They want Sterling as well, which means after Lukaku's departure, Tuchel will have just £320m of attackers at his disposal. A crying shame.
Sterling and Raphinha are an upgrade on Pulisic and Ziyech though. Every team going for it next season by the looks of it
I think Ziyech is on par tbh. Sterling is hugely overrated and has always benefitted by being surrounded by team mates of the highest calibre to cover for his deficiencies. Chelsea are meant to be catching City. They aren't going to do that by signing players who aren't good enough for City. Pulisic has been a huge disappointment though, granted. Same as Werner. Their struggles gives me hope that Haaland won't find this league a cake walk either.
Sterling can be a frustrating player to watch but I’d choose him over Ziyech everyday of the week. I don’t think Chelsea’s short term aim is league titles anymore, to me they seem content to finish in the top 4 so signing the likes of Sterling and Ake will keep them happy. Haaland seems a bit injury prone, this might sound a bit mad but I wouldn’t be massively surprised if Julian Alvarez outshines him next season
You'd expect Haaland to find it much easier to adjust, though. He was born here, speaks the language perfectly and has already succeeded in 3 European countries. I'm sure Alvarez is very talented, but he's got much more to learn than Haaland. He's also played about half as many games as the Norwegian, despite being a year older. Having both gives City a lot of options, though. Rather worrying.
Romano saying we’re in advanced talks with Richarlison. Winks has also been part of the conversation, structure of deal not agreed yet. Pete O’Rourke reckons Atleti have submitted a bid for Emerson for a permanent deal. Rumours Boro may pull plug on Spence deal as they’re growing frustrated with us - the one deal Levy’s working on . Other reports claim we may end pursuit of Lenglet.
His next follow-up will no doubt be "Richarlison settles for Tottenham, 'cause Chelsea weren't interested"
Ally Gold has said he is only a Plan B. I think Bastoni or Torres are the Plan A. Lenglet on loan and permanent next summer if he impresses/Bastoni next summer if he doesn't seems to be Plan B. Then the likes of Ndicka and Gvardiol are probably Plan C.
I don’t think he’s a better defender than Davies but he’s got better technical skills that Davies lacks. Had a rough season with Barca and possibly needs a fresh start, we could be a good fit for him, especially with Hugo here and someone like Conte in charge. Won’t excite many as much as Bastoni or Gvardiol would’ve but could also prove to be a brilliant bit of business if he recaptures his form and does well. Said yesterday if we do get him on loan I think we’ll go for Bremer to then compete with Dier. Didn’t see us spending big on two CBs but with Lenglet being a loan and someone who can play LCB I think it makes sense to then try and go for Bremer who’s more of a central CB like Dier. Plus, he just won Serie A defender of the year for 2021/2022, it’s only right we pair him up with the Serie A defender of the year for 2020/2021.
Lenglet looked quality at Sevilla, but has had a torrid time at Barca A lot of that can be placed on Barca's system being a bad fit, but the season just gone has been a particularly fetid cherry on top as he's managed to have covid while also having a hamstring injury plus knee and gastric issues while also getting frozen out of the France squad after becoming the scapegoat for them crashing out the Euros last summer
I think it’ll be Lenglet on a loan with an option and probably a young player. Reports we like the Ecuadorean CB from Leverkusen, Piero Hincapié. Given Bastoni doesn’t want to leave and Inter don’t want to force him out, Gvardiol looks like he wants another year in Germany, and Pau Torres has gone very quiet, it’s a sensible bit of business - we get an experienced senior player who we can get permanently if he impresses, and who covers LCB and CCB, and more of a prospect who is specifically left-sided. We can go back for the others next year if we need to and the conditions are more favourable to get them a year on.
Lenglet doesn’t really excite me but if it’s a loan with option to buy then at least the club isn’t stuck with him if he flops and they won’t be forced into a bidding war if he does well.
Lenglet would be a smart buy. Yes not at the level of Bastoni or Gvardiol but I'd be very happy with Davies and Lenglet in rotation. As mentioned he was superb at Sevilla. As Rodon is probably offski a CCB is needed and Bremer is fantastic. Ally Gold constantly mentions the young Ukrainian Zabarnyi. He's very highly rated so he could well be an option.
The thing with Hincapie is that, if he comes in, it gives us options: his game is similar to Bastoni's (not as polished, but similar) while he cited Romero as a player he admires so at the very worst we have somebody to rotate with Davies who can fit into our system while also being in a position next summer of deciding to stick with him or flip him for a tidy profit Similar can be said for Zabarnyi at Dynamo Kyiv, for that matter
