Not sure what to feel about that. Obviously a decent manager but it's pleasing they didn't get someone better like Simeone. And Allegri is proving that it's actually easy to win with Juve.

Not sure if Simeone is that much better than Conte anyway. He's a class manager and his boring ass football will fit them down to a tee. It's hard to see them go wrong with this one unfortunately.

Klaus wrote:

Not sure if Simeone is that much better than Conte anyway. He's a class manager and his boring ass football will fit them down to a tee. It's hard to see them go wrong with this one unfortunately.

I take solace from the fact that his previous record with other clubs was very average prior to Juve.

And no matter how decent a manager he is, he ain't coming to the Premier League and cracking it from the start. It's so different from Italy that it will take him time to adapt to.

Ancelotti and Mancini both won Premier League and neither of them are as good as Conte. I hope he flops but I think it's extremely unlikely considering the funds Chelsea have available.

What? Ancelotti not as good as Conte?

Clrnc wrote:

What? Ancelotti not as good as Conte?

He has a bigger profile but he couldn't have done what Conte did at Juve. He's too old and rigid. Conte is a better, more modern coach. Ancelotti's the safe choice for a big club where man management is the most important skill. Conte is the one who's able to tactically transform a team.

Conte had issues moving Juventus from a 3-5-2 to a 4-3-3, wouldn't say he's that flexible tactically as his poor record in Europe shows; Allegri is showing him up there big time (both from his time at Milan and Juve).

I think he's a good appointment for them too but it remains to be seen if he can translate his methods into a different country for the first time in his career, even more so that he doesn't have Marotta at his side.

I don't think Conte would suit Chelsea, or someone like Abramovich interfering.

8 days later

Good signing for them. I think Berahino's going to tear it up at a club like Spurs.

A healthy Sturridge would be a good signing, but in the real world he would be a disastrous signing, and especially for us with the track record of injuries that we have.

Sturridge is great but if he could stay fit hed be long gone from Pool.

Guardiola who's still managing Bayern for another couple months was seen with Begiristain discussing several transfer targets like Gündogan, Bazoer or Willems.

I'd be surprised if Guardiola cared for the latter two. He'll want players that are top quality right now, ready to go, to replace City's older/poorer players.

The fact that he's doing that on Bayern's time is a disgrace though.

OXlade and Gundogan would be pretty good additions for City.

Oxlade hasn't shown too much that suggests he could be a world class player, and he's always injured. Plus, every player has their price. If they offer us something along the lines of £30m, doubt we'd say no.

Ricky1985 wrote:

I'd be surprised if Guardiola cared for the latter two. He'll want players that are top quality right now, ready to go, to replace City's older/poorer players.

The fact that he's doing that on Bayern's time is a disgrace though.

He's doing it on his free day plus Bayern are informed about his movements. It's not like he's involved in Bayern's transfer plans for next season anyway.

I think Bazoer could do a job immediately, not like City's that stacked in midfield at the moment. Watched him a few times recently and I can see why Bayern were also interested in signing him.

NEW ARRIVAL: Sunderland have today completed the signing of Emmanuel Eboue on a short-term deal.

Will Sunderland play Tottenham or Leicester in the run in ? If they do, Eboue will take care of them for us.

They're at home to Leicester in April. We've also still to visit there too.

Ricky1985 wrote:

I'd be surprised if Guardiola cared for the latter two. He'll want players that are top quality right now, ready to go, to replace City's older/poorer players.

The fact that he's doing that on Bayern's time is a disgrace though.

He always go for younger promising players actually. At Barca, he promoted Pedro, Busquets and signed a couple of young players. At Bayern, he went for Coman and Costa.

Clrnc wrote:
Ricky1985 wrote:

I'd be surprised if Guardiola cared for the latter two. He'll want players that are top quality right now, ready to go, to replace City's older/poorer players.

The fact that he's doing that on Bayern's time is a disgrace though.

He always go for younger promising players actually. At Barca, he promoted Pedro, Busquets and signed a couple of young players. At Bayern, he went for Coman and Costa.

Douglas Costa is 25.

