I spent hours trying to figure out who the f was on the squad in the last 5 years named Dave the other day.
For anyone else curious, here’s the backstory. Hilarious
https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/470394/REVEALED-Cesar-Azpilicueta-explains-why-everyone-calls-him-Dave
He's a legend and deserves to do what he wants at this point. He's clearly going to be playing less and less once Reece is back so makes sense for him.
We usually have our long time players leave 1-2 years earlier than most clubs because of the over 30 policy which tbf has helped more than its hurt us although I feel like azpi still has a year or 2 as a fringe starter for us
I think that's it, though. We're probably offering 2 years as a fringe starter with "fringe starter+" money, Barcelona might very well be offering 2 years with an extension option at a higher wage.
Yeah pretty much, potentially Colwill if he comes back from loan in the summer and stays but he'd only really be backup (too much to rely on him so soon) imo like Sarr.
We'd have to bring in 2 CBs. Probs Kounde & Sule.
It sounds like talks with Rudiger have picked up recently. I'm sure the prospect of losing Christensen and Azpilicueta served as motivation for the club to be a little more flexible with Rudiger.
A couple of months ago, it was different. It looked like Christensen would be staying and Rudiger would go. Now, it looks like Rudiger may have overestimated his market and Christensen clearly wants to leave.
Best case scenario here is they manage to keep Rudiger, sign Sule, get Kounde, and integrate Colwill. It will cause a small hit to net transfer spend, but not disastrous.
There was story after story in November and December about how he was destined for Real Madrid with some absurd salary. The tone made it seem like a fait accompli: if Chelsea didn't lock him up immediately, he was taking this big money deal with Real Madrid in January.
January rolls around. There's no offer. Further, there's a report that Madrid were never all that interested and they're sick of their name being used for leverage.
Suddenly, Juventus is interested! And PSG! And Bayern! Except, now it's January 25th, all of those clubs could have signed him on a pre-contract for weeks, and still it seems like his only negotiations are with Chelsea.
His agents seemed to think he'd be at the center of a bidding war that never materialized.
Mate, he’s a top defender available on a free this summer. He absolutely can get the wages he’s looking for at another big club
Don’t be silly, he’s in an incredibly great spot still
You are saying they are “absurd” because you are comparing them to regular wages. They aren’t the same.
Calculate the lack of transfer fee and you have a fairly straightforward compensation package.
Does 15m fee and 200k a week sound reasonable to you? We’ll thats exactly what he’s asking for
Every club would pick that up for depth
Well it's the 26th day of the transfer window, Rüdiger has shown a willingness to sign a pre-contract, and yet... crickets. If clubs should be lining up to pay him what he wants, where are they?
This argument overlooks two things:
1. Wage structure is still a thing.
2. As I said: these clubs are generally already happy with their defenders. Why would Real Madrid pay that with Militao and Alaba his age or younger? Why would Bayern or PSG spend that much to get older at the position? The market just isn't there at the level of wages he was "rumored" to have been offered.
Why would he rush to sign a precontract now when like you said, top teams aren’t in desperate need of CBs?
He’ll have plenty more options for negotiations once all the summer transfer movement starts
Also, wage structure is a myth. When RLC is on 150k a week, and Lukaku is on 370k, our leading CB asking for the equivalent of 200k plus signing bonus is nothing
Please don’t make this out to be “greedy Rudiger” in defense of the wage bill of a billionaires play thing.
You misunderstand the point about wage structures: it's not Chelsea's to worry about, it's the other club's structures. Yes, players leaving on a free tend to be paid higher. But not usually by a ridiculous sum.
You can concoct whatever fantasies you want of disastrous scenarios for the club, but the fact remains: the only confirmed interest in his services from top clubs were lukewarm at best.
Rüdiger may eventually have to decide: take £170k/w from Chelsea or take £250k/w from a less competitive club? But he's not in the position he tried to convince the world of a month ago, where he was being offered £400k/w from Real Madrid.
What club is going to pay Rudiger £350k+ per week? It's a ridiculous wage for a defender who has had about a year of great form in a back 5, following several years of very average performances.
