5 minutes ago, Ernie_blue said:

Problem is 24-28m for a player who might end like Luis and warming the bench just to strengthen the squad is not great. It's not being negative but it's true. Luis left a year later.

if his going to be a first team starter then it might end up great business.

by the way I see 12m for a 32 yr old Williams as great business. 

you do know Conte is the one pushing for this signing, Conte asked for the player! he is not coming here to sit on the bench.

7 minutes ago, pacquiao said:

you do know Conte is the one pushing for this signing, Conte asked for the player! he is not coming here to sit on the bench.

 Ok, I'll take your word on it..  but if azpi is the one to make way for the bench then.....

Just now, bola said:

 Ok, I'll take your word on it..  but if azpi is the one to make way for the bench then.....

Then Conte Out!!!

I'm just so pleased we have so many experts on here who have seen the guy play so many times that they can tell us already that he's a poor signing, so I don't have to get my hopes up.

Have to say it's not one that fills me with joy but maybe he'll be a solid option like Dave turned out to be.

2 minutes ago, bjd said:

I'm just so pleased we have so many experts on here who have seen the guy play so many times that they can tell us already that he's a poor signing, so I don't have to get my hopes up.

Who saying his poor?

12 minutes ago, pacquiao said:

you do know Conte is the one pushing for this signing, Conte asked for the player! he is not coming here to sit on the bench.

Who knows? Luis is much better than Alonso and he sat on the bench. Also cost less.

Worth mentioning Filipe Luis was at Deportivo La Coruna at 25?

Edited August 29, 20169 yr by the special one

35 minutes ago, Ernie_blue said:

Problem is 24-28m for a player who might end like Luis and warming the bench just to strengthen the squad is not great. It's not being negative but it's true. Luis left a year later.

if his going to be a first team starter then it might end up great business.

by the way I see 12m for a 32 yr old Williams as great business. 

What if the idea is for him to be first choice left back and Dave moves to the right? Is that a bad thing?

Not sure why this deal is viewing viewed with such negative connotations, Luis was kept out of the team by an inform Ivanovic and Dave. 

Signing a versatile, young defender sounds good to me and it's what the squad needs. 

I think people on here are going to be surprised how good Alonso is, Sunderland fans raved about him and they seen him week in week out. I thought he was good at sunderland too and his rating on whoscored.com are impressive. We need a natural left back (especially one that is good going forward) and Azpi and Aina can play at RB and Ivan can play more at CB.

 

2 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

What if the idea is for him to be first choice left back and Dave moves to the right? Is that a bad thing?

Not sure why this deal is viewing viewed with such negative connotations, Luis was kept out of the team by an inform Ivanovic and Dave. 

Signing a versatile, young defender sounds good to me and it's what the squad needs. 

 

most of the negativity comes from he fact he played for Bolton and Sunderland as a youngster and all these people who have barely even seen him play now seem to think that is his level, and Chelsea are signing a Sunderland standard player! 

Like it or not we have left it extremely late in the window now. So it's either sign Alonso at full back or nobody, I'm sure we all agree we need the cover. I haven't seen the guy play but as always opinion on here seems pretty polarised. 

3 minutes ago, pacquiao said:

 

most of the negativity comes from he fact he played for Bolton and Sunderland as a youngster and all these people who have barely even seen him play now seem to think that is his level, and Chelsea are signing a Sunderland standard player! 

 

Does my head in that does, judging how good a player is because of certain clubs he used to play for. Imagine if we signed Kante last season instead of Leicester guarantee everyone would of been laughing and having a go at Emenalo and the board for a lack of ambiiton. We were linked with Mousa Dembele for a bit last summer and everyone was saying how crap he was and not good enough for us and last season he was the best central midfielder in the premier league.

16 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

What if the idea is for him to be first choice left back and Dave moves to the right? Is that a bad thing?

Not sure why this deal is viewing viewed with such negative connotations, Luis was kept out of the team by an inform Ivanovic and Dave. 

Signing a versatile, young defender sounds good to me and it's what the squad needs. 

That's what I mean, I'm not really bothered how much Chelsea spend on a LB as long his a first team starter and Dave starts RB. I have been wanting natural fullbacks for years who can cross. Ivanovic is only good as a squad player now.

