No he hasn’t. The reason he didn’t move this summer was due to political pressure. Emmanuel Macron literally spent an hour on the phone with him to convince him to stay at PSG
So you think a business encounter involving the president of France comes down to just money? That's incredibly naive. When Emmanuel Macron calls you up and tells you to stay at your club, you're going to do so
A bit like when Fifa awarded Qatar the world cup, and 6 months later took delivery of 36 French Dassault Rafale fighter planes in a multi billion $ deal
I could see Real Madrid signing Gvardiol because Alaba and Rudiger are 30 and 29. Plus Gvardiol can play leftback, so he could back up Ferland Mendy.
But unless Madrid plan to make Leao play centrally, I don't think it makes sense.
Unpopular opinion: His workrate is bad and he's not good enough to make up for that ala Hazard. We don't need him if Nkunku bangs as we have enough SS type players.
To me, he seems to operate in the space between the fullback and centre back which is what a SS normally does. Maybe it makes him an inside forward, we would have to ask pep :)
I view a second striker as a player that like to occupy the dove between the defensive line and the midfield, right underneath the forward. We have Havertz already that likes that role, so wouldn’t want another player trying to occupy that space. Already feels cramped when Mount and Pulisic insist on floating into the middle
Pretty sure this is the popular opinion, but I do think he’s more of a winger than a SS. He likes balls to be played wide that he can get to and 1v1 his defender. He would be the most prolific attacker we have by a mile but he provides nothing defensively and while I think he can succeed in a club like City, he’s definitely not going to do super well here. It’s far from a sure thing and they want outrageous money for him. Can only see this happening if we move on from a lot of our wingers.
Nkunku a done deal and he will most likely play Havertz role as the second striker guy. Unless we plan to play with 2 up top and have Kai and Nkunku play off each other but I’m not sure how that would work. I’d much rather go after a winger like Kvaratskhelia but he will probably go for a fortune as well. I like Leao a lot, he’s a fun player to watch but don’t think he’d be great for us
I don't think city would even want him. Pep likes workrate and sells players that don't contribute to the press. I think Havertz Nkunku would work a lot like Havertz Werner did before. Nkunku seems like a more prolific finisher though which would solve a lot of our problems.
I never said they did, just that for him to succeed he’d need to play at a team like that. And I’m just going off what the report mentions, which is why I used city as an example.
City wouldn't play him. Leao likes to isolate defenders and beat them on pace. City face deep blocks every week and their wingers need more close control to break them down, something Leao lacks.
I disagree with saying he doesn’t have close control, because he does have that. He has good technical ability, and he creates his own space with his pace and technique. That being said, I don’t think any PL team would get him, but that’s the only place I can see him doing well
I mean, he definitely does use his pace to get by defenders, but you’re really discounting his dribbling ability. He was pocketed for largely the entire time he played against us, but there were moments he was able to squeeze by with just his dribbling and little space. In Italy, he is confident in taking defenders 1v1 just to dribble around them. He can likes to get the ball out wide or make runs into space to receive the ball, but he is a very technical player. It is probably his best quality along with his ability to break into the box and either score or cross into the box to set up his teammates and he’s pretty good at that too.
I won’t claim to watch every single match of his, but I have seen a good amount of him play last season. If you’re judging this off of the 80mins he played in the World Cup, then I still don’t know what you’re seeing considering he barely played and was the joint top scorer for Portugal.
I’m a firm believer that not all players are made to play in certain leagues. Neymar is still undeniably one of the best players in the world but he would get slaughtered in the PL. He’d get fouled to shit and back and likely would be looking like Hazard does now if he did come. Leao is more of a dribbling flair player that wouldn’t fare well in the PL with the beating he’d take every week. He has ability and Im sure he’s going to be a great player, just not sure if he’d fit here. Definitely has all the traits aside from work rate which is a concern
>but there were moments he was able to squeeze by with just his dribbling and little space
But that's exactly it, moments. He needs to up it to a consistent output instead of burst of it, which is a massive risk for 70m, let alone 150m.
>If you’re judging this off of the 80mins he played in the World Cup, then I still don’t know what you’re seeing considering he barely played and was the joint top scorer for Portugal.
I'm judging him off his Serie A play. World Cup performances are irrelevant.
>Neymar is still undeniably one of the best players in the world but he would get slaughtered in the PL.
He wouldn't. He'd piss the league to shit and be by far its best player any year 2012 onwards.
100% agree he’s not worth the money, I’ve already said as much. I’m just disputing your claim he doesn’t have the technical ability to receive and dribble in tight spaces.
And Neymar would be the best player in the league for
Sure. He’d also go the way of hazard, he’s already the most fouled player in the league. He’d have gotten slaughtered had he played here. He gets fouled a ton in France and has missed a ton of time for it. I do think he would have gone the way of hazard
Lacks*? If that's what you mean, I 100% agree with you. He seems to beat them based on physicality and speed which would not work against low blocks with nowhere to run.
This all makes sense except for the 'I don't see how they can coexist' part - we end up with so many injuries over the year that we need not just backups but understudies for the backups.
