04 Jun 2016 20:23:06
There's a lot of people getting a little restless with other teams making signings and I think that is a touch early. The clubs that already made purchases faced little to no competition for their signings (Gundogan, Zlatan) . As for our club you have to consider that the players we've been targeting have a lot of interest and its poor business practice if the selling club just sold to the first team that showed interest. The euros is also this summer which provides an opportunity for players to be put in the shop window further increasing their value. In short if we expect to be signing elite level players, don't expect to make those purchases in May and early June. Rant over.
04 Jun 2016 22:22:39
I think we have a team that on its day can compete against any team without new signings. Let us not forget we have a lot of promising young players, so if the club do go out and purchase new players surely that is going to limit the young players playing time. With a change of formation and the freedom to play instead of 11 men behind the ball, we can challenge again. People may say the young players are not ready but where not going to know if they don't get a chance. I use betrand as an example, young player who do matteo had the balls to use in the final, who I don't remember having a bad game got sold. He then played regular football for saints and is now the type of player we need.
05 Jun 2016 01:59:47
This season was the time to experiment with young players NWBLUE. Unfortunately Mourinho couldn't as we were on such a bad losing streak (not that he would play kids anyway, he never has it's not his style unless they've been bought for a ridiculous amount of money) and Hiddink gave a few a chance but strangely stopped playing RLC despite having nothing to play for.
Only a few of the young players are pretty much ready for game time. Loftus-Cheek obviously is, I'd personally start him from now on and let him grow in to a star (has to up his work rate though) . I also think Lewis Baker deserves the chance to play some games - he's a very good player! I think Ake would do a better job at LB than Rahman (who I'd sell) if he stays next season. I think Musonda and Christensen are both worthy of being in and around the team but both will be on loan again next season. Kenedy I'm not too sure about yet, he's either really good or has no effect. I'm not too sure what position Bertrand Traore should play in, as I'm not sure he's strong enough to be a striker in the prem, plus he has long periods of being ineffective during games.
I think at this point we need some world class players bringing in that will enhance our starting 11. I kind of feel that the youngsters are more than worthy of being on the bench as replacements. Lately we've bought too many squad players who were never going to truly threaten the starting 11. If we add 3 or 4 world class players to the starting 11 then I think it's feasible to integrate the youngsters around these players regularly.
We definitely need a CB and it looks as if we're going to get Rudiger. We need a real engine in midfield, either Naingolan or Kante mould. I'd like to see a smaller, skilful striker (like Dybala's style) to come and play with Costa. Lastly, if we're going to play a number 10 this season then we need to either give RLC a chance or buy an upgrade on Oscar (he has to go) . Pogba isn't going to happen, just can't see it being true. I'm liking the rumours around Henrikh Mkhitaryan to be honest, he's scored 23 goals this season and over 30 assists too. I realise he's playing in the bundesliga, but those sort of figures far surpass the contributions of Oscar.
Sorry for the long post and don't shoot me down, it's just my opinion, but I'd definitely be looking at pure quality over quantity this summer! Four or five in to really shake the team up!
05 Jun 2016 02:35:51
Personally I don't think RLC is or could be good enough as a no10 but in a midfield 3 I think he could be the best academy player since JT. Traore I don't see what people see in him, I think he could do with a loan to another English club, all this vietese rubbish is a waste of time. These young players need to be kicked about a bit playing in the championship instead of Holland.
05 Jun 2016 08:52:44
Good post Chelsea Nick, agree with the majority of it. NWBLUE I disagree with you on Traore. I think he's got superb technical ability and I think if he were to bulk up a bit he could be brilliant. My only worry is he might not be suited to English football.
05 Jun 2016 13:25:25
Spot on NWBLUE with this Vitesse Arnhem loan and other teams in poor leagues. The Championship games are competitive week in and week out just the environment to sort the men from the boys. It is a huge step up for all youth players with the rare exception to go straight into EPL football and RLC who is solid, said he struggled with the physicality. Traore has not won me over as yet. He is very lightly built and tries to get everything on his left foot and I have also wondered if the EPL is too robust for him.