Who gassed this Brazilian Hakim Ziyech? He thinks he's Ronaldinhio.

Not bothered if we get him or not, rather get Dembele anyway.

5 minutes ago, ducavis said:

Dembele became a free agent yesterday so there is no fee to pay.

Just hope we don’t offer him ridiculous wages. Barca offered him €6m/yr last week & he wanted €12m, we should offer him €7.5m & €10m sign on fees since no one is interested 

Cheers for that, i thought read he had a yr left on his contract, so that could be helpful, i used to love Watching Barca as a team (unless we played them), but now i hate most things la liga, they truly reaped what they Sowed

Not much new to report on Raphinha as of now - view around Barca is that player currently only wants to go there but they won't/can't match Chelsea bid so far. Will be interesting to see how long Chelsea prepared to wait and if they can or try to change Raphinha's mind.

— Matt Law (@Matt_Law_DT) July 1, 2022

1 minute ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Not much new to report on Raphinha as of now - view around Barca is that player currently only wants to go there but they won't/can't match Chelsea bid so far. Will be interesting to see how long Chelsea prepared to wait and if they can or try to change Raphinha's mind.

— Matt Law (@Matt_Law_DT) July 1, 2022

We should not be trying to change his mind. It makes us look small and pathetic, begging the player to come to us basically.

We had an offer accepted, we have put an contract to him. If he does not accept it over a decent time frame because he only wants Barca then withdraw the offer and find players who actually want to play for us.

For me it seems clear neither Raphinha nor Dembele want to come here, so move on.

18 minutes ago, Cap said:

Let’s offer to add a £150 million release clause that activates in two years. Tell him that by then, if Barca has their finances in order, they can pay the release and he can live his dream of playing for them. In the interim he’ll come here and get a nice wage increase and doesn’t have to feel like he’s giving up on Barca entirely. Odds are he won’t be worth the release clause, but then we can use that value to anchor any negotiations with another club if he wants to leave at that point.

Honestly release cause is irrelevant especially if you set it that high. What we will have is an unhappy player that want to leave in 2 years time and want only Barca. Since Barca can't pay, we will have Lukaku situation back again. 

7 hours ago, Munkworth said:

We’re already in the next 48 hours phase? We’ll have this easily wrapped up by the end of the January window. Maybe even the 2023 January window!

Guessing you mean 'even the 2024 January window!'

6 hours ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

FFP was pretty much just a scam to keep the elite in power

Of course it was and obviously so since the beginning.

20 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

For me it seems clear neither Raphinha nor Dembele want to come here, so move on.

Which I think Boehly is the type of man who will. 

Can imagine him telling Leeds/Deco you have until Saturday, and if not we are moving on. 

Edited July 1, 20224 yr by Sconnie Blue

I really don't like the idea of signing a player who doesn't want to be here. 

1 hour ago, HazardousChoice said:

I'm sure Coombsie knows more about Barca's finances than someone who's actually employed by Barca.

Deco represents his client. If he only wants to move to Barca no matter what he only wants to move to Barca.

Deco working as a scout for Barca while also working as an agent for players at different clubs is incredibly dodgy though

I don't understand your banter. I know what pretty much everybody with any interest in football knows, Barcelona are  1.26BILLION Euro in debt and are relying on Goldman Sachs for another 800 million Euro injection.

Just now, coombsie said:

 I know what pretty much everybody with any interest in football knows

Exactly.

But you seem to be imagining a world in which Deco and Raphina are the only people who aren't aware of Barca's financial situation.

Raphina obviously knows it.  He just doesn't care he'd still rather play for them than us.

4 minutes ago, coombsie said:

I don't understand your banter. I know what pretty much everybody with any interest in football knows, Barcelona are  1.26BILLION Euro in debt and are relying on Goldman Sachs for another 800 million Euro injection.

Nobody does, I don't think its bantz, Thats what's worrying!

8 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I really don't like the idea of signing a player who doesn't want to be here. 

Azpi wanted to stay at Marseille and only joined us because of the financial needs of the club. Cesc didn't even entertain us until Wenger said no to a reunion. Costa by all accounts was largely meh about coming here and was plotting his return to Spain early on. If we were that particular about things with those 3 we'd likely be on a 12 year title drought right now.

If Raphina delivers on the pitch he could be wearing a full Tottenham kit at home for all I'd care.

imagine tapping up a player to the point he is unsettled and wants to leave, only to then not even have the money to pay market value. Leeds should report them to fifa. 

If they match our bid, and he choose them, fair enough, but it looks more he is either trying force us to give up, or force leeds to accept an inferior bid. 

Shocking behaviour tbh. Obviously he mist have indicated a willingness to come here, and to Arsenal or neither of us wouldve bid. 

I'm torn on this one. 

In one way I would agree we shouldn't trying to force a player to play for us, yet on the other hand I'm still open to us giving him a deadline to choose us if he can't go to Barca.

I think if he did join us, he would still grow to love our club. Many players play for teams for many reasons whether love, money, location or chance of trophies. Careers are short so the goals you can achieve within that time frame require swift judgement and luck to achieve, whatever Rafinha chooses he must choose quick, and let us move on to another target.

