There are only so many world class players to go around; I fear this year will be slim pickings though of any real blockbuster deals.  I am sure the preparations and tapping up started early, certainly in City's case you would think, given the one early signing and another on the way by all reports.  Hopefully, Conte has gotten a commitment from our stars for another season, although it would not surprise me to see Cesc leave (sadly) so he can play every week; he seemed rather pissed at not starting in the cup final.  I worry about our defence though, really leaky at times and not that fast paced if they get caught up at the half way line. Certainly an area that needs strengthening IMO; I hope that Conte has picked out 2-3 youngsters that can join the squad and that he can be confident they will get some game time.  Time for the players to rest and recuperate while the management team get down to doing some business over the next few weeks and execute the plan....hopefully they have one? 

 

Conte sounds angry at the loss to Arsenal, he will be 'cold' and I believe he will drop these players to backup positions/Sell them (Begovic, Loan players, Moses, Matic)

Hopefully our squad looks like this next season

                  tibo (Krul)

        Azpi/Ake  Luiz   Van Dijk/cahill

Conti/moses Kante/Fabregas Matuidi/Veratti Alonso/baba

Sanchez/Pedro  Diego/Morata  Hazard/Sanchez

 

We will be challenging champions league with that squad, Hazard and Sanchez is a scary attack...

I am a bit worried about our HG situation here. JT and now Bego (rumored but very much a done deal) are gone.

So basically now we have just 2 HG players if I remember correctly: GC, moses and Cesc.

Current Squad:

GK: Tibo, 2nd GK, Eduardo

CB: GC, Azpi, DL, 4th CB, 5th CB, 6th CB

RWB: Moses, 2nd RWB

LWB: ALonso, 2nd LWB

CM: Kante, Cesc, Matic, 4th CM, 5th CM

Forwards: Costa/1st ST, 2nd ST, 3rd ST, Hazard, Willian, Pedro, 4th Winger

We have 12 places under contention for the next season (probably 8 more than my liking, just shows that we need stability).

Out of which we might get Conti, Baba for the WB spots. I am sure we will buy a new CM, who probably wont be HG (as I dont see any HG world class options). So out of the remaining 9 positions we need 5 HG/U-21 players. Will be a hassle.

 

On 5/29/2017 at 07:09, axman2526 said:

What city are doing, that is what we should be doing. One top young talent signed from Monaco, another on the way and close to a world record goalkeeper signed. Hope we start soon... 

Yeah, and we, we are letting go of players. I'm not worried, though.

I wouldn't want Baba to rejoin our squad next season. He has been out for a long time and will miss alot of games next season as well, before he recovers his fitness. I wasn't impressed with his performances for us before Conte sent him away either.

 

Edited May 30, 20179 yr by comtrend

On 30/05/2017 at 21:29, comtrend said:

I wouldn't want Baba to rejoin our squad next season.

I don't think he will, having analysed the loan players not too long ago, I make it 5/6 players good enough to stay on next season. The likelihood is that two, or maybe three stay, obviously I'm not an expert though. I believe Mario Pašali? wants to leave, Van Ginkel I think will leave too, Abraham, Baker and Christensen I hope will be given chances in pre season, as for Traore, I'm a fan of his, but I don't think Conte is, who knows?

Edited June 1, 20179 yr by Floyd25

Still no signings?

To retain the title, . A good CL campaign, meaning reaching the Semi Finals at least. To do either or both,we need to invest in players who can improve us. And we need more strength in depth.

I hope someone good is signed this week. Every other team's deals are being or on the verge of completion with some already signed on. Fingers crossed on Marina and Emenalo settling the transfers sharpish.

Chelsea never go public with transfer dealings. Could be lots of irons in the fire and might surprise a few after these set of internationals.

26 minutes ago, Richard P said:

Chelsea never go public with transfer dealings. Could be lots of irons in the fire and might surprise a few after these set of internationals.

Hope so Richard, unless the board all gone on holiday for a few weeks?.... o'well we can play the kids!!

Tammy Abraham - this kid, scored 26 goals with Bristol, is he ready for first team?

18 hours ago, Tibbers said:

Tammy Abraham - this kid, scored 26 goals with Bristol, is he ready for first team?

Not yet. It's been a great start for him, but he still has a lot more to yet.

Bamford scored for fun at Boro and Derby in the championship. Couldn't even get on the bench ahead of Gistede last season in the prem and Boro went down having paid 10 million. Big gap to the prem, so not sure if Tammy could deal with the pressure.

4 hours ago, Richard P said:

Bamford scored for fun at Boro and Derby in the championship. Couldn't even get on the bench ahead of Gistede last season in the prem and Boro went down having paid 10 million. Big gap to the prem, so not sure if Tammy could deal with the pressure.

I wouldn't say he scored for fun. He scored 8 in 21 for Derby and scored 19 in 44 for Middlesbrough. Abraham scored 26 in 48 for Bristol City, and they aren't as good as Middlesbrough were when Bamford was playing for them in the Championship. Put Abraham in a top Championship team and i think he would get over 30 goals.

6 hours ago, Richard P said:

Bamford scored for fun at Boro and Derby in the championship. Couldn't even get on the bench ahead of Gistede last season in the prem and Boro went down having paid 10 million. Big gap to the prem, so not sure if Tammy could deal with the pressure.

I always thought the Prem might be difficult for Bamford. He doesn't have outstanding pace or strength. Tammy has both and his physical presence will see him cope with the tough side of things and cause defenders nightmares.

On 6/14/2017 at 22:22, Scott Harris said:

Not yet. It's been a great start for him, but he still has a lot more to yet.

I  just think we're gonna need an instant game changer. Hmm