Radamel Falcao

[Mustafa 885]

So we sign some striker on big money who either does well and means we sell Lukaku who is a genuine Chelsea supporter and has done everything asked of him in a decent manner, or Falcao flops and we're out another £100 million.

Signing Falcao is not what I'd recommend if I cared about the health of this club.

With all due respect to Lukaku who i think is an absolute beast with loads of talent ... i dont think he;s ready to fill the boots of Didier Drogba which is ultimately what we are trying to do.

I reckon Romelu will find it hard to adapt to playing at Chelsea if im brutally honest. Teams come to the bridge and sit deep and just looking at his goals for Anderlecht and West Brom he scores most of his goal when there is space in behind the defenders. Now at Chelsea, he'll find that harder to do. Yes we have Mata, Hazard, Oscar, Lamps etc. but he's only a young lad and being the No.1 Forward at a club that plays 60 odd games a season against the very best teams in the world might be just too much for him.

Falcao has proven himself.. he played for the best team in Portugal and at Atletico de Madrid, teams play more defensively against bigger clubs and Falcao still scored magnificent goals in both leagues as well as Europe where he conquered the Europa League twice ! If it wasnt for his massive wage demand, it's really a no brainer !

[juko 19]

let's take him and ronaldo. we can be maybe the best team in the world

[themightyblue 443]

So we sign some striker on big money who either does well and means we sell Lukaku who is a genuine Chelsea supporter and has done everything asked of him in a decent manner, or Falcao flops and we're out another £100 million.

Signing Falcao is not what I'd recommend if I cared about the health of this club.

Explain why we sell Lukaku? I'm all for the idea of keeping Lukaku but if we bought Falcao we wouldn't sell Lukaku. It would mean he goes out on loan for another year playing week in and week out and comes back the season after with Ba having only 1 more year on his contract and approaching the dreaded - Chelsea 30 years old bracket. Whether we sign a striker this summer or not, Lukaku has a massive career ahead of him at Chelsea

[CHOULO19 24,332]

He wants €290,000-a-week which is around £250,000.... if we get rid of Torres, who is paid £175,000 a week we can afford that and then some !

#SignFalcao

Both you and Radamel are delusional if you think we, or anyone else in the world, will pay that much! That's just laughable

I'll repeat what I said in December when everyone was so sure that we will sign in Jan: We will NOT sign Falcao, unless something dramatic happens, simply because we can't afford to and it makes no financial sense to do so. Even if we are going to spen that kind of money (signing fees and wages) I can think of a hundred better ways to do so.

[Santiago. 1,500]

let's take him and ronaldo. we can be maybe the best team in the world

Let's not and say we did

[Rmpr 8,977]

250K/week? Bye, bye...

Cavani thread, be prepared for some intense traffic!

[themightyblue 443]

All rumours as of yet. Still think we'll get him providing we get rid of Torres. Roman loves his marquee strikers too much

[ulsterchelsea 3,221]

I see our official cfc financial team are back on the forum. Thanks for keeping us laymen in the loop

[OneMoSalah 8,783]

I think we can find some sort of mutual ground with him and his agent who is also the guy that played an influential part in bringing Carvalho, Ferreira, Tiago, and Maniche to the club.

And also, reports are saying Abramovich is willing to pay him £10million per season which is about £210,000 per week .... considering his release clause is £41million thats not so bad. And not to forget about the talent this guy can offer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1r05RnlqJY

NOT THAT BAD, NOT THAT FCKING BAD. 41 MILLION ALONG WITH 10 MILLION PER YEAR ON A 5 YEAR CONTRACT IS 91 MILLION PLUS BONUSES AND SHIT, THAT IS FUCKING BAD........

[Rambo 1,729]

With all due respect to Lukaku who i think is an absolute beast with loads of talent ... i dont think he;s ready to fill the boots of Didier Drogba which is ultimately what we are trying to do.

I reckon Romelu will find it hard to adapt to playing at Chelsea if im brutally honest. Teams come to the bridge and sit deep and just looking at his goals for Anderlecht and West Brom he scores most of his goal when there is space in behind the defenders. Now at Chelsea, he'll find that harder to do. Yes we have Mata, Hazard, Oscar, Lamps etc. but he's only a young lad and being the No.1 Forward at a club that plays 60 odd games a season against the very best teams in the world might be just too much for him.

