If everyone is fit then it's clear that we have a strong starting lineup but the season is very long and I doubt that nobody will get injured.

Even if many of our starters improve and I'm sure they will, last season Tammy scored 12 goals in 1500 minutes and Giroud 11 goals in 1200 minutes played, at some point the team will need someone that is backup to contribute and we don't look like the squad that has the necessary depth in order to challenge Man City for the title.

Mount is a machine and despite playing so much for the past 2 seasons he didn't get injured but what happens if he does? Or if Kai gets injured? As much as any transfer can fail I don't think we should put all our hopes that Werner can significantly improve because he looks average even for Germany.

I'm guessing that the club really is working in silence and trying to find a new attacker.

 

 

 

 

 

11 minutes ago, Argo said:

Fair enough I'll concede that one but I stand by we shouldn't just dig into the market for the sake of it. Especially if we already have a superior striker and especially if we have a player already here who can do a similar job (for example Mando compared to many of our striker options).

Exactly that. If we cannot get top quality like Haaland and Rice let Broja and Chalobah have a chance.

3 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Or Hulk?

Funny thing about CM is there are players out there available we can sign, they have been well discussed at none Declan Rice prices. I am wondering, and yes I know this is laugh worthy, if TT wants to speak to and assess Ampadu, Chalobah and, here is the laugh, Baka and Drinkwater first...

If TT decides to use Ampadu or Chalobah, I'll be ok with it though I would have thought that Gilmour would have had preference over these two players, but I'd be OK. If he decides to go with Baka or Drinkwater, I'll seriously consider his sanity.

Just now, RMH said:

If TT decides to use Ampadu or Chalobah, I'll be ok with it though I would have thought that Gilmour would have had preference over these two players, but I'd be OK. If he decides to go with Baka or Drinkwater, I'll seriously consider his sanity.

The two of them together would be comedy gold.

Griezmann is the most attainable, he's on the Barcelona fire sale list but hasn't been in top form for a few years now and low on confidence.

Lukaku could be gotten as a big enough fee would force Inter to sell.

Don't know why people are knocking Lewandowski as he's just had one of his best seasons, sure he could start declining at any moment but equally could go on to be the next Zlatan/Ronaldo.

 

Im surprised a lot of people are content with us going into the season without us signing a striker. Not only did we have a finishing problem last season, but we just sold Giroud and are short on strikers. Even if Werner, Ziyech etc all hit the ground running, that isn't enough considering there's going to be a larger Champions League this year and we're going to be competing for 5 rather than the usual 4 trophies. Getting an extra striker is a must this summer.

4 hours ago, sonic90 said:

Griezmann is the most attainable, he's on the Barcelona fire sale list but hasn't been in top form for a few years now and low on confidence.

Lukaku could be gotten as a big enough fee would force Inter to sell.

Don't know why people are knocking Lewandowski as he's just had one of his best seasons, sure he could start declining at any moment but equally could go on to be the next Zlatan/Ronaldo.

 

Agree on Lewandowski, doubt Bayern will let him go. However if they do, be mad not to go for him. His figures have been great last season, even he is declining, let's say 20 league goals a season, will be massive for us. He's not dependent on  sheer pace like the Sheva or Torres, so wearing legs won't stop him much.  He's about reliable as you could get for goal scoring, and he scores all kinds of goals. . He has at least 2-3 good years left, and football is all about this season, NOT 5 years down the track.

2 hours ago, icecoolguy22 said:

Agree on Lewandowski, doubt Bayern will let him go. However if they do, be mad not to go for him. His figures have been great last season, even he is declining, let's say 20 league goals a season, will be massive for us. He's not dependent on  sheer pace like the Sheva or Torres, so wearing legs won't stop him much.  He's about reliable as you could get for goal scoring, and he scores all kinds of goals. . He has at least 2-3 good years left, and football is all about this season, NOT 5 years down the track.

Lewandowski would be a very good striker for 2 to 3 years in the PL. How about something like CHO plus $10 million for him. 

Next new striker? A player of a caliber that can score 20+ goals in a Prem season. I think only Kane, Haaland, Lukaku have a good chance of doing so. If we can't have any of them let's just trust Tammy Abraham. 

3 hours ago, icecoolguy22 said:

Agree on Lewandowski, doubt Bayern will let him go. However if they do, be mad not to go for him. His figures have been great last season, even he is declining, let's say 20 league goals a season, will be massive for us. He's not dependent on  sheer pace like the Sheva or Torres, so wearing legs won't stop him much.  He's about reliable as you could get for goal scoring, and he scores all kinds of goals. . He has at least 2-3 good years left, and football is all about this season, NOT 5 years down the track.

I’m sure the last 4 or 5 seasons his goals tally is easily comparable to Ronaldo, the guy is a honed beast of a Goalscorer, and he still isn’t Kane slow..

Edited July 20, 20214 yr by Ballack & Blu

I’d definitely take Lewandowski, I think some people are forgetting he is currently the world’s best striker.

Even if we get just two good seasons out of him it’ll be worth it. Unbelievable striker.

9 hours ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

Im surprised a lot of people are content with us going into the season without us signing a striker. Not only did we have a finishing problem last season, but we just sold Giroud and are short on strikers. Even if Werner, Ziyech etc all hit the ground running, that isn't enough considering there's going to be a larger Champions League this year and we're going to be competing for 5 rather than the usual 4 trophies. Getting an extra striker is a must this summer.

Because to cut a long story short, outside of Haaland are even our semi realistic options a safer bet than Broja let alone Kai?