Oh for sure, depth is important. Since I’m not sure how we will line up, I’m not really sure where we’d need depth. Obviously we need a winger given that Ziyech and Pulisic are likely to leave. Do we need to spend €100mil on Leao for that depth? Probably not. And given that we are probably getting Nkunku, who isn’t really a wide player, makes me believe we maybe want more off strikers, which would require less wingers. It’s all kind of weird right now, feels like recruitment is all over the place but when isn’t it at this club.
> feels like recruitment is all over the place but when isn’t it at this club.
I think what you're sensing is that although we usually have some roster chaos, this is a new paradigm of roster chaos. What I see is that they want to build a baseball-style "farm system" where they can move players between clubs but inside the same org, instead of sending everyone out for loan and dealing with people being frustrated on both sides of that. But it's going to take some time to set that up, so ownership is loading up on youth and who knows WTF is happening with the starting 11...
It seems like we built a dynasty around Kante and James and with them out all the time, things just keep staying in a holding position. I fear it's going to be another 2 years of this before things settled down...
Well Kante has been our best or second best player pretty much the whole time he’s been here but he’s been here for 5-6 years already I believe. We have relied on him for results for way too long.
I get the multi-club system they have and he’s definitely looking at it like a “minor league” for the first team. Also definitely wants the double CL money by trying to purchase clubs in Portugal or around the world that can qualify for the comp. I don’t hate the idea of it, but in practice it sucks to just have a feeder club for the sake of improving the first team.
The recruitment is all over the place because we don’t really have anyone in place to be in charge of that to begin with. A flux of people coming and going and us making signings based on I’m not sure what criteria. We spent 300mil on the summer and look much much worse. They try to back pedal and explain that their signings were club signings, when it was obvious they were backing Tuchel and then fired him a week after the window closes. Just very very poor management at the top. Very surprised given how they run the Dodgers and how esteemed they’ve been, but they’ve shit the bed so far. Still plenty of time and they need to get their infrastructure in order, but it’s been not great so far
Again, I agree... but from my experience being a Dodgers supporter, they're willing to be patient and take some heat for poor performance in the short term. I still don't fully understand the Tuchel firing TBH, but clearly the two sides didn't see eye-to-eye, which seemed to be a surprise to both sides. My SO is a coach in another sport (and many of her friends are too), so I hear about that kind of drama quite a lot.
If I try and be sympathetic to the ownership POV, I see that they're making mostly long-term moves and some emergency stopgap moves to keep us in the top half of the EPL this season.
Yea and that wouldn’t be a problem if Chelsea weren’t already a very successful team. The expectations coming into this season weren’t “fight for the top half of the table” it was to win something. You fired the coach that could’ve done that and now you’re dialing back and “rebuilding”, it’s perfectly reasonable for fans to be upset at this sudden change of plans.
I’m a MLB fan too, I fucking hate the dodgers but they’re probably the second best run organization in the sport, if not the best. So I do think it’ll work out eventually, but still sucks for the now
I agree (x3) - except about hating LAD!
Yeah, it's been a very frustrating time. Then again, I'm very anti-Russian-oligarchs, so I've been waiting for Roma to get the boot. It's hard being a sport fan but also seeing inside the lives of the owners... and sometimes the players too.
I also wouldn't mind getting away from the trend of sacking the CFC manager ever 2 years - I'm not sold on Potter yet, but I hope he figures it out and gets to hang around for a while. (And hey, if he can sign Bellingham while he's at it...)
I thought Tuchel would be the one to buck that trend. They had him being a fucking diplomat while we were sanctioned. Dragged him out there to take the brunt of everything in the media, while trying to drag this team to a top 4 finish. Still made it 2 finals and lost on PKs.
I’m not sold on Potter at all. I don’t think hiring a guy whose biggest accomplishment is “played pretty football at mid table club” and the Swedish league really means much. I don’t mind backing him and giving him time but he has to show something to earn that time. I do think that if we finish out of all European competitions he should be sacked and we get another manager, but that’s my opinion.
He is a LW/SS but he definitely is not an outright winger. He operates in the space between the fullback and centre back, like nkunku and havertz. We don't need another player like this especially if we sign nkunku.
I think he's worth €50mil, nowadays it seems everyone goes for about €20mil more then they should. The insane release clauses don't help, they're supposed to ward off clubs but it just drives the price up
I wouldn't mind him at 50mil, seriously I have seen this guy since he joined Milan from Lille, and he's not at Chelsea level, he's as good as a backup winger that's it..
150mil? We can rebuild an entire midfield that would last us atleast 6-7years for that money..
I hate this new trend of hyping up average footballers man..
I don't see anyone shelling out €150m for him. Milan inflating his price tag so they can hold on for a last minute extension. Hope is a hella strong drug. Them losing Leao (on G/A) would be like us losing prime Hazard.
And no, I'm not saying this Leao is anywhere near prime Hazard level, he's not. Simply equating how important he is to Milan's program.
At the end of the day, they might do a player + € deal. Throw them Hakim & €50-60m. We can toss in Lukaka for free.
We’re probably not going to be in the CL next season. We can’t spunk serious money on players like that soon. We need to go big now or we’ll have a bit of Arsenal time in the wilderness I fear.
yep. huge gap between him and, say, Kvaratskhelia in terms of workrate.
on the other hand we have very hard workers in attack and theyve been shit in most games recently so idk if thats really what we need.
