James Rodríguez

[Amblève. 4,995]

16 hours ago, Liuxas said:

Would be massive signing for us. World Class player and one of the most popular players in the world. I mean, if we spend on him 75 pounds I can predict the club will get this sum back from selling shirts. He's so popular in South America.

When will people learn that clubs make almost no money from shirt sales? The vast majority of kits are being provided by adidas directly to selling companies which means that adidas gets the money. Why else would adidas or any other shirt provider pay millions to football clubs if the latter didn't give up their shirt rights?

The only money clubs make through kits is by selling kits directly in their fan shops, no more.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Real has James, Isco, Kovacic, Asensio, not to mention even Modric who can all play the same position as #10. I would bet one of them will leave this summer.

[dkim2 73]

James is the second coming of Lampard. Their creativity, superb pass/shoot, though a bit limited in ball control. 

 

Essien-Lampard-Makelele

->

Matic-James-Kante

 

It would be the best midfield in PL easily.

Sell 29 yrs old Cesc for ~40m and buy 25 yrs old James for 80m. Worth it.

 

 

 

[Fernando 6,483]

Likewise, I actually think he is suited for the pl. 

And he's not that old, perfect age to get his peek and with a manager like Conte it might push him to that greatness. 

For a right price yes a great buy, but for the 90 million the other day was thrown is just a no go. 

Let's see if anything comes about this. 

[LDN Blue 7,903]

2 hours ago, xPetrCechx said:

too expensive...

 

Mate, when we're linked to a £48m 25 year old defender, a £70m 23 year old striker.. I'd say this is quite cheap  

[xPetrCechx 13,563]

1 minute ago, LDN Blue said:

Mate, when we're linked to a £48m 25 year old defender, a £70m 23 year old striker.. I'd say this is quite cheap  

He's a striker?!

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Just now, xPetrCechx said:

He's a striker?!

Nah I meant Lukaku lol. I'd rather pay £55m for James than £70m for Lukaku.

[oldportblue 547]

26 minutes ago, LDN Blue said:

Nah I meant Lukaku lol. I'd rather pay £55m for James than £70m for Lukaku.

that's a good discussion actually: james or lukaku? xPetrCechx posted a quote a few pages where james claimed madrid received a 85M euro bid for him. That's more or less the 75M pounds everton want for lukaku... not sure who i would go for between these two: lukaku is younger and proven 15-20 goal scorer in PL whereas james has the potential to be a sanchez/hazard type talent if he plays his best

 

PS: for the record, james isn't "slow", he is just average speed ...

[Gilvorak 3,734]

16 hours ago, The Skipper said:

My question is - does he fit in Conte's system?

The answer is no, simply not good enough defensively.to play in CM & isn't a winger either.

[Dazzy_Vance 454]

12 minutes ago, Gilvorak said:

The answer is no, simply not good enough defensively.to play in CM & isn't a winger either.

Put him in front of Kante and Matic and I'm sure he'll be fine.

[coolhead23 1,146]

17 hours ago, The Skipper said:

My question is - does he fit in Conte's system?

Dont think so ... Unless he plays 4-2-4 and puts him as second striker or CF but in the 4-3-3 he wouldnt have a chance. 

For me in the current crop of players, Oscar is the best suited alongside Kante and Matic because of his defensive capabilities (if Oscar can get his offensive side up that will be superb).

If there is one player that we could/should go after who can fit into Conte 11 has to be Naingollan or a similar player.  But looks like that is not happening. 

[nadavTKL 1,787]

6 hours ago, coolhead23 said:

If there is one player that we could/should go after who can fit into Conte 11 has to be Naingollan or a similar player.  But looks like that is not happening. 

Matuidi seems available, also Joao Mario. I think its a bit strange Conte is OK with Matic in that B2B role, but we'll see.

