Chelsea Transfers

[Jase 43,479]

51 minutes ago, El P. said:

Pulisic is not really a world-beater, and never will be. If CHO can't be better than Pulisic, than it's all on him I think. We are playing in a lot of games so a believe all of them would get enough chances.

Problem is that we really need more goals from somewhere. And it would be shame to replace Tammy, he is good enough. Other 2 in that attacking trio must be questioned in that regard.

Define world beater. Pulisic might not be a flashy player like the Mbappes, Sanchos of this world but that doesn't mean he can't become good/great in his own right. You can't fill the squad with too many similar/same players, can you? Pulisic has his own unique skill set. He's direct, always looking to drive towards goal ASAP. He's always on the move and never stationary, offering himself as a passing option or dragging people out of position to create space for others or getting on the end of chances to score. 

You're right about the goals issue but I see Pulisic as someone who can contribute at least 10-15 goals per season. The finishing is not quite consistent at the moment but he's already shown he's capable of creating chances on his own and getting at the end of chances. Lampard has spoken about this a few times and as things stand, Pulisic is our second joint-top scorer in the team - 5 goals with Mount. The bigger issue, IMO, is the RW and midfield. Any goals from Willian is a bonus and a midfield trio of Jorginho/Kante/Kovacic don't contribute goals consistently enough.

[El P. 1,354]

14 minutes ago, Jason said:

Define world beater. Pulisic might not be a flashy player like the Mbappes, Sanchos of this world but that doesn't mean he can't become good/great in his own right. You can't fill the squad with too many similar/same players, can you? Pulisic has his own unique skill set. He's direct, always looking to drive towards goal ASAP. He's always on the move and never stationary, offering himself as a passing option or dragging people out of position to create space for others or getting on the end of chances to score. 

You're right about the goals issue but I see Pulisic as someone who can contribute at least 10-15 goals per season. The finishing is not quite consistent at the moment but he's already shown he's capable of creating chances on his own and getting at the end of chances. Lampard has spoken about this a few times and as things stand, Pulisic is our second joint-top scorer in the team - 5 goals with Mount. The bigger issue, IMO, is the RW and midfield. Any goals from Willian is a bonus and a midfield trio of Jorginho/Kante/Kovacic don't contribute goals consistently enough.

Yes, well, this is not easy problem to solve. Our top 4 chances are not so bold anymore. We can choose - either keep current situation (which may be healthier regarding the quantity and competition) and risk not finishing top 4, or buy Sancho which improves our chances for top 4, but puts Pulisic and CHO at the risk of being left out.

Also, you say 10-15. I think 10 is much different than 15. 10 is not enough.

Regarding our midfield - it would be a shame to leave one of Kova-Jorgi-Kante out. I think we would be much stronger to keep those three in first XI and add more fire-power at the wings.

Question is basically, would you rather risk losing Pulisic/CHO, or Jorginho? I don't want to lose our vice-captain and one of few proper characters in squad.

Sancho is really young, English (I guess that means homegrown right) player which is already really good and can be world-class, also, seems interested to come here. We won't have chance like that soon, usually Barca/Real/City/PSG, even Juve and Bayern grab players like those in front of us. We should not miss this chance.

[Jase 43,479]

9 minutes ago, El P. said:

Yes, well, this is not easy problem to solve. Our top 4 chances are not so bold anymore. We can choose - either keep current situation (which may be healthier regarding the quantity and competition) and risk not finishing top 4, or buy Sancho which improves our chances for top 4, but puts Pulisic and CHO at the risk of being left out.

Also, you say 10-15. I think 10 is much different than 15. 10 is not enough.

I did say "at least". It's just a benchmark, minimum requirement. For a wide player, I'd expect him to score at least 10 goals per season and that's without mentioning the assists. If Pulisic can, say, score 15 goals and provide 8 assists per season, then that would be a decent return (he's on 6 and 6 at the moment). That kind of numbers return is similar to what Hazard put out for us per season.

Getting Sancho wouldn't interfere with Pulisic/CHO, unless he gets moved to the LW as well. He'll definitely take up Willian's spot as it stands. 

