By the way sounds of it, it's a case that Napoli are struggling to find a replacement. If they do, it sound like he's ours.

I assume that's a pathetic attempt at a joke but Kone was one of the best defenders in the league after arriving in January.

 

If Koulibaly can't be gotten SOON, i'd snap him up before Everton get him.

  He is a decent defender. He does though have one glaring weakness, 62.6% pass completion last season with Sunderland is atrocious for a Centre Back.

Most times we fans (despite having the club's interest at heart) come across as spoilt.

I think most of our fans would have identified defence as of paramount importance for strengthening at the end of last season. This has also been alluded to by the previous two managers. No matter how we dress this up, going into the first game of the season with the same back four as the last campaign is a failure at boardroom level irrespective of what happens in the final two weeks of the window. Failure to strengthen in this department is likely to condemn us to another poor campaign position wise, putting the managers job on the line. We have got a good manager in place,he deserves to be backed properly in the market. If this is spoilt, so be it.

If it has alluded a reputable coach like Jose and Conte is 'making' same mistake, my guess is they see things in training that I can't watching from my TV set. Perhaps Conte wants to see how his defence performs in a competitive match before attacking the market, smart move I would say given he knows the season doesn't end after the West ham game.

If the quality of player isn't there, there is no point bringing in the next best thing if in fact they are 10th down the line.  The manager won't play him, the board will be unhappy, the fans will write him off and he would have cost a stack.

The fact that people think Conte and the board are overlooking our defensive fragility is mind blowing. 

This link with Koulibaly is going my tits, apparently we had several bids rejected for him and clearly the player would accept the move. Napoli wants to milk more money as they know we are desperate to strengthen our back line.

 

this is what has been said, but di marzio (arguably the most reliable journo regarding italian football) has denied hearing anything new about the koulibaly to chelsea negotiations. the fact that the most reliable journo in italy hasn't heard anything since we were last linked seems to prove nothing is moving, or if things are they are somehow being done so tightly under wraps away from most reliable journos in italy. 

It's still incredible that the back 4 is still the same as when Mourinho first joined the second time. His biggest mistake was neglecting the defence for as long as he did.

this is what has been said, but di marzio (arguably the most reliable journo regarding italian football) has denied hearing anything new about the koulibaly to chelsea negotiations. the fact that the most reliable journo in italy hasn't heard anything since we were last linked seems to prove nothing is moving, or if things are they are somehow being done so tightly under wraps away from most reliable journos in italy. 

 

The same Di Marzio that said Arsenal were in advanced talks with Arsenal?

There is undoubtably a dirth of top quallity CB's.The board are no doubt aware of the weakness we have in defence with our failed pursuit of Stones last season. With this in mind in consultation with the manager we will have fixed targets for this position. Ideally with a defender, he would have had a pre season to acclimatise, getting used to defensive lines etc in preparation for the coming season. Of course Conte wasn't fully in place till the beginning of July, i would though suspect that he would in his time previous have viewed videos of our defensive frailties and given the club a list of possible targets based on his time watching matches in his position as the Italy coach. Closing out difficult deals has become a bugbear for us after the failed pursuit of Robinho. None of us know the reason behind this, are we maybe playing hardball too much perhaps? We do appear to have gone into penny pinching mode( all good businesses will do this) at a time when there has been another explosion in transfer fees. History tells us the prices wont come down and as the window closes, the buying team have to pay the premium or miss out. To be honest I haven't seen enough of Koulibaly to know if he is the real deal. If he is the chosen target maybe we will just have to bite the bullet and pay over the odds for him with the hope of getting him in the team by mid Sept. Fingers crossed we have some deal going on far under the radar of any prying media eyes and the club will pull a rabbit out of the hat, Bonucci would be nice.

Most times we fans (despite having the club's interest at heart) come across as spoilt.

That's what rival fans call us, because they are jealous, we have the money, we are a big club now, it's not spoilt to want the best players, it's come to be expected. I don't understand the spoilt criticism at all, lets demand nothing from the board and we'll be happy.

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Edited August 10, 20169 yr by Floyd25

Perhaps Conte wants to see how his defence performs in a competitive match before attacking the market, smart move I would say given he knows the season doesn't end after the West ham game.

It's not that smart, it means we could make a difficult start to the season and I think we all know how Ivanovic will perform, same with Cahill.

^You are spoilt. Terry starts until the day he hangs up his boots, no debates.

Why? He's a legend, but he starts every game, because of who he is?

The same Di Marzio that said Arsenal were in advanced talks with Arsenal?