7 hours ago, evissy said:

Next new striker? A player of a caliber that can score 20+ goals in a Prem season. I think only Kane, Haaland, Lukaku have a good chance of doing so. If we can't have any of them let's just trust Tammy Abraham. 

Tuchel didn't really put much trust for Tammy at all last season. So if he leaves and we don't sign a new player we will play with Havertz, Werner and Broja up front with Mount, Pulisic, CHO and Ziyech supporting them.

You would think that after winning the CL we would further improve the squad. But maybe Tuchel thinks it's enough with Barkley and RLC as a boost.

We will count on Mount, Werner, Havertz, Jorginho, Kante, T.Silva to play 40+ games. We won't have someone like Giroud that can come in at any given moment and score goals so this is the last chance for Werner to show that he can be good in the PL.

Whoever it is, I just hope  we don't spend the whole summer chasing him and end up with nothing or worse another Zappacosta type of signing at the last hour , like we did with so many players in the past. None of us here know all the intricacies and complexities of putting together a deal to acquire someone like Haaland but I just wish we could offer Dortmund our highest bid upfront and if they say no just move on to alternative targets. Haven't we learned our lesson? 

Would be really great sometimes see how these deals are building. Especially big ones. How it starts, how it builds, what kind of stumbling blocks there are and so on.

In essence there is the club and the player but both sides are much larger and more complex than meets the eye. I am thinking about even sponsors like Nike or Adidas. How much influence do they have in big deals. 

Anyway if we are to lose both our backup strikers in Tammy and Giroud we absolutely need to buy at least one. 

On 20/07/2021 at 09:56, Argo said:

Because to cut a long story short, outside of Haaland are even our semi realistic options a safer bet than Broja let alone Kai?

That's a fair point but the other side could be argued the same way on whether it's a safer bet going into the season with a "hybrid-striker" and youngster that doesn't have experience at the top level. With Giroud gone we really don't have a "target man" kind of striker which is really worrying since the teams we struggled to score against season were teams that parked two buses.

Edited July 21, 20214 yr by Frankie8Lampard

https://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/chelsea-turn-to-stuttgart-striker-sasa-kalajdzic-4378730

Chelsea are eyeing VfB Stuttgart striker Sasa Kalajdzic.

The Athletic says the striker, standing at six foot seven inches, is a name that's on Thomas Tuchel's radar after an impressive Euro 2020 competition for Austria.

Stuttgart, who haven't been approached by Chelsea yet, have fielded enquiries from Premier League clubs since the end of last season. Tottenham and West Ham United are keen.

Kalajdzic is a very talented striker but is he really an improvement over Tammy Abraham ?
According to what I have seen in the Bundesliga he is the most talented striker in Germany after Lewandowski and Haaland.
But IMHO it would be very unclear if he would have such an impact in the Premier League like he had last year in the Bundesliga.

Rumours via the Bild, CFC in contact with Bayern on Lewandowski, take as you will,

9 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

Rumours via the Bild, CFC in contact with Bayern on Lewandowski, take as you will,

I think this is true. Bild, which is a very bad and ugly newspaper besides football, has very good contacts to the management of Bayern and they are very reliable with news about Bayern.

So CFC will be  in  contact with Haaland  AND Lewandowski. Haaland has a release clause for next year in his contract around 75 MIo Euros and Lewandowski has a contract with Bayern until 2023.

Bayern will be in contact with both strikers as well for sure.
I think the probability of a Lewandowski AND Haaland transfer next season is very high.
But this year I dont think the transfers will happen because Haaland has no release clause this year and Bayern could not replace Lewandowski. Next year Bayern will try to convince Haaland to replace Lewandowski.

1 hour ago, TheGermanOne said:

I think this is true. Bild, which is a very bad and ugly newspaper besides football, has very good contacts to the management of Bayern and they are very reliable with news about Bayern.

So CFC will be  in  contact with Haaland  AND Lewandowski. Haaland has a release clause for next year in his contract around 75 MIo Euros and Lewandowski has a contract with Bayern until 2023.

Bayern will be in contact with both strikers as well for sure.
I think the probability of a Lewandowski AND Haaland transfer next season is very high.
But this year I dont think the transfers will happen because Haaland has no release clause this year and Bayern could not replace Lewandowski. Next year Bayern will try to convince Haaland to replace Lewandowski.

That sounds plausible but won’t suit Chelsea. Taking Lewi in another year just to make room at Bayern for Haaland? I hope not. It’s not so much a question of who us better than Abraham, but who could get into the Chelsea 1st 11 and who would  he replace? Werner, mount or Havertz. Most will say Werner I guess but I’m not sure how that works. Certainly won’t leave much space for Pulisic. Werner for me is not like Torres or Sheba, he is still at the top of his game and his pace and work rate matter to the team. Dunno. 

Yes I also don't think we will be interested in Lewandowski in a year, either now or never.

 

Lewandoski now be the perfect outcome, just the type of finisher we need to win those games where we dominate but couldn't land the knock out punch. It make sense to him too, he has done everything there is in the German league,what's he's going to achieve next season apart from the guaranteed title and golden boot? Bayern being the smart club they are probably be tempted if we put up a good bid. Enough said about Haaland, the fee is one thing, agreeing personal term probably an even bigger challenge, and does he really wants to come or he has set his eyes on another suitors in 12 months time?

I would definitely take lewandowski. Definitely still one of the top 3 strikers in the world.

don’t see why people would be against this at least it gives us more depth up top.

 

The fee is the sticky part for a 32 year old we shouldn't be looking to spend over £50m.

If we're really selling Tammy for 40m and replacing him with 50m Lewa, I think it's a good enough deal. Similar to the Kepa deal where Courtois money slashed the fee in half (but still didn't make it worth it)