Edinson Cavani

[SinineUltra 1,170]

You don't score 17 goals in your first season in the Premier League with potential either.

You win leagues with loyalty and bravery. But I'm sure I'll be swayed when there's a flag with Cavani's face printed on it waiting for me on my seat in August.

I agree that all of the Belgian talent we have in the club are one to look out for, but we need some sort of balance. Now if Cavani is the answer - I dont know - but he would definitely compliment our forward line. He would be expensive, true, but sometimes you have to pay high to get the best and he is one of the best out there. We can't always hit the jackpot and acquire bargain deals.

I'm not getting carried away until it is actually confirmed and at the same time I won't rest my hopes completely on Lukaku and de Bruyne to solve our problems.

You just couldn't wait to stick the last line in didn't you? You think you're a bigger, better fan than international fans just because you have the privilege to attend games? This sense of superiority oozes through you. I'm sure I'm not the first one to mention you this on this INTERNATIONAL forum. You have zero tolerance towards other opinions, especially the opinions of international fans, because you consider us to be some sort of inberds from periphery who only support Chelsea because of Roman Abramovich and his $$$. And you claim you want the best for this club? Stop with this nonsense.

[Matterz 67]

Can you talk about things in terms other than 'fanboys' - we're Chelsea supporters

We're the people who care about the long-term future of this club and want to see it acting responsibly but also giving young players the chance they've earned.

Because we care about this club and want to see it something sustainable in the long-term, and not just a business to sell t-shirts around the world.

Fucking ridiculous post considering the age of players like Cech, Mata, Hazard, Ramires and Luiz.

Also a complete misunderstanding of what Arsenal did (look at their panic buys of Mertesacker, Arteta, Podolski etc.). If you're going to try and be funny, try and be accurate otherwise you just look a bit silly.

This club is a business, and as such will run as one. You want long term finincial sustainability, guess what?...selling shirts is part of that. As is growing a fan base who will purchase those shirts among other things. You say you care about this club, but when the club invests in itself to impove the playing staff you have a problem with it? Every season this club spends a lot of money, but it also makes a lot of money...and every year the losses come down. I sometimes just think that there really is no pleasing some people.

[The only place to be 11,313]

You just couldn't wait to stick the last line in didn't you? You think you're a bigger, better fan than international fans just because you have the privilege to attend games? This sense of superiority oozes through you. I'm sure I'm not the first one to mention you this on this INTERNATIONAL forum.

Stop buying Choulo's bullshit. I've got nothing against a fan simply based on where they're from. In fact I have a lot of great discussions with fans from around the world and if anything my last comment was about some of the fairweather fans who go to Stamford Bridge.

So maybe read my posts before taking offence at them.

I agree that all of the Belgian talent we have in the club are one to look out for, but we need some sort of balance. Now if Cavani is the answer - I dont know - but he would definitely compliment our forward line. He would be expensive, true, but sometimes you have to pay high to get the best and he is one of the best out there. We can't always hit the jackpot and acquire bargain deals.

I'm not getting carried away until it is actually confirmed and at the same time I won't rest my hopes completely on Lukaku and de Bruyne to solve our problems.

Lukaku and De Bruyne won't solve our problems because our problems weren't in those positions. We lost games because we gave away cheap goals, and that was down to the defence, the pivot and general coaching issues. We didn't lose against QPR, Southampton and West Brom primarily because of a lack of goals - we lost because we bottled matches towards the end and couldn't control the game from midfield.

£50 million could've been used to strengthen the base of the team and give us a solid foundation to build on. Right now we're sticking a fancy roof on a house built on shaky foundations.

This club is a business, and as such will run as one. You want long term finincial sustainability, guess what?...selling shirts is part of that. As is growing a fan base who will purchase those shirts among other things. You say you care about this club, but when the club invests in itself to impove the playing staff you have a problem with it? Every season this club spends a lot of money, but it also makes a lot of money...and every year the losses come down. I sometimes just think that there really is no pleasing some people.

