Im a huge fan of Hazard and would hate to see him leave, but if he wants a new challenge I don't think we should deny him that. If we can get 120m for him and 50m for Willian, that gives us a decent Budget to revamp the side. If we go with Pulasic and Hudson-Odoi and could secure the services of Mauro Icardi in the summer that in my opinion would be an exciting front 3. Adding to that some much needed creativity to fill the void left by Fabragas and a decent centre half to accompany Rudiger to supplement the players we already have then it may not be all doom and gloom.

Hazard is a player that cant be replaced, but if he wants to leave then we have to look forward.

Absolutely agree. I think it would be the perfect time to shake things up, bring in some fresh talent and fully embrace the new attacking football.

As mentioned in another thread i think the Hazard sale could end up benefiting us in a way similar to Coutinho/Suarez at Liverpool.

Out: Hazard (£40m + Kovacic), Pedro (£8m), Barkley (£20m), Alonso (£35m), Giroud (free), Zappacosta (£12m), Drinnkwater? (£10m) - £125m

In: Pepe (£40m), T.Hazard (£50m), R.James (Free), Kovacic (Free), A.Telles/F.Mendy (£40m), Tammy (Free), Higuain (£15m loan fee?) - £145m

 

Kepa

Azpi/James  Rudiger/Ampadu  Luiz/Christensen  Telles/Emerson

Jorginho/Kovacic

Kante/Ampadu/Kovacic          T.Hazard/RLC

Pulisic/Pepe     Higuain/Tammy     CHO/Willian

 

Nice mix of youth and experience. If Higuain kicks on this season i'd be happy extending his loan for another year as there are no attainable strikers i can see that will improve us immediately. Get rid of Giroud and give Tammy time to study under Higuain and possibly make a Kane-esque emergence. Similar to City buy young wingers that suit the system, We have Pulisic and CHO aready. Sign Pepe who wants to play here and clearly has a knack for scoring/assisting. Many people may disagree but i'd keep one of Willian/Pedro around for one more season to add some experience out wide. I've included Willian above but he'd likely fetch a higher transfer fee so could swap with Pedro.

In the midfield i think we'll end up retaining Kovacic as part of the Hazard deal. I'm not against this idea as he can play in any of the three positions along with Ampadu. I'd ship Barkley out as he offers very little and someone like Bournemouth might still be willing to pay a fair bit for him. Barkley's replacement i wouldn't mind seeing Eden's little brother come in. His versatility would allow him to play the attacking mid role well but also help out on the wings, possibly replacing Pedro/Willian. Another name floating about online for this role is Coutinho but imo he isn't worth what Barca would charge.

Kept the Backline very similar. Get rid of Zappacosta and bring in Reece James, the lad has been getting incredible reviews and once again his versatility could see him step into midfield when needed. Keep the CB's the same for another year with Christensen taking more responsibility. Wouldn't surprise me to see Sarri go after Rugani again. LB is our problem area, as good as Alonso was as a wingback under Conte i don't think he suits the back 4. With the RM upbringing and goals he manages to score, added to the fact Marcelo is leaving, surely we could get RM to chuck close to £40m at us for him? Use the money to get someone quick like Telles/Mendy/Tagliafico who can whip in a good ball too. Keep Emerson as back up. 

I know a lot of people are likely to respond 'ha ha this isn't Fifa lad amirite?' but it seems achievable. Only really bringing in three new signings whilst thinning out the squad a bit like Sarri wants.

10 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

As mentioned in another thread i think the Hazard sale could end up benefiting us in a way similar to Coutinho/Suarez at Liverpool.

