On 24/04/2022 at 17:40, just said:

I would go for Bissouma over Rice. Save ourselves about £60 million and still get a player proven in the EPL.

Pity he still has the investigation still hanging over him. 

7 minutes ago, charierre said:

Pity he still has the investigation still hanging over him. 

What investigation?

3 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

What investigation?

Sexual assault accusation

2 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

What investigation?

A sexual assault allegation.

4 minutes ago, loz said:

Sexual assault accusation

 

3 minutes ago, Amputechture said:

A sexual assault allegation.

Yikes a few footballers have had accusations of that over recent years.

Well if he is guilty then hopefully the book is thrown at him.

1 minute ago, axman2526 said:

 

Yikes a few footballers have had accusations of that over recent years.

Well if he is guilty then hopefully the book is thrown at him.

If found not guilty then by all means a more sensible signing than Rice for the cost.

Just came across a headline at the time of the accusation but don't know what happened since.

On 24/04/2022 at 19:58, Scott Harris said:

I always feel like people are telling me how great Declan Rice without showing me how great Declan Rice is. 

The comparisons with Jorginho keep coming!!!!

With one statement midfielder we could go into next season with ?, Kova, Kante, Gilmour, Gallagher, RLC. That's presuming we ship out Jorginho & Barkley. Not too bad.

With a statement CB we would have ?, Azpi, Silva, Chalobah, Colwill & possibly Ampadu. Inexperienced but hardly low on numbers. 

So go for a CM, CB & LB. Bring back Broja to play with Havertz and buy a goalscorer if we sell Werner.Tempted to say we should do what we should have a year ago and try for Lewandowski but would that block Broja? And where does Havertz play in that circumstance...

Sell Lukaku to PSG. 

12 minutes ago, rtwelch said:

With one statement midfielder we could go into next season with ?, Kova, Kante, Gilmour, Gallagher, RLC. That's presuming we ship out Jorginho & Barkley. Not too bad.

With a statement CB we would have ?, Azpi, Silva, Chalobah, Colwill & possibly Ampadu. Inexperienced but hardly low on numbers. 

So go for a CM, CB & LB. Bring back Broja to play with Havertz and buy a goalscorer if we sell Werner.Tempted to say we should do what we should have a year ago and try for Lewandowski but would that block Broja? And where does Havertz play in that circumstance...

Sell Lukaku to PSG. 

Not certain Dave will be here next season. His contract was extended due to a clause in his deal, Like Girouds was.

There has been rumours he wants to move back to Spain and finish his career there.

WHU Frankfurt game...Rice is so much above anyone in this game. Carrying WHU against super-experienced European side. Looks like they are losing but Rice is everything for them. 

10 minutes ago, evissy said:

WHU Frankfurt game...Rice is so much above anyone in this game. Carrying WHU against super-experienced European side. Looks like they are losing but Rice is everything for them. 

Still lost to the 9th Bundesliga team. Made for us to spend 100m on just like Lukaku.

Wouldn't say Frankfurt are a super-experienced side at all as their only European participation was in the season they faced us (18/19) and their team was completely different (I think just 3 or 4 of those players remained and even manager is different). So sadly I believe Gol's vision is much closer to the truth. 🥲

I'd be all up to sign Rice for 40M, 50m tops. 100m? No freaking way. We just should not be allowed to spend that sum anymore after all our blunders with big money signings.

He'll be at West Ham for another season. Next summer, who knows. 

Far as I'm concerned we need two central midfielders next summer. Jorginho and Kante should be put in the market. Saddening about the latter but he's become a liability now and on almost 300kpw. 

23 hours ago, Brigadeiro Mk II said:

Wouldn't say Frankfurt are a super-experienced side at all as their only European participation was in the season they faced us (18/19) and their team was completely different (I think just 3 or 4 of those players remained and even manager is different). So sadly I believe Gol's vision is much closer to the truth. 🥲

I'd be all up to sign Rice for 40M, 50m tops. 100m? No freaking way. We just should not be allowed to spend that sum anymore after all our blunders with big money signings.

Kalvin Phillips is available for 50-60m. I'd rather him. 

5 hours ago, bisright1 said:

Kalvin Phillips is available for 50-60m. I'd rather him. 

I don't think he would work for us though the kid has talent some of his challenges are borderline reds for me, which for me at CFC means he would get reds.

 

Rice would surely choose us if given the chance. Problem is he'll cost around 100m which is likely a big chunk of our transfer budget this summer. Not a deal breaker if we think he's worth it. But we need to spend in a lot of other areas, practically rebuilding our entire back line, another midfielder and another striker. We'd have to do some very creative selling to make the numbers add up. That's assuming West Ham don't decide to play hardball and hold on to him for another year. 

