Why Chelsea should not plunder the Serie A

[Strike 7,490]

Managers tend to sign players they know well. So it is no surprise that Chelsea are linked with several players from the Serie A as Italian manager Antonio Conte gets set to take over in July. The Roma trio of Antonio Rudiger, Kostas Manolas and Radja Nainggolan, the Juventus pair of Kwadwo Asamoah and Paul Pogba, Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly have all been linked with moves to the club even before the manager officially takes over.

This represents a significant shift in Chelsea’s transfer targets and seems to be highly influenced by the incoming Conte. While it is a positive sign that Conte looks to be involved heavily in the club’s transfer policy, the club could do better than to plunder the Serie A’s best talents. Historically, a few iconic Chelsea players made the switch from Italy. Gianfranco Zola, regarded as the greatest player in Chelsea history joined from Parma in 1996 and took Chelsea to new heights in his time in London. Marcel Desailly joined from AC Milan and went on to become club captain and a key component of Chelsea’s defence for years before relinquishing his spot to John Terry.

Since then, Chelsea have had a string of high-profile signings from the Serie A that have backfired on the club. Adrian Mutu and Hernan Crespo joined Chelsea from Parma and Inter Milan respectively in 2003. Mutu misfired both on and off the pitch while Hernan Crespo turned out to be a mixed bag. Both signings were made by another Italian manager- Claudio Ranieri and it was the last time the club looked into talents from the Serie A with close introspection. In 2006, Mourinho famously signed Andriy Shevchencko who, if not for Fernando Torres, would still be regarded as Chelsea’s biggest flop. Two years later, the Brazilian manager Luis Felipe Scolari signed Ricardo Quaresma on loan, who did not make much of an impact. Neither did the youngster Fabio Borini, who was signed from Italy for the Chelsea youth team.

Post Borini, Chelsea rarely ventured into signing talents from the Serie A. Even Italian manager Carlo Ancelotti, who had a two year spell at the club preferred to keep away from Serie A players although he did publicly admit wanting to sign Andrea Pirlo. Who wouldn’t anyway?  But gone are the days when Italian stars mean legends like Pirlo. In the past few years, several high profile Serie A players turned out to be after-thoughts at Premier League clubs. Alberto Aquilani, Stefan Jovetic, Erik Lamela, Mario Balotelli, our own Juan Cuadrado and the list goes on. Equally interesting is the number of Premier League rejects shining in Serie A. Gervinho joined Roma from Arsenal and looked like a player reborn. So did Mohamed Salah when he joined Fiorentina from Chelsea and Cuadrado when he went back to Italy on loan to Juventus.     

Would it be a good idea to plunder the Serie A then? Each case is different and there are certainly good players in the Serie A, but apart from Juventus, no other team has made significant progress in Europe in the last few years. There are question marks over the players’ ability to perform against top teams. Also, there are just four senior home-grown players left at the club (Begovic, Cahill, Terry, Fabregas) and we are not going to fill that up with Serie A players, except of course if the player was Paul Pogba.

I would welcome Pogba to the club with both arms wide but I am not yet completely sold on the sudden interest in Serie A players.

 

[cfcs most wanted 657]

You certainly have a point, Nainggolan ,Asamoah all seem to be good players but i do have my doubts about them performing elsewhere. 

[cfcs most wanted 657]

I do think people are wrong about Cuadrado or Salah, for me they were never actually given a real chance to shine. Salah played well for us everytime he stepped on to the pitch but wasn't given enough play time.

[Essien19 1,415]

Mourinho aka the cancer (to some of them here ?) didn't sign Sheva, it was Abra all alone.

We need more English players, but that doesn't fit the penny pinching philosophy.

There are some good players in the Seria A, but they cost a lot of money.

We'll get Rudiger soon enough. ?

I really hope we move on from the likes of Cuadrado and Salah Both flopped big time and are nowhere near up for the job in the Premiership.

Hope we can give them Fabregas, good fit for their slow league.

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[Blue_Fox_ 2,086]

That's like saying we need to buy all the players from the French league because we've had success with them.
Simply we've not bought wisely from the serie A.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

This is a strange thing to say.

We should discount a player's ability just because they come from what we deem an inferior league. There are a number of talented players in Serie A like Dybala and Pogba, as well as those who have reinvented their career as you said. Tevez reinvented himself in Serie A, because their media didn't hound him like they do here . 

I don't really care what league we're signing players from, as long as their ability and talent is true. Of course you want to see them in highly competitive situations also but lets not forget how over the years it's been recited like gospel about how much more tactical Serie A is. Aren't we always seeking tactically, as well as technically, gifted players?

