Chelsea Transfers

[Vesper 28,795]

12 hours ago, LAM09 said:

We don't need another "project".

same excuse was given by some here for not signing Håland and Osimhen

[Vesper 28,795]

crazy that Inter are 3 wins away from lifting the CL again with Lautaro Martínez having scored only ONE goal in the entire competition in around 700 minutes

Lukaku has 3 CL goals in only 86 minutes played, lol, so a 90 minute game time hat trick

 

[LAM09 6,744]

11 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

Yep regardless of his potential, we need somebody who is able to come in, lead the line and deliver consistently right now because we have been lacking a regular top goalscoring CF for years now.

After January, I hope we don’t seem intent on buying/wanting every second u23 player in the world again. I mean if this is the strategy this summer, questions have to be asked again of the football strategy, especially considering the doubts or concerns around Mendy, Kepa, Aubamayang, Koulibaly, Kovacic’s futures amongst others.

Squad building needs to be done carefully. Personally I feel you need to have groups of players in different age brackets so you have a mix of lesser experienced, young guys breaking through/trying to establish themselves say under 23s. Then more established players who are proven and experienced in that bracket from say 24 to 29 and then some more senior pros say guys 30 and above. These last two groups, you need to retain a certain number of these guys just as much as anything else. 

If we just keep signing kids and don’t retain or maintain a good mix of established/experienced persons then you don’t really get continuity in the culture and standards around the club.  Or so I feel.

I get Arsenal are maybe showing that theory isn’t necessarily true but for me, I look at City under Pep and they’ve always had great squad building.

You've summed up my thoughts exactly.

We need certified starters going forward. I'm all for the direction the club has gone in by going after exciting talents, but we need a squad that will be able to compete now rather than one that pins its hopes on those individuals flourishing in years to come.

1 hour ago, Vesper said:

same excuse was given by some here for not signing Håland and Osimhen

If we didn't have someone (Broja) in whom I still hope will deliver, Hojlund would seem like a reasonable choice.

[Vesper 28,795]

Håland has the same amount of goals in 4 recent games

6 in his last 2 CL games

3 in his last FA Cup game

and 2 in his last EPL game

so 11 goals in only 285 minutes played

that Vlahovic has had all season in almost 2400 minutes (2388) played

Håland has 51 total goals produced (45 goals + 6 assists) in only 3030 minutes played

he is tracking to 78 club goals if he played the same number of minutes that Messi played in his crazy 73 club goal season in 2011-12

Messi obviously crushes him in assists

that 2011-12 season he also had 32 assists

105 club total goals produced in ONE season!

Deffo the best single season ever for a footballer, plus he had a decent chunk of national team goals and assists (11 goals, 9 assists for the Argies from the end of the 2010-11 club season to the beginning of the 2012-13 club season)

so a 125 total goals (84 goals, 41 assists) produced for club and country from the end of all club games for the 2010-11 season to the beginning of all club games for the 2012-13 season

utter madness

that will NEVER be touched 

the mind reels at those numbers

today, if you were an EPL player who produced (as a winger/MFer) 125 total goals all comps in a 10 year career on a decent money-paying side, you would earn £50m at least, likey much more (that £50m career total is less than £100K PW on balance)

[Vesper 28,795]

4 minutes ago, LAM09 said:

You've summed up my thoughts exactly.

We need certified starters going forward. I'm all for the direction the club has gone in by going after exciting talents, but we need a squad that will be able to compete now rather than one that pins its hopes on those individuals flourishing in years to come.

If we didn't have someone (Broja) in whom I still hope will deliver, Hojlund would seem like a reasonable choice.

I am going out on a limb and making a binding prediction

IF we do not get Osimhen (odds are iffy we get him)

and then do not buy Rasmus Højlund

we will regret it massively the next 10 years

I think the lad is going to be insanely good

Victor Osimhen
Rasmus Højlund  

Dusan Vlahovic    
Jonathan David  
Ivan Toney  (as long as the betting shit is sorted)
Randal Kolo Muani
Gonçalo Ramos 
Marcus Thuram  
Hugo Ekitiké (doubt PSG will sell him though)
Evanilson
Benjamin Sesko 
Aleksandar Mitrović 

youth

Vitor Roque  
Marcos Leonardo
 

[Clockwork 1,794]

 

This is my preference for holding midfielder. If we want to push Enzo a little more forward.

