Will the Board get it right this summer?

[bellion 170]

We all know this summer is absolutely crucial for the club to get things right in buying and selling players which is one of the two big challenges (the other being the new manager appointment).  My worry is that the Board will screw it up again with its obsession regarding profits and the new stadium.

Look at whom they signed last summer and winter:

Falcao, Begovic, Baba Rahman, Pedro, Kenedy - all squad fillers and signed with two eyes firmly on the bottom line.  The less said about Papy and Hector, the better.  Pato is another signing for the charity home for has-beens at the Bridge and I liken Miazga to another Papy (a squad filler replacing another squad filler).

The above list makes me cringe everytime I am reminded of it.

I wonder if the bloody Board knows the priority this summer is to target quality first team players and not a bunch of cheapo squad fillers and loanee has-beens.  The new manager should insist on a huge transfer kitty before agreeing to sign any contract.  Otherwise, they would have a half-empty new stadium watching the club struggling in the bottom half of the table.   

[Tomo 21,681]

Last summer was our first awful window since 2010, in between we have had solid but unspectacular windows (11 and 13) and incredible windows (12 and 14).

We did sell to buy in 2014 because we had little choice, after the loss we made late 2013 we needed to, now with the TV deal, the extra money from Yokohoma and the money from Rami, Salah and potentially Cuadrado will mean the cash is there.

Despite this season this squad still has a lot of quality, priority this summer should be centre back, right back, centre midfield and striker, get them in and if they hit the ground running we will be back on track.

[manpe 10,855]

30 minutes ago, Tomo said:

priority this summer should be centre back, right back, centre midfield and striker

Disagree with the right-back part. This position must be Azpilicueta's and Ivanovic can be back-up, so that leaves us only Baba at LB.

[kiwi1691 255]

 Begovic, Baba Rahman, Pedro, Kenedy are all good players, so you can't call it an awful window. 

[chelseafan26 293]

36 minutes ago, kiwi1691 said:

 Begovic, Baba Rahman, Pedro, Kenedy are all good players, so you can't call it an awful window. 

cech>>>>>>>>>> begovic

luis >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>. rahman

pedro was always going to take time to acclimatize and kenedy is one for the future.

What we NEEDED/craved for was a CB and a CM. Something in which the club failed massively to get our required targets.

Hence, it was an awful window. It weakened the squad in key areas (GK and LB) as well as no improvement in required areas (CB, CM). 

[Fernando 6,376]

3 hours ago, chelseafan26 said:

cech>>>>>>>>>> begovic

luis >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>. rahman

pedro was always going to take time to acclimatize and kenedy is one for the future.

What we NEEDED/craved for was a CB and a CM. Something in which the club failed massively to get our required targets.

Hence, it was an awful window. It weakened the squad in key areas (GK and LB) as well as no improvement in required areas (CB, CM). 

Well if we got Pedro, Willian and hopefully if Hazard stay then we are set for our AM. With Oscar coming in and out....because this has been a balance that has been bothering us for a while. So at least we fix that. 

A striker we got Costa so we ain't getting a top striker to sit on the bench. Don't know what to get here to be honest....I would be happy with Chicharito  here. 

GK we had no choice to sell Cech and to get Begovic was a good deal. So can't complain about that. 

LB we had Luiz, we sold him. Now that Baba is doing good I doubt we should get another LB if we keep up with him in that position. 

After that the only two positions that are must is CB and CM. 

Regardless of the "awful window" it shouldn't have been the reason for the disaster we had. The awfulness was made even worse because of Mourinho losing the dressing room. Next season if we got a manager that is not a diva, treats players good and creates a good atmosphere then we should be good. 

[It's too big 625]

Well we will be without CL football so they can only do so much. I am sure not everyone will be happy with whomever they decide to bring in. 

[lucio 5,391]

4 hours ago, chelseafan26 said:

cech>>>>>>>>>> begovic

luis >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>. rahman

pedro was always going to take time to acclimatize and kenedy is one for the future.

What we NEEDED/craved for was a CB and a CM. Something in which the club failed massively to get our required targets.

Hence, it was an awful window. It weakened the squad in key areas (GK and LB) as well as no improvement in required areas (CB, CM). 

current cech isn't much better than beg, made more blunders this season. and we weren't going to get a courtois backup better than cech.

baba vs psg, played as well as luis ever did

[Special Juan 27,101]

Sounds like they want Conte, next we will be trying to trump United for bog average players like Felipe Anderson for 40M.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Yes they will.

And then in 2017 they won't, perhaps 2018 will be catastrophic. Then we'll buy smart again in 2019 to only once again be found out in 2020. Etc, etc. 

It's the circle of life Chelsea FC.

[the wes 7,212]

If hazard does go in the summer I hope we don't waste the hazard money like spurs Did with the bale money and Liverpool did with the Suarez money I hope we buy a quality player or players with it 

[Tomo 21,681]

9 hours ago, manpe said:

Disagree with the right-back part. This position must be Azpilicueta's and Ivanovic can be back-up, so that leaves us only Baba at LB.