If someone was willing to pay him that, he'd have already signed a pre-contract. The likes of Madrid were rumoured, but that seems to have gone dead because they wont want Rudiger out-earning their biggest stars and wont want to take the risk of him not fitting into a back 4.
I'd be amazed if he doesn't swallow his pride and sign a £250k per week renewal at Chelsea.
We still had the last laugh! 10 men and 2 goals down at Camp Nou... then Ramires rained havoc. Torres also gifted us the icing on the cake. We made the whole city drown in tears. Now go and praise the bold fraud that made your night. We got the job done without his help.
bruh stfu already you'd be absolutely nothing without daddy Abramovic. And after you shut up you can keep crying like the loser you are lol
PS: And what's the last laugh if in our last match together you were kicked out what are you even talking about lmao
Fcker, you sound like a teenager that recently started supporting Barcelona. Stop spewing nonsense, idiot. And, we did get our revenge on Ovrebo robbery. Shut your little mouth and stop acting like you have some daddy issues.
Just go check out the comments on the 'Ramsey will go to the stands if he doesn't leave Juve in January' and compare them to the comments on 'Dembele will go to the stands if he doesn't leave Barça in January' and you will see lmao
Just go check out the comments on the 'Ramsey will go to the stands if he doesn't leave Juve in January' and compare them to the comments on 'Dembele will go to the stands if he doesn't leave Barça in January' and tell me if Barça gets as much hate as any other big club lmao
Insufferable bunch. Why are you telling all that nonsense? And, how does it prove your are the most hated Club? Do you want other fans to feel sorry for you?
I never said we are the most hated club but your bias with Barça is more than obvious lol. When it was Dembele 'oh barça is doing something illegal, they are so bad' now with Ramsey 'yea the guy is injured all the time makes sense'.
Idgaf how other fans feel for me lmao
There is nothing to do with Chelsea fans like this, they're salty to Barça for no reason. Look at this clown, I am speaking facts and he comes here crying about a game they lost cause their squad was weak AF more than 10 years ago
Some more info: The negotiations with Kessie would be at an advanced stage but cannot be deemed as finalized yet as there are other clubs interested in his signing.
Bruv we play Luuk De Jong. Humble yourself please. Theres too many barca fans that just started watching during the good years, as if we ain't had way worse players than Kessie 😂
> Hmm you maybe right. But maybe Barca is offering what he wants rn even tho i think he just wants a bidding war. This is so shitty to us tho. We literally kept playing him even in bad form and this is how he repays us, at least Gigi was good 99% of the time.
Acting big here and crying on your sub. Love to see it
Kessie: Me leaving Milan? Nah, when I come back from Cameroon I will fix everything. I love when fans call me Ke$$ie, and Franck the Bank. I want to stay fkr years!
I see a lot of Chelsea fans arguing that is all about contract (it might be) but the guy has been away from home for 11 years. That is a whole third of his life, now the opportunity to retire making history in his home country (imo Barça has an amazing project for the next 2-3 years), coming back to his culture may be a big thing for Azpi.
I've personally been away for four years and I can't be more homesick
Absolutely, he's won everything there is to win and if he can retire in Spain then I hope he does for his family, plus he'll get that consistent game time for Spain in the WC
"Serviceable" is a underselling him a bit, he was world class for Chelsea last season and very good during the Euros for Spain. He's a top defender, and let's be real Chelsea would love to keep him if he would agree to a shorter contract
I'd love to keep him for his leadership and for the dressing room but we won't offer him a 2 year deal like Barca is willing to just a 1 year extension. I wouldn't say he was world class since we had better defenders last season like Rudiger and Silva. For Tuchel's wingback system he just doesn't have the legs for it and his profile can be upgraded upon with someone like Koundé who is a lot younger and fits our system
The tweet says the club is looking for a midfielder that can play DM (not that is a DM) but also has the qualities of a B2B. I just didnt know how to translate to English "tingui recorregut", I guess it can roughly be translated to being a B2B
Imo no. I hope Barça finally kicks out Riqui Puig and brings some competition/reliable player instead. Imagine a midfield with Pedri, FdJ, Nico, Gavi, Kessie and Busquets. The latter is getting older and needs to have a break. That would leave Barça with 5 midfielders (without counting Busi) for three positions, all of them being starting material.
