MetsajCFC

Last two seasons Mata was described as irreplaceable and Mr.Chelsea... let's wait a year or two and see how that changes

I swear some people here would take 60 million from City for Hazard if they came calling just because "it makes financial sense and no player is bigger than the club".

1. Summer would have been excellent time for changes like this, not end of January. 2. I'd rather take financial loss than sell to a direct rival. Don't get blinded by this 40 million figure, in todays market you'll be lucky to get a good player for that sum, especially if you're Chelsea, people know the club has money. 3. Same explanation as second point. Since when did we become selling club and bend down to get those extra 5-10 million? Embarrasing. 4. We'll see that when either Hazard, Oscar or Willian get injured or hit bad form patch. Squad depth is what counts, especially for English clubs with constant two fixtures a week games, prime example is City who have world class stars on bench, don't see them selling for profit, all I see them is being absolute favourites for the title. Look how thin squads suffer when they're in Europe - Newcastle and Swansea for example. Last year Newcastle suffered massively in the league because with their squad they also had to play in the Europa League, what did they do? Panic buy 5 or so players to survive. Look at Swansea this year, shadow of themselves compared to last season in the league. Depth is everything, this isn't FIFA14 where you push "Rematch" and everyones rested and healthy. 5. FFP is just an excuse to be more creative with bookkeeping. There was even an article about FFP's loopholes, Chelsea is and always will be comfortable with meeting those standards. Selling players is candy money for Chelsea compared to sponsorship deals, merchandise selling, world wide promotion and so on. These extra 10 or so million we get now compared to if we sold Mata in the summer won't make us any more competetive in the summer transfer market. Let's stop being naive. 6. Woah, perfect deal you say? Last time I checked you can't field 40 million quid and points aren't given based on how good of a mathematician our board is, but how well balanced and adaptive our squad is. Anything can happen. We might not get any injuries but then again we might lose 3-4 players at the same time, then I'd like to see your face. "Not weakening our squad" wow

I think some people misunderstand why so many of us are against this transfer. - Selling to Manchester United - why? It doesn't make sense after the Rooney saga. Even if the figure goes as high as £42m, then unless we spend in the next 9-10 days it won't benefit us in any way what so ever. So unless we either by some miracle do get Rooney or strengthen before THIS window shuts, it doesn't make sense. Chelsea isn't a club who has to sell just because that'd make 10 million profit, it's peanuts in this industry on this level. - The argument of Mata deserving game time - I'm sure there would be clubs interested in taking Mata on loan, for example Atletico Madrid. - The argument of we not having to play with United again in the league this season while Arsenal and Manchester City have games coming up - that's so short term thinking that it's embarrasing really, what about next season when United have re-built their squad in the summer, perhaps even swapped managers, hate to be in that position. - 433 tactic, what kept us from trying it even with Mata in the squad? It's not about Mata being sold, it's about the fact who we're doing business with and the timing of it. Little hope in me still that this really is our way of getting back to United for Rooney saga and we're just wasting their time and running down the clock for transfer window.

One of the channels did ask. I remember the question "Maybe next year? [Champion's League trophy]" and he said something in the lines of "Maybe not, I want to be where people love me to be"

Hahah, imagine though if it did happen. Would be RAWK meltdown of massive proportions again... chopper theories, pictures, fans burning shirts... good times

That'd surely mean we'd offload Ba atleast?

Don't mind that argument, they are mixing up Football Manager 2014 and real life.

You're talking as if selling players is the only way to balance the books. Wrong, big money is made behind the scenes with sponsorship deals, merchandise (mind you, in that Mata plays a big role with his well known name) and so on. Chelsea aren't a selling club and never will be. The argument of us selling in order to balance the book so we could buy a striker or any other player is just wrong. Might add up to clubs like Atletico and Porto but not us. He might sit around now, true. But what if Oscar / Hazard / Willian get injured? What then, Schürrle can't replace them all and I rate Mata alot higher than Schürrle.