Out: Hazard (£40m + Kovacic), Pedro (£8m), Barkley (£20m), Alonso (£35m), Giroud (free), Zappacosta (£12m), Drinnkwater? (£10m) - £125m

In: Pepe (£40m), T.Hazard (£50m), R.James (Free), Kovacic (Free), A.Telles/F.Mendy (£40m), Tammy (Free), Higuain (£15m loan fee?) - £145m

 

Kepa

Azpi/James  Rudiger/Ampadu  Luiz/Christensen  Telles/Emerson

Jorginho/Kovacic

Kante/Ampadu/Kovacic          T.Hazard/RLC

Pulisic/Pepe     Higuain/Tammy     CHO/Willian

 

Nice mix of youth and experience. If Higuain kicks on this season i'd be happy extending his loan for another year as there are no attainable strikers i can see that will improve us immediately. Get rid of Giroud and give Tammy time to study under Higuain and possibly make a Kane-esque emergence. Similar to City buy young wingers that suit the system, We have Pulisic and CHO aready. Sign Pepe who wants to play here and clearly has a knack for scoring/assisting. Many people may disagree but i'd keep one of Willian/Pedro around for one more season to add some experience out wide. I've included Willian above but he'd likely fetch a higher transfer fee so could swap with Pedro.

In the midfield i think we'll end up retaining Kovacic as part of the Hazard deal. I'm not against this idea as he can play in any of the three positions along with Ampadu. I'd ship Barkley out as he offers very little and someone like Bournemouth might still be willing to pay a fair bit for him. Barkley's replacement i wouldn't mind seeing Eden's little brother come in. His versatility would allow him to play the attacking mid role well but also help out on the wings, possibly replacing Pedro/Willian. Another name floating about online for this role is Coutinho but imo he isn't worth what Barca would charge.

Kept the Backline very similar. Get rid of Zappacosta and bring in Reece James, the lad has been getting incredible reviews and once again his versatility could see him step into midfield when needed. Keep the CB's the same for another year with Christensen taking more responsibility. Wouldn't surprise me to see Sarri go after Rugani again. LB is our problem area, as good as Alonso was as a wingback under Conte i don't think he suits the back 4. With the RM upbringing and goals he manages to score, added to the fact Marcelo is leaving, surely we could get RM to chuck close to £40m at us for him? Use the money to get someone quick like Telles/Mendy/Tagliafico who can whip in a good ball too. Keep Emerson as back up. 

I know a lot of people are likely to respond 'ha ha this isn't Fifa lad amirite?' but it seems achievable. Only really bringing in three new signings whilst thinning out the squad a bit like Sarri wants.

Are the options of Luiz/ Christensen and Jorginho/Kovacic the reason we are where we are this season? Luiz is a great Ball player but cant defend for sh*t, the other three are not good enough in my opinion, players like Kovacic are two a penny and Christensen for some reason has gone backwards from the early promise he showed. Jorginho brings no more to the table than I could, anyone can keep possession in the areas that he operates in under no pressure most of the time, teams are happy for him to have it as he does very little with it other than retain it in a non threatening position. If we want to become a serious threat to City and Liverpool we need quality in these positions. Playing Kante on the right to accommodate Jorginho is an absolute bonus for our rivals and needs to be addressed immediately. Koulabaly would be nice and a top creative player like Eriksen is what we need to be looking at as were 15/20 points short at the moment.

15 minutes ago, Osgoodwasgood said:

Are the options of Luiz/ Christensen and Jorginho/Kovacic the reason we are where we are this season? Luiz is a great Ball player but cant defend for sh*t, the other three are not good enough in my opinion, players like Kovacic are two a penny and Christensen for some reason has gone backwards from the early promise he showed. Jorginho brings no more to the table than I could, anyone can keep possession in the areas that he operates in under no pressure most of the time, teams are happy for him to have it as he does very little with it other than retain it in a non threatening position. If we want to become a serious threat to City and Liverpool we need quality in these positions. Playing Kante on the right to accommodate Jorginho is an absolute bonus for our rivals and needs to be addressed immediately. Koulabaly would be nice and a top creative player like Eriksen is what we need to be looking at as were 15/20 points short at the moment.

We don't play kante to the right to accommodate jorginho. 

I would say we are largely where we are not so much for defensive frailties more that we haven't scored enough.

Higuaín should help and Kante might just be improving in his right sided midfield role, he has scored a couple and last match provided assists. 

