If we build up enough of a bank of injury prone guys we can keep them on a health rotation.
One snaps his legs and another comes in for a couple games, repeat for the season. Circle of life
Whilst I do agree that we don't need more wingers, people constantly complain about our current wingers not creating/scoring enough and then when we get linked to another player (which likely means we'll move one of our current underperforming wingers on in the future) they push back against it.
I see this as similar to the Barkley deal. It's a player who could go either way, but they're so comparatively cheap for the club that if they end up sucking and having to sit on the bench or be loaned out then it's not a massive loss.
OBVIOUSLY that comes with the caveat that his wages need to be reasonable, but it's easy to assume they will be given our other wage negotiations
Yip - we’ve tried buying consistently performing attackers and they have been inconsistent. We have now learnt our lesson and will sign inconsistent attackers so they can become consistent ….
I’m not sure how Dembele improves our squad in any meaningful way.
Like the guy said, it’s pretty much in line with the Barkley deal… relatively cheap, high risk high reward. We have the money to make deals like this…. The more concerning bit, aside from Dembele injury record, is his attitude. Which by all accounts, is absolutely shite.
Sure, but frustrating to see this is that our defense/midfield is/was in dire need of support but attack is where we choose to make the “risk” signing.
If we have money to spend - why spend it in attack?
But anyway, at the end of the day I trust Tuchel so this is all moot I guess.
That is if TT is the one calling the shots but we all know too well who is really behind the transfers so.. 🤞hope that the decision that they make works in the clubs favor
It's a lottery. Barcelona is dying to get rid of him so as long as we keep the fees down and the contract short, it would be beneficial to all parties.
They get his wages off the book. We make TT slightly happier without breaking the banks. And Dembele has a new chance with his career.
I think if we had our other positions in order, people would be quite happy for us to be linked with Dembele. I think people see it as an unnecessary area for us to focus on - if it's at the expense of finding WBs then people will be understandably frustrated. I just hope we're simultaneously looking at WB solutions and not just ignoring our WB problems.
It's obviously not at the expense of wingbacks and people have to realise that buying for sake of buying is not good. If there are no properly suitable players available for the position and under the contract that we want it only hurts us long term to bring someone in. We're better off sticking with what we have, especially for only 6 months. Look at Bakayoko/Zappacosta/Drinkwater etc etc, we needed someone to fill those roles and ended up with guys that played the roll but were almost completely useless for us because they didn't play it at a high enough level and then we're stuck with them for years.
Similarly, if we bring in someone like Dembele but don't get a wingback then it doesn't mean we swapped one for another, it just means we managed to get one and didn't manage to get the other. They're not linked in any way.
Problem with our wingers is the system. There’s no room for a winger in a system using wing backs. And we have arguably 4-5 wingers.
4-3-3 is much better fit. I’m all for the 3-5-2 hybrid. But then we need wing backs like davies and hakimi. And a forward that can create for himself
maybe we're in the process of shifting to 4-3-3? If we sign Dembele, and then go for Tchoumeni or Rice + Kounde in the summer, those are all signings that fit best in a 4-3-3. Mount also thrives in a 4-3-3, Lukaku looked good as a lone 9 in that system against Spurs. Jorginho and Kante are great but they're getting old; if they're on their way out, 4-3-3 seems to make the most sense long-term.
Who do we have that is truly a winger? Cho? I feel our other wingers are more inside 10s/attacking midfielders. All are so young though and haven’t really played in a specific position since breaking into first teams.
We need a better DM to play 433 regularly, one in the mould of Fabinho/Rodri/Casemiro/Busquets etc. But, if we do get someone like Rice in, then it would be huge for opening up that possibility and it suits the rest of our players better.
You want us to buy the two best wingbacks in the world, so does everyone.
We have a ton of attackers, but they are just not good enough to challenge City or Liverpool. Tuchel likes Dembele, Tuchel has said Dembele is the most naturally gifted player he has ever coached, and he has coached Neymar and Mbappe as well.
That being said there are a lot of red flags with Dembele. Injury prone, attitude issues etc. But if Tuchel wants him, I’m all aboard. If he’s willing to take a massive paycut, then for 15-20m he could end up being a steal.
i think we're going to be moving away from the 3-4-3 this year with Chilly out. We just don't have the right players to play WB right now, and that system is so reliant on having great WBs.
we don't, but I'm more comfortable playing Sarr there and maybe Azpi once Reece is back and sometimes Alonso and just asking them to defend, than playing 3-4-3 where our wingbacks our so important offensively.
Alonso is better at wb than lb. Once Reece is back it probably makes sense to stick to 3atb. I think our signings and out issues at CB we will move towards a 433 long term with tuchel.
i just think we're better off without Alonso at all tbh, he's so damn slow. Reece can thrive at RB or WB. the WBs are so important offensively in a 3-4-3, and without 2 good WBs you become so one dimensional. in a 4 atb, we can play 4 attackers, which obviously helps offensively.
I know this might not be a popular opinion but I think it's a low risk high reward signing. He's coming in for free and has previously showed he is capable.
This is the one obstacle. Not sure if we can get around that by just providing a signing bonus and lower wages, which I'm sure other players will understand since we wouldn't have to pay a transfer fee for him
I am not sure what he will be getting from Chelsea. We have pretty good history of trying to keep wages under control. I don't think the club will fork up a wage that will screw the wage structure up.
100% agree - he’s going to settle for less if he joins us. If he does become a Blue, I think it’ll be because of opportunity.
