Things Are Heating Up....Summer Transfers On Their Way!

Obviously neither Chelsea nor Milan offer CL. It's not certain that Chelsea is more likely to return to the competition next year relative to Milan. I doubt either will make it back to the CL after this season.

I doubt Juve will attempt to bring in Pogba unless one of the current CMs are sold.

Considering Juve will likely start next season playing a 4-3-3/4-3-2-1 or 4-2-3-1/4-3-1-2, it won't be easy for Allegri to make everyone happy minutes wise. In midfield, Pjanic, Can, Bentancur, Khedira, Matuidi, and Marchisio will all want to play consistently. Factor in all the attackers, Mandzukic, Dybala, Ronaldo, Costa, Cuadrado, Bernardeschi, that is twelve mids and forwards. Juve have too many players to add Pogba without selling.

 

Higuain is 3 or 4 times the player that Morata/Giroud/Batshuayi are given his goal scoring rate and playmaking as a CF. Chelsea can't expect to get back to the CL with those three very mediocre forwards. They need a proven goalscorer to build Sarri's attack around.

If Sarri is able to replicate his style in the EPL, Higuain would score at least 25 league goals for 2-3 years. For 60m euros, that is a bargain. Had Juve not upgraded with Ronaldo, I'd love nothing more for Higuain to stay at Juve. He is a match winner in league play and has a lot offer as long as he is the focal point of the attack.

Oh and Higuain's game is the opposite of running in behind. He is the type of forward that you can play directly to in front of the defense since he is excellent with his back to goal. If anything his two weaknesses are his lack of aerial ability and he can't get away from the world's best CFs when marked tightly.

 

I doubt Juve can keep Higuain since the squad will have way too many attackers especially in his age group and Juve will likely need to sell him before his value depreciates too much, but in an ideal world he would be kept. The guy is still an amazing player.

It won't happen, but this lineup would be crazy...

--------------Higuain
Ronaldo---Dybala---Costa



I'm not sure how anyone can watch his goals for Juve and not want him on their side. He is class.

 

Agreed. Higuain is catching a lot of flack, but he has been a very good player for us. The disappointment on my end was that we made a massive investment that I think the club saw as a move to put us in the position to win Champions League, which never panned out. That said, he has scored with regularity, including some very important goals--last year he basically sent Tottenham packing on his own.

What I was most surprised about was his work rate and his ability to hold up the ball and create space for others. Chelsea may or may not want him but there is no question he is better than anyone they have in attack. I like Morata as he saw some of his best moments here but Higuain is the better player. I would be very happy if Higuain stayed; however the rumors have seemed to suggest that he must be at least one of the players sacrificed given the Ronaldo move.

 

mental illness

 

The reason it would be difficult for Juve to keep Higuain tactically is because he must be the focal point of the attack in order to get the best of him, whereas Mandzukic is the type of striker that primarily tries to set up those around him.

The entire Sarri offense was built around getting him the ball inside the box and he scored loads of goals. That just can't happen at Juve with so many other attackers to play through. Next year whoever starts in attack along Dybala and Ronaldo will primarily be required to supply and create for the these two. Moreover, the other 8 outfield players will have to cover for Ronaldo and Dybala defensively. Manzukic, Costa, Cuadrado, and Bernardeschi are these types of players.

 

No offense, but I think you are seriously underrating him. Even at 30, he is a deadly striker IMO. There's not many 30-year-old strikers that can command a 50-60M price tag but he is one of them. In the past two years, Gonzalo has contributed with reliable consistency: 55 goals and 11 assists in 105 games for Juve (domestic and continental).

In terms of goal-scoring ability, Giroud and Morata can't hold a candle to Higuaín. As far as Batshuayi is concerned, he's an exciting young player but in the 1.5 years he's had at Chelsea, he has not scored with much regularity (albeit coming off the bench a lot I believe). He looked good in the second half of last year in the Bundesliga; let's see if he can translate that to the EPL.

 

^Without a doubt. Always thought Giroud was average.

 

Giroud is absolutely average. The only reason he gets any accolades is that he plays in the Premier League and the Premfaces don't see quality target man play. Let us not forget, even Pelle, who blows, had success there in this role.

 

Re: Higuain. The suggestion is that I don't think Higuain is good - that's not the issue. Higuain is a good player. He is, however, a very bad purchase at anywhere near 60mm for a variety of reasons:

1. He'll be 31 in December. That's old for a striker and especially one who doesn't keep in great shape. Very few strikers age gracefully, and the ones that do are the exceptions.
2. The numbers show he's already in decline. That's a bad sign.
3. Given his age, we won't get much for him if we sell him in a few years, if anything. That's bad business.
4. He needs to adapt to England, where he has never played. The arguments I've seen is "he's good at holding up the ball" - but will he be in the Premier League? The Premier League is faster, players have less space and the defenders are bigger and stronger. In that environment, there's no real reason to think Higuain will be more successful, but good reasons to think he'll be less successful.
5. The comparisons to Giroud are weird - Giroud is himself a stopgap solution with a year left on his deal. The correct comparison is to Morata and Batshuayi, who are younger and have a lot of potential. Morata himself spent much of last season either playing hurt or adapting to England. Selling low on him to buy a 30 year old striker is terrible business.
6. We also have Tammy Abraham, who's the most promising English striker right now, and England has arguably the most talented group of young players in Europe.

If you want to sell us Higuain at a low fee? Great. For anywhere near the mooted prices, please keep him, as it's terrible business for a club that already has 3 serviceable strikers.

 

Getting 60 million for a 30-year old striker is ridiculous. So if we can get it, great. But it is better business than what was spent on Morata. I never understood how clubs would throw away money on potential but hesitate on proven talent. HIguain is a complete player, much more than what we saw from Napoli. He understands the game, he reads the game. His partnership two seasons ago with Mandzukic was amazing when Dybala got injured. We had two no. 9's who knew how to work together instead of getting in each other's way. He is not only smart in how he positions himself on the pitch and moves off the ball but with his quick strikes. He sets himself with a quick touch to shoot. While he may not be the clutch striker in every match, he has shown to be so many times during his short stint at Juve. He is far from retirement.

 

If this were true, stacking players from SerieA would have easy transitions to England. This has not been true.
It’s also a monumentally silly comment given the talent level of defenders in The EPL at the moment.

 

That’s fine, but that doesn’t put provide a reason to pay 60mm for Higuain.

 

It has been quiet today on the rumor front. Does that mean real business is being conducted? Or have the rags run out of stories about the same players? Yesterday, many deals were complete supposedly. None of them happened.

 

The point is that just because Sarri wants it doesn’t mean we should do it! Nor is it likely we’re selling Hazard.