2 minutes ago, comtrend said:

He is a solid defender and he has a great shot. His crossing and passing however is not his best attributes.

His crossing is one of his best attributes in my mind, certainly better than moses

15 hours ago, Barrettinator said:

I think where he's not respected is in the Spain NT. No reason he should be on the bench and Carvajal starting for them. Absolutely no reason. He's a much better player.

Christensen isn't going on any more loans. His father has made it clear over the past year. It's up to us to find a way to integrate him in a way that will be appealing to him. I've finally come around to the idea of VVD because I think we can have all of VVD, Ake and Christensen in the team if we play our cards right, especially seeing as Cahill will be 32 by the end of the year and Luiz just turned 30. We need all of VVD (25), Ake (22) and Christensen (21).

Granted Azpi is a much better defender, however Carvajal is much better going forward, and as Spain focus more on the attacking side hence Carvajal. It's pretty simple really. 

24 minutes ago, RMCM said:

His crossing is one of his best attributes in my mind, certainly better than moses

Moses is among the worst crossers in the game, not that hard to be better then him. When you compare Alonsos crosses to Mendy and Ghoulam however there is a big diffrence in precision.

Edited May 5, 20179 yr by comtrend

9 hours ago, Barrettinator said:

We can do much better than Bertrand. Bertrand is good but not that good. We need a wing back that's that good for the CL.

We need several players, Costa replacement, CM, LWB (if Ake is not used as cover) RWB and possibly a CB (although by the looks of things Conte has earmarked that position as being an issue). As someone else has mentioned we won't be spending 200/300 million. Therefore some need a reality check, as our main focus will be spending the most on the spine of the team, ST, CM, CB, which leaves less money to spend on RWB and LWB.  

Edited May 5, 20179 yr by Osgood is Good

3 hours ago, RMCM said:

I'm almost certain we have one of those? 

He's decent defensively but constantly needs Cahill behind him to keep him in line as far as positioning goes. He's also a sh*t crosser, especially for someone who's got a cracking free kick. And he can be done for pace by pacy wingers. Something we'll find in the CL.

One of the main reasons Conte favors Alonso is his height. At 6'2, he's a great outlet for Courtois to lump the ball up to from the back when we're being pressed high and unlike Moses, he's taller than most opposing full backs/wingers so he'll win the header and we'll retain possession. Seen this played out many times this season. Also good for defending set pieces too unlike Moses. But Ghoulam and Mendy have such height too and are better in other areas. Especially Mendy. Though I doubt Monaco would want to sell us TWO players. Regardless, we need a better LWB for the CL.

Edited May 5, 20179 yr by Barrettinator

On 05/05/2017 at 07:26, Scottish_mike said:

Vvd is 30million tops. Yes hes good but we dont really need him, if any Southampton player id prefer bertrand as we need cover for our wing backs. lets be fair moses as much as he was amazing this season isnt one, and is getting on a bit to, and im not the biggest fan of alonso.

Moses is 26. Hardly getting on lol.

On 5/5/2017 at 01:12, MTF said:

it's not about worrying about spending someone elses' money - it's just that everything has it's limit. i'm years beyond caring where our money comes from and what we spend it on.

We weren't able to sign some of our targets last summer because we doodled around too long and didn't pay up when it mattered. What happens if we end up missing out on a striker simply because all the money that could of been spent on one is spent on a defender when we have so many options as it is already?

Also, people talking about '200/300m warchests' i think are getting a bit carried away, FFP still exists...just saying', because ripping off Chinese clubs to balance our transfers isn't going to last forever.

I'm not saying we will spend £300m, but the tv deals has made FFP almost irrelevant in England, especially with us given our new sponsorship with Nike.

On 2017-5-5 at 01:52, Barrettinator said:

He's decent defensively but constantly needs Cahill behind him to keep him in line as far as positioning goes. He's also a sh*t crosser, especially for someone who's got a cracking free kick. And he can be done for pace by pacy wingers. Something we'll find in the CL.

One of the main reasons Conte favors Alonso is his height. At 6'2, he's a great outlet for Courtois to lump the ball up to from the back when we're being pressed high and unlike Moses, he's taller than most opposing full backs/wingers so he'll win the header and we'll retain possession. Seen this played out many times this season. Also good for defending set pieces too unlike Moses. But Ghoulam and Mendy have such height too and are better in other areas. Especially Mendy. Though I doubt Monaco would want to sell us TWO players. Regardless, we need a better LWB for the CL.

The quality of his low crosses is top class. 

2 hours ago, Argo said:

I'm not saying we will spend £300m, but the tv deals has made FFP almost irrelevant in England, especially with us given our new sponsorship with Nike.

Additionally - If Costa goes for £70-80m then we will have £150+m to spend to even break even on transfers considering the winter sales. 

Considering we haven't had a net transfer spend of anything even above £50m since 12/13 I think we probably could spend £200m+without blinking. 

Whether we need to is a different conversation. 

He hasnt played a game in several months, its too much of a gamble to spend this much money on him. 

 

I mean look at what happened to Zouma after his injury

3 hours ago, JJP said:

He hasnt played a game in several months, its too much of a gamble to spend this much money on him. 

