Chelsea Legend 11

LOL try telling that to Bilbao(EL finals) and Deportivo, or even Chelsea for that matter... He is without a doubt a match winner. The fact that you're pointing to Cech and an over the hill Terry as our elite level talent speaks volumes to me... Can you build a team around Cech? JT was world class he wouldn't be considred anything close to that by most people now. Mata is burgeoning talent you can't mention him in elite class yet, he's an up and comer he's not in his prime yet. Elite to me is Van Persie, Aguero, Messi, Ronaldo, Ibra, Xavi, Yaya, Falcao, Cavani, Lahm, Iniesta. We finished 6th in the prem league last year, we're out at the group stage in Europe this year... I think its safe to say at current we aren't an elite level team right now. Its a transitional year not too similar from what happened at Liverpool... If we want to end this transition period we need to add prime time talent that is at the elite level. Adding a few spare parts here and there to paper over the cracks will not do much in the race to become elite, sure we'll consistently finish top 4 and we'll beat some good teams now and again but without elite talent we won't be competing with the Barca's, Real's, Mancs, Bayern, Dortmund etc. That's where we want to be not duking it out with Tottenham He's not the only striker but he is the BEST! and he happens to be available could you say the same thing for the other big name strikers out there?

Again, what makes you think buying Falcao means we won't get a midfielder? We have no clue where our financial outlook is at. I'm operating under the guise that the Board, if anything, are bean counters and will know if this is an investment we can handle

We won't have an attack without a striker.

I'm not sure depth is what we need right now. We don't have a single player in their prime... We need to acquire elite level talent to help our younger starlets mature at a reasonable pace. Currently there's just too much pressure on them. We don't need more Ramireses we need a big time performer to get us over the hump.

No we don't have any strikers. We have a loser whose being paid like a top striker and producing like a league one player. We need elite level talent not more middling depth, that is the difference between the top teams and the second tier which you'd like us to be strong in. Look at the top teams in the world and try and find one team that doesn't have an elite level player on high wages! Yes we fucked up massively on signing Torres but does that mean we shouldn't keep with the club's ambitions? Because we shit the bed on Torres everything should stop until he's gone? That's ludicrous! Chelsea's ambition as a club is bigger than a £50m investment. You say we can't afford him flopping, I say we can't afford to keep playing with a recognized in form striker. And with this notion of spreading the money around on other parts on the pitch isn't there a risk that those lesser investments could flop too? wouldn't we be in the exact same predicament now? The difference is if Falcao works out we could have the biggest match winner at CF on our team, a guy capable of winning matches on his own. That is invaluable to me.

I didn't have to know about his degenerative knees thats the job of our medical staff! I didn't want him because he looked slow and wasn't banging in goals. I'm not talking about 2-3 years before we bought him, I'm talking about the summer before we got him the the subsequent season that followed... HE WAS BRUTAL. Certainly not world class! What sense did it make to buy a striker who is coming off major knee surgery who isn't scoring at all? and for £50M at that???! It made no sense! Falcao is an entirely different beast all together he's scoring at a pace that rivals Messi and Ronaldo RIGHT NOW! He is singlehandedly lifting Atleti into a position where they could supplant a world beater in Real Madrid!

ya... sort of. Drogba was a house on fire that year though.

community shield... He didn't score again for like 8 or 9 games

Had sheva hit the ground running he would've had more time to find his legs. I really didn't think he was all that bad we all just expected more and at the time Didier was the best striker in the world

You should do your homework on Torres. The medical staff were quoted when they said "when he left for his physical at Chelsea we were certain he was coming back" He has degenerative knees... And no at the time of the purchase I was irate! it was as plain as day that he lost a half a yard of pace. Shevy WAS one of the best strikers in the world but when we got him he was he was 30? not exactly a sound purchase point is it? But again Roman bought him because at the time he didn't care if he could only get two years out of him, he deemed it worth it... He would just go back in the window and buy again if it flopped which he did. I don't believe in curses... If you believe in things that you don't understand you will suffer - Stevie Wonder

If I didn't have such bad luck with jersey's with names on the back I'd would DEF buy a Falcao jersey... After he prove(s)d he's proper Chelsea of course