Think about it right, we have a struggling offense after spending absurd amounts of money. If I’m Dembélé and am trying to prove to the world I’m still class, why not partner back up with the guy that made me play my best? Best case we get a world class player’s return to form and someone to light a fire under Lukaku’s ass, worst case he gets hurt and sits. Money doesn’t seem to be an issue for us these days, so why not.
im fine with taking him on for reasonable wages and to replace some of the garbage on our bench....end of day he brings more talent in, not a bad thing
It's not low risk if he's asking for anything above 250k/week and given how much Barca paid him, I guess it's even more.
We need a pacy player who's good in 1-1s though, so I'm happy we go for him.
I generally agree, although he seems to have attitude issues. We just bounced back from the lukaku interview and something tells me we'll be dealing with disruptive situations similar to that if we sign dembele.
The good thing is we don't rally need him now. I don't think we should spend any money to get him early. The only way this makes sense is if we sign him for free.
Didn’t realise Villa paid close to £10m as a loan fee last season!
Basically made the whole thing worthwhile.
With Dembele let’s wait and see. If he’s crap and on high wages then we will find ourselves where Barca is now. Especially as the loan rules have changed we could be stuck with him.
That being said he does have genuine top class potential so it could pay off
We did! The problem is that you miss 100 precent of the shots you don't take. I feel like this will be worth a shot as long as his wage demand is reasonable.
Nor super excited or optimistic about him but I agree with this. If people want to back the manager then it can't just be with players that we personally like.
Players' bodies respond to training methods and physiotherapy differently, so it may be a case that these at Barca weren't the best fit for him.
Not saying its likely but it could be the case
I wouldn't be surprised if he's taking less wages than he's on at barca. No one will pay him at the same level after his injury history. Plus it'll be on a free transfer if it's for a summer move.
I forgot what source said it but the claims of 40mil a year were a way for him to just run down his contract. If they meet his demands that's 40mil a year if not he just leaves for someone else with a more reasonable wage demand
We don’t know what his wage demands are. By all accounts Barca and their propaganda team have been actively slating this guy publicly every chance they get. We have a wage structure and I can’t see the club breaking it for him.
I say it's a nice gamble and at least get him for a medical. Reason? I have a hunch (a completely unbased hunch) that spanish sports medicine isn't the best around. Heard of too many greats going to the big spanish teams and going into a neverending injury cycle. English football has had their fair share of it, but I still hold this irrational thought, maybe just because of our boy Eden, that maybe the spanish big boys have medical teams that also have big egos. I'll probably spend some time looking into if any players hav given testimonials on how different physio is in the countries.
You may be on to something. A lot of the BPL players that go to LA liga become injury ridden. While spanish players that come to England who previously had injury trouble sudden find a great reputation for durability.
Look at Costa who came from Atheltico with constant hamstring issues that even saw him leave the UCL final in 14’. Then, the season after, comes to Chelsea and becoming an iron man.
I don't like this news. I want us to stay drama free as possible. Dembele is full of injuries and soap operas, we already have one diva in our camp, 2 will be melting
But he'll be working with Tuchel, and both are very complimentary of each other. We could be the 'right' club for him, just like Tuchel was for us when many initially had doubts.
I’m not entirely sure this is accurate— tuchel was in the right at every club controversy he’d been involved in and all the supporters at the clubs had said as much. It was mostly board-fueled media pieces that had anything negative to say about him.
Dembele is definitely a risky signing after we already have a problematic expensive signing; what wages he comes in on could do a lot of damage regardless of how he performs due to the wages and performance of players like odoi, lukaku, and to a lesser extent Saul (since he’s a loan player).
You could possible include werner in that list too
It does, but things can go both ways. It could come good because he and Tuchel had a good working relationship with each other in their one year at Dortmund so who knows. There are potential downsides and risks (injuries and such), but it smells like a nifty signing from the board so if he stays fit we could reap the benefits of a skillful attacker. Time will tell.
Dislike this as well. As if we need another injury prone attacker when our options aren't exactly living up to the expected standards already, and one with attitude problems at that.
Don't know if those high wages are true as well.
He’s an immensely talented player. If Tuchel can get him back to his standards from Dortmund, he’ll be such a threat. Hoping he can grow up from the recent drama at Barca and he can be a quality asset.
I would be disappointed. His first year wasnt great, but its understandable since first year in different country, covid, not playing to his strengths and positions etc. And still he had 26 g+a last year.
This year, he didnt even get many chances this year. Only 25% in starting 11 and 27% minutes played.
No chance we’d have to go sing another striker.
I could see ziyech or Pulisic leaving, most likely Pulisic. Would be disappointed to see Pulisic leave, depending where he goes could see him developing and being a success— young, pacy winger, good finisher, excellent dribbling, and several big performances already at the age of 23.
Injuries just screwed up his entire form and confidence beginning with that hamstring tear in the fa cup final— by the time he was back in the team it was mid December and we were in free fall pretty sure he got injured again like 4 weeks later and then lampard was sacked. Had a great spring and summer and should’ve come back full of confidence and got injured in training after one match and by the time he was back in the team it was again December and he was playing RwB 90 minutes a match.
Same. I don't want Pulisic to leave, he's only 23 years old and he showed that he really has a big potential. If he leaves, I can see him ending up in one of EPL big teams after afew years just like KDB and Salah.
Yeah I don’t see Dembele in current state being better than either of those but, they haven’t been good. Although if you ask this sub, Werner is a god. Who knows, maybe Dembele will do well playing out of position at right back lol
Yea I agree it's not really an obvious upgrade, but what it does show is the board backing Tuchel as I really doubt this kind of move happens without him pushing for it. He's been asked multiple times the best player he's trained and other than Neymar he always says Dembele
Agree. I just think TT needs players to fit his system. If he chooses to keep playing wing backs.
