Paulinho

[Alan Partridge 1,124]

He isn't as bad as people are making out

He hasn't been in England long and he has been playing for an absolute shit team. If his team weren't getting battered all over the place this season we might have seen a different performance from him. He was probably quite unmotivated especially playing under AVB and Sherwood

[Fernando 6,585]

He's more composed and consistent on the ball than Ramires and he's better at finding space in the box. I'm not saying he's the next Lampard but I'm simply trying to be constructive and look at this transfer within the context of REALITY.

I'm sure 6 or 7 people will find something to moan about with this transfer before we know how much he costs and what he actually does for us on the pitch, and that's the same with a lot of transfers. But we need somebody alongside Matic and Paulinho is potentially an upgrade on Luiz, Mikel and Ramires in that role if he reaches his potential.

And slagging off signings when you don't actually have anything constructive to say is equally laughable. But hey, why change the one-note when you've become so good at playing it?

You had me till you said that Paulinho is a potential upgrade to David Luiz....

[CHOULO19 24,332]

He's like a brainless Fernandinho with much worse decision making and tactical awareness. That's at least what he's looked like at Spurs, I have no idea what he was like at Corinthians. Tbf, the way Tottenham have been playing it's really hard for a CM to shine, but even taking that into consideration he's been in really poor form this season. So, I really can't see this happening because you just don't come to a club like Chelsea after having a bad season.

[DYC. 7,542]

Oh dear, it's like the Fellaini and Guarin thread. Hope another bullet will be dodged with Paulinho.

[The Mak 4,459]

I thought the whole point of the upcoming transfer window was to lose the dead weight, not gain it. Say what you like, but he is not top quality and he's not far off Ramires' level, in whatever direction.

Buying Tottenham rejects while not even attempting to develop any one of our quality youngsters like Loftus-Cheek, Chalobah or Aké would piss me off to no end. If it does indeed pan out that way, I know where Mourinho can shove his 'this team needs nurture' bull to be honest.

Either buy the sort of player we need at the sort of level we need (i.e. Rakitic) or develop at least one of the 3 top fucking youth CM/DMs we're blessed with having.

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

I thought the whole point of the upcoming transfer window was to lose the dead weight, not gain it. Say what you like, but he is not top quality and he's not far off Ramires' level, in whatever direction.

Buying Tottenham rejects while not even attempting to develop any one of our quality youngsters like Loftus-Cheek, Chalobah or Aké would piss me off to no end. If it does indeed pan out that way, I know where Mourinho can shove his 'this team needs nurture' bull to be honest.

Either buy the sort of player we need at the sort of level we need (i.e. Rakitic) or develop at least one of the 3 top fucking youth CM/DMs we're blessed with having.

Amen!

[The Skipper 20,609]

Firstly, I do think he's an upgrade and is better at making those simple passes which Ramires can struggle with. There's also the added goal threat from deep.

A lot of players can make those simple passes, doesn't automatically make them desirable. I think an in form Ramires is better than Paulinho.

Now the financial aspect. Who is this top class midfielder that we could buy? Does he have a name or have you and Styles both misplaced it? Is it Modric like your friend lionsden suggested?

There's a few we've been linked to that are in the right ilk. Some have already been mentioned in this thread.

You're advocating the sale of Luiz and maybe even Ramires but keep bringing up the financial aspect. If the former happened (even if we just sold Luiz) we wouldn't have any financial problems in regards to getting a top midfielder in at all. The financial aspect of it is a myth - especially when Paulinho would likely go for £20/25m+ at least. Add a bit onto that and you can actually get the type of player our squad doesn't have i.e. a Rakitic.

Also I think it's massively simplistic to not look at the other areas we need to spend in, not just now but in the future as well as the fact that we have a fair amount of young talent either looking to start next year and beyond. But that's just me....I actually want to give some of the young players a chance.

So you've concluded from the fact that I don't want Paulinho here that I don't want to give young players a chance? How have you imagined that one? It's the exact opposite in fact; it would be an even bigger stumbling block for the likes of MVG, Chalobah and RLC who can all do what Paulinho does and all have a higher ceiling. Signing a player with a different profile will actually give them a bigger chance to break into the team, instead of further putting them behind the pecking order. It's also very ironic that you now think it's massively simplistic to not look at other areas we need to spend in.

Paulinho doesn't seem to have any other suitors and has been marginalised in the last few months. Levy is a cunt but he needs to invest in that Spurs team to get the fans off his back and a £20 million hood ornament isn't exactly a useful thing to keep around.

