2 hours ago, Sindre said:

Linked to Thomas Lemar on a loan with an option to buy.

Wouldn't be against that myself. Low risk, was great at Monaco.

How has he been at Atletico? I haven’t watched them since he signed there.

1 minute ago, mwblue10 said:

How has he been at Atletico? I haven’t watched them since he signed there.

He has been crap; and i will seriously be against it. It is in no way a Kovacic type situation where he was highly rated as a young player. This is a player who had one decent league in Ligue 1 with Monaco, and was suddenly valued at £80m. He has been awful in the few games he has played for Atletico Madrid.

Considering he plays mainly on the left where we have no need, it’s all paper talk. 

Loan with option to buy wouldn't hurt? 

dont rate lemar tbh, he is a decent player, but has no outstanding attributes. 

Not particularly quick or dynamic.

Doesnt score or create many goals. 

Willian is twice the player, and even he divides opinion.

Whenever I watched Lemar at Monaco he looked average, not surprised he got found out at Madrid.

1 hour ago, mwblue10 said:

How has he been at Atletico? I haven’t watched them since he signed there.

Has the occasional (1 out of 5 good game and 1 out of 10 worldie attempted pass successfully made) decent-ish game. Overall pretty crap.

Willian is better and I have mixed feelings about Willian

 

I would like it just because he's not a fit at Atletico... they play a 4-4-2 a lot, and he's not a center forward, since the bought Felix, I don't think they play with a position for him. Think he'd fit well on the right side here; of a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 as a back up trying to prove himself, he has a good strike from range and is left footed. If this is a loan to buy. He at least would bring a few things we don't have. Could see a nice situation with James overlapping him, with defenders having to fear the left footed shot from distance. Also seems like a prime candidate to get better as he hasn't played as much on the right side, but it'd be a fairly natural fit as a left footed winger.

6 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

Nope, I wouldn’t be against Lemar either. Could turn out to be a shrewd signing while his value is low, like Kovacic.

Kovacic is worth far more than 40m now, even though it didn’t seem the case at the time.

45m euros...pretty much the same worth since he signed the contract.

Lemar hasn't scored and didn't set up a goal this season after being on the pitch for over 900 minutes. If he can't make his presence felt in La liga and in the CL, I think he would totally flop if he ever came here.

"Lemar hasn't scored and didn't set up a goal this season after being on the pitch for over 900 minutes. If he can't make his presence felt in La liga and in the CL, I think he would totally flop if he ever came here."

Not sure where you're going with this statement. We struggled against the 6th place team in La Liga. Atletico is probably a slightly better team than us right now, and they don't really play in a way that fits him. Not to say he'll be great, but I wouldn't brush him off on how he's done a very good squad.

22 minutes ago, Wearyourblue said:

"Lemar hasn't scored and didn't set up a goal this season after being on the pitch for over 900 minutes. If he can't make his presence felt in La liga and in the CL, I think he would totally flop if he ever came here."

Not sure where you're going with this statement. We struggled against the 6th place team in La Liga. Atletico is probably a slightly better team than us right now, and they don't really play in a way that fits him. Not to say he'll be great, but I wouldn't brush him off on how he's done a very good squad.

He has had 1 decent season in his whole career. 

4 league goals in 2 and half years across france and Spain. 

Really poor for a winger.

"If he can't make his presence felt in La liga and in the CL, I think he would totally flop if he ever came here."

This is more the line I don't get... it makes it sound like La Liga is sub par... when they've produced 5 of the last 6 Champions League champions as well as 2 of the last 6 Runner ups.

"He has had 1 decent season in his whole career.
4 league goals in 2 and half years across france and Spain.
Really poor for a winger."

That's the thing... I've seen him play for Atleti maybe 3/4 times, and don't really see where he should be scoring - as they seem to me to be the best counter attacking team in Europe. They had a fun win today against Barca, but believe their possession was only 27%. They beat Levante with 39% poss, and Betis with 33%. They've only scored 22 in 19 games, but sit 3rd in the table. I'm just not sure how involved in a pure counter 4-4-2 he's supposed to be in scoring. The last 3 they had under 40%. I see 8 men defending in the box for Atleti a lot, but their attacks seem to be more of 2 or 3 .

"If he can't make his presence felt in La liga and in the CL, I think he would totally flop if he ever came here."

This is more the line I don't get... it makes it sound like La Liga is sub par... when they've produced 5 of the last 6 Champions League champions as well as 2 of the last 6 Runner ups.

"He has had 1 decent season in his whole career.
4 league goals in 2 and half years across france and Spain.
Really poor for a winger."

That's the thing... I've seen him play for Atleti maybe 3/4 times, and don't really see where he should be scoring - as they seem to me to be the best counter attacking team in Europe. They had a fun win today against Barca, but believe their possession was only 27%. They beat Levante with 39% poss, and Betis with 33%. They've only scored 22 in 19 games, but sit 3rd in the table. I'm just not sure how involved in a pure counter 4-4-2 he's supposed to be in scoring. The last 3 they had under 40%. I see 8 men defending in the box for Atleti a lot, but their attacks seem to be more of 2 or 3 .