I think the price tag will be a show stopper. I haven't seen much of him but have heard positive things about Aurélien Tchouaméni as an alternative. Unfortunately seems like Liverpool have already agreed a deal for him.

1 hour ago, forbzy said:

I think the price tag will be a show stopper. I haven't seen much of him but have heard positive things about Aurélien Tchouaméni as an alternative. Unfortunately seems like Liverpool have already agreed a deal for him.

Credit to them they really do their business well.

They had Werner all lined up and Klopp ko'd that deal for Jota, who has been sensational for them, and then got Diaz too who looks some player. 

Then you look at us and you see so much that needs to be done:

Mendy not at the levels of the top twos keepers.

Only Silva left who is still a quality defender. Trev and Colwill may well be but leaves little depth. Need to replace AC and Toni with better defenders and players than they are.

The drop down from Chilwell and James is too great. 

Kante and Jorgi are near the end of their times with us, RLC not a capable replacement. 

Then our forward line...

So how many we need to realistically compete for the title?

A top keeper, at least 2 top CBs and 2 good backup fullbacks/wingbacks

2 top central midfielders, one a destroyer one a creator.

A top goalscorer who also works hard for the side, and 2 creative wide forwards who score goals as well.

So just the 10 players by my count. Should cost the new owners only about say 800mill or so. Lol

7 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Credit to them they really do their business well.

They had Werner all lined up and Klopp ko'd that deal for Jota, who has been sensational for them, and then got Diaz too who looks some player. 

Then you look at us and you see so much that needs to be done:

Mendy not at the levels of the top twos keepers.

Only Silva left who is still a quality defender. Trev and Colwill may well be but leaves little depth. Need to replace AC and Toni with better defenders and players than they are.

The drop down from Chilwell and James is too great. 

Kante and Jorgi are near the end of their times with us, RLC not a capable replacement. 

Then our forward line...

So how many we need to realistically compete for the title?

A top keeper, at least 2 top CBs and 2 good backup fullbacks/wingbacks

2 top central midfielders, one a destroyer one a creator.

A top goalscorer who also works hard for the side, and 2 creative wide forwards who score goals as well.

So just the 10 players by my count. Should cost the new owners only about say 800mill or so. Lol

Disagree we need a new keeper. Let’s not forget Mendy was the best keeper in the world less than 6 months ago. 

9 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Credit to them they really do their business well.

They had Werner all lined up and Klopp ko'd that deal for Jota, who has been sensational for them, and then got Diaz too who looks some player. 

Then you look at us and you see so much that needs to be done:

Mendy not at the levels of the top twos keepers.

Only Silva left who is still a quality defender. Trev and Colwill may well be but leaves little depth. Need to replace AC and Toni with better defenders and players than they are.

The drop down from Chilwell and James is too great. 

Kante and Jorgi are near the end of their times with us, RLC not a capable replacement. 

Then our forward line...

So how many we need to realistically compete for the title?

A top keeper, at least 2 top CBs and 2 good backup fullbacks/wingbacks

2 top central midfielders, one a destroyer one a creator.

A top goalscorer who also works hard for the side, and 2 creative wide forwards who score goals as well.

So just the 10 players by my count. Should cost the new owners only about say 800mill or so. Lol

I don't disagree to most of this, I feel like we have many players who have really not shown the consistent form we paid good money for (Werner, Havertz, Ziyech all blow hot and cold and a couple of important goals gloss over Havertz Chelsea career so far).

Mendy has looked awful at times too, and I cringe every time I see the defenders pass the ball back to him. Arguably though if we just had a better forward this season we would be far far closer to the top 2, and maybe still in the Champions league. The amount of opportunities we waste in games is a joke, and we're still 3rd top scorers.

Personally I still want to see us go for Rice as a priority signing, he's a true leader and puts his all into games, but we also definitely need a defender or two as well, and probably a forward to drag our team up for next season (want us to get Broja back too from Southampton).

Guessing there will be a few ins and outs in the summer.

 

 

Rice is West Hams Jordan Henderson with football talent. 

Declan channeling his inner Drogba

I don’t see Rice as the answer, that Lazio mid Sergej Milinković-Savić is just brilliant, been saying that for years, Get Eriksen, and a new Striker, that’ll do for starters..

Edited May 6, 20224 yr by Ballack & Blu

Just rejected a £200,000 a week deal from West Ham. 

 

We really should go for him this summer if we can get him for under 100m, it'd be a shame if he ends up at Man United