I have no problem with us spending money to improve our playing staff, but I think there has to be logic and order to it. That's something we've excelled at in the last couple of years, making bigger stars out of players like Hazard, Mata and even role players like Azpi. That's what a lot of us have enjoyed seeing.

Yes the club is a business, but it's also about the people and a lot of the supporters were looking forward to us finally taking a chance on young players like Lukaku who feel like one of us, part of the family. It would've been a brave choice to take this young man who had a remarkable season and look to him to help build our future, but instead we've gone for the 'old Chelsea' move of throwing money at the most expensive striker available.

Maybe it's a great business move, but it's not one that excites me.

[nono 791]

So if Lukaku is unable to get us to that level, why don't we sell him and re-invest in another young striker who can get us to that level?

My personal opinion is that NO STRIKER will get us to some mythological next level and what we actually need to do is focus on the midfield and defence which is what made us the best team in England in 2005-2006. In fact we stuck with Drogba when he wasn't the beast he is now and that ultimately took us to the Champions League Final twice.

But of course that makes me a Lukaku fanboy.

Maybe I'm just a fan of players who have a tremendous work ethic and love this club as much as some of the people on here.

This not needing a top striker is a ridiculous argument that you keep on persisting with. Getting Cavani does NOTHING to stop us from improving the midfield by the way.

[The only place to be 11,313]

This not needing a top striker is a ridiculous argument that you keep on persisting with. Getting Cavani does NOTHING to stop us from improving the midfield by the way.

You can't just say something is a ridiculous argument without pointing out why - in fact just highlight certain points and allow people to find ridicule in them themselves. You're really doing this all backwards.

And the club has shown a rather unusual commitment to FFP so having a £50 million item on the books (or an amortised item equating to roughly £10 millon per year for five years at a guess) does actually stop us from spending money in other areas.

Now the possible upside is that Jose thinks that we have the tools in-house to fix these issues and sees the likes of Nat Chalobah and even possibly RLC as being ready for the first-team. That would actually be a positive step forwards for the club and continue the new thinking we've had over the last few years.

[Matterz 67]

I have no problem with us spending money to improve our playing staff, but I think there has to be logic and order to it. That's something we've excelled at in the last couple of years, making bigger stars out of players like Hazard, Mata and even role players like Azpi. That's what a lot of us have enjoyed seeing.

Yes the club is a business, but it's also about the people and a lot of the supporters were looking forward to us finally taking a chance on young players like Lukaku who feel like one of us, part of the family. It would've been a brave choice to take this young man who had a remarkable season and look to him to help build our future, but instead we've gone for the 'old Chelsea' move of throwing money at the most expensive striker available.

Maybe it's a great business move, but it's not one that excites me.

And that is fair enough, I just think in the modern era of football, Chelsea si doing a phenominal job mixing that same notion that you have mentyioned with the occasional big signing. I do genuinly believe that Lukaku will be given every chance to prove himself in this season to come. I also believe that Torres will be sold.

I guess all we really want is a winning team with its own 'Chelsea" identity, and I really do believe that is what we have.

[nono 791]

You can't just say something is a ridiculous argument without pointing out why - in fact just highlight certain points and allow people to find ridicule in them themselves. You're really doing this all backwards.

And the club has shown a rather unusual commitment to FFP so having a £50 million item on the books (or an amortised item equating to roughly £10 millon per year for five years at a guess) does actually stop us from spending money in other areas.

Now the possible upside is that Jose thinks that we have the tools in-house to fix these issues and sees the likes of Nat Chalobah and even possibly RLC as being ready for the first-team. That would actually be a positive step forwards for the club and continue the new thinking we've had over the last few years.

It's possible that they'll look to sell a couple of players to make this deal more affordable. I don't think the club see FFP as that big of a hindrance. We just got a huge Adidas deal, in fact the larger shirt sponsorship in the country. We are going to likely get a new stadium. We still haven't sold the naming rights. We have a billionaire owner. In the short term, FFP is not that big of a concern. In the long term we'll be more than self sufficient I feel in 7-8 years time.

