Chelsea Transfers

[blues.bridge 343]

I believe the problem with our scouting and tranfer decisors is that see too much to stats or team performance, and not to the skills and ability of player! with this mindset in the last few years we have brough in lukaku, werner, ziyech, bakayoko, drinkwater.... somewhere like 280M euro wasted.

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

Also, honestly, when you are willing to spend 115m euros, there is not a question of who is on the market. There was not just Vlahovic, Haaland, Lukau or bust. We could have gotten Schick who has been making strides for year now. already has 18 BuLi goals again and played an immense. 115m would have gotten us anyone probably even salahexcept maybe 5 or 6 players on the planet. so surely it is not as if lukaku was the only choice.

[Clockwork 1,794]

6 hours ago, Pizy said:

It’s actually kind of insane that we’re so far into the window and are not even close to bringing in any cover for either wingback position. It’s as though the club hierarchy just assumed they’d be able to bully Lyon into letting a key player come back to us and had no other plan in case that didn’t work.

How many more times do we have to see Azpi and Alonso get torched down the flanks before we do something? It’s probably going to happen again tomorrow with Lamptey. We going to wait until deadline day and panic loan some shit player?

Honestly I am tired of signing average players for the sake of buying, this squad is full of them. Wait until the summers buy quality. 
 

Tuchel needs to get his shit together, there is no rule that he has to play Alonso and Azpi. That is on him, he doesn’t need to play 3-4-3. If he is stupid enough to persist without the players that is on him and I can’t wait until he is sacked.

[Tomo 21,751]

21 minutes ago, Magic Lamps said:

At least 50% of the forum were against Lukaku while I among others have always called for Alonso’s sale. When we failed to get hakimi,  who would have been huge given out I juries, I we were not in the market for an alternative again and now stand here with the same problem again. 

 I genuinely believe that if you put a selection of fans from here in charge of the footballing side of only scouting and transfer decisions alone we would probably not have a worse squad. 

The frustrating thing is since Sarri i really felt we finally sorted the recruitment out. Yes okay a few haven't worked out as planned (yet) but they (bar Kepa) will fetch a resale fee not a million miles off what we paid for them and they (including Kepa) have some form of system fit that can be utilized.

Lukaku feels like we've taken a massive step back at a crucial time. I genuinely feel we had a serious shot at retaining the UCL without his arrival, could you even imagine playing Bayern with him up top? My god.

League's gone but we could end the season with 4 trophy's still (5 if you count super cup), with Lukaku relegated to a squad role (or better frozen out but realistically speaking sunk cost and all that) i genuinely believe we have a shot at all 4. If we rely on Rom i wouldn't be shocked if we blow them all.

[Clockwork 1,794]

3 minutes ago, Magic Lamps said:

Also, honestly, when you are willing to spend 115m euros, there is not a question of who is on the market. There was not just Vlahovic, Haaland, Lukau or bust. We could have gotten Schick who has been making strides for year now. already has 18 BuLi goals again and played an immense. 115m would have gotten us anyone probably even salahexcept maybe 5 or 6 players on the planet. so surely it is not as if lukaku was the only choice.

Or given Abraham an opportunity, worst case scenario Tammy still will work hard without the ball and does not completely mess up your system. You are not 115m poorer and still peruse the big fish next summer.

Lukaku is the worst Chelsea signing ever, mainly because it was very predictable.

 

[Mário César 1,282]

Why bot dembele?

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

19 minutes ago, Clockwork said:

Or given Abraham an opportunity, worst case scenario Tammy still will work hard without the ball and does not completely mess up your system. You are not 115m poorer and still peruse the big fish next summer.

Lukaku is the worst Chelsea signing ever, mainly because it was very predictable.

 

Worst Chelsea signing ever? Hmm. A very bad fit yes but worst ever? I think if you look into it hard enough you’ll realise we have signed much much worse.

We’ve not had much luck with CFs though now Lukaku looks a bad fit, Morata was a bad fit, Shevchenko was a bad fit….

[Pizy 18,948]

At the bare minimum if Lukaku can at least bang in 10 goals against lower half opposition and help secure us a comfortable top 4 position then this signing won’t have been a disaster. I don’t think he’s 100% unsalvageable like some of you do.

Against sides like City we’ll just have to find different solutions in attack. Because like him or not we’re likely stuck with him. 

[Jase 43,479]

6 minutes ago, Pizy said:

At the bare minimum if Lukaku can at least bang in 10 goals against lower half opposition and help secure us a comfortable top 4 position then this signing won’t have been a disaster. I don’t think he’s 100% unsalvageable like some of you do.

Against sides like City we’ll just have to find different solutions in attack. Because like him or not we’re likely stuck with him. 

So we spent 100 million on a striker just to score goals against lower half teams? Might as well have just kept Abraham since he did a decent job at that. 

[Tomo 21,751]

27 minutes ago, Pizy said:

At the bare minimum if Lukaku can at least bang in 10 goals against lower half opposition and help secure us a comfortable top 4 position then this signing won’t have been a disaster. I don’t think he’s 100% unsalvageable like some of you do.

