Transfer Talk Topic

[Mark Kelly]

1 hour ago, east lower said:

Heard a whisper this evening, that a short-term contract for another Belgian might be happening! Cover for Nkunku allegedly.

That would make my day

[Floyd25]

What’s the point in signing Balogun when we have two young strikers in Jackson and Broja? Just assess the situation at the end of the season, we also have Fofana on loan, it’s just buying for buyings sake now. 

Edited August 18, 2023 by Floyd25

[RDCW]

2 hours ago, east lower said:

Heard a whisper this evening, that a short-term contract for another Belgian might be happening! Cover for Nkunku allegedly.

Stop it! Don't say it if it's not true! Possibly my favourite ever Chelsea player. I'd love to see him back here under Poch.........and he was at the Liverpool game.

[ROTG]

7 hours ago, DannyLB said:

What a take.

 

The best transfer window the club has seen in its history (yes yes, on paper) signing top young talent to long term contracts, bringing in an elite manager that is known to work with young players, emphasizing the importance of continuing to produce top talent from the academy calling it crucial to our sustainability (because obviously this level of spend cannot continue), improve our stadium (long overdue), expand the brand and the commercial side, invest an ungodly amount of money in the squad with aim to have success in the short and long run, promote Maatsen and Colwill (academy products) to the first team and get accused of being short-sighted because we sold an academy player.

 

 

So, the recruitment current drive and bringing in Poch is on par. with JM and the players recruited when he took the reins.

just asking

[ROTG]

4 hours ago, RDCW said:

It's a bean counter's mode of business: if we can sell one of our academy boys for £30 million and recognise the incoming revenue in full the consequent figure available for an incoming player, assuming we amortise over 5 years, is £150 million. Our academy prospects will always, therefore  be disadvantaged by accounting conventions in the estimation of the current owners. An academy prospect would have to be an immediate world beater in order to make the cut.

Edited 4 hours ago by RDCW

you were in the black gold industry for too long. 

[east lower]

26 minutes ago, RDCW said:

Stop it! Don't say it if it's not true! Possibly my favourite ever Chelsea player. I'd love to see him back here under Poch.........and he was at the Liverpool game.

Not sure I believe it myself, but wouldn’t it be wonderful!! Even just one of those mesmerising runs. 

[east lower]

40 minutes ago, Mark Kelly said:

That would make my day

Completely, would we get that lucky? 

[chrisb]

He is a free agent so would cost nothing other than wages.

Maybe it would be best for us to have our memories of him as he was and not how he now is. 

[Blue Moon]

1 hour ago, RDCW said:

Stop it! Don't say it if it's not true! Possibly my favourite ever Chelsea player. I'd love to see him back here under Poch.........and he was at the Liverpool game.

Sat behind me. Did my best, but he wouldn’t budge. Not even for a fiver and a pint of Singha. Even tried offering him a shirt with his name on it (it never fitted me). Maybe Todd could try offering him a ride in his Lambo ...

[Ham]

18 minutes ago, chrisb said:

He is a free agent so would cost nothing other than wages.

Maybe it would be best for us to have our memories of him as he was and not how he now is. 

Nah.  Sod it. Get him back  🤜💥

 

[kev61]

There's been a lot of talk about the ins and outs(literally) of our transfers.

Without seeing Caicedo  in action I think we have done quite well in the transfer market.

I can see Gusto doing well as a stand in for James.I can see Maatsen doing well on his own in a few positions or as a stand in(I would like to see him play as a replacement for Chilwell).

We have Jackson that looks a real gem.Unfortunately Nkunku  is injured but he certainly looks the real deal(I would have liked Felix signed who could have filled in).

I see no problem in Hall being sold at 30mil and I see no problem with Gallagher being sold at the right price.

The one person I would not like to see go is Chabolah.At the very least he is a very good back up,in fact I never understood why he was not a first choice  centre back.

Rather than try to cover every player in detail I thought a synopsis  more appropriate with my attention span.cheerio

 

[kev61]

28 minutes ago, kev61 said:

There's been a lot of talk about the ins and outs(literally) of our transfers.

Without seeing Caicedo  in action I think we have done quite well in the transfer market.

I can see Gusto doing well as a stand in for James.I can see Maatsen doing well on his own in a few positions or as a stand in(I would like to see him play as a replacement for Chilwell).

We have Jackson that looks a real gem.Unfortunately Nkunku  is injured but he certainly looks the real deal(I would have liked Felix signed who could have filled in).

I see no problem in Hall being sold at 30mil and I see no problem with Gallagher being sold at the right price.

The one person I would not like to see go is Chabolah.At the very least he is a very good back up,in fact I never understood why he was not a first choice  centre back.

Rather than try to cover every player in detail I thought a synopsis  more appropriate with my attention span.cheerio

 

Just to add.It will take us a bit of time to play as a unit.We already look better than Liverpool.If Poch can get the round pegs in the round holes and playing as a unit who knows we can achieve - and yes I'm talking next season.