We are not Southampton, where we can just be satisfied watching young talent grow. Every year we do not win something is a year the brand value suffers. The ideas that you are propagating are being followed by Arsenal right now to no avail, while they keep on getting pummeled into the dust by us. Our competition is not Arsenal. It is not Tottenham. Our competition is Barcelona and Madrid and Bayern and United. Barcelona just spent stupid money on Neymar. They also have the highest wage bill in football. Madrid are likely to break the world transfer fee record for Bale. This is despite both of these clubs having a significant advantage on us in that they can find an abundance extremely talented Spanish players for cheaper fees. Right now what is incomprehensible to me is that you are against us improving significantly on a position that has been primarily responsible for terrible finishes in the league two years in a row. We have to do this deal imo. Even if it comes at the sacrifice of improving the midfield, since that can be done in the coming years.

Lukaku will be given a chance. I have no doubt of this, after hearing Jose's concerning the youth system. If he can't make it against competition here, it means he isn't good enough. If he doesn't I'll wish him well but I won't shed a tear, just like I didn't for Josh and the other youngsters that haven't come through. We are by no means a welfare society for young footballers. They have to be good enough to make it against world class competition. Survival of the fittest imo.

[The only place to be 11,313]

And that is fair enough, I just think in the modern era of football, Chelsea si doing a phenominal job mixing that same notion that you have mentyioned with the occasional big signing. I do genuinly believe that Lukaku will be given every chance to prove himself in this season to come. I also believe that Torres will be sold.

I guess all we really want is a winning team with its own 'Chelsea" identity, and I really do believe that is what we have.

Last season our marquee signing was Eden Hazard, a player very much on the up who filled a spot in which we had no other options and who had re-sale value which was roughly 60-70% what we paid for him. He was also being chased by the three biggest clubs in this country.

This season we're going for a player who is at his peak (according to numerous posters in this thread) who immediately jumps in front of another player who was looking for his chance, who has re-sale value of roughly half his fee if it doesn't work out (at best) and we're the only team willing to pay what Napoli would find acceptable if reports are to be believed.

This isn't a continuation of what we've been doing since June 2011, but us reverting to January 2011.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

We had midfield problems last season and found it difficult to control games properly. But what if its just better to outscore the opponent instead, i mean manutd did it last season when van persie came a lot of dying minute winners from vanpersie.

So cavani can be our vanpersie. And the transfer market is not closing anytime soon, so its not like we cant still get a DM/CM.

But im surprised that many of us are shocked if we sign cavani. We all know mourinho makes a major signing every now and then especially in the strike force

[The only place to be 11,313]

It's possible that they'll look to sell a couple of players to make this deal more affordable. I don't think the club see FFP as that big of a hindrance. We just got a huge Adidas deal, in fact the larger shirt sponsorship in the country. We are going to likely get a new stadium. We still haven't sold the naming rights. We have a billionaire owner. In the short term, FFP is not that big of a concern. In the long term we'll be more than self sufficient I feel in 7-8 years time.

That last sentence sounds a lot like Peter Kenyon in 2005. Personally I agree with what you're saying which is why this deal surprises me.

We are not Southampton, where we can just be satisfied watching young talent grow. Every year we do not win something is a year the brand value suffers. The ideas that you are propagating are being followed by Arsenal right now to no avail, while they keep on getting pummeled into the dust by us. Our competition is not Arsenal. It is not Tottenham. Our competition is Barcelona and Madrid and Bayern and United. Barcelona just spent stupid money on Neymar. They also have the highest wage bill in football. Madrid are likely to break the world transfer fee record for Bale. This is despite both of these clubs having a significant advantage on us in that they can find an abundance extremely talented Spanish players for cheaper fees. Right now what is incomprehensible to me is that you are against us improving significantly on a position that has been primarily responsible for terrible finishes in the league two years in a row. We have to do this deal imo. Even if it comes at the sacrifice of improving the midfield, since that can be done in the coming years.

