Albiol reportedly has a release clause of 8-10 million euro, if that's true I don't know why we don't just offer Luiz to Napoli for free, i.e. I can't imagine Luiz' market value is above 15m euro? (Sarri 8m + Albiol 8m)

Seems like another day with no real major updates/progress. The same reports being made which surfaced a week ago. 

Edited May 28, 20188 yr by zes

14 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

Milinkovic-Savic has all the physical attributes to dominate in this league for sure. I can't help but wonder whether he is player we are hoping RLC will turn out to be. 

I take your other point, I agree on Fabregas but disagree on Bakayoko, a physical presence without the ball was about all he offered. Under Sarri I really don't know what we're going to do with Bakayoko. I just can't see him playing out of pressue. 

I actually think we may need two players to implement Sarri's style. One is a more physical DM who is capable on the ball, one more a passing footballer as an heir to Fabregas, but with more pace and defensive awareness.

That would give us Fab, Barkley, RLC, as more attacking minded players then Kante, Physical DM, Passing DM. 

Now it may well be that Drinkwater and Bakayoko end up being shoehorned into those roles, but ideally they would come from outside.

Lets be real, the board would never sanction 100m for a player who has never won anything.

3 minutes ago, Deino said:

Lets be real, the board would never sanction 100m for a player who has never won anything.

Rumours United are in for SMS anyway, if we're spending that sort of money I think I'd prefer we sign Pogba or Hamsik.

Edited May 28, 20188 yr by the special one

57 minutes ago, the special one said:

Albiol reportedly has a release clause of 8-10 million euro, if that's true I don't know why we don't just offer Luiz to Napoli for free, i.e. I can't imagine Luiz' market value is above 15m euro? (Sarri 8m + Albiol 8m)

Isn't Albiol in his 30s now?

7 minutes ago, Bobbywoodhogan said:

Isn't Albiol in his 30s now?

32, 33 in September. He was one of Europe's best CB's last season so I don't really see his age as an issue. Even if we only get a couple of seasons from him Christensen will be a couple of years older hopefully minus the mistakes he made this season.

I'd prefer Alderweireld tbh but it looks like he's off to United.

Edited May 28, 20188 yr by the special one

8 minutes ago, the special one said:

32, 33 in September. He was one of Europe's best CB's last season so I don't really see his age as an issue. Even if we only get a couple of seasons from him Christensen will be a couple of years older hopefully minus the mistakes he made this season.

I'd prefer Alderweireld tbh but it looks like he's off to United.

Tbh I don't think we need any signings at CB, I'm happy with what we have and that includes Luiz.

On 27/05/2018 at 14:52, boomerdog said:

If the club has spoken to Mick McCarthy then maybe it is to make us feel grateful for whoever we get instead.

To be fair we have been missing a leader all season, so if Roman brings McCarthy in as a no-nonsense centre half and gets rid of Luiz I think it would improve us quite a bit.

 

I know it is fake, but seems a good effort  

Edited May 28, 20188 yr by RickUK

7 hours ago, RickUK said:

As i said, if i was Sarri i would wait until Friday and just resign. Nothing stopping him

 

And there's nothing stopping Napoli turning down his resignation.

 

You can't just walk out on a contract unless your employer agrees to you doing so.

 

The only way they will agree to his resignation is if they are compensated for it.

14 minutes ago, Davey Baby said:

 

And there's nothing stopping Napoli turning down his resignation.

 

You can't just walk out on a contract unless your employer agrees to you doing so.

 

The only way they will agree to his resignation is if they are compensated for it.

It'll turn into a legal issue if it continues then.  Constructive dismissal

1 hour ago, RickUK said:

 

I know it is fake, but seems a good effort  

Very nice

This is a really interesting video by two avid Serie A Fans. I urge you all to watch. Have to say, despite my reservations, I've already grown to like Sarri, given what they say about him. They also say it's a gamble. I have a few Italian friends who all say the same thing. They all think it's a surprising choice by Chelsea. None of them are saying it's a bad choice, it's just his age, his record and the fact he hasn't coached outside Italy and doesn't speak English makes it a gamble in their minds, more of a gamble than the usual appointments. We usually go for tried and tested winners. The other interesting thing is they say Sarri has left Napoli. Not sure how true that is ..

 

 

I thought it was commonly accepted that he DID speak english because he worked as a banker in London ?

5 minutes ago, Stim said:

I thought it was commonly accepted that he DID speak english because he worked as a banker in London ?

