Antonio Rudiger

[MoroccanBlue 5,219]

Top 4 becoming a goal now rather than a requirement. 
 

 

[Strike 6,990]

If he really wanted to stay, he'd wait to hear the offer from the new owners. We just have to accept and rebuild. 

[LegenTerry 263]

15 minutes ago, Strike said:

If he really wanted to stay, he'd wait to hear the offer from the new owners. We just have to accept and rebuild. 

 

Exactly. He just prolonged his decision so the fans would think he maybe wanted to stay but 'it was board decision'. Think he had plans for leaving way before, even at start of the season. That's how agents and players operate now. They milk more money from clubs  just for signing for them since there is no transfer fee. He wanted to leave same as Hazard, only difference we knew for Hazard where is his dream club. 
Don't blame him nor Hazard.

Wish him luck, he was outstanding this season for us under Tuchel, but still have a feeling it's more because of Tuchel and system that suited him. 
Match against Bayern two seasons ago ,and some previous games still gives me some doubts about him...

Edited April 23, 2022 by LegenTerry

[lucio 5,418]

Get guehi back 

[Nero 1,794]

25 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

Top 4 becoming a goal now rather than a requirement. 
 

 

The new Chelsea = The new Arsenal 

[Pizy 17,867]

Geuhi and Tomori given away from peanuts, Rüdiger and AC literally leaving for nothing, Azpi and Thiago have 1 season left before they leave for nothing, youngsters like Livramento and Lamptey leaving when they could’ve really established themselves due to all our injuries.

Been shocking management at board level. Some of those of course made sense at the time, but if we had all those that left now we’d have an unbelievable squad to carry us into the next era.

[DDA 9,570]

9 minutes ago, Pizy said:

Geuhi and Tomori given away from peanuts, Rüdiger and AC literally leaving for nothing, Azpi and Thiago have 1 season left before they leave for nothing, youngsters like Livramento and Lamptey leaving when they could’ve really established themselves due to all our injuries.

Been shocking management at board level. Some of those of course made sense at the time, but if we had all those that left now we’d have an unbelievable squad to carry us into the next era.

It's imperative the new owners bring in somebody really switched on with the direction in recruitment and youth. Edwards who's leaving Liverpool sounds like the best bet. 

[LAM09 6,574]

It seem like we finally have some clarity. Losing him is one thing, but it being on a free makes matters worse.

However, it seems like this is the direction a lot of players are going, so they are free to choose where they end up.

17 minutes ago, Pizy said:

Geuhi and Tomori given away from peanuts, Rüdiger and AC literally leaving for nothing, Azpi and Thiago have 1 season left before they leave for nothing, youngsters like Livramento and Lamptey leaving when they could’ve really established themselves due to all our injuries.

Been shocking management at board level. Some of those of course made sense at the time, but if we had all those that left now we’d have an unbelievable squad to carry us into the next era.

£20m+ & a matching clause for Guehi was good business for someone that hadn't played a minute of PL football.

Edited April 23, 2022 by LAM09

[whats happening 1,440]

good riddance

[Superblue 6,333]

This is going to become a more common thing over the next few years. If a player can command a £10-20m signing on fee, maybe even more because no transfer fee is being paid then financially it becomes a no brainer for them. The only way this will be combated is if clubs are prepared to pay big signing on fees on new contracts running down for their own players. This seems to have been the sticking point in talks with Rudiger when other teams could easily give him a £20m signing on bonus because they know they're buying a £50m+ player on a free transfer.

Chelsea in recent times have not been the most proactive with contract negotiations. We left ourselves in a position with Hazard and Courtois having a year left each, we're losing Christensen and Rudiger now, it's something the club has to get switched on over and certainly the key younger players within our squad need tying down for 4-5 years minimum.

The biggest kicker in this Rudiger news is the defensive players we've sold in the last 18 months. Livramento to a degree twisted our arm and I guess we've at least got a buy back on him but I think the way the season has panned out we could have taken the chance to keep him within the first team squad and convince him there was a pathway here and to resign. But Guehi and Tomori sales are looking worse by the day. Tomori had already shown that there was a player there and maybe just a loan away for 6 - 12 months for regular football was all he needed. And the same with Guehi, a Premier League loan looked the right stepping stone for potentially making it at Chelsea eventually. We've sold 2 very promising players who in my opinion had shown enough potential to not give up on. And essentially they've just gone into a fund to buy Lukaku.

Our transfer policy is a complete shambles. We had a real opportunity to push towards that City and Liverpool level and with an overall younger makeup within the squad. We'll do well to put a competitive team together for top 4 next season.

[xPetrCechx 13,548]

Sad to lose him but if he refused to a big contract when we offered him and now can’t wait for the new owner, he can go.

