No clue what this means for Sterling but it really seems like Raphinha came out of nowhere. Not sure I watched a second of Leeds this year so I have no opinion.
Really like him. First true winger we have had that wasn’t a guy who played in a previous system or was converted
I kind of thought new ownership might try to reign in the spending and start building more in a Liverpool/Bayern style where you buy undervalued assets but it looks like we are continuing the Roman era of overpaying for flavor of the day. Back line decimated? Don't worry, take another overpaid winger and stuff it down your throat. When it was a Russian oligarch with a passion for soccer it was easier to stomach. The new guys don't have that kind of checkbook.
Sounds like Raphinha is still hoping for Barca. Sounds great, let’s overpay for a guy who doesn’t want to come here
who have we signed? I won’t judge the new ownership on transfers until next summer but let’s at least wait until they sign guys if you want to judge sooner. rumors for some clubs are true and some aren’t. Chelsea used to sneak under the radar a lot and sign guys not on the rumor radar. Far too early to tell what we should believe and who the top insiders might be.
lukaku apparently wanted to come here. Most would agree that we weren’t the first choice of havertz or Werner. We may be the first choice of rice and the cobham boys but it’s very unlikely that a South American player wants Chelsea above all. I would prefer us to go after guys a bit younger but at least he’s 25 and not 28. Might be a slight overpay but we can’t expect this summer to run smoothly. I just hope we don’t buy for the sake of buying. Would rather light buying and a plan to make a big push in January and/or next summer when we can have a better plan in place.
I agree. Who’s to say who wants to be somewhere or not. You think salah dreamed of Liverpool? Up to the club to build a team consistently competing for the league and in Europe. Wanting or not wanting to be at a club is important but I don’t trust the transfer rumor hungry media to give us an accurate assessment on it. Up to the club to meet the player and representatives and make sure the player is motivated enough to do well for us.
If we buy 2 more wingers, 2-3 have to go. Makes sense if we can make it happen but I don’t believe any swap deal with juventus will actually happen.
Adding Sterling and Raphinha(or Dembele) means Puli, Ziyech and maybe Werner have to go with Lukaku. Havertz, Mount, Cal, Sterling, and Raphinha with Broja for depth is probably where this ends up. Then just have to completely rebuild the defense and reinforce the midfield. Yay.
Me when we're in pole position to sign Raphinha: He seems overrated and overpriced will likely be a flop we should look elsewhere Me when Barca might steal him: If we don't sign Raphinha I will kill my self.
If all the reports of Barca’s financial situation are true, then they’d have to be getting roughly $350-$400 million for FDJ if they are able to make any legitimate offer to another player. Obviously, they won’t get anywhere near that, so either the reports of their financial mess are exaggerated, or any report of them signing someone can’t be accurate. Or I guess it’s a good faith deal. They agreed to terms, but Barca will pay him in IOUs till a future date TBD.
I read a story that they sold a portion of their future TV rights. Something like 10% of the revenue for the next 20 years in order to get funded. edit: https://www.espn.com/soccer/barcelo...f-laliga-tv-rights-to-ease-financial-troubles
Kinda like they get to quit game and go back to a previous save. You let your little brother play, he ruined your career, but none of it saved. Glad for Barca tho. So much more fun when they’re at their best. Guess we see now if Tebas and La Liga are still all bark.
Barcelona sold 10% of their tv rights for 25 years to cover losses. They’ll sell more future income, be it merchandise and tv rights in the coming weeks to buy players and to stop Chelsea buying Raphinha. Honestly, Raphinha for that much was crazy. You got CHO, Pulisic, Havertz, and Timo. I still think all of those players are good. Liverpool literally wanted to buy all of them.
Translation: Suddenly 200 million available - Barça claws assist provider for Lewandowski https://bild.de/sport/fussball/fussball-international/fc-barcelona-raphina-soll-als-vorlagengeber-fuer-lewandowski-kommen-80579508.bild.html #BILDSport
That really sums up how I feel: We definitely need some creativity up front, but I don’t think we need an “assist provider” as much as we need a scorer. Obviously those are in short supply, but Sterling fits that bill much better
I'm not going to lose any sleep not dropping £60m on Raphinha. Especially if the plan was to get Sterling regardless of whether he came in. Save some war chest for defenders.
Translation: Barça - Dembélé: Agreement in sight The Frenchman would extend his relationship with Barça until 2024 Albert Masnou
These swing for the fences type deals at positions of need are always scary. Need to get this across the finish line….