Levy is still bitter about the Modric and Willian dealings. There's bad blood between the clubs when it comes to transfers - the same rubbish rumours that have started this are the same ones stating that he has potential suitors in Italy, so you're wrong on that aspect (if we follow those rumours of course).

Maybe we're looking to ship Ramires on.

You and I both know very well that Jose loves Ramires as a player, and his comments recently have also supported that. There are no rumours suggesting that we're shipping Ramires on, you're making that up in your own mind; Mourinho's recent quotes should tell you that he strongly considers Ramires as part of the midfield here next season.

But now you want to give young players a go?? A minute ago you wanted us to sign a mysterious unnamed player who would be an immediate starter. How about you make a value signing who upgrades your position in the short-term for a modest cost in the prime of his playing days and who still has value in the market a few years down the line, kinda like a Meireles-type signing?? Does that make sense in any way?

As mentioned above, signing Paulinho who is a similar player to the top young CMs we have at the club (MVG, Chalobah, RLC) would actually be even further detrimental to their ascension at Chelsea than signing a player that has a completely different profile to them, a type of player we don't even have in the squad, a type of player that would compliment their style of play.

So you're saying the Paulinho signing would be akin to the Meireles signing - a squad player. So you want more squad players? Why should we buy more squad players when the first team XI clearly isn't completed yet? When we should be looking for a starter next to Matic? Signing Paulinho as a squad player is nonsensical when you have a very similar player in Ramires there who could so easily fill out that spot in the squad.

We are talking about signing a starter next to Matic, not a squad player and in that context Paulinho would be a bad signing.

And I reiterate that I'm prepared to see how this plays out in the context of our other dealings before writing him off completely.

Patience innit blood.

Me saying Paulinho would be a bad signing doesn't mean I'm impatient, we haven't even signed him or aren't close to signing him at the moment, and I've not once suggested that we need to hurry up with our signings at all.

By your own words, if you're prepared to see how this plays out then you can't say it'll be a good signing yet because we haven't even done our dealings this summer to begin with. It has nothing to do with patience - don't know how you've managed to spin that into people being impatient either.

Honestly it seems like the same 6 or 7 faces are constantly popping up to deride anything the club does.

Yes, because saying Paulinho would be a bad signing = popping or deriding anything the club does... Get over it man. Don't pretend like you've never even derided the club over a signing (Eto'o - but of course yours was justifiable and your criticism was measured ).

Remember when the Matic deal was first being mooted - fees of €40 million were being chucked around. Despite what some might have you believe, our club isn't staffed by idiots. The reason we're talking about one midfielder being needed is because the current guys already signed Matic for a bargain price.

Matic deal is a very irrelevant comparison because we're dealing with a club that aren't in need of money like Benfica were. We're dealing with a club which we have a very bad history with when it comes to transfers (Modric, Willian hijack). If we went in for Paulinho there is no way Tottenham would want to deal with us in a civil manner, you can't be that naive about it all.

Answer me this, if you had the choice, would Paulinho be the number 1 midfielder you'd be looking at this summer, to start alongside Matic? Unless we're shipping Ramires (very, very, very unlikely) and directly replacing him with Paulinho he definitely would not be my plan A. And even then, we would still need another midfielder - so we're back to square one. Would you buy another Paulinho type player again if that was the case?

The Paulinho deal does not make sense at all unless we're selling Ramires and that's very unlikely.

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

He isn't as bad as people are making out

He hasn't been in England long and he has been playing for an absolute shit team. If his team weren't getting battered all over the place this season we might have seen a different performance from him. He was probably quite unmotivated especially playing under AVB and Sherwood

We don't want a player who "isn't as bad as people are making out" or "only has been playing in a shit team" of whom "we might have seen a different performance"

We are Chelsea Football Club FFS. Only the very best have a place here. If we buy a top CM, great, if we give a youngster a chance instead even better. But we fuckin don't need mediocre players, cos we coincidentially already got too many and are trying to get rid of them.

[The Skipper 20,609]

That's not my point, you have people on this forum saying he's awful, what i'm saying is i'd rather trust the professionals who have scouted him for more than one season. This is his fist season in England for gods sake, obviously we'd all like a true playmaker, but i'm not going to write him off before actually seeing him play for us (if he does join us, that is).

Fair enough. If we do somehow sign him, of course I'd support him as a player as I do with all others, but that is besides the point.

Listen, Paulinho is not a bad player, but he isn't the type of player we should be looking at all, especially since we've got Ramires who is very identical to him, and especially if we want to become a proper dominant force. Hence why I think it would be a terrible signing.