The difference is Hazard was good enough for the team to be built around him to make up for his poor workrate. Leao unfortunately is not the magician Hazard was.
When Hazard was here the team was built around him so he wouldn't have to contribute defensively, which was possible with kante behind him. If Leao doesn't track back, chilwell/cucu are going to be facing a winger and fullback running around them all game.
Leao doesn't trackback so it begs the question, is he good enough to build the team around him so he doesn't have defensive responsibility? I think not.
Same for most of the best players in the world today. Guys like Mbappe and Messi have very poor pressing stats yet we all push that to the side because of how good they are
€150m?! They’re very quick to forget the good deals they have had from us recently…Giroud, Tomori…Ziyech soon?
Leao is class and would be an upgrade on our toothless attack, but he’s not worth €150m - that’s Bellingham money.
Its ridicolous even for Bellingham. With some smart scouting or a hidden gem, 150m can get you 2-3 genuine quality players. Unless its an Mbappe or Messi generational kind of talent no player is worth that much.
Coincidentally, €150m is the price tag Dortmund have recently said they would expect a team to pay to buy Bellingham.
It is a great deal of money that maybe only 2-3 teams in the world could pay; but barring a Dele Ali career trajectory, like it or not, the kid is going to be the pivotal player in an elite team for the next decade and he’s English, which adds to a PL teams homegrown quota and these players have always carried a premium. Dortmund will be making a lot of money on him, wherever he goes, I reckon he’ll likely end up at City to replace KDB in a few years.
Bellingham money? What kind of English bias have you been eating mate? He’s nowhere near €150m good. He’ll need at least 2-3 near perfect seasons at a top PL club to get there.
Kid is on pace to finish w/ another 25+ G/A (in League / UCL) season @ 23. That €150m price tag is still cringe. He's got a good size / skillset for the Prem though. Reminds me of a younger / better Zaha
€150m + €20 or so million to Sporting because of the legal battle him and them have so a release Clause of €170-180 million, EASY PASS. Let that contract run dry
No club will pay €150m for him. Let his contract run out and we can get him way cheaper in the summer, next winter, or next summer. And if Milan keep being greedy fucks then he goes for free in 2024
With so many clubs stacked at left wing, I think the market for him should be closer to 70 and 150. Real have Vini, Barca are broke, City have Foden/ Grealish, ManU have Rashford/Sancho, etc.
Very expensive player that they need to offload in that case, but i doubt they would be able to do it esp since they want to sell the club or a portion of it, i think absolutely nothing will be done until they find more money
Kante was our highest earner of all time and within a year we managed to surpass his wages in 3 players. (I do think both are different cases, but we also need to bring it down, a club full of 200+ isnt sustainable for us)..
France uses Mbappe the same way Portugal and Milan use Leão. I used to think it was work rate but it’s just tactics. Them not tracking back helps pin the fullback further back and it’s easier for them to find space on the counter which is where they excel. If we lose out on Gvardiol or Jude it’s a no brainer.
To be fair there are so many stars that will be available in the summer, we are bound to get one of Jude, Leão or João Felix. Hoping for Jude but wouldn’t complain at either João or Leão
Chelsea wants to buy a player from MILAN, who is playing exceptionally very well in SERIE A, for an outrageous fee of $100 MILLION +++++, First name R Last name L.
Sounds really familiar.
Milan a bunch of gready bastards. They want €150m for a low work rate player who in Series A this season scored 0.4 goals per game, lost more duels than he won (42%), has had only 1 succ. dribble, a low accuracy for crosses (38%), and barely has any interceptions per game.
He had 4 assists and 6 goals this season out of 14 appearances with an average of 72 minutes per game, which is okay I guess but none of that justifies a price tag of €150m.
His speed, explosiveness, dribbling style, and positioning near the box looks attractive but the data paints a different picture in terms of performance output.
He can be good for us, but in our current system where attackers come to die, he’s going to flop badly. So I’d rather have us fix the root of our issues instead of even contemplating buying an overvalued player like Leão and hoping we all of a sudden score more goals.
I cannot agree with the people saying we shouldn't break the bank for him cause of his work rate. Giving off the same vibes when I read our youth scouts didn't pick up Mbapee for his work rate. Tired of having to rely heavily on methodical tactics to win matches. The best teams have players who can produce magical moments and game winners. Leao is exactly what we need.
Just give them pulisic and ziyech. Ziyech will probably help with the insane wc he is having. Helps us clear deadwood and bring new talent in, killing two birds with one stone.
Literally won serie a while being their league's mvp, yeah right. Literally portugal's best player every time he steps on the pitch in the wc. And don't give me serie a farmer's league bs, our squad isn't going to do any better in that league with the shit attack we have up front.
I don’t have an opinion on either way on Leao but lol
> literally won serie a while being their league’s mvp
Remember how this went last time…
Also the Portugal point is dead wrong. Bruno was much better, though he had the advantage of more minutes, but it still wasn’t particularly close
>Remember how this went last time…
Lukaku is just a big crybaby with no mentality. On his day he is still our best striker. Leao literally has reece james simping for him. His talent is unquestionable.
>Also the Portugal point is dead wrong.
Use your eyes. Bruno's fooling yall with his statpadding. Was absolutely terrible against morocco as well.
