Transfer Talk Topic

[Mark Kelly]

3 minutes ago, east lower said:

Said this elsewhere but pertinent here - where's the money from the sale of the club promised to the Ukrainians?

I've not read anything that's detailed the payment's.

I do have my suspicions and they most certainly involve the UK Government using the funds to replace their own funding liability.

I saw something in the papers about a month ago saying that they'd reached an agreement with Roman about the proceeds but it was extremely vague .

[Dwmh]

35 minutes ago, east lower said:

Said this elsewhere but pertinent here - where's the money from the sale of the club promised to the Ukrainians?

I've not read anything that's detailed the payment's.

I do have my suspicions and they most certainly involve the UK Government using the funds to replace their own funding liability.

And here is the twist that RA understood and so should anyone else who knew a thing about Ukraine but 99% won't tell you.

the  money is for something like "all the victims in Ukraine"
I won't tell you who they are either and you'll struggle to find out for yourself.
You can make a start by comparing the official numbers of civilian deaths in Ukraine (compare Gaza in 3 weeks)  with the numbers from the period before 2022 and you can imagine where they lived on the map.

There is scope for huge rows about where the money should go, which ought to result in a lot of enlightenment for everyone.
Spending the cash is going to be very difficult.

[Max Fowler]

For all the talk above about misspending, I do now think there is a method behind our madness. Compare us to Man United, where they have spent big money on experienced players with little long-term planning.

We have bet too much in the long-term maybe, depending on what our expectations are. If the board want any chance of finishing in Champions League places this season, we will need huge investment in January.

I wonder if the board would be okay with taking the hit this season of finishing 7th or 8th.

We need a few more of the right experienced pros in to knit this squad together, ensure their development and keep us heading in the right direction. A proper striker is a must obviously and another serious creative player.

I look at Lavia, Caicedo, and Enzo and still think wow - great job from the board, these are unbelievable signings. Replicate this in the forward line, as I believe they will aim to do in January, and we will have a lot to be excited about.

I know the board have made a lot of mistakes but honestly I believe we are out of our worst period now and heading into the light.

Did we need to make so many changes so quickly? Probably not. But we are where we are now and look at the calibre of young player we are signing, I am glad we have these owners and not the likes of the current Man United board.

Poch and/or another manager can take this side through to maturity over the next few years - then I hope the board has the insight to go for a truly killer manager to win us the trophies. Bring back TT or the next big thing.

[Dwmh]

1 hour ago, Max Fowler said:

I look at Lavia, Caicedo, and Enzo and still think wow - great job from the board, these are unbelievable signings. Replicate this in the forward line, as I believe they will aim to do in January, and we will have a lot to be excited about.

I look at them and think how obvious the signings were.  And that is why 2 players cost £100m each and the 19 yo old with 2200 mins of PL football in a relegated side cost £50 odd m.

Yeah 2 seem very good (though not yet good vfm).  But they all play the same position and where was the striker?

 

1 hour ago, Max Fowler said:

For all the talk above about misspending, I do now think there is a method behind our madness. Compare us to Man United, where they have spent big money on experienced players with little long-term planning.

I think we should compare ourselves to the post SAF Man U.  They have been more or less crap for a decade bar 2 years under a certain manager.  We are like Man U 12 months on from SAF.  9 more years to catch up.

[Max Fowler]

37 minutes ago, Dwmh said:

I look at them and think how obvious the signings were.  And that is why 2 players cost £100m each and the 19 yo old with 2200 mins of PL football in a relegated side cost £50 odd m.

Yeah 2 seem very good (though not yet good vfm).  But they all play the same position and where was the striker?

 

I think we should compare ourselves to the post SAF Man U.  They have been more or less crap for a decade bar 2 years under a certain manager.  We are like Man U 12 months on from SAF.  9 more years to catch up.

It seems to me that the owners have focused in different windows on rebuilding different areas.
Last window under Tuchel - defence. This summer - central midfield.

Also they did have a lot to do to clear out the vast amount of players on our books.

I think it all hinges on how desperate our owners are for a CL finish. If the plan is we must finish in CL places at all costs - they have left us woefully underequipped IMO and should have dropped whatever was needed on key positions.