 

I mean look at what happened to Zouma after his injury

What do you men "happened to Zouma"? He looks exactly the same

5 minutes ago, Xfaxtor said:

What do you men "happened to Zouma"? He looks exactly the same

I agree, still fast as f**k, sh*t on the ball, and strong as a bull. He just looks like he's not played football for a year, that's all i've noticed. We need to keep him, he's an unbelievable prospect

5 hours ago, JJP said:

He hasnt played a game in several months, its too much of a gamble to spend this much money on him. 

 

I mean look at what happened to Zouma after his injury

Zouma had a ligament/ACL injury though and was out for about a year. Van Dijk had a foot/ankle injury and was only out for 5 months or so. Already running on treadmills right now. Not the same at all.

3 hours ago, Xfaxtor said:

What do you men "happened to Zouma"? He looks exactly the same

Before the injury he was out best CB, this season in all the games he's been a part of, he hasn't done anything impressive. Especially the last game against Watford he was really poor. And that is because of injury combined with his lack of play time

1 hour ago, Barrettinator said:

Zouma had a ligament/ACL injury though and was out for about a year. Van Dijk had a foot/ankle injury and was only out for 5 months or so. Already running on treadmills right now. Not the same at all.

 

Its not the same type of injury, but before this season did people even know who VVD was? For someone who only had a couple months of good performances, is it really worth spending 60m+ on him? 

1 minute ago, JJP said:

 

Its not the same type of injury, but before this season did people even know who VVD was? For someone who only had a couple months of good performances, is it really worth spending 60m+ on him? 

No one outside Italian football knew who Belotti was before this season or even Mbappe yet they both have 100m price tags now. It's how it works in football mate. 1 year is generally enough these days, especially as he had been on a bit of an upward trajectory prior to this season.

Just now, Barrettinator said:

No one outside Italian football knew who Belotti was before this season or even Mbappe yet they both have 100m price tags now. It's how it works in football mate. 1 year is generally enough these days, especially as he had been on a bit of an upward trajectory prior to this season.

 

I suppose you have a point there. Its crazy to think that even as little as 5 years ago, prices like this would have been absolutely insane. I'd still like to see VVD have more games against top opposition to see how he does before we go and spend that much on him

Just now, JJP said:

 

I suppose you have a point there. Its crazy to think that even as little as 5 years ago, prices like this would have been absolutely insane. I'd still like to see VVD have more games against top opposition to see how he does before we go and spend that much on him

5 years ago we were saying things like "to buy Ronaldo from Madrid you'd have to absolutely bid an insane 140m".

That's laughable now.

1 minute ago, Barrettinator said:

5 years ago we were saying things like "to buy Ronaldo from Madrid you'd have to absolutely bid an insane 140m".

That's laughable now.

 

I get that, but there's a HUGE difference between Ronaldo and Mbappe who is still 18 and had 1 good season.

6 minutes ago, JJP said:

 

Its not the same type of injury, but before this season did people even know who VVD was? For someone who only had a couple months of good performances, is it really worth spending 60m+ on him? 

It's always happened though has it not? Rooney had that breakthrough season at Everton and United chucked 30 odd million at him over 10 years ago. That's the equivalent of what the figures benign quoted for these guys are now. It's nothing new 

Just now, JJP said:

 

I get that, but there's a HUGE difference between Ronaldo and Mbappe who is still 18 and had 1 good season.

Which should tell you just how much the landscape has changed.

Just now, Chelsbear said:

It's always happened though has it not? Rooney had that breakthrough season at Everton and United chucked 30 odd million at him over 10 years ago. That's the equivalent of what the figures benign quoted for these guys are now. It's nothing new 

 

Dont get me wrong, I'd be happy to be proved wrong and VVD being a great signing, but the last thing i'd want is another Torres who can't live upto his price tag. I mean look at City and the incredible amounts they've been spending on CB's and they have more or less all been terrible. 

Stones was great at everton, but he went city for 50m and look how poor he has been this season compared to when he was still at Everton

1 minute ago, JJP said:

 

Dont get me wrong, I'd be happy to be proved wrong and VVD being a great signing, but the last thing i'd want is another Torres who can't live upto his price tag. I mean look at City and the incredible amounts they've been spending on CB's and they have more or less all been terrible. 

Stones was great at everton, but he went city for 50m and look how poor he has been this season compared to when he was still at Everton

I personally wouldn't touch VVD but that's because I don't think we need him or he's good enough to replace Cahill Dave or Luiz. For that money you want someone who will get into your starting 11 and I don't think he would.

Just now, Chelsbear said:

I personally wouldn't touch VVD but that's because I don't think we need him or he's good enough to replace Cahill Dave or Luiz. For that money you want someone who will get into your starting 11 and I don't think he would.

I think he's good enough to replace Cahill, but for 60m I really dont think we need to spend that much on him when we can spend that money in other areas. 

Just now, Chelsbear said:

I personally wouldn't touch VVD but that's because I don't think we need him or he's good enough to replace Cahill Dave or Luiz. For that money you want someone who will get into your starting 11 and I don't think he would.

Disagree. I think he's quality and can still improve a lot under Conte. I used to be opposed to the idea but I've come around to it, considering Cahill will be 32 next season and Luiz is already 30. VVD is 25. It wouldn't hurt to have him now and have ready replacements for when Cahill and Luiz decline. Especially Cahill whom I think wouldn't have the longevity Terry has had. I think Cahill will be done by 33/34 tbh.