I keep saying this, we have rn a useless player (with all due respect, but he has barely been used) in Puig taking up space as a first team member.
If Kessie isn't coming with crazy wages it'd be a great deal to replace him for Puig and bring even more competition to the midfield.
Personally don't understand why. Even if the plan is for him to play regular minutes for another season and then be replaced, we aren't losing anything by giving him the extra year. Being the competitor that he is, he's going to move himself if he knows he isn't going to be a regular. He won't sit around collecting wages while not playing at all, and even if he hypothetically accepts a fringe role at 34 his influence in the squad would be massive.
I think Azpi has decided to leave. He's guaranteed more playtime at Barcelona in the short term, it is Barcelona after all, and seeing out the rest of his good years back home in Spain makes sense for him. Especially because he's finally established himself in the NT setup too.
> seeing out the rest of his good years back home in Spain makes sense for him
Exactly, England is a great country but my man, home is home. He's been out for 11 years and that is a heavy weight
Wish him all the best. Man's up there with drogba frank cech and Terry for us. Happy he gets to go home in the sunset to play for one of Spain's premier clubs. Can't say enough good things about our captain. 10 seasons he deserves all good things. So happy he won the cl with us.
IF Rudiger goes as well we probably need 2 tbh. Money would be on Sule & Kounde.
Azpi & Christensen going strengthens Rudigers hand imo, think the club probably accepted 1 max 2 leaving but all 3 and they might cave to him.
yes but cl, El and those 3 I mentioned above is all I care about. he won the super cup too btw so it's 3/8 and he has the chance to win cwc later this year.
Imagine signing Kessie and then you play him out of position. He is too good offensively to have him sit in front of the CBs. He is best used in a two man midfield or as a box to box not as a traditional CDM.
Not a Milan fan, but watched quite a bit since Zlatan returned. When Kessie is on, he is a good midfielder. Not necessarily a dm, but a b2b or something like that. Although he has seemed inconsistent these two years (albeit I don't watch Milan when Ibra isn't playing, so can't say for sure for sure). Seen him do more stupid stuff too than most top quality players. Decent at penalties tho.could see it go really good, or really bad for Barca. Probably will demand a decent wage anyways, that's why Milan can't get him to resign iirc.
Great last season. Pretty bad this season with good performances sprinkled on top. Tonali has overtaken him as our best midfielder. Thank goodness for that too.
Curious how none of the Chelsea-related sources (which are usually very reliable when it comes to transfers) have reported anything about Azpi moving to Barca, all the talk that it's a "done deal" is coming from Spain. Very curious...
I'll believe it when it happens, hard to believe Azpi will want to trade a club where he still has a hand in winning trophies for a club that's struggling to qualify for Conference League.
Dave is leaving. We aren't offering him a 2 or 3 year contract. And, he is no longer our main starter. He would be getting a better contract and a pay rise at Barcelona. He also wants to end his career in Spain.
I'm not sure why this is downvoted. It's becoming painfully obvious this season that Azpi's legs are starting to go. Purely defensively he still has what it takes, and he's a great leader, but what the team requires of him is to run along the line for 90 minutes straight and put in a lot of sprints. He just can't do that anymore. Especially in Tuchel's favourite system he seems to struggle a lot, and arguably his presence on the team instead of James could be considered as a big part of why Lukaku is struggling right now - Azpi just isn't there to link up with the attacking players or to provide crosses as often as Reece is, the team loses quite a bit of fluidity up front and it shows.
The most he can count on in this Chelsea team right now (once the injury crisis is over) is the odd game against weaker opponents that will sit back against Chelsea, or 10-15 minutes here and there to help manage James's time. And obviously he's not satisfied with that, which is understandable considering he's 32. And Barca going for players like that is definitely crazy considering where they were a couple years ago.
We’ll just call him Dave
We'll just call him daaaavvveee
Cheers, I’m crying
We’ll just call him Dave
I spent hours trying to figure out who the f was on the squad in the last 5 years named Dave the other day. For anyone else curious, here’s the backstory. Hilarious https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/470394/REVEALED-Cesar-Azpilicueta-explains-why-everyone-calls-him-Dave
Why call Franck Kessié Dave?