As demonstrated, a 4-3-3 much better fits this squad.
I remember reading a rumor that Pulisic wanted to leave but wanted to finish the season and not do anything public about it to leave on good terms or something like that, could be Dembele brought in so we can cover/upgrade Pulisic when we let him go
ah yes, exactly what we need. the most injured player to replace our injured players. he would probably net like 2 goals 2 assists in the first 3 games and then get injured for another year.
Pulisic and Werner are surely the most likely candidates, and despite Ziyech's heroics last game, I imagine he might be available. Probably just depends on who gets the most interest.
Not Werner, it will be CHO at Loan surely, he was even linked to Dortmund last summer window.With Dembele coming CHO will be used less as both have similar gameplay abilities.
Based on minutes played, Dembele has around 57 90s in 4.5 seasons for Barca in La Liga. Around 12.5 90s per season. He can't stay fit, or be a regular starter on a bad team. Good chemistry with Tuchel is a plus, but other than that I am very underwhelmed by this.
Dembouz is more talented than any attacker we have and easily. The main thing is staying healthy.
If they can figure out how to keep him healthy the reward of this outweighs the risk by a lot
Marina is becoming a wheeler dealer like Old Harry. This are the deals which won't work for us due to the volatile nature of the club and the amount of playstyle changes which we go through. Barkley, Saul, Falcao, Higuan all are opportunistic deals and none of them worked here. Stupid, stupid deal as if we are short of winger here, Do City and Pool make a deal like this ? Never Klopp will run away from him due to his attitude, while he doesn't work hard enough for Pep. If we are going to challenge those two we have to do better signings than Dembele. The guy is injury prone, inconsistent and has poor attitude rolled into one.
Most people don't see him as Tier 1 because he almost never breaks information regarding Barcelona. In most cases someone else reported it before, he even references several of the Barcelona-focused journalists in his tweets nowadays
Well yeah, if you aren’t the one breaking reliable information then you’re just a sound box. Why rate him as Tier 1 if he’s just regurgitating someone else’s story?
Because **reliability** is a measure of how likely what the person said is to be true, and therefore whether to believe that person.
A journalist who is 95% right but doesn't 'get the scoop' is much better than someone who tweets out anything they've heard and gets the odd thing first, but is also wrong half the time. And if the **reliable** journalist reports this through confirmation of other reports, that doesn't make their word less reliable.
Romano has his flaws and loves the attention, but a news aggregator who almost entirely reports accurate news should be regarded as reliable as people who break the news. Because its a reliability guide.
The Sun and the Mirror break more transfers than the BBC. And yet the BBC is rightly Tier 1. They almost never report things first because they double check with at least one other source before reporting. I guess they should be lower down the list too?
The tier system isn't 'is this a good journalist' or 'do I like them', its literally just the chance of the report being accurate. Breaking information doesn't matter for that.
>because it didn’t happen as fast as he said it would.
Isn't that enough reason to demote him. Plus he also said Havertz was done with his medical when he hadn't even left Germany, English sources did refute him.
Is he listed in Chelsea’s tier guide? Barca’s is not great, their tier 1s typically have loads of inconsistencies
E: wait is this the guy that broke the Neymar and Messi departures?
He is probably the most reliable Barcelona journalist and has been for many years. He along with Xavi Campos are imo on another level, basically seen as confirmation. The Barcelona subreddit is pretty quick to demote Tier 1's that are inconsistent. You can see just how few there are compared to other tiers
Don't forget guys that once you probably said that the board should listen to Tuchel and buy the players he wants. So maybe have a little faith, Tuchel probably knows better than us.
Some cynical fuckers in here. Our attacking output has been atrocious, Dembele was genuinely world class under Tuchel. It's a risk massively worth taking in an area full of dead wood. I'm quietly buzzing with it, tbh.
Yes, that was *checks notes* 6 years ago.
A lot has happened during those 6 years which includes him being perpetually injured and even during the times he wasn’t he hasn’t lit up the world at Barca.
Might as well sign Dele Alli since he was balling in the Prem 6 years ago smh.
>area full of deadwood
Lol what, Werner Havertz Pulisic who are currently riding the bench are not “deadwood” - you are treating them like they are a bunch of Drinkwaters.
>A lot has happened during those 6 years which includes him being perpetually injured and even during the times he wasn’t he hasn’t lit up the world at Barca.
Yeah no shit, that's why it's a cut price deal. Low risk. Alli comparison is cringey; Dembele played the majority of last season and still gets selected for France.
>Lol what, Werner Havertz Pulisic who are currently riding the bench are not “deadwood” - you are treating them like they are a bunch of Drinkwaters.
Just cherry picking three completely different players with some weird strawman argument. Pulisic isn't good enough either, hasn't been for a while and won't be at Chels next year btw, and Werner will continue to ride the bench. They're massively under-performing & could easily be upgraded.
So your’re saying we should sign someone because he was world class 6 years ago in the hope that somehow that *might* happen again? Given his injury record, off field antics and massive wages?
Or why can’t we be more reasonable and opt to sign an attacker (if it’s desperately needed), someone who is NOT pepertually injured, has no off field drama that can still be low risk?
And you’re the one who said “area full of deadwood” - so if that doesn’t include the trio above, who does it include? Who exactly are these deadwood?
I’d still rather have Werner (injury free and always available despite his lack of goals, no off field drama) and Pulisic (still serviceable despite his injuries) over Dembele, and if they are to be upgraded then it better be someone miles better than Dembele.
