3 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Reliable Uruguayan journalist claiming Ugarte to Chelsea almost a done deal. 
 

 

Quite a coup if we’ve pulled this one off as there are a lot of clubs reportedly interested in him. 

10 minutes ago, Dr. Socrates said:

Quite a coup if we’ve pulled this one off as there are a lot of clubs reportedly interested in him. 

Ah we can but hope. We have had that hope around others this past 12 months as well. 

This rumour is heating up. UG-Art, Eh.

I know next to nothing about this boy.

 

Paris will offer him more money I reckon.

Cash + Santos on loan would be smart. 
 

 

9 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Cash + Santos on loan would be smart. 
 

 

Probably the pessimist ìn me talking but with PSGs bottomless pits of cash I reckon he goes there.

In terms of players I reckon in order to be ahead of PSG they will want a player sold to them they could develop and make money on.

So while a Santos loan would be a sweetener they may need a Charlie Webster or one of our other youths traded to them permanently. Might take someone as promising as Lewis Hall for them to tell PSG to shove off or pay the clause in full.

 

Tend to agree with the twitter poster above.

We cry out for the muscle and explosiveness of someone like Essien.

But instead we are targeting a hybrid of Jorginho and Kova.

2 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

Tend to agree with the twitter poster above.

We cry out for the muscle and explosiveness of someone like Essien.

But instead we are targeting a hybrid of Jorginho and Kova.

Yeah I don't see why we need hin at all, just the same as ones we have or had lately. We lack strength and power, so let's get another relatively small, neat and tidy player. No, let's not 

8 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

Tend to agree with the twitter poster above.

We cry out for the muscle and explosiveness of someone like Essien.

But instead we are targeting a hybrid of Jorginho and Kova.

Seb is quite a famous name in the Chelsea Twitter sphere from back in the day, tends to get things right. 

Not that familiar with Ugarte myself but trust his analysis here.

Agree with the above replies. We need some power and somebody with a bit of aggression. Ugarte looks to be more of the same.

8 hours ago, dkw said:

Yeah I don't see why we need hin at all, just the same as ones we have or had lately. We lack strength and power, so let's get another relatively small, neat and tidy player. No, let's not 

Small players can also be strong and powerful.

Not saying Ugarte is but we know Wisey did fine while being a smaller player.

Not sure where this criticism is coming from. He has fantastic defensive metrics and is an absolute sh*tehouse. South Americans have no issue matching the aggression of the PL.

Latest is qe have made Sporting a better offer and now they are waiting to see what PSG do.

Both club want installment plans, reports are we offered 5mill more than Paris, including 2mill of bonuses, and 2 loans, one of Santos/Carney plus DD Fofana.

I'd prefer Caicedo, he plays very similar to Kante. Ugarte could be decent for the price though

2 minutes ago, Drogba1 said:

I'd prefer Caicedo, he plays very similar to Kante. Ugarte could be decent for the price though

I wouldnt put it past us to do something ridiculous and get both. 

Edited May 27, 20233 yr by Sconnie Blue

23 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

Tend to agree with the twitter poster above.

We cry out for the muscle and explosiveness of someone like Essien.

But instead we are targeting a hybrid of Jorginho and Kova.

It's probably more like an Onana that we need in there

Looks like a «search and destroy» kind of midfielder, so maybe a replacement for Kante?  Thought maybe Gallagher could do that role and that we needed more of a holding mid, but who knows - maybe be get two

15 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Small players can also be strong and powerful.

Not saying Ugarte is but we know Wisey did fine while being a smaller player.

Wise wast strong, just annoying, niggly, pain in the arse magnificence.....

Haven’t seen much of this guy TBH so can’t comment too much.

Ideally I wanted Rice but for a couple of reasons that now looks very unlikely.

My second choice was Caicedo, a really good player IMO and Premier League proven.

Who knows how it end up, but wouldn’t be surprised if this guy ends up at PSG, especially with the pull of playing in the Champions League.

4 hours ago, dkw said:

Wise wast strong, just annoying, niggly, pain in the arse magnificence.....

And how we need such players now.

Few reports that Ugarte is the number 1 target for Pochettino this window.

Goalkeeper wise it seems to be switching between Onana and Martinez, neither favorite, maybe neither ends up being the target.

Nothing much on striker, just the same arbitrary throwing in of our name along with several others for Kane and Oshiman 

On 28/05/2023 at 03:44, Sconnie Blue said:

Not sure where this criticism is coming from. He has fantastic defensive metrics and is an absolute sh*tehouse. South Americans have no issue matching the aggression of the PL.

Defensive metrics aren't statistically valid. You can't count things that have happened to help predict something that hasn't happened (ie the opponent scoring a goal). They are also unreliable, since "doing a lot of defensive things" doesn't necessarily correlate with being a good defender, as there are too many confounding variables. 

Looking at Ugarte, a defensive midfielder playing in a defensive/counter-attacking system for a dominant team in a weak league is always going to have inflated defensive metrics. It doesn't mean that Ugarte is a bad player, it means that 'metrics' are a poor predictor.

For my money, he is a carbon-copy of Declan Rice save that he is a bit less good in attack, although the latter should be tempered with the knowledge that Sporting play a much more defensive and structured system than West Ham. You can see why the club went after him because he will be 40m cheaper even with activating his release clause. Same strengths, but also the same weaknesses too, especially as both like to dribble through the midfield but neither of them have the turn of pace to make it work consistently.

Ugarte is also clearly from the same hallowed Uruguayan school of dark arts football as Paolo Montero - as we say in Australia, "he's clearly a c**t, but he's our c**t". This is perhaps mentality that is sorely needed in our dressing room, but it often does not translate well to the Premier League (hello Jonjo Shelvey) and players like this can quickly be a liability. I'd hate to have him line up in a game featuring Anthony Taylor.

Edited May 29, 20233 yr by SydneyChelsea

Aye his rash challenges are my biggest concern. 

Edited May 29, 20233 yr by Sconnie Blue