Chelsea Transfers

[Pizy 18,368]

3 hours ago, TheHulk said:

 

If, and that’s a big IF we let Mase go he’d be the perfect replacement. 

[Stats 7,054]

7 hours ago, Bumtrubbler said:

totally agree with the above ^^^^

caught between a rock & a hard place as far as Mount is concerned. 

he was consistently 7 or 8 out of 10 for the last couple of seasons. 

tailed off last year & everyone said "ah he's played too much football & needs a break" 

a fair comment at the time.. 

however, since then he's been heading downhill like a runaway train. 

will he come back? who knows. - hopefully. 

but to demand a contract to match any other (much higher performing week in week out) player at the club, to me is ridiculous. 

it would be hard to say "wind your neck in" but that's why Chelsea employ top business people to negotiate such deals. 

personally I'd not think he warrants any more than any other experienced squad members. 

but then we've done just that with the suicide bomber & kdb & were proved embarrassingly wrong both times.. 🤷‍♂️

Who are you referring to? Are you aware of what you just wrote because that is an utterly stupid and racist comment to make... 🤦‍♂️

[Vesper 28,787]

16 hours ago, TheHulk said:

 

Fuck!!

We should have a club in a nation not constrained by the sanctions buy him, and then sell him to us and toss them a couple million for their trouble.

No clue if that is legal, but so many non football deals are done like that.

[Vesper 28,787]

11 hours ago, Bumtrubbler said:

but then we've done just that with the suicide bomber & kdb

wtf

Why the racism m8?

I am part Lebanese (so I can claim some personal agency on this one) and that anti Arab bollocks is embarrassing to see here.

[lucio 5,418]

11 hours ago, Bumtrubbler said:

nope. that'll have been you 🤣

Pretty sure that's what you meant. Should delete your comment and your profile pic too

[Vesper 28,787]

If Declan Rice joins a ‘Big Six’ side, he will become as marketable as Kane and Grealish

https://theathletic.com/4159494/2023/02/10/declan-rice-west-ham-transfer/

Declan Rice produced a man-of-the-match performance against Newcastle United last weekend, so it was only fitting David Moyes followed up with an equally eye-catching sales pitch.

“Declan showed so many things,” he said. “Undoubtedly he’s a top-class player and he will be a British transfer record and more whenever he leaves West Ham.”

If he is to move on, it would not just be to West Ham’s financial benefit. Rice would surely receive a significant pay rise and his commercial value would also increase if he joined a “Big Six” side. The midfielder may feel that the latter is overdue.

He has done some notable work on the commercial side in recent months. In April, he teamed up with high-end fashion brand Prada to feature on the cover of Circle Zero Eight magazine before starring in Sports Direct’s Christmas advert alongside Mason Mount, Thierry Henry and Eric Cantona. He also has a boot deal with Adidas and recently featured in a Muller Rice campaign (a dairy food company).

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ck7xugcKAWI/

But he is still some way off many of his England team-mates.

Raheem Sterling, of Chelsea, is the face of male grooming brand Gillette Labs; Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham featured alongside Lionel Messi and Stormzy in a star-studded World Cup 2022 advert for Adidas; Jack Grealish, the Manchester City winger, has a deal with Italian designer Gucci and Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold is the face of sports brand Under Armour.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CaFgeBtg7hB/

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cg1jlzitYQ0/

But how marketable is Rice compared to Grealish, Bellingham and England captain Harry Kane? Adrian Wright, the ex-marketing and sales director at West Bromwich Albion, explains.

“Most brands will only capitalise on a player endorsement as a result of their social media following,” he said. “Rice will have a certain number of photoshoots for brands, for example, that will help him to leverage his audience. But he’s not that commercial when you compare him to Kane or Bellingham. Kane has 3.8 million followers on Twitter and 13.9 million on Instagram. Declan has fewer followers on social media in comparison (494,000 on Twitter and 1.6 million on Instagram).

“If you look at Kane’s Instagram, he has things around mental health, his boot deal, it’s very commercial. Declan has a few things on there but he’s not that high profile. He only has 172 posts, Kane has more than 1,000. He would be enticing for brands because he plays for England. He’s not commercial because he plays for West Ham.

“It’s mostly attacking players who have large social media followings. You won’t get many tabloids writing about Rice’s performance against Nottingham Forest. But if he scores a screamer, or a penalty in the last minute, that would gain more traffic on social media.