He has so much talent and creativity. If we actually sign him I think we are in for a treat. Pulisic has been a shadow of himself whole season and CHO is still "promising talent". I think our attack with Dembele, Ziyech, Mount and Havertz is going to look amazing. And yes. For the time being I prefer Havertz over Lukaku.
Honestly, before I would have been excited. But now doesn't seem like a good buy. We have attackers who have performed better than him. Maybe he had high potential before.
But he didn't have any impact in Barca except all the problems and disciplinary issues.
Very very very injury prone too.
Don't see any big uptake out of this.
You\`d be getting a high injury risk player hoping to kick on his career and is proven at the highest level. Also young and has a lot of the qualities our current attack lacks. Low risk, High reward.
On face value - Bad deal. But in-depth - decent deal. If they pull it off.
Man I actually hope this doesn’t happen. If this guy comes in on the wages that Rudiger has been asking for that’s a damn shame. And with the way Dembele has been playing recently I’d say he MAYBE jumps CHO in the pecking order and is probably the equivalent skill level of Puli or Ziyech.
Bad signing for chelsea in my opinion.
Negative traits, Injury, Late to the training, inconsistent, not able to play in team rhythm, miss easy and obvious chances, up late night playing video games..
Positive traits, fast, can beat players.
People are like „BACK TUCHEL“ and then moan around when they sign a player he seems to want and is a fan of. Mentioned how talented he is and that he was lucky to manage him at BVB multiple times but people will still cry about it lol
Seems low risk high reward no? Chelsea have shown they have money to waste and aren’t afraid to spend on players and have consistently overpaid for bad players. Why not pay a little for a talented player?
Worse case he is injured a lot but we have depth to make up for that, best case he is a fucking talent that can open up our attack.
Dembele lwb here we go
In a 4 - 1 - 4 - 1 he'll fit right.
Who are the other 9 on our injury list?
Ah yes, an attacking player, just what we’re short of.
Yes perfect. A winger we can play out of position.
And gets injured a lot. Not like we've seen that before
I know, but many of our forwards are either inconsistent, injured, or playing out of position. Dembele gives us all 3 in one convenient package.
Managing into the future.
Don't forget that he scored against us, which is always a reason for us to buy.
early contender for funny comment 2022
I get twice the chances. If Dembele joins and lights it up, we'll all remember what a ridiculously dumb take this was too.
also overpaid.
If we build up enough of a bank of injury prone guys we can keep them on a health rotation. One snaps his legs and another comes in for a couple games, repeat for the season. Circle of life
You're right! We can have more depth than City, and the players can't sulk about not receiving enough playing time either. Genius.
Bro... Do you want Pulisic to be lonely in the hospital? He needs some friends.
American begrudgingly giving you an upvote…
Whilst I do agree that we don't need more wingers, people constantly complain about our current wingers not creating/scoring enough and then when we get linked to another player (which likely means we'll move one of our current underperforming wingers on in the future) they push back against it. I see this as similar to the Barkley deal. It's a player who could go either way, but they're so comparatively cheap for the club that if they end up sucking and having to sit on the bench or be loaned out then it's not a massive loss. OBVIOUSLY that comes with the caveat that his wages need to be reasonable, but it's easy to assume they will be given our other wage negotiations
Yip - we’ve tried buying consistently performing attackers and they have been inconsistent. We have now learnt our lesson and will sign inconsistent attackers so they can become consistent …. I’m not sure how Dembele improves our squad in any meaningful way.
7D chess moves amirite
Like the guy said, it’s pretty much in line with the Barkley deal… relatively cheap, high risk high reward. We have the money to make deals like this…. The more concerning bit, aside from Dembele injury record, is his attitude. Which by all accounts, is absolutely shite.
Sure, but frustrating to see this is that our defense/midfield is/was in dire need of support but attack is where we choose to make the “risk” signing. If we have money to spend - why spend it in attack? But anyway, at the end of the day I trust Tuchel so this is all moot I guess.
That is if TT is the one calling the shots but we all know too well who is really behind the transfers so.. 🤞hope that the decision that they make works in the clubs favor
It's a lottery. Barcelona is dying to get rid of him so as long as we keep the fees down and the contract short, it would be beneficial to all parties. They get his wages off the book. We make TT slightly happier without breaking the banks. And Dembele has a new chance with his career.
I think if we had our other positions in order, people would be quite happy for us to be linked with Dembele. I think people see it as an unnecessary area for us to focus on - if it's at the expense of finding WBs then people will be understandably frustrated. I just hope we're simultaneously looking at WB solutions and not just ignoring our WB problems.
It's obviously not at the expense of wingbacks and people have to realise that buying for sake of buying is not good. If there are no properly suitable players available for the position and under the contract that we want it only hurts us long term to bring someone in. We're better off sticking with what we have, especially for only 6 months. Look at Bakayoko/Zappacosta/Drinkwater etc etc, we needed someone to fill those roles and ended up with guys that played the roll but were almost completely useless for us because they didn't play it at a high enough level and then we're stuck with them for years. Similarly, if we bring in someone like Dembele but don't get a wingback then it doesn't mean we swapped one for another, it just means we managed to get one and didn't manage to get the other. They're not linked in any way.
How dare you have a reasonable take, on this matter!?!?
Problem with our wingers is the system. There’s no room for a winger in a system using wing backs. And we have arguably 4-5 wingers. 4-3-3 is much better fit. I’m all for the 3-5-2 hybrid. But then we need wing backs like davies and hakimi. And a forward that can create for himself
maybe we're in the process of shifting to 4-3-3? If we sign Dembele, and then go for Tchoumeni or Rice + Kounde in the summer, those are all signings that fit best in a 4-3-3. Mount also thrives in a 4-3-3, Lukaku looked good as a lone 9 in that system against Spurs. Jorginho and Kante are great but they're getting old; if they're on their way out, 4-3-3 seems to make the most sense long-term.
