Michael Olise

This is one I am happy didnt go through. His hamstring injury was a tear level 3. That is something that is very difficult to come back to 100% form before the injury takes place. We have enough chronically injured players.
 
Yes but he obviously had an offer from Chelsea - so he rejected you, to stay at Palace.
Maybe still bitter he got cut from our academy? Oh well. I did want him to come back, but I felt the same about him as I did 3 or 4 of the other names on the list, so I’ll wait and see.
 
Finally, a player who has the brains to look beyond the billions.

At Chelsea he would’ve become another RLC or CHO, or joined one of the loan farms.
 
Maybe still bitter he got cut from our academy? Oh well. I did want him to come back, but I felt the same about him as I did 3 or 4 of the other names on the list, so I’ll wait and see.

I doubt it. His younger brother is still at Cobham. If Palace offered him 100K plus another release clause that isn't super low but still kinda reasonable, that's a pretty good deal for him. I could see United, City and maybe even Liverpool being interested in 12 months, if he keeps performance levels up.
 
Finally, a player who has the brains to look beyond the billions.

At Chelsea he would’ve become another RLC or CHO, or joined one of the loan farms.

You picked the two players who had their careers derailed by horrible injuries.
 
I like the idea of Barcola much more. This has just fallen right for us.
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You picked the two players who had their careers derailed by horrible injuries.
Can you give me the name of any recent Chelsea acquisition who was bought as a hot prospect and fulfilled their potential? I can think of Reece James and then I’m stuck.
 
Can you give me the name of any recent Chelsea acquisition who was bought as a hot prospect and fulfilled their potential? I can think of Reece James and then I’m stuck.

I think you’re just stuck then because James is an academy product.
 
Lyon are the Spurs of France. Good luck trying to get Barcola from Lyon so late in the window, you'll get rinsed.

If there's one player from Lyon I'd be worried about Chelsea getting it would be Cherki and I watch a lot of Lyon.
 
Has anyone seen enough of Bradley Barcola to comment on his qualities? One of my friends who supports Lyon thinks that he's the next big thing in France. Only 20/21, versatile, can play in the right wing, or as a forward, and is not very expensive.

Looks like a player we could actually pursue if we manage to sell someone. I don't want to judge players on YouTube, however.
 
Good point :lol:

We’ll have to go even further back then. Maybe Hazard?

Depends what your age limit is for a hot prospect. Christensen and Courtois are two that spring to mind. Azpilicueta was bought at 22. Zouma and Victor Moses to a lesser extent.

We didn’t really buy many young players for our first team back then. We’ll see how many of the 50 youngsters we’ve bought now will turn out in 5 or so years.
 
So many tasty “I didn’t want him anywayz” in this thread :drool:
 
Great news! We should be in for him if he steps up even more this season and Antony doesn’t.
 
I don’t think it had anything to do with a CL addendum in his release clause, otherwise we couldn’t just trigger it. And apparently we were about to do just that before they threatened to embroil us in a tribunal investigation for how we approached him out of desperation. I get their desperation: their team is getting picked apart.

There have been stories about yes and no on that being part of his release… I don’t see it.

NOW …what they would have, even if we did t do anything wrong, is enough “evidence” to cause us serious headaches at tribunals.

His brother still plays for us, they have the same representation… obviously the same parents. Michael is still apparently in touch with lots of people at Cobham.

So all they would have to do is say “we can prove he was contacting his agent months ago” or something like that and we would be tied up in a mess for weeks or months.

Chelsea say they didn’t tap him up at all. Which I believe; not because we are virtuous, but because I don’t think we were even considering him until Nkunku’s injury.

They essentially blackmailed their way into keeping him instead of letting him come home in that scenario, But at least he got a new contract out of it.
 
You've watched Barcola a lot?

No not at all, I have only read that he is a young promising player, and healthy. If you have watched a lot, what have you seen of him. I know we looked at Cherki earlier and his work rate was a big concern.
 
