I heard Barcelona have sent their doctors in….

Would be a great signing. We’ll retool the midfield and attack next summer  

 

Gvardiol next according to Matt Law. 

 

It is the red bull business model. If we pay them what they want then we sign both these players, they won't force them to stay they will just replace them with the next gems from the production line, probably from Salzburg. They already have Salzburgs Sesko signed up for next season.

 

apparently us and RBL are expected to announce this deal soon.

It's a spectacular signing really. Hopefully we sell Pulisic and give Nkunku the #10 kit. 

Hazard levels of influence if we utilize him properly. 

2 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

It's a spectacular signing really. Hopefully we sell Pulisic and give Nkunku the #10 kit. 

Hazard levels of influence if we utilize him properly. 

We should also temper our expectations given how Werner and Havertz worked out for us. It is an exciting signing but let's not compare him to Hazard from the off, nor the defender to JT if we get him.

Just now, axman2526 said:

We should also temper our expectations given how Werner and Havertz worked out for us. It is an exciting signing but let's not compare him to Hazard from the off, nor the defender to JT if we get him.

Yea, by default this will be a flop, especially with our central midfield the way it is, it was either Orstein or Matt Law saying the club are aware of this but I won’t hold my breath looking at the pre-Jan transfer links. 

I’ll believe it when I see it that he’s a good signing. My faith has been diminished over the years with so many failed forwards. 

I'm with most of the people here, on paper it's a great signing but we'll see how it goes (if he comes). It's nothing against the player, we just have a spectacular knack of making promising attacking signings look crap.

6 hours ago, axman2526 said:

We should also temper our expectations given how Werner and Havertz worked out for us. It is an exciting signing but let's not compare him to Hazard from the off, nor the defender to JT if we get him.

Been saying for a while it’ll all be moot unless our midfield gets surgery. 
 

Even Werner scored bucket load of goals in the German league. 

On paper looks a really good signing. Got to factor in that Bundesliga tax though.

Werner has gone back and scored 6 goals in 10 so Nkunku could easily be another Timo or Kai.

Also seen we're looking to activate Gvardiol's release clause. Another player i really like the look of, more excited for him. 

I still believe if we manage to sign a Cesc type of player, our forwards will look a lot better. If we manage to get into top 4, need to re-visit De Jong next season.

Has anybody watch him play? 

I have just watched some of his youtube highlights it looks he is more an am than a st. Probably more of a foden than a grealish or a sterling. 

Edited October 4, 20223 yr by Bob stark

Last attacker I was convinced will be good in the Prem is Haaland.

Sesko looks good as well. 

The way we handle business atm looks good. If we identify a target we go on full and don't let others have a chance. We have that chance so we should do it as well.

46 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

Has anybody watch him play? 

I have just watched some of his youtube highlights it looks he is more an am than a st. Probably more of a foden than a grealish or a sterling. 

I'd say he's more a Sterling type tbh. Fast, direct and decently creative but better as a goalscorer. Crucially, he has a good touch and can run with the ball, which was always Werner's weakness. One thing I really like about him is that he can finish from distance, coupled with his good touch it means he isn't useless against low blocks.

My big concern is that he isn't clinical - that has been a persistent criticism of him for years.

27 minutes ago, evissy said:

The way we handle business atm looks good. If we identify a target we go on full and don't let others have a chance. We have that chance so we should do it as well.

Did you miss the summer transfer window???

2 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

I'd say he's more a Sterling type tbh. Fast, direct and decently creative but better as a goalscorer. Crucially, he has a good touch and can run with the ball, which was always Werner's weakness. One thing I really like about him is that he can finish from distance, coupled with his good touch it means he isn't useless against low blocks.

My big concern is that he isn't clinical - that has been a persistent criticism of him for years.

Did you miss the summer transfer window???

Fom YouTube highlight he doesn't seem explosive. 

Probably the plan is to play 

Nkunku - Kai - Sterling 

It feel like a less explosive version of

Mane - Firmino - Salah 

Probably a very very poor version of 

Neymar - Suarez - Messi 

 

 

Edited October 4, 20223 yr by Bob stark

3 hours ago, evissy said:

Last attacker I was convinced will be good in the Prem is Haaland.