For the millionth fucking time, people don't seem to understand what Arsenal did. They didn't just rely on youth, they underinvested in their first team and spent poorly on journeyman 27 year olds who simply weren't good enough.

That last part is something I completely disagree with. The striking position wasn't the issue for us, but our ability to control games in the centre of the back and have a reliable platform on defence from which to build. The fact that you suggest sacrificing the midfield to get a striker is worth considering is utterly dumbfounding.

Lukaku will be given a chance. I have no doubt of this, after hearing Jose's concerning the youth system. If he can't make it against competition here, it means he isn't good enough. If he doesn't I'll wish him well but I won't shed a tear, just like I didn't for Josh and the other youngsters that haven't come through. We are by no means a welfare society for young footballers. They have to be good enough to make it against world class competition. Survival of the fittest imo.

I'm all for players having competition, but Lukaku isn't fighting against Cavani - he's going to be up against a £50 million price tag that has to be given every chance to succeed because of the giant financial commitment we will have made. Maybe Mourinho will be fearless in dropping him to the bench if he underperforms, but how will the board react to that? At best it's a mild conflict.

We had midfield problems last season and found it difficult to control games properly. But what if its just better to outscore the opponent instead, i mean manutd did it last season when van persie came a lot of dying minute winners from vanpersie.

So cavani can be our vanpersie. And the transfer market is not closing anytime soon, so its not like we cant still get a DM/CM.

But im surprised that many of us are shocked if we sign cavani. We all know mourinho makes a major signing every now and then especially in the strike force

Damn....we should have appointed Kevin Keegan instead of Mourinho.

Man United last season were a pretty poor team. They won the league but they failed to build a team strong enough to compete in Europe and if you ask their supporters they'll point to their lack of a midfield figure as the key. It's why they are so keen to get Thiago.

Also, RVP was being chased by about 3-4 top teams both here and abroad and was a fantastic deal at more than half the price we're looking to spend on Cavani.

[Matterz 67]

Last season our marquee signing was Eden Hazard, a player very much on the up who filled a spot in which we had no other options and who had re-sale value which was roughly 60-70% what we paid for him. He was also being chased by the three biggest clubs in this country.

This season we're going for a player who is at his peak (according to numerous posters in this thread) who immediately jumps in front of another player who was looking for his chance, who has re-sale value of roughly half his fee if it doesn't work out (at best) and we're the only team willing to pay what Napoli would find acceptable if reports are to be believed.

This isn't a continuation of what we've been doing since June 2011, but us reverting to January 2011.

Again like I said, its about mixing the old with the new. The guys in the boardroom would have thought of every angle before going ahead with something like this. Im sure there is a very specific plan to incorporate both Cavani and Lukaku, if Cavani in fact does join. If we are to challemge for titles across the board, we will need more than 1 world class striker, so im sure both will play their part. I suppose my question to you would be, would this signing make more sense to you if it means Torres is leaving? I agree with an earlier comment you made, that there are other areas of the squad that need desperate attention, but again I think that just because we splash out big for Cavani, doesnt mean those other areas (Centre back and Defensive Midfield) wont be addressed as they need to. We very fortunate as Chelsea fans with the incredible talent that gets brought in to the club, but sometimes (im not saying you) we as Chelsea fans get a bit ungrateful like spoilt rich kids and I can see how a lot of fans would like us to steer away from some big money signings because of that.

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

So if Lukaku is unable to get us to that level, why don't we sell him and re-invest in another young striker who can get us to that level?

My personal opinion is that NO STRIKER will get us to some mythological next level and what we actually need to do is focus on the midfield and defence which is what made us the best team in England in 2005-2006. In fact we stuck with Drogba when he wasn't the beast he is now and that ultimately took us to the Champions League Final twice.

But of course that makes me a Lukaku fanboy.

Maybe I'm just a fan of players who have a tremendous work ethic and love this club as much as some of the people on here.

Can you stop quoting me and my posts which are not directed at you, you paranoid pathetic pest.