15 Aug 2016 10:57:11
De Laurentiis still reluctant to sell Koulibaly to Chelsea. When are we going to realise he might not be the player we should be looking at. Great player but why are we risking it for a squad that is already light and now the closest looking season ever has started.
15 Aug 2016 11:27:13
Problem is who else is there? And if there are others the owners of the team will raise the price up because they know we need a centre back. Unfortunately it's silly money nowadays but if we want to compete we need to stop being tight and pay the money the club asks for.
15 Aug 2016 12:29:59
Shkodran? Unsure if he will fit the side completely, but looks competent and wouldn't lose much value should we look to move him on next summer?
15 Aug 2016 12:47:22
Possibly a decent alternative. Apparently he is quite similar to cahill (only going by what I've heard) . Still, any centre back signing will be better than what we have now. I just feel the board hasn't learnt anything from last seas.
15 Aug 2016 12:50:05
find it odd that you didn't call him mustafi, which is how everybody knows him in football
shkodran is mustafis first name for those who don't know. I had a hunch but had to look it up to make sure.
15 Aug 2016 13:21:36
Apologies, yeah I meant mustafi.
15 Aug 2016 14:17:37
sounded like a rant there, was just pointing it out haha.
15 Aug 2016 14:49:00
Buying for the sake of buying is what caused a lot of our issues last year. If we are going to buy a centrehalf, it should be someone that's an improvement on our current group from day 1. While lindelof might develop into a fine player, he's not as developed as Christensen, and we have a number of young guys who show promise at the position (miazga, tomori, Clarke-salter) .
15 Aug 2016 15:31:20
Maybe buying a top quality Left or right back would be a better move. We have terry, Cahill, zouma and ivanovic (who is actually a good player when at CB) .
15 Aug 2016 16:01:30
Not a rant, I rarely rant at this stuff cause it isn't my money and Roman has and I believe to always be a great owner who funds the club when needed. We only have to look north east to see an owner running a club trying to make a profit, A club who need a CB and a striker and show no sign of trying to fix their problems, at least in recent windows we have seen to be active.
I wouldn't think buying someone like Mustafi would be the same as buying for the sake of buying, clearly a good defender where Djilobodji and Hector were never going to work out. Baba could still turn out to be a good player, but he isn't doing anything outstanding at the current moment.
TL;DR Never rant as owner genuinely cares and isn't scrimping to make profit. Mustafi better than a hit and hope option.
15 Aug 2016 16:22:53
Ivanovic WAS a good player at centre back just like he WAS a good right back. He's past it now and can't play either position to the standard we require. He had one decent game at centre back last season but when he was asked to play their again, him and Cahill formed the single most shaky and uncomfortable partnership in the league.
A new centre back is a must and a new full back is also required, we have very little cover in either position. Ake and Christensen should've stayed as back up but there's nothing we can do about that now.
15 Aug 2016 16:24:46
i meant that my first reply was rant like.
15 Aug 2016 16:49:40
haha i get it, no sweat my friend. I didn't take it like that. we're all chelsea fans wanting the best for our club.