They have been as good as any other outlet, just nothing of note is happening but most of their stories were at least confirmed in traditional media after they posted them.
Transfer Tweets - 2018/19 | Remember if posting foreign language tweets to post in English too
- Thread starter Damien
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So he's good enough for Barca but not us ?
City have made zero signings while we have made 2, but somehow the gap has already widened before a ball has been kicked.
City have not made a single signing yet. We have secured our #1 transfer target for a position that needed strengthening, and have signed one of the most promising right backs around to deputise for Valencia. We're also just as close to renewing the contract of our best player (DDG) as City are to signing Jorginho or Mahrez. Like City, we're being linked with several good players. The international transfer window has only just opened and we have over a month left to secure our targets and offload some players that are surplus to requirements. Maybe you should just calm down.
If he goes to Barca he's not gonna be a starter. Even if he is it will only be as a placeholder until Dembele finds his feet. On the contrary if he comes here he's going to be one of the first names on the teamsheet and occupy the RW spot for the next couple of years atleast. I don't know about you but I can't see us winning the league playing a front 6 of Matic-Fred-Pobga-Sanchez-Willian-Lukaku. We would be totally dependent on Pogba for any creativity and he ain't what you would call a consistent performer.
This is a clear example of the weird thinking of this forum , people here prefer him to go to Barca just so Mou dont get him when he has experience in the PL and is even having a good WC.
How do you know he won't prove his worth and be a starter in Barca ? On which occasion you made sure Dembele will secure the starting position at the end ? So far he did nothing.
Did you read the report ? Barca offered 50m for William. Are they going to pay 50m for a bench warmer ? They could get one from la Liga in a cheaper price.
If Barca want him, he's good enough for us, and we are inferior to Barca at the moment anyway.
Barca have made shit signings as well. They have other players like Messi and Coutinho to tolerate their average players. We don't have that luxury, need a world class or a more-productive-than-Willian winger atm.
I don't agree with this line of thinking. Every team has different needs and different players that fit them. Even if he is a regular starter, he would be surrounded by Messi, Suarez, Coutinho and Rakitic. All supremely talented creative players, in which case having a disciplined winger like Willain makes sense.
On the other hand, we massively like creativity in our team. Sanchez has shown nothing in the past season to suggest he could be the creative heartbeat of the team. Pogba is far too inconsistent at the moment, so we need a RW that can make things happen on his own. Willain, to me does not fit the bill.
How many shite signings have they made ? Last few summers they have signed Dembele, Coutinho, Umititi..etc. The only terrible big signing they made was Gomez from my memory. Even Paulinho who people were ridiculating him when they signed him, ended up being a key part in their midfield and Brazil one.
Barca win the league and Cup almost every season. They are far superior to us at the moment anyway so it's ridiculous to claim they are signing crap players that we don't need.
I will take any of their last signings except Gomez in a heartbeat.
And William has played in title winning side in EPL with only 2 creative players surrounding him (Hazard and Fabre) and was great. He was also one of Chelsea best players last season, and is a starter for a Brazil side who don't have many creative players starting (Only Neymar and Coutinho, the rest are functioning players).
By all standards, William has proved his worth under different circumstances. United lack a flank player that keeps width, and lack it massively on the right where Valencia is shitting the bed. William is a very right fit for United.
From the top of my head :
1.Andre Gomes
2.Thomas Vermaelen
3.Lucas Digne
4.Gerard Deulofeu
5.Arda Turan
6.Alex Vidal
6.Dennis Suarez
7.Paco Alcacer
Maybe you can call the last three as good squad players but IIRC all of them were highly rated and bought with a first team role in mind
The jury is still out on :
1.Semedo - 2nd choice behind Sergi Roberto who is a CM
2.Yerry Mina
3.Dembele
The thing about Paulinho was that he was a 29/30 year old European flop who was playing in the Chinese league and he was bought for 35-40 million when they had an ageing squad. That was the reason why the signing was ridiculed
IF Ronaldo is to leave.. Woodward better have a woody on for him
I doubt Woodward would be one to make that call, it's gotta be the manager. Besides Mou seems to be a bigger fan of Bale.
Only Gomez and Turan were bought to play as starters and flopped. Do you seriously believe that they signed Deulofeu for starting position ? Or they were forced to play him after Neymar fecked up and went on to buy Dembele to cover the spot.
Also Vidal and Dennis Suarez aren't terrible signings. They are good squad options. Strange way of evolution.
So any player who doesn't play as a starter is considered a flop ?
Juve makes sense
A slower league that they dominate (especially with Ronaldo) so Cristiano can work towards CL games, like he has done over the last two years while not being under pressure to catch Messi or Barca.
A slower league that they dominate (especially with Ronaldo) so Cristiano can work towards CL games, like he has done over the last two years while not being under pressure to catch Messi or Barca.
You said they don't make any shite signings, so I didn't think you were talking about strictly first team signings.
Don't know about Dennis Suarez but Vidal was bought as a first choice RB abd it's because he flopped that they had to buy Semedo.
Also what was the thought process behind signing the perma crock Vermaelen
Also what about Alcacer?