17 minutes ago, El P. said:

Regarding our midfield - it would be a shame to leave one of Kova-Jorgi-Kante out. I think we would be much stronger to keep those three in first XI and add more fire-power at the wings.

Question is basically, would you rather risk losing Pulisic/CHO, or Jorginho? I don't want to lose our vice-captain and one of few proper characters in squad.

What it does, I guess, is gives us options to choose depending on the game, opposition etc. Many had expected Lampard to go with Jorginho-Kovacic-Kante at Spurs yesterday, for example, but he threw a curveball and went with just Kovacic-Kante. And let's not forget, we still have Loftus-Cheek to come back and potentially Gallagher in the future. 

[Superblue 6,372]

I see that Arsenal have been linked with Mertens for around £8-10m.

I know he's not getting any younger but he may be a decent short term punt for ourselves. Adaptable to play across the front line, but also as the central striker when Tammy is unavailable or needs a rest. He'd be an instant upgrade on Batshuayi.

Just seems quite a low risk investment compared to the figures being bandied around for the likes of Zaha. 

It would give us a boost with a quality player being added in January, but also leave us in a good position to pursue top targets in the summer who may not be attainable in January.

Even if someone like Sancho was added in the summer, Mertens could still play a role next season too as an attacking option due to his versatility.

[NikkiCFC 8,048]

7 hours ago, Jason said:

You kinda asked it yourself in the CHO thread - what would happen to CHO if we have Sancho & Pulisic? If the long term plan is to have CHO and Pulisic on the wings, then it kinda makes sense to go after Zaha instead of Sancho. But of course, if we're talking about value between Zaha and Sancho, then it makes more sense to get the latter instead.

But even if all three become what we want from them why can't we have all of that? The word is that if Pulisic and CHO are top level in the future we don't need Sancho? How can City have Sterling, Sane, B. Silva and Mahrez? Or Real Hazard, Asensio, Bale plus two wonderkids in Vinicius and Rodrygo?? If you think like this basically we can sign both Zaha and Sancho. 

[Jase 43,479]

3 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

But even if all three become what we want from them why can't we have all of that? The word is that if Pulisic and CHO are top level in the future we don't need Sancho? How can City have Sterling, Sane, B. Silva and Mahrez? Or Real Hazard, Asensio, Bale plus two wonderkids in Vinicius and Rodrygo?? If you think like this basically we can sign both Zaha and Sancho. 

Maybe I'm just being pragmatic but my concern is, how are we gonna effectively manage game time between 3 young players? If you spend 120 million on a player, you would think he'll be first choice immediately and not be rotated with other players.

At City, it's clear that Mahrez is the 4th choice. He's been getting game because Sane is out injured and Silva has gone off the boil. 

At Real Madrid, Vinicius and Rodrygo have more experienced players also playing in their position. So if Bale and Hazard play ahead of them, it's not much of a surprise. They are still young and can bide their time, which is different from the situation we might find ourselves in. And besides, Asensio is out injured.

[1905didierblue 748]

13 hours ago, Superblue_1986 said:

I've never before seen or heard of an interpretation of this clause as that.

Otherwise every club would sell their players in that way.

So Burnley sell a player with first refusal and 2-3 years later this player develops into a top drawer player and Barcelona or Real Madrid want him but he is 'forced' to rejoin Burnley because they've matched an offer from those two?! I'm pretty sure it would be illegal to force a player to move back once you've signed over their registration. That level of control would not be allowed.

Similar to a buy-back clause. If we triggered Ake's that doesn't mean he has to move back if he wants to remain at Bournemouth. You'd never want to bring a player in anyway that doesn't want to join your club, especially for £120m.

Now a decision between us and City is completely separate. City are obviously hugely attractive but it's hardly like we are some little club fighting a European heavyweight. There would be lots of reasons why Sancho would possibly choose us over City.

Exactly. I think this is a classic case of fans not knowing anywhere near of how much they think they might know. 