We might not have any say in this matter but isn't this whole forum concept built on opinion and all of us sharing our views on Chelsea related matters? They might strengthen in the summer, of course, but seems odd that we would sell them Mata, twice player of the year for us, in January. I'd rather keep Mata at all costs and think long term in the summer with proper replacements and so on. I'd love to see United drop out of top four, crippling them in the transfer market to some extent also in the summer window, which again benefits US next season. Can't deny Mata was the game changer for us last year, so influential and and at some point of the season we couldn't create any chances without him being a major part in it. Jose won't build around Mata because he isn't exactly his type of player, which is understandable. Doesn't mean we should sell to United, even if its 40 million. Money never been a problem, only way I'd take this deal is if we get Rooney. That's it.

This season perhaps so but doubt he would be signed on a 6 month deal. He'll be at United for years to come and try telling me United won't be a threat next season, especially if they get more quality players in. Selling to United just doesn't make sense to me. Can't even compare to the other deals we've done with direct rivals (Benayoun -> Arsenal loan, Cole, Sturridge, Borini -> Liverpool and so on, Mata is a world class player, World Cup and European Championship winner. He is literally a game changer) Money or not, I'd rather loan him to Atletico Madrid and see what can be done in the summer.

Totti impresses me even at the age of 37, thought he was brilliant today. Credits to Pjanic for setting up that defence cutting pass for Strootman who set up Gervinho, was joy to watch that build-up.

Good luck

Sad it didn't work out for him here, probably for the best for both Chelsea and especially him to seek better fortunes elsewhere. All the best to him if it does get finalized. Oh man, your avatars make me laugh everytime, you're like the mascot of TalkChelsea

Welcome back Matic

Brilliant victory, the first half in particular was amazing. This was one of those classic matches, had everything - goals, drama, controversy, physicality, trickery and lots of pride to play for. Hazard was once again amazing

Happy and peaceful holidays to everyone!

Well done to the staff for keeping this community going. Not only keeping it running but also constantly improving, freshening it. Happy birthday

Woah, what an ending. OUTSTANDING GAME

Any decent streams? Mine just went down

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11668/8957603/premier-league-romelu-lukaku-asked-chelsea-boss-jose-mourinho-for-move

Great performance, couldn't ask for more

When he scored 20 for Chelsea, there's a difference.

That's right! We don't have the quality available like RVP, Suarez and Agüero. Torres was on par with them on his prime, Eto'o aswell - but for Chelsea they haven't been on that level. So what makes you think Lukaku can reach that potential at the age of 20? It's like deliberately making him fail. Rather give him time in Everton to develope and adapt to English league. It might be frustrating for him, for some fans but in the long run it is probably for the best. Some players should take note of Kagawa, who instead of sulking or saying stuff to national media, wants to improve and sees the positives in even his situation: http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11667/8950832/premier-league-manchester-uniteds-shinji-kagawa-admits-he-needs-to-improve

When we signed Torres, for most people it seemed like a great signing, there was lots of excitement and hope around. It didn't work out, no way of predicting that. But you need to keep in mind it was a major investment, contracts were signed. And those contracts aren't that easy nor cheap to terminate. But that's just a guess, there's no way of knowing the full story behind this as supporters. Fact of the matter is that there are players in Chelsea blue who get credit for anything they do, while their mistakes are overlooked, and there are players who keep getting criticized no matter how good or bad they do. Same story goes about Benitez situation. He did great giving the atmosphere around him. His achievements can not be downgraded. Statistics do not always show the full picture, just bunch of numbers. It's not only the strikers for Chelsea that do not score, Chelsea as a team can't score at the moment. It's clear radical changes were made internally when Mourinho was appointed so it's unfair to judge the team based on what? - 6 games? The Premier League isn't the only competition we're in. Torres scored 22 goals, 7 assists last season for Chelsea, not bad for a flop! You think I wouldn't like to see Lukaku play for us? Of course! But the club, might seem the other way around, put Lukaku's interest before their own. They knew a 20 year old will hit a rocky patch of form at some point - might it be after 2 games, after 10 games, and will lose his positiong to another striker. Everton was the perfect club for him to go to, and it shows with the performances he has been producing the past couple of games for them. He can afford to make mistakes and still have better shot at getting games than in Chelsea, which is normal. We should be happy Chelsea striker is doing great and offers promise for us the seasons ahead. Football is a business not a charity...