Straight Red for France tonight

24 minutes ago, charierre said:

Straight Red for France tonight

He absolutely wacked Kolasinac and Kolasinac had to be subbed off.  I am sure the rumors from the transfers messed with his mental health. Pretty stupid of Deschamps to start him but he made an injured Kante fly to camp just to send him back home.

4 hours ago, Deino said:

If he improves by next summer, I think Marina will go in for a 70m bid and negotiate a better deal. Barca is skint, PSG is stacked to the brim, Utd is stacked too, Real will definitely go all out for Mbappe and Haaland so we don't have to worry if the big guns go in for him. 

City might be one of the few clubs that can afford him 

City dont need a cb unless they sell Laporte or Ake. I can see Real Madrid going for him.

Missing out on Kounde this window was a bummer. It's clear the guy really wanted to move here and he would have really made our squad complete across the board, comparable to Man City or PSG. Hopefully we can get him out of Sevilla in January before Madrid comes snooping around.

16 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

I still think he's a bit short for a centre back LOL.

Hopefully he still wants to come to Chelsea when his contract has run down, and his value has dropped. The fact that no club has bought him for two years should be telling Sevilla that the price they think he is worth is way too high. That Monchi sounds like he is cut from the same poor cloth as Perez ...

Azpilicueta is around the same height. Didn't impact him. Kounde's aerial stats aren't bad either

Height didn't stop Cannavaro from being an absolute beast either.

On 30/08/2021 at 21:34, big blue said:

Isnt there a thing in Spain where by the buy out clause is very rarely activated because it actuallys adds tax on top of the clause? So clubs usually accept a bid of equivalent amount to save buying club paying the tax. So sevilla could dig there heels in and make any club pay the extra tax, making last minute deals more difficult.

Sort of. A payment made for a private agreement reached between two clubs is not subject (or is subject to a lesser) VAT. A payment using the full buyout clause, where the purchasing club buys the player's rights as a good from La Liga itself, is subject to the full VAT. La Liga clubs can use this to fend off hostile transfers by essentially commanding a 21% penalty.

16 hours ago, jack_super_class said:

City dont need a cb unless they sell Laporte or Ake. I can see Real Madrid going for him.

You and I both know City buys whoever they want regardless of need. 

On Real, maybe if the banks bail them out again. 

Thought he looked quite good against Belgium. Made one goal saving tackle, moved the ball quickly, looked relaxed. 

Who would you rather have Ruudiger or Kounde? Ruudiger has earned a pay raise as one of the top CBs in the PL. Sign him, sign Tchouameni and still have money left over vs trying to sign Kounde. 

1 hour ago, TheGreatestGame said:

Who would you rather have Ruudiger or Kounde? Ruudiger has earned a pay raise as one of the top CBs in the PL. Sign him, sign Tchouameni and still have money left over vs trying to sign Kounde. 

I'd have both, why are we choosing?.

He has to be our primary target next summer. There is no other player I can think of that would improve us that much or that would make us keep the high standard going.

6 hours ago, Gol15 said:

He has to be our primary target next summer. There is no other player I can think of that would improve us that much or that would make us keep the high standard going.

I was hoping January.

9 hours ago, TheGreatestGame said:

Who would you rather have Ruudiger or Kounde? Ruudiger has earned a pay raise as one of the top CBs in the PL. Sign him, sign Tchouameni and still have money left over vs trying to sign Kounde. 

How is this even a debate?

Kounde is bang average, that is obviously not the quality we need.

Speaking of centre backs, I'll just say selling Tomori was a big mistake. Such a shame there was no buy back clause included.

18 hours ago, Gol15 said:

He has to be our primary target next summer. There is no other player I can think of that would improve us that much or that would make us keep the high standard going.

Not sure where he fits unless this is Azpi’s last year, & or Tuchel decides to shift to a back 4. Assuming Thiago leaves in the summer, he isn’t exactly a straight swap in the summer because his physicality will be exploited playing in the centre. At RCB we also have Chalobah who has been good deputising in that role. For me Bastoni or Pau Torres who are both good on the ball and offer a physical presence are better fits.

23 hours ago, jack_super_class said:

I'd have both, why are we choosing?.

Kounde at 70 million Euros is insane. There is a much bigger need to retain Rudiger and sign a midfielder this January. It is pretty clear that Saul is not the answer as even Barkley is getting playing time over him. The drop off in talent once you get past Loftus-Cheek is a cliff. Chelsea needs a better stop gap measure at midfielder in January as it will cost them games if they have to play  Barkley or Saul. 