Joint top scorer in just under 90 minutes played is huge
Also, have you watched the game against Morocco? Literally one of the most dangerous players when he came on, especially compared to Felix who played the whole match. If only Pepe scored that header…
That’s one of the most disingenuous stats ever, he had 2 goals, one of which was at 5-1. I don’t think one chance changes that it’s a dumb take that he was Portugal’s best player from his 80 minutes of contribution. It’s unwise to go off hypotheticals like “if he was given more time” when he wasn’t
Thats the thing, in my opinion the misuse of Leao was very bad for Portugal and a sign that Santos should leave; 80 minutes of contribution is obviously no argument but he definitely did the most he could to prove he should be given more chance, no? I also don’t agree that he was Portugal’s best player but I definitely like him much more than Felix. In just 20 minutes against Morocco he managed to cause a lot of trouble to Hakimi and brought more to Portugal’s attack than anyone else. I really think he should’ve started at least one game
We also don't play in a way suitable to Lukaku, all he can really do is run in behind a stretched defense. He's still dreadful at playing with his back to goal or receiving crosses into the box. We play too high up the pitch and with too much possession to make it work with him.
Yet he overperfod xg and was our top scorer with no pens.
If we had the likes of lamps, hazard pedro, cesc etc around him he’d have been fine
The quality of our attackers has massively declined
You should watch lukaku play again. One of his biggest strengths when fit is playing with his back to goal while using his physical strength to outmuscle his defenders. He only became shit at that when he started getting fat again
He was the only player who looked like he could crack Morocco’s defense. If he had played the whole game, they might’ve managed a goal.
$150m is still way too much though.
Milan are gonna say €150m until the day Leao goes public with his desire to leave/disappointment in their offer.
Whether they stick to that or accept a lower offer before that happens is the real question.
Just before you all get super excited/disappointed, this T2 is trash for Milan and not even that good with Bundesliga, he's tweeted that Vranx aint going to Milan and 2 days later he goes to Milan. But as a Milan fan I agree I doubt he's worth 150m, he's still so lazy, he's better at tracking back lately but still got lots to do.
Member when they were offered €80m for Dollaruma and refused with one year left? I'm not 100% on Leao but would be funny once again of they lose another high profile player for free.
If anyone is spending 150m on a player it will be for Jude. Leao looks good but he is a moments player. Bellingham is 90 mins every match consistent in the middle of the park.
Real Madrid are making a second club, because there’s absolutely no need for them to sign Leao, never mind Gvardiol.
Yeah I'd like to think they're reserving a little bit aside for an Mbappe move sometime soon..
Mbappe has shown that he'll take money over anything. He'll probably just run down his contract and go to Real Madrid on a free to maximise his income
No he hasn’t. The reason he didn’t move this summer was due to political pressure. Emmanuel Macron literally spent an hour on the phone with him to convince him to stay at PSG
Not a chance, it was a money decision don’t be naive…
But if it was money, then there is no need to go to Madrid. Mbappe are never going to get the money that PSG offer by leaving.
So you think a business encounter involving the president of France comes down to just money? That's incredibly naive. When Emmanuel Macron calls you up and tells you to stay at your club, you're going to do so
I think you both are right. Money from the side of his dealings with the club and some power within France with his dealings with the president.
A bit like when Fifa awarded Qatar the world cup, and 6 months later took delivery of 36 French Dassault Rafale fighter planes in a multi billion $ deal
not pres anymore tho
Yes he is lol
Real Madrid get linked to everyone
Gvardiol is much better than Militao imo
We get linked to almost every player. It’s just a tactic to increase their market value
I could see Real Madrid signing Gvardiol because Alaba and Rudiger are 30 and 29. Plus Gvardiol can play leftback, so he could back up Ferland Mendy. But unless Madrid plan to make Leao play centrally, I don't think it makes sense.
You could say the same with Chelsea having brought Sterling a few months ago in the exact same position for 50m who is a starter.
They’re delusional if they think they’re getting 150mil for a guy refusing to sign an extension
Unless this is Leao Messi, 150M is outrageous
150 million? Bye
Lads it obvious no ones going to pay 150m for him and Milan can't risk losing another top player for free.. There will be a drastic compromise.
Unpopular opinion: His workrate is bad and he's not good enough to make up for that ala Hazard. We don't need him if Nkunku bangs as we have enough SS type players.
Isn’t Leao more of a true winger, that’s how he has struck me when watching him. Capable of cutting inside but he likes to beat his man on the line
To me, he seems to operate in the space between the fullback and centre back which is what a SS normally does. Maybe it makes him an inside forward, we would have to ask pep :)
Thats not a ss
I view a second striker as a player that like to occupy the dove between the defensive line and the midfield, right underneath the forward. We have Havertz already that likes that role, so wouldn’t want another player trying to occupy that space. Already feels cramped when Mount and Pulisic insist on floating into the middle
Pretty sure this is the popular opinion, but I do think he’s more of a winger than a SS. He likes balls to be played wide that he can get to and 1v1 his defender. He would be the most prolific attacker we have by a mile but he provides nothing defensively and while I think he can succeed in a club like City, he’s definitely not going to do super well here. It’s far from a sure thing and they want outrageous money for him. Can only see this happening if we move on from a lot of our wingers. Nkunku a done deal and he will most likely play Havertz role as the second striker guy. Unless we plan to play with 2 up top and have Kai and Nkunku play off each other but I’m not sure how that would work. I’d much rather go after a winger like Kvaratskhelia but he will probably go for a fortune as well. I like Leao a lot, he’s a fun player to watch but don’t think he’d be great for us
I don't think city would even want him. Pep likes workrate and sells players that don't contribute to the press. I think Havertz Nkunku would work a lot like Havertz Werner did before. Nkunku seems like a more prolific finisher though which would solve a lot of our problems.