“Grealish is a £100m player and he’s leveraged the fact he’s one of the most expensive British transfers ever. That could be Rice this summer.”

For Rice to reach the same commercial value as his England team-mates, it seems likely he will have to break the record for the most money paid for a transfer by a British club.

Enzo Fernandez currently holds the record following his €121million (£106m, $131m) move to Chelsea from Benfica on deadline day last month. Before sealing his move to Stamford Bridge, Fernandez spoke about Rice in glowing terms.

“I try to watch as much football (as I can) and learn a little bit from everyone,” he said. “I like Rice of England, I try to watch him and learn.”

Rice has been capped 39 times for England and has played 222 games for West Ham. Fernandez, however, has made just 114 club appearances so it is no surprise Moyes is adamant Rice would command a higher transfer fee. Though Fernandez is, of course, a World Cup winner.

Grealish, who became the first player to move to a British club for £100m when he joined Manchester City from Aston Villa in August 2021, had made 252 club appearances when he put pen to paper.

If Moyes is correct that Rice will break the record, the bidding war for the midfielder will start at £106m at the very least. And it is worth remembering that, in April 2022, the West Ham manager said the minimum he would accept for Rice would be £150m.

However, the midfielder has rejected three contract offers which means this summer is the London club’s last opportunity to earn a sizeable fee for the Englishman.

The British transfer record (only includes fees paid by a British club) has been broken 10 times since the start of 2000. Only three of those deals have been for midfielders and just three have been for Englishmen.

UK transfer record being broken (2000-)

DATE	PLAYER	SELLING CLUB	BUYING CLUB	FEE
November 2000	Rio Ferdinand	West Ham	Leeds United	£18m
April 2001	Ruud van Nistelrooy	PSV Eindhoven	Manchester United	£19m
July 2001	Juan Sebastian Veron	Lazio	Manchester United	£28.1m
July 2002	Rio Ferdinand	Leeds United	Manchester United	£29.1m
July 2006	Andriy Shevchenko	AC Milan	Chelsea	£30.6m
September 2008	Robinho	Real Madrid	Manchester City	£32.5m
January 2011	Fernando Torres	Liverpool	Chelsea	£50m
July 2016	Paul Pogba	Juventus	Manchester United	£89m
August 2021	Jack Grealish	Aston Villa	Manchester City	£100m
January 2023	Enzo Fernandez	Benfica	Chelsea	£106m

The only examples of midfielders breaking the record are Juan Sebastian Veron joining Manchester United in 2001 for £28.1m, Paul Pogba rejoining Manchester United in 2016 for £89m and Fernandez’s move to Chelsea for £106m.

It should be noted that respected analysts of the market, CIES Football Observatory, value Rice at €80m (£70m).

Rice’s most recent performance — against Newcastle last Saturday — reaffirmed why Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United are interested in him and could potentially break the record to sign him.

The 24-year-old midfielder won possession 12 times (the most by any West Ham player), won four duels, attempted six passes in the final third and made three interceptions in his side’s 1-1 draw. And, crucially, it was his corner that led to Lucas Paqueta scoring West Ham’s equaliser.

Rice’s contract expires in the summer of 2024, although West Ham do have an option to extend for a further year. But, with Rice most likely to leave this summer, the club have no intention of activating the clause.

“I hope he sees out his time here,” said Moyes. “But look, there’s a lot of talk about it and I think Declan will be blowing that British record out of the water, that’s for sure, when it comes around.”

So what are his options in the Premier League?

Newcastle have emerged as a potential suitor with manager Eddie Howe labelling Rice a “top-quality player” following last Saturday’s draw. But Dan Ashworth, the club’s sporting director, has already hinted the club would be against signing a £100m player.

Arsenal are optimistic about their chances of securing Rice’s signature this summer, though they do already have Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka, Martin Odegaard and Jorginho as their midfield options.

Meanwhile, Manchester City being hit with more than 100 financial fair play-related charges could seriously harm their summer transfer window and Liverpool have a long-standing interest in Borussia Dortmund midfielder Bellingham.

A return to boyhood club Chelsea also remains a possibility and Manchester United have been linked with a move for Rice in the past.

In short, nothing — other than Rice leaving the London Stadium — is close to being a certainty.