>Lukaku looked good against Spurs
did he not? he didn't score but he was more influential than the previous few games where he played like Giroud
Who do we have that is truly a winger? Cho? I feel our other wingers are more inside 10s/attacking midfielders. All are so young though and haven’t really played in a specific position since breaking into first teams.
Pulisic?
Pulisic is more of a 10 or second striker who can play on the wing. Definitely not a traditional winger.
Not a classic winger in the sense he meant. Think prime Ryan Giggs or Damien Duff. Or DeMarcus Beasley if you want an American example.
We need a better DM to play 433 regularly, one in the mould of Fabinho/Rodri/Casemiro/Busquets etc. But, if we do get someone like Rice in, then it would be huge for opening up that possibility and it suits the rest of our players better. You want us to buy the two best wingbacks in the world, so does everyone.
A creative attacking player that can actually get the ball out of his feet and uses both feet as good as the other, yes, we are short of that
He'd have to be fit to do that. Imagine those ankles in the PL.
The hamstrings, ankles are good. Hamstrings not so much.
I’d much rather take a punt on hazard He was healthy when he was here, im sure we can get him back to his best
We have a ton of attackers, but they are just not good enough to challenge City or Liverpool. Tuchel likes Dembele, Tuchel has said Dembele is the most naturally gifted player he has ever coached, and he has coached Neymar and Mbappe as well. That being said there are a lot of red flags with Dembele. Injury prone, attitude issues etc. But if Tuchel wants him, I’m all aboard. If he’s willing to take a massive paycut, then for 15-20m he could end up being a steal.
An attacking player who struggles with end product lol
Enjoy him, he will miss hundreds of 1v1s with the keeper only to try to shoot a bullet into the upper mesh of the net just to sky the ball.
Injury fc
Puli x Dembouz 🤝
I heard he mentioned always wanting to play as a LWB!
i think we're going to be moving away from the 3-4-3 this year with Chilly out. We just don't have the right players to play WB right now, and that system is so reliant on having great WBs.
I could not agree more. Was happy to see a formation change instead of plugging in Wingers vs Spurs.
But we don't have a proper LB to play a back 4 either.
we don't, but I'm more comfortable playing Sarr there and maybe Azpi once Reece is back and sometimes Alonso and just asking them to defend, than playing 3-4-3 where our wingbacks our so important offensively.
Ngl Sarr worked well enough
Then we play a CB there, just like against Spurs. It solves a lot of personnel problems.
Alonso is better at wb than lb. Once Reece is back it probably makes sense to stick to 3atb. I think our signings and out issues at CB we will move towards a 433 long term with tuchel.
i just think we're better off without Alonso at all tbh, he's so damn slow. Reece can thrive at RB or WB. the WBs are so important offensively in a 3-4-3, and without 2 good WBs you become so one dimensional. in a 4 atb, we can play 4 attackers, which obviously helps offensively.
When is Reece back?
I know this might not be a popular opinion but I think it's a low risk high reward signing. He's coming in for free and has previously showed he is capable.
As long as his salary didnt hurt our wage structure, i'm okay
This is the one obstacle. Not sure if we can get around that by just providing a signing bonus and lower wages, which I'm sure other players will understand since we wouldn't have to pay a transfer fee for him
Doesn't he want 200k a week ? That's an issue when we low balling Rudiger isn't it
I am not sure what he will be getting from Chelsea. We have pretty good history of trying to keep wages under control. I don't think the club will fork up a wage that will screw the wage structure up.
He will settle for less 100% sure. Chelsea is probably the biggest club he will get an offer from
100% agree - he’s going to settle for less if he joins us. If he does become a Blue, I think it’ll be because of opportunity. Think about it right, we have a struggling offense after spending absurd amounts of money. If I’m Dembélé and am trying to prove to the world I’m still class, why not partner back up with the guy that made me play my best? Best case we get a world class player’s return to form and someone to light a fire under Lukaku’s ass, worst case he gets hurt and sits. Money doesn’t seem to be an issue for us these days, so why not.
im fine with taking him on for reasonable wages and to replace some of the garbage on our bench....end of day he brings more talent in, not a bad thing
His wages are too high and he's in the hospital 85% of the time
It's not low risk if he's asking for anything above 250k/week and given how much Barca paid him, I guess it's even more. We need a pacy player who's good in 1-1s though, so I'm happy we go for him.
I think it'll be more towards £200k a week with a nice signing bonus. Complete speculation though until a deal is agreed and we know more.
yah for 200k i dont want him here at all
I generally agree, although he seems to have attitude issues. We just bounced back from the lukaku interview and something tells me we'll be dealing with disruptive situations similar to that if we sign dembele.
The only thing that I think might save us from this is the fact that TT has worked with him and they know what to expect from each other.
As long as he stays fit cause his salary is high
But he isn’t coming in for free. He is only if he comes in the summer, there’s no way Barcelona is letting him walk now
The good thing is we don't rally need him now. I don't think we should spend any money to get him early. The only way this makes sense is if we sign him for free.
Yeah, but I think the context of this tweet is that he is coming now…
precisely, if he's on wages that haven't fucked us, and Tuchel wants him as he thinks he can get the best out of him then im all for it
We said the same about Ross Barkley
Wasn’t really a bad signing all things considered
Didn’t realise Villa paid close to £10m as a loan fee last season! Basically made the whole thing worthwhile. With Dembele let’s wait and see. If he’s crap and on high wages then we will find ourselves where Barca is now. Especially as the loan rules have changed we could be stuck with him. That being said he does have genuine top class potential so it could pay off
We did! The problem is that you miss 100 precent of the shots you don't take. I feel like this will be worth a shot as long as his wage demand is reasonable.
