Pata

Was more the passer, winger was offside for ages.

Mitro

It's an interesting season. Man City and Liverpool are locks, I would expect Spurs to be in the top 4 too. I don't think anyone knows how good or bad Chelsea are going to be. Arsenal look good but possibly still too young. Man United seem to have been forgotten a bit. They still have a nice squad and if ten Hag can get Rashford, Sancho and Martial back on track they'll be like new signings. If they can sign de Jong and ten Hag gets the spirit of the dressing room up they could be in contention for top 4 too.

Is he really worth over twice what we paid for Botman? Chelsea are insane.

Why would they be asking about Newcastle?

Took a peek at their forum this week and they seemed to hate every attacking player outside of Mount. Also questioning Tuchel's approach and if it's his fault their offensive players have failed to deliver. Wasn't expecting even Havertz to get so much shite.

Shite like Martinelli scores.

Arsenal look brilliant.

All three of those were/would have been from Ligue 1. PL is so far ahead of them financially that we can pay the asking price or even a little over to get the player we want and still get value. Much harder to do business domestically as every PL club is basically rich compared to teams in other leagues. I'm not saying the Saudi tax is the only reason we are having troubles getting signings made. It's obvious we are going for players that a club with our status normally wouldn't and it's not easy to sign them for a midtable club especially when we are not paying over the odds. Maddison wouldn't be sold cheaply to anyone but we saw an opportunity to sign a player who is way above our level right now due to Leicester's financial situation and him only having two years left on his contract.

Of course there's a Saudi tax and IMO it's one of the reasons we are being tight. I'm sure the initial asking price is higher for us than say Crystal Palace or Villa after all the 'the richest club in the world' headlines. We are trying to get rid of that image early on and it's absolutely the right thing to do.

The transfer window is still open for four weeks. If we haven't signed anyone in a month I'll be underwhelmed too. I just don't think there's any chance we aren't signing at least one attacking player and wouldn't be surprised if it's two.

I don't think that's true. Bit more on the wing on 20-21 but nothing drastic compared to his last season at RB Leipzig. Edit. Goddamn they're massive.

That's exactly what I've been saying.

I know but that doesn't mean every player Chelsea sell will become one of the best. Both of them were young too, Werner should be in his prime right now. And I don't see how that has anything to do with the fact that he has been terrible at Chelsea, no matter how much talent he has.

Are Chelsea fans sad that Werner is possibly leaving? As I said earlier, I think he would be a good signing for us but I don't see how anyone can say he has been good at Chelsea.

In other words Chelsea/Tuchel clearly thinks he's garbage and want to get rid after two seasons despite the massive fee and huge wages they have invested in him?

We need a squad. Getting a good 2nd/3rd choice CB for 14m and low wages for 2.5 years minimum is very decent IMO. Even if he never plays again for us Burn would have to be labelled as a very good signing.

10 PL goals in almost 4000 minutes for a good Chelsea side is pretty bad. He scored 28 in 2825 minutes in the Bundesliga in his last RB Leipzig season. For some reason (mental?) he can't finish anymore and also his xG+xA per 90 minutes has plummeted which means he's not even getting into good positions as much as he used to. His expected assists per 90 was 0.02 last season which is just ridiculously low (Jacob Murphy had 0.15 last season ffs). I would like us to sign him but he's been terrible for Chelsea.

His numbers have been terrible at Chelsea but I have full faith that he won't be horrible for the rest of his career.

The expected points table of last season was really interesting. Wolves, Leicester and us were the biggest over-achievers but seeing Wolves at 17th and Leicester at 15th is surprising to say the least. Based on that and neither of them really strengthening this summer especially Wolves could be in for a rough season. Both had injuries and Leicester had the European campaign but it's still not looking very good. Crystal Palace and Brenford were the surprising under-achievers, 6th and 7th. Edit. Wolves should have conceded a staggering 15 goals more. Hard to see Sa being able to replicate the ridiculous season he had last season.

I was responding to Dr Jinx’s post that said Maddison wouldn’t be that good signing for where we want to go. Wasn’t thinking about the fit or who he would replace, just that he’s good enough to play for them. He doesn’t really fit Liverpool’s formation but imo would be great option for Man City. Teams play so deep against them that his shooting and crossing would be a real threat and he’s a really good passer too.

Maddison could easily play for Man City or Liverpool in a main role.

I signed up to that Leicester forum yesterday and made a post about their expected points last season that was really complimentary about Leicester as a club. Was met with a torrent of abuse before my post got deleted and I was banned right away. Got legit angry ( ) as some of the best posters here are fans of other clubs and it's always interesting to read things from their perspective.

You don't see a difference in player transfers and lawyer/U18s-coach appointment? Of course Hope gets told some things. I promise this is the last time I say this this summer but we would be absolutely fucking braindead if we were telling the press exact numbers about what we are planning to do in the transfer market. Give me one good reason for letting the whole world know truthfully how much we are going to spend in a transfer window?