Chelsea Transfers

[OneMoSalah 8,807]

1 minute ago, killer1257 said:

He is heavily criticised in Germany for his lack of quality. People already questioned if he is actually Bayern material. 

Jesus then the German media are incredibly harsh. Would say 11 goal involvements in 12 starts and 9 sub appearances is good.

The games I have seen he has been their best player or one of, particularly v Frankfurt last weekend he was outstanding made many chances how they never converted them I have no idea but he was single handedly dragging them back into it.

Also games against Arminia Bielefield, Hertha Berlin, Schalke in the first week of the season, against Frankfurt earlier in the season, against Mainz and Freiberg also IIRC.

 

[killer1257 3,282]

15 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

Jesus then the German media are incredibly harsh. Would say 11 goal involvements in 12 starts and 9 sub appearances is good.

The games I have seen he has been their best player or one of, particularly v Frankfurt last weekend he was outstanding made many chances how they never converted them I have no idea but he was single handedly dragging them back into it.

Also games against Arminia Bielefield, Hertha Berlin, Schalke in the first week of the season, against Frankfurt earlier in the season, against Mainz and Freiberg also IIRC.

 

Currently, he is playing much better. That is true. But Bayern demand world class only. If you are not WC, you get slaughtered by the media. Simple. 

All the former ex Bayern players or the current Bayern board will start criticizing players in public media. Just normal. 

 

 

[Jase 43,479]

25 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

Jesus then the German media are incredibly harsh. Would say 11 goal involvements in 12 starts and 9 sub appearances is good.

The games I have seen he has been their best player or one of, particularly v Frankfurt last weekend he was outstanding made many chances how they never converted them I have no idea but he was single handedly dragging them back into it.

Also games against Arminia Bielefield, Hertha Berlin, Schalke in the first week of the season, against Frankfurt earlier in the season, against Mainz and Freiberg also IIRC.

You happened to pick the right games then. lol

And why is your post centralized? 

[OneMoSalah 8,807]

32 minutes ago, Jason said:

You happened to pick the right games then. lol

And why is your post centralized? 

No idea. I am on my phone and I have no clue how I did it 🤣

I also seen the games against Hoffenheim and a few other stinkers they had. But majority hes been good.

Edited February 27, 2021 by OneMoSalah

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

[R2D2 368]

Can't read the article.

[Jase 43,479]

2 hours ago, Blues Forever said:

 

 

2 hours ago, R2D2 said:

Can't read the article.

Erling Haaland promises to be the transfer story of the summer and today’s Premier League clash between Chelsea and Manchester United may well be a prelude to a battle, which could also involve Manchester City, for one of the hottest young strikers of recent years.

It is nine years ago since Chelsea last beat all of their top-four rivals, as well as some of Europe’s biggest clubs, to land Eden Hazard, and they have since lost out to United for striker Romelu Lukaku and City for central defender John Stones.

United and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s interest in signing Haaland last January was well documented, but what is not as well known is that former Chelsea head coach Frank Lampard also wanted to sign him last year and made contact with the player’s entourage before he joined Borussia Dortmund from Molde. Haaland’s agent, Mino Raiola, last week claimed that there were now as many as 10 of Europe’s top clubs interested in trying to force Dortmund into a sale. Here, we examine the elements that will determine who comes out on top and which club, out of Chelsea, United and City, hold an advantage in each category.

The agent
Raiola was key to Haaland joining Borussia Dortmund in January last year, when both United and Chelsea had shown an interest in the player, and it appears the Italian will again have a big influence on his next destination. That could be bad news for Chelsea, with sources unable to recall a single player that the Blues have signed through Raiola, who took Lukaku to United instead of Stamford Bridge in 2017. Other than the huge fees he demands, Chelsea have been reluctant to work with Raiola because of the continuing influence he traditionally has over his clients and the interference that can bring, as United have found with Paul Pogba.

Former manager Jose Mourinho had been interested in signing Pogba for Chelsea, but, along with other reservations, Raiola’s presence was a turn-off for the London club. City manager Pep Guardiola is also said to have fallen out with Raiola in the past over Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and he is not a manager who would stand for an agent making public statements about his players. 

Not one of the Premier League trio have a clear advantage in terms of their relationship with Raiola, but, for all the public rows over Pogba, United have done the most deals with him and were prepared to offer more in terms of agents’ fees than Chelsea for Lukaku. Both Chelsea and City will be relying on other factors convincing Haaland to instruct Raiola where he wants to go, rather than the other way round.

Advantage Manchester United, but Raiola will be willing to talk to whichever clubs are willing to put up the money.