Doesn't mean we can't be better yet still time for us to do well.

 

13 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

We don't play kante to the right to accommodate jorginho. 

That's exactly what Sarri has done and its made us weaker

 

13 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

We don't play kante to the right to accommodate jorginho. 

 

5 minutes ago, Osgoodwasgood said:

Are the options of Luiz/ Christensen and Jorginho/Kovacic the reason we are where we are this season? Luiz is a great Ball player but cant defend for sh*t, the other three are not good enough in my opinion, players like Kovacic are two a penny and Christensen for some reason has gone backwards from the early promise he showed. Jorginho brings no more to the table than I could, anyone can keep possession in the areas that he operates in under no pressure most of the time, teams are happy for him to have it as he does very little with it other than retain it in a non threatening position. If we want to become a serious threat to City and Liverpool we need quality in these positions. Playing Kante on the right to accommodate Jorginho is an absolute bonus for our rivals and needs to be addressed immediately. Koulabaly would be nice and a top creative player like Eriksen is what we need to be looking at as were 15/20 points short at the moment.

We are where we are? Top 4 and in all cup competition whilst playing an entire 6 months without a striker. If they are the reason, lets give them contract extensions.

I'll try to break down and evaluate your points as i see fit.

D.Luiz - great passer like you said. We're having 70% of the ball this season and he's the key reason we're able to break teams down. Take away the 4-0 the other week and he was having a stellar season to date. Should get at least one more season out of him and prioritise signings elsewhere. Always manages to show up in big games too.

Kovacic - Great squad player to have around. Not really good enough to start LCM every game but useful to have there against the bigger teams. Also seems to be being trained as Jorginho's understudy so won't need to sign anyone new there.

Christensen - Didn't put a foot wrong in the last two games and got a lovely assist for CHO. He's 22 FFS. How many CB's have you known to be perfect at 22? We'd be crazy to get rid.

Jorginho - Take him out the team then lets see if you make the same comment. Is pivotal to how we play and should never be dropped.

Kante - Been fantastic the last two months, arguably our best player. Why waste him infront of the backline? Same regurgitated sh*te about people trying to say he's a DM. 

Koulibaly - Would cost us close to £100m. Absolutely no chance. Would be nice to sign Messi too but be realistic.

Eriksen - The creative force of Eriksen? Compare him to Kante who everyone says isn't good enough to be high up the pitch. Both scored three, both created 27 chances from open play and Eriksen has 1 more assist.

15 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

We are where we are? Top 4 and in all cup competition whilst playing an entire 6 months without a striker. If they are the reason, lets give them contract extensions.

I'll try to break down and evaluate your points as i see fit.

D.Luiz - great passer like you said. We're having 70% of the ball this season and he's the key reason we're able to break teams down. Take away the 4-0 the other week and he was having a stellar season to date. Should get at least one more season out of him and prioritise signings elsewhere. Always manages to show up in big games too.

Kovacic - Great squad player to have around. Not really good enough to start LCM every game but useful to have there against the bigger teams. Also seems to be being trained as Jorginho's understudy so won't need to sign anyone new there.

Christensen - Didn't put a foot wrong in the last two games and got a lovely assist for CHO. He's 22 FFS. How many CB's have you known to be perfect at 22? We'd be crazy to get rid.

Jorginho - Take him out the team then lets see if you make the same comment. Is pivotal to how we play and should never be dropped.

Kante - Been fantastic the last two months, arguably our best player. Why waste him infront of the backline? Same regurgitated sh*te about people trying to say he's a DM. 

Koulibaly - Would cost us close to £100m. Absolutely no chance. Would be nice to sign Messi too but be realistic.

Eriksen - The creative force of Eriksen? Compare him to Kante who everyone says isn't good enough to be high up the pitch. Both scored three, both created 27 chances from open play and Eriksen has 1 more assist.

That's what forums are for, agree to disagree, you mentioned 40m for Hazard plus Kovacic, so you're valuing Kovacic at 60-80m, that's an awful lot for a "great player to have around the squad, who's "not really good enough to start"

For me Christensen needs regular football.

