Non-Chelsea Transfer Pub

[BMox81 193]

Its very sad that the club are slowly trying to condition a lot of you that signing the likes of Danny Drinkwater is a good thing.

You're embracing mediocrity and just shrugging your shoulders and saying "oh well." and coming up with a bunch of reasons to justify it when you know deep down it isn't the type of signing we as a club should be making if we wanting to be fighting on all fronts and competing for trophies.

This was an awful window in hindsight.

[DDA 9,938]

1 minute ago, Dingus said:

Its very sad that the club are slowly trying to condition a lot of you that signing the likes of Danny Drinkwater is a good thing.

You're embracing mediocrity and just shrugging your shoulders and saying "oh well." and coming up with a bunch of reasons to justify it when you know deep down it isn't the type of signing we as a club should be making if we wanting to be fighting on all fronts and competing for trophies.

This was an awful window in hindsight.

Let's surrender at the mercy of Europe and pay 90m for a foreign name with every transfer. Fuck developing Musonda. Who cares about Christensen. Leave Boga on loan for good. RLC will never cut it here. Abraham just isn't Chelsea quality. We need to take a leaf out of City's book...they just keep on winning trophies and dominating English football.

[Thor 2,701]

5 minutes ago, Dingus said:

Its very sad that the club are slowly trying to condition a lot of you that signing the likes of Danny Drinkwater is a good thing.

You're embracing mediocrity and just shrugging your shoulders and saying "oh well." and coming up with a bunch of reasons to justify it when you know deep down it isn't the type of signing we as a club should be making if we wanting to be fighting on all fronts and competing for trophies.

This was an awful window in hindsight.

We have Kante, Bakayoko and Cesc, who are all capable starters given the team. Drinkwater secures things in the middle if we do get any injuries. Who did you want there? A world class signing? Then Bakayoko and Cesc get upset as their game time goes down and we are left in a situation where we are selling again.

 

 

[Cosmin 2,484]

1 hour ago, DDA said:

I honestly think it just clever business. I know it's quickly becoming cliche but our business model is a proven success. I'm sure you are aware of our recent achievements. Whilst the likes of City spend ridiculous amounts and fall very short of what we have achieved. It's not like we don't spend either. The majority of this forum act as if we have spend fuck all in this window in a market that is chaotic and in my opinion out of control.

I agree, but my concers are about the players who are refusing us, not the clubs.

[Rekin 835]

I dont think it was a bad window in the end, but it was still performed in a embarassing fashion. 

Personally, these were the big issues we needed to adress going into summer:

We did adress most of them. Zappacosta is apparently a good crosser, and he does provide depth as a WB. The problem is that now we have Azpilicueta, Moses, Zappacosta and Rudiger who can all somewhat play a role as RWB, but only Alonso as LWB. Poor balance in other words.
Bakayoko is more dynamic than Matic, and together with Drinkwater we have some good depth. 
Morata gives us a different striker profile, and while Llorente would have been good to have at least we are not strictly worse off in the striker position. 

We also enter the new season with one more senior player than before in the squad. So again, not a terrible transfer window.

Having said that, it was still an absolute embarassment. The clubs haggling had us lose out on Danilo, Llorente, Lukaku and we were also rejected after having a bid accepted by Barkley and Oxlade-Chamberlain. Furthermore, we sold a key player to Man Utd, a rival that may now challenge us for the league. This should never, ever happen to a club on our level. It makes us look like absolute amateurs. 

I mean fuck, going into the FA Cup final the summer looked so good. We already had a very strong team, and just needed a top up. Instead we went on a selling and loan spree, while haggling for every single million with every team out there. Do we come out stronger? Only slightly. 
Something must be behind this. Is it that we had to buy out the Adidas deal? Is it the new stadium? Other clubs spent far more than us having sold a fraction of the players. It doesnt add up. Perhaps we need to adjust our expectations on the transfer seasons from now on.

[Cosmin 2,484]

30 minutes ago, Rekin said:

I dont think it was a bad window in the end, but it was still performed in a embarassing fashion. 

Spot on.

If you think about it, we covered our flaws just as good as United have, yet their image after this window is way better, because they didn't run after 50 targets. They got exactly what they needed and they did that early.

[Reddish-Blue 2,503]

31 minutes ago, Cosmin said:

I agree, but my concers are about the players who are refusing us, not the clubs.