The manager
Sir Alex Ferguson used to be United’s jewel in the crown in terms of convincing players to move to Old Trafford, while Mourinho famously charmed Cesc Fabregas into joining Chelsea, despite his association with Arsenal, and Antonio Conte made an 11th-hour phone call to N’Golo Kante to talk him out of joining the Gunners in favour of moving to West London. United manager Solskjaer this week reiterated his relationship with Haaland, having managed him at Molde and revealed the pair remain in touch. But City clearly have the X-factor when it comes to the pulling power of each club’s manager and it is hard to imagine any attacking player turning down the opportunity to work under Guardiola if the Spaniard made it clear that he really wanted them. 

Chelsea’s latest head coach Thomas Tuchel seems on less sure footing than his rivals, given how recently he was appointed, although his experience of working with Kylian Mbappe and Neymar at Paris Saint-Germain would surely be taken into consideration. And history shows that it is not always the most famous managers, or those who have forged the closest relationship with the player, who come out on top.

Both Ferguson and former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger had spoken personally with Hazard before Chelsea made their pitch to the Belgian. Roberto Di Matteo was interim manager at the time and did not involve himself heavily in the pursuit of Hazard, so the responsibility fell to former technical director Michael Emenalo. It was after telling Hazard that he could become a club legend at Chelsea, rather than just one of a number of great players to have appeared for United and Arsenal, that Emenalo swung the odds back in the favour of the Blues.

Advantage Manchester City. Pep’s pulling power must be second to none in world football right now. But how badly does he want Haaland?

The Owner(s)
Ask a footballer to name the owners of Manchester City and Manchester United and there is every chance they will not be able to provide an answer. Ask anybody who the owner of Chelsea is and barely anybody will pause for thought before naming Roman Abramovich. As a source told Telegraph Sport this week, when Abramovich really wants a player, he generally gets him. He may no longer watch the team from inside Stamford Bridge, but Abramovich can still involve himself in transfer deals when he so wishes, or give a directive over a player that he really wants – as was the case with Kai Havertz last summer.

Given the chance, there are not many people involved in football who would not relish the opportunity to speak to Abramovich, either on the telephone or in person, or, even better, receive an exclusive invitation on to his new £430 million yacht which this week made headlines. Abramovich personally involved himself in the signing of Hazard in 2012 and, while United and City’s owners can certainly put up the cash, the Russian billionaire retains an aura and a reputation that makes people stop what they are doing and rip up their plans. Chelsea are acutely aware of the fact that Abramovich can effectively clinch a deal that he has a strong personal interest in and technical performance adviser Petr Cech, together with director Marina Granovskaia, may well have that card up their sleeves to play if the need arises.

Advantage Chelsea. Roman Abramovich usually gets what Roman Abramovich wants. If he really wants Haaland and he’s willing to work with Raiola, then United and City will find him difficult to beat.

Verdict
Can Raiola and Abramovich finally find a way to work together or will both men hold a grudge and refuse to give an inch? The answer to that question may well determine Haaland’s destiny, although Chelsea and United must hope that Guardiola does not decide that the 20-year-old is the man to replace Sergio Aguero, especially given his father Alf-Inge’s City background.

[DDA 9,698]

On 19/02/2021 at 14:48, Jason said:

Pushed for amazing buys but also pushed Tomori and almost CHO out of the door. 🤷‍♂️

Depending on what you want to believe, one of The Athletic's sources claimed that of all the summer signings last season, only Chilwell was Lampard's target. Lampard pushed for Rice, who like Chilwell divided opinion among the fans, and reportedly Burnley's James Tarkowski (is he an amazing buy?). Werner, Havertz, Ziyech were reportedly already long term targets of the club. Silva was an opportunistic signing. Mendy was recommended by Cech/Lollichon. 

If our history is anything to go by, it is that the manager won't have a complete say on transfers. They may get 1 or 2 of their targets but the board will be the one deciding who to buy. 

You could argue that Havertz, Ziyech and Werner have all been poor signings thus far... so maybe it isn't such a good thing the club goes for their targets over a manager who is coaching the team. 

[Jase 43,479]

2 minutes ago, DDA said:

You could argue that Havertz, Ziyech and Werner have all been poor signings thus far... so maybe it isn't such a good thing the club goes for their targets over a manager who is coaching the team. 

If we look at the short term, then yes, they haven't been great but they were bought for the long term. So I don't know, maybe we should wait a little longer than just 1 season to judge them?

