Not to say he isnât but I was just looking at the Chelsea squad and their list of current centre backs is insane.
Fofana, Colwill, Chalobah, Adarabiyo, Disasi, Badiashile and two lads Iâve never heard of in Mamadou Sarr and AarĂłn Anselmino who cost them a combined âŹ30m. Plus Hato who can also play there.
Iâd offer them a couple of million for Adarabioyo as experienced cover. Former PL captain, has played left and right CB, massive. Would be decent cover to let van Dijk have a few breaks during the season.
Too often weâve been caught having 4 CBâs and then our season has gone down the drain. The easiest one to get over the line seems to be Quansah as we have a buyback clause. As Gomez is primarily a backup LB/RB (when fit) , we would need one more CB.
Not bad to be honest. Wharton feeding Wirtz and Isak, Barcola is a good left wing option and it keeps Wirtz in his best free role while Szobo can help out the midfield.
I think it would not be that expensive (compared to some solutions) and allows us to add a bit of depth while kicking the can down the road for a proper Salah replacement in a year or so.
There is interesting reporting on the breakdown of Rogersâ move to Arsenal since the Chelsea move was announced. Earlier in the summer lots of people seemed confident he was going to Arsenal, and seemingly even Arsenal believed that until the last minute despite there being a 40m quid difference in their valuation than what Villa were asking for. Arsenal seemingly felt that Villa were bluffing and Rodgersâ desire to joining them would pay off if they held firm, not expecting Chelsea would jump in an agree to the inflated asking price AND convince the player.
I wonder how much this is playing into our situation? You cannot play a game of chicken with a selling club over price if there is silly money out there willing to make silly deals. Does that mean you wait it out for the silly money to be spent, or do those deals move the market for everyone?
Same thing appears to be happening in their move for Guimaraes where theyâre trying to use the playerâs commitment to join them to force through a deal at a price below what Newcastle are looking for. Although I donât know if anyone else is stepping in to buy him, Newcastle have already made some sales this window so are probably not in a rush to sell.
Seemingly Konza as well, but according to Ornstein Villa are getting direction from the very top to hold firm on their valuations. Someone here mentioned Konza as an option for us, and my take was maybe but only if Villa felt pressured by their financial issues to come down on their valuation. That does not appear to be happening (but maybe thatâs the point of a game of chicken)
Add Minteh to that, and sell on MacAllister to fund the purchase of Wharton, with both Rio and Munoz being able to cover either wing, and Barcola also to cover CF and thatâs a good looking squad. Though still somehow less than 100% convinced on Barcola (why would PSG want to sell, and to potentially buy Diomande in his place? Also the money is crazy. Overall, would prefer we avoid 100 mill purchases this summer and focus on improving the two such players we bought last summer. At this point would be pleased with 1 more winger/forward and 1 more starting quality MF.
Yeah I think you might be right on Minteh.Not a bad shout. I just thought maybe if funds are a bit tighter, we could use spare money for a CB or RB. So two big purchases that will make a big impact and then the rest of the cash on tightening up our squad.
Yeah something about Barcola doesn´t convince me. I think if it´s if he has the mentality to lead and be the key man. We need at least one winger to be a Salah or Mane level leader on the pitch in terms of taking responsibility.
Diomande would also be decent I think if he´s still available. I just doubt we can get two very good wide players which is why I would be happy with Szobo there for a year.