About James, I think the best possible spot for him in Chelsea is the RW role, he's also a left footer. That would mean Hazard-Costa-James,
with Willian/Oscar/Cesc/Matic competing for the 2 roles infront of Kante. He could also play in midfield with Matic and Kante behind.

I doubt this will happen, would probably need the exit of Cesc/Oscar.

[LAM09 6,772]

Him for Cesc plus cash is starting to become plausible

[coolhead23 1,146]

52 minutes ago, nadavTKL said:

Matuidi seems available, also Joao Mario. I think its a bit strange Conte is OK with Matic in that B2B role, but we'll see.

About James, I think the best possible spot for him in Chelsea is the RW role, he's also a left footer. That would mean Hazard-Costa-James,
with Willian/Oscar/Cesc/Matic competing for the 2 roles infront of Kante. He could also play in midfield with Matic and Kante behind.

I doubt this will happen, would probably need the exit of Cesc/Oscar.

Matuidi yes ... very good alternative but not sure about Joao ... 

For James, I believe (from whatever i have seen) he lacks the work rate and that why he wouldnt be a fit in Conte's system which needs the high tempo for 90 mins in the middle and wide ... We will be playing high up the pitch and would need to cover back a lot when we dont have the ball. Maybe we played the traditional no10 James would be a good addition but Conte doesnt believe in a pure no 10. That's one of reason I feel someone like Oscar can actually revive his career under Conte IF he is serious about it.  

[zekinjo 449]

None of them wants Chelsea. Nainggolan literally (publicly ) begged Roma not to sell him to Chelsea and James said 2 years ago he wouldn't even look at Chelsea direction. I know Matic is absolutely useless in attack and as time goes by looking average as a DM, but currently Conte count on him. Who knows....

[coolhead23 1,146]

9 minutes ago, zekinjo said:

None of them wants Chelsea. Nainggolan literally (publicly ) begged Roma not to sell him to Chelsea and James said 2 years ago he wouldn't even look at Chelsea direction. I know Matic is absolutely useless in attack and as time goes by looking average as a DM, but currently Conte count on him. Who knows....

Come on, man!!! Offer them 200k plus wages and see them dance on one leg (most of the so call big mouths) ... Remember E'to what he mentioned, Rafa ... 

 

You know later on ... they can always say that there statement were used out of context!!! 

[Unionjack 7,531]

  As per usual no 2 people can agree on a single polayer we have or even linked to. We wouldn't agree if the player was to come on a freebie and no wages!

We are dearly lacking creativity. Matic nor Oscar give us anything in offence. And IF Cescy is off then we are going to be fucked.

Chalobah offers us more going forwards than both and is a good tackler. Stick him n N'Golo in front of Cescy and sorted.

Rodriguez does offer creativity and seems to offer us more than 95% of our AMs going foraward. The only thing hes poor at is defending.

So if it was a choice between him n Lukaku right now I'd still go for Lukaku.

How about TRYING a part ex for Varane with Cescy?

[LDN Blue 7,903]

23 hours ago, oldportblue said:

that's a good discussion actually: james or lukaku? xPetrCechx posted a quote a few pages where james claimed madrid received a 85M euro bid for him. That's more or less the 75M pounds everton want for lukaku... not sure who i would go for between these two: lukaku is younger and proven 15-20 goal scorer in PL whereas james has the potential to be a sanchez/hazard type talent if he plays his best

The way I see it, the biggest complaint fans have at the moment is Hazard doesn't have enough creative and world-class players around him to help his own attacking prowess. If we sign Rodriguez who I think everyone can say is just shy if not world class already, then we have a very strong trio in Costa; Hazard & Rodriguez. Willian will also slide into this offensive united and so it looks quite powerful. 

However I totally agree with @Gilvorak. Don't see him as a Conte player in this system. He's okay with Costa, Hazard and Willian staying forward and not have to do too much defensively due to that compact midfield of Kante, Matic and Oscar. If we sign Rodriguez you'd imagine he'd be placed in a CM role and would struggle in that sense.