About Cris, average at best.

so we will need to look for 2 CB at least.

[chelsea_4_eva 1,144]

Remember pre TT, we were desperately trying to sell him hence the contract situation. I think the board thought we could sell him before a renewal. His huge rise in form under TT was probably unexpected and he felt he could demand more money because of it, leaving our board in a sticky situation. With Andreas, he agreed on terms then made a u-turn.. nothing we can do there.

The one positive we get from this is we can buy CBs than can play at 2 and 3 atb. So vital for the new owners to get someone who knows what theyre doing regarding youth and recruitment.

[Blue Armour 4,176]

I blame the Lukaku deal for this.

Whoever decided to put Lukaku on the wages he's on needs a hard look at.

Offering that waste of space three times of what someone like Rudiger is earning., is what led to this fiasco.

 

[Pizy 17,867]

Need his replacement to not only be extremely mobile and athletic like he is but also have leadership qualities. 

[DH1988 1,201]

Hindsight is wonderful, even that though is a scapegoat statement to fit a situation. I can only hope that going forward with new ownership that decisions in terms of contracts are dealt with looking at a longer term strategy, not to say we need to aim lower in terms of trophies btw. 

[Superblue 6,333]

30 minutes ago, chelsea_4_eva said:

Remember pre TT, we were desperately trying to sell him hence the contract situation. I think the board thought we could sell him before a renewal. His huge rise in form under TT was probably unexpected and he felt he could demand more money because of it, leaving our board in a sticky situation. With Andreas, he agreed on terms then made a u-turn.. nothing we can do there.

The one positive we get from this is we can buy CBs than can play at 2 and 3 atb. So vital for the new owners to get someone who knows what theyre doing regarding youth and recruitment.

Which just hammers home how little long term strategy and planning the club seems to have. Make no mistake the cups and european trophies in recent years have papered over the cracks that we've been nowhere near challenging for a league title since Conte won it 5 years ago. And when I say nowhere near, we're talking 20 points or more each season off the pace. 

Our transfer policy when in seemingly positions of strength is nothing short of abysmal. Besides the first Champions League win when we bought Hazard and Azpi among others that summer, you'd have to go back really to Mourinho's first time here to see us have successful transfer windows the summer following a big trophy. We never seem to build on success, we rest on our laurels and get punished for it. 

Our scattergun policy of hiring and firing managers might at times reap short term rewards but does little to the long term. If the types of managers we hired were similar then at least a pattern can emerge but we've gone from Mourinho, Conte, Sarri, Lampard, Tuchel. It's a complete mish-mash of tactics, style and philosophy and our squad is made up as a result with no rhyme or reason. 

It is also a big reason why we end up with some players towards the end of contracts who we want to resign and ones that suddenly look disposable have been signed to a long term deal recently.

There's talk of all three bidders for the club looking at keeping the status quo for the forseeable future. That for me is a huge mistake. We need direction and a long term plan in place. Maybe someone coming in looks at Tuchel and feels he needs backing for a sustained period and will give some time and resources to building something that can hopefully stand its ground for a fair few years.   

[Blue Armour 4,176]

If what Simon Johnson and the Athletic said is true., then we should hear something official next week. Either from Rudiger or the club that is approaching him.

The one positive if any., is that it will kill this stupid speculation.

There's been so much uncertainty over the past few weeks, that it's become more annoying than this contract situation.

Hopefully this means we can kill this speculation and move on. 

Hope to say the same about the ownership situation soon enough as well

[laura90 556]

As soon as Lukaku was signed with those transfer fee and wages, I said it was start of this club's downfall. I said right away our top four status will be gone and that we are becoming the new Arsenal, hoping for the top four every season only to come short. I was so sad and upset, I wrote countless posts expressing my discontent. Nothing was able to make me relaxed about our prospects, not even the first place we held on till November .

It was such criminal not signing midfielder with our injured non stop, it gave our players good indication about our ambition.

It was such criminal not signing wingback back up and not offering Livramento  bigger wages to stay. 

It was criminal not getting another defender or keeping Guehi given how good he was for Swansea. Not signing extensions, refusing paying Rudiger and letting defenders situation down the drain was also good indication of our ambition. 

If majority of fanbase didn't rate Lukaku, how much our players rated him. Making player with that first touch and age  the most expensive in regard to fee and wages was also indicator of this club ambition. 

We needed three players last summer we didn't get one , this summer we will need at least four. Defensive midfielder and Conor for midfield. At least one wingback. Two defenders and Colwill if we continue with three at the back. . What are the chances? Or are we looking at Sarr, Colwill  and Chalobah partnership? 

WE are officially without defense, it's April.