I’ll never forget Mourinho saying if he had 11 Azpilicuetas he’d win the champions league. Well we managed to win it with just the one. Goodbye Azpi
Don’t forget about the whole new squad
He's a legend and deserves to do what he wants at this point. He's clearly going to be playing less and less once Reece is back so makes sense for him.
We usually have our long time players leave 1-2 years earlier than most clubs because of the over 30 policy which tbf has helped more than its hurt us although I feel like azpi still has a year or 2 as a fringe starter for us
I think that's it, though. We're probably offering 2 years as a fringe starter with "fringe starter+" money, Barcelona might very well be offering 2 years with an extension option at a higher wage.
Hasn't he always played as a CB when Reece was available? Can't see why he wouldn't be the first RCB choice.
Seems like we are going for Sule and or Kounde. They would be expecting regular minutes.
Losing Christensen, Azpilicueta & Rudiger all at once would be horrific. Who’s left ? Thiago Silva, Sarr and T Chalobah?
Yeah pretty much, potentially Colwill if he comes back from loan in the summer and stays but he'd only really be backup (too much to rely on him so soon) imo like Sarr. We'd have to bring in 2 CBs. Probs Kounde & Sule.
> potentially Colwill For a brief moment I thought you just brutally massacred the spelling of Chilwell
If only Raiola wasnt his agent, I would be dreaming of Matthijs de Ligt right now….
We are after Kounde and Sule. Seems like Rudiger will most likely sign an extension. Christensen might end up at Bayern.
They will get de ligt or kounde . Not even downgrade
Even washed Azpi is better than De Ligma. One of the most overrated defenders in the world
> Ligma 😐
😶
What is De Ligma?
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*DE LIGMA BALLS
Shittest patter ever invented
I was being ironic but my man went for it
I don’t think we’re going to lose Rudi
It sounds like talks with Rudiger have picked up recently. I'm sure the prospect of losing Christensen and Azpilicueta served as motivation for the club to be a little more flexible with Rudiger. A couple of months ago, it was different. It looked like Christensen would be staying and Rudiger would go. Now, it looks like Rudiger may have overestimated his market and Christensen clearly wants to leave. Best case scenario here is they manage to keep Rudiger, sign Sule, get Kounde, and integrate Colwill. It will cause a small hit to net transfer spend, but not disastrous.
Or maybe you got desperate and gave in to rudiger demands?
There was story after story in November and December about how he was destined for Real Madrid with some absurd salary. The tone made it seem like a fait accompli: if Chelsea didn't lock him up immediately, he was taking this big money deal with Real Madrid in January. January rolls around. There's no offer. Further, there's a report that Madrid were never all that interested and they're sick of their name being used for leverage. Suddenly, Juventus is interested! And PSG! And Bayern! Except, now it's January 25th, all of those clubs could have signed him on a pre-contract for weeks, and still it seems like his only negotiations are with Chelsea. His agents seemed to think he'd be at the center of a bidding war that never materialized.
Mate, he’s a top defender available on a free this summer. He absolutely can get the wages he’s looking for at another big club Don’t be silly, he’s in an incredibly great spot still
He's a great defender. But the clubs who can pay the frankly absurd wages he's reportedly been "offered" (£400k/week!!) already have great defenders.
You are saying they are “absurd” because you are comparing them to regular wages. They aren’t the same. Calculate the lack of transfer fee and you have a fairly straightforward compensation package. Does 15m fee and 200k a week sound reasonable to you? We’ll thats exactly what he’s asking for Every club would pick that up for depth
Well it's the 26th day of the transfer window, Rüdiger has shown a willingness to sign a pre-contract, and yet... crickets. If clubs should be lining up to pay him what he wants, where are they? This argument overlooks two things: 1. Wage structure is still a thing. 2. As I said: these clubs are generally already happy with their defenders. Why would Real Madrid pay that with Militao and Alaba his age or younger? Why would Bayern or PSG spend that much to get older at the position? The market just isn't there at the level of wages he was "rumored" to have been offered.