[Vincent 402]

On 20-12-2019 at 3:20 PM, chippy said:

Zaha is better than Willian and CHO but he's simply not the level of player we need to start closing the gap between us, Liverpool and City. Really underwhelmed by our rumoured targets and can see us spunking another few hundred million down the drain. 

If i were manager of Palaca i would swap my Zaha for Willian everyday. Without taking the homegrown, age etc. in consideration, just purely based on quality.

[Tomo 21,733]

3 hours ago, Jason said:

Maybe I'm just being pragmatic but my concern is, how are we gonna effectively manage game time between 3 young players? If you spend 120 million on a player, you would think he'll be first choice immediately and not be rotated with other players.

At City, it's clear that Mahrez is the 4th choice. He's been getting game because Sane is out injured and Silva has gone off the boil. 

At Real Madrid, Vinicius and Rodrygo have more experienced players also playing in their position. So if Bale and Hazard play ahead of them, it's not much of a surprise. They are still young and can bide their time, which is different from the situation we might find ourselves in. And besides, Asensio is out injured.

I think at that age players always tend to get rotated a bit, fluctuating form sees to that if nothing else.

Look at United's C092 for example, the media talk like they walked straight in the team and but infact Giggs aside that wasn't true and they were all rotated in and out until they were like 22-23. 

I think three wingers is very much manageable, the only time it would become a problem is if we fail to qualify for Europe. We managed to make Duff, Joe Cole and Robben work quite well.

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

We should have been in on the Cavani sweep stakes, he is old enough not to mess with Tammy's development but good enough to start and push him to be a better player. Also knows how to play with another striker. 

[Styl1994 188]

4 hours ago, Vybz Kartel said:

We should have been in on the Cavani sweep stakes, he is old enough not to mess with Tammy's development but good enough to start and push him to be a better player. Also knows how to play with another striker. 

He would have wanted a multi year contract with at least 200k a week and he would expect to be number one striker.

[Jase 43,479]

10 hours ago, Superblue_1986 said:

I see that Arsenal have been linked with Mertens for around £8-10m.

I know he's not getting any younger but he may be a decent short term punt for ourselves. Adaptable to play across the front line, but also as the central striker when Tammy is unavailable or needs a rest. He'd be an instant upgrade on Batshuayi.

Just seems quite a low risk investment compared to the figures being bandied around for the likes of Zaha. 

It would give us a boost with a quality player being added in January, but also leave us in a good position to pursue top targets in the summer who may not be attainable in January.

Even if someone like Sancho was added in the summer, Mertens could still play a role next season too as an attacking option due to his versatility.

Said a similar thing not too long ago but his age (he's 32 now, turns 33 in May) is a sticking point. In theory, he could/would do well in the short term but he probably needs some time to adapt and if so, how long does he need, will he fully adapt etc? 

[NikkiCFC 8,048]

 

[Nicco 927]

18 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

 

Is this real? What posts he is known to be friends with Abraham and CHO.

[NikkiCFC 8,048]

12 minutes ago, Nicco said:

Is this real? What posts he is known to be friends with Abraham and CHO.

Yes it is. I have no doubts they will both play for Chelsea very soon.

We already know they are Chelsea fans.

[1905didierblue 748]

10 hours ago, Vybz Kartel said:

We should have been in on the Cavani sweep stakes, he is old enough not to mess with Tammy's development but good enough to start and push him to be a better player. Also knows how to play with another striker. 

He would have wanted to be the no.1 striker. No way would he have played second fiddle to tammy when he has a problem playing second fiddle to one of the best players in the world (mbappe). Sorry but this transfer would never have happened and infact SHOULD never have even been on our radar. 

Good to see the club thinking progressively.

[Atomiswave 6,072]

Im  not sold on Chillwell just yet......I dont find him much better than Emerson, Emerson is probably better attacking. I would rather Telles, better passer, faster, and better crosser.......much cheaper too. Chilwell isnt a worthy upgrade compared to Emerson when you factor in the outlay imo.

[Vesper 29,015]

34 minutes ago, Atomiswave said:

I would rather Telles, better passer, faster, and better crosser.......much cheaper too.

FIFTY ASSISTS IN THREE AND A HALF YEARS AS A LB