If we are in for a midfielder perhaps Ederson of Atalanta might be an option? He seems a very good player indeed. Home grown alternates would be Wharton and Anderson, who would both likely cost a lot more.
Semenyo and Guehi both seem quite urgent for January, given our injury issues. If Guehi is keeping his options open for a Bosman, maybe Schlotterbeck might come into the equation?
We need to do some business, at least two January signings for me.
How does that work?
Pretty simple. Sky say a load of bollocks that’s entirely non-commital mentioning three big teams (well two plus a mid-table side who still think they’re big) and watch as it gets re-posted and engaged with endlessly on socials as fans argue about who he’s most likely to go to. It also gets cited and linked to by countless fan site articles.
And none of it has to be remotely true because they’ll claim victory for their reporting of he goes to any of the three. And if he goes nowhere we’ll all act like the links to our team was just media bollocks and the other teams got turned down by him.
Then repeat and recycle every week or two until the summer before ramping the story up again.
Leoini didn’t need to be registered for domestic competitions because of his age and his spot in the Champions league was assigned to Chiesa.
you gone off Wharton now mate?
or you reckon it would be unrealistic to get him as well?
Not to speak for him, but I’ll speak for him, I think he likes the physical robustness and “do everythingness” of Anderson.
I love Wharton, he is my favorite type of player to watch, but I do worry at the highest level he would be a bit of a “systems“ player, where with some small tweaks of what we’re trying to do all of a sudden there isn’t that much room for him in the side anymore. Anderson is a bit like Dom where you put their name on the team sheet with a goalie and then put eight other names around them
The £65M release clause expires on 10th Jan.
No that makes sense it’s the fact two teams are ahead of us even though the player prefer to move to us.
No idea.
There is a limited supply of paper in the Bournemouth fax machine
Or they ran out of toner.
Ducking Cyan #2
#Hughesout
Wharton is class. On any given day I’d rather watch him play than Anderson or any of our midfielders, but Anderson is the more sensible/lower risk pick.
I see Anderson a bit like Dom or Wijnaldum - even on their off days they do a solid job for the team. A high ‘floor’, even if they’re not as eye catching as some others.
I’d be happy with either though. Wharton is a top footballer, and if you get him and Wirtz playing well together that would be a fantastic team to watch.
It does if you start asking yourself what does “ahead” even mean?
It could mean absolutely anything from writing down his name, to willingness to pay more, to likelihood of happening according to the writer’s 5 year daughter, to Guehi’s supposed preference for colors on the wall.
“Ahead” is just a sports journalist’s tool to write almost anything.
I don’t really see us jumping in big because of injuries. It creates problems when everyone gets back.
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Salah will be back during the window. Rio is probably going to get more time
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Our priority is CB and that’s right now. One injury to VVD or injury prone Konate and we have zip. Ally will have to play keeper and CB.
It makes sense in the world of social media headline grabbing.
Which I’ve often been vocal about my distaste for.
It’s not entirely clear that Salah will still be here in Feb.
https://x.com/TheAthleticFC/status/2003464583319618031
In the turn of events that no one could have foreseen, Chelsea are looking to sign another attacker.
Depends on what you think is big.
However there is an argument that the current squad has gaps we are likely needing new players to fill for an immediate fix anyway - a hard running wideforward who can play along the frontline, hold the ball up and bring others into play, a midfielder with a bit more physical presence and a ball playing CB..
There is also an argument that we would be targeting our top choices this window and signing them now rather than the summer gives them more time to bed in for next season.