Transfer Talk Topic

[martin1905]

£110m is absolute bonkers.

I think, and I've just woken up to this news, that I'm glad we have walked away at that price.

[My Blood Is Blue]

Do I think we should pay £110m for Caicedo? No. Do I think we should have just paid £100m a month ago to get him? Yes, because that seems to be what our ceiling was based on the bid we put in last night and that is what they’ve been asking us to bid for ages… so if that is all true then we are fools and have completely messed this up and it quite embarrassing for the board.

Hindsight is of course a wonderful thing, but this really is looking like a shambles.

I hope the club have a plan B, otherwise we’re in for quite a long season with the CM options we have.

[martin1905]

And for all the talk that he had agreed personal terms ages ago and wanted to come, maybe we have dishes a bullet. Much like Mount, Kovacic, Havertz etc, if a player doesn't want to be here then we find someone that does.

[My Blood Is Blue]

2 minutes ago, martin1905 said:

£110m is absolute bonkers.

I think, and I've just woken up to this news, that I'm glad we have walked away at that price.

It is, but I can’t help but feel we could have got this deal done weeks ago, before Liverpool came in and took the price that high. That’s the frustration for me.

[My Blood Is Blue]

Just now, martin1905 said:

And for all the talk that he had agreed personal terms ages ago and wanted to come, maybe we have dishes a bullet. Much like Mount, Kovacic, Havertz etc, if a player doesn't want to be here then we find someone that does.

To be fair, he isn’t going to have much choice if Brighton have accepted Liverpools offer but not ours. Liverpool is still a very big move for him, so why wouldn’t he take it?

[martin1905]

No coincidence that the Tyler  Adams reports broke yesterday, clearly we have decided to walk away.

Considering how short we are in midfield lavia and Adams does make more sense.

[xceleryx]

38 minutes ago, Bison said:

All the briefings at the time suggested it was Ugarte + Caicedo. The fact we bid early for Ugarte only suggests that deal was going to be relatively easier to finalise (until it wasnt obviously). 

Caicedo is a very good player but 110m is overpaying so I'm glad we haven't forked out that much for him. I just find it funny that the directors bid the asking price after trying to avoid it all summer. 

Ugarte had a release clause of around £65m from memory, that's why it was an easier deal to get going. We offered slightly more than the release clause to gain more favourable payment terms, while personal terms had already been agreed prior. The issue of course was PSG coming in at the end and offering Ugarte more money.

I agree, Caicedo isn't worth £110m despite being a good player in his own right. Be that as it may, you can't criticise the club for wanting to agree lower terms. Again, it wasn't really until Rice's sale that we got a better understanding of what Brighton were wanting, and as we both agree upon in no way is he worth that much - no matter how much we may be in need.

[martin1905]

1 minute ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

It is, but I can’t help but feel we could have got this deal done weeks ago, before Liverpool came in and took the price that high. That’s the frustration for me.

Maybe, maybe not. There's a fair chance that £100 was never enough. I've said it time and again Arsenal ruined this market overpaying so much for Declan Rice.

If we really want Caicedo I'm sure we will match the offer .

[My Blood Is Blue]

Had to be Liverpool didn’t it! I hope he turns out to be shite!

[xceleryx]

2 minutes ago, martin1905 said:

No coincidence that the Tyler  Adams reports broke yesterday, clearly we have decided to walk away.

Considering how short we are in midfield lavia and Adams does make more sense.

Lavia makes no sense because he's mediocre at best defensively, his skillset overlaps more with Enzo's than it does being an out and out DM. 

£50m on an Enzo backup is dense, as is £50m on a player who lacks the defensive skills we need in the middle. 

[martin1905]

2 minutes ago, xceleryx said:

Lavia makes no sense because he's mediocre at best defensively, his skillset overlaps more with Enzo's than it does being an out and out DM. 

£50m on an Enzo backup is dense, as is £50m on a player who lacks the defensive skills we need in the middle. 

Yet we are an Enzo injury away from our season being a disaster.

[martin1905]

Considering we are at the very beginning of a complete rebuild spending £100m+ on one midfield when our current options are Enzo, it probably makes sense to walk away.

I firmly believe we thought we could get it done for circa £80 and have absolute no intention of going anywhere near £110m  but I love the fact that we won't get mugged off. 

 

[martin1905]

I also don't think this is over, get the impression that Todd won't like this and may pull out all the stops to get it done.

Its a big statement either way, signing him or loosing out to one of our most bitter rivals

 

[Rob B]

What’s super frustrating about this is that we allegedly bid £100m anyway, which we could have done weeks ago.

If the narrative was that we value Caicedo at no more than £80m, and were outbid by £30m, I think people could understand that as we decided to walk away. 

