Friday 22 July 2016

The list is long…



…with many a winding turn.


And it’s only ‘Day 22’!


Love it or hate it – and for the record I find it mostly laborious with a tinge of occasional excitement – we all have to endure the ‘transfer window’. 2 months, or there abouts, in the summer and another month in January (with speculation for the latter usually starting around October…if we’re “lucky”).

As recently mentioned, I purposely avoided joining in the constant merry-go-round of both-repeated and just crazy, non-story speculation – I didn’t think you’d want to read yet another story that simply spewed out the same ‘copy & paste’ material.

With the amount of stuff out there and the sheer number of players that have been linked with a move to our progressive, forward-thinking football club; it’s hard to grasp that the transfer window has only officially been open for 21-½ days (although clubs & players could “talk” as of 1st June 2016)!

Anyhoo…I do keep a list for my own ‘monitoring purposes’, which does NOT include “crazy speculation” linking us with players that just aren’t gonna sign – not in this window at least - but does include slightly more sensible / reasonable ‘links’; as well as my own ‘best guesses’ based on sensible connections made in previous transfer windows.

What surprised me, before deciding to do this little piece, was just how long my own, so-called, more-sensible list had got!

In order of playing position…

Position: Goalkeeper
Current club: Free agent…or Real Sociedad (conflicting info)
Rumoured fee: Free…or £4M (conflicting info)
Current likelihood: 9/10

Position: Goalkeeper
Current club: Barcelona
Rumoured fee: £15M
Current likelihood: 3/10

Position: Goalkeeper
Current club: PSV Eindhoven
Rumoured fee: £7M          
Current likelihood: 5/10

Position: Goalkeeper
Current club: Barcelona
Rumoured fee: Unknown
Current likelihood: 2/10

Position: Defender - Centre
Current club: Everton
Rumoured fee: £45M+
Current likelihood: 8/10

Position: Defender - Centre
Current club: Juventus
Rumoured fee: £45M+
Current likelihood: 4/10

Position: Defender - Centre
Current club: West Ham United
Rumoured fee: £15M
Current likelihood: 3/10

Position: Defender - Centre
Current club: Roma
Rumoured fee: Unknown
Current likelihood: 3/10

Position: Defender - Centre
Current club: Atletico Madrid
Rumoured fee: Unknown
Current likelihood: 3/10

Position: Defender - Centre
Current club: Atletico Bilbao
Rumoured fee: N/A
Current likelihood: 0/10 – New contract signed; now not moving this window

Position: Defender - Left
Current club: West Ham United
Rumoured fee: £25M
Current likelihood: 1/10

Position: Defender - Left
Current club: Juventus
Rumoured fee: £30M
Current likelihood: 2/10

Position: Defender - Left
Current club: PSV Eindhoven
Rumoured fee: £15M
Current likelihood: 3/10

Name: Danny Rose
Position: Defender - Left
Current club: Tottenham Hotspur
Rumoured fee: £35M
Current likelihood: 2/10

Position: Defender - Left
Current club: VfL Wolfsburg
Rumoured fee: Unknown
Current likelihood: 6/10

Position: Defender - Right
Current club: Real Madrid
Rumoured fee: Unknown
Current likelihood: 1/10

Position: Defender - Right
Current club: Arsenal
Rumoured fee: Unknown
Current likelihood: 2/10

Position: Defender / Winger – Left / Right
Current club: Torino FC
Rumoured fee: £17M
Current likelihood: 5/10

Position: Midfielder - Centre
Current club: Bologna FC 1909
Rumoured fee: £14M
Current likelihood: 1/10

Position: Midfielder - Centre
Current club: Manchester City
Rumoured fee: £19.3M
Current likelihood: SIGNED

Name: Tony Kroos
Position: Midfielder - Centre
Current club: Real Madrid
Rumoured fee: £35M
Current likelihood: 3/10

Name: Paul Pogba
Position: Midfielder - Centre
Current club: Juventus
Rumoured fee: £105M
Current likelihood: 1/10

Position: Midfielder - Centre
Current club: Bayern Munich
Rumoured fee: Unknown
Current likelihood: 1/10

Name: Aaron Mooy
Position: Midfielder - Centre
Current club: Manchester City (on loan to Huddersfield Town)
Rumoured fee: Undisclosed
Current likelihood: SIGNED