I never said they did, just that for him to succeed he’d need to play at a team like that. And I’m just going off what the report mentions, which is why I used city as an example.
City wouldn't play him. Leao likes to isolate defenders and beat them on pace. City face deep blocks every week and their wingers need more close control to break them down, something Leao lacks.
I disagree with saying he doesn’t have close control, because he does have that. He has good technical ability, and he creates his own space with his pace and technique. That being said, I don’t think any PL team would get him, but that’s the only place I can see him doing well
He really doesn't. A majority of his game is based on beating defenders 1v1 with PnP. He'd get figured out quickly in the PL
I mean, he definitely does use his pace to get by defenders, but you’re really discounting his dribbling ability. He was pocketed for largely the entire time he played against us, but there were moments he was able to squeeze by with just his dribbling and little space. In Italy, he is confident in taking defenders 1v1 just to dribble around them. He can likes to get the ball out wide or make runs into space to receive the ball, but he is a very technical player. It is probably his best quality along with his ability to break into the box and either score or cross into the box to set up his teammates and he’s pretty good at that too. I won’t claim to watch every single match of his, but I have seen a good amount of him play last season. If you’re judging this off of the 80mins he played in the World Cup, then I still don’t know what you’re seeing considering he barely played and was the joint top scorer for Portugal. I’m a firm believer that not all players are made to play in certain leagues. Neymar is still undeniably one of the best players in the world but he would get slaughtered in the PL. He’d get fouled to shit and back and likely would be looking like Hazard does now if he did come. Leao is more of a dribbling flair player that wouldn’t fare well in the PL with the beating he’d take every week. He has ability and Im sure he’s going to be a great player, just not sure if he’d fit here. Definitely has all the traits aside from work rate which is a concern
>but there were moments he was able to squeeze by with just his dribbling and little space But that's exactly it, moments. He needs to up it to a consistent output instead of burst of it, which is a massive risk for 70m, let alone 150m. >If you’re judging this off of the 80mins he played in the World Cup, then I still don’t know what you’re seeing considering he barely played and was the joint top scorer for Portugal. I'm judging him off his Serie A play. World Cup performances are irrelevant. >Neymar is still undeniably one of the best players in the world but he would get slaughtered in the PL. He wouldn't. He'd piss the league to shit and be by far its best player any year 2012 onwards.
100% agree he’s not worth the money, I’ve already said as much. I’m just disputing your claim he doesn’t have the technical ability to receive and dribble in tight spaces. And Neymar would be the best player in the league for Sure. He’d also go the way of hazard, he’s already the most fouled player in the league. He’d have gotten slaughtered had he played here. He gets fouled a ton in France and has missed a ton of time for it. I do think he would have gone the way of hazard
>I do think he would have gone the way of hazard The way of being the league's best player in the 2010s?
The way of being washed at 30 because he got fouled a million times while carrying a teams attack
Lacks*? If that's what you mean, I 100% agree with you. He seems to beat them based on physicality and speed which would not work against low blocks with nowhere to run.
Yes, lacks. Brainfart I guess.
Guess where Kvaratskhelia wants to go lol
This all makes sense except for the 'I don't see how they can coexist' part - we end up with so many injuries over the year that we need not just backups but understudies for the backups.
Oh for sure, depth is important. Since I’m not sure how we will line up, I’m not really sure where we’d need depth. Obviously we need a winger given that Ziyech and Pulisic are likely to leave. Do we need to spend €100mil on Leao for that depth? Probably not. And given that we are probably getting Nkunku, who isn’t really a wide player, makes me believe we maybe want more off strikers, which would require less wingers. It’s all kind of weird right now, feels like recruitment is all over the place but when isn’t it at this club.
> feels like recruitment is all over the place but when isn’t it at this club. I think what you're sensing is that although we usually have some roster chaos, this is a new paradigm of roster chaos. What I see is that they want to build a baseball-style "farm system" where they can move players between clubs but inside the same org, instead of sending everyone out for loan and dealing with people being frustrated on both sides of that. But it's going to take some time to set that up, so ownership is loading up on youth and who knows WTF is happening with the starting 11... It seems like we built a dynasty around Kante and James and with them out all the time, things just keep staying in a holding position. I fear it's going to be another 2 years of this before things settled down...