Regardless of where he ends up, though, this summer promises to be a lucrative one for Rice. The months ahead could end up playing a defining part in his career.

[Vesper 28,787]

Chelsea have shown they can buy big, but how well can they sell?

https://theathletic.com/4171421/2023/02/10/Chelsea-selling-lukaku-pulisic-ziyech/

If there is one thing Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital have proven since taking over Chelsea last summer, it is that they know how to buy footballers.

Now, after committing more than £500million ($609.4m) to initial transfer fees across their jaw-dropping first two windows, the emphasis shifts as attention turns to the next one at the end of this season. How well can they sell?

Offloading those on the fringes of Graham Potter’s bloated first-team squad and the more high-profile names currently out on loans will be a monetary as well as a sporting imperative in the summer.

It might even become essential to their hopes of remaining compliant with financial fair play (FFP) if, as expected, Champions League qualification proves out of reach for a side currently 10 points off the top four — UEFA is already watching the club’s movements closely.

Boehly and Clearlake believe the depictions of the financial risk they have taken during these first seven months of ownership are overstated. Most of Chelsea’s new signings are young, (presumably) improving assets now tied to long-term contracts on low salaries relative to their Roman Abramovich-era standards, with compensation also tied to playing time and Champions League participation.

Internally, there has been a lot of emphasis on the “Chelsea premium” that the club became notorious for paying under the previous regime, both in terms of transfer fees and wages.

Boehly and Clearlake might have smashed the British transfer record to bring Enzo Fernandez to Stamford Bridge for £106m and sanctioned huge fees for Wesley Fofana (£70m) and Mykhailo Mudryk (an initial £62m), but the new owners are adamant these deals fit into a broader push to bring the wage bill down to a more sensible, sustainable level.

For that push to be successful, however, they will also need to find new homes for a significant number of Abramovich signings who are on “Chelsea premium” contracts that still have several years left to run.

This process began last summer, with Timo Werner allowed to return to RB Leipzig in a £25million deal that represents a significant loss on the £47.5m initially paid to secure the Germany forward from that Bundesliga club two years earlier.

In terms of how clubs actually account for transfers, Chelsea’s margins were much finer than that.

Werner’s original fee was amortised over the length of his five-year contract — in this case, at a rate of £9.5million per year — meaning that, by the time he was sold, his remaining value on the books was just £28.5m. Since the £25m sale fee was registered in one immediate lump sum, the accounting loss for Boehly and Clearlake was only £3.5m.

When you add to that the benefit of offloading Werner’s huge wages and freeing up room for new signings, it was clearly a deal worth Chelsea stomaching a little financial pain to do.

That cannot be so easily said for some of the other sunk-cost decisions that lie ahead.

Romelu Lukaku (remember him?) remains the biggest headache.

His previous club Inter Milan have no obligation to extend an expensive season-long loan that has so far seen him make only 11 appearances across all competitions, due to persistent injury and fitness issues, and score twice. At the end of this season, he will still have three years left to run on the five-year Chelsea contract — with a salary in the region of £320,000-a-week — he signed on joining from Inter in the summer of 2021.

The £97.5million transfer fee that Chelsea agreed to sign Lukaku for the second time in his career is also amortised over the length of that deal at a rate of £19.5m per year, giving him a remaining value on the books this summer of £58.5m. No sane suitor would go anywhere near paying that number for the services of a player who’ll be 30 by the time the season ends.

In the context of their vast transfer spending, is it at all feasible for Boehly and Clearlake to absorb the inevitable gargantuan accounting loss it would take to be rid of the Belgium international permanently?

From an FFP compliance perspective, a second season on loan back at San Siro, with Inter again taking responsibility for his salary, appears to be the most palatable realistic option — unless Potter decides he can use Lukaku at Chelsea and rebuild his value. Good luck finding any enthusiasm for that scenario, either from the man himself or the many fans he alienated under previous head coach Thomas Tuchel.

To varying degrees, Boehly and Clearlake will need to make similar calculations about Christian Pulisic, Hakim Ziyech and Kepa Arrizabalaga, despite the latter’s success in re-establishing himself as Chelsea’s No 1 goalkeeper under Potter. All three are very good footballers whose market desirability has been eroded by below-par production and above-market contracts which do not fit the new owners’ vision for the pay scale at Stamford Bridge.