Edited April 15, 2023 by Clockwork

[chelsea_4_eva 1,157]

Sell half the team. 50% off, everything must go! lol

[OneMoSalah 8,776]

8 hours ago, Vesper said:

same excuse was given by some here for not signing Håland and Osimhen

Not really. The complete opposite as Haaland was different. Haaland was certain to become a world class player. Even at Salzburg you could see it. But again, he the player himself, he made the decision to go to Dortmund and not Man United, here or the countless other clubs who proposed offers for him. It certainly paid off because he has only shown time and time again, like Jude Bellingham & Jadon Sancho to lesser extents, that at that age, playing regularly for a few seasons at a developing club is maybe more important than going from an obscure level to the top in the quickest way possible and maybe not having credit in the bank if things don’t go too well. Even now when he goes on a barren run you just know that Pep, his teams mates, their fans etc, they aren’t worried because they know he’s proven time and time again he will deliver and find the net again. Hes proven it already everywhere he’s gone. I’m not saying the kid at Atalanta doesn't look talented but Haaland is a once in a generational talent. So comparing them is pointless. Its like comparing say Timo Werner a few seasons ago to Kylian Mbappe. They are completely different levels.

Plus Napoli paid like €70m for Osimhen IIRC, which I think after seeing how Pepe got on at Arsenal for £72m (the season before?) probably and rightfully, scared a lot of PL clubs into taking that risk. And Osimhen had only had one good season in European football at a competitive level prior to that move. He’s now at an excellent age where he’s got the confidence, the credit in the bank and experience behind him to make the next step I think. So even if things didn’t start particularly well he’d back himself because he has scored X amount of goals in the past 4 seasons. 

Also the chances are if he came here earlier he would of been loaned or sold off by now, like every other CF we’ve had since Diego Costa. I mean its ok to say yeah we should of signed him 2 or 3 years ago but no other top PL or European club took the gamble Napoli did, so I wouldn’t exactly say it was a bad move at the time.

Edited April 15, 2023 by OneMoSalah

[Reddish-Blue 2,347]

3 hours ago, Clockwork said:

 

This is my preference for holding midfielder. If we want to push Enzo a little more forward.

Does he have the physicality to play in the Premier League?   I do recall him being linked to Arsenal but apparently they are more interested in getting in someone like Caicedo/Declan Rice in the next transfer window. 

[Clockwork 1,794]

1 hour ago, Reddish-Blue said:

Does he have the physicality to play in the Premier League?   I do recall him being linked to Arsenal but apparently they are more interested in getting in someone like Caicedo/Declan Rice in the next transfer window. 

Imo he does, good bit of combination of physicality and technical ability. Biggest thing is getting him away from Real Sociedad.

[LAM09 6,744]

7 hours ago, Vesper said:

I am going out on a limb and making a binding prediction

IF we do not get Osimhen (odds are iffy we get him)

and then do not buy Rasmus Højlund

we will regret it massively the next 10 years

I think the lad is going to be insanely good

Victor Osimhen
Rasmus Højlund  

Dusan Vlahovic    
Jonathan David  
Ivan Toney  (as long as the betting shit is sorted)
Randal Kolo Muani
Gonçalo Ramos 
Marcus Thuram  
Hugo Ekitiké (doubt PSG will sell him though)
Evanilson
Benjamin Sesko 
Aleksandar Mitrović 

youth

Vitor Roque  
Marcos Leonardo
 

That's certainly high praise where Hojlund is concerned. I still feel another full season at Atalanta needs to go by to see if he can improve on his current figures.

Osimhen is the striker we've needed since Drogba departed, as I've been saying for years, all the way back to when he was in Belgium. Costa contributed with Cesc, but he couldn't win games by himself like DD, especially in finals. We must put everything into acquiring Osimhen this summer if we don't want to face CF problems for the another 5+ years.