3 hours ago, ducavis said:

Not sure where he fits unless this is Azpi’s last year, & or Tuchel decides to shift to a back 4. Assuming Thiago leaves in the summer, he isn’t exactly a straight swap in the summer because his physicality will be exploited playing in the centre. At RCB we also have Chalobah who has been good deputising in that role. For me Bastoni or Pau Torres who are both good on the ball and offer a physical presence are better fits.

In any case he's a top young CB and T.Silva is probably leaving and probably Rudiger as well.

16 hours ago, wizardous said:

How is this even a debate?

Kounde is bang average, that is obviously not the quality we need.

Speaking of centre backs, I'll just say selling Tomori was a big mistake. Such a shame there was no buy back clause included.

He is so average thats why so many clubs have been in for him. He is so average he got into the LA Liga team of the season and now starts for France even though they lots of good quality defenders. But he is so average.

44 minutes ago, TheGreatestGame said:

Kounde at 70 million Euros is insane. There is a much bigger need to retain Rudiger and sign a midfielder this January. It is pretty clear that Saul is not the answer as even Barkley is getting playing time over him. The drop off in talent once you get past Loftus-Cheek is a cliff. Chelsea needs a better stop gap measure at midfielder in January as it will cost them games if they have to play  Barkley or Saul. 

How do we need a midfeilder more than a defender? Loftus Cheek is getting back to his best, we have Gilmour and Gallagher out on loan. Id have no problems paying £65M for Kounde, i think he's that good. We need a CB even if Rudiger stays.

6 hours ago, jack_super_class said:

He is so average thats why so many clubs have been in for him. He is so average he got into the LA Liga team of the season and now starts for France even though they lots of good quality defenders. But he is so average.

First things first, how many clubs are after him is completely irrelevant. Let me give you a simple example. In 2017 us, Man City and Man Utd were interested in signing Bakayoko. He had chosen us and we know how that ended up.

Last time I watched him play for France he got a straight red card. Which good quality centre backs do France have right now? Maybe only Upamecano who is a great talent. Varane without Ramos is not even close to being a top quality CB. 

And the last thing, La Liga right now is not what it used to be a few years ago, so I don't think that 'team of the season' thing means a lot in judging a player's abilities. Also you can't form an opinion about a player based solely on journalists' ratings or something similar, if you haven't actually watched him play. Football is not all about statistics. 

I'm not saying that he hasn't got any potential, because he's young and he will certainly still improve especially if he stays at Sevilla, but in my opinion he's in general a bit overrated.

I find it harder to get a feel for central defenders unless I watch them regularly. In a good team they might not do much for long stretches and often what they do do is about positioning and being super reliable. 
 

Kounde just seems to exude authority for France. I look forward to the Spain game with interest. 

20 hours ago, wizardous said:

 

I'm not saying that he hasn't got any potential, because he's young and he will certainly still improve especially if he stays at Sevilla, but in my opinion he's in general a bit overrated.

He is top quality, it's not even relevant if he's a little bit overrated, we should get him.

Looked good for France when I've watched him, with Trevor's ability to play cdm I'd like to have both in the squad.

Very solid again, against top opposition that really worked r]the defence over. Recovered excellently when he needed to. 

On 09/10/2021 at 21:04, wizardous said:

First things first, how many clubs are after him is completely irrelevant. Let me give you a simple example. In 2017 us, Man City and Man Utd were interested in signing Bakayoko. He had chosen us and we know how that ended up.

Last time I watched him play for France he got a straight red card. Which good quality centre backs do France have right now? Maybe only Upamecano who is a great talent. Varane without Ramos is not even close to being a top quality CB. 

And the last thing, La Liga right now is not what it used to be a few years ago, so I don't think that 'team of the season' thing means a lot in judging a player's abilities. Also you can't form an opinion about a player based solely on journalists' ratings or something similar, if you haven't actually watched him play. Football is not all about statistics. 

I'm not saying that he hasn't got any potential, because he's young and he will certainly still improve especially if he stays at Sevilla, but in my opinion he's in general a bit overrated.

Well its not completely irrelevant, Usually when top clubs want the same player it's usually a sign he is good. Utd wanted Matic over Bakayako and i never seen Man City linked that strongly. I never wanted Bakayako either, most of this forum didn't too.

I think Kounde is better than Upamecano, Varane is still a good defender, they have Konate too, Zouma, Kimpempe. Him getting sent off makes him a bad defender? him getting a red card in one match overwrites all the good stuff Kounde has done in his short career so far?.

Of course isn't all about statistics, i have watched Kounde a few times now and he always impressed me especially when Sevilla won the Europa league. I mean i get La Liga isn't what it use to be but he has done well for France, Bordeaux and now Sevilla. Lots of the top leagues in Europe aren't what they use to be, so you dont want us to buy a player outside of the premier league?