Kalidou Koulibaly, who turns 32 in June, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, 34 that same month, can be added to Chelsea’s list of highly-paid expendables for whom it will likely be difficult to recover any real value.

Mateo Kovacic should be in a more desirable tier for suitors if a contract expiring after next season is not extended, and recent history suggests the market for academy graduates Mason Mount — although Boehly and Clearlake very much want to keep him — Conor Gallagher and Callum Hudson-Odoi will be strong.

Profits from outgoing transfers has been a crucial part of Chelsea’s business model for more than a decade, and former director Marina Granovskaia built her reputation on extracting maximum value when selling high-profile players who were either surplus to requirements or keen to leave. Her list of successes is impressive: Eden Hazard to Real Madrid; Diego Costa and Alvaro Morata to Atletico Madrid; Oscar and Ramires to the Chinese Super League; Juan Mata and Nemanja Matic to Manchester United; David Luiz to Paris Saint-Germain.

Boehly and Clearlake will find it difficult to emulate such a track record, primarily due to the profound changes in the landscape of the transfer market since those deals were done.

According to a report by CIES Football Observatory, the Premier League accounted for a record 48.5 per cent of all transfer fee investment in football’s big five European leagues in 2022, passing the €3billion mark for the first time. Back in 2013, that share was 34.3 per cent, and the inexorable rise in the financial power of England’s top flight has come at the expense of Spain’s La Liga, Serie A in Italy, the German Bundesliga and France’s Ligue 1.

This widening inequality has been turbocharged by the financial fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic; in 2022, CIES reports Premier League clubs had a total net transfer spend of €1.7bn. The next highest was La Liga at just €144m, then Serie A with a €78m net spend. Bundesliga and Ligue 1 clubs actually registered total net transfer profits of €18m and €76m respectively.

What does this mean for Chelsea’s selling efforts?

Well, the good news is that Europe’s biggest clubs can still pay Premier League salaries; Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich (in that order) currently have the four highest squad payrolls in the world game, according to football finance website Capology; Juventus and Atletico Madrid also rank in the top 10 along with Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool.

The bad news is that even these European giants are rarely in the market for expensive — let alone underperforming — Premier League assets. In fact, since the pandemic shutdowns of 2020, the only deals involving transfer fees taking players from England to the continental sides listed above are Raphinha and Ferran Torres from Leeds United and Manchester City to Barcelona, and Moise Kean from Everton back to his previous club, Juventus.

PSG and Juventus are the only non-Premier League clubs in the top 10 biggest net transfer spenders of 2022, and the latter’s operations in the market over recent years are being extensively investigated by Italy’s football and financial authorities. Barcelona’s relentless activity since Joan Laporta’s return as president in 2021 has only been made possible by the pulling of economic ‘levers’ that have effectively mortgaged chunks of the Catalan club’s future income.

All this means that — unless Chinese clubs are suddenly granted renewed licence to pour the kind of money into the European transfer market that they did in the mid-2010s — Chelsea’s best hope of realising any significant value for players they no longer want or need, both this summer and increasingly in the coming years, will be selling to other Premier League clubs.

One obvious problem this reality poses is that the market for any unwanted Chelsea player is necessarily limited to a small number of potential clubs. Another is that some of the smartest over-achievers in the Premier League — namely Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford — focus their recruitment on identifying superior value overseas, rather than buying cast-offs on big salaries from the likes of Chelsea. The more such clubs win, the more their methods will be adopted throughout the division, squeezing the selling market at the top end even further.

Boehly and Clearlake are aware of football’s broader financial trends and how they are distorting the transfer market. Last summer’s Werner deal, coupled with the Lukaku loan, indicated a willingness to think differently about what really constitutes success and failure when offloading highly-paid, underperforming footballers.

More of that thinking will be needed, in the next window and beyond.

GO DEEPER

Azpilicueta exclusive: On Chelsea loyalty, setting standards and joining the 500 club

[shrenshah 186]

Now that its confirmed that this season is a writeoff...lets just stop using havertz as striker and give ddf a chance

 

We aint winning shit with havertz as st

Edited February 11, 2023 by shrenshah

[Bumtrubbler 6]

11 hours ago, lucio said:

Pretty sure that's what you meant. Should delete your comment and your profile pic too

thanks for your input 🙄

[Bumtrubbler 6]

12 hours ago, Vesper said:

wtf

Why the racism m8?

