Nemanja Matic

[The only place to be 11,313]

I think this is one of the general problems with a lot of Chelsea players and Ramires exemplifies it. What kind of player do you want playing next to Ramires? He's very good defensively but he's not a defensive midfielder. He needs freedom to be able to go forward but he's limited in attack. I haven't seen much of Matic, but to me, I don't think he's the ideal player to play next to Ramires. There aren't a lot of advanced stats available for public view for Matic except from the Champion's League and Europa League over the last few seasons and in those 25 games or so he's been poor. There are a couple of things that concern me

1) his low passing percentage and that's a low passing percentage and this is not a player who is crossing the ball a lot or feeding the ball into dangerous areas which result in lower passing rates. He's a central midfielder and not one getting tons of assists. His passing percentage should be around 90% In last year's CL, he had a 76% passing rate. This year, it's 83.2%. In the Europa league it was 80.1%. In the CL the year before around 74%. A Ramires/Matic duo is not likely to move the ball particularly well.

2) He's gotten worse. Last year, he was a 3-time player of the month. This year, he hasn't won it once and by all accounts, he has regressed.

That being said, he will definitely be an improvement on what we currently have and we badly need a central midfielder right now.

1. He's fairly adventurous in his passing and he gets into advanced positions regularly. You're going to see a dip in pass completion and with the way we play football, possession isn't everything. The first thought is to get the ball forward fast, often in counter-attacks. If that doesn't work then we tend to pass the ball around and look for someone like Hazard to do something. His distribution will make us better at executing our primary plan of attack.

2. Meh. Form is temporary.

[Jase 43,479]

#CFC expect to complete the £21m signing of Matic in time to make his 2nd debut for the club on Sunday against #MUFC (Evening Standard)

Also butthurt on the Man Utd forum:

From red cafe:

"It's bizarre he's going back there after being more or less shafted. In fact it baffles me why any young player would ever want to join Chelsea.

They're career killers unless you cost 20 million pounds. They've constantly buried young talent down the years. f**king vile club, shafted him out whilst overpaying for a clumsy Brazilian and now they're paying stupid amounts to get him back.

Chelsea FC #f**ktards 4ever."

Bless..I think they should get Pogba back...

Oh the irony in that statement.

And as if those young players that have joined United are doing any better...

[HD3D 1,038]

If he leaves for < 35M€ i'll be upset.

He's better than Witsel and we sold him for 40M€.

I'm not saying that Matic is worth more than 40M€, but 35M€ is a good price for him.

He has the technique of a number 10, I saw people saying that he's like Mikel...that's far from true.

Another thing, we don't have financial problems. The thing is, in the last years we always sold 1 or 2 players for more than 20M€ (Ramires, Coentrao, Di Maria, David Luiz, Javi Garcia, Witsel), but this season we decided not to sell anyone (we had an offer for Matic close to 40M€ in the summer and Cardozo was close to leave too) so it would be good for our finances (we don't have a russian or an sheik giving us money) to sell a player for something like 25M€.

I would accept 30M€ + Oriol Romeu

Btw, I hope Chelsea wins the PL and CL...but without Matic on the squad

The player is demanding that the club let him leave. When things get to that point, the club doesn't have much choice. If it was up to me, Chelsea would get him without paying a penny to Benfica lol.

[Toli 977]

Record saying its a done deal for 25 m euros

http://www.record.xl.pt/Futebol/Nacional/1a_liga/Benfica/interior_premium.aspx?content_id=862625

Today he as at the Gala in Zurich. If any news, I think we will get them tomorrow/wednesday

[iceboy 992]

Ben Smith ‏@BenSmithBBC11m

#CFC target Nemanja Matic is in Zurich to attend the Ballon d'Or awards. He is up for best goal v Porto.

[Special Juan 27,092]

Does seem like it's happening this, lots written in Portugal and our stations too, seems like we have identified him as our man. He will be played in a roll that we are screaming for, and alongside Ramires should hopefully prove fruitful and charge us to the league title. From what I read he is miles ahead the player we sent to Portugal some years ago, and in some sense being talked about as a midfield trojan. It sounds to me like we are getting in now as he has really developed his game and has become not the complete player but nigh on that, and if Jose is happy to fetch this kid back then I'm happy too.

[AndersonBLUE 819]

Is he any good at set-pieces?

[jmarlow 458]

I'd say because of his ability to see passes quickly and execute them instantly, and his ability to close players down quickly and put himself about for someone of his size, i would compare him to Javi Martinez. I wouldn't say he is equally as good as him but i dont think there is much between them.

I agree i see him as quite similar to Javi Martinez! I am so excited about this re-signing!

[jmarlow 458]

Is he any good at set-pieces?

look at the size of him, i think he will be in the box for set-pieces not taking them.

[Term-X 7,891]

Don't see the problem with re-signing him, since he would have NEVER become the player he is now if it wasn't for leaving. We should sell Chalobah outright, but with a gentleman's agreement that 'we'll be back'.

[zolayes 14,489]

the question must be asked ...Why couldnt we develop this player ourselves .

[Toli 977]

Gonçalo Lopes ‏@_GoncaloLopes 53m

Matic will be in London today, after Zurich. Tomorrow he signs with cfc. Benfica and cfc still in talks.

[Special Juan 27,092]

Zurich to Chelsea it is.

[The Skipper 20,593]

I agree i see him as quite similar to Javi Martinez! I am so excited about this re-signing!

If it's anyone he's similar to, it's Javi Martinez indeed. He has a little bit more finesse about him though. More fleet footed.

[Pizy 17,860]

My boner-meter is steadily rising now that some reputable outlets are starting to report things. When BBC and Sky start tweeting things like they are now I get excited.

[sdrcfc 461]

Matic is a great player, not sure if I'd preferred him over Marchisio/Pogba/Vidal who are up for grabs though. Gundogan would defo be my choice.

[Waterfall 893]

Matic is a great player, not sure if I'd preferred him over Marchisio/Pogba/Vidal who are up for grabs though.

Matic is superior to Marchisio.

We don't know if Pogba and Vidal are available, but they are going to cost ridiculous money when/if they are available.

[ChelseaFanUK 1,014]

Foreign journalists know nothing about Benfica.

Our rival, Sporting, in the last 4y has -250M€, we in the last 4y always had profit in the end of the seasons, except this last one.

Do you think that we are like Malaga or Anzhi, do you think that we are going to sold most of our players for a bargain?Not a chance.

Today there is news talking about a 50M€ offer from Zenit to get Rodrigo+Garay. If that is true we don't need to sell Matic, unless he really really wants to go.

Clearly he does. Otherwise I'd be expecting a "I want to stay" statement. It's not like we treated him badly and he should not consider returning. This is Chelsea with Mourinho, one of the biggest clubs in the world and he will have had some assurances of playing time. I think some other stuff to factor in is no denial of bid from Benfica. All major media in Portugal claim it is a done deal, Serbian TV the same. Much as it will hurt Benfica to lose him, I think it is inevitable.

Would not be at all shocked to see him start v Man Utd