the recruitment has been.

1 hour ago, 19seventyone said:

He’s not signing for a relegation rival.

Yeah, they'll pay double pw than we will. Also we have to sell first, and who's buying Tosin, Disasi and Badiashile

23 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

Yeah, they'll pay double pw than we will. Also we have to sell first, and who's buying Tosin, Disasi and Badiashile

Tosin will be easy.

I can see Tosin at like a West Ham. It'll be a low transfer fee that'll include the rest of his wages.

Badiashile's and Disasi's remaining book value come the summer is £20m. Tough to get rid without taking a book loss. It'll be a loan with option to buy to a Serie A or Ligue 1 side I reckon. (watch Badiashile conveniently get injured in the transfer window again).

We'll likely still be stuck with them come next season and Lawrence Stewart still won't be held accountable.

12 hours ago, Deino said:

You must be either drunk or huffing paint fumes

15 hours ago, Nibs said:

What? The same Disasi who has constantly f**ked up and cost us goals?

Not really, the main criticism on Chalobah is his aerial and box defending. These are Disasi strengths.

7 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

Not really, the main criticism on Chalobah is his aerial and box defending. These are Disasi strengths.

If that's the case, he should go and play in the NBA, not football.

2 minutes ago, Deino said:

If that's the case, he should go and play in the NBA, not football.

Not really. You can see Disasi doing well for Mourinho, Nuno , Dyche or Moyes team.

1 hour ago, Bob stark said:

Not really. You can see Disasi doing well for Mourinho, Nuno , Dyche or Moyes team.

So let me get this straight, in your own words, Disasi who you can see doing well for relegation-style football for managers who have almost relegated their clubs should be playing ahead of Trevoh if the only quality we want is defending the box?

I go back to my original statement:

You must either be drunk or huffing paint fumes

3 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Not really, the main criticism on Chalobah is his aerial and box defending. These are Disasi strengths.

Unfortunately, Disasi's weaknesses (and complete f**k ups) far outweigh any strengths.

20 hours ago, Deino said:

You must be either drunk or huffing paint fumes

Could be both I suppose.

On 19/02/2026 at 18:02, strider6004 said:

I actually think getting CBs pairings that work well is a bit of an art.

Also they need a good relationship with the keeper as trust needs to be established.

When we had Terry and Cech it all looked so easy I think those times were an exception rather than the rule.

It's not. You just need to have all the CBs and GKs speak the same language, able to voice concerns on the spot and be good at football.

Terry works well with anyone because he's outspoken, bold and is actually good at football.

Thiago Silva is a bit of an exception but only because he has mastered the art of being a CB

1 hour ago, Deino said:

It's not. You just need to have all the CBs and GKs speak the same language, able to voice concerns on the spot and be good at football.

Terry works well with anyone because he's outspoken, bold and is actually good at football.

Thiago Silva is a bit of an exception but only because he has mastered the art of being a CB

Language and I guess communication is key, what could go wrong different languages and then there is strong accents?

With Terry I guess there were non-verbal cues too.

Interesting looking back at the rumours on page 1 of this thread. The likes of Arshavin, Rooney, Jay Boothroyd being linked 😹

24 minutes ago, strider6004 said:

Language and I guess communication is key, what could go wrong different languages and then there is strong accents?

With Terry I guess there were non-verbal cues too.

In terms of Terry,

When both players are really good at defending but may have language issues, you get Terry-Carvalho

When one is really good whilst the other lesser but communication is good, you get Terry-Gallas.

When one is really good whilst the other average but both speak the same language, you get Terry-Cahill

---

IMO, You only really need 1 really good CB, you just need the other one to be good enough and can communicate well. What you really don't want but looks good on paper and in conversations are CBs that "cover the weaknesses of the partner"

10 hours ago, Deino said:

In terms of Terry,

When both players are really good at defending but may have language issues, you get Terry-Carvalho

When one is really good whilst the other lesser but communication is good, you get Terry-Gallas.

When one is really good whilst the other average but both speak the same language, you get Terry-Cahill

---

IMO, You only really need 1 really good CB, you just need the other one to be good enough and can communicate well. What you really don't want but looks good on paper and in conversations are CBs that "cover the weaknesses of the partner"

I get what you are saying but Gary Cahill average????

17 hours ago, Nibs said:

Unfortunately, Disasi's weaknesses (and complete f**k ups) far outweigh any strengths.

This. Now what do you want your cb to do?

If you want your cb to defend big space, cbalobah is very good, if you want cb who can defend the box Disasi is better, if you want cb who can do both, open your chequebook and get tier 1 talent cb.

Edited February 21Feb 21 by Bob stark

11 hours ago, 19seventyone said:

I get what you are saying but Gary Cahill average????

Cahill was an odd one, sometimes costing us a goal yet often scoring too in the same match from set pieces.

Decent rather than great yet his desire to get a goal back was impressive.