1 minute ago, Greys33 said:

He is when he plays for France. Also, if you play him in a more limited DM role instead of the 8 we might save his legs some so he doesn't miss half the season.

No, he isn't. When he ventures forward (which is his game) to win the ball there was always Pogba and Matuidi or Rabiot to cover the space he left behind. 

Just now, Sconnie Blue said:

No, he isn't. When he ventures forward (which is his game) to win the ball there was always Pogba and Matuidi or Rabiot to cover the space he left behind. 

When we won the league, he was our 6. When Leicester won the league, he was their 6. When France won the world cup, ahhh now you're getting it. He only started venturing forward under Lampard. A 6 who presses high up the pitch. But we can agree to disagree on his best position.

18 minutes ago, Greys33 said:

When we won the league, he was our 6. When Leicester won the league, he was their 6. When France won the world cup, ahhh now you're getting it. He only started venturing forward under Lampard. A 6 who presses high up the pitch. But we can agree to disagree on his best position.

What am I getting exactly?

When we won the league, Matic was the sitter. 

When Leicester won the league, Drinkwater was the sitter. 

He's an advanced ball winner. He only started looking out of his element under more progressive managers that asked him to do more with the ball. 

9 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

What am I getting exactly?

When we won the league, Matic was the sitter. 

When Leicester won the league, Drinkwater was the sitter. 

He's an advanced ball winner. He only started looking out of his element under more progressive managers that asked him to do more with the ball. 

I'd argue that Drinkwater played more advanced in the Leicester team but both teams essentially played a double pivot but this conversation isn't going anywhere.

This guy is not worth £80M+. Get serious. Bissouma is a proven PL commodity for Brighton and can be had for £30M.

I'd prefer Bellingham. He's young, English and appears to have loads of potential.

Tchouameni is well worth the money, but we won’t get him I don’t think. 

On 30/05/2022 at 17:28, KingOfMilwaukee said:

I would much rather slot in Gallagher for free and spend the £83M on Nkunku for £55M and Gvardioli at center-back for £30M.

I don't know enough about Gvardiol to offer a specific opinion on him but in principle this kind of approach makes sense.

Seems like everything leads to Real Madrid.

Yes. He is going to Real and you can't blame him. Probably sounds a bit weird but he has a better chance of playing there than at Chelsea. Modric can't play for ever nor all the games, Kroos plays all the time but he is more of the lets get in form-player and Casemiro sits out games due to suspensions 😃. He brings something else to their side.

Tchouameni seems much more like Kovacic and Kante in terms of likeness.

it's over

he signed for Madrid for 80 million euros (possible 100 with add ons)

contract till 2027

we should have acted last year 

a shame really, very good player

10 minutes ago, azpi28 said:

it's over

he signed for Madrid for 80 million euros (possible 100 with add ons)

contract till 2027

we should have acted last year 

a shame really, very good player

Honestly at that price I’d rather we spend the extra 30m or so for Declan Rice

Just glad he didn’t end up at Liverpool. That price is wild though for a CM; how do you judge his success/failure? West Ham won’t be accepting any offers less for Rice.

A failing of the old club board. We cannot compete at those prices now, we don't have Roman's money to pay such figures.

40 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

A failing of the old club board. We cannot compete at those prices now, we don't have Roman's money to pay such figures.

Even when Roman owned the club, we have been taken an age to get these deals done of late. Why does everything take so long with us? Even supposed deals that we have wrapped up don't actually complete until much later. Bakayoko, Havertz, Chilwell, they were all made out to be done deals but we didn't get them until later.

Kounde is the latest example. We've been chasing that guy for 2 years now. Last year, Marina f**ked up by leaving it too late, and now she is doing the same again because Sevilla no longer feel pressured to sell after Villa acted quickly and grabbed Diego Carlos from them.

Marina is excellent at selling players for a good price, she is probably the best at it, but she is making huge blunders when it comes to bringing players in.

19 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Marina is excellent at selling players for a good price, she is probably the best at it, but she is making huge blunders when it comes to bringing players in.

Well, when it comes to being "excellent at selling", it's fair to mention that we still have Bakayoko, Batshuayi, Rahman, Kenedy, Miazga, Barkley and Emerson on the books, and she got f**k all for Drinkwater, Rudiger and Christensen as well ... 

Of the players signed since 2016/17 and subsequently sold, she has moved them on for £141M less than she paid for them, a figure that will no doubt top £200M by the time we finally get shot of Bakayoko and Batshuayi ...

So I guess the "excellent at selling" thing really relates only to Eden Hazard !

We missed a trick here but we should go all out for Bissouma. 

51 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Even when Roman owned the club, we have been taken an age to get these deals done of late. Why does everything take so long with us? Even supposed deals that we have wrapped up don't actually complete until much later. Bakayoko, Havertz, Chilwell, they were all made out to be done deals but we didn't get them until later.

Kounde is the latest example. We've been chasing that guy for 2 years now. Last year, Marina f**ked up by leaving it too late, and now she is doing the same again because Sevilla no longer feel pressured to sell after Villa acted quickly and grabbed Diego Carlos from them.

Marina is excellent at selling players for a good price, she is probably the best at it, but she is making huge blunders when it comes to bringing players in.

By all reports she will be gone sooner and TT will have control on transfers. Let's see how that works.

9 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

By all reports she will be gone sooner and TT will have control on transfers. Let's see how that works.

This transfer window already feels like a damage limitation exercise. Doesn't look like we've lined up anyone except Kounde and that deal too isn't going to be easy to finalize.

32 minutes ago, Nick05 said:

This transfer window already feels like a damage limitation exercise. Doesn't look like we've lined up anyone except Kounde and that deal too isn't going to be easy to finalize.

Could well be like Lamps first window, all youth and loan returns.

I know that is not popular with some, Trev has been panned by a few elsewhere on this forum, but for me I would quite happily take Baxter, Sterling, Maatsen, Colwill, Ampadu, Gallagher, Gilmour and Broja being added to the squad and give them a chance to shine.

Even if we land Dembele, Kounde, Martinez, De Ligt, Bissouma and Rice I don't see us being able to surpass City in the league. In the Prem they are such a machine.

It seems like we work on transfers serially...like we're unable to negotiate more than one transfer at a time and it's FRUSTRATING. We should have had Tchouameni a year ago for 20-30M less than Real just paid for him. I would spend that money on Bellingham though to get younger in our engine room.

On 06/06/2022 at 16:02, evissy said:

.

Tchouameni seems much more like Kovacic and Kante in terms of likeness.

I don't want another kovacic, give me a modric.

Officially joined Real. 

We missed out for Saul. What a fantastic decision that was... 

Onwards and upwards!