Falcao has proven himself.. he played for the best team in Portugal and at Atletico de Madrid, teams play more defensively against bigger clubs and Falcao still scored magnificent goals in both leagues as well as Europe where he conquered the Europa League twice ! If it wasnt for his massive wage demand, it's really a no brainer !

Don't kid yourself, no one can fit Drogba's shoes.

[Hutcho 8,443]

I don't normally go overboard about what people cost and are on... But they must be having a giraffe if he wants that much money. I cant see us going above 175k for players... He is a great player but he is not Messi.

Also JT has another year left on his contract and he has a match highest earner clause. So if we paid that huge figure to him we would be paying JT that as well making Falcao cost even more expensive.

The closer this season comes to an end the more I want us to trust our youth a bit more and go with lukaku ba and a cheap 3rd, who can perhaps play other areas as well.

[Mustafa 885]

Don't kid yourself, no one can fit Drogba's shoes.

Take a look at the video i posted on this thread ... and tell me some of the goals he scores arent Didier like. Timing of his goal (finals, big games) type of goals he scores (pouncing on things around the penalty area, headers/volleys at the far post, emphatic finishes, a goal out of absolutely nothing)

I know its a far fetched comparison but the certainly have theyre similarities.

Wow i feel like everybody is against me here tho ...

[Hutcho 8,443]

Take a look at the video i posted on this thread ... and tell me some of the goals he scores arent Didier like. Timing of his goal (finals, big games) type of goals he scores (pouncing on things around the penalty area, headers/volleys at the far post, emphatic finishes, a goal out of absolutely nothing)

I know its a far fetched comparison but the certainly have theyre similarities.

Wow i feel like everybody is against me here tho ...

No one is doubting that Falcao is a quality player... But he is also very expensive, and it could be detrimental to people like lukaku who may not get a look in for a while.

I am sure we will all get more excited if he actually ends up comeing here because he is a great striker and we will know the facts. But we have been let down a lot from big name strikers, and some of the figures quoted here seem a bit absurd.

[The Mak 4,459]

Look, if we were going to buy Falcao, he should've been bought when he was leaving Porto. End of story.

Buying him now makes no sense because:

1. As good as he is, I don't believe he's going to get any better, because...

2. He's fucking 27. Best case scenario, you'd a get a good 3 or so years out of him and then it's downhill. Which brings me nicely to:

3. Have we seriously not learned anything from Sheva and Torres? Do we really want to go down this route when such money is need in just about every other position on the god damn pitch? Well the board have already proven to be incompetent...

4. FFP.

5. I'm also sick of the likes of Porto and Atletico jacking up the prices of players to super-over-inflated levels. I know they need the money, but come on. The Hulk transfer in particular made me sick. Never wanted him, never rated him and is probably the most predictable player in world football, but they were determined to get £40m. Benfica too with Witsel, one season he had, one season and bang, £33 million. His initial price they paid (£6m), quintupled! Pure and utter greed. Though maybe I'm complaining more about Zenit with those examples..

And most importantly:

5 .We already have Lukaku and Ba. Lukaku in particular, is willing to bleed for the club, is young, hungry and not a mercenary, which is nearly impossible for a club like us to come by, let's be honest. He cared about us long before we smacked a big fat contract in front of him.

[English Freak 456]

Look, if we were going to buy Falcao, he should've been bought when he was leaving Porto. End of story.

Buying him now makes no sense because:

1. As good as he is, I don't believe he's going to get any better, because...

2. He's fucking 27. Best case scenario, you'd a get a good 3 or so years out of him and then it's downhill. Which brings me nicely to:

3. Have we seriously not learned anything from Sheva and Torres? Do we really want to go down this route when such money is need in just about every other position on the god damn pitch? Well the board have already proven to be incompetent...

4. FFP.

5. I'm also sick of the likes of Porto and Atletico jacking up the prices of players to super-over-inflated levels. I know they need the money, but come on. The Hulk transfer in particular made me sick. Never wanted him, never rated him and is probably the most predictable player in world football, but they were determined to get £40m. Pure and utter greed.