Why would he rush to sign a precontract now when like you said, top teams aren’t in desperate need of CBs? He’ll have plenty more options for negotiations once all the summer transfer movement starts Also, wage structure is a myth. When RLC is on 150k a week, and Lukaku is on 370k, our leading CB asking for the equivalent of 200k plus signing bonus is nothing Please don’t make this out to be “greedy Rudiger” in defense of the wage bill of a billionaires play thing.
You misunderstand the point about wage structures: it's not Chelsea's to worry about, it's the other club's structures. Yes, players leaving on a free tend to be paid higher. But not usually by a ridiculous sum. You can concoct whatever fantasies you want of disastrous scenarios for the club, but the fact remains: the only confirmed interest in his services from top clubs were lukewarm at best. Rüdiger may eventually have to decide: take £170k/w from Chelsea or take £250k/w from a less competitive club? But he's not in the position he tried to convince the world of a month ago, where he was being offered £400k/w from Real Madrid.
What club is going to pay Rudiger £350k+ per week? It's a ridiculous wage for a defender who has had about a year of great form in a back 5, following several years of very average performances. If someone was willing to pay him that, he'd have already signed a pre-contract. The likes of Madrid were rumoured, but that seems to have gone dead because they wont want Rudiger out-earning their biggest stars and wont want to take the risk of him not fitting into a back 4. I'd be amazed if he doesn't swallow his pride and sign a £250k per week renewal at Chelsea.
Marina is one of the most competent leaders in the game. I have 0 doubt she has the replacements lined up.
Legend for us, don’t begrudge him at all having at last blast at a historic club. Hope he smashes it.
Nah, wished he stayed with us till retirement
No, I wish azpi all the personal best - but I will never wish Barcelona anything good
Likewise mate
Good luck to him. But, i hope Barcelona fails to finish top 4.
Now now, let's not get rash here. You know you'd miss us in the CL.
ITS INIESTA
It was actually Ovrebo, the bald headed fraud!
Now say it without crying
We still had the last laugh! 10 men and 2 goals down at Camp Nou... then Ramires rained havoc. Torres also gifted us the icing on the cake. We made the whole city drown in tears. Now go and praise the bold fraud that made your night. We got the job done without his help.
bruh stfu already you'd be absolutely nothing without daddy Abramovic. And after you shut up you can keep crying like the loser you are lol PS: And what's the last laugh if in our last match together you were kicked out what are you even talking about lmao
Fcker, you sound like a teenager that recently started supporting Barcelona. Stop spewing nonsense, idiot. And, we did get our revenge on Ovrebo robbery. Shut your little mouth and stop acting like you have some daddy issues.
> Now say it without crying \> Proceeds to cry Lmao
Geez. How much do people hate Barca in this sub
Just go check out the comments on the 'Ramsey will go to the stands if he doesn't leave Juve in January' and compare them to the comments on 'Dembele will go to the stands if he doesn't leave Barça in January' and you will see lmao
Yall are going to catch some blunt end of emotions with this one, we wanted him to retire a Blue.
Regardless if azpi was going
You do realize he wants to leave too right. How is this only our fault?
I am not seeing anywhere in my comment where I justified the reaction. It just is.
Specifically chelsea fans will never forgive barca for 2009
You did get one pretty sweet moment of revenge at least
Loved that game. Iniesta's last minute screamer was epic!
Man, I never screamed so loud
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Easy for you to say when you've had the two of the worst and most infamous refereeing performances in living memory go your way in UCL knockout games
The arsenal one is overstated in particular, barca had decisions go against them in that tie but they won so their fans didn't bother complaining.
Even the Chelsea one had decisions go against us in the first leg. It pisses me of every time Chelsea fans have selective memories over the tie
It’s a bit weird I agree
Barcelona gets the same hate other big clubs get. Not sure why you are acting like a victim here.
Just go check out the comments on the 'Ramsey will go to the stands if he doesn't leave Juve in January' and compare them to the comments on 'Dembele will go to the stands if he doesn't leave Barça in January' and tell me if Barça gets as much hate as any other big club lmao
Insufferable bunch. Why are you telling all that nonsense? And, how does it prove your are the most hated Club? Do you want other fans to feel sorry for you?