Position: Midfielder - Centre
Current club: Arsenal
Rumoured fee: £25M
Current likelihood: 1/10

Position: Winger / Forward – Left / Centre
Current club: Manchester City
Rumoured fee: £1.7M
Current likelihood: SIGNED

Position: ‘Midfield playmaker’
Current club: Manchester City
Rumoured fee: Unknown
Current likelihood: SIGNED

Name: Nolito
Position: Winger / Forward – Left / Centre
Current club: Manchester City
Rumoured fee: £13.8M
Current likelihood: SIGNED

Position: Winger / Forward – Left / Right / Centre
Current club: Atletico Nacional
Rumoured fee: £8.23M
Current likelihood: 9/10

Name: Leroy Sane
Position: Winger / Forward – Left / Right / Centre
Current club: Schalke 04
Rumoured fee: £35M+
Current likelihood: 8/10

Name: Koke
Position: Midfielder / WingerLeft / Centre
Current club: Atletico Madrid
Rumoured fee: £37.5M
Current likelihood: 1/10

Position: Winger / Striker – Left / Right / Centre
Current club: Borussia Dortmund
Rumoured fee: £65M
Current likelihood: 4/10

Position: Striker - Centre
Current club: Bayern Munich
Rumoured fee: £60M
Current likelihood: 1/10

Position: Striker - Centre
Current club: Manchester City
Rumoured fee: Unknown
Current likelihood: SIGNED

Name: Luis Suarez
Position: Striker - Centre
Current club: Barcelona
Rumoured fee: Unknown
Current likelihood: 3/10

Position: Forward – Left / Centre
Current club: Palmeiras
Rumoured fee: £16.5M+
Current likelihood: 8/10

Wow! Still ‘some list’…

The goalkeeping links seem to be hotting up, with Geronimo (what a great name!) Rulli highly likely to be signed but then loaned straight to Real Sociedad for the whole of the 2016/17 season and, then, either 18-month-older Jeroen Zoet joining to compete with Joe Hart for us next season OR one of the two Barcelona-linked keepers (one currently 24-years of age and the other 33).

The centre of defence is, of course, the big talking point and ‘other options / considerations’ now appear to be-being looked at [to John Stone & Leonardo Bonucci] in the form of Lucas Hernandez and, more recently, Greek international Kostas Manolas.

We continue to look to 'snap up' young talent for the future too with both Marlos Moreno & Gabriel Jesus ‘almost signed’ and the Leroy Sane saga ‘rumbles on’ with the gap on both clubs’ valuations appearing to widen and being the only apparent stumbling block.

One understandable concern for Blues is the left & right-back slots…but more-so the left-back position. For this Ricardo Rodrigues would seem more likely, although Jetro Willems could be a decent shout too. The English Options of both Aaron Cresswell and Danny Rose seem highly unlikely as well as 'highly priced' by their respective clubs.

The right-side of the defence seems to be cooling slightly with regards to both speculation and ‘the need’; with the solid Bacary Sagna, the back-in-training / pushing-for-one-last-season Pablo Zabaleta and the impressive [on Wednesday night] youngster Pablo Maffeo all vying for that slot. However, recent and apparent interest in Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin has apparently turned the head of the ex-Barcelona junior…as well as getting right up the nose of Arsene Wenger & The Gunners.

Striker news is just ‘dead’ at the moment…and that’s a concern for a lot of Blues posting ‘on-line’. I suspect this to remain quiet too until the defence is sorted out by Pep and the other City officials who are in constant talks, I’m sure, with their counterparts in England and across Europe.

However, once ‘sorted’, I suspect that we’ll then turn our attention to matters regarding support for Sergio Aguero who, it appears, might be signing a contract extension very soon to keep him at City until June 2020! This announcement could come on Monday in China

I could be wrong though on the striker front – perhaps Pep’s thinking is that that with the likes of (currently & ‘strongly rumoured’ at least) Kevin De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Ilkay Gundogan, Samir Nasri, Jesus Navas, Nolito, (possibly Leroy Sane), David Silva, Raheem Sterling and Yaya Toure (not to mention any possible new, attacking wing-backs); he’ll enough creativity and goals from midfield to support our thin-line of ‘strikers’ for the 2016/17 season.

A look at that list and you could see his point if that’s his plan…

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