And most importantly:

5 .We already have Lukaku and Ba. Lukaku in particular, is willing to bleed for the club, is young, hungry and not a mercenary, which is nearly impossible for a club like us to come by, let's be honest. He cared about us long before we smacked a big fat contract in front of him.

Exactly.

We need to fix up our midfield first...then we can worry about bringing in a decent striker to complement Lukaku, Ba.

[Term-X 7,891]

^ van Persie is 29, was he worth the £24m?.. If we're talking about a Fifa 13 career mode then I'd agree with the 'downhill' comment. As much as I want Lukaku to be the main man, we need to keep an eye on the average age and of course 'winning things... NOW', which players in their prime/at their peak can do for you.

Although yes, we don't have a good track record for big buys, so maybe the pessimism is justified, but still..

[themightyblue 443]

Look, if we were going to buy Falcao, he should've been bought when he was leaving Porto. End of story.

Buying him now makes no sense because:

1. As good as he is, I don't believe he's going to get any better, because...

2. He's fucking 27. Best case scenario, you'd a get a good 3 or so years out of him and then it's downhill. Which brings me nicely to:

3. Have we seriously not learned anything from Sheva and Torres? Do we really want to go down this route when such money is need in just about every other position on the god damn pitch? Well the board have already proven to be incompetent...

4. FFP.

5. I'm also sick of the likes of Porto and Atletico jacking up the prices of players to super-over-inflated levels. I know they need the money, but come on. The Hulk transfer in particular made me sick. Never wanted him, never rated him and is probably the most predictable player in world football, but they were determined to get £40m. Benfica too with Witsel, one season he had, one season and bang, £33 million. His initial price they paid (£6m), quintupled! Pure and utter greed. Though maybe I'm complaining more about Zenit with those examples..

And most importantly:

5 .We already have Lukaku and Ba. Lukaku in particular, is willing to bleed for the club, is young, hungry and not a mercenary, which is nearly impossible for a club like us to come by, let's be honest. He cared about us long before we smacked a big fat contract in front of him.

Conversely.

In those 3 years he could be the difference between winning nothing and winning the League/CL or whatever. Much like RVP has done for United this season despite being injury prone, costing 24m in the last year of his contract and being 29. Also Falcao's game isn't really based around pace or strength. It's much more about his movement, positioning and finishing and so we would probably be able to sneak out more than 3 years

Were Torres and Sheva really at the top of their games when we bought them and not on the verge of becoming washed up? Also with Sheva he was just managed horribly with us playing him out wide at times etc. I very much doubt we'd do the same with Falcao

Honestly we have no clue about the clubs finances, how much we'll make from pre-season tours, sponsorship deals like Gazprom, which high earners will be leaving this summer. Pointless speculating on FFP as only the club truly knows what we can and can't spend, and if we do spend the money on Falcao it'll be because it's within our financial restraints.

That's what a great scouting network can do for you

But then it can also be argued that none of them have experience of leading the line of a top level club like ourselves, where the pressure is much higher and defences are a lot more stubborn. Ba hasn't really been given much chance, and if you believe he has been given a chance then his return has been poor in terms of goals. Lukaku is the interesting as i'm open to him returning, but we must remember he is only 19 and at that age the best thing for him will be playing week in week out so that he gains more experience and valuable play time. Despite his amazing loan at WBA, playing for Chelsea is completely different kettle of fish and the pressure, intensity and scrutiny of playing for us is massive. The kid has time on his side. Even if he doesn't come back next season, i'm pretty sure we signed Ba on a 3 year deal with Lukaku in mind so that he can be a stop gap to allow Lukaku to develop and perfect his game so that he really is ready to come back and make his mark at Chelsea. Before this burst of form he's had over these past couple of weeks, i'm pretty sure most of us were wanting him on loan for another season as there were still many deficiencies in his game

[Jase 43,479]

The club's obsession with the obvious big name strikers is just plain pathetic. There's a cheaper option out there in Lewandowski, who fits into the playing style we're trying to implement perfectly and yet we don't even seem to be pursuing him!