Chelsea Legend 11

You could be right, I'm not gonna profess to know what the clubs financial position is all I can say is we're not as well stocked as Utd who have spent in and around half a billion in recent years.

Again you have no idea who has been targeted, all you know is we haven't concluded any deals. You sound like Charlie "the Hurricane" Skillen or Joe Tweeds... "Chelsea need to buy a CB but not a rubbish one like Djilobodji, a really good one like Bonucci or Koulibaly..." No fucking shit sherlock! And what will it take to pry these players from their respective clubs? Signing anyone who is available is precisely what got us into this predicament to begin with.

you mean like the 79m Juventus threw at them for Higuain? Lets be realistic here. We need to be smart about this purchase.

And don't forget the club had Rudiger all but signed before the Euros and he ruptured his ACL. Imagine if we'd taken all of the incredible advise given here and signed him asap.

No they won't. They would make us slightly better def not a title contender like we should be.

Sterling wanted out and forced a move. Pogba went for a world record fee... Mkhitarian had one year left on his deal... read between the lines, not every time a club says a player is not for sale does it mean they won't sell. In these instances you have the club window dressing.

Explain what this means. What is scatter brained about not getting what you have targeted?

Yes and we clearly aren't in a financial position to spend 80m on one defender. We have money but if you believe FFP is real we clearly can't spend crazy money and comply, especially with no champions league football. Man Utd have limitless funds at their disposal.

Those are the names we've been linked with and of the 6 you've mentioned, in my estimation only Bonucci, Koulibaly and maybe Manolas make us better. Pogba was available, Mkhitarian was available, Sterling was available. Now name me a CB that is available and will make us significantly better?

See this is where we will always be at odds. So if we go out and buy Djilobodji are we a better team than we were previously? Not any defender improves us, we need a BOSS and the BOSSES are in shortage in world football. Juventus don't need to sell Bonucci and clearly don't want to. Koulibaly might go if he submits a transfer request otherwise why is Napoli gonna sell? How do you know the reinforcements haven't been identified? Its not as easy as going to the grocery store and picking defenders off the shelf.

You make it sound like there are a wealth of quality defenders out there. The truth is there are only a handful that will markedly improve our defense, teams know this and aren't about to surrender a defender when its clear every team needs one.

I hear where you're coming from but paying high prices for garbage players is even a further step back than working with what it is we have. I agree we have A LOT of concerns in the back but if we go out and buy someone like Lindelof and he comes here and is nowhere near the answer we have an even bigger problem; that being we've brought in a failure and now have exposed ourselves as even more desperate than previously thought. That will make our selections for the next one less than obvious since the choices are so small. Conte has been preaching this the entire preseason we have to take the right decision and not just any decision... I agree with this wholeheartedly, we cannot make a mistake here, we do not have champions league football and cannot afford to be wrong if you think FFP is a real thing. Its a glaring hole but I don't think any defender will make us significantly better.

No top 4 finish is decided in the first 3 weeks. Be patient, we need the right players not any players.

We're gonna have to bid 90m for Koulibaly after that performance.

Because he's had multiple games like the one Kante is having. go home you're drunk.

hahahhahahaha

Good Lord our back 5 is shit. Courtois, Ivanovic, Terry, Cahill and Azpi have been so shit.

