That's hardly an argument. Chelsea have sold over 200m worth of players in the past couple of months.

2-3 vs Madrid

Embarrassing howler from Sportiello and childish mistake by Tomori cost us two goals in two minutes.

Hopefully just rustiness. But these were really bad mistakes. Basically shooting yourself in the foot. Lots of backwards passing which annoyed me!

That Romero goal was beautiful though. He's an interesting prospect.

This post has been edited by William405: Jul 24 2023, 05:01 PM

Right, and kept the ones they want! And Pusilic, the 'saviour of Milan' was surplus at just 24.

I am by no means destroying the lad, I do rate him, just not in the way you all think he's some hefty upgrade on Diaz.

If he was that much better, he wouldn't be at this Milan. We don't sign great players. Not any more.

Nope, they kept the ones that Pochettino wanted the most. Doesn't mean the ones they sold are all mediocre. Mount is world class, for instance. Or Kovacic.

Pulisic was not feeling part of the Chelsea project for a while, and that can severely affect your performance. Doesn't mean the lad isn't quality. Or did we all forget his past contributions and the fact Chelsea coughed 65m for him at only 20.

Diaz on the other hand is an average player who had brilliant moments once in a blue moon but overall was very mediocre throughout his 3 years with us.

For me Pulisic is far superior. I don't expect him to do marvellous things, but I expect him to deliver more than Diaz.

Mount hasn't been part of the Chelsea picture under 3 different managers. Same as Pusilic. Same as Kovacic. It's true that they signed players in the past season they don't/didn't need (which fits your criteria) but none of the above qualify in there. They punted the ones not good enough. Pochettino wants a serious fist at the title and UCL qualification and he can't do that with players of that calibre.



Or he wasn't good enough for their needs.



They overpay for everyone - don't forget Torres and Kepa.



Most seem to agree with you, using stats and data to back their view up. Fact is though these two attack minded players are around the same age and deliver about the same assists and goals ratio for their appearances. And that's the currency an attacker is measured on.

One is ex-Dortmund and Chelsea, the other Real Madrid and now ex-Milan.

It's pretty much comparible, but hey, hopefully I'm the one impressed by the lad after a few months if not sooner. Diaz is ex-Milan and doesn't matter now, and I just hope Pusilic is the upgrade you guys think he is.

It is pointless to discuss whether these players were "rejects" at their previous clubs. What matters is what they do with us

Do any of you care that Theo was a Real Madrid reject? Perennially loaned out during his time there. Obviously not. He's become one of the best if not the best in his position during his time with us.

Same can be said of Mike who was discarded by PSG.

Bennacer and Krunic were 2 of 3 mids which formed part of a side that was relegated.

Tomori, Chelsea reject

Fact is. All have turned out great for us. Their history does not matter in the slightest. Especially given the fact that they're all young. If we were signing 30 year olds who were getting discarded by the likes of Chelsea and Rea, I would have an issue. But these are all young players who for one reason or another had their careers stall out because they were not in the right environment.

So let's just give them time and see what they do with us. Because at the end of the day that is all that matters.

The sad truth is, Serie A clubs cannot go for the highly sought after young stars like Bellingham or Camavinga or even an Arda Guler with a 17m release clause. We'll always get priced out by EPL clubs or Real/Bayern. So we have to buy smart and scrounge off the crumbs some of these clubs drop, because there will surely be some gems in the rubble. Then we sell them off to them again for big profits. That is how Italian teams will have too keep the wheel turning, by being smarter than the clubs who are stronger financially




Btw, CDK was not a reject, he was a sought after young talent and he blew up in our faces.

Might be missing something here mate but no idea who you're aiming this at. It doesn't seem to be particularly related to anything in this conversation.

Understand even less the reference to CDK!

It's aimed at both you and x-off. You are discussing something that is pointless until we actually see these players play with us for a few months.

You're talking about whether Pulisic or RLC were wanted at Chelsea. What does it matter? That is what I was talking about, we built the backbone of this team by picking off players who were on the fringes at teams like Real and Chelsea.


You're wanting to see the glass as half empty. We've been talking about needing more depth, better quality in certain positions. We've done that this summer.

I mentioned CDK because before we bought him, he was a highly regarded prospect. He turned out terrible for us. Versus for example Theo, who was on the fringes at Real when we got him and he's turned out to be top 5 in his positition.

Does that not make discussion about any window redundant then? Because we can just sign anyone and we're not, as fans, allowed to express an opinion about them until November?



So you're ok with signing cast offs?



And this Milan isn't very good! If this goes to trial I demand separate lawyers.



Afraid not. Depth yes. Quality? Sideways.



Theo an exceptional case, but you're relying on superb scouting to sign a bunch of Theos. Time will tell if you lot are right and I'm off base.

Hope I am!

I'm not saying we shouldn't discuss. But in this case we all know that we have our hands tied and we can only go after specific profiles. And you cannot base your opinion solely on what Pulisic for example did at Chelsea. Certain players struggle in certain environments while they flourish in others. Why not give him a chance? For me, he is an upgrade on Brahim (on paper) and I really liked Brahim, much more than others here. But you cannot deny that Brahim was very limited in certain aspects. And I don't really see this from Pulisic. There is a reason Chelsea payed 60m for him back in the day

And I disagree that we went sideways in terms of quality. We have hugely upgraded our attack and not by a small amount. The fact that we started a CL semi with Messias and Alexis in attack still makes me wake up in a cold sweat to this day.

The midfield I would say it is a sideways step, but I think we'll add one more player there

And as for the defence. We've not done anything yet, but going by reports we plan to upgrade the areas that need it.

I'd rather wait to see how the team looks at the end of the window before declaring this as a sideways mercato.

So nothing in defence, sideways in midfield, and only, in your opinion, improvement up front.

That's sideways however you cut it mate!

Look, I'll leave this - I'll sit quietly hoping I'm wrong. What more can I do?

Is anyone watching the Barca game?

Disappointing first half. Barca is pressuring us upfield and are playing excellent possession football. What's scarier is looking at Barca's bench, there is still a lot of world-class players there that haven't featured

Leao has been our main outlet, almost scoring a goal on a one on one. But not much attacking threat from anywhere else, and Giroud has been completely invisible. Pleasently impressed with Loftus-Cheek. He provides some good physicality in midfield.

This post has been edited by William405: Aug 2 2023, 05:10 AM

Jeez, losing to Barca's B team. And playing like sh*t too apparently. I hope Pioli realises this is his last chance.

Yeah, I'm worried.