The College Dropout

I don’t get your point then. The others might be bad transfers. But Chelsea will be the only team to get all of their money back and all of the wages off the books. Maguire will be let go for free and likely with his wages subsidised for the remainder of us Man U contract. Lukaku was loaned out and some of his wages subsidised, as he’s not going to Saudi - Chelsea will have to do something similar again or keep him. Koulibali would be the best defender in Saudi. I’m not criticising what it might bring the Saudi league - I’m criticising what it will bring Chelsea, nobody else would offer it.

Paqueta under a progressive manager will be dynamite. I think he’ll have a good year next season regardless.

All getting sold. Will cover the Kai fee and some most likely. Pure FFP gold too.

People have already explained that nobody but Saudi would pay all of his wages or offer a fee let alone the whole amount they paid. What’s not clicking? The only other offer is a loan and about 50% of his salary. Chelsea would accept a free if it meant the whole wages were gone. They might be able to shot 2 or 3 of these.

That 70m euro figure is too much anyway.

What’s over now?

It’s not like he’s going to Palace. There’s not enough evidence to suggest we are a better bet than Spurs now. They still have a number of advantages over us on the field and outside. You’re acting like we’ve already surpassed them. We haven’t. They could easily finish above us next season.

Throwing money at Chelsea is good for PIF and the Saudi league but not good for us. That league is more important than us so they don’t care.

Partey was brilliant for 4/5 of last season. He ended the season poorly and seemingly everyone wants him out. Actually - I do understand.

Other investments are more lucrative and strategically advantageous.

Nah. The wages are monumental. Nobody would’ve paid a fee in Europe. Kulibaly earns over 300k per week apparently. They would’ve had to keep paying at least 2/3 that for the remainder of his contract. I agree with @TheBrownBottle . I think it’s clear that KSA are prioritising their national league over NUFC. And their investment in Clearlake might have created a conflict of interest. It is awful timing. I wanted Chelsea rid of Mount and other useful assets and lumbered with Koulibaly and co.’s wages for years to come. Oh well.

Spurs highest earner is about 45% up on our highest earner. Their best offer will be better than what we’ve given before. This is a fact. By any objective measure, it’s one of the best in the world of football. They could offer better wages and higher fees than others across the board. We can’t because of FFP. I think the approach we’ are being forced to take will help us keep the soul of the club.

We’ve finished above Spurs once in about 17 years. To suggest there are not footballing reasons to join them and not us is extremely arrogant.

No way Daniel Levy completes a £50m signing for a player in his last year of his contract in June. Good ol Daniel knows there’s a good deal to be made here.

This just tells me that you don’t know ball.

This is different to China. China had foreign player caps. Saudi have some level of proven pedigree in sports. Not sure what it will end up like but it’s not the same as the Chinese thing.

Rheece James is the most complete fullback of the lot. But his body doesn’t look up for the challenge of elite football. Hope he can maintain fitness. Aye Trent’s days as a proper FB look limited. His defending is worse than it’s given credit for. He’s bad at so many aspects of defending. 1v1 bad. Positioning bad. Can run off the back of him all day. Can’t read a 1-2 to save his life. Very little application or aptitude for defending. Walker is a degenerate but probably the best all things considered.

Wasn’t happy to play FB or squad option at Arsenal.

He did well at RW under Ole

He would be their best option at RW too. Greenwood.

Eh? Saka has buckets of heart. The lad took his first professional penalty aged 19 as the 5th kick in a penalty shoot out in the Euros final.

Miles better.

They tried and failed to sign genuine superstars like Ronaldinho and Shearer. By superstar I’m talking Messi, Mbappe, R9, Zidane, Neymar in their prime. The most iconic Man U players left for Madrid in their early to mid primes. Haaland is probably the first mega superstar to join a PL club a ready made superstar. And that only happened because his da played for City and Norwegians are closer culturally than most countries producing generational talents. Ciry and Liverpool are brilliant but they don’t sign genuine ready made superstars apart from EH. They make the superstars. Madrid have nabbed Liverpools number 1 transfers target 2 straight summers.

True for a middle class place like Bournemouth with a small population. Less true for sprawling cities with diverse neighbourhoods like Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, London. Think Paris and London would have the best city squads in the world atm.

Man U are apparently ‘the biggest club in the world’ yet they rarely sign genuine superstars from abroad and often it doesn’t work out. From Veron to Di Maria. Who wants to love in Manchester.