If you are buying an average player to be a squad option only who can you consider it a crap signing ? Crap signings are like signing Darmian to play him as your main RB. If Juve for example got Darmian for a squad option only, it's a decent signing for them, only an example.
Alcacer was bought while they are having Suarez,Messi and Neymar leading the line. Surely he wasn't going to play well above those ? They only bought him because Enrique was struggling with being unable to rotate and wanted some rotation options.
Fair on Vermaelen though.
Just can't see it, Juventus might afford the transfer fee but can their wage structure afford his salary. Surely he wont take a pay cut to move there and surely United, Bayern and PSG could offer a better deal?
Was hoping we'd sign him but no way we're going to for 60 fecking million. He's 29 ffs.
Interesting that they need to sell players to buy. Has Roman stopped injecting money into Chelsea?
Imagine a midfield of Xhaka and Gomes
Hope this happens Spurs or Arsenal this guy is terrible!
I'm guessing if an English team came in it'd be even more!
This actually makes it possible in my opinion. Teams like City, United, PSG can offer him ridiculous wages which he can use as leverage for better wages at Madrid. He would go to Juventus for different reasons. A slower league, a new project where he can be the main man.
Madrid have to eventually rebuild with Ronaldo no longer a key figure and it is coming soon. Its possible that Madrid have told him that he's going to be phased out of the team for new players and he doesn't want that to happen.
Which is why he will stay. No one will pay 150m or more for him at 33 and no one who pays even slightly less will be able to take on his wages. The only viable players would be United, PSG. and City and spare the player wanting to publicly move to one of these clubs I can't see him leaving.
I do think Juventus would be a good fit for him, the slower league would definitely suit and he could easily add some more silverware and personal accolades in the mix as well. But it would be a massive climb down in wages and that doesn;t seem like a Ronaldo thing to do!
Brazil have hardly been brilliant this WC. Also Neymar and Coutinho are far superior to our creative players, or at least they are certainly more consistent. I will give you the Chelsea argument but you have to remember they won what was quite a poor league quality wise at that time. City have raised the bar considerably since and being merely functional (as that Chelsea side was, especially in the 2nd half of the season) won't likely we good enough to win the league. I have no doubt that Willian will be a study addition to the squad, but I also have no doubt that it won't be near good enough to win the league if he is our only attacking signing this summer.
I suspect William will replace Arda turan
And averages 5 goals per season.
For 60 million, definitely we can do better. No need to donate to the Chelsea Transfer Charity Fund.
I refuse to believe that. Alcacer was the biggest striker talent in LA liga just before they bought him, the plan was to phase out Suarez slowly and replace him in a year or two. But now he has failed to displace him even when Suarez was having a bad spell and won't probably start even after they sell Suarez.Maybe a bit harsh, but he has not been a total success even as a backup
Darmian is 28,29 year old flop, of course he's being bought as a backup. So by that Logic Dalot is bought to be a perma backup?
IMO clubs invest in young players so that they can one day claim the starting spot
That's why Barca invested in Gomes,Alex Vidal, Semedo, Umtiti and Alcacer. Now that strategy has failed they are buying galacticos like Coutinho, Dembele, Griezmann. At the same time there is a massive exodus from their academy
Barca's business has been very poor in the last few years IMO. The only signing that has been truly successful has been Umtiti. Too early to judge Coutinho and Dembele.
If you need more proof just consider this : they had one of the oldest squads, why would they buy youngsters to be just back ups?And even after spending approximately 500-600 million, they have only 4 new starters in their 11 and one of them is an academy product :
Dembele, Coutinho,Roberto and Umtiti
The other 7 have been the same for years : Ter Stegen, Pique, Alba,Busquets, Rakitic, Suarez and Messi with all except Ter Stegen being 30 or above. Yup, they are totally buying youngsters to be just backups.
Seems like your high tier people only know who Liverpool aren't interested in goalkeeper-wise and not who you are interested in. Alisson and Oblak links seem dead but maybe you're after Donnarumma.
Brazil are in World Cup quarter final, while several other big teams were shown the door earlier. Maybe they aren't pleasent on the eye but they are solid and doing the job without much fuss.
We have Pogba, Sanchez and Lukaku, with some young talents on the bench, while we really lack an out and out winger who provide width on the right. William fits that imo. We even need a player like that more than Barca.
They already had a full stacked attacking lineup upfront when they bought the likes of Alcacer, with all of them breaking numbers and scoring loads of goals. They surely weren't signing Alcacer to take a spot from them. When Baca want a permanent attacking player, they go on and sign either a top name or one of the best talents worldwide, they always did that : Henry, Villa, Suarez, Neymar Coutinho, Dembele..etc. Alcacer doesn't fit that, and even came with than not needing any starting attacking player.
Dalot was bought as a backup for Valencia that if he plays well he will overake his position after a year or something I believe. No one is predicting Dalot to be a starter by the beginning of the upcoming season.
Investing in attacking players as a backup option so they may be starters in the future is a fine principle and I don't disagree of they were thinking that way and have some flops in the way but you need to consider that if you are buying talents as backups you : a) take a risk anyway as there's no guarantee for any talent to prove its worth and b) you aren't hurting your team since you already have a core of a very good team and even if some talents you bought failed to show their worth they will stay as a backup option.
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