Well Kante has been our best or second best player pretty much the whole time he’s been here but he’s been here for 5-6 years already I believe. We have relied on him for results for way too long. I get the multi-club system they have and he’s definitely looking at it like a “minor league” for the first team. Also definitely wants the double CL money by trying to purchase clubs in Portugal or around the world that can qualify for the comp. I don’t hate the idea of it, but in practice it sucks to just have a feeder club for the sake of improving the first team. The recruitment is all over the place because we don’t really have anyone in place to be in charge of that to begin with. A flux of people coming and going and us making signings based on I’m not sure what criteria. We spent 300mil on the summer and look much much worse. They try to back pedal and explain that their signings were club signings, when it was obvious they were backing Tuchel and then fired him a week after the window closes. Just very very poor management at the top. Very surprised given how they run the Dodgers and how esteemed they’ve been, but they’ve shit the bed so far. Still plenty of time and they need to get their infrastructure in order, but it’s been not great so far
Again, I agree... but from my experience being a Dodgers supporter, they're willing to be patient and take some heat for poor performance in the short term. I still don't fully understand the Tuchel firing TBH, but clearly the two sides didn't see eye-to-eye, which seemed to be a surprise to both sides. My SO is a coach in another sport (and many of her friends are too), so I hear about that kind of drama quite a lot. If I try and be sympathetic to the ownership POV, I see that they're making mostly long-term moves and some emergency stopgap moves to keep us in the top half of the EPL this season.
Yea and that wouldn’t be a problem if Chelsea weren’t already a very successful team. The expectations coming into this season weren’t “fight for the top half of the table” it was to win something. You fired the coach that could’ve done that and now you’re dialing back and “rebuilding”, it’s perfectly reasonable for fans to be upset at this sudden change of plans. I’m a MLB fan too, I fucking hate the dodgers but they’re probably the second best run organization in the sport, if not the best. So I do think it’ll work out eventually, but still sucks for the now
I agree (x3) - except about hating LAD! Yeah, it's been a very frustrating time. Then again, I'm very anti-Russian-oligarchs, so I've been waiting for Roma to get the boot. It's hard being a sport fan but also seeing inside the lives of the owners... and sometimes the players too. I also wouldn't mind getting away from the trend of sacking the CFC manager ever 2 years - I'm not sold on Potter yet, but I hope he figures it out and gets to hang around for a while. (And hey, if he can sign Bellingham while he's at it...)
I thought Tuchel would be the one to buck that trend. They had him being a fucking diplomat while we were sanctioned. Dragged him out there to take the brunt of everything in the media, while trying to drag this team to a top 4 finish. Still made it 2 finals and lost on PKs. I’m not sold on Potter at all. I don’t think hiring a guy whose biggest accomplishment is “played pretty football at mid table club” and the Swedish league really means much. I don’t mind backing him and giving him time but he has to show something to earn that time. I do think that if we finish out of all European competitions he should be sacked and we get another manager, but that’s my opinion.
Nothing indicates he can’t improve on his work rate, imo. Also I don’t think Leao is a Second striker either
He is a LW/SS but he definitely is not an outright winger. He operates in the space between the fullback and centre back, like nkunku and havertz. We don't need another player like this especially if we sign nkunku.
He's more of an inside forward than winger or second striker
Idk about this one, he's a hard sell for me too..
You're spot on.
I am a cared he will flop in the premier league. He is. How will Potter use him ?
And this response is why we will never dominate Europe. The boy will come to us and be our best winger and you out here thinking about work rate.
I hope €70m is our opening offer. I don't think any of those clubs would pay the €150. We'll see what happens I won't get my hopes up
Even 70mil is a lot for that guy...
I think he's worth €50mil, nowadays it seems everyone goes for about €20mil more then they should. The insane release clauses don't help, they're supposed to ward off clubs but it just drives the price up
He’s worth 70 mill, considering he was the MVP of their Scudetto win plus their joint top goalscorer and assister
if they're sold for 20M more than you think they're worth based on the market then isn't their market value just 20M more than you thought?
Oh no I've gone crossed-eyed
I wouldn't mind him at 50mil, seriously I have seen this guy since he joined Milan from Lille, and he's not at Chelsea level, he's as good as a backup winger that's it.. 150mil? We can rebuild an entire midfield that would last us atleast 6-7years for that money.. I hate this new trend of hyping up average footballers man..
We signed Fofana for almost €80m and he isn’t close to Leao level. €70m to €85 is definitely his worth.
We paid desperation tax on Fofana though
We overpaid on Fofana though
I think that’s fair value on todays market. He really got that dawg in him
I don't see anyone shelling out €150m for him. Milan inflating his price tag so they can hold on for a last minute extension. Hope is a hella strong drug. Them losing Leao (on G/A) would be like us losing prime Hazard. And no, I'm not saying this Leao is anywhere near prime Hazard level, he's not. Simply equating how important he is to Milan's program. At the end of the day, they might do a player + € deal. Throw them Hakim & €50-60m. We can toss in Lukaka for free.
We’re probably not going to be in the CL next season. We can’t spunk serious money on players like that soon. We need to go big now or we’ll have a bit of Arsenal time in the wilderness I fear.
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And yet we’ve already lost Broja and potentially Chalobah for a while… Idk maybe I’m just a pessimist
Chalobah? Wasn't he recovering?
Fingers crossed
Still half the season left, we’ve got a lot of the injured players back fit aswell, there’s hope still.
Fingers crossed mate. Plus the Jan window
his work rate is very bad
yep. huge gap between him and, say, Kvaratskhelia in terms of workrate. on the other hand we have very hard workers in attack and theyve been shit in most games recently so idk if thats really what we need.