Sesko looks good as well. 

The way we handle business atm looks good. If we identify a target we go on full and don't let others have a chance. We have that chance so we should do it as well.

It’s the Sesko I am really interested in, looks like he could potentially be another Haaland. 

1 hour ago, Bob stark said:

Fom YouTube highlight he doesn't seem explosive. 

Probably the plan is to play 

Nkunku - Kai - Sterling 

It feel like a less explosive version of

Mane - Firmino - Salah 

Probably a very very poor version of 

Neymar - Suarez - Messi 

 

 

Nice try sneaking Kai in there. 

I'm jaded by all the forward signings over the past 3-5 years. We constantly sign forwards and all of them turned out average at best.

This guy is suited to the wings at least since Kai is our No. 10. That being said, things won't change much if we still haven't done anything on the midfield and GK situation

4 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Fom YouTube highlight he doesn't seem explosive. 

Probably the plan is to play 

Nkunku - Kai - Sterling 

It feel like a less explosive version of

Mane - Firmino - Salah 

Probably a very very poor version of 

Neymar - Suarez - Messi 

 

 

But potentially a hell of a lot better than 

 

Pulisic - Havertz - Ziyech

 

 

13 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

I'd say he's more a Sterling type tbh. Fast, direct and decently creative but better as a goalscorer. Crucially, he has a good touch and can run with the ball, which was always Werner's weakness. One thing I really like about him is that he can finish from distance, coupled with his good touch it means he isn't useless against low blocks.

My big concern is that he isn't clinical - that has been a persistent criticism of him for years.

What I like is that he is good at using his body to protect the ball. I look at somebody like Pulisic, he's a very good dribbler, but he's also very weak when it comes to protecting the ball, so it's really hard for him to run past players. The opposition find it too easy to place their body infront of him and the ball, so he just bounces off them and losses possession. In a 1v1 with a defender running straight at goal, I think Pulisic could be good, but those situations come around very rarely in the Premier League. Pulisic won't be running past defenders from a standing position, he just doesn't have the close control and strength to do it. I extend these types of issues to Ziyech, Havertz and Werner too and it's one of the main reasons why I didn't want us to sign Dembele. 

This is what made Hazard so good, he was a world class dribbler but was also world class at shielding the ball. Nkunku and Hazard have the same build and dribbling style, they use their body to protect the ball and have close control dribbling. It's a combination that works really well in the Premier League is almost a requirement if you're going to play against teams that pack their defence, so fingers crossed that it works for Nkunku too if we sign him.

11 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Fom YouTube highlight he doesn't seem explosive. 

Probably the plan is to play 

Nkunku - Kai - Sterling 

It feel like a less explosive version of

Mane - Firmino - Salah 

Probably a very very poor version of 

Neymar - Suarez - Messi 

 

 

He is not that quick on the ball but a very skilled dribbler and quick off it too. Started out as a midfielder and first came to fame playing as a winger alongside Timo Werner so he's also a great provider. His performance against Man City last season was fantastic: 

 

The main question for him is finding his best position and his injury record.

36 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

What I like is that he is good at using his body to protect the ball. I look at somebody like Pulisic, he's a very good dribbler, but he's also very weak when it comes to protecting the ball, so it's really hard for him to run past players. The opposition find it too easy to place their body infront of him and the ball, so he just bounces off them and losses possession. In a 1v1 with a defender running straight at goal, I think Pulisic could be good, but those situations come around very rarely in the Premier League. Pulisic won't be running past defenders from a standing position, he just doesn't have the close control and strength to do it. I extend these types of issues to Ziyech, Havertz and Werner too and it's one of the main reasons why I didn't want us to sign Dembele. 

This is what made Hazard so good, he was a world class dribbler but was also world class at shielding the ball. Nkunku and Hazard have the same build and dribbling style, they use their body to protect the ball and have close control dribbling. It's a combination that works really well in the Premier League is almost a requirement if you're going to play against teams that pack their defence, so fingers crossed that it works for Nkunku too if we sign him.

Spot on. I really, really didn't want to use the Hazard word but yeah, that was the thing that really caught my eye too. The way he receives the ball under pressure and shields the ball using his arse is reminiscent of one man (Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink)