Transfer Rumours transfer thread fact and fiction

The second goal suggests otherwise

Also gives him added incentive to leave, as Boca fans are probably still planning to lynch him

 

Is that keeper a duck? He's flapping his arms like they were wings.

 

If we had any brains (we don't), we'd go in for him on Jan 1st with the same bid they reportedly accepted back in the summer.

 

Just a thought: offer a buy-and-loan-back for Vlahovic while signing Alvarez outright

That way we can start next summer with a clearout first, as we'd already have Vlahovic, Sarr and Alvarez in place before the window opens

 

We could be even smarter and make the bid now so that he hopefully joins bang on Jan 1st. There were rumours he wanted a CL club but maybe we can make him rethink that thought by waving a bit of extra dough in his face...

 

Express are claiming we have a three man CB January shortlist consisting of Skriniar, Lacroix and Milenkovic but that if they all prove too expensive then Umtiti could be an alternative. If the latter were to agree a pay as you play deal (highly, highly doubtful) it’d be a good move as I think he’s a top player and he’s left footed but his injury record over the last few years has been King-esque. Being cheaper than the others would also give us more money towards a much needed creative mid, which I think is our biggest priority right now alongside another striker.

 

Just recycling the names of the CBs we were linked with in the summer, and I'm going to guess Milenkovic has dropped off due to signing a new contract so he isn't a potential flippable asset if it doesn't pan out

It also has to be said that picking one or the other of Skriniar or Lacroix also doesn't make sense as they're not comparable: Skriniar would be a clear upgrade on Dier, but Lacroix is closer to Romero - and not only do we already have Romero in place (as well as Sanchez, whose is broadly similar), but it has to be said having two similar CBs is not a brilliant idea given our system is based on one CB who keeps the ball active while the other shuts down anything that comes their way

 

Alvarez Watch
The ITKs are circling...

 

Umtiti's basically been finished by the injury that he took to the World Cup.
He's on serious money, can't play very often and won't get any better.
We should steer well clear of him and I suspect Barca will be paying him off to play elsewhere.

 

The real question with Umtiti is whether his pride will let him drop down to MLS five years ahead of schedule

 

It seems that, in the last decade or so, we've had too many players whose careers have been severely affected by chronic injuries. Some, like Ledley, Sandro, Coco and Mousa were unavoidable. Whether Winks, Rose and Ben Davies ever fully recovered physically/mentally from their injuries, I'm not sure

Woodgate was a gamble that didn't pay off. Big Vic, I'm not too sure about. Were his knees a ticking time bomb from before we signed him? We'll never know.

Anyway, our track record in managing major injuries ain't great, so we should be staying well away from any player with a suggestion of such a problem and Umtiti's a lot further down that road than that.

 

I dunno, that MOTM performance in the LC final alone made his signing somewhat worthwhile for me.

Didn’t we also keep a record low of home goals conceded for the one season he and Ledley managed to play a solid amount of games together?

Damn shame he and Ledley were so injury prone though, brilliant players when on the pitch.

 

When fit, he was great but he was expensive (for us) and we just didn't get enough games out of him.

If a similar deal came along again, I'd not want us to go ahead with it.

 

To the surprise of...somebody, Bayern are being linked with soon-to-be-free-agent Antonio Rudiger

Can't wait for him to falsely accuse Leverkusen fans of racially abusing him...

 

I wouldn’t be against offering a good but injury prone player a pay as you play deal. We even offered that to Woodgate to extend his contract but he rejected it and then joined Stoke on one. The downside is they still take up a squad space and if injured that’s a complete waste, upsides though is if they do miss games we don’t pay them for it and if they don’t miss games it works out a cheap and likely effective deal… providing they’re good, lol.

 

Too much would have to change at the club, for me. We've so much previous for carrying players that managers/coaches don't want (but Levy does) or we can't shift because they're over priced and/or their wages are a problem. Consciously choosing to add in a player, who's going to be injured for a significant part of a season just puts more of a strain on those who are going to have to play instead.

 

Brozovic Watch
*sigh*

According to Croatian sources, talks with Marcelo Brozovic and Inter are stalling over a new contract, which is problematic for Inter given his contract expires next summer

You can probably fill in the rest of the headline for yourselves at this point...

 

They're also skint and are looking to make up about €100m in January, apparently.

 

Just in case anyone's looking for a list of out of contract players for the summer:
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/statistik/endendevertraege

Some of the information isn't 100% accurate, but it's generally not too far off the mark.
Pedri and Dybala are supposed to be relative formalities to re-sign for their clubs.
Mbappe looks virtually certain to join Real Madrid. Onana is allegedly joining Inter.
Anyone German or in the Bundesliga is probably joining Bayern. The ****ers.

 

Assuming they get CL football and don't go into a Barca type financial meltdown.