Work rate is overrated, we need talent
This. Hazard was never a hard worker yet he was our best player the past decade
The difference is Hazard was good enough for the team to be built around him to make up for his poor workrate. Leao unfortunately is not the magician Hazard was.
No one said we were building around him. He's just one big piece in the whole attack rebuild
When Hazard was here the team was built around him so he wouldn't have to contribute defensively, which was possible with kante behind him. If Leao doesn't track back, chilwell/cucu are going to be facing a winger and fullback running around them all game. Leao doesn't trackback so it begs the question, is he good enough to build the team around him so he doesn't have defensive responsibility? I think not.
Same for most of the best players in the world today. Guys like Mbappe and Messi have very poor pressing stats yet we all push that to the side because of how good they are
Is leao that good though?
Of course not, but its just an example of why you can't simplify players to basic attributes to determine their value.
The chelsea fanbase way of thinking is so backwards it's driving me crazy
Timo had a great workrate
€150m?! They’re very quick to forget the good deals they have had from us recently…Giroud, Tomori…Ziyech soon? Leao is class and would be an upgrade on our toothless attack, but he’s not worth €150m - that’s Bellingham money.
Its ridicolous even for Bellingham. With some smart scouting or a hidden gem, 150m can get you 2-3 genuine quality players. Unless its an Mbappe or Messi generational kind of talent no player is worth that much.
Coincidentally, €150m is the price tag Dortmund have recently said they would expect a team to pay to buy Bellingham. It is a great deal of money that maybe only 2-3 teams in the world could pay; but barring a Dele Ali career trajectory, like it or not, the kid is going to be the pivotal player in an elite team for the next decade and he’s English, which adds to a PL teams homegrown quota and these players have always carried a premium. Dortmund will be making a lot of money on him, wherever he goes, I reckon he’ll likely end up at City to replace KDB in a few years.
Bellingham money? What kind of English bias have you been eating mate? He’s nowhere near €150m good. He’ll need at least 2-3 near perfect seasons at a top PL club to get there.
The same club that wants Ziyech for loan with an offer to buy .
Kid is on pace to finish w/ another 25+ G/A (in League / UCL) season @ 23. That €150m price tag is still cringe. He's got a good size / skillset for the Prem though. Reminds me of a younger / better Zaha
€150m + €20 or so million to Sporting because of the legal battle him and them have so a release Clause of €170-180 million, EASY PASS. Let that contract run dry
Anyone who pays 150m should be immediately dissolved for incompetency.
70 mil is overpaying (but more palatable), let alone 150 mil.
Am I the only one that wasn’t impressed with Leao based solely off his games in the WC? He’s fast but can’t pick a pass farther than 3 yards from him.
Watch us lose out and him go to City or sign a 1 year extension (reverse jinxing btw).
I would be glad if that happens, we'll probably sign 2 midfielders, 1 youth product for that price...
No club will pay €150m for him. Let his contract run out and we can get him way cheaper in the summer, next winter, or next summer. And if Milan keep being greedy fucks then he goes for free in 2024
Greedy fucks how, he’s our best player and serie a mvp
With so many clubs stacked at left wing, I think the market for him should be closer to 70 and 150. Real have Vini, Barca are broke, City have Foden/ Grealish, ManU have Rashford/Sancho, etc.
Sancho won't be long at Utd imo
Based on what?
Just a hunch. I know Ten Hag recently didn't even bring him with the Utd squad somewhere, sent him to his own training or something.
Very expensive player that they need to offload in that case, but i doubt they would be able to do it esp since they want to sell the club or a portion of it, i think absolutely nothing will be done until they find more money
It’s not even the transfer cost He’s on 350k a week
I dont know his wages tbh, but united arent going to take a loss on him and i doubt he would take a pay cut
Yeah he’s not going anywhere
That wage is so ridiculous, makes zero sense, it’s a good thing they got rid him of that idiot Woodward.
Kante was our highest earner of all time and within a year we managed to surpass his wages in 3 players. (I do think both are different cases, but we also need to bring it down, a club full of 200+ isnt sustainable for us)..
Honestly don't mind us pulling out of the race, we could do much better than leao at 1/5th of the max price quoted..
I don’t think we should go above £60m he will be free/cheaper in the summer/next summer
France uses Mbappe the same way Portugal and Milan use Leão. I used to think it was work rate but it’s just tactics. Them not tracking back helps pin the fullback further back and it’s easier for them to find space on the counter which is where they excel. If we lose out on Gvardiol or Jude it’s a no brainer. To be fair there are so many stars that will be available in the summer, we are bound to get one of Jude, Leão or João Felix. Hoping for Jude but wouldn’t complain at either João or Leão
Chelsea wants to buy a player from MILAN, who is playing exceptionally very well in SERIE A, for an outrageous fee of $100 MILLION +++++, First name R Last name L. Sounds really familiar.
Sell Cho and Pulisic, the latter probably more keen to leave anyway. Buy Leao.