Who actually refused us?

Ox was a Liverpool fan growing up, even said he wanted to be the next Gerrard after Arsenal's fa cup victory.  

Lukaku went to United because he wanted to play with his best mate and they offered more money to Everton anyway.

Barkley is the only one who actually rejected us for no apparent reason. 

[Cosmin 2,484]

@Reddish-Blue - fair enough, there are reasons for each refusal, but still Ox chose Liverpool over us, Llorente chose Spurs over us, Lukaku chose United over us. For various reasons, but they still did!

[Alabama 1,992]

Llorente never chose spurs over us....we couldnt agree a fee with Swansea...

[Alabama 1,992]

I cant wrap my heads around the hype people have for Llorente right on here...

[Cosmin 2,484]

23 minutes ago, eemanyooel said:

Llorente never chose spurs over us....we couldnt agree a fee with Swansea...

There are reports claiming otherwise. I've read that Spurs matched our bid and they got him.

However, it's not really about Llorente himself or Danilo or Ox. It's about the fact that the manager wanted these dudes (or at least that's what we know) and the club wasn't able to get them, while other clubs were. That's the issue.

On a side note, it's remarkable how the all of the Premier League transfer sagas of this summer hit rock bottom and nothing happened. Coutinho and Costa are still Liverpool and Chelsea players , unless something happens today, Van Dijk is still a Southampton player, while Alexis remains at Arsenal. Fantastic.

[Reddish-Blue 2,503]

15 minutes ago, Cosmin said:

There are reports claiming otherwise. I've read that Spurs matched our bid and they got him.

However, it's not really about Llorente himself or Danilo or Ox. It's about the fact that the manager wanted these dudes (or at least that's what we know) and the club wasn't able to get them, while other clubs were. That's the issue.

On a side note, it's remarkable how the all of the Premier League transfer sagas of this summer hit rock bottom and nothing happened. Coutinho and Costa are still Liverpool and Chelsea players , unless something happens today, Van Dijk is still a Southampton player, while Alexis remains at Arsenal. Fantastic.

Costa isn't really a Chelsea player as he won't be pulling on the Chelsea jersey anytime soon.  The question is: will Atletico sign him now or wait till January. 

As for Van Dijk, I have total respect for the Southampton board after this saga.  They said they would not sell him to Liverpool after the tapping up and they stuck by their word. 

As for Alexis Sanchez, I feel sorry for the guy.   He wants to win trophies, he wants to play with the best and now he's stuck at Arsenal for another 6 to 12 months. 

[cosmicway 1,333]

It's certainly not near as spectacular as United's.
Could have been better, but those players have to prove themselves.
If not, given that we ditched Costa and Matic, it does n't look good.
We will know in about a month's time.

[Alabama 1,992]

25 minutes ago, Cosmin said:

There are reports claiming otherwise. I've read that Spurs matched our bid and they got him.

However, it's not really about Llorente himself or Danilo or Ox. It's about the fact that the manager wanted these dudes (or at least that's what we know) and the club wasn't able to get them, while other clubs were. That's the issue.

On a side note, it's remarkable how the all of the Premier League transfer sagas of this summer hit rock bottom and nothing happened. Coutinho and Costa are still Liverpool and Chelsea players , unless something happens today, Van Dijk is still a Southampton player, while Alexis remains at Arsenal. Fantastic.

No spurs matched Swansea valuation...we only matched their bid when llorente during his medical examination...we were only negotiating llorentes fee with swansea and couldn't match their valuation...The only downside is they are players Contes target....so the fuck up is on the board for once again been certified in the school of penny pinching..

[Alabama 1,992]

7 minutes ago, cosmicway said:

It's certainly not near as spectacular as United's.
Could have been better, but those players have to prove themselves.
If not, given that we ditched Costa and Matic, it does n't look good.
We will know in about a month's time.

what is so spectacular about United....Its a long season again...yes they are a good side but only 3 games into the season....everyone joining the united hype...

[BMox81 193]

2 hours ago, DDA said:

Let's surrender at the mercy of Europe and pay 90m for a foreign name with every transfer. Fuck developing Musonda. Who cares about Christensen. Leave Boga on loan for good. RLC will never cut it here. Abraham just isn't Chelsea quality. We need to take a leaf out of City's book...they just keep on winning trophies and dominating English football.