Hope I haven't put the kibosh on things.

Edited August 19, 2023 by kev61

[xceleryx]

3 hours ago, Floyd25 said:

What’s the point in signing Balogun when we have two young strikers in Jackson and Broja? Just assess the situation at the end of the season, we also have Fofana on loan, it’s just buying for buyings sake now. 

Don't quite get the fascination around Broja myself, he was so-so at Southampton and unfortunately broke down early into his opportunity here last season. I wouldn't say he's shown anything at this stage of his career that would indicate he's of the quality we need - and that was pre-injury. We'll have to see how much that will have impacted his game once he gets back on the park again, but he still feels like he's a good 2-3 years away from actually being feasibly viable should development continue upwards. 

Nkunku's injury has hurt us a bit because he'd have likely been the rotation option with Jackson, so we're down in two areas with him on the sidelines until at least the second half of the season it would appear. Broja has no return date still AFAIK and we're virtually running with one striker/forward for the time being. Getting in another proper CF isn't an overly outlandish idea.

Edit: Just to add, it doesn't have to be Balogun we specifically sign. I've not seen him play so can't comment on if he's suitable or not, but another striker in general wouldn't go astray.

Edited August 19, 2023 by xceleryx

[xceleryx]

5 hours ago, east lower said:

Heard a whisper this evening, that a short-term contract for another Belgian might be happening! Cover for Nkunku allegedly.

I'd do it just for the vibes alone.

Would be absolutely special seeing Hazard back in a Chelsea kit.

[kev61]

3 hours ago, ROTG said:

So, the recruitment current drive and bringing in Poch is on par. with JM and the players recruited when he took the reins.

just asking

No it's much better than that.Jose walked into a turnkey squad that Ranieri was more responsible for.

Jose just added his svengali like personality that is dead and buried now.

[kev61]

On 17/08/2023 at 10:37, RDCW said:

You need to do a bit more reading about Socrates!

"The path to enlightenment" may have been appropriated as a Buddhist aphorism, but the concept is not exclusive to it.

 

I've read plenty about Socrates.He was never part of the greek enlightenment.Rigas Feraios was as was Adamantios Icoraks so maybe a whoosh went over your head ?

[kev61]

On 17/08/2023 at 11:10, Sleeping Dave said:

I don’t blame Hall - for him this is a no-brainer. I blame the club for yet again pushing out an astonishing academy prospect. 

He is not an "astonishing prospect" ffs butch was captain of the team when he was 18.

I realise that was many moons ago and the game has changed beyond belief.

Imo Hall was unlikely to make it so 30 mil is good business.

Having said that I didn't rate Salah and De bryune when they were young.

[Sleeping Dave]

11 hours ago, thevelourfog said:

Put your money where your mouth is, then. Just say who you are talking about. You're right that it seemed ridiculous to me that you'd think Hall was better than Caicedo and Fernández, but you are the one saying we're selling academy players to fund foreign players no better than them. Given Hall is the single academy player we've sold without first having been part of the senior squad for years, you really should be including specific examples if you don't want to be misunderstood. 

As it is, I think I'm understanding fine. You're seeing a pattern that doesn't yet and may never exist. I think these owners get the price of everything and the value of nothing so have some sympathy with what it seems you are feeling, but I won't pretend there's a trend or model yet.

Foreign academy players is what I said. We’ve recently bought Santos, Casadei and just recently Ugochukwu. We are also buying Lavia for almost £60m on top of that. That’s four midfielders who all are not going to make it here. This has driven out our biggest academy prospect - for what I ask? Is that the signal you want to send? “We buy 4 players from other clubs, roughly in your age (just 1-2 years older) without giving you a proper chance to stake a claim? Suck on that boy. “

If I were Hall I’d probably leave if Newcastle came calling. 

Edited August 19, 2023 by Sleeping Dave

[kev61]

3 hours ago, kev61 said:

I've read plenty about Socrates.He was never part of the greek enlightenment.Rigas Feraios was as was Adamantios Icoraks so maybe a whoosh went over your head ?

You find it funny? even though you tried to take the piss?

[kev61]

3 hours ago, kev61 said:

I've read plenty about Socrates.He was never part of the greek enlightenment.Rigas Feraios was as was Adamantios Icoraks so maybe a whoosh went over your head ?

It seems my original post went astray.

[RDCW]

17 minutes ago, kev61 said:

You find it funny? even though you tried to take the piss?

Yes Kev. I do find it funny. You have obviously been stung by some element of our conversation and followed up your spurious Buddhist reference, Googled Greek Enlightenment and come up with another spurious "enlightenment" argument relating to mid 18th Century Greek scholarship which has as much to do with Socratic philosophy as Hobbes and Locke have to do with The Venerable Bede! 

What started out as a light-hearted conversation has turned into something a bit more rancourous (oo-er missus), not to mention nothing to do with transfers, so let's leave it there!