I am part Lebanese (so I can claim some personal agency on this one) and that anti Arab bollocks is embarrassing to see here.

ffs it's called "humour"... 

another site obviously ruined by woke pricks rushing to see who can be most offended by the least... 

see ya 

[Vesper 28,787]

1 hour ago, Bumtrubbler said:

ffs it's called "humour"... 

another site obviously ruined by woke pricks rushing to see who can be most offended by the least... 

see ya 

do not let the door hit you on the way out, you racist, homophobic snowflake

[Vesper 28,787]

Chelsea duo Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Mateo Kovacic are unlikely to sign contract extensions beyond 2024.

https://www.caughtoffside.com/2023/02/12/Chelsea-duo-unlikely-to-sign-contract-extensions-beyond-2024/

With Chelsea bringing in a host of new players over the last few transfer windows and spending likely to continue in the summer, some of Chelsea’s current crop may be sweating over their future at the club.

If Chelsea continue bringing in multiple players per window, they will naturally have to offload a fair few in order to name a 25-man Premier League squad.

Now, according to Simon Phillips, speaking to GiveMeSport, Kovacic and Loftus-Cheek could be two of the players that leave Chelsea over the next 18 months.

“You’ve got the situations with Mateo Kovacic’s contract, 2024, Loftus-Cheek as well, 2024. So those are two midfielders that I’d be surprised with if any of them ended up extending as things stand.”

Chelsea have plenty of midfield options now that Enzo Fernandez has joined the club and if Denis Zakaria is signed on a permanent deal you’d imagine Loftus-Cheek or Kovacic will begin to consider their options.

Both players only have a year left on their deals in the summer so it could be time for Chelsea to cash in to avoid them leaving on free transfers.

Chelsea are continuously linked to even more midfielders despite their recent signings and you wouldn’t put it past Todd Boehly splashing the cash once again in the summer.

[Hashishi 148]

This season is the last we can get something for them. We can recoup just over 200m. I don't see how we can keep spending the way we have indefinitely. 

Sell sell sell (as soon as possible, there is no reason for any of these players to be here as they have been or will be replaced)

Mendy 10m

Azpi (keep for one more year if he really wants to stay)

KK (get rid even if it was for free, Inter are losing skriniar so we should offer a swap for Barella)

Ampadu 20m (hasn't lived up to potential)

RLC 15m (Can't believe he is still here. Hasn't lived up to potential)

Gallagher 40m (Keep only if Mount doesn't sign and is sold)

Kovacic 50m (would rather he stayed, he's a seasoned pro and we can't replace him easily)

Ziyech 25m

Pulisic 25m

CHO 20m ( hasn't lived up to potential)

Anjorin 5m ( hasn't lived up to potential)

Auba 5m

Lukaku ?!m

Loan (some of these we can't loan because of the limit so they'll have to settle for carabao cup. I expect an exodus of youth in the next few years)

Slonina, Colwill, Hall, Maatsen, Humphreys, Casadei, Santos, Hutchinson, Vale, DDF

[Mário César 975]

its hard to see kova leaving... he will be missed but probably want a new challenge 

I don't know if is better keep him one more season or sell him... depend what will happen to mount 

[Vesper 28,787]

Just now, Mário César said:

its hard to see kova leaving... he will be missed but probably want a new challenge 

I don't know if is better keep him one more season or sell him... depend what will happen to mount 

we simply cannot keep letting what will soon be (if we just say fuck it and do not renew and do not sell) hundreds of millions of quid worth of players leave on frees

we lost 80m to 90m or so on just AC (who is doing better at Barca than Rudi is at Real) and Rudiger

[Mário César 975]

its a problem. i agree with that

mount and kova for different reason have good market.... i think we can get between 90 and 100 million for both 

and if we sell gallegher we can receive close to 150M euros... its a lot of money

but i don't know if is a good idea sell them because we will have to buy more 3 news midfielders 

[TheHulk 1,855]

This guy makes sense.

[Vesper 28,787]

46 minutes ago, TheHulk said:

This guy makes sense.

I am absolutely in favour of buying him or a loan with an obligation to buy in 2024

I think if Felix had went to the right club instead of 'offensive graveyard for most' Atleti, he would be a top 10 player in the world already for a couple of years