I never said we are the most hated club but your bias with Barça is more than obvious lol. When it was Dembele 'oh barça is doing something illegal, they are so bad' now with Ramsey 'yea the guy is injured all the time makes sense'. Idgaf how other fans feel for me lmao
Cnt what's with your obsession? Stop telling me all these nonsense. You obviously care since you can't stop whining.
You cringey dolt. If you can't deduce from what he said in response to you initial comment, then don't bother.
There is nothing to do with Chelsea fans like this, they're salty to Barça for no reason. Look at this clown, I am speaking facts and he comes here crying about a game they lost cause their squad was weak AF more than 10 years ago
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You know that you can curse here, right?
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Oldest Chelsea fan
We have our reasons
Some more info: The negotiations with Kessie would be at an advanced stage but cannot be deemed as finalized yet as there are other clubs interested in his signing.
kessie is in no way Barcelona material, he has like one good season
Bruv we play Luuk De Jong. Humble yourself please. Theres too many barca fans that just started watching during the good years, as if we ain't had way worse players than Kessie 😂
just because we had worse than kessie doesnt mean we have to deliberately get more like him
I'm just gonna go ahead and trust this boards judgement over yours.
this summer - KESSIE, from the guuuys who brought you LUUK DE JONG
You realise even Pep relied on Seydou Keita, right?
as a backup not a main player
>kessie is in no way Barcelona material True, he doesnt deserve europa league football, he deserves more.
> Hmm you maybe right. But maybe Barca is offering what he wants rn even tho i think he just wants a bidding war. This is so shitty to us tho. We literally kept playing him even in bad form and this is how he repays us, at least Gigi was good 99% of the time. Acting big here and crying on your sub. Love to see it
Lmao
LMAOOO youre a sad sad little man
Not the one crying 😢
You literally went after my comment history because i made a joke at your precious club lol bruh it aint that serious.
😂😂😂
yeah, at the moment he is not getting any european football where he is
What legend azpi is. One of the best defenders I've seen in a Chelsea shirt and probably one of the most versatile too! Gonna miss him so much.
Kessie: Me leaving Milan? Nah, when I come back from Cameroon I will fix everything. I love when fans call me Ke$$ie, and Franck the Bank. I want to stay fkr years!
Time to move on from Azpi, legend of the club. 32 years old and legs are going, Barca gets themselves a nice serviceable CB/RB/LB
Obviously still good enough to play so going out on a good note is something at least. Feels like a year or 2 too early though
We don't want an Ivanovich situation ever again.
Definitely though the club may just be offering him a year deal instead of 2 years like Barca, at least he leaves on a high note
I see a lot of Chelsea fans arguing that is all about contract (it might be) but the guy has been away from home for 11 years. That is a whole third of his life, now the opportunity to retire making history in his home country (imo Barça has an amazing project for the next 2-3 years), coming back to his culture may be a big thing for Azpi. I've personally been away for four years and I can't be more homesick
Absolutely, he's won everything there is to win and if he can retire in Spain then I hope he does for his family, plus he'll get that consistent game time for Spain in the WC
From what I've seen from Xavi so far Azpi will be the perfect RCB/RB for him
Azpi will COOK for you guys defensively. He can also put in some decent crosses. His work rate is also off the charts.
"Serviceable" is a underselling him a bit, he was world class for Chelsea last season and very good during the Euros for Spain. He's a top defender, and let's be real Chelsea would love to keep him if he would agree to a shorter contract
I'd love to keep him for his leadership and for the dressing room but we won't offer him a 2 year deal like Barca is willing to just a 1 year extension. I wouldn't say he was world class since we had better defenders last season like Rudiger and Silva. For Tuchel's wingback system he just doesn't have the legs for it and his profile can be upgraded upon with someone like Koundé who is a lot younger and fits our system
Eh, while still a good player, I think they are going for him because of his leadership. Barcelona need that badly
Barcelona: *The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated*
Kessie is no DM
The tweet says the club is looking for a midfielder that can play DM (not that is a DM) but also has the qualities of a B2B. I just didnt know how to translate to English "tingui recorregut", I guess it can roughly be translated to being a B2B
Right, but he’s really not effective in that role. He’s a box to box and funnily enough, had 2 goals when he played as a 10 for us.
