I think the disappointment is understandable, we've been pretty spoiled with exciting signings in the last 3 summers, hazard and oscar in 2012, Mourinho, schurrle, and willian in 2013, and fabregas, and diego costa last summer.

Apart from oscar and willian, our big buisness has usually been completed before pre season starts, which gives the new players the best chance to hit the ground running.

So far there has been very little movement across the whole of Europe, and with the team we have developed over the last 3 years, the calibre of player required to improve the starting 11 is hard to come by.

It looks like we won't be signing any player to improve our first 11, as I don't think the likes of a pogba, rues, greizmann, isco etc, are gonna be available to us.

It could be a chance for rlc or traore to establish themselves, which would be fantastic, and would be better than signing squad fillers.

I would expect us to improve on last season, even without a marquee signing. We may fall short in Europe again, but it's a very difficult competition to win.

I think a lot of us will be disappointed with the summer activity, but after last season, we all should be optimistic going into the new season.

Edited July 9, 201511 yr by big blue

traore, bamford, ruben loftus-cheek, no it's exciting times for us. hopefully oscar, cuadrado, ramires improve and then it will feel like we have 3 new players. 

traore, bamford, ruben loftus-cheek, no it's exciting times for us. hopefully oscar, cuadrado, ramires improve and then it will feel like we have 3 new players. 

You're in for a disappointment then if your expecting anything from Cuadrado. 

Excited to see what Traore can do in pre-season hopefully he can impress.

Premier league champions, best manager in the world by a mile, best owner in the world by a mile, most balanced squad in the country by a mile, soon to possibly have the best stadium in the country. No need for big changes. No need for depression. It's all good people. We will be champs next year.

My only issue is that Hazard is our only 'game changer' and if you look at Real Madrid, Barca and Bayern they have several in their team. Last year from February onwards if felt like Hazard was carrying the whole team on his back and without him do you trust Oscar or Willian to grab the team by the scruff of the neck and lead us to a win? No, they won't do that and that's the difference between us and the 3 elite teams in Europe.

My only issue is that Hazard is our only 'game changer' and if you look at Real Madrid, Barca and Bayern they have several in their team. Last year from February onwards if felt like Hazard was carrying the whole team on his back and without him do you trust Oscar or Willian to grab the team by the scruff of the neck and lead us to a win? No, they won't do that and that's the difference between us and the 3 elite teams in Europe.

You are right, but it is always gamble when you have few leaders, "game changers" in the team. It might cause problems of authority and bad feelings between each other, which furthermore can cause forming clans inside squad, bad atmosphere in lockers, etc. So, I would agree with chickenfluff, it is going well, no need for such changes. 

Willian had his moments and I think he'll only continue to improve, he's going to be a key player for us for years to come.

You should always fix the roof when the sun is shining. So any new signings have to be able to push the current first team members to new levels in the same way Luis and Cuadrado pushed Dave and William last season. Question is will Begovic push Courtois in the same way that Cech did or will he stagnate on the bench content to pick up his weekly pay cheque? A fully firing Falcao would undoubtably push Costa for his starting position is he now capable of pushing Remy? Who is going to push Matic this year and other key players? In a position of strength we need to get stronger. Now I must go and wash my mouth out for quoting George.

You're in for a disappointment then if your expecting anything from Cuadrado. 

 

How so? With a pre-season and opportunity to gel with the others, falcao here to make him more relaxed,  there is no reason we can't see the best of him next season. what f**king negativity around here recently; people need to be happy we have really good young players whom may well get opportunities (it seems that way with no news of any of them leaving) and signing a few good quality depth players. We aren't going to get a reus or griezmann, or even a pogba, but what we have coming through is very promising talent and, i for one, am very excited to see who we'll go into next season with. 

I would argue that both Costa and fabregas are also game changers, and Willian and Oscar have their moments. In that case are we any differebet to pretty much every other team, bar Barcelona and perhaps munich?

just to add to that, i can't wait to see our pre-season game against the mighty barcelona. got a feeling we will give them a real good game.

My only issue is that Hazard is our only 'game changer' and if you look at Real Madrid, Barca and Bayern they have several in their team. Last year from February onwards if felt like Hazard was carrying the whole team on his back and without him do you trust Oscar or Willian to grab the team by the scruff of the neck and lead us to a win? No, they won't do that and that's the difference between us and the 3 elite teams in Europe.

 

Take Messi out of barcelona and they're creating nowhere near the amount of opportunities, or scoring the same amount of goals; the same for ronaldo at real (who if not for him, would have been out vs schalke). Bayern actually have a relatively average squad, barring lewandowski, muller and robben. I would put us on the same level as Bayern in terms of squad quality, it's just that mourinho sets up his team in a more defensive way than a guardiola does. 

Take Messi out of barcelona and they're creating nowhere near the amount of opportunities, or scoring the same amount of goals; the same for ronaldo at real (who if not for him, would have been out vs schalke). Bayern actually have a relatively average squad, barring lewandowski, muller and robben. I would put us on the same level as Bayern in terms of squad quality, it's just that mourinho sets up his team in a more defensive way than a guardiola does.

Bayern has a very steady core and they have a lot of their own blood in that squad tbf they are two steps ahead of us. Barca without Messi we can beat on our day and Real we can beat with or withour Ronaldo in their team.

Bayern has a very steady core and they have a lot of their own blood in that squad tbf they are two steps ahead of us. Barca without Messi we can beat on our day and Real we can beat with or withour Ronaldo in their team.

 

Do you think this squad of ours is better or worse than the 2012 one? I would say it's fractionally better, but we played a prime Bayern twice (in CL and super cup) and beat them almost twice; that was with a lesser squad than we have now. Bayern do have a strong core, but their best players are aging and we are building a young squad including top quality and potentially very good players. The likes of Barca's la masia are no longer producing the talent of old, and Bayern's academy is also not producing much quality these days.

 

I think in a couple years we will have a really solid core and good strength in depth. If Mourinho stays long term, i see us getting even stronger with a mix of quality signings and youth breaking through. We have, in my opinion, the best chance of being a top 3 team (behind real and barca) in the very near future. The only thing that really sets the Spanish clubs apart from us, is that a lot of the best players will always want to play in Spain, but if we can continue to build on what we have, then we could become the new bayern of a few years ago, where we won't need to rely on signing the very best players to win titles and cups. 

Edited July 10, 201511 yr by enigma

Barca without Messi we can beat on our day and Real we can beat with or withour Ronaldo in their team.

 

Messi is generally rubbish against us.

Messi is generally rubbish against us.

 

I think he actually plays quite well against us, he just can't score

Has the transfer window opened yet?

Thought I might have heard something about it by now.

Has the transfer window opened yet?

Thought I might have heard something about it by now.

Yea mate seems so, Liverpool bought about 15 players and Barca bought a top player we wanted even although they are banned from transfers. Us: faffing about with some loans, I'll wake you up if we sign anyone.

Apparently Manure signed "Pig Climber" (Schweinsteiger) to a 3-year deal.  I have a feeling there is going to be something BIG in the works this summer, but it might take a month or so for it to happen.

Nathan and Kenedy loaned out to Vitesse. Figures, 

Nathan and Kenedy loaned out to Vitesse. Figures, 

If you haven't already realized this, we are in the business of buying potential at a young age, grooming them, and selling them for a huge sum.  

Not much progress, so far with increasing squad strength in depth ... Brown and Andreas loaned out, etc.

Still have the German Messi (NOT) to bring back

Edited July 11, 201511 yr by cfcblue

The transfer window is open for another 52 days! So much time, but so much worrying people are doing.

Here here, lots of young talent to choose from as a 3rd option