Can you give me the name of any recent Chelsea acquisition who was bought as a hot prospect and fulfilled their potential? I can think of Reece James and then I’m stuck.
Depends by what you mean as recent and even then it becomes subjective because ultimately it’s the team achievements that are the measure
 
I don’t think it had anything to do with a CL addendum in his release clause, otherwise we couldn’t just trigger it. And apparently we were about to do just that before they threatened to embroil us in a tribunal investigation for how we approached him out of desperation. I get their desperation: their team is getting picked apart.

There have been stories about yes and no on that being part of his release… I don’t see it.

NOW …what they would have, even if we did t do anything wrong, is enough “evidence” to cause us serious headaches at tribunals.

His brother still plays for us, they have the same representation… obviously the same parents. Michael is still apparently in touch with lots of people at Cobham.

So all they would have to do is say “we can prove he was contacting his agent months ago” or something like that and we would be tied up in a mess for weeks or months.

Chelsea say they didn’t tap him up at all. Which I believe; not because we are virtuous, but because I don’t think we were even considering him until Nkunku’s injury.

They essentially blackmailed their way into keeping him instead of letting him come home in that scenario, But at least he got a new contract out of it.

Let’s be realistic in the modern era just about every transfer probably has an element of tapping up but most clubs accept it and realise they too could be accused of the exact same thing.

What Palace have in effect done is wind Chelsea up that may be absolutely nothing but over the years Palace have benefited to a large degree from us sending players to them on loan Maybe it won’t impact but some powerful people don’t like being called out and have long memories others just let it wash over them
 
No not at all, I have only read that he is a young promising player, and healthy. If you have watched a lot, what have you seen of him. I know we looked at Cherki earlier and his work rate was a big concern.
"I like the idea of Barcola" and posts 2 graphs. Kinda depressing way of thinking about football.
 
"I like the idea of Barcola" and posts 2 graphs. Kinda depressing way of thinking about football.

I do like the idea of a young promising player that is not coming off a level three hamstring tear. Olise may never make a full recovery. He might. It is very up in the air and we have had several that have not recovered after a bad injury. If that is depressing? Not sure what to tell you?
 
Lovely player. That was a peak Robben goal yesterday. Not very typical of his style but when watching I enjoy he isn't just the generic cut in and shoot spam that is so typical of the role these days. However when he gets his move to a bigger club his production may be an issue unless the game moves back towards wingers being creators first rather than wide strikers.
 
He's going to be such a good player man. Would kill to have him on our right wing. Feel like he's the kind of talent that we'd chase with Ineos around which is why I hope he can stay at Palace till the summer. If he's there in summer, I think we have as good a chance as any team of landing him.
 
Very good player in the making. I would love to see him at Arsenal. Makes things happen on the ball. Bit tricky how to slot him in but he is a great young talent.
 
Him and Eze should have been snapped up by bigger clubs at least a year ago.
Chelsea tried didn't they? There was a little bit of foul play with the release clause stuff and he ended up singing a new deal.
 
Great talent. Needs coaching to bring the most out of him, make him that consistent player that he should be. He seems to suffer from injuries. Big thing for him will be going to a club where the expectations are greater.

Saka is more effective and far more consistent, so there's a good standard there.
 
It's always hard to judge players from other teams if you don't watch them week in week out...as we only hear about them when they do something amazing! the 10 games of nothingness that follows always goes unnoticed.
 
Very good player in the making. I would love to see him at Arsenal. Makes things happen on the ball. Bit tricky how to slot him in but he is a great young talent.
Not a good move for him though as it is hard to replace Saka as starter in the team. He better goes to somewhere he can play week in week out for his development.
 
Absolutely outstanding against Chelsea. Missed a lot of football at the stat of the season but fit and firing now, he's one of the best right wingers in the league and bound for a top team
 
Top player. He should have been someone we spent the Antony money on.