The price to compete has gone up in the Premier league in particular. The number being bandied about for Lukaku is shocking to the system because none of us actually know how much these new deals we've signed with sponsors and media outlets actually amount to. Lukaku wants to work with Chelsea again and clearly the manager wants him. Lacazette has never once been linked with us and struggled for large parts of the season in Ligue 1... You guys don't watch Ligue 1 so you're making blind assertions that Lacazette is better than Lukaku. He very well could be but I doubt it... He wasn't even a French international on a team that featured no Benzema! So in the eyes of the many people who would've watched him week in and week out, Lacazette was worse than Giroud and Gignac so please stop throwing around these random names, neither Chicharito or Lacazette make us significantly better, they are just cheaper options. And isn't that the problem in the end? You guys are looking for bargains in the market when Higuain went for 79m, Pogba for 100.... The players that are available won't come cheap, Everton don't have to sell. The reason we are so heavily linked is because he wants to come back, we want him, but everton are in no position to let him go for his actual valuation. That is why this is where it has reached. My point in all of this is simple. GIVE THE MANAGER THE PLAYERS HE WANTS, allow him to form his squad and see what happens. If we start this relationship off by getting 3rd and 4th choice selections and he fails he's off and its the board's fault. If Lukaku is who he wants, get him Lukaku... If Lukaku fails its on his head. Now if you just don't like Lukaku that's all fine and good, if you don't like him at a certain price then thats an entirely different scenario, one that neither of us will ever understand.

Obligatory eye roll... If you think 75m will land you either Griezmann or Muller you haven't been paying attention... And again what you fail to acknowledge is we need ASSOCIATION TRAINED PLAYERS. We are right at the threshold when it comes to that figure. No you don't know either of Mino and Jorge, all you know is they are agents for some players. You again have no idea what they're like at the negotiation table or what our club is willing to spend vs what they will command. couple that with the fact that the fee will appear high but the actual math is much lower (they owe us still) and you'll get why I'm not that bothered over price. If and when the time comes to go for someone like Griezmann we can sell Costa back to Atleti and negotiate a fee for Antoine.

Very well thought out post and thanks for responding in the fashion you have! Now there are a few things I agree with and there are a few I'm left scratching my head. First, you mention Ighalo as if he has some sort of track record for success in the Prem... One Swallow doesn't make a summer. Lukaku has been scoring goals in the prem for the past 4yrs? And what's more impressive is he has just turned 23. Defoe is 33... why not throw Drogba's name or Eto'o for that matter? I Hear all this talk about the modern game and why its important to be a footballer in order to have real value like that's some sort of rule of thumb, its not... There is more than one way to be successful and while I agree I would feel so much more confident in having someone like Griezmann or Muller play the secondary striker role, I fail to see a situation where a team that finished 10th can even come close to attracting the likes of them. And maybe therein lies the problem, this God complex that we can attract the world's best because we are 10th place Chelsea! What I do see is an adept association trained striker who is young and already proven in the prem. Then you go well off the deep end and mention Torres like there is any sort of comparison between he and Lukaku... Why stop there why not mention Shevchenko or Sutton? Lukaku is coming off his best season in the Prem with 25 goals in all comps, Torres was coming off a serious knee injury and was struggling for form at the time of the acquisition. Why does it have to be all doom and gloom? You speak as though it is a given that Lukaku is going to flop here, what if the opposite is true? What if the manager sees the opposite of what you see? I think a lot of what the problem is here is a lot of you seem to think you have an understanding of what it is the club are trying to accomplish and when it goes against your opinion you come here and shit over the decisions made because they don't agree with yours. WE DON'T KNOW SHIT! Lets start there... You don't know what wages Lukaku will command and to make a statement like 'he will ask for 300k a week' makes you look silly. You also don't have any clue as to what a partnership of Lukaku and Costa will look like, why? Because we've never seen it! The manager has an idea of how he'd like to play and he's identified Lukaku as a guy he'd like to pair with Costa because what HE sees is a partnership that can flourish. Now, I would agree that for my money 75m for Lukaku is just ridiculous. But you can't look at these numbers in a vacuum. Raheem Sterling went for 50m, Stones will go for in and around the same amount, what do they have in common? Well first they are association trained, that in and of itself well drive up the price. And then you close by saying "If Lukaku signs no one else will come..." Dude, no offense but have you not been paying attention? Players come and go all the time. Having Costa for the next year is so uncertain let alone the next 3...

By not playing him it tips our hand that we're trying to sell. Koulibaly is training and playing for Napoli

so we lost money on that one too... I thought the objective of the loan army was to make money from future sales?

He's training with Napoli now. He scored two goals against Nice on the weekend.