…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…
Name: Geronimo Rulli
Position: Goalkeeper
Current club: Free agent…or Real Sociedad (conflicting info)
Rumoured fee: Free…or £4M (conflicting info)
Current likelihood: 9/10
Name: Marc-Andre Ter Stegen
Position: Goalkeeper
Current club: Barcelona
Rumoured fee: £15M
Current likelihood: 3/10
Name: Jeroen Zoet
Position: Goalkeeper
Current club: PSV Eindhoven
Rumoured fee: £7M
Current likelihood: 5/10
Name: Claudio Bravo
Position: Goalkeeper
Current club: Barcelona
Rumoured fee: Unknown
Current likelihood: 2/10
Name: John Stones
Position: Defender - Centre
Current club: Everton
Rumoured fee: £45M+
Current likelihood: 8/10
Name: Leonardo Bonucci
Position: Defender - Centre
Current club: Juventus
Rumoured fee: £45M+
Current likelihood: 4/10
Name: Reece Oxford
Position: Defender - Centre
Current club: West Ham United
Rumoured fee: £15M
Current likelihood: 3/10
Name: Kostas Manolas
Position: Defender - Centre
Current club: Roma
Rumoured fee: Unknown
Current likelihood: 3/10
Name: Lucas Hernandez
Position: Defender - Centre
Current club: Atletico Madrid
Rumoured fee: Unknown
Current likelihood: 3/10
Name: Aymeric Laporte
Position: Defender - Centre
Current club: Atletico Bilbao
Rumoured fee: N/A
Current likelihood: 0/10 – New
contract signed; now not moving this window
Name: Aaron Cresswell
Position: Defender - Left
Current club: West Ham United
Rumoured fee: £25M
Current likelihood: 1/10
Name: Alex Sandro
Position: Defender - Left
Current club: Juventus
Rumoured fee: £30M
Current likelihood: 2/10
Name: Jetro Willems
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
Name: Ricardo Rodriguez
Position: Defender - Left
Current club: VfL Wolfsburg
Rumoured fee: Unknown
Current likelihood: 6/10
Name: Daniel Carvajal
Position: Defender - Right
Current club: Real Madrid
Rumoured fee: Unknown
Current likelihood: 1/10
Name: Hector Bellerin
Position: Defender - Right
Current club: Arsenal
Rumoured fee: Unknown
Current likelihood: 2/10
Name: Bruno Peres
Position: Defender / Winger – Left / Right
Current club: Torino FC
Rumoured fee: £17M
Current likelihood: 5/10
Name: Amadou Diawara
Position: Midfielder - Centre
Current club: Bologna FC 1909
Rumoured fee: £14M
Current likelihood: 1/10
Name: Ilkay Gundogan
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
Name: Thiago Alcantara
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
Name: Jack Wilshere
Position: Midfielder - Centre
Current club: Arsenal
Rumoured fee: £25M
Current likelihood: 1/10
Name: Oleksandr Zinchenko
Position: Winger / Forward – Left / Centre
Current club: Manchester City
Rumoured fee: £1.7M
Current likelihood: SIGNED
Name: Benjamin Garre
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
Name: Marlos Moreno
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 / Winger – Left /
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
Name: Robert Lewandowski
Position: Striker - Centre
Current club: Bayern Munich
Rumoured fee: £60M
Current likelihood: 1/10
Name: Lorenzo Gonzalez
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
Name: Gabriel Jesus
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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