I'm just pointing out that he can't make his mark in a less physical league and thus he might be a ghost in the PL. La Liga might have CL winners in Real Madrid in the recent years but that's due to a many factors, one of them being a less demanding league. At least that's how I see it.

I know that in the past we signed players like Pedro that couldn't find his place in Barcelona but that doesn't mean that we should continue signing rejects that didn't make it in their clubs of choice. Pedro might be just as lightweight as Lemar, he had the technique and pace to cover for it and a good work ethic, but Lemar didn't actually show the quality of Pedro in La Liga.

I would be happy with Dries Mertens if we could sign him this January.

It's short-term thinking but in the short-term we need to do enough to finish in the top 4. He's versatile, has good goalscoring instincts (which we don't have nearly enough of in our team) and won't cost a lot.

Additionally, he doesn't put Tammy into a direct duel like signing Dembele would. Mertens could play alongside/around him as well as through the middle by himself, and for now, I think that will suit us better.

Liverpool are keen on signing Vitesse left-back Max Clark due to scoring “excellent data metrics” on the club’s tracking tools. The 23-year-old was recently included in a statistically-calculated best English players XI.

Andy Robertson v2. This is similar to the recruitment of Andy Robertson. An attack-minded full back in a defensive squad, not quite an impressive performance back then but turned out to be a steal.

This article seems to be a pretty decent assessment of our likely dealings in January:

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/chelsea-transfer-news-burnley-sancho-zaha-ake-dembele-rumours-gossip-epl-a9277906.html

I am not expecting too many signings, if any, as I just don't think there is an awful lot of value to be had in the available players. I won't be surprised if we wait until summer and hope that the current squad can deliver top 4. For me that is a better option than wasting money on second-rate signings. 

Who is this Gedson Fernandes we bidded for? Any good? 

2 hours ago, Slojo said:

Who is this Gedson Fernandes we bidded for? Any good? 

Looks like he’s going to West Ham or the spuds.

3 hours ago, Slojo said:

Who is this Gedson Fernandes we bidded for? Any good? 

Matt Law has dismissed the links, I’d rather us wait and see how Loftus Cheek is doing first before we even consider a move for a midfielder.

3 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

Matt Law has dismissed the links, I’d rather us wait and see how Loftus Cheek is doing first before we even consider a move for a midfielder.

Matt always has the inside knowledge as well. I'm going to be curious to see how RLC fits in. My view is that his pressing and work off the ball has always been questionable. Arguably that is Mount's strength. He brings a lot of spark to the lineup but his poor work off the ball could present a problem in the overall system.

8 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

Matt Law has dismissed the links, I’d rather us wait and see how Loftus Cheek is doing first before we even consider a move for a midfielder.

He wont be quite the same after a ruptured achilles.  The entire area is weakened for one.  It can also go again very very easily.  

 

 

I took the presser in two ways.

 

One was we wont be doing business possibly because the targets are just cant be signed this month.  So we will wait until summer

 

But on the other hand Frank said "nothing close so no news today or tomorrow"  which suggests maybe something is in the works.  

 

If so, i think its maybe Lemar.  A loan suits us much better this month perhaps.   

Edited January 11, 20206 yr by RickUK

Off topic slightly, but for those on twitter, why the f**k do people take that Carefreeyouth seriously.

 

He is full of sh*t. Every rumour or inside info he reports is always ambiguous, can be taken either way, so no matter what happens he can say he was right.  Never ever seen him break a story before the press re. transfers.   And when he does try to act ITK - he will never name the player.  

I called him out on his lies because i seen right through them, just blocked me and had no answer for it. 

 

Tonight he has said something like "ive known for a while the club were considering waiting until the summer to do business"  1.  No you didnt.  2. You have made up that inside info based on the fact that the solid rumours have died down and Lampard gave nothing away in his presser   and 3.  Why the f**k did we appeal to overturn the ban if we were going to wait until the summer, which is when the ban was up anyway... right o  😆😆😆

4 hours ago, RickUK said:

Off topic slightly, but for those on twitter, why the f**k do people take that Carefreeyouth seriously.

 

He is full of sh*t. Every rumour or inside info he reports is always ambiguous, can be taken either way, so no matter what happens he can say he was right.  Never ever seen him break a story before the press re. transfers.   And when he does try to act ITK - he will never name the player.  

I called him out on his lies because i seen right through them, just blocked me and had no answer for it. 

 

Tonight he has said something like "ive known for a while the club were considering waiting until the summer to do business"  1.  No you didnt.  2. You have made up that inside info based on the fact that the solid rumours have died down and Lampard gave nothing away in his presser   and 3.  Why the f**k did we appeal to overturn the ban if we were going to wait until the summer, which is when the ban was up anyway... right o  😆😆😆

He's the same as all the others, bullsh*tting f**keit who just make stuff up, and sometimes gets close. No one on twitter knows anything, it's hilarious that people keep falling for it and believing them. 

Wait for the "next 48 hours" clock to start working again, real talk starts then