I like Cesar at left back, and he's been very productive going forward in that position since  Guus took over and I think upto and including Arsenal he was involved in a direct chance or goal in every game under the Dutchman.

Also having Cesar there helps with the growing trend of left footed right wingers.

I hope we can take advantage of the shit Aurier has got himself in, he may be a bit of an idiot but he's a good player.

[chelseafan26 293]

6 hours ago, Fernando said:

Well if we got Pedro, Willian and hopefully if Hazard stay then we are set for our AM. With Oscar coming in and out....because this has been a balance that has been bothering us for a while. So at least we fix that. 

A striker we got Costa so we ain't getting a top striker to sit on the bench. Don't know what to get here to be honest....I would be happy with Chicharito  here. 

GK we had no choice to sell Cech and to get Begovic was a good deal. So can't complain about that. 

LB we had Luiz, we sold him. Now that Baba is doing good I doubt we should get another LB if we keep up with him in that position. 

After that the only two positions that are must is CB and CM. 

Regardless of the "awful window" it shouldn't have been the reason for the disaster we had. The awfulness was made even worse because of Mourinho losing the dressing room. Next season if we got a manager that is not a diva, treats players good and creates a good atmosphere then we should be good. 

Listen, lets not call a club legend a "diva". He was one of the best servants of the club. Yes, he is to blame a lot for the situation we were in and he had paid for it with his job. So lets not namecall a legend.

Pedro was a good buy but not the answer. Pedro was always going to take time to adjust. He was not going to make us better this season.

Baba was one for the future. Still dont understand why we had to sell luis. Why have just 5 defenders and 1 20 year old LB who the manager does not trust to start ahead of the worst player in PL? Cant understand that. I dont know if the decision was from the board or from jose, but this was a completely BAFFLING one. People might argue that luis wanted to leave. But so did de gea and a hundred more every season. Clubs should not be selling players every time they want to leave.

Fair enough on Cech situation.

This was my point. the previous window was awful.We ended up making our squad a lot weaker. We did not improve on the places that needed improvement. Which did play a huge part in the way this season has panned out.

[TheIceMan 596]

Nah!

[bellion 170]

17 hours ago, Tomo said:

Last summer was our first awful window since 2010, in between we have had solid but unspectacular windows (11 and 13) and incredible windows (12 and 14).

We did sell to buy in 2014 because we had little choice, after the loss we made late 2013 we needed to, now with the TV deal, the extra money from Yokohoma and the money from Rami, Salah and potentially Cuadrado will mean the cash is there.

Despite this season this squad still has a lot of quality, priority this summer should be centre back, right back, centre midfield and striker, get them in and if they hit the ground running we will be back on track.

The money is there but the Board has taken on a Scrooge persona and the stadium remains the priority for them as it represents massive future revenue.  Buying quality players does not.

The right-back position is covered by Azpi hence I feel the left-back slot should be prioritized instead.  A new left-back to compete with Baba Rahman would be ideal and Ivanovic gets dumped into the reserves. 

Centre-half and midfield acquisitions need to be top quality first team material but whether the Board will pay 50 million pounds for each of these players is a big question mark - I remain highly doubtful they will do so.  At the most, 20 million quid for each which would severely limit the options available for players who can instantly make an impact in the first team.

The second striker buy will be tricky though - as long as it's not another Falcao or Pato type of loan, the Board would have done well.

[bellion 170]

16 hours ago, kiwi1691 said:

 Begovic, Baba Rahman, Pedro, Kenedy are all good players, so you can't call it an awful window. 

They are all back-up players.

There were no first teamers bought last summer and winter.

Couple that with the rapid decline of first teamers like Ivanovic and Matic and the entire first team got weaker hence the bottom half position for the entire season.

The focus this summer must be on buying top quality first team material - most of the squad positions can be filled up with youngsters such as recalling Ake.  There is absolutely no point to allocate anymore squad positions to the likes of Pato, Falcao and Papy. 

[kiwi1691 255]

25 minutes ago, bellion said:

They are all back-up players.

There were no first teamers bought last summer and winter.

Couple that with the rapid decline of first teamers like Ivanovic and Matic and the entire first team got weaker hence the bottom half position for the entire season.

The focus this summer must be on buying top quality first team material - most of the squad positions can be filled up with youngsters such as recalling Ake.  There is absolutely no point to allocate anymore squad positions to the likes of Pato, Falcao and Papy. 

That's because last season out first team were very good, our issue last season was a lack of depth. When you lack depth then it makes sense to acquire back-ups. 

[bellion 170]

35 minutes ago, kiwi1691 said:

That's because last season out first team were very good, our issue last season was a lack of depth. When you lack depth then it makes sense to acquire back-ups. 

I would argue that a lack of QUALITY depth still exists.

However, the main problem was and remains the first team quality.

All the signs were there when the team was grinding results out to the title and the fact that the Board made a mess of the Stones and Pogba pursuits with a last minute inquiry of Marquinhos clearly showed that first team strengthening was and is key to the club.

Hence, your point is incorrect.

Also, I am alarmed that you don't think that top quality players need to be bought this summer.