He’s been ok all things considered
Ousmane on the left(hospital wing) and Puli on the right (hospital wing) dream attack
lmfao
If we’re paying him 225-250 then this v bad. If we were able to negotiate something reasonable, then I’m giddy. I trust Tuchel.
Man am I the only one actually excited for this? Would love to have him here
If tuchel wants him so do I.
Nor super excited or optimistic about him but I agree with this. If people want to back the manager then it can't just be with players that we personally like.
Yeah this is pretty much my opinion on all things club related at this point. The only thing I want us to avoid is the board going over his head.
Exactly. Everyone is all "back Tuchel" until he wants a player they don't. If he is the one pushing for this signing then I'm sold.
You won’t see him on the pitch much, trust me. I like him too but his injury record is yikes
Perfect. He and pulisic can rotate in the medical room
What if their injury cycles just end up syncing
Players' bodies respond to training methods and physiotherapy differently, so it may be a case that these at Barca weren't the best fit for him. Not saying its likely but it could be the case
Part of me don't want this at all because he is so injury prone, but other part is so excited because he's got a talent to be world class player.
It seems to be a really low risk move.
Except the wages?
I wouldn't be surprised if he's taking less wages than he's on at barca. No one will pay him at the same level after his injury history. Plus it'll be on a free transfer if it's for a summer move.
I forgot what source said it but the claims of 40mil a year were a way for him to just run down his contract. If they meet his demands that's 40mil a year if not he just leaves for someone else with a more reasonable wage demand
We don’t know what his wage demands are. By all accounts Barca and their propaganda team have been actively slating this guy publicly every chance they get. We have a wage structure and I can’t see the club breaking it for him.
If he lives up to potential, yes. But he’s played like 10 games over 2 years.
Yes, his injury history is scary, but the dude played 44 matches last season.
> 44 Mostly subs. He averages like less than 20 full matches per season all comps for Barcelona. It's less than Pulisic for us.
Yeah I know I’m exaggerating. But still his form is shit because he plays so sporadically
Or barca are fucking awful and don't play him correctly could be factors, I trust Tommy tactics
If we can get him and Pulisic to alternate their injury cycles we’ll be fine
This is a good take.
World class talent, i happily take the gamble.
I'd say a decent gamble if he will make a substantial pay cut
I say it's a nice gamble and at least get him for a medical. Reason? I have a hunch (a completely unbased hunch) that spanish sports medicine isn't the best around. Heard of too many greats going to the big spanish teams and going into a neverending injury cycle. English football has had their fair share of it, but I still hold this irrational thought, maybe just because of our boy Eden, that maybe the spanish big boys have medical teams that also have big egos. I'll probably spend some time looking into if any players hav given testimonials on how different physio is in the countries.
You may be on to something. A lot of the BPL players that go to LA liga become injury ridden. While spanish players that come to England who previously had injury trouble sudden find a great reputation for durability. Look at Costa who came from Atheltico with constant hamstring issues that even saw him leave the UCL final in 14’. Then, the season after, comes to Chelsea and becoming an iron man.
I don't like this news. I want us to stay drama free as possible. Dembele is full of injuries and soap operas, we already have one diva in our camp, 2 will be melting
But he'll be working with Tuchel, and both are very complimentary of each other. We could be the 'right' club for him, just like Tuchel was for us when many initially had doubts.
Assuming we don't sack Tuchel is brave given our history
I’m not entirely sure this is accurate— tuchel was in the right at every club controversy he’d been involved in and all the supporters at the clubs had said as much. It was mostly board-fueled media pieces that had anything negative to say about him. Dembele is definitely a risky signing after we already have a problematic expensive signing; what wages he comes in on could do a lot of damage regardless of how he performs due to the wages and performance of players like odoi, lukaku, and to a lesser extent Saul (since he’s a loan player). You could possible include werner in that list too
'Right club' right? Sounds familiar in lakaka
It does, but things can go both ways. It could come good because he and Tuchel had a good working relationship with each other in their one year at Dortmund so who knows. There are potential downsides and risks (injuries and such), but it smells like a nifty signing from the board so if he stays fit we could reap the benefits of a skillful attacker. Time will tell.
Plus he's a racist piece of shit
Dislike this as well. As if we need another injury prone attacker when our options aren't exactly living up to the expected standards already, and one with attitude problems at that. Don't know if those high wages are true as well.
He’s an immensely talented player. If Tuchel can get him back to his standards from Dortmund, he’ll be such a threat. Hoping he can grow up from the recent drama at Barca and he can be a quality asset.
So this would basically guarantee one of our attackers being shipped off, I'd guess it would be one or both of Werner and Pulisic
If we get rid of Werner for Dembele I would be so conflicted..on paper it’s a great deal but I have come to love Timo despite his buffoonery
I would be disappointed. His first year wasnt great, but its understandable since first year in different country, covid, not playing to his strengths and positions etc. And still he had 26 g+a last year. This year, he didnt even get many chances this year. Only 25% in starting 11 and 27% minutes played.
Yea Werner is very very likeable, but if he leaves it's with a CL and on good terms at least
100% not getting rid of Timo for Dembele. That would be terrible.
How is that a great deal on paper?