Now, about Eden Hazard..........

[Rob B]

1 hour ago, Sleeping Dave said:

Foreign academy players is what I said. We’ve recently bought Santos, Casadei and just recently Ugochukwu. We are also buying Lavia for almost £60m on top of that. That’s four midfielders who all are not going to make it here. This has driven out our biggest academy prospect - for what I ask? Is that the signal you want to send? “We buy 4 players from other clubs, roughly in your age (just 1-2 years older) without giving you a proper chance to stake a claim? Suck on that boy. “

If I were Hall I’d probably leave if Newcastle came calling. 

Players in his position is one thing - he seems like a grounded lad with a head on his shoulders I’m sure he appreciates competition at a club like Chelsea (and Newcastle now tbf with Tonali, Joelinton, Guimareas etc)  although I suspect the ages of said players in our case didn’t help.

But what I can’t get my head around is the amount of money we are spending on project players.  Off the top of my head, Santos, Casadei, Ugochukwu, Angelo Gabriel, Moirera, Richards, Peaz, Slonina etc. 

Ive got no idea what the total outlay is here, but well in excess of £100m - which is absolutely fine if you aren’t then having to sell your brightest academy prospect to balance the books?! 

I don’t believe for a second Lewis Hall pushed for a move and we reluctantly sold him.  This isn’t a £100m big personality in the dressing room on massive wages.  This is an 18 year old with 6 appearances who had literally just signed a new long term deal.  Absolutely no doubt in my mind we’ve jumped on this one due to the FFP benefits.

And so my counsel to the club would be, if the finances are that precarious, stop spending money on gambles when we have a similar or likely better talent in-house. 

[Sleeping Dave]

6 minutes ago, Rob B said:

But what I can’t get my head around is the amount of money we are spending on project players.  Off the top of my head, Santos, Casadei, Ugochukwu, Angelo Gabriel, Moirera, Richards, Peaz, Slonina etc. 

Ive got no idea what the total outlay is here, but well in excess of £100m - which is absolutely fine if you aren’t then having to sell your brightest academy prospect to balance the books?! 

I don’t believe for a second Lewis Hall pushed for a move and we reluctantly sold him.  This isn’t a £100m big personality in the dressing room on massive wages.  This is an 18 year old with 6 appearances who had literally just signed a new long term deal.  Absolutely no doubt in my mind we’ve jumped on this one due to the FFP benefits.

And so my counsel to the club would be, if the finances are that precarious, stop spending money on gambles when we have a similar or likely better talent in-house. 

Yes mate.

And the last sentence sums up my feelings exactly. 

[Mark Kelly]

19 minutes ago, Rob B said:

Players in his position is one thing - he seems like a grounded lad with a head on his shoulders I’m sure he appreciates competition at a club like Chelsea (and Newcastle now tbf with Tonali, Joelinton, Guimareas etc)  although I suspect the ages of said players in our case didn’t help.

But what I can’t get my head around is the amount of money we are spending on project players.  Off the top of my head, Santos, Casadei, Ugochukwu, Angelo Gabriel, Moirera, Richards, Peaz, Slonina etc. 

Ive got no idea what the total outlay is here, but well in excess of £100m - which is absolutely fine if you aren’t then having to sell your brightest academy prospect to balance the books?! 

I don’t believe for a second Lewis Hall pushed for a move and we reluctantly sold him.  This isn’t a £100m big personality in the dressing room on massive wages.  This is an 18 year old with 6 appearances who had literally just signed a new long term deal.  Absolutely no doubt in my mind we’ve jumped on this one due to the FFP benefits.

And so my counsel to the club would be, if the finances are that precarious, stop spending money on gambles when we have a similar or likely better talent in-house. 

You don't get "rep" in your community if you're not taking and winning gambles.

Our much heralded and expensively assembled procurement department is seeking constant justification for their salaries and you don't get that by discovering Lewis Hall and Bashir Humphreys.

[Floyd25]

6 hours ago, xceleryx said:

Nkunku's injury has hurt us a bit because he'd have likely been the rotation option with Jackson, so we're down in two areas with him on the sidelines until at least the second half of the season it would appear. Broja has no return date still AFAIK and we're virtually running with one striker/forward for the time being. Getting in another proper CF isn't an overly outlandish idea.

Edit: Just to add, it doesn't have to be Balogun we specifically sign. I've not seen him play so can't comment on if he's suitable or not, but another striker in general wouldn't go astray.

Fair points, I wouldn’t strictly appose bringing another striker in actually, you’re right we’ve been given no indication of a return date for Broja, as far as I’m aware. Having said that, I’d like for us to see how Fofana does on loan, if he has a really good season, it would be a shame that he will come back and find that there’s no room for him in the squad. 

I do watch ligue 1 a lot, I’ve seen Balogun play a fair bit, not convinced he’s the right player to bring in and Arsenal would want 50 odd million for him.