If, as I suspect, a CL finish might not be an absolute must, then rebuilding with the right players becomes the prerogative.

If they wanted to wait until January for Toney then perhaps holding off made sense.

But again, depends where they want us to finish. If they are scratching their heads wondering why we are not higher in the league, just look at our forward line. If they are wondering why we can't score consistently, just check our personnel.

Difference is - we still seem to have some kind of plan whereas Man United never did.

 

[Floyd25]

Ivan Toney is 27 years old, so doesn’t fit the current criteria unless they’re realising that we need more experience, which we absolutely do. 

[Sciatika]

Seems to me that Toney is a £30m player who will cost double that or more in January. He will also take a good month to be really fit to play.

[Chelsea_Matt]

Would Nkunku help solve our striker crisis? More goals and more assists for Jackson?

[Mark Kelly]

8 minutes ago, Chelsea_Matt said:

Would Nkunku help solve our striker crisis? More goals and more assists for Jackson?

He's going to have to do more heavy lifting than Hazard.

[paulw66]

19 minutes ago, Chelsea_Matt said:

Would Nkunku help solve our striker crisis? More goals and more assists for Jackson?

I would suggest so, otherwise why did we buy him!

Having more attacking options can only help, and it sounds like he isn't that far away

[Mark Kelly]

Shamelessly stolen from Reddit 

"Help me Christopher Nkunku , you're our only hope" 

[chiswickblue]

Other than needing time, I think we're a striker and a top GK away from being a top 4 side.

And I say this without having seen Petrovic play, and thinking that Jackson needs time to get used to the PL and Broja has obviously been rushed back from injury too soon.

[Chelsea_Matt]

2 hours ago, paulw66 said:

I would suggest so, otherwise why did we buy him!

Having more attacking options can only help, and it sounds like he isn't that far away

I didn’t express it properly. Do you think he is the answer? Is he up to it?

[east lower]

5 hours ago, Sciatika said:

Seems to me that Toney is a £30m player who will cost double that or more in January. He will also take a good month to be really fit to play.

I listened to an interview he did during his ban and he has not owned his mistake, lots of excuses and he was excluded from the national team before things became public. 
 

His attitude seemed a bit self-pitying and I’ve seen him live a few times and didn’t really see anything that would make me want to spend any more than around the sum you mentioned. Is he better than what we have, marginally I’d say but not significantly. 
 

Cautiously I’d say there are two or three in the Bundasliga that are at least his equal and have the age profile to improve well beyond him. Boniface (although there are occasional games where he looks as if he if couldn’t hit a cows backside with a banjo) and Guirassy would be two worth a look. Florian Wirtz is another attacking player we should be looking at. 

[Mark Kelly]

4 minutes ago, east lower said:

I listened to an interview he did during his ban and he has not owned his mistake, lots of excuses and he was excluded from the national team before things became public. 
 

His attitude seemed a bit self-pitying and I’ve seen him live a few times and didn’t really see anything that would make me want to spend any more than around the sum you mentioned. Is he better than what we have, marginally I’d say but not significantly. 
 

Cautiously I’d say there are two or three in the Bundasliga that are at least his equal and have the age profile to improve well beyond him. Boniface (although there are occasional games where he looks as if he if couldn’t hit a cows backside with a banjo) and Guirassy would be two worth a look. Florian Wirtz is another attacking player we should be looking at. 

I saw him in a clip that went viral where he was embarrassed to be found to be a Brentford player, thought he was a dick then and think he's a dick now. 

I understand we can't score goals and he although his stats are padded with penalties, can, but I'd still rather we didn't sign him. 

Edited October 31, 2023 by Mark Kelly

[chara]

50 minutes ago, Mark Kelly said:

I saw him in a clip that went viral where he was embarrassed to be found to be a Brentford player, thought he was a dick then and think he's a dick now. 

I understand we can't score goals and he although his stats are padded with penalties, can, but I'd still rather we didn't sign him. 

Totally agree Mark....for purely non football logic reasons just have no wish to see him in Chelsea Blue...should it happen though I would/will support him IF he does the job... Anelka was a lesson to me about that sort of thinking but I don't think he is in the same bracket.

