Fredy Guarin

[bushman 2,043]

On one hand, most of you want to see Chelsea giving a chance to young players. Now, some of you want to buy a questionable Fredy for 15m ?

It seems to me, the opinions here are changing, daily.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

And the Chelsea fans response would be much stronger if we were to sell Chalobah than Mikel.

We have young players who can't get a game with us - we don't need to sign one from Inter, despite him being a promising player. He's one for the summer if anything.

I don't want to sign him now. In fact, I don't want to even sign him in the summer either because we have our own young talents to bring through. But I'm saying if we want to do business with Inter, then Kovasic is 18/19 and is already better Guarin and closer to what we need here at Chelsea..

[Waterfall 893]

Yeah well theoretically, Essien can play Ramires' role as well.

Not available? He'd kill himself to get a move to a club like Chelsea. What about the other two I mentioned? What about someone like Ki who has been fantastic this season? What about some other CMs from the Serie A who are also not cup-tied (although I don't imagine that is something of great importance to Jose and the Chelsea board as the main concern is the league)? Players like Pjanic? Ilicic? If we want to do business with Inter then why not get their best CM and one of the most promising young play makers in Europe: Kovasic. I'm sure you'll find the Inter fans reaction to be much stronger if we are linked with him instead of Guarin.

Cabaye wanted to move to Arsenal. It didn't happen, and it won't happen for 15M.

Ki's on loan at Sunderland until the end of the season. He's also not better than Guarin.

Pjanic isn't getting sold with the season Roma is having.

Ilicic is an attacking midfielder, not a CM.

The whole reason Guarin is available is to give Kovacic more time. They are not selling him. He's also not as good as Guarin at the moment while being significantly more expensive which is important because we want immediate help that's also affordable

[The only place to be 11,313]

I don't want to sign him now. In fact, I don't want to even sign him in the summer either because we have our own young talents to bring through. But I'm saying if we want to do business with Inter, then Kovasic is 18/19 and is already better Guarin and closer to what we need here at Chelsea..

Completely different types of signings commanding completely different fees and contracts and I doubt Inter would want to sell him in the next year. He's the type of asset you build around and they know that. Guarin is more of a role-player and that's what we need right now (of what's available).

[Strike 7,536]

Yeah well theoretically, Essien can play Ramires' role as well.

Not available? He'd kill himself to get a move to a club like Chelsea. What about the other two I mentioned? What about someone like Ki who has been fantastic this season? What about some other CMs from the Serie A who are also not cup-tied (although I don't imagine that is something of great importance to Jose and the Chelsea board as the main concern is the league)? Players like Pjanic? Ilicic? If we want to do business with Inter then why not get their best CM and one of the most promising young play makers in Europe: Kovasic. I'm sure you'll find the Inter fans reaction to be much stronger if we are linked with him instead of Guarin.

My first pick would be Borja Valero definitely

[Mufassir08 2,400]

Slowly, not too sure about surely. I like him but it remains to be seen how he does here although he deserves a chance (probably).

Ultimately Guarin will have re-sale value whatever happens of at least £4-6 million. Mikel goes for £7-10 million and you've recouped that money. There's not much downside to this deal and quite a lot of upside when you look at this guys physical and technical tools.

The question is whether Mourinho can get the best out of him in the short-term.

Yeah you do have a point but I'd still rather give Nat a shot right now and sign a world class midfielder in the summer.

[Bir_CFC 3,455]

Exactly. We need squad players who aren't exactly world class to be a good team as well.

But you can argue that all of our options at CM atm should be squad players and what we need for that position is a world-class player. Plus 18m for a squad player? Then there's that he doesn't really fit a 2-man central midfield, and that there's better options available for about the same price or even cheaper...etc

Are there more options available? Not calling you out, I'm just curious.

Imo it's a good deal because as I said before, he won't solve our problems but he'll ensure we don't completely sabotage the rest of the season by not reinforcing the midfield at all.

[Amblève. 4,995]

Oh jeez, not again with these mediocre players... can't we just try and get a REAL UPGRADE instead of buying players that don't really address one of our needs or are simply washed up? Just fucking spend 10-20m more if that's what's needed to bring in a truly world-class player instead of being cheap and doing these half-assed deals, FFS.

[zolayes 14,489]

Oh jeez, not again with these mediocre players... can't we just try and get a REAL UPGRADE instead of buying players that don't really address one of our needs or are simply washed up? Just fucking spend 10-20m more if that's what's needed to bring in a truly world-class player instead of being cheap and doing these half-assed deals, FFS.

AGREE why oh fucking why would we want this guy

[The only place to be 11,313]

AGREE why oh fucking why would we want this guy

Good touch, decent engine, available, fills a need (possibly), okay price, in his prime.....not an exciting signing but helps.