[Strike 7,490]

24 minutes ago, Blue_Fox_ said:

That's like saying we need to buy all the players from the French league because we've had success with them.
Simply we've not bought wisely from the serie A.

Newcastle did it and got relegated. That is not my point

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

This season Chelsea can't be as attractive as in the last seasons because the lack of Champions League football. So in order to sign high profile players you don't need to pay big transfer amounts only, but super high wages, too. This is the only way a world class player would join Chelsea this summer, if he is payed is gold. But it seems that this is not the plan for Chelsea and it makes me think that the biggest reason why our club keeps being linked with Serie A players is because of their salaries. You can get relatively good, to very good players not only for decent transfer amounts, but it would be no problem for Chelsea to double their wages, too.

The likes of Remy, Mikel, Cuadrado are being payed around £4m per year, while Nainggolan and Pjanic are getting around somewhere between £2m and £2.5m from Roma. And we're talking about good players. Manolas is on £1.3m per year deal.

Napoli's Koulibaly is on £650k per year deal. Less than Begovic. 

Chelsea would easily afford to double or triple salaries to more than 80% of Serie A players. This, for me, is the main reason why we're looking into players from Italy this summer. 

[Strike 7,490]

20 minutes ago, LDN Blue said:

This is a strange thing to say.

We should discount a player's ability just because they come from what we deem an inferior league. There are a number of talented players in Serie A like Dybala and Pogba, as well as those who have reinvented their career as you said. Tevez reinvented himself in Serie A, because their media didn't hound him like they do here . 

I don't really care what league we're signing players from, as long as their ability and talent is true. Of course you want to see them in highly competitive situations also but lets not forget how over the years it's been recited like gospel about how much more tactical Serie A is. Aren't we always seeking tactically, as well as technically, gifted players?

Agree with Dybala and Pogba. Who else?

[Blue_Fox_ 2,086]

14 minutes ago, Strike said:

Agree with Dybala and Pogba. Who else?

Chiellini, Barzagli, Bonucci, Pjanic, Nainggolan, Higuain, Berardi, Perin, Insigne, Morata, Icardi, Marchisio, Koulibaly, Florenzi.
Just from the top of my head. Of course they would have a varying amount of success elsewhere, but they would be from good to very good players in any league.
Some serious underrating going on in here.

[Strike 7,490]

24 minutes ago, petre.ispirescu said:

This season Chelsea can't be as attractive as in the last seasons because the lack of Champions League football. So in order to sign high profile players you don't need to pay big transfer amounts only, but super high wages, too. This is the only way a world class player would join Chelsea this summer, if he is payed is gold. But it seems that this is not the plan for Chelsea and it makes me think that the biggest reason why our club keeps being linked with Serie A players is because of their salaries. You can get relatively good, to very good players not only for decent transfer amounts, but it would be no problem for Chelsea to double their wages, too.

The likes of Remy, Mikel, Cuadrado are being payed around £4m per year, while Nainggolan and Pjanic are getting around somewhere between £2m and £2.5m from Roma. And we're talking about good players. Manolas is on £1.3m per year deal.

Napoli's Koulibaly is on £650k per year deal. Less than Begovic. 

Chelsea would easily afford to double or triple salaries to more than 80% of Serie A players. This, for me, is the main reason why we're looking into players from Italy this summer. 

Agree with this. But this true for most leagues in Europe. Not just Serie A 

[Strike 7,490]

7 minutes ago, Blue_Fox_ said:

Chiellini, Barzagli, Bonucci, Pjanic, Nainggolan, Higuain, Berardi, Perin, Insigne, Morata, Icardi, Marchisio, Koulibaly, Florenzi.
Just from the top of my head. Of course they would have a varying amount of success elsewhere, but they would be from good to very good players in any league.
Some serious underrating going on in here.

Agree with few. Disagree with many. I think focussing heavily on Serie A players represents a significant change in direction for the club, one that the club may well take. For a long time I refused to believe the idea that Conte will not look past the Italian league. But now I am less sure of that. It makes sense that he signs from the Serie A since he has studied the league inside out, working there for years and managing the national team but players from the Serie A in particular have found the Premier League a very different ball game. 

Morata, Icardi, Florenzi, Higuain, Insigne, Berardi, I have serious reservations

[lucio 5,418]

it would mean failing to take advantage of conte's extensive scouting, he proved himself to have an eye for signings at juventus, i'd trust his judgement. he knows the league inside out and is very tactical, probably has a clear idea of the sort of players he wants.

and also it is worth bearing in mind that many of the players have played outside of Italy, like rudiger in the bundesliga