[east lower]

5 minutes ago, chara said:

Totally agree Mark....for purely non football logic reasons just have no wish to see him in Chelsea Blue...should it happen though I would/will support him IF he does the job... Anelka was a lesson to me about that sort of thinking but I don't think he is in the same bracket.

Anelka - One of the best finishers I’ve seen wear our blue. What a bit of business that was. Genuinely believe he was appreciated here more, than by his previous clubs. 

 Crespo was another ‘artist’ of a forward, some of his positioning and movement was just different class, just a shame we didn’t get to see more of him.  Another great finisher, not too brave though. Never saw a forward jump more for headers, but didn’t really want to win them, unless he could score from it. Costa was similar, jumped and ducked at the same time, but in all other physical areas was a warrior.

Another example of a forward we never saw the best of, but for a different reason and from a little further back was Casiaragi - I thought he could have been a superstar of a player for us and could have helped win us a league. Big, quickish, brave. 

Reminiscing doesn’t help much, just shows how far off we currently are, with what we have in the pitch right now.

[paulw66]

3 hours ago, Chelsea_Matt said:

I didn’t express it properly. Do you think he is the answer? Is he up to it?

No idea. Let's hope so! 

[chara]

 

3 hours ago, east lower said:

Reminiscing doesn’t help much, just shows how far off we currently are, with what we have in the pitch right no

Recall a miserable mid week game in the "old" west stand...league cup I think..v Swansea in my memory...penalty shootout..with two committed hard core Chelsea guys...so demoralised we lost interest in the "shootout" and were warmly reminiscing...does help!...(Old Buddy Holly song ..angst from my youthful heart broken..(Mrs c) days!)

[Max Fowler]

Wow - breaking:

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12998112/ivan-toney-brentford-want-100m-in-january-to-sell-england-striker-amid-premier-league-interest

If Brentford want 100 million for Toney - IMO we should put all our eggs in the basket of Oshimen.

Toney is not fit to lace Oshimen's boots.

Brentford know we want Toney and are trying to milk us for all we are worth.

Edited November 1, 2023 by Max Fowler

[Backbiter]

3 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

 

Brentford know we want Toney and are trying to milk us for all we are worth.

Works for Brighton, so why shouldn't they try?

[Max Fowler]

16 minutes ago, Backbiter said:

Works for Brighton, so why shouldn't they try?

I still feel Caicedo was worth paying over the odds for, even though we should have just went for him early instead of farting around.

Toney at 60 million seemed a bit of a steal. At 100 million, with his gambling issues? Far too rich for my blood.

[Mark Kelly]

44 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

Wow - breaking:

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12998112/ivan-toney-brentford-want-100m-in-january-to-sell-england-striker-amid-premier-league-interest

If Brentford want 100 million for Toney - IMO we should put all our eggs in the basket of Oshimen.

Toney is not fit to lace Oshimen's boots.

Brentford know we want Toney and are trying to milk us for all we are worth.

This is what happens when your negotiations department are f**kwits. 

[chara]

21 minutes ago, Mark Kelly said:

This is what happens when your negotiations department are f**kwits. 

Aha.... so we have the legendary Folkwits working at Chelsea ...half time entertainment Mark?,,would explain a lot.

(Why the ** ? )

[Thiago97]

58 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

I still feel Caicedo was worth paying over the odds for, even though we should have just went for him early instead of farting around.

Toney at 60 million seemed a bit of a steal. At 100 million, with his gambling issues? Far too rich for my blood.

I agree that £60m was a deal worth pursuing,  but £100m is not a realistic deal we should be looking at. They are trying to create a bidding war, as Arsenal and Spurs are likely needing another N09 option.

Incidentally, he doesn’t have a gambling issue. He was stupid to bet on football whilst playing, that’s all.  Ignore this addict PR , cos that is exactly what it is, a PR exercise to reduce a ban.

A gambling addict would rack up far more than 200 odd bets over a 4 year period. That’s an average of approx 50 bets a season, for a player who plays 50-60 games a season . Think how many football games happen a season, yet we are supposed to believe Toney is a highly selective addict that only bets against on club games he is involved with ! Addicts are not selective with what they are addicted too.  There is not gambling issue now he has been caught. 

Edited November 1, 2023 by Thiago97