Hopefully he settles in London and doesn’t go the way of Veron & Crespo.

My expectations are tempered. We are a mess right now and hard for any one player to fix.

If he were joining Cech, JT, Ricky, Maka, Lamps and Drogba I would be over the moon. At the mo he has Silva he can count on to be a top level team mate, for 6 months only possibly.

Does anyone have any faith Potter can help unlock the best of him? And develop him? At 21 he has so much more he can be.

I'd imagine that he's spoken to MacAllister about Potter as a manager and it hasn't put him off which is a plus. Another possible plus is hopefully this is the end of talk of getting Declan Rice.

59 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

My expectations are tempered. We are a mess right now and hard for any one player to fix.

If he were joining Cech, JT, Ricky, Maka, Lamps and Drogba I would be over the moon. At the mo he has Silva he can count on to be a top level team mate, for 6 months only possibly.

Does anyone have any faith Potter can help unlock the best of him? And develop him? At 21 he has so much more he can be.

I mean Caicedo did alright...

50 minutes ago, timetowaste said:

I'd imagine that he's spoken to MacAllister about Potter as a manager and it hasn't put him off which is a plus. Another possible plus is hopefully this is the end of talk of getting Declan Rice.

Alexis Mc is regularly quoted as hating Potter to begin with for making him play more defensive, however as that has led to the national side and a World Cup he us rather grateful to Potter.

34 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

I mean Caicedo did alright...

Lower expectations at a club grateful to be in the PL where the spotlight is not shone.

In the Goldfish bowl that is Chelsea FC the water is heating up and at risk of sending Potter and Co belly up. Already been talk of our fans making a loud point on Thursday, something that Norwich fans did recently and got Smith the can.

Edited January 3, 20233 yr by axman2526

19 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Alexis Mc is regularly quoted as hating Potter to begin with for making him play more defensive, however as that has led to the national side and a World Cup he us rather grateful to Potter.

Lower expectations at a club grateful to be in the PL where the spotlight is not shone.

In the Goldfish bowl that is Chelsea FC the water is heating up and at risk of sending Potter and Co belly up. Already been talk of our fans making a loud point on Thursday, something that Norwich fans did recently and got Smith the can.

Bloke was integral to his national side winning the World Cup and had helped make Benfica genuine CL contenders. 

I'd like to think he's used to the spotlight and performing under pressure. 

2 hours ago, axman2526 said:

My expectations are tempered. We are a mess right now and hard for any one player to fix.

If he were joining Cech, JT, Ricky, Maka, Lamps and Drogba I would be over the moon. At the mo he has Silva he can count on to be a top level team mate, for 6 months only possibly.

Does anyone have any faith Potter can help unlock the best of him? And develop him? At 21 he has so much more he can be.

If Kante is healthy. You pair Enzo with Kante and you are good. (I do not how he play with benfica but in this setup he will play the exact same role as he play for Argentina).

All we need is to get a proper dm who will eventually replace kante and we are golden both short term and in long term. 

Edited January 3, 20233 yr by Bob stark

If Enzo is coming it means jorgi is gone this summer. 

1 hour ago, Bob stark said:

If Enzo is coming it means jorgi is gone this summer. 

9 hours ago, Gol15 said:

That's cause it's the only way he'll end up being our player and not in Man City, Bayern or PSG. We need to pay more now so that we skip an unwinnable competition in the summer.

This is an understandable reaction by the board to the position the club is in. This policy necessarily accepts that we will continue paying significantly over the odds for players. Until, and unless, we are able to establish ourselves as a more desirable destination for quality footballers, this is going to have to be our m.o.  Of course the policy also implies giving contracts which are over the odds too in order to recruit players who otherwise might choose to go elsewhere.

All of this puts the onus on those selecting the transfer targets. Paying over the odds for quality targets is difficult enough to sustain. Paying over the odds for duds, is an express route to ruin. The situation is not as dramatic as it might sound however. While we have not been this low in the pecking order for some time, we have never actually been at the top of it either. Calm heads, and good decisions, will solve this. You lot are telling me that if we get Enzo it will represent one such good decision. I can't comment because I haven't seen him, but assuming you are all right, completing this deal will be a start.

What a mega sum of money. This now leaves the future of our club hanging in the balance. If he becomes a star, great, we build on him. If he's a flop, add him to an already long list. We haven't got unlimited funds and as a club we could ultimately become a dead mid table team because of our bad recruitment strategy. 

16 minutes ago, KonaKai Blue said:

What a mega sum of money. This now leaves the future of our club hanging in the balance. If he becomes a star, great, we build on him. If he's a flop, add him to an already long list. We haven't got unlimited funds and as a club we could ultimately become a dead mid table team because of our bad recruitment strategy. 

The reassuring thing is that our midfield needs a boost so there is no way he'll be played out of position like e.g. Havertz that played all over the place. So while the club is going to be paying way over his real value the truth is that we simply need this player anyway and the odds that it doesn't work out are as low as possible.

He can hold the ball, pass it around, he can shoot and carry it as well and he's more physical than the midfielders we have.