 

That's probably true to be fair. Arsenal are quite schizophrenic, they cannot decide if they are a football club or a financial institute and their manager thinks he's an accountant.

Edited August 10, 20169 yr by undertow

We lack serious ambition when signing defensive players. The last time we showed ambition was when we bought G Cahill and D Luiz. Aside from F Luis we have been signing average players in recent times hoping they will all come good just like Zouma and Azpilicueta. I think this is one of the reasons we have been struggling in the Champions League since the last time we won it.

 

That is true- It is as if we chose not to strengthen our defense knowing very well that Terry, Cahil and Ivanovich are getting older and slower. We are now at a point where we are in dire need of CBs or will have to play our back 4 close to goal post. 

 

Having said that, I see Kone as a good squad player with great physical attributes. And I also believe that buying Kone should not mean that we will not be looking at Koulibaly and any other top rated defender.  Giving youth a chance is probably the only reason I can think of for not buying a squad player, but with Chelsea having the tendency to not play its youth players who don't have league experience, I dont see any of our youth being ushered in. 

That is true- It is as if we chose not to strengthen our defense knowing very well that Terry, Cahil and Ivanovich are getting older and slower. We are now at a point where we are in dire need of CBs or will have to play our back 4 close to goal post.

Having said that, I see Kone as a good squad player with great physical attributes. And I also believe that buying Kone should not mean that we will not be looking at Koulibaly and any other top rated defender. Giving youth a chance is probably the only reason I can think of for not buying a squad player, but with Chelsea having the tendency to not play its youth players who don't have league experience, I dont see any of our youth being ushered in.

I'm starting to think that we don't want to move for a world class defender because 1) Zouma will be back soon hopefully and 2) we have Christensen returning next season who could easily be a starter if his progress continues at the same rate.

Strange thinking if true, we need to deal with the here and now. If we lose any of JT, Cahill or Ivan to injury we'll be f**ked.

His agent has said an announcement on his future will be made within the next three days... Apparently. 

 

I thought you meant JT!   (the post above you was about him)

I'm starting to think that we don't want to move for a world class defender because 1) Zouma will be back soon hopefully and 2) we have Christensen returning next season who could easily be a starter if his progress continues at the same rate.

Strange thinking if true, we need to deal with the here and now. If we lose any of JT, Cahill or Ivan to injury we'll be f**ked.

 

fair enough - Although an injury to them would also mean an opportunity for one of our academy products. While I dont wish injury on anyone, I would love it if Conte were to break the trend and give Chalobah a chance in our defense this season. 

I'm starting to think that we don't want to move for a world class defender because 1) Zouma will be back soon hopefully and 2) we have Christensen returning next season who could easily be a starter if his progress continues at the same rate.

Strange thinking if true, we need to deal with the here and now. If we lose any of JT, Cahill or Ivan to injury we'll be f**ked.

I get what you're saying but even then we'd only have two top CBs, when we'll hopefully be back in the CL.. That's simply not enough to challenge on all fronts.

I get what you're saying but even then we'd only have two top CBs, when we'll hopefully be back in the CL.. That's simply not enough to challenge on all fronts.

Totally agree, it smacks of us not getting our first choice targets (Bonnuci?) and just thinking OK we'll get Koulibaly instead then that's dragged on and it's not the sure thing we thought it was.

We didn't plan for a third option because we're not used to being in this position hence the links to Lindof and Kone. We've simply never had to work down a list of potential targets as the majority of players come begging to play or we just pay over the odds.

It's an odd situation to find ourselves in and I would hope that we don't sign a player just to plug the gap until January or even next summer with the hope we'll have more luck.

Maybe Mangala might be an alternative?

Maybe Mangala might be an alternative?

 

No, he's awful, i would rather stick to what we already have than waste money on him. Terry, Cahill, Zouma and Ivanovic are all better CB's than him.

No, he's awful, i would rather stick to what we already have than waste money on him. Terry, Cahill, Zouma and Ivanovic are all better CB's than him.

Any defender would look bad under Pellegrini, even Kompany is a shadow of what he was under Mancini.

Mangala has all the physical attributes to become a top CB. He just needs to be played under the right manager. I think he would be extremely cheap as City are looking to off load.

Mangala has all the physical attributes to become a top CB.

 

I'd rather have Cuadrado play CB

Mangala has all the physical attributes to become a top CB. He just needs to be played under the right manager. I think he would be extremely cheap as City are looking to off load.

I think the opposite, as soon as City knew were interested the price would jump massively. They overpaid for him and will try to claw back as much as possible