Chelsea Transfers

[Kong 1,729]

26 minutes ago, hiterto said:

I hope we don't sign Lukaku. He will no doubt be another disaster striker signing. At best he was OK in EPL and I cannot believe he will be any better after his time in Serie A. The amount mentioned is way too much and I would rather we sign Danny Ings, who is every bit as good if not better than Lukaku. Complete waste of Money and if this happens he may be ranked in Same Category as Kepa and Shivshenko

•  August 3, 2021
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•  23,754 replies
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• This is what I had said about Lukaku Aug 21. I am saying the same about Raphina, Dembele and most importantly Raheem Sterling, all of whom will not make it at Chelsea. My signings would be Rice, Koulabaly, Kounde and Richarlison. This time I hope common sense prevails
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Why won't sterling make it here but has been brilliant at man city? 

[Vesper 24,096]

there are 6 CB's left that are 100% acceptable

the 3 premium buys

Matthijs de Ligt 
Milan Škriniar 
Joško Gvardiol (next summer only, when his new release clause is 50m euros, £43m)

the 3 less costly

Kalidou Koulibaly
Bremer
Merih Demiral

 

[Kong 1,729]

14 minutes ago, Vesper said:

there are 6 CB's left that are 100% acceptable

the 3 premium buys

Matthijs de Ligt 
Milan Škriniar 
Joško Gvardiol (next summer only, when his new release clause is 50m euros, £43m)

the 3 less costly

Kalidou Koulibaly
Bremer
Merih Demiral

 

Who was the last player we signed from serie A that wasn't awful? Don't include Rudiger lol 

Edited June 29 by Kong

[Mário César 405]

 

well well

[ChelseaFanUK 1,014]

Raphinha hopefully be clearer tomorrow anyway once Deco talks to us.   That Juve CEO comments are really encouraging, price could be an issue, though

 

Slightly off topic but does anyone know if that Gerard Romero fella, who mentioned Barca perhaps trying to hijack Raphinha, is reliable?  I see conflicting answers on social media.  some say he is, some say he is sensationalist and gets loads of things wrong.

[maxlev 26]

On 27/06/2022 at 20:23, robsblubot said:

Yes, I understand he's a bit polarizing (understatement), and can be predictable at times, as someone else pointed out here. In the end of the day tho, Sterling is a good player and one who would certainly add quality to any team in the PL.

I just don't see his characteristics as something we lack; quite the opposite actually, I think we have an overabundance of players of his style and position.

Well unfortunately other players similar characteristics in our squad have not been able to give us consistent high numbers of goals and assist season after season as Sterling does for all the clubs he has played for.

[ZAPHOD2319 2,162]

14 minutes ago, ChelseaFanUK said:

Raphinha hopefully be clearer tomorrow anyway once Deco talks to us.   That Juve CEO comments are really encouraging, price could be an issue, though

 

Slightly off topic but does anyone know if that Gerard Romero fella, who mentioned Barca perhaps trying to hijack Raphinha, is reliable?  I see conflicting answers on social media.  some say he is, some say he is sensationalist and gets loads of things wrong.

I think the biggest problem is Laporte manipulates the crap out of journos associated with Barca. They can be reporting exactly what is being told to them and it was BS from the source.

[Stats 6,812]

6 hours ago, Blues11 said:

Not surprised attackers aren't really excited to come here at the moment. Obviously with our status and money we will get some players but I can understand the skepticism for someone like Raphina.  Literally no one who signed here improved and the tactics aren't great for attacking players. Tuchel noted that we don't plan on changing anything so let's see if anything improves, still think TT has a lot of questions to answer regardless of who we end up with. 

Unpopular opinion but I slightly agree. If he sees a model where other attackers excel then I think he is motivated to come here. For instance Diaz, did not think twice about going Liverpool when he learned of there interest because he knew he would fit in there model. I hope Tuchel is able to convince Raphinha of how we can play to his strength's and play fluid. 

I haven't got excited for a reason as I can see this deal collapsing. Barca I know is his first choice but let's just hope they don't get there cash injection and the worse case scenario is he ends at Arsenal but yeah I reckon if Tuchel can convince Raphina that he will be in our revitalized attack alongside Sterling, might convince him more but I am preparing for the worst.

[King Kante 1,092]

People crack me up on here. Do people actually believe that Barca the team that are;

A) €1.5bn in debt

B ) cannot even register their free signings

C) selling off their future revenues to keep the lights on

D ) selling a top young talent in FDJ in order to create some La Liga wage cap space 

Are all of a sudden going to buy Raphinha for €70m plus big wages? Some people are way too taken in by people that talk absolute BS on the Internet. 

Edited June 29 by King Kante

[ZAPHOD2319 2,162]

I debated putting this in the transfer thread or the Boehly thread, but I think it has a lot of bearing on why so many key figures at the Club have left so quickly. Not sure the Marketing team operates in isolation from the rest of the administration.

 

Chelsea’s owners have told us they hired an external review team amid barrage of allegations by current and former staff against head of marketing. Club also contacted family of former Chelsea TV head Richard Bignell who took his own life in January.

[ChelseaFanUK 1,014]

19 minutes ago, King Kante said:

People crack me up on here. Do people actually believe that Barca the team that are;

A) €1.5bn in debt

B ) cannot even register their free signings

C) selling off their future revenues to keep the lights on

D ) selling a top young talent in FDJ in order to create some La Liga wage cap space 

Are all of a sudden going to buy Raphinha for €70m plus big wages? Some people are way too taken in by people that talk absolute BS on the Internet. 

