kc_blue

Off topic but it's nice to see a thread blowing up in a good way rather then yesterday when it was all gloom and doom on CHO.

That may not be an option to get the deal done, Malcom has potential and we'd probably buy another winger anyway.

I appreciate what Willian has given us over the years but I think it's plainly time to move on from him. I don't see many more opportunities to sell him on that are going to be available to us. He hasn't had a great season and he's only getting older. Honestly I thought we'd missed our last chance last summer to sell him.

Think I'd be inclined to take the gamble on Malcom. How many more opportunities are we going to get to sell Willian for a decent return. He's not putting up good numbers this season and he's not getting any younger.

Such a let down if this deal falls through. Was really looking forward to adding something different to our midfield.

This can't be real can it? And they are offering cash as well? Suddenly our winger situation looks totally different. If I'm dreaming don't wake me up.

I really hope so.

Dreamer slash optimist.

One of these days we'll get a striker signing correct. We haven't really had much luck, Costa aside, but just got to keep going after it until we hit pay dirt eventually.

Sometimes it feels like the only thing they are worth is to push up transfer fees.

I'm sure they would prefer a deal to sell him permanently. Hope we are smart enough not to fall for that.

You are probably right overall. Think a smart player or agent could abuse that just as well though. Hell if I was Hazard and I signed this new contract don't think I'd sign for any thing less then 6 years.

There is something to be said for the 1 year contracts for players over 30 but there's also downsides as well. I tend to think it should be more of a guideline rather then a hard and fast rule. You most certainly don't want to get stuck with someone over the hill on a huge contract and unable to move them but that just takes a bit of common sense in the contract you offered them in the first place. I don't think people are clamoring to sign Cesc or Luiz, as examples, to 5 year first team pay packets. Or even 3 year deals. Without getting into specific players it's hard to address though. Maybe 1 year deals with a mutual option for a second year or something along those lines would work better. It doesn't make sense to sign any 30+ year old on a big transfer fee because of FFP and amortization. It's just to costly on the bottom line. As far as Morata having teams interested as opposed to what happens if Higuaín flops, at the right price plenty of teams will be interested. It's just that the prices they are interested at probably don't interest our board. The prices being talked about for Morata aren't anywhere near what we paid for him. Still better then nothing.

Is there more to this then agent and/or paper talk? This seems like a position we have good youth players in that should be getting a chance in the next season or two. For the quoted price and dealing with Napoli I just don't see the logic in making a move for him. Especially if it costs us quality in other positions. If we have to pull back from our first targets in midfield or striker I think this would be costly beyond just the price of the transfer.

Ahh, the days when we could take Ballack from you. Much different then today though. At that time you guys were kind of struggling and we were consistently first or second in our league and going far in the CL. Now it's you that are consistently going far in the CL. The wheel turned. Hopefully we'll get back to the days of truly competing year on year for CL but keeping our best players is definitely going to be a part of it and CHO is looked at as the best chance an academy kid has had at making it.

Going to miss him when he's gone. It will be interesting when he retires, will he be like Ballack and be very much a blue or will he be more associated with Barca or Arsenal.

This is disappointing to read. Really think he would be a good buy for us. If Marina is really worried about money how can we possibly be looking at spending 45 mil on a rb when we have a couple up and comers at that position. I'm sure a new rb could help but it would be much further down my list of priorities after fixing things up so we get some production out of midfield and someone to take the chances they create.

45 mil and having to deal with Napoli kind of make me a bit nauseous. That said he knows the system and could probably help us run it more smoothly. All really depends exactly how much we have and are willing to spend and which areas are the most pressing. I'm not sure right back is at the top of the list.

I would continue to play him this season and reevaluate the situation in the summer. The way they've gone about it means I would not accept a bid from Bayern period. We really can't let him and them run all over us, it would set a bad precedent.

Thanks for supplying the article. No quotes, not buying it. CHO has advantages here but I don't think he's at a state yet in running down his contract and the state of his career that he holds all the cards and Chelsea have to do what he says. I guess we'll see. I have a hard time believing the board, even though they are largely responsible would allow him to leave in this window.

I might be full of it and this whole Bayern fiasco has skewed things but I honestly believe the progression we've seen with RLC and minutes this season is what was going to be coming for CHO, Bayern bid or no Bayern bid.

In that case I'm still taking it with a huge grain of salt. Still seems so strange that I'm not sure how seriously I take it. Think it's all about the money on the new contract. Guess we'll see.

What's the source on the latest CHO news?

We'll have to see what the club decides but I can't realistically see you getting him this month, not without a significantly higher offer.

You seem to be working from the believe that the club is open to negotiations now. You seem to be saying they are agreeing a deal now for a summer move. That's not at all what I'm proposing. I'm saying they should keep CHO, who has a contract for another 18 months, and play him the rest of the season. If come summer we are open to selling then we can negotiate a deal then, not now.