Eriksen, Spurs won't sell to us yet he might be going to RM.

7 minutes ago, Osgoodwasgood said:

That's what forums are for, agree to disagree, you mentioned 40m for Hazard plus Kovacic, so you're valuing Kovacic at 60-80m, that's an awful lot for a "great player to have around the squad, who's "not really good enough to start"

Can't see us getting more than £80m for Hazard imo. Value Kovacic at about £40m is fair. Apparently if we are signing players like Pulisic for £60m.

1 hour ago, RIP Mourinho said:

As mentioned in another thread i think the Hazard sale could end up benefiting us in a way similar to Coutinho/Suarez at Liverpool.

Out: Hazard (£40m + Kovacic), Pedro (£8m), Barkley (£20m), Alonso (£35m), Giroud (free), Zappacosta (£12m), Drinnkwater? (£10m) - £125m

In: Pepe (£40m), T.Hazard (£50m), R.James (Free), Kovacic (Free), A.Telles/F.Mendy (£40m), Tammy (Free), Higuain (£15m loan fee?) - £145m

 

Kepa

Azpi/James  Rudiger/Ampadu  Luiz/Christensen  Telles/Emerson

Jorginho/Kovacic

Kante/Ampadu/Kovacic          T.Hazard/RLC

Pulisic/Pepe     Higuain/Tammy     CHO/Willian

 

Nice mix of youth and experience. If Higuain kicks on this season i'd be happy extending his loan for another year as there are no attainable strikers i can see that will improve us immediately. Get rid of Giroud and give Tammy time to study under Higuain and possibly make a Kane-esque emergence. Similar to City buy young wingers that suit the system, We have Pulisic and CHO aready. Sign Pepe who wants to play here and clearly has a knack for scoring/assisting. Many people may disagree but i'd keep one of Willian/Pedro around for one more season to add some experience out wide. I've included Willian above but he'd likely fetch a higher transfer fee so could swap with Pedro.

In the midfield i think we'll end up retaining Kovacic as part of the Hazard deal. I'm not against this idea as he can play in any of the three positions along with Ampadu. I'd ship Barkley out as he offers very little and someone like Bournemouth might still be willing to pay a fair bit for him. Barkley's replacement i wouldn't mind seeing Eden's little brother come in. His versatility would allow him to play the attacking mid role well but also help out on the wings, possibly replacing Pedro/Willian. Another name floating about online for this role is Coutinho but imo he isn't worth what Barca would charge.

Kept the Backline very similar. Get rid of Zappacosta and bring in Reece James, the lad has been getting incredible reviews and once again his versatility could see him step into midfield when needed. Keep the CB's the same for another year with Christensen taking more responsibility. Wouldn't surprise me to see Sarri go after Rugani again. LB is our problem area, as good as Alonso was as a wingback under Conte i don't think he suits the back 4. With the RM upbringing and goals he manages to score, added to the fact Marcelo is leaving, surely we could get RM to chuck close to £40m at us for him? Use the money to get someone quick like Telles/Mendy/Tagliafico who can whip in a good ball too. Keep Emerson as back up. 

I know a lot of people are likely to respond 'ha ha this isn't Fifa lad amirite?' but it seems achievable. Only really bringing in three new signings whilst thinning out the squad a bit like Sarri wants.

I like the look of that squad although thorgan hazard is more of winger isn't he? 

I would sell Willian and use T.hazard on the wing, and then bring in Aouar or if Milinkovic savic if it was feasible.

I don't think we will sign kovacic, instead few reports today that we had a deal in place in January for barella, but he turned it down because his wife is pregnant and she 7s due any time soon. So I think we might revisit that one in the summer. 

Also the incoming transfer money could be even bigger if morata and bakayoko move in permanently, and there is also batshuayi who we surely have to make a decision on in the summer.

We will probably get a transfer ban anyway! 

 

1 hour ago, Osgoodwasgood said:

That's exactly what Sarri has done and its made us weaker

 

 

No it's not. 

