John Stones transfer saga

marnie · July 31, 2015

oldblue said:
still happens. Hibbert has stayed put no matter how many of Europe's big boys came knocking

I know............. no matter how many times Vauxhall Motors came knocking......... he stood firm............. I honestly thought when TNS came in he would buckle............. but No. ..... Once again he stood firm. lol

oldblue · July 31, 2015

marnie said:
I know............. no matter how many times Vauxhall Motors came knocking......... he stood firm............. I honestly thought when TNS came in he would buckle............. but No. ..... Once again he stood firm. lol

better staying somewhere you knew your place on the bench was guaranteed

TippEverton · July 31, 2015

LinekersLegs said:
@br_uk: According to Sportbild, #Chelsea have agreed to pay over €25m for Augsburg left-back Rahman Baba (via: @dan_bu)
Over 18m on a 21 year old LB that is unlikely to play if Azpilicueta stays fit, has no PL experience and doesn't have the English player markup.....and cost Augsburg £1.8m last summer.

How do you keep track of all these twitter accounts LL, not having a dig or anything but wow, maybe its easy, don't use the thing myself.

TippEverton · July 31, 2015

Just watching Jose's press conference, I'd say he got a rap on the knuckles over his first presser since this all began, keeping well and truly quiet about it now.

Saint Domingo · July 31, 2015

Ashtonian said:
your right, but to a certain extent we have a lukaku now. Not comparing the two, obviously rooney was the exciting local lad who lit the pitch up and got us off our seats. But in romelu we have as close as we are going to get to another top striker so fingers crossed martinez remembers he is playing him and tells the team to pass a bit more to him and he can be a hero to us masses

Yeah but imagine a 19 year old Rooney in the team now paired with Lukaku. Surely we'd make top 4.

LinekersLegs · July 31, 2015

ijjysmith said:
I don't really understand their low bids for Stones to be honest. If they really want him they know they could get him by bidding something daft. Which they are more than capable of doing.

Anyway, I honestly think this whole this is over now, for this summer anyway.

The whole thing has been weird - the initial talking about the low bids, Cahill interview, digs at "small clubs" and Martinez, then the abrupt U turn back to their usual policy of "we don't talk about other teams players". That is what they have done with Baba - they targeted him, chairman said no chance under 20m Euro and so they just upped the bid to 25, all behind the scenes with minimal leaks or fuss.

You'd think with the previous good relations between the clubs, plus Stones not being the type of player to down tools to force a move, that the "buttering up Bill in private by waving lots of money and/or players" strategy that they now seem to be going with would have been the one that made the most sense from the outset.

Hope you are right about this being the end, still a bit nervous myself!

Ashtonian · July 31, 2015

Saint Domingo said:
Yeah but imagine a 19 year old Rooney in the team now paired with Lukaku. Surely we'd make top 4.

dont think it would be dependant on that if neither got the ball passed to them

BlueToff · July 31, 2015

Blue Truth said:
And what if there was a bidding war and we could potentially get more then that?

More than £60mil? We'd be in dreamland pal

LinekersLegs · July 31, 2015

TippEverton said:
How do you keep track of all these twitter accounts LL, not having a dig or anything but wow, maybe its easy, don't use the thing myself.

Ha, that account has a decent info in it so I follow them but been doing a check on Baba's name each morning anyway ever since the Augburg chairman made his public statement that was basically the same one a lot on here wanted Bill to make - "don't need to sell and to make me you'll have to pay more than x" - to see what Chelsea would do.

Toffeelover · July 31, 2015

LinekersLegs said:
The whole thing has been weird - the initial talking about the low bids, Cahill interview, digs at "small clubs" and Martinez, then the abrupt U turn back to their usual policy of "we don't talk about other teams players". That is what they have done with Baba - they targeted him, chairman said no chance under 20m Euro and so they just upped the bid to 25, all behind the scenes with minimal leaks or fuss.

You'd think with the previous good relations between the clubs, plus Stones not being the type of player to down tools to force a move, that the "buttering up Bill in private by waving lots of money and/or players" strategy that they now seem to be going with would have been the one that made the most sense from the outset.

Hope you are right about this being the end, still a bit nervous myself!

Yeh, they will be giving BK the old boys pat on the back routine. My view remains do not sell this side of 50 mill.

Brownie · July 31, 2015

I don't speak.

Saint Domingo · July 31, 2015

Brennan said:
Rewriting of history there. The top four is more difficult for us now than it was then.

Depends what way you look at it. Arsenal were the invincibles, United had Ferguson, Chelsea under Ranieri were weaker but Liverpool had their treble winning side. Chelsea aside are any of these teams better now? They then all improved drastically (Arsenal aside) between 04-2010 with Mourinho shaping Chelsea, United getting Rooney Ronaldo Tevez, and Rafael making Liverpool a strong side with Alonso Mascherano and Torres. Virtually impossible to get in.

We missed the boat in those few years of transition when AVB messed up at Chelsea, City hadn't quite got become a superpower, and then even when Ferguson retired. After all those years of being 'best of the rest' when a team did actually drop out we didn't have our stuff together! Tottenham had Gareth Bale at just the right time whereas had we had Rooney at that point those two years in the top 4 could have been us.

I think last season was a massive opportunity for top 4. Liverpool and United seemed to fall over themselves trying to get it. They had two of their worst premier league sides whilst we supposedly had a settled squad, we should have blown them away but we just didn't even turn up.

I fear you'll be right from now on as City Chelsea United and Arsenal will now lock down top 4 and we'll have to wait until another rock in the stream (one of them appointing a poor manager) for anther opportunity to appear. As long as Mourinho Wenger Pellegrini and Van Gaal are there though we can all kiss top 4 goodbye.

TheFinnFan · July 31, 2015

Brownie said:
I don't speak.

It's "Dont speak" by Red Necks. That band also had hit song called "Murder on the dance floor" in the 70s

toffeestillidie · July 31, 2015

Saint Domingo said:
Yeah but imagine a 19 year old Rooney in the team now paired with Lukaku. Surely we'd make top 4.

Honestly, probably not. Who would you see us displacing out of United, City, Arsenal, and Chelsea? The sh*te and Spurs have strengthened a great deal as well.

I think we could maybe crack it for a season, but a 19 y.o Rooney would not be enough to ensure we were a regular premier league side in this environment.

Saint Domingo · July 31, 2015

toffeestillidie said:
Honestly, probably not. Who would you see us displacing out of United, City, Arsenal, and Chelsea? The sh*te and Spurs have strengthened a great deal as well.

I think we could maybe crack it for a season, but a 19 y.o Rooney would not be enough to ensure we were a regular premier league side in this environment.

Don't see why not. We've got a solid defence and goid players in midfield (although we don't seem to know how to use them). Rooney Lukaku Mirallas upfront? Liverpool looked like they would make it last season and they spent the entire season without a striker. United did make it with a dodgy defence and Rooney playing midfield. Ita all hypothetical anyway but in recent seasons there's been a team who has left the door open but we've not been good enough to walk through it.