Instead we’ve dicked about for weeks and weeks, reacted to Liverpool getting involved at the 11th hour, eventually bid the full asking price and still been gazumped. 

Pretty embarrassing stuff 

 

[RDCW]

3 minutes ago, Rob B said:

What’s super frustrating about this is that we allegedly bid £100m anyway, which we could have done weeks ago.

If the narrative was that we value Caicedo at no more than £80m, and were outbid by £30m, I think people could understand that as we decided to walk away. 

Instead we’ve dicked about for weeks and weeks, reacted to Liverpool getting involved at the 11th hour, eventually bid the full asking price and still been gazumped. 

Pretty embarrassing stuff 

 

Can we be certain that we did in fact bid £100 million though? Given the multifarious misinformation around the whole business I don't think we can be certain of anything at this stage, apart from the fact that Caicedo would have been a disastrous buy at 110 million in our position.

[Chelsea_Matt]

4 hours ago, DannyLB said:

We’re an Enzo injury away from a wasted season. 

We’re not bro

[Chelsea_Matt]

3 hours ago, Bison said:

Winstanley and Stewart clearly aren't cut out for their jobs. 

Why is the default position always that it’s Chelsea’s fault?

[xceleryx]

26 minutes ago, martin1905 said:

Yet we are an Enzo injury away from our season being a disaster.

And Lavia ain't saving our season if Enzo goes down either way.

[xceleryx]

2 minutes ago, Chelsea_Matt said:

Why is the default position always that it’s Chelsea’s fault?

Agendas @Chelsea_Matt, agendas

[martin1905]

1 minute ago, xceleryx said:

And Lavia ain't saving our season if Enzo goes down either way.

But would be better than no option.

It's interesting that you think he is so bad defensively, it's one of the things that impressed me about him whenever I saw him.

I've been told this morning that Pochettino was never keen on Caicedo and is one of the reasons we haven't matched the offer. He wants a proper DM to play alongside Enzo and is pushing for Tyler Adams.

 

[Blue Kratos]

I wonder if big Les will not be loaned now.

I'm also curious where liverpool managed to stump up £110m from?

[Sleeping Dave]

Well well. Sometimes trying to be too cute will cost you. Buying footballers isn’t like buying groceries. Could we have refrained from buying less of  “perhaps he’ll develop perfectly and come good” and saved us £40m and went all the way early for Caicedo. If he is indeed the player we wanted then £10-20m more or less doesn’t matter. 

Now we are likely to see a midfield of;

Enzo, Adams, Gallagher and Santos.

Is that good enough for us? Perhaps. Will Ugochukwu stay on now? Perhaps. But we instantly look more vulnerable in midfield. 

[Chelsea_Matt]

4 minutes ago, Blue Kratos said:

I wonder if big Les will not be loaned now.

I'm also curious where liverpool managed to stump up £110m from?

Agreed - that’s a lot of hubcaps!

[Chelsea_Matt]

4 minutes ago, Sleeping Dave said:

Well well. Sometimes trying to be too cute will cost you. Buying footballers isn’t like buying groceries. Could we have refrained from buying less of  “perhaps he’ll develop perfectly and come good” and saved us £40m and went all the way early for Caicedo. If he is indeed the player we wanted then £10-20m more or less doesn’t matter. 

Now we are likely to see a midfield of;

Enzo, Adams, Gallagher and Santos.

Is that good enough for us? Perhaps. Will Ugochukwu stay on now? Perhaps. But we instantly look more vulnerable in midfield. 

It’s still better than the shit we had last year tbh. Imo 🤪

[xceleryx]

2 minutes ago, martin1905 said:

But would be better than no option.

It's interesting that you think he is so bad defensively, it's one of the things that impressed me about him whenever I saw him.

I've been told this morning that Pochettino was never keen on Caicedo and is one of the reasons we haven't matched the offer. He wants a proper DM to play alongside Enzo and is pushing for Tyler Adams.

 

I'd rather just give that playing time to Santos then spend £50m on a player that shown promise but looked incredibly raw in a relegated side. 

Lavia's defensive ability has always been under the microscope a little, playing for a poor Southampton side last season of course maybe covered over it a little at times, but whenever I've seen him it's not been an aspect of his game that's impressed me personally. Then if you go down the statistical path it marries up further, which is why I consider him an Enzo alternative than anyone we should be targeting to partner him as a DM.

Adams makes more sense from a fit and profile perspective. He's actually a defensive player that'll take up a defensive role, so for the £20m he'll cost us it's a good move. That being said, we ideally get someone else in so we have two genuine options for the role and can avoid the old chestnut of plugging gaps like we've had to do in the past whenever Jorginho wasn't in the side.