Kante is playing wider to accommodate the system. Jorginho was signed to play in that role as Kante isn't that type of player. 

Otherwise you would have seen Kante play in that role at some stage in the season when Jorginho is rested. 

Edited February 6, 20197 yr by bisright1

27 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Can't see us getting more than £80m for Hazard imo. Value Kovacic at about £40m is fair. Apparently if we are signing players like Pulisic for £60m.

In the current climate, example, Neymar(200m), Mbappe(160m) Van Djyk(85m), we would be seriously deranged if we let Hazard go for anything less than 120m, even given that his contract is up soon, has to be in the top 5 most sought after players. Put it this way, if it was us trying to buy him, what do you think the asking price would be?

6 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

No it's not. 

Kante is playing wider to accommodate the system. Jorginho was signed to play in that role as Kante isn't that type of player. 

Otherwise you would have seen Kante play in that role at some stage in the season when Jorginho is rested. 

Kante is the best holding midfielder in the world, the only reason he's playing where he is, is that Jorginho cant. Total waste of money

 

Matic was our holding player and Kante was our box to box ball winning midfield for me.

16 minutes ago, Osgoodwasgood said:

Kante is the best holding midfielder in the world, the only reason he's playing where he is, is that Jorginho cant. Total waste of money

 

Kante has never, isnt and hopefully will never be a holding midfielder. Ever.

Not sure why we would want Thorgen Hazard ? We already sold him once ?

27 minutes ago, Osgoodwasgood said:

Kante is the best holding midfielder in the world, the only reason he's playing where he is, is that Jorginho cant. Total waste of money

?  

Other than being wrong, you didn't say why Kante hasn't replaced Jorginho when Jorginho is not on the pitch.

28 minutes ago, Osgoodwasgood said:

In the current climate, example, Neymar(200m), Mbappe(160m) Van Djyk(85m), we would be seriously deranged if we let Hazard go for anything less than 120m, even given that his contract is up soon, has to be in the top 5 most sought after players. Put it this way, if it was us trying to buy him, what do you think the asking price would be?

Neymar and Mbappe had more years on their deals and both were younger and much more prolific than Hazard. Lets put it like this, Hazard was probably on par with Sanchez when he was at Arsenal. He was sold for the grand total of 1 Mkhitaryan. In theory Hazard isn't really worth £120m with a year on his deal for what he'd bring to Madrid. 

4 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Not sure why we would want Thorgen Hazard ? We already sold him once ?

We also sold Salah and KdB. Players improve. 

3 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Not sure why we would want Thorgen Hazard ? We already sold him once ?

Much better than every other winger on our books not named Hazard

Just now, RIP Mourinho said:

We also sold Salah and KdB. Players improve. 

OK, but must say I thought Thorgan Hazard looked bang average in the last World Cup ...

32 minutes ago, Osgoodwasgood said:

Kante is the best holding midfielder in the world, the only reason he's playing where he is, is that Jorginho cant. Total waste of money

 

I enjoy this regurgitated nonsense every time it's posted as it shows how the sheep listen to bollocks conjured up by pundits and journos who have the IQ of a goalpost. Kante is for us, and was for Leicester, a box to box player and ball winner. He always played in a system with two midfielders, which the armchair experts who's knowledge comes from FIFA will say has two 'DM's, when in fact in a two man midfield only one player is a holding player (Matic + Drinkwater) while the other is usually a creative player or a dynamic b2b mid

7 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

OK, but must say I thought Thorgan Hazard looked bang average in the last World Cup ...

TBF, he only managed to play 97 minutes at the world cup. 

In Germany this year he's managed 12 goals and 7 assists in 21 league and cup games. 

5 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

TBF, he only managed to play 97 minutes at the world cup. 

In Germany this year he's managed 12 goals and 7 assists in 21 league and cup games. 

So is he a winger or a left midfielder ? I see you have him in your squad as the latter ... but Whoscored seems to have him further forward, in which case who gets dropped out of CHO and Pulisic ? or are you playing Hazard out of position ?