Oh jeez, not again with these mediocre players... can't we just try and get a REAL UPGRADE instead of buying players that don't really address one of our needs or are simply washed up? Just fucking spend 10-20m more if that's what's needed to bring in a truly world-class player instead of being cheap and doing these half-assed deals, FFS.

Who? Who is available in January? Which £35 million midfielder are you talking about?

[Waterfall 893]

Oh jeez, not again with these mediocre players... can't we just try and get a REAL UPGRADE instead of buying players that don't really address one of our needs or are simply washed up? Just fucking spend 10-20m more if that's what's needed to bring in a truly world-class player instead of being cheap and doing these half-assed deals, FFS.

tell me what truly world class midfielders will be available in January for 25-35M? Hard to enough get a great player at that price in summer, almost impossible in winter.

[Bosnian Blue 2,471]

Playing in a mediocre Italian club (no disrespect to Inter but that is what they have been since Jose left) at his peak ?

That doesn't seem like an upgrade for us.

Wonder if it means we'll sell someone in January.. Essien won't stay beyond summer and Mikel just seems like he'll never progress, hell its more likely he gets worse as time goes by. Lamps has been magnificient so far considering his age and how much the guy has played, but its not enough.

We really should have brought De Rossi in, and let him play alongside Ramires with old Frank rotating.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

He would be like perfect rotation player, but in days when we need top regular starter, he aint the solution...

[Mouri_Matic 560]

Is he better than Lampard/Mikel/Luiz/Essien at CDM? If he is sign him up, end of. Then in the summer sell 3 of the 4 mentioned and sign Witsel.

[Special Juan 28,188]

See this is where it falls down, of course he could come him and up-root tress etc but he comes here if you believe the rags for 18ME in January as a stop-gap.

Ba was a stop gap, that turned out....well.....errr yeah!!!!

18 fucking million Euros.

[nyikolajevics 2,713]

How much would Matic cost? Maybe we should go for him. We should just add a few millions to this 18.

[remains of the day 564]

To clarify, the fee that is being reported is actually 15 million euros which works out to roughly around 12 million pounds. Guarin isn't 'world class', I get that. I also get some of the points people have raised, but a centre midfielder is a pressing need right now and I don't feel it's something that we can wait to address during the summer transfer window. Ramires & Lampard are playing far too many games and I think it's already apparent that Mikel isn't a good enough option to rotate with those two in Mourinho's system. Neither is Essien. This is very much a low risk signing with some upside. Depending on how Van Ginkel recovers from his injury, we can still dip back into the market for an elite midfield talent (if need be). Don't see much wrong with this signing.

And CHOULO19 regarding your response to my prior post - all the power to you for watching every single game Guarin has played for Inter. I normally follow the Serie A closely but haven't managed to watch much of inter this season, so I'll just have to defer to your knowledge. I am however curious though as to how you could have thought Guarin is a natural attacking midfielder? That's just as bizarre as calling Lampard a natural defensive midfielder or Oscar a natural winger, or Torres a natural striker. You also claim that Guarin is horrible at dribbling even though he's among the top when it comes to successful dribbles made in the serie a. You SURE it's inter you've been watching? Might want to call up your mate and double check on that....

[NiclasCFC 2,582]

Calciomercato are reporting some quotes from Marcelo Ferreyra, which seem to confirm that Chelsea are in serious talks with Inter Milan about the player. Here's what he had to say during his radio appearance, as reported by the Italian website and translated by Google:

"Right now I'm in Milan. The interest of Chelsea 's official, they are discussing his transfer directly with the Inter . When and if the two parties find an understanding, Fredy and I will start talking with the Blues."

"In the past few days we also went to London with leaders of Inter to talk with the London club. We want to understand what kind of project they have."

"There is also interest in Guarin from two clubs in Manchester , but at the moment, there is only one option . Now we are awaiting word from Thohir (Inter's majority owner), waiting for his decision. Fredy is now focused the (Milan) derby."

-

Calciomercato

Assuming these quotes are actually real, it would seem to confirm the report we read in the Guardian earlier this week. It would also confirm that Tancredi jumped the gun again, even if there were actually talks between the clubs.

Should a deal come to fruition, the Blues will need to make space for Guarin on both the Premier League and Champions League rosters (though they can carry as many players as they want while the January window is still open). Combine that with Mourinho's comments yesterday about playing more conservatively, and this would seem to make a Kevin De Bruyne loan even more likely. There are several other reasonable options to create that roster spot as well, and it will certainly give us plenty to talk about in January.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

If you ask me Jose wants to play more 4-3-3 and at current we don't have the right compliment of mids to make it so. A midfield 3 of Mikel, Ramires and Guarin have the right kind of varying qualities to function effectively... I my head at least.

At any rate in Mourinho I will always trust.

[LegenTerry 273]

In any case he's better than Mikel,much better and that's only matters cause we need a better DM and CM who will be backup for Lampard and Ramires.