Shevchenko was NOT a better player than Falcao at the time of purchase. Torres WAS absolutely useless before we bought him and injured! That is the only reason he was sold. Yes he looked good against us but he was extremely poor when he played for Spain and was largely a shadow of himself when he played for Liverpool. One game in 19 doesn't make him a solid player... He was extremely poor for most of his 2010-11 campaign. And I don't understand why people always look to Shevy (past it) and Torres (damaged goods) when they look at buying big for a striker? What about Didier? Anelka? Vialli? Hasselbaink? You see it doesn't always go sour. And why focus so heavily on the negative, about what if it doesn't work? WHAT IF IT DOES??? we will have one of the most IN FORM, CLINICAL STRIKERS IN THE WORLD! A match winner and an offensive dynamo! You want Villa???? He's so past it! And coming off a major injury. That is precisely what you don't want with FFP its exactly why the Torres purchase was so poor! he's 31 for fuck sakes. Ba has terrible knees and Holt??? good lord what are you smoking son? If you're looking to give the youth a go you clearly haven't examined what's happening at the other big clubs in the world. WE NEED IN FORM STRIKERS TO COMPETE THERE IS NO ONE BETTER THAN FALCAO RIGHT NOW! Players like him don't become available, this is a rare opportunity to grab elite talent we need to take it and I know we will! Its a perfect marriage. Chelsea is in the business of winning things not looking to cut corners with cheap, damaged goods. When Falcao is banging them in with regularly you'll look back at this and wonder what the hell were you thinking. BOOK IT!

He's in his prime year for a striker. Great time to buy him

I'm not even sure Atletico own him. When they sold Aguero to City the transfer fee went to the tax man. Falcao has third party ownership I would bet they are the one's driving the deal through, his agent get apart of the deal too

One can only hope! If the Sturridge rumours to Liverpool are true then this is just more wood on the fire

Sadly I think Danny is gone. If we sign Falcao he'll be getting the lion share of the games with Torres backing him until he whines his way onto another team. We can then look to bringing in someone like Bony or Remy

For what its worth SKY BET have us as the odds on favourite. 1/1 odds

I'm not going to go back and forth over this. I'm not 100% it will happen, it just feels more likely than in the past. We don't know what our financial situation is like in actuality so we could be in a better position than we actually think... Time will time until then CAREFREE! I want him though

I hear that. I'm not convinced we can't fit him in. There's just too much speculation for it not to be on... Perhaps Torres goes out too?

You should read it. We'll make money simply by removing the big contracts we have. Also I'm pretty sure Sturridge will be sold... Gourlay said two months ago there is a massive sponsorship deal that will be announced in Feb. Its not impossible its just gonna leave us thin

1) pretty much every team that is up against FFP will opt for amortized contracts and every player in their prime is signing 5 year deals. 2) Its pretty safe to say both Frank and Ash are close to gone. Currently we have Ramires, Mikel, Oscar, McEachran, Romeu, Essien and perhaps DeBruyne? competing for 2 positions if we stay with 4-2-3-1. More than enough cover. At LB we have Bertrand and Cesar who could play there admittedly we are thin there but might be able to find a little more wiggle room if we sell(Sturridge) or buy a cheap solution. 3) yes our team is thin at LB not really anywhere else but we're massively thin at striker. 4) Yes we've spent a lot but we also made a lot of money too. Our winnings pretty much funded those signings. And if I recall correctly a couple months ago Gourlay came out publicly to say there is a big sponsorship deal in place that will be announced in Feb. If true it could put a lot of this talk to bed. Still I doubt our Board(as dumb as they seem) would be looking at Falcao if we couldn't afford to fund it. 5) We could get a larger share of the TV money if Arsenal and Man U get knocked out early. We got the large share of the TV deal because we were the only English club left in the competition. Again its not a certainty but I wouldn't bet against it since there is a need.

Hoping its true mainly because The thing to consider about waiting till the summer is more teams will be bidding for the services of big starsIf we go big in January we stand a better chance of getting the jump on the competition. I really think we need to address this now because teams like City, PSG Real, etc. will be looking for upgrades and on top of that we might not look like the best destination if we continue to look poor heading into the summer

Read this. Its pretty good... http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2012/12/14/3767290/can-chelsea-fc-afford-to-sign-radamel-falcao

Actually yes we can.

Hoping this is true not holding my breath. Those thinking this is Shevy or Torres or even Fleck need to relax. This one of three of the worlds most in form strikers with 128 goals in 150 games across all competitions. Not saying it couldn't go sour but its not a bad buy considering our need and the form he is currently on