Sideshow Luiz

Hahaha. Can't say that they don't deserve it.

I can't. I've never been one to hate any Chelsea player. But I can't really come up with a bright side at the moment.

I'm not as big of a Baka hater as a lot, but thought you guys would enjoy this:

Jose sold them because he didn't like them in training and they didn't track back enough.

Butland? You wish If we're going to use Andy Carroll as a bench mark, then we're looking somewhere between: Robert Green -> Ben Foster -> Joe Hart. Somewhere in that spectrum

I'm sure they would

I can get behind this signing. I don't know anything about him other than he plays in a position we need and his name isn't Andy Carroll.

LOL

I think he's gone too. He looks a shell of the man we saw 18 months ago. Can't get excited or even speculate on who's coming in next. Can't get too attached to them, they'll be here for 2 years, tops. Their football philosophy/style won't matter since they won't get players they are after. It will be watching them try to turn Bakayoko in to Iniesta because they like to play 433 and keep the ball.

Exactly. Trying to have their cake and eat it too. Be cheap, but win now. Doesn't work like that. If you don't want to spend to bring the quality in, at least bring through the youth so we can get excited about our youngsters and see what they can do. Blocking their progress with top tier players is one thing. Blocking their way with mediocrity is the worst of both worlds.

There's a lot of info/talk on the wages, but how many years is he going to get? He's 29, and due to the 1 year contracts for 30+, I'd say that we'd only be comfortable offering him a 2.5 year deal So, with a 30M transfer fee, 10M agent payout and a salary of 350K/week. Clubs amortize the up front fees over the length of the contract, so that would be 40/2.5 = 16 + 18.2 (350K/week), that's 34M/season, that's what goes on the books. That doesn't include any signing on bonus to be paid to Sanchez, haven't seen that number floating around either. Sandro, on the other hand, if he would cost 60M, he's 27 next week, so let's say we offered him a 4.5 year deal along the same lines as Sanchez regarding our 30+ policy. Don't know about any agent fees, but even if we go with 10M like Sanchez, that would be 70M/4.5 = 15.5M, almost the same as Sanchez, but his wages would be far less than 350K a week. Mahrez probably cheaper than that, Telles way cheaper than that. I know it sounds overly Arsenal-y, but that's how the clubs look at it. https://www.theguardian.com/football/the-set-pieces-blog/2016/aug/24/transfer-window-market-myths Anyway, this is all moot, if we won't pay 1/2 of that for a position of need (LWB), there's no way we're going in for Sanchez.

What's the 3rd thing?

Not going to happen. We should just hijack the Malcom deal. Arsenal, we can compete with. This feels a lot like the late Lukaku bid. Pretend to be interested for appearances.

We like having oft-injured back up strikers. What good is a back up if they're not fit when needed. See: Loic Remy

Forgot about that, maybe a ST too. We need one, for sure. Could possibly see us getting one in.

We've seen the story quite a few times. To be fair, January isn't typically that busy. However, in our case, we didn't get our business done in the summer, so January felt/feels like an opportunity to finish what we were supposed to do in the summer. But.... we'll see. I really do think we'll get a LB/LWB, but that's it. I can't see us getting a CM or RW.

On the plus side of not getting anyone in: pretty soon we are going to be out of 2 (maybe 3) competitions, so depth won't be as much of an issue. Silver linings, huh?

I understand where you're coming from. Just get better. I understand. But, from a business point of view, and let's face it, that's the focus of the club these days, you can't smash your wage structure like that. No companies do it. They don't bring in other middle management people that will make twice as much as the current staff even if it makes them better overall. And yes, I do think you will be rewarded for your efforts, or transferred away if not good enough anymore, but no, I don't think that everyone is going to get a 50-100% pay increase. From a fan's perspective, yes I want them to splash the cash. But, my point was more about people asking why we aren't in for Sanchez. And that's my opinion, I don't think we're in for him because his wage demands are too high. And from a business point of view, I can understand that.

For sure, that's it. Hazard and Fabregas are the highest earners at the club right now. Can't have Sanchez rock up, having done nothing and make twice as much as these guys. Imagine if your/people's work did that? Have you around for years, you play a big part in winning department/group/whatever of the year. Some dude shows up, joins the team and makes twice as much money as you? If he came here, the whole wage structure would be in shambles.

Can't even get this shit over the line.

He could score a hat trick against us in a final and I'd still rate him as one of my favourite players. His class extends well beyond the pitch.

Good read. Made better by the fact that it encapsulates everything we've been saying for the past couple of days, not to mention the past few years. Nice find.

As soon as Barkley signed his contract with us, he became worth about 30. He's also on about 1/4 of what Sanchez will be on at Utd/City. I think, with the way the club has been operating lately, that resale value (or potential resale value ) is highly valued at board level.

Dolberg has all the potential tools. Still a year or two away from a step up, from what I've seen (limited). Napoli already signed the previous style player from Ajax (Milik). In midfield, Ziyech, Van de Beek and De Jong look good.

This is depressing. It's depressing that it's not being dismissed out of hand. I don't know what to think if it goes through. It has to be a joke, right?