 

I guess we'll find out in his first press conference.

Having NEVER seen Chelsea play the possession-based, quick, short-passing football for sustained periods of an entire season in my lifetime,  I am desperate for this transfer to go through, even if that means a process of one or two more years, where we build, prepare and shape our squad to imbibe that philosophy and therefore, don't play for CL for one or two years. 

I am literally tired of the defend-defend-defend-counter philosophy we've played for so long. Sure, it is great to see the lads lifting trophies, but if we're not winning anything, I'd much rather be a Klopp Liverpool finishing fourth than Boreinho's United finishing second. 

This is still a gamble given Maurizio Sarri doesn't have any real top flight experience except for the couple of years at Napoli, but at least the footballing-philosophy we're trying to emulate makes the gamble well worth it, in my humble opinion. 

Edited May 28, 20188 yr by Lord

6 minutes ago, Lord said:

Having NEVER seen Chelsea play the possession-based, quick, short-passing football for sustained periods of an entire season in my lifetime,  I am desperate for this transfer to go through, even if that means a process of one or two more years, where we build, prepare and shape our squad to imbibe that philosophy and therefore, don't play for CL for one or two years. 

I am literally tired of the defend-defend-defend-counter philosophy we've played for so long. Sure, it is great to see the lads lifting trophies, but if we're not winning anything, I'd much rather be a Klopp Liverpool finishing fourth than Boreinho's United finishing second. 

This is still a gamble given Maurizio Sarri doesn't have any real top flight experience except for the couple of years at Napoli, but at least the footballing-philosophy we're trying to emulate makes the gamble well worth it, in my humble opinion. 

I thought we came close under Benitez with Mata, Oscar and Hazard, albeit 3/4 of a season.

I would like us to be able to play two ways, possession based and counter-attack.

 

The best football we've played in the Roman era was 2009-10, we were fantastic that season. We were scoring loads of goals for fun.

3 minutes ago, Bobbywoodhogan said:

The best football we've played in the Roman era was 2009-10, we were fantastic that season. We were scoring loads of goals for fun.

Scoring goals is something else.

RM in that La Liga winning season under Mourinho scored so many with fast counter-attacking football. They'd soak all the pressure and break quick with scary pace. But that system relies heavily on young, extremely quick wingers/midfielders and solid centre-backs. Once Ronaldo's pace dwindled, so did the goals. 

I am more interested in the philosophy. Goals are a spin-off. 

2 minutes ago, Lord said:

Scoring goals is something else.

RM in that La Liga winning season under Mourinho scored so many with fast counter-attacking football. They'd soak all the pressure and break quick with scary pace. But that system relies heavily on young, extremely quick wingers/midfielders and solid centre-backs. Once Ronaldo's pace dwindled, so did the goals. 

I am more interested in the philosophy. Goals are a spin-off. 

Not the goals of Cristiano though he scored even in this season as a 34 year old more than 40 goals...

15 minutes ago, Bobbywoodhogan said:

The best football we've played in the Roman era was 2009-10, we were fantastic that season. We were scoring loads of goals for fun.

I honestly think early Scolari trumped that, if were talking solely authentically pleasing purist esque football. I thought Carlo played a similar style to Mou with one key difference, the latter slowed the game down at 2/3 up wereas Carlo kept the same intensity.

Meanwhile our rivals are busy completing their first or second signings of the summer already.... United bidding for Savic, Liverpool for Fekir......

I am no expert on the matter but god knows why paying a release clause and terminating Conte are taking so long. 

Edited May 28, 20188 yr by zes

17 minutes ago, Argo said:

I honestly think early Scolari trumped that, if were talking solely authentically pleasing purist esque football. I thought Carlo played a similar style to Mou with one key difference, the latter slowed the game down at 2/3 up wereas Carlo kept the same intensity.

I still think that season under Carlo was better, the matches were better too.

I remember under Scolari even in the early days when the media were buzzing about us I never felt confident watching us. Like I knew it wasn't real, when we lost to Liverpool I knew we'd lose, then Arsenal etc. I get that that doesn't necessarily mean the football was bad but it just didn't feel right which ruined my enjoyment of the matches.

3 minutes ago, zes said:

I am no expert on the matter but god knows why paying a release clause and terminating Conte are taking so long. 

That's because we aren't terminating Conte. 

1 minute ago, Blueblur said:

That's because we aren't terminating Conte. 

Do you honestly think he'll still be manager next season?