 

6 minutes ago, Argo said:

Azpi wanted to stay at Marseille and only joined us because of the financial needs of the club. Cesc didn't even entertain us until Wenger said no to a reunion. Costa by all accounts was largely meh about coming here and was plotting his return to Spain early on. If we were that particular about things with those 3 we'd likely be on a 12 year title drought right now.

If Raphina delivers on the pitch he could be wearing a full Tottenham kit at home for all I'd care.

You've gone too far.....

2 minutes ago, AlwaysRight said:

I'm torn on this one. 

Same. 

When you think about it, he is genuinely perfect in what Tuchel wants to do. With Raphinha's attacking and defensive qualities, he is the missing link in Tuchel's set up (4231 on the ball/523 off the ball). 

Mendy

James Silva de Ligt

Raphinha Jorginho Kovacic Chilwell

Mount Sterling

Havertz

 

Mendy

James Silva de Ligt Chilwell

Jorginho Kovacic

Raphinha Mount Sterling

Havertz

 

11 minutes ago, Argo said:

Azpi wanted to stay at Marseille and only joined us because of the financial needs of the club. Cesc didn't even entertain us until Wenger said no to a reunion. Costa by all accounts was largely meh about coming here and was plotting his return to Spain early on. If we were that particular about things with those 3 we'd likely be on a 12 year title drought right now.

If Raphina delivers on the pitch he could be wearing a full Tottenham kit at home for all I'd care.

I dont care he doesnt see us as 1st choice, most players dont have us as their dream club. I do think he is being disrespectful though, to us, and to Leeds who obviously want the best deal. He cant be forced to move anywhere, but he has definitely lead us on, and i get the impression he was expecting Leeds to go down so Barcelona could trigger the release fee, otherwise I dont see how he ever thought Barcelona was an option given they are broke. 

I would give him until Monday then withdraw the offer, and look elsewhere, he is good player, but certainly not a must buy, only marginally better than what we have, and that is debatable given how we use our attackers anyway. 

1 hour ago, Bob stark said:

He is 26, he probably will stay here for 2 years and he want to leave. 

If he does come here, we'll just have to see how it goes 

29 minutes ago, Argo said:

If Raphina delivers on the pitch he could be wearing a full Tottenham kit at home for all I'd care.

This is going too far

18 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Same. 

When you think about it, he is genuinely perfect in what Tuchel wants to do. With Raphinha's attacking and defensive qualities, he is the missing link in Tuchel's set up (4231 on the ball/523 off the ball). 

Mendy

James Silva de Ligt

Raphinha Jorginho Kovacic Chilwell

Mount Sterling

Havertz

 

Mendy

James Silva de Ligt Chilwell

Jorginho Kovacic

Raphinha Mount Sterling

Havertz

 

Don’t think he is coming here to play as a WB. I think one player already had concerns about coming here as he didn’t want to play as a WB. 

17 minutes ago, ducavis said:

Don’t think he is coming here to play as a WB. I think one player already had concerns about coming here as he didn’t want to play as a WB. 

Not sure why we would be signing him to play as WB regularly. We already have 2 first choice wing backs don't we? I would think he might be required to fill in there from time to time if players are injured. But I would think he would typically be expected to play as part of a front 3.

If he ends up choosing us I think we’ll be ok because he is a quality player, as long as it’s completed in the next 24 hours.

I think this is different to the Lukaku situation in a couple of ways, for example I think if he’s hell bent on playing for Barcelona he won’t even come here anyway as he weakens his chances of eventually ending up playing for them in the near future.

I’d say give him until the weekend and if he asks for more time to think then we’ll have our answer, he will be clearly playing for time.

Then we should move on.

 

I actually think players can play for clubs and learn to love playing there or be there be professional and do a job.

Most players ain’t got the love us fans have got, even Eden Hazard wouldn’t love Chelsea like us fans do.

Personally I don’t think it will happen, most personal terms are generally agreed in around 48 hours, and this is coming up to 4 days.

It’s very nearly time to move on IMO.

 

I do think we should think about wrapping up the Sterling deal now though.

Just getting that 1st player through the door could change the whole outlook for any potential targets as they will see we mean business.

It could make the difference and start the whole ‘Chelsea Spending Spree’ off.

It’s time to get serious, pre-season is just around the corner.

 

 

Edited July 1, 20224 yr by 2211

23 minutes ago, ducavis said:

Don’t think he is coming here to play as a WB. I think one player already had concerns about coming here as he didn’t want to play as a WB. 

Its simply a theory, based on what we did with Ziyech. 

On the ball we Ziyech became an out an out winger, with Chalobah/Dave becoming the RB and Sarr/Alonso becoming the LB.  Off the ball, Ziyech shifted to RWB, Chalobah/Dave shifted into RCB, and Sarr/Alonso reverted back to LWB. 

While the delays are frustrating, we potentially have other options if Raphinha falls through. On the other hand, Leeds are supposedly growing increasingly angry with both Barca and player as they need the transfer completed before they can use the money for their own transfer targets. I suspect they will give Barca a deadline if they haven't already, so I will be surprised if this drags on much longer.