I think you make valid points, but this is Barca desperate to not miss out on a signing. They'll come up with something.... That might just be the pessimist in me, though

 

Unless those economic levers are literally to pay off debt and not for transfer use...

Edited June 30 by ChelseaFanUK

[King Kante 1,092]

17 minutes ago, ChelseaFanUK said:

I think you make valid points, but this is Barca desperate to not miss out on a signing. They'll come up with something.... That might just be the pessimist in me, though

 

Unless those economic levers are literally to pay off debt and not for transfer use...

There are so many things wrong with Barca atm. Here are a couple of reasons why they won't be signing people: 

1) Short term debt. 

Not only are Barca €1.5bn in debt, around €350m of this is in short term loans. Barca are currently rated about one level above junk and are needing to refi in a market where rates are going through the roof. At best their liabilities on that portion of the debt is going up 2% but it'll probably be more like 4% (so around €8m a year just to pay off the interest.) Then you get to the medium term debt, which will also be impacted by the current rate increases. 

FFP 

a) Remember all that money they owed their players that magically disappeared because they 'took wage cuts'? Well 'surprise!!' That was actually deferments and not wage cuts so that money is slipping back onto the books over the next five years of so. Pique is reported to be owed €80m alone, so God knows what the total figure is.

So that €80m they're going to put on the books by selling FDJ gets eaten up almost straight away by the: 

A) the excess they have already on the books. 

B ) money owed to current/former players who deffered

C ) the players like AC and Kessie who they're yet to register. 

Barca now have to essentially sell one of their best players every season and just buy 'frees' in order to comply with La Liga FFP and to ensure their debt doesn't balloon anymore; no way do they risk another disaster signing/big fee that goes wrong. In addition their debt is going to get exponentially expensive quickly due to the interest rises and their near junk status. 

So, yeah, they're not buying anyone for big money on a long term contract. 

[ChelseaFanUK 1,014]

38 minutes ago, King Kante said:

There are so many things wrong with Barca atm. Here are a couple of reasons why they won't be signing people: 

1) Short term debt. 

Not only are Barca €1.5bn in debt, around €350m of this is in short term loans. Barca are currently rated about one level above junk and are needing to refi in a market where rates are going through the roof. At best their liabilities on that portion of the debt is going up 2% but it'll probably be more like 4% (so around €8m a year just to pay off the interest.) Then you get to the medium term debt, which will also be impacted by the current rate increases. 

FFP 

a) Remember all that money they owed their players that magically disappeared because they 'took wage cuts'? Well 'surprise!!' That was actually deferments and not wage cuts so that money is slipping back onto the books over the next five years of so. Pique is reported to be owed €80m alone, so God knows what the total figure is.

So that €80m they're going to put on the books by selling FDJ gets eaten up almost straight away by the: 

A) the excess they have already on the books. 

B ) money owed to current/former players who deffered

C ) the players like AC and Kessie who they're yet to register. 

Barca now have to essentially sell one of their best players every season and just buy 'frees' in order to comply with La Liga FFP and to ensure their debt doesn't balloon anymore; no way do they risk another disaster signing/big fee that goes wrong. In addition their debt is going to get exponentially expensive quickly due to the interest rises and their near junk status. 

So, yeah, they're not buying anyone for big money on a long term contract. 

Makes sense all that. I just assumed that if for example they activated one of these "levers", for say, 250m euros, then they could opt to put 100 to debts and salaries owed and 150 to player purchases.  But essentially you're saying it'll instantly be swallowed up by creditors and of course salary payments.

[DDA 8,272]

4 hours ago, King Kante said:

People crack me up on here. Do people actually believe that Barca the team that are;

A) €1.5bn in debt

B ) cannot even register their free signings

C) selling off their future revenues to keep the lights on

D ) selling a top young talent in FDJ in order to create some La Liga wage cap space 

Are all of a sudden going to buy Raphinha for €70m plus big wages? Some people are way too taken in by people that talk absolute BS on the Internet. 

Everything you say may hold some weight but in football when it involves the Spanish clubs such as Barca and Real... anything is possible. 

[DDA 8,272]

After doing some digging if seems the Juve fans are pretty happy to see De Ligt going. Some see potential in him but the majority say he is makes many mistakes and looks slow and laboured in too many games.

Will he he cope in the Prem?? 

Watching the highlights of his Ajax days... he looks top draw but his Juve clips, he looks pretty average to me.

[Alabama 1,936]

4 minutes ago, DDA said:

After doing some digging if seems the Juve fans are pretty happy to see De Ligt going. Some see potential in him but the majority say he is makes many mistakes and looks slow and laboured in too many games.

Will he he cope in the Prem?? 

Watching the highlights of his Ajax days... he looks top draw but his Juve clips, he looks pretty average to me.

That's pretty my major concern about him especially the fact that the league is coming is so pacy coupled with the pressure.. 

[Strike 6,269]

8 hours ago, Nero said:

Ake for Rüdiger.

WTF

Ake for Chris
De Ligt for Rudi

[Special Juan 26,267]

Encouraging noises from the Juve bloke about De Ligt, sounds like that now may have some legs in it

[Special Juan 26,267]

As for Raphinha, nobody will match what we have put up.

[ulsterchelsea 3,105]

Have to say (and obviously you never know what's true and what's not when the media put their spin on things) buy if rafinha is already pining for them lot I'd be just as happy to see us swerve the entire thing. How long until he is bleating on to everyone and anyone about wanting to leave to go to Spain? There's lots of players out there. Get one who is committed to playing here rather than twerking for barca before he's even signed