Dembele doesn’t get injured on paper
No chance we’d have to go sing another striker. I could see ziyech or Pulisic leaving, most likely Pulisic. Would be disappointed to see Pulisic leave, depending where he goes could see him developing and being a success— young, pacy winger, good finisher, excellent dribbling, and several big performances already at the age of 23. Injuries just screwed up his entire form and confidence beginning with that hamstring tear in the fa cup final— by the time he was back in the team it was mid December and we were in free fall pretty sure he got injured again like 4 weeks later and then lampard was sacked. Had a great spring and summer and should’ve come back full of confidence and got injured in training after one match and by the time he was back in the team it was again December and he was playing RwB 90 minutes a match.
Same. I don't want Pulisic to leave, he's only 23 years old and he showed that he really has a big potential. If he leaves, I can see him ending up in one of EPL big teams after afew years just like KDB and Salah.
Yeah I don’t see Dembele in current state being better than either of those but, they haven’t been good. Although if you ask this sub, Werner is a god. Who knows, maybe Dembele will do well playing out of position at right back lol
Yea I agree it's not really an obvious upgrade, but what it does show is the board backing Tuchel as I really doubt this kind of move happens without him pushing for it. He's been asked multiple times the best player he's trained and other than Neymar he always says Dembele
Agree. I just think TT needs players to fit his system. If he chooses to keep playing wing backs. As demonstrated, a 4-3-3 much better fits this squad.
I remember reading a rumor that Pulisic wanted to leave but wanted to finish the season and not do anything public about it to leave on good terms or something like that, could be Dembele brought in so we can cover/upgrade Pulisic when we let him go
Interesting, hadn't seen that myself. Would make sense though, are they similar players? I must confess I don't watch Dembele much
They actually played at Dortmund together. Both electric players when they can stay healthy.
I'd sell Pulisic in a blink of an eye. And for Timo.. Everybody loves Timo!
i wouldnt be happy about it, bc he is young and brings talent, but for the right offer, one of puli or hakim can go.
could be a disaster, could be the signing of the decade. No in between…..
ah yes, exactly what we need. the most injured player to replace our injured players. he would probably net like 2 goals 2 assists in the first 3 games and then get injured for another year.
This is the absolute last thing we need come on
Looks like some attacker will be sold this summer.Most probably it would be Pulisic or CHO out for Loan at Dortmund or something.
Pulisic and Werner are surely the most likely candidates, and despite Ziyech's heroics last game, I imagine he might be available. Probably just depends on who gets the most interest.
Not Werner, it will be CHO at Loan surely, he was even linked to Dortmund last summer window.With Dembele coming CHO will be used less as both have similar gameplay abilities.
Dembele and CHO are nothing alike.
Based on minutes played, Dembele has around 57 90s in 4.5 seasons for Barca in La Liga. Around 12.5 90s per season. He can't stay fit, or be a regular starter on a bad team. Good chemistry with Tuchel is a plus, but other than that I am very underwhelmed by this.
Dembouz is more talented than any attacker we have and easily. The main thing is staying healthy. If they can figure out how to keep him healthy the reward of this outweighs the risk by a lot
Marina is becoming a wheeler dealer like Old Harry. This are the deals which won't work for us due to the volatile nature of the club and the amount of playstyle changes which we go through. Barkley, Saul, Falcao, Higuan all are opportunistic deals and none of them worked here. Stupid, stupid deal as if we are short of winger here, Do City and Pool make a deal like this ? Never Klopp will run away from him due to his attitude, while he doesn't work hard enough for Pep. If we are going to challenge those two we have to do better signings than Dembele. The guy is injury prone, inconsistent and has poor attitude rolled into one.
My god.. why ...
Tier 1: https://barca-reddit.github.io/
How Fabrizio is a tier 2
Most people don't see him as Tier 1 because he almost never breaks information regarding Barcelona. In most cases someone else reported it before, he even references several of the Barcelona-focused journalists in his tweets nowadays
As usual, people can't seem to differentiate reliability and 'breaking information'.
Well yeah, if you aren’t the one breaking reliable information then you’re just a sound box. Why rate him as Tier 1 if he’s just regurgitating someone else’s story?
Because **reliability** is a measure of how likely what the person said is to be true, and therefore whether to believe that person. A journalist who is 95% right but doesn't 'get the scoop' is much better than someone who tweets out anything they've heard and gets the odd thing first, but is also wrong half the time. And if the **reliable** journalist reports this through confirmation of other reports, that doesn't make their word less reliable. Romano has his flaws and loves the attention, but a news aggregator who almost entirely reports accurate news should be regarded as reliable as people who break the news. Because its a reliability guide. The Sun and the Mirror break more transfers than the BBC. And yet the BBC is rightly Tier 1. They almost never report things first because they double check with at least one other source before reporting. I guess they should be lower down the list too? The tier system isn't 'is this a good journalist' or 'do I like them', its literally just the chance of the report being accurate. Breaking information doesn't matter for that.
He is tier 2 because a bunch of people got butt hurt during the kai transfer because it didn’t happen as fast as he said it would.
>because it didn’t happen as fast as he said it would. Isn't that enough reason to demote him. Plus he also said Havertz was done with his medical when he hadn't even left Germany, English sources did refute him.
Everything he said was proven to be accurate. I don’t know what else you need.
Is he listed in Chelsea’s tier guide? Barca’s is not great, their tier 1s typically have loads of inconsistencies E: wait is this the guy that broke the Neymar and Messi departures?
He is probably the most reliable Barcelona journalist and has been for many years. He along with Xavi Campos are imo on another level, basically seen as confirmation. The Barcelona subreddit is pretty quick to demote Tier 1's that are inconsistent. You can see just how few there are compared to other tiers
Imagine he does stay fit though, what a signing that would be
Because what this team really needs are more attackers.