Even when Ivanovic was playing well and scoring goals his crossing was still dreadful and frustrating, I wanted Luis playing then knowing Ivanovic was near the end of his career but Mourinho hardly changed the team.

im not saying his a bad player or a bad signing, I just would be fed up of signing a 20m plus player to sit on the bench.

10 minutes ago, jack_super_class said:

 

Does my head in that does, judging how good a player is because of certain clubs he used to play for. Imagine if we signed Kante last season instead of Leicester guarantee everyone would of been laughing and having a go at Emenalo and the board for a lack of ambiiton. We were linked with Mousa Dembele for a bit last summer and everyone was saying how crap he was and not good enough for us and last season he was the best central midfielder in the premier league.

Chelsea would never of risked signing Kante the season Leicester did lol

Dembele wasn't better than Kante last season ;)

Edited August 29, 20169 yr by Ernie_blue

I don't know what to make of this...I know nothing of him as a player, but I can't shake the feeling that he'll just be another Luis, or Rahman. We need to start playing the fullbacks when we buy them. Look at what happened when Ivanovic and Azpilicueta finally got their chances.

At the moment, we're just paying big money for left backs, doing nothing with them, then repeating the process.

3 minutes ago, Cam said:

I don't know what to make of this...I know nothing of him as a player, but I can't shake the feeling that he'll just be another Luis, or Rahman. We need to start playing the fullbacks when we buy them. Look at what happened when Ivanovic and Azpilicueta finally got their chances.

At the moment, we're just paying big money for left backs, doing nothing with them, then repeating the process.

Full backs is just a reoccurring issue over the years. Look at Luis, Baba, Zhirkov...

Well the reaction over on the Fiorentina forum to the 25m bid was a lot of laughter followed by comments such as donkey, slow, can't defend etc, but to be fair there were also this comment:

Quote

His technique and awareness are not great, but he’s fairly athletic, very good in the air, a hard worker, versatile, and capable of following instructions. With his experience playing as a wingback and in a back three, I think that Conte would get some good use out of him as a squad player, but probably not as a full-time starter.

I think the best we should hope for is that he turns out to be a solid backup for Azpi who can also play CB in case of an emergency. 25m seems too much but at this stage that is to be expected and if we finally get a defender, I won't be complaining about the price.

Edited August 29, 20169 yr by footballoholic

Well it's a bit worrying that so many Fiorentina fans are saying he is average, after watching so much of him they would know if he was a good or not, but i'll give him a chance. Hopefully we aren't signing another LB that only lasts 1 season.

Not the most exciting of signings after being linked with players like Ricardo Rodriguez but if Conte wants him then lets get it done certainly need the cover there.

7 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Well it's a bit worrying that so many Fiorentina fans are saying he is average, after watching so much of him they would know if he was a good or not, but i'll give him a chance. Hopefully we aren't signing another LB that only lasts 1 season.

If it's anything like this forum then it's not a worry at all.

We had a fantastic LB in Filipe Luís, I still don't understand why we couldn't accommodate him. What a huge mistake that was.

Just now, Luca Vialli said:

We had a fantastic LB in Filipe Luís, I still don't understand why we couldn't accommodate him. What a huge mistake that was.

I was a big fan of Luis, i loved the way he tackled players, and his crosses were very dangerous too. Last season we really needed him with Ivanovic playing as poor as he was, if only Mourinho had more faith in him.

27 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I was a big fan of Luis, i loved the way he tackled players, and his crosses were very dangerous too. Last season we really needed him with Ivanovic playing as poor as he was, if only Mourinho had more faith in him.

Perhaps we may need to lower our expectations in the short term but at 25 Alonso is entering the 'peak years' for a defender, Luis is 31 now so hopefully there's still time for Alonso to reach his level. I haven't watched him every week but from what I've seen I'm confident he can, he shares many similar qualities... 6'2", left footed, can take a free kick and his diagonals/crossing seem pretty decent to me.

Edited August 29, 20169 yr by the special one

Plays well in a system with 3 centre backs, so could be interesting with different formations.