Where did I say anything about paying 90m for every transfer? I just want top quality players at my club.

Can I be held responsible if the likes of RLC or Tammy potentially don't have what it takes to make it at Chelsea? No. That's on them. If Musonda hasn't developed enough in the time he's been at the club to the point where he should be challenging for a place in the first team, then maybe it just isn't meant to be. Same with all the others.

[sainttourist 68]

 

[silviupastean 135]

7 hours ago, Cosmin said:

Spot on.

If you think about it, we covered our flaws just as good as United have, yet their image after this window is way better, because they didn't run after 50 targets. They got exactly what they needed and they did that early.

i don't really believe we covered our flaws that much. I mean, after we won the premier league, Conte said we have to strengthen and add to the squad if we want to challenge on all fronts

1st team-wise, we brought in 7 players and we sold/loaned out 8 (11 if you count Oscar, Mikel & Ivanovic from last winter)

IN

Caballero - Rudiger - Christensen - Zappacosta - Bakayoko - Drinkwater - Morata 

 

OUT

Begovic - Ake - Zouma - Terry - Matic - Chalobah - RLC - Costa(good as gone)

 

So, squad-wise, we are worse off than last year, and we also have to compete in the Champions League. We have fewer players for more competitions. 

 

Although i am excited about christesen, zappa, baka and morata, generally i think we did some bad business. Buying two players on deadline day is never a good thing. It worked out last year with alonso and luiz, but for these guys it takes time to get match fit, get used to conte, the cub, the team. no preseason with us...

 

and yeah, it really sucks that two mediocre players in Ox and Barkley refused us so that they can win f*ckall at pool, tottenham, everton  

[calculatingInfinity 1,472]

I understand being disappointed with the transfer window, but the ones labeling it a disaster and calling for people to get sacked are silly. 

Overall I am confident Chelsea are strengthened from last season. But I am still mourning the loss of Costa for Morata. Not that I dislike Morata in any way, but he just isn't Costa. However the defense has been greatly strengthened. Rudiger is a great CB and Christensen is already a very great defender as well, with lots of growing room still. Zappacosta is a solid to good right back, in a position that greatly needed covering. Left back is still quite shit, if Alonso gets injured or suspended, but it is what it is. Only players really lost from last season is Terry, who might have been big in the dressing room, but was clearly now too old to play any decent part on the pitch. Ake who was clearly not trusted (and honestly for good reasons seeing him defend now). I guess Zouma as well although he was injured pretty much all of last season. But I think it's clearly for the best he was loaned out to get stable game time, after such horrible injury. Think he will come back strong.

Midfield? While I certainly think Chalobah should have stayed, it's hard to say it isn't better now, seeing as Conte clearly didnt trust him or the other younger midfield options anyway. Matic who seems to only play half a good season per year, replaced with Bakayoko seems like a very good decision, even if selling Matic to United was annoying. Bakayoko, Kante and Fabregas are 3 great players, and I think Drinkwater is at the very least, a decent option as well.

Wings are still strong and really about the same, not a big change. Forwards however, a bit weakened. But I feel like getting rid of Costa was almost unavoidable now. So I guess Morata is the best option here.

Overall an acceptable transfer window for me. Although I also wish the club would have been more ambitious. But I am rather pleased, and think the squad is in good conditions to compete in all the competitions it's in. 

 

Edit: forgot keeper position. Losing Begovic was sad, I really do like him. But an ok replacement. Certainly weakened there though.

[calculatingInfinity 1,472]

17 minutes ago, silviupastean said:

IN

Caballero - Rudiger - Christensen - Zappacosta - Bakayoko - Drinkwater - Morata 

 

OUT

Begovic - Ake - Zouma - Terry - Matic - Chalobah - RLC - Costa(good as gone)

 

So, squad-wise, we are worse off than last year, and we also have to compete in the Champions League. We have fewer players for more competitions. 

 

Ake, RLC and Chalobah were clearly not trusted by Conte and weren't getting any real game time anyway, despite being in the first team squad. Terry was also clearly not good enough for the premier league anymore, which is why he was hardly played in the end, and was really just a glorified backroom staff member. Zouma was injured almost all season, and can't really be counted towards last years squad.

Certainly if we count those towards the IN/OUT comparison here, we should also add Musonda, Clarke-Salter,  Rahman, and so on, as players coming in.