Your point does still stand though. He's now using 21 y/o Kimmich (who had less than 60 games under his belt before this season)

Meatwad wrote:

this collection of rumors gathered by the guardian was created to wind me up.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/mar/09/football-transfer-rumours-alex-oxlade-chamberlain-manchester-city-united

buying gundogan and selling ox and theo to city and west ham respectively. we can only dream.

i shared these rumours with my friends in the morning. we've all been beaming all day in a make-believe world. damn. if only. Walcott is West Ham level. Payet is Arsenal level. if this were an American league, we'd exchange the two and compensate West Ham for the difference in salaries

Meatwad wrote:

this collection of rumors gathered by the guardian was created to wind me up.

Pochettino to Utd, Simone to Spurs.

Another American shooting rampage?

Biggus wrote:
Meatwad wrote:

this collection of rumors gathered by the guardian was created to wind me up.

Pochettino to Utd, Simone to Spurs.

Another American shooting rampage?

Atlético have signed Diogo Jota, 19 year old Portuguese winger at Paços with 9 goals and 8 assists in 20 league games. I've seen him tear apart Benfica couple weeks back before the ref fucked them over and gifted the latter team the game but he still scored this great equaliser for his team

Atlético, who have one of the most impressive collection of young talents in Europe anyway, blew us and everyone else out of the water though with their OTT €3m bid. No chance to compete with this financial power really

jones wrote:

Atlético have signed Diogo Jota, 19 year old Portuguese winger at Paços with 9 goals and 8 assists in 20 league games. I've seen him tear apart Benfica couple weeks back before the ref fucked them over and gifted the latter team the game but he still scored this great equaliser for his team

Atlético, who have one of the most impressive collection of young talents in Europe anyway, blew us and everyone else out of the water though with their OTT €3m bid. No chance to compete with this financial power really

even though you were being sarcastic with the money part, i don't think any young player (especially an iberian one) in their right mind would chose wenger's arsenal over atletico. they do a much better job with developing young players than we do and have a MUCH better manager to learn from.

We need to turn their heads by throwing obscene money at these kids. You're right in there's little we can offer that Atlético can't at the moment but we have way more funds at our disposal. Offer him ten times the wages he'd get in Madrid and he'd overthink his decision

I don't even agree with the premise there; I think that one of the things we are known for across Europe is that we give young players a chance. Many young players (Bellerin, Fabregas, Ramsey, Chambo, Toral etc.) have spoken about this as a major reason why they chose to join us.

Offering people insane money will attract mercenaries like Adebayor or Nasri who will screw us over at the first chance. Giving young players a chance leaves us empty handed at the end of the season.

We need to start dealing in reality. Offer great mature players great money and be done with it. If we dont have enough money to compete with others, get help. We have Usmanov willing to give money.

jones wrote:

We need to turn their heads by throwing obscene money at these kids. You're right in there's little we can offer that Atlético can't at the moment but we have way more funds at our disposal. Offer him ten times the wages he'd get in Madrid and he'd overthink his decision

We probably didn't know anything about him. I have no faith in our scouting beyond Wenger getting tips off his mate or totally fucking obvious signings like Ozil and Sanchez.

11 days later

Lukaku's father has said that Atletico, Juve, Chelsea, Bayern and United are interested in his son and only the latter two are good enough for him. 😆 Lukaku himself doesn't seem to be as deluded but is still trying to force a move to a CL club pretty aggressively as usual despite his contract until 2019.

Glorified Benteke, will probably fail wherever he goes and return to Everton where his career will peter out.

jones wrote:

Lukaku's father has said that Atletico, Juve, Chelsea, Bayern and United are interested in his son and only the latter two are good enough for him. 😆 Lukaku himself doesn't seem to be as deluded but is still trying to force a move to a CL club pretty aggressively as usual despite his contract until 2019.

Glorified Benteke, will probably fail wherever he goes and return to Everton where his career will peter out.

You know your football. So how is it that a glorified Benteke is tearing up scoring records for young players? What precedence is there for a young striker starting so brightly over a sustained period and then just imploding?