Conte was trying to bring on Bissouma and Perisic just before Chelsea got their 2nd goal. Son wasn't contributing enough defensively all game and was too central. It's one of the reasons that Sessegnon was struggling so badly.
Yeah Sonny got completely marked out of the game, was a good move from Tuchel. James did a complete job on him. At least most teams don’t have a midfielder like Kante who can do the job of 2 men, or a coach as good as Tuchel to do the job on Conte that they managed to do for about 60mins of that game. Usually if Son gets marked out then Kane or Kulu can hurt them but between Chelsea’s midfielders and Tuchel’s tactics they had us stumped for a good while, completely snuffed out any space that might have came from Son getting so much attention. Again, I’m not too worried long term because Conte is aware of it and made effective changes and most teams can’t do that to us. I wonder if we’ll see any changes to the XI for Wolves though. I love Bentancur but he didn’t have the best game and I wonder if Bissouma might get a first start.
On 'Grand Old Team' they're saying... "I recall hearing a footie journalist on the radio , think it was Henry Winter , pre-season , saying that if Everton moved Alli on ( I presume he meant sold him ) that it created a requirement to pay Spurs a fee." Frankly, just getting him off our books was a win by the time he left.
Unsure, but then what could we have put in? A percentage of next sale may have been something negotiated but then he’s likely gonna go for peanuts (if he goes permanently) so that’ll be almost nothing for us. I think his deal was based on appearances and performances, both of which have been scarce since he joined them.
Not a particularly reliable source but this has me intrigued Since he joined Atalanta in 2019 he's been an absolute menace from midfield, with a traction engine for a left foot and lethal with his free kicks and would add creativity to our attacking band 2019-20: 8 goals, 5 assists 2020-21: 8 goals, 12 assists 2021-22: 6 goals, 5 assists (season affected by Covid, a few muscle strains, and a spot of influenza on top) However, it doesn't appear to be agent talk, as Romano's already confirmed Malinovskyi wants to move this summer - and the fact he's out of contract next summer means he's moving one way or another And, of course, there's another very good reason to look at him...
Some sort of penalty clause if he's sold on within the next couple of transfer windows? Unorthodox, but when the whole fee appears dependent on appearances, then it would make sense.
Yeah in an ideal world that'd be so but I doubt clauses like that exist, or if they do there's very few about. I think on our part, we didn't genuinely value Dele that highly at the end anyway, no way we'd agree a deal where essentially a player leaves for an initial fee of £0 if we thought we could get something significant. I think Dele's deal, as it feels like with Lo Celso/ Ndombele, is more about getting them out and off the wage bill, whether it be permanently or temporarily. I really hope he can kickstart something in Turkey though if the move does go through but I just think he's finished, certainly from a top level perspective anyway.
Never really seen Malinovskyi play but Atalanta are a hub for good players these days, if you're after one of their players or after one of their targets, chances are they'll be a good signing. We've already found that out with Romero and so I'd have zero qualms going for Malinovskyi if rumours are true. I'd actually rather him than Zaniolo too, just can't help but feel Zaniolo is a huge financial risk having had an ACL in each knee.
A diminutive left-footed attacking midfielder from a European league? Sign me up, this is my new Lo Celso. Well hardly diminutive, he’s apparently nearly 6ft, but you get me.
This is probably as good as we can hope for. The main thing is getting the lion’s share of his salary off the books and hoping he smashes it on loan.