70m + Ziyech should get it done
Milan a bunch of gready bastards. They want €150m for a low work rate player who in Series A this season scored 0.4 goals per game, lost more duels than he won (42%), has had only 1 succ. dribble, a low accuracy for crosses (38%), and barely has any interceptions per game. He had 4 assists and 6 goals this season out of 14 appearances with an average of 72 minutes per game, which is okay I guess but none of that justifies a price tag of €150m. His speed, explosiveness, dribbling style, and positioning near the box looks attractive but the data paints a different picture in terms of performance output. He can be good for us, but in our current system where attackers come to die, he’s going to flop badly. So I’d rather have us fix the root of our issues instead of even contemplating buying an overvalued player like Leão and hoping we all of a sudden score more goals.
I cannot agree with the people saying we shouldn't break the bank for him cause of his work rate. Giving off the same vibes when I read our youth scouts didn't pick up Mbapee for his work rate. Tired of having to rely heavily on methodical tactics to win matches. The best teams have players who can produce magical moments and game winners. Leao is exactly what we need.
You can excuse Mbappe's workrate because he's a technical monster of a level you can't get anywhere else. Leao isn't anywhere close to that.
Just give them pulisic and ziyech. Ziyech will probably help with the insane wc he is having. Helps us clear deadwood and bring new talent in, killing two birds with one stone.
Leao will be a bigger deadwood. He hasn’t shown that he can succeed at this level and couldn’t do a damn thing against low block Morocco
Literally won serie a while being their league's mvp, yeah right. Literally portugal's best player every time he steps on the pitch in the wc. And don't give me serie a farmer's league bs, our squad isn't going to do any better in that league with the shit attack we have up front.
I don’t have an opinion on either way on Leao but lol > literally won serie a while being their league’s mvp Remember how this went last time… Also the Portugal point is dead wrong. Bruno was much better, though he had the advantage of more minutes, but it still wasn’t particularly close
>Remember how this went last time… Lukaku is just a big crybaby with no mentality. On his day he is still our best striker. Leao literally has reece james simping for him. His talent is unquestionable. >Also the Portugal point is dead wrong. Use your eyes. Bruno's fooling yall with his statpadding. Was absolutely terrible against morocco as well.
Everyone was terrible against Morocco. The Lukaku part was a joke but the Leao being Portugal’s best player is a terrible take
Leao was good against Morocco. Got some good crosses in, beat his man several times and did that in only 20 minutes
Joint top scorer in just under 90 minutes played is huge Also, have you watched the game against Morocco? Literally one of the most dangerous players when he came on, especially compared to Felix who played the whole match. If only Pepe scored that header…
That’s one of the most disingenuous stats ever, he had 2 goals, one of which was at 5-1. I don’t think one chance changes that it’s a dumb take that he was Portugal’s best player from his 80 minutes of contribution. It’s unwise to go off hypotheticals like “if he was given more time” when he wasn’t
Thats the thing, in my opinion the misuse of Leao was very bad for Portugal and a sign that Santos should leave; 80 minutes of contribution is obviously no argument but he definitely did the most he could to prove he should be given more chance, no? I also don’t agree that he was Portugal’s best player but I definitely like him much more than Felix. In just 20 minutes against Morocco he managed to cause a lot of trouble to Hakimi and brought more to Portugal’s attack than anyone else. I really think he should’ve started at least one game
Lukaku was pretty good over there too if I remember. He is overhyped
Lukaku is our best striker on his day. He is just a big crybaby with no mentality to keep in shape without his daddy Conte by his side.
We also don't play in a way suitable to Lukaku, all he can really do is run in behind a stretched defense. He's still dreadful at playing with his back to goal or receiving crosses into the box. We play too high up the pitch and with too much possession to make it work with him.
Yet he overperfod xg and was our top scorer with no pens. If we had the likes of lamps, hazard pedro, cesc etc around him he’d have been fine The quality of our attackers has massively declined
You should watch lukaku play again. One of his biggest strengths when fit is playing with his back to goal while using his physical strength to outmuscle his defenders. He only became shit at that when he started getting fat again
Yup, I agree.. we could scout someone better rather than paying over inflated price for an above-average footballer.
He was the only player who looked like he could crack Morocco’s defense. If he had played the whole game, they might’ve managed a goal. $150m is still way too much though.
No just no not 150 million nuff said we can get about 3 quality players we actually need with that money.
I like him.. but not for 150m if this is true
When we want players - 150m. When milan wants players - loan with 15m option to buy.
Leao ain’t that guy.
Milan are gonna say €150m until the day Leao goes public with his desire to leave/disappointment in their offer. Whether they stick to that or accept a lower offer before that happens is the real question.
Lol, he’s good but too wasteful with his chances to be €150m good.
Just before you all get super excited/disappointed, this T2 is trash for Milan and not even that good with Bundesliga, he's tweeted that Vranx aint going to Milan and 2 days later he goes to Milan. But as a Milan fan I agree I doubt he's worth 150m, he's still so lazy, he's better at tracking back lately but still got lots to do.
Member when they were offered €80m for Dollaruma and refused with one year left? I'm not 100% on Leao but would be funny once again of they lose another high profile player for free.
Its not happening mk3006789
I honestly prefer Gakpo, he has the grifter attributes when need in our forwards.
Laughable for a guy who just quit against Reece.
If anyone is spending 150m on a player it will be for Jude. Leao looks good but he is a moments player. Bellingham is 90 mins every match consistent in the middle of the park.