timeEd32

He should have played it across to Willock.

Parts of this have been ok but a lot of individual sloppiness and giving the ball away far too easily.

It wasn’t just Messi. Xavi, Iniesta, Pep … arguably the greatest team the sport has ever seen at its peak. What’s happening now is farcical bordering on criminal.

Please be us

+1 If we had paid £10m for Wood no one would really care. We didn't have much of a choice considering the release clause, the fact we were direct competitors with the club he was at, and the situation we were in. People are a little stressed in this thread because it feels like we're a couple pieces away from a real push for the top 8. Imagine if we were in the fucking Championship right now?

It would be risky, but I wouldn’t be opposed to buying Sesko and loaning him back if we could get someone else on loan.

Your whole post assumes that football transfers are like house listings with posted prices. It sounds like we had reason to believe he might be available at an attractive price. Exactly what happened who knows. But I’m fairly sure Ashworth didn’t ring up Leicester, get told the price is 60m and not a penny less, and then swivel in his chair to fax through an offer of 40m. This isn’t the Ashley/Charnley show anymore.

There was an article posted in here sometime in the last few days about Chelsea, the 1.5b debt, and FFP. I cannot for the life of me find it. Anyone have a link?

I think the bolded bits are where your frustration is coming from and where your expectations are almost certainly not in line with the club's planning. We are not going to make any decisions based on the first month of the season. I don't even think we're going to make any drastic moves based on this season. There is quite obviously a multi-year plan in place (which is great), but it may also have moments of frustration and what looks like a lack of progress. If you look at things realistically the current squad will likely finish mid-table. Even if Wilson were to get injured we'd be solid enough to not be in a real relegation battle. If everything went as well as it possibly could the squad as is may knock on the top 8. And I don't think you can say any 1-2 players (Maddison included) would have us realistically challenging for the top 4. So, in many ways, it's the perfect season to be patient and to do things with a longer term vision as the priority.

New name?

Definitely the club I'd most like to see crash and burn (i.e. finish 6th this season).

I think we're in a tough spot with Wilson because I'm not sure I'd say DCL is much of an improvement (certainly not a 60m difference) and we're unlikely to play them both. At the same time Wilson is 30 and not a good bet to stay fit for an entire season. Maddison (or a winger) is much more obvious first team improvement.

Would be very different if he was our asshole.

If this is true (which seems accurate and the likely source of conflicting amounts) then we're really not that far apart.

I think it's pretty telling that while everyone on here seems to think Cornet's release fee is reasonable there isn't a single club interested in paying it at the moment.

Didn’t realize how much I liked him until I read some negative nonsense:

I know, just meant the money and it being a defender.

Really a fucker for my fantasy team where I drafted Chilwell and Cucurella.

Chelsea now looking likely to get Cucurella. Maybe makes Fofana less likely?

Also says we're getting encouragement from "intermediaries connected to Maddison."

Every time Rodgers speaks it's becoming clearer he has absolutely no say in this one.

If Dubravka is the difference between us getting Maddison or not then I'd drive him there myself.

Lots of reasons why Maddison is the more obvious sell here. This is very clearly on, which I was having a hard time believing 24 hours ago. I don't think we're going to let it die over £5-10m.