I dont know enough about the player to know if he's worth it, but at least the club recognizes three things:

- this squad needs an injection of SOMETHING right now, especially in midfield

- if we see Enzo as a future world class player, this is probably our only chance to get him - even at a premium rate

- we're a bit of a sinking ship, a transfer of this size shows the world we're still among the biggest boys which might make it easier to sell us as a potential destination for future transfers as well

That being said, it is quite the gamble forking out this kind of money. But at least they are doing something about the state we're in, and at 21 we'll recouperate a large chunk of our outlay even if he doesn't quite work out as we hoped. If the worst happens, this wont be half as bad as the Lukaku transfer. These days we have to find comfort where we can, right? 🙂 

 

Edited January 3, 20233 yr by AndyDowsleftflank

3 hours ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

This is an understandable reaction by the board to the position the club is in. This policy necessarily accepts that we will continue paying significantly over the odds for players. Until, and unless, we are able to establish ourselves as a more desirable destination for quality footballers, this is going to have to be our m.o.  Of course the policy also implies giving contracts which are over the odds too in order to recruit players who otherwise might choose to go elsewhere.

All of this puts the onus on those selecting the transfer targets. Paying over the odds for quality targets is difficult enough to sustain. Paying over the odds for duds, is an express route to ruin. The situation is not as dramatic as it might sound however. While we have not been this low in the pecking order for some time, we have never actually been at the top of it either. Calm heads, and good decisions, will solve this. You lot are telling me that if we get Enzo it will represent one such good decision. I can't comment because I haven't seen him, but assuming you are all right, completing this deal will be a start.

Thing is though we have had 15yrs+ of sustained success under Roman which had made us a prime destination in the PL,  the ridiculous fees & wages shouldn’t be happening. It is something a Newcastle should be doing, but they are not even doing it. How do you explain paying 2x the City £30m bid for Cucurella, & paying him 3.5x his Brighton wages, or paying Potter 6x his Brighton salary. It seems all the pull & goodwill evaporated once Roman left the building. 

24 minutes ago, ducavis said:

Thing is though we have had 15yrs+ of sustained success under Roman which had made us a prime destination in the PL,  the ridiculous fees & wages shouldn’t be happening. It is something a Newcastle should be doing, but they are not even doing it. How do you explain paying 2x the City £30m bid for Cucurella, & paying him 3.5x his Brighton wages, or paying Potter 6x his Brighton salary. It seems all the pull & goodwill evaporated once Roman left the building. 

I think the deals in the summer were done out of necessity. We had to buy these players even if they were overpriced. To be honest, I think only Cucurella was overpriced. The rest were reasonable fees (Auba, Sterling, Koulibaly. Fofana was expensive but he is highly rated and young). 

Edited January 3, 20233 yr by JM7

Personally I think cucurella has so far been the best deal. He plays every game. Is he brilliant attacking? No, but our left side is far more secure than the right side. 

Reading this thread you get an impression we are on the verge of extinction. People forgot we have new ownership with a ton of money and right kind of motivation... please remember we are not under Roman anymore.

So how many weeks do we think this will trundle on for before it doesn't happen.

Is it too early now to be anticipating the totally unexpected 11th hour hitch or the sudden press release of his lifelong ambition and suitable photo of him aged 8 in a Barcelona shirt.

27 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

So how many weeks do we think this will trundle on for before it doesn't happen.

Is it too early now to be anticipating the totally unexpected 11th hour hitch or the sudden press release of his lifelong ambition and suitable photo of him aged 8 in a Barcelona shirt.

Probably find out he's gone elsewhere just before window closes. 

Kante helps, but if we want to see Enzo's total skillset we need a player that will sit back when he pushes forward. Or vice versa. 

28 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Kante helps

The problem is that Kante is no more available to play than Pele is. He is absolutely finished. 

4 hours ago, ozboy said:

Personally I think cucurella has so far been the best deal. He plays every game. Is he brilliant attacking? No, but our left side is far more secure than the right side. 

You cannot be serious?? I would go as far as to say that Cucurella is up there with Veron, Bogarde, Drinkwater, Bakayoko, Morata and Aubameyang as one of our biggest wastes of money. He constantly gives possession away, has no real attacking flair and cannot cross a ball. Defending, which was presumably what he was bought for, is also a problem for him. He is too weak, is not strong in the tackle, is often caught ball watching, is even more often out of position and you can see by the way Silva watches him, that he has no faith in him either.

I pray that Chilwell comes back soon and stays fit, so we don't have to endure Cucurella for much longer.

Edited January 3, 20233 yr by coombsie

13 minutes ago, Snedger said:

The problem is that Kante is no more available to play than Pele is. He is absolutely finished. 

Maybe not quite as finished as Pele ? 😉

5 hours ago, AndyDowsleftflank said:

I dont know enough about the player to know if he's worth it, but at least the club recognizes three things:

- this squad needs an injection of SOMETHING right now, especially in midfield

- if we see Enzo as a future world class player, this is probably our only chance to get him - even at a premium rate

- we're a bit of a sinking ship, a transfer of this size shows the world we're still among the biggest boys which might make it easier to sell us as a potential destination for future transfers as well

That being said, it is quite the gamble forking out this kind of money. But at least they are doing something about the state we're in, and at 21 we'll recouperate a large chunk of our outlay even if he doesn't quite work out as we hoped. If the worst happens, this wont be half as bad as the Lukaku transfer. These days we have to find comfort where we can, right? 🙂 

 

That SOMETHING that we need is a couple of players with LARGE cojones, to get hold of the rest of our weak as f**k squad and instil some strength, passion, will to win and refusal to lose. I would even go as far as to say, these players do not need to be the greatest technical specimens, as long as they have those cojones. Like Arsenal, we will learn the hard way that you must have leadership.

2 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

So how many weeks do we think this will trundle on for before it doesn't happen.

Is it too early now to be anticipating the totally unexpected 11th hour hitch or the sudden press release of his lifelong ambition and suitable photo of him aged 8 in a Barcelona shirt.