Against sides like City we’ll just have to find different solutions in attack. Because like him or not we’re likely stuck with him. 

If it was "just" the fact he wasn't good enough I would agree but when you add everything together he's a lot more destructive than anyone I can remember.

He genuinely believes he's as good as Benzema, Suarez and Lewandowski etc al (I'm not even joking I'll post the video below). He has an over inflated opinion of himself which doesn't match his ability level or get even close, you can begrudgingly accept this shit if it's CR7, not with someone who struggles with the basics of football. At United he was so toxic even Pogba got fed up with him.

Then there's what he takes away from this team from a fluidity POV and the fact we will likely struggle to shift him which is going to inevitably lead to locker room problems if/when he's finally held to account and out of this team. Is he the worst player purely based on his pitch performances? No (atleast not yet) but I don't think even Torres comes close to the sheer net negative of having this guy around, I still cannot believe we've been this stupid.

Edited January 17, 2022 by Tomo

[Pizy 18,948]

18 minutes ago, Jase said:

So we spent 100 million on a striker just to score goals against lower half teams? Might as well have just kept Abraham since he did a decent job at that. 

I guess in terms of numbers he may have. But at least against sides we’re vastly superior to Lukaku still scares people. He’s a player other teams have to game plan for and when in form he can still bully defenders. Tammy was super soft and easy to play against. I’d rather have Rom if given the choice between the two. But yeah, we should have given Tammy 1 more year and made a play for Haaland this summer.

4 minutes ago, Tomo said:

If it was "just" the fact he wasn't good enough I would agree but when you add everything together he's a lot more destructive than anyone I can remember.

He genuinely believe he's as good as Benzema, Suarez and Lewandowski etc al (I'm not even joking I'll post the video below). He has an over inflated opinion of himself which doesn't match his ability level or get even close, you can begrudgingly accept this shit if it's CR7, not with someone who struggles with the basics of football. At United he was so toxic even Pogba got fed up with him.

Then there's what he takes away from this team from a fluidity POV and the fact we will likely struggle to shift him which is going to inevitably lead to locker room problems if/when he's finally held to account and out of this team.

Is he the worst player purely with based on his pitch performances? No (atleast not yet) but I don't think even Torres comes close to the sheer net negative of having this guy around, I still cannot believe we've been this stupid.

I don’t think it was crazy to put him on that level during his Inter days. He genuinely looked top class in Italy. Unfortunately we’re finding out that Serie A is much weaker than the PL and it made him look like he improved since he left United.

[Clockwork 1,794]

29 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

Worst Chelsea signing ever? Hmm. A very bad fit yes but worst ever? I think if you look into it hard enough you’ll realise we have signed much much worse.

We’ve not had much luck with CFs though now Lukaku looks a bad fit, Morata was a bad fit, Shevchenko was a bad fit….

We sold Morata to Alti with most of the money recouped, Sheva flopped but his failure was not predicted.

Most importantly my argument is based on how Lukaku was bad signing from beginning not in hindsight. Man U already made the mistake of signing him, few years later we reinforced the argument yeah he is not cut out for a top side in England.

[Jase 43,479]

23 minutes ago, Pizy said:

I guess in terms of numbers he may have. But at least against sides we’re vastly superior to Lukaku still scares people. He’s a player other teams have to game plan for and when in form he can still bully defenders. Tammy was super soft and easy to play against. I’d rather have Rom if given the choice between the two. But yeah, we should have given Tammy 1 more year and made a play for Haaland this summer.

Yeah but one cost 100 million and while the other cost nothing. No point if one scares defenders more than the other if they end up having the same/similar output against lower half sides. 

[Jase 43,479]

34 minutes ago, Pizy said:

I don’t think it was crazy to put him on that level during his Inter days. He genuinely looked top class in Italy. Unfortunately we’re finding out that Serie A is much weaker than the PL and it made him look like he improved since he left United.

Came across this from a United fan earlier today and I think it expands more on what @Tomo's point:

https://www.football365.com/news/benitez-everton-sack-tuchel-mourinho-Chelsea-lukaku-man-city-mailbox

A few quick points I’d like to make that back up my view. Firstly, as brought up in the conclusions article, is the fact that “they’re not setup to get the best out of him”. It’s something I’ve heard frequently in his defence; that the system doesn’t suit him. How often do people make that same comment with regards to Lewandowski? Or Benzema? Or Mbappe? Or Haaland? Or peak Messi, Ronaldo, Suarez or Aguero? Even Kane? Almost never, because they continued to perform and to score goals whomever their manager was and whatever system they were playing. Why? Because they are or were genuinely world class strikers. If a striker can only play one way, or requires an entire attack to be built around their limitations, then by definition, that player is one dimensional and ergo not world class.

