Can't say I'll be slashing my wrists over this one. Not a player I rate as a top midfielder at Chelsea, he had his moments for sure, but was often slow, negative and a poor defender. Never scored apart from penalties, at which he is excellent , but not the midfield link between back and front which we so desperately need. Despite that he played his part in some of our best trophy wins, so good luck to him at Arsenal. Seems a strange choice when they have so much speed and youth I can't see how he's going to adapt to the flair of their style, but I guess he will bring plenty of experience and calm to their play.
Yes I was a bit surprised by this but seemingly good business all round. With the news of Fernandez coming on board as well we seem to have had a pretty decent window.
I wish I was as confident as you. Fernandez has done little to impress me to be honest, National teams are usually well below the standard of PL club teams, and that's how Boehly rated Fernandez ???? I think Rice at 25 mill less would be a hugely better buy. Boehly is loony with his spending , albeit he is bringing in talent but at insane prices. We had no opposition buyers for Hernandez, but Rice is now almost certainly going to Arsenal. They win a proven PL gem ,we get an unproven mystery. Anyway, as usual we have bought loads of players but sold bugger all, because our discards are usually overpriced failures, so money is slushing around the Bridge again like dogs vomit. Thought we'd learned from overspending, but obviously not. Anyway, here we go again !!! Now we'll have to buy a new Manager cause Potter isn't up to the job.
I agree with pretty much all of this. I think the signings they have made will improve our team, because lets face it, they have to, with how **** we have been of late, and some of the players we signed actually look pretty darn good, especially Badiashile. I just wish a little more sense had been applied in who we signed and how much we signed them for. I am in 100% agreement with CP about the Declan Rice thing. If we were gonna spend £100m on a player, why not go with the PL proven Rice instead of a one tournament wonder who no one had heard of 6 months ago. Again, Enzo may turn out to be excellent, but even if he does, it was still a stupid gamble that they shouldnt have taken.
On this I also agree. Our current squad has 33 players!! And this doesnt count the players we have out on loan who will be returning to us at the end of the season, chiefly Lukaku, Ampadu and Hudson-Odoi. There needs to be a fire sale in the next window, we are overrun with dead wood. Not counting our new players, as we obviously havent had time to assess them yet, the players we need to keep, without question, are Reece James, Ben Chilwell, Edouard Mendy and Raheem Sterling. The ones we need to get shot of are Ziyech, Pulisic and Havertz imo. The rest, I would be willing to listen to a case for them leaving, even Mason Mount, as long as we get a good price and dont strengthen one of our direct rivals. The fact that there are only 4 players in our 33 man squad that I would be upset about leaving just goes to show our current state.
"Not counting our new players, as we obviously havent had time to assess them yet, the players we need to keep, without question, are Reece James, Ben Chilwell, Edouard Mendy and Raheem Sterling" You are joking Bod Sterling is a complete waste of money. The sooner we get rid the better.
Sure hasn't done anything since he joined us, if we can get a decent price I'd be happy to see him go too. Problem is Boehly signed him for too much and we are paying him an absolutely obscene salary which no one else would be dumb enough to match. A recurring problem with our past transfer strategy. Like CFC Champs, I am very surprised we haven't moved heaven and earth to get a striker, though one is signed for summer arrival. Hasn't Drogba, Jimmy Floyd or Gudjohnson got any kids of playing age???
The summer window was a right mess and some real panic buys, even more obvious now Aubameyang has been left out of the UCL squad. The signings we’ve made this window seem a bit more thought through. We were desperate for a midfielder who can control the game, I’m not as sold on Declan Rice as others but having said that, I think Fernandez is expensive at 100M. We needed wide players as ours haven’t produced for years, in fact since Hazard and Willian left we’ve struggled for any sort of consistency out wide. Defensively we look more secure now and have some great options. Granted we did spend a lot but in reality we probably lost 100M’s worth of players on frees in the summer when Rudiger and Christensen left so spending was inevitable in that area.
Thought Fernandez did well against Fulham, tidy, in control, intelligent and lively. Not crazy about him playing such a defensive roll, but we did need him there with Gallagher also in midfield, and he was well up to it. Pretty ordinary team performance though, albeit with some excuses. James and especially Chilwell looked well underdone, Mudryk and Mount didn't do much apart from non stop effort. Havertz was really stiff, 2 clever shots saved by the post and by fingertips. Liked the look of Fofana, even though he should have passed to an unmarked player, and the under 21 kid (so many new names !!!!) was lively enough.The others were also perfectly good and Fulham are a tough, clever opponent well drilled and non stop. Potter has to start getting some speed and attack out of this squad, and soon. We can't go on much longer getting 0-0 and 1-0 (when we're lucky ) scores. Trouble is he's got too many players to work out his best 11 AND keep the others both happy and match fit. Hope he's up to it, not at all sure he is, but fingers crossed.
Good post. It's a similar gamble as Livpl made with signing Gakpo - who definitely won't go on to be a decent player in the PL. I only say this bcos I watched him play for PSV months before the WC and he was nothing special. Your other point about overpriced players slushing around is only going to be exacerbated by these 8 yr contracts you're dishing out. It's a massive risk. Although if Boehly can afford the losses then who cares.
Just a couple of points, firstly I thought Fernandez looked especially good to be honest. It's highly likely he might be really excellent, but that doesn't change the price we paid ( far too much ) the salary we must be paying, which then upsets players like Mount and Gallagher, and that now for Rice, who we could have got for 20 mill less, Hammers will now want 20mill more, and Rice want a weekly salary par with Koulibaly 300 Gs, Sterling 300Gs, for starters. To me , that's just bad business. Secondly, Boehly isn't funding these buys, that's the Hedge Fund that owns the shares. Boehly is just acting like some meglamaniacal Billionaire playing "look at me, I'm a Football Manager". Whatever his intensions, and I can't fault his commitment, what he's doing is not good for the future of the Club. Imagine in 4 years half these buys are duds with 300 a week stones round their necks, how do you sell them?? Plus the bizarre buys and sacking the manager see us heading backwards like we stepped off the ladder. We need to rein in the spending, think more about who we buy and sell and stop throwing the money around like confetti. Time to get much more professional and controlled.
I’ve read numerous times that the players we have signed in January aren’t on anywhere near as much as what you’d expect them to be, because we’re paying them over so many years. Fernandez for example isn’t on anything close to what we were paying Jorginho.
Hope that's correct, if so the new behind the scenes people we now have are making a good start !! Sure none of the January signings will go hungry through lack of salaries !!
I have seen that he can be an incredible player, and so am not willing to judge him on half a season, and not only half a season, but a half season where we have been completely fecking disjointed, hundreds of new signings, a managerial change and a break for a ****ty winter world cup. Yes, he was expensive, but thats by the by, we have paid it, its in the past. But if utilised correctly, he can be a hell of a player.
I agree that when he's on he's excellent but he's very erratic, which maybe why City let him go ? Like Pulisic he has one great game then 4 lousy ones, before another good one. At 300 Gs a week he needs to be a hell of a lot more consistent. Hopefully Potter or someone else can get our collection of multi talented players to become a team with an attacking style so players like Sterling and Havertz for instance, can show their true talent.