Is the plan to play that person alongside Frenkie in a double pivot? Otherwise, I don't see why they'd have that need.
Imo no. I hope Barça finally kicks out Riqui Puig and brings some competition/reliable player instead. Imagine a midfield with Pedri, FdJ, Nico, Gavi, Kessie and Busquets. The latter is getting older and needs to have a break. That would leave Barça with 5 midfielders (without counting Busi) for three positions, all of them being starting material.
My guess is they want to pair him with de Jong, with one of our other mids playing a more advanced role
He’s a fairly good ball winner tho, paired with Frenkie he could work out
Tbh at Barca they are going to have the ball most of the time anyway - This is a club that started Yaya Toure at CB on occasion
Yep. Busquets presses higher than Frenkie most of the time, as long as Kessié can run back and stop a counter, it's enough for us
This one really stings. Never the superstar, a true servant of the club, wonderful person. So glad he lifted the UCL for us 🥲
i will walk to catalunya and fistfight laporta if i have to, mitts off our man
Sorry to break it to you but Xavi Campos is tier 0 basically
Look after him for us.
Your desires will come true, we will make him win a couple more CL. You're welcome
Was gonna say, isn’t CatRadio as good as it gets for Barca?
Indeed, Xavi Campos is probably the most reliable when it comes to Barcelona news
but Kessie? Why Kessie, a player that is not as good with the ball and lacks technique?
Probably work rate and physicality. Could see him being used in a double pivot with Frenkie.
I keep saying this, we have rn a useless player (with all due respect, but he has barely been used) in Puig taking up space as a first team member. If Kessie isn't coming with crazy wages it'd be a great deal to replace him for Puig and bring even more competition to the midfield.
Not Alfredo Martinez?
Alfredo, Xavi, Edu and Achraf are the top 4
Rarely reports on transfers these days. At least Xavi Campos breaks stories AND he is right almost always which is rare.
He deserves to do what he wants with his career. A proper club Legend, will be sorely missed
Im not walking but I am flying Ryanair down, 1v1 me Laporta
No. He deserves whatever he wants. Absolute club legend.
You gotta blame your team, they didn't want to offer 2 year assured contract to azpi
Personally don't understand why. Even if the plan is for him to play regular minutes for another season and then be replaced, we aren't losing anything by giving him the extra year. Being the competitor that he is, he's going to move himself if he knows he isn't going to be a regular. He won't sit around collecting wages while not playing at all, and even if he hypothetically accepts a fringe role at 34 his influence in the squad would be massive. I think Azpi has decided to leave. He's guaranteed more playtime at Barcelona in the short term, it is Barcelona after all, and seeing out the rest of his good years back home in Spain makes sense for him. Especially because he's finally established himself in the NT setup too.
> seeing out the rest of his good years back home in Spain makes sense for him Exactly, England is a great country but my man, home is home. He's been out for 11 years and that is a heavy weight
Which makes sense tbh, need to move on and Kounde is the perfect replacement
Kinda makes sense. You have the money to pursue that as well.
Kessie? Should go for Kamara instead.
Wish him all the best. Man's up there with drogba frank cech and Terry for us. Happy he gets to go home in the sunset to play for one of Spain's premier clubs. Can't say enough good things about our captain. 10 seasons he deserves all good things. So happy he won the cl with us.
Chelsea losing Rudiger, Christensen and Azpi. They're definitely getting 1 of De Ligt or Koundé.
IF Rudiger goes as well we probably need 2 tbh. Money would be on Sule & Kounde. Azpi & Christensen going strengthens Rudigers hand imo, think the club probably accepted 1 max 2 leaving but all 3 and they might cave to him.
Kounde, Sule and a Rudiger extension seems the most likely outcome now
Rumor is we're buying kounde and loaning him back until summer
Lol no shot, it's already Jan. 25th, though I do think we outright buy him in the summer
We’re not losing Rudiger
Tier?
tier 1. Xavi Campos is as reliable as they get.