Secondly, the references to how he “tore it up” in Italy. Does anyone think Ciro Immobile is world class? Would Chelsea sign him for £100m? Because in Lukaku’s time at Inter, Immobile out scored him in Serie A by 10 goals in the same amount of games whilst playing for a significantly weaker side. Scoring 2 in 3 (including penalties) for the best side in a league with the highest goals per game rate of the big 5 leagues in Europe (that they’re petitioning to have reduced back to 18 teams because there’s too many awful sides getting promoted), whilst at the peak age for a player, doesn’t make a £100m striker. Serie A is not what it was; it’s closer to Ligue Un in quality than the Premier League at the moment. Don’t agree? Darmian, Sanchez and Ashley Young played significant roles in Inter’s title win. See them getting a game at City, Liverpool or Chelsea? They weren’t playing at United, and we’re really shit.

[Pizy 18,948]

3 minutes ago, Jase said:

Came across this from a United fan earlier today and I think it expands more on what @Tomo's point:

https://www.football365.com/news/benitez-everton-sack-tuchel-mourinho-Chelsea-lukaku-man-city-mailbox

A few quick points I’d like to make that back up my view. Firstly, as brought up in the conclusions article, is the fact that “they’re not setup to get the best out of him”. It’s something I’ve heard frequently in his defence; that the system doesn’t suit him. How often do people make that same comment with regards to Lewandowski? Or Benzema? Or Mbappe? Or Haaland? Or peak Messi, Ronaldo, Suarez or Aguero? Even Kane? Almost never, because they continued to perform and to score goals whomever their manager was and whatever system they were playing. Why? Because they are or were genuinely world class strikers. If a striker can only play one way, or requires an entire attack to be built around their limitations, then by definition, that player is one dimensional and ergo not world class.

Secondly, the references to how he “tore it up” in Italy. Does anyone think Ciro Immobile is world class? Would Chelsea sign him for £100m? Because in Lukaku’s time at Inter, Immobile out scored him in Serie A by 10 goals in the same amount of games whilst playing for a significantly weaker side. Scoring 2 in 3 (including penalties) for the best side in a league with the highest goals per game rate of the big 5 leagues in Europe (that they’re petitioning to have reduced back to 18 teams because there’s too many awful sides getting promoted), whilst at the peak age for a player, doesn’t make a £100m striker. Serie A is not what it was; it’s closer to Ligue Un in quality than the Premier League at the moment. Don’t agree? Darmian, Sanchez and Ashley Young played significant roles in Inter’s title win. See them getting a game at City, Liverpool or Chelsea? They weren’t playing at United, and we’re really shit.

Tbh, I think if you were to drop Lukaku into the Bayern team or the Dortmund team or PSG he’d destroy those leagues just like he did in Italy. A quality goal scorer on the team which has BY FAR the best squad in their league is going to feast. Lukaku would score 35 goals in the Bayern or PSG teams. In Serie A/Bundesliga/Ligue 1 there are only 2-3 teams that can even compete on the pitch with Bayern/PSG etc. In the PL anyone can beat anyone on a given weekend (City apart).

[Jase 43,479]

4 minutes ago, Pizy said:

Tbh, I think if you were to drop Lukaku into the Bayern team or the Dortmund team or PSG he’d destroy those leagues just like he did in Italy. A quality goal scorer on the team which has BY FAR the best squad in their league is going to feast. Lukaku would score 35 goals in the Bayern or PSG teams. In Serie A/Bundesliga/Ligue 1 there are only 2-3 teams that can even compete on the pitch with Bayern/PSG etc. In the PL anyone can beat anyone on a given weekend (City apart).

You are not necessarily wrong but a truly world class striker (as Lukaku claimed himself supposedly to be) should be able to transcend systems and the likes of Lewandowski and Mbappe also have the performances and numbers in the Champions League, for example, to go with their domestic success. 

[Superblue 6,372]

2 hours ago, Clockwork said:

Lukaku is the worst Chelsea signing ever, mainly because it was very predictable.

I'm guessing you weren't following the club when we broke our transfer record on Paul Furlong and then Chris Sutton.

Lukaku could fail to score for a year and then take an Inter flag and plant it in the centre circle of the Bridge and he still wouldn't touch those two.

[Superblue 6,372]

And how could I forget Robert Fleck, the transfer record holder before Paul Furlong!

[Vesper 30,219]

2 hours ago, Clockwork said:

Lukaku is the worst Chelsea signing ever, mainly because it was very predictable.

not yet

Kepa (mainly due to us dropping £142m on a GKer not named Oblak)

Drinkwater (almost £60m in fees + wages shit away away on trash, arguably the worst player than an EPL team ever spent that much on)

Fernando Torres

Bats and Baka and Sheva in that mix too

 

Rom can still come good

[MoroccanBlue 5,383]

2 hours ago, Magic Lamps said:

Also, honestly, when you are willing to spend 115m euros, there is not a question of who is on the market. There was not just Vlahovic, Haaland, Lukau or bust. We could have gotten Schick who has been making strides for year now. already has 18 BuLi goals again and played an immense. 115m would have gotten us anyone probably even salahexcept maybe 5 or 6 players on the planet. so surely it is not as if lukaku was the only choice.

At the time I said Haaland or no one. Keep one of Tammy/Giroud and give Broja a chance. 

In hindsight, buying Chiesa and keeping Broja probably would of been the best decision.