Edited April 16, 2023 by LAM09

[Reddish-Blue 2,347]

5 hours ago, LAM09 said:

That's certainly high praise where Hojlund is concerned. I still feel another full season at Atalanta needs to go by to see if he can improve on his current figures.

Osimhen is the striker we've needed since Drogba departed, as I've been saying for years, all the way back to when he was in Belgium. Costa contributed with Cesc, but he couldn't win games by himself like DD, especially in finals. We must put everything into acquiring Osimhen this summer if we don't want to face CF problems for the another 5+ years.

With the reports of FFP issues on the horizon (especially with no UCL/Europa League football next season), I don't see how we can possibly get Osimhen and the defensive midfielder/controller that we need to fix this broken XI. 

I wouldn't be surprised to see Lukaku back here next season as you know Inter will try to ask for another cheap 1 season loan but that may fall short of the requirements to help balance the books in the summer. 

[Vegetable 830]

Still wonder how people turned to love Kepa again (for at least 6th time lol) and prefer keeping him with his huge contract and fact that no matter if he is on upward wave or in the slump, he won't manage to grow any bigger and that's his eternal flaw. Meanwhile Mendy had proven to be anywhere from solid to unbelievable for penauts, and actually having minimum commanding skills, yet most people want him gone and have no problem with Potter literally throwing him out of the team. I somewhat doubt him having 10 meter longer pass would magically solve our problems, but each to their own I guess.

[Clockwork 1,794]

 

[LAM09 6,744]

13 hours ago, Reddish-Blue said:

With the reports of FFP issues on the horizon (especially with no UCL/Europa League football next season), I don't see how we can possibly get Osimhen and the defensive midfielder/controller that we need to fix this broken XI. 

I wouldn't be surprised to see Lukaku back here next season as you know Inter will try to ask for another cheap 1 season loan but that may fall short of the requirements to help balance the books in the summer. 

I can only imagine a large number of outgoings, including players that we would normally be reluctant to let go (Broja, Gallagher, Mount, etc.). We're not in the same boat as years gone by, where there won't be takers for a host of our players, provided the club is willing to take a sizeable loss on a number of them, Lukaku being the main one.

[Superblue 6,370]

1 hour ago, LAM09 said:

I can only imagine a large number of outgoings, including players that we would normally be reluctant to let go (Broja, Gallagher, Mount, etc.). We're not in the same boat as years gone by, where there won't be takers for a host of our players, provided the club is willing to take a sizeable loss on a number of them, Lukaku being the main one.

It depends on what you view as a 'loss'. 

If we're basing on the original purchase price of players then of course we are talking sizeable losses.

But if we're talking current value on the books for the club then I think there's a lot more leeway being able to let players leave and even bank 'profit' on them from the accounts perspective.

Pulisic for example will only have a book value of £10-11m this summer, so if we were able to move him on for example for £15-20m then it's profit despite it looking horrific compared to when we purchased him originally.

It's still going to make some difficult to shift. Kepa will still have a book value of around £20m and is reportedly on high wages - I certainly see him being much more difficult to move on than Mendy. And as you mentioned, Lukaku is still the anchor and will still have around £60m book value. 

[Blue Armour 4,278]

 

It's absolute garbage that players like Gallagher are getting so many minutes to prove themselves, instead of this guy.

If he's doesn't get enough game time he will remain raw.

And if that's the case next season, he should go out on loan.

[OneMoSalah 8,776]

21 minutes ago, Blue Armour said:

 

It's absolute garbage that players like Gallagher are getting so many minutes to prove themselves, instead of this guy.

If he's doesn't get enough game time he will remain raw.

And if that's the case next season, he should go out on loan.

Been saying it for months, he should of been starting. This no striker shit is embarrassing.

We have had nothing to lose this season since after Christmas in the league really so not playing him regularly and letting Kai play as a false footballer - sorry I mean false 9 - every week has been shambolic.