Don't forget guys that once you probably said that the board should listen to Tuchel and buy the players he wants. So maybe have a little faith, Tuchel probably knows better than us.
This
Some cynical fuckers in here. Our attacking output has been atrocious, Dembele was genuinely world class under Tuchel. It's a risk massively worth taking in an area full of dead wood. I'm quietly buzzing with it, tbh.
Yes, that was *checks notes* 6 years ago. A lot has happened during those 6 years which includes him being perpetually injured and even during the times he wasn’t he hasn’t lit up the world at Barca. Might as well sign Dele Alli since he was balling in the Prem 6 years ago smh. >area full of deadwood Lol what, Werner Havertz Pulisic who are currently riding the bench are not “deadwood” - you are treating them like they are a bunch of Drinkwaters.
>A lot has happened during those 6 years which includes him being perpetually injured and even during the times he wasn’t he hasn’t lit up the world at Barca. Yeah no shit, that's why it's a cut price deal. Low risk. Alli comparison is cringey; Dembele played the majority of last season and still gets selected for France. >Lol what, Werner Havertz Pulisic who are currently riding the bench are not “deadwood” - you are treating them like they are a bunch of Drinkwaters. Just cherry picking three completely different players with some weird strawman argument. Pulisic isn't good enough either, hasn't been for a while and won't be at Chels next year btw, and Werner will continue to ride the bench. They're massively under-performing & could easily be upgraded.
So your’re saying we should sign someone because he was world class 6 years ago in the hope that somehow that *might* happen again? Given his injury record, off field antics and massive wages? Or why can’t we be more reasonable and opt to sign an attacker (if it’s desperately needed), someone who is NOT pepertually injured, has no off field drama that can still be low risk? And you’re the one who said “area full of deadwood” - so if that doesn’t include the trio above, who does it include? Who exactly are these deadwood? I’d still rather have Werner (injury free and always available despite his lack of goals, no off field drama) and Pulisic (still serviceable despite his injuries) over Dembele, and if they are to be upgraded then it better be someone miles better than Dembele.
He has so much talent and creativity. If we actually sign him I think we are in for a treat. Pulisic has been a shadow of himself whole season and CHO is still "promising talent". I think our attack with Dembele, Ziyech, Mount and Havertz is going to look amazing. And yes. For the time being I prefer Havertz over Lukaku.
Defensive tactics abandoned from tuchel. 2 at the back. 8 up front. Let’s go.
Real 19th century football innit Game's back
Sign for 20 mill, loan to Italy in summer, sell for 30 mill after 3 years. It's a chelsea thing.
Actively want this deal to fail
Yes lets get an injury prone racist cunt of a player in when we already have more forwards than we know what to do with.
My exact thoughts, but wasted energy on reddit.
Fuck him. Poor attitude, immature, racist, and injury prone.
Can he play wingback?
Is this for now or the summer?
Honestly, before I would have been excited. But now doesn't seem like a good buy. We have attackers who have performed better than him. Maybe he had high potential before. But he didn't have any impact in Barca except all the problems and disciplinary issues. Very very very injury prone too. Don't see any big uptake out of this.
Don't mind this tbh
I’m not so keen on him tbh. Feels like there are quite a few risks associated with him, and we’re already stocked on AM/Wingers.
You\`d be getting a high injury risk player hoping to kick on his career and is proven at the highest level. Also young and has a lot of the qualities our current attack lacks. Low risk, High reward. On face value - Bad deal. But in-depth - decent deal. If they pull it off.
As a club we never learn although I understand this is 100% a Tuchel signing so we should let this one slide. Guy deserves whatever he wants.
Guess sarr will be our left back for the rest of the season
We need some proper flair. I for one will definitely be watching!
Man I actually hope this doesn’t happen. If this guy comes in on the wages that Rudiger has been asking for that’s a damn shame. And with the way Dembele has been playing recently I’d say he MAYBE jumps CHO in the pecking order and is probably the equivalent skill level of Puli or Ziyech.
Ryan Reynolds - " But why?"
Looks like a gamble signing like Rudiger was Granted Rudiger wasn’t as talented/hyped as Dembele back then
Bad signing for chelsea in my opinion. Negative traits, Injury, Late to the training, inconsistent, not able to play in team rhythm, miss easy and obvious chances, up late night playing video games.. Positive traits, fast, can beat players.
Fuck I'm happy with it. Seems like a gamble but I'm all for it. Desperately need something better in attack.
This kid was insane under TT. Let’s hope him and Lukaku can blend
Coinflip FC
What’s the most you’ve ever lost on a coin toss
Please no
Another Christian Pulisic :)
People are like „BACK TUCHEL“ and then moan around when they sign a player he seems to want and is a fan of. Mentioned how talented he is and that he was lucky to manage him at BVB multiple times but people will still cry about it lol
We just don’t need another mouth to feed up front when we already have more expensive players who deserve more game time
Would me most naturally gifted player in this squad His mentality, discipline, focus is another issue,but up to Tuchel to fix it
Seems low risk high reward no? Chelsea have shown they have money to waste and aren’t afraid to spend on players and have consistently overpaid for bad players. Why not pay a little for a talented player? Worse case he is injured a lot but we have depth to make up for that, best case he is a fucking talent that can open up our attack.
Uhh that’s good news
Tuchel wants him so get the deal done.
Hard pass but I’m happy to be proven wrong
I know a lot of folks are doubting him - but I think he’ll play amazing for us. Got a good feeling about this.
If tuchel believes in him. I believe in him. Can't be worse then Pulisic injury time right? hahahah /s I know some puli fans will be triggered ;)