[OneMoSalah 8,883]

Please no. Not that hes a terrible player or that, just an average one we don't need. We don't need another box to box midfielder anyway.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Like I've said in another thread

I hope we get a proper replacement to improve the CM and not stop gap guarins. If we can't get a vidal, pogba, gundogan, modric level replacement, we should just play vanginkel and promote our youth because I'm tired of us over-paying for squad players and not first team starters.

Paulinho falls into squad level players IMO.

[Strike 7,474]

Honestly it seems like the same 6 or 7 faces are constantly popping up to deride anything the club does. This is not a ball-tingler of a deal and I don't think anyone is saying it is, but it seems like plenty of us have enough faith in the club to simply wait and see what happens here. Any transfer fees at this point are purely speculative as well so it's impossible to tell exactly what type of value we'd be getting.

Remember when the Matic deal was first being mooted - fees of €40 million were being chucked around. Despite what some might have you believe, our club isn't staffed by idiots. The reason we're talking about one midfielder being needed is because the current guys already signed Matic for a bargain price.

Last year we signed Van Ginkel as well, and he needs a chance this year. Then you've got Chalobah and Loftus-Cheek a little below that who are some of the brightest prospects of their generation.

Now of course there's an argument that we could sign other players for more, but who? Is Modric available as one miserable soul suggested? No. Even if he was he's in a whole other transfer demo. Vidal? Probably not. Cabaye? No. Kovacic? Another young-un who needs developing. Pogba? United were told no. Kroos? Wages are at least double and I'm not entirely sure he fits what we want

Again, no-one is saying that this guy is a dead cert to be the player we need, but it is unfair to judge him solely by this season. To me he seems like a more intelligent Ramires, but he can also look ponderous on the ball and a little lacking in cojones. He has tremendous upside if Levy actually sells him for a realistic price and he's not a massive financial burden to us long-term and in that regard he could be likened to Guarin.

Mourinho backs himself to get the absolute most out of his players though and I think with guys like Guarin and Paulinho who have a lot of technical and physical gifts, it's like a red rag to a bull.

If we're in for a midfielder, we should go for a proven top level mid rather than Paulinho, Guarin. How about promoting one of the youngsters you mentioned to 4th and 5th choice ? There is also Luiz who can fill in as DM, even Nathan Ake has played games at DM. Another squad option does not help things at all

and Re: No options available? Don't be narrow minded, this is still early May. there will be plenty of midfielders to choose from in the summer. Only one ruled out is Gundogan at the moment. Off the top of my head I'd rather have any of Rakitic Gustavo Lars Bender Schneiderlin Strootman Alex Song Barkley Ander Herrera

[Pacquiao 1,834]

Hands up, everybody here, who has watched Chelsea this season and thought to themselves 'you know what? We could really do with a Paulinho'.

Anybody?

No one?

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?

Paulinho ffs. I'm convinced some people could talk themselves into backing an Andy Carroll transfer if he was linked to the club.

Me!

I Wanted us to sign him last summer and would still love to sign him now! he would be a very good replacement for Lampard!

[The only place to be 11,313]

rakitic?

An option, but he's set to go to Real Madrid isn't he? A bidding war with them doesn't sound like much fun.

Look, I've said pretty much all I'm gonna say about this deal. It's not the most exciting one, it isn't Modric, it isn't Gundogan, it isn't Alonso but based on what I understand about the club then I'm prepared to wait and see and trust the manager's judgment. A lot depends on his price and the rest depends on Jose turning him into the player Spurs thought they were getting.

But once again, this forum has 6 or 7 people who just shit on the club and circle jerk one another. That's fine, it's the internet but it's amazing how little resemblance they bear to the optimism and hope that's actually around this club. I come here to talk about Chelsea with Chelsea supporters, not the miserable sods who seemingly infest every thread nowadays.

[Beepu 1,714]

An option, but he's set to go to Real Madrid isn't he? A bidding war with them doesn't sound like much fun.

Look, I've said pretty much all I'm gonna say about this deal. It's not the most exciting one, it isn't Modric, it isn't Gundogan, it isn't Alonso but based on what I understand about the club then I'm prepared to wait and see and trust the manager's judgment. A lot depends on his price and the rest depends on Jose turning him into the player Spurs thought they were getting.

But once again, this forum has 6 or 7 people who just shit on the club and circle jerk one another. That's fine, it's the internet but it's amazing how little resemblance they bear to the optimism and hope that's actually around this club. I come here to talk about Chelsea with Chelsea supporters, not the miserable sods who seemingly infest every thread nowadays.

Who are these 6 or 7 people you keep mentioning? I haven't been on as much these days so I have no idea.