The problem with buying players that a manager specifically wants is that what happens when the club change manager? What if Player A was bought by Manager A but when the club change to Manager B and doesn't fancy Player A, then what? Then there's also the point about not every manager's targets/signings are great either. Imagine if we had followed through Conte's targets last time and bought some actual poor players that he wanted. 

Let's face it, most of the big clubs these days have some sort of transfer committee/sporting director/director of football overseeing transfers. For better or for worse, ours are no different.

[DDA 9,698]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

If we look at the short term, then yes, they haven't been great but they were bought for the long term. So I don't know, maybe we should wait a little longer than just 1 season to judge them?

The problem with buying players that a manager specifically wants is that what happens when the club change manager? What if Player A was bought by Manager A but when the club change to Manager B and doesn't fancy Player A, then what? Then there's also the point about not every manager's targets/signings are great either. Imagine if we had followed through Conte's targets last time and bought some actual poor players that he wanted. 

Let's face it, most of the big clubs these days have some sort of transfer committee/sporting director/director of football overseeing transfers. For better or for worse, ours are no different.

I'm not judging them fully now... that would be short sighted but there is that case for the arguement made. I think all three will come good, maybe with Ziyech being the exception due to his lazy approach to his game... The Prem might not be for him. 

[NikkiCFC 8,066]

Are we going for two Raiola players this summer?

[Jase 43,479]

49 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

Are we going for two Raiola players this summer?

I don't believe those Donnarumma rumors.

There's no guarantee that we will be able to offload Kepa this summer and it will be LOL if we end up with Mendy, Kepa and Donnarumma. I suspect this Donnarumma stories are just a classic ploy of getting a better new contract with Milan. We saw it with Neuer and 1-2 other players not too long ago. 

[NikkiCFC 8,066]

4 hours ago, Jason said:

I don't believe those Donnarumma rumors.

There's no guarantee that we will be able to offload Kepa this summer and it will be LOL if we end up with Mendy, Kepa and Donnarumma. I suspect this Donnarumma stories are just a classic ploy of getting a better new contract with Milan. We saw it with Neuer and 1-2 other players not too long ago. 

But he has less than 4 months on contract. When is he going to renew? In situation like this players usually go somewhere else. Willian and Pedro are examples. I also expect Alaba, Messi, Ramos all to leave for free this summer. 

Imagine this. We sell Kepa for 20m and get Gigi for free and he is easily 50-60m player. So Kepa fiasco solved in best possible way. 

Davai, davai Marina! 

[Jase 43,479]

4 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

But he has less than 4 months on contract. When is he going to renew? In situation like this players usually go somewhere else. Willian and Pedro are examples. I also expect Alaba, Messi, Ramos all to leave for free this summer. 

Imagine this. We sell Kepa for 20m and get Gigi for free and he is easily 50-60m player. So Kepa fiasco solved in best possible way. 

Davai, davai Marina! 

It's not always the case.

Luiz's contract was due to expire at the end of the 2018/19 season but confirmation of his extension was only announced in May 2019 - https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/david-luiz-signs-Chelsea-extension/13sy0pt52y08m17sjbm8nskguk.

And there's also JT, whose contract was due to expire at the end of the 2014/15 season and the extension announcement only came in March 2015 - https://www.eurosport.com/football/premier-league/2012-2013/john-terry-extends-Chelsea-contract_sto4654695/story.shtml.

Did we really want to extend Pedro's contract? He was like the 4th choice last season, only normal he wanted to leave/we decided to let him go especially when he wasn't getting any younger. Willian's situation went down to the wire, no? He wanted 3 years, we only wanted 2. Had the club buckled, the announcement would have been made like in July/August last season. 

I don't know what's the exact situation between Donnarumma and Milan but I also don't see any guarantee that he will be leaving them and I also don't see anyone really homing in on him (the story you shared said we're only monitoring). And there's also this quote from himself last November.

Milan also working on the negotiation/contract of another player whose contract expires this summer...

 

[OhForAGreavsie 5,898]

On 25/02/2021 at 12:09, NikkiCFC said:

If we are planning to play this formation next season I think Angelino from Leipzig would be great LWB.

8 goals and 11 assists this season in 2778 mins.

I've always liked him but, to be fair, City fans didn't believe in him, he didn't get many starts and City have now let him go twice so there is a lot of evidence against the idea of bringing him back to the Premier League.

[Vesper 29,141]

On 27/02/2021 at 19:58, Jason said:

 

And why is your post centralized? 

the new board often does this

[NikkiCFC 8,066]

 

[MoroccanBlue 5,320]

Not even that good.