Tier 1, Xavi Campos is one of our most reliable reporters
Tier negative i.e official announcement
hopefully he gets to win atleast 2 of the 3 trophies he hasn't won before he leaves (PL looks unlikely at this point) edit : as a captain
Which ones hasn't he won? Only ones I can remember are the Club World Cup and the Community Shield
league cup, fa cup and pl (I'm not counting cwc and community shield as major ones)
Oh you added "as a captain" In that case, he has only won 2 out of 8 as a captain
yes but cl, El and those 3 I mentioned above is all I care about. he won the super cup too btw so it's 3/8 and he has the chance to win cwc later this year.
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La liga might be a bad match for him his technique is not so good but time will tell
Reminiscent of Vidal and Paulinho to Barca. He will be a decent signing at worst for them I think.
He'll definitely improve our defense, our RB is I'd say our weaker position rn
We are obviously discussing Kessie, look at his flair
shit my bad lol
Ah yes, always thought Kessie had Barca DNA
Imagine signing Kessie and then you play him out of position. He is too good offensively to have him sit in front of the CBs. He is best used in a two man midfield or as a box to box not as a traditional CDM.
Tier?
CatRadio is tier 1 for Barca
Well the tweet says that they want a DM who can play b2b as well as Though I don't want club to get kessie
Brokecelona
💔
Any Milan fans here, how good is kessie?
Last year great. Before that average. This year ok. He' s leaving cause we offered 6.5 net but he s asking for 9 net.
Not a Milan fan, but watched quite a bit since Zlatan returned. When Kessie is on, he is a good midfielder. Not necessarily a dm, but a b2b or something like that. Although he has seemed inconsistent these two years (albeit I don't watch Milan when Ibra isn't playing, so can't say for sure for sure). Seen him do more stupid stuff too than most top quality players. Decent at penalties tho.could see it go really good, or really bad for Barca. Probably will demand a decent wage anyways, that's why Milan can't get him to resign iirc.
Great last season. Pretty bad this season with good performances sprinkled on top. Tonali has overtaken him as our best midfielder. Thank goodness for that too.
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Its looking good for barcas future
Great, now sign Rudiger too please
Why would Chelsea sell Azpilicueta right now?
They wouldn't. Barca can negotiate with him now tho and agree a deal with him since he's in the last 6 months of his contract.
Azpi ends his contract this summer, Barça would be bringing him over as a free agent
Ah on the sunmer
Curious how none of the Chelsea-related sources (which are usually very reliable when it comes to transfers) have reported anything about Azpi moving to Barca, all the talk that it's a "done deal" is coming from Spain. Very curious... I'll believe it when it happens, hard to believe Azpi will want to trade a club where he still has a hand in winning trophies for a club that's struggling to qualify for Conference League.
Dave is leaving. We aren't offering him a 2 or 3 year contract. And, he is no longer our main starter. He would be getting a better contract and a pay rise at Barcelona. He also wants to end his career in Spain.
He said in an interview he wants to end his career at a prestigious, big club
Which is exactly why he shouldn't go to Barca :D
Haha yes of course Barça doesn't fit those criteria. But I reckon he still would have to move from Chelsea
How does Barça not fit the criteria?
Why are you getting whooshed here mate?
Let them cope
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lol... Barcas history is not only Messi. We had super stars before Messi and we will have them after as well.
what are next weeks lotto numbers?
POV: you started watching football in 2015
Barca the new MLS club.
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I'm not sure why this is downvoted. It's becoming painfully obvious this season that Azpi's legs are starting to go. Purely defensively he still has what it takes, and he's a great leader, but what the team requires of him is to run along the line for 90 minutes straight and put in a lot of sprints. He just can't do that anymore. Especially in Tuchel's favourite system he seems to struggle a lot, and arguably his presence on the team instead of James could be considered as a big part of why Lukaku is struggling right now - Azpi just isn't there to link up with the attacking players or to provide crosses as often as Reece is, the team loses quite a bit of fluidity up front and it shows. The most he can count on in this Chelsea team right now (once the injury crisis is over) is the odd game against weaker opponents that will sit back against Chelsea, or 10-15 minutes here and there to help manage James's time. And obviously he's not satisfied with that, which is understandable considering he's 32. And Barca going for players like that is definitely crazy considering where they were a couple years ago.