Time was every player wanted to come to Chelsea. Are those days over? We did not sign several players we were linked to, Pedro for one and now apparently Stone as well. Stone I don't get at all. 30 mill for an unproven 20 year old? I wouldnt join us if I were him, unless he likes warming benches. Better to stay and play where he is, and if he gets better, next year he can go wherever he wants AND play regularly. Did our record with youngsters influence his decision? Pedro has joined Man Utd instead of us it seems. Why? Is it because they are moving forward and we are standing still? Then theres Baba Rahman( or whatever) 20 mill and never played PL before. What if he takes half a season to come up to speed? What if he's another Salah or Quadrero? Weird is the best word I can think of for our off season exploits. After last years masterclass in upgrading, we looked to have lost the plot this time, and our task of two on the trot looks a difficult one. City next will tell us plenty, and I hope we step up and roll them again.
Stones hasn't rejected us though CP, nor has Pedro. We haven't had a bid accepted for Stones. Nothing you can do if the club won't sell. Stones could try and force a move but I don't think that'll happen at this stage of his career and development. Pedro it seems we were never genuinely interested in. A shame but again not a case of him choosing United over us. Rahman looks expensive but then again United paid 30 odd million for Shaw who had achieved far less than Rahman has at this stage (albeit not premier league proven). He's young and looks an exciting prospect. Always risk buying foreign of course.
What has Rahman achieved? doubt anyone had really heard of him before the transfer link. I think its a safe bet that United will see more value out of Shaw than Chelsea will out of Rahman. I assume Luis pushed for the move back to Atletico. If not it seems like quite an odd transfer strategy. CP, you're comfortably the most level headed Chelsea poster on this forum which makes your belief that there may have ever been time when every player wanted to come to Chelsea for any reason other than money quite surprising. There was a time when Chelsea had the most money and players like to earn lots of money. Now other clubs have more money and players still like to earn lots of money.
Reports theis morning say Everton have rejected our last offer 100 years, and Stones has told them he wants to stay at Everton. Whatever the truth, the point is ,as you say regarding Shaw, dont pay silly money for unproven youngsters. Stones might turn out the best defender in 20 years, but at the moment , 30 mill seems an absolutely ridiculous offer. Same goes for Rahman, is he better than Ryan Bertrand or Luis?? We have an academy full of promising youngsters who we dont play, why spend 50 mill on 2 more? My questions really are about our buys this year. I think, and Lord knows that doesnt mean much, that we should put our money into a proven mid field general like Pogba, who brings us something we dont have, power, pace and command of the midfield and a striker like Costa, who we know scores, and not one like Falcao, who we hope does. Maybe Rahman will be just what we need to allow Dave to rotate Ivan a bit, but Luis could have done that.so on a larger scale I guess I am asking what people feel about our transfer policy this year, is it Jose or Roman,and are we losing our pull? Dont have the answers thats why im asking !!
It's not a case of Rahman being better than Luis or Bertrand. Neither of those players wanted to play second fiddle to more established players so were sold. I'd have been happy for Bertrand to have been Dave's understudy but if the lad wants first team football every week then it's best all round to move on. There will always be squad management going on and fringe players being moved in and out of the club. Maybe Rahman will be the one to break into that left back slot and Dave may get moved over to the right? It's a little pricey perhaps but needs must. We can't carry on without 1 or 2 defensive additions IMO.
What i don't understand is why we didnt go for clyne. Physically good, English and relatively cheap at 12m and happy to move to anyone better. Ideal backup/replacement for Ivan but he goes to Liverpool on a cheap
True but we didn't need another right back really (Ivan and Dave already) and perhaps Clyne will get more game time at Liverpool? An actual left back really is a priority. Rahman looks as good an option as any.
Not really. Considering Dave has been marooned into LB for 2 seasons now. I would Class Dave as more of a LB than RB nowadays....
CP - Money is and always will be a factor. But not the only factor. Most players leave for better money and better chance of winning titles. At the same time they want to be appearing more than 50% of the matches for their new team. Had Jose given more chances to Zouma last season, who knows - Stones might be inclined to join us based on that example.
You missed the point which is no surprise. The assertion was that Rainman had achieved more than Shaw. As far as I can see that equates to a handful of extra caps for Ghana than Shaw had achieved for England (ignoring the fact that Rainman is older). I'm sure he'll be a cracking signing though, apparently all the big clubs were asking about who he was!
I didnt say there was a reason other than money that attracted players. I just said once every player wanted to come. I guess i meant that they got both the money and got to play in a great team. Now money can be had in other clubs, my question really is, are we losing our attraction? This is especially true of the expensive youngsters like Stones who might well join for the money and watch from the sidelines or worse, from Vitesse Arnheim
I actually think Jose is having a negative effect with some players wanting to come, especially the younger ones. He has always built up a good moral and siege mentality among the matchday squad but beyond that doesn't seem to realise the rest exist, he has also had public pops at players like Hazard and Oscar which may make people think twice. Oscar does not look happy at the moment and his reaction to scoring at weekend was strange to say the least.
You mean like when you signed the most expensive uncapped player ever in Herrera? Everyone was scrambling around to get his signature to! Point is, 17 million for a relatively unknown full back is expensive but when United spent 30 million on an equally unknown full back it has to be considered in context of the madness of the market.
I agree that the Herrera fee was excessive. United had to pay a premium at the time as they couldn't iffer CL football. Chelsea can but are still massively over paying for an unknown left back (22mil if you're going to quote 30mil for Shaw) having just sold Luis. I'd still wager that Shaw will turn out to be a better investment.
So would I, but mainly because he was always going to be United's first choice where as I suspect Rahman will just be the next Luis. Sitting on the bench most weeks. Regardless of price, it's clear we need to bring in a decent full back though and that's always going to cost 15 million plus at the level we're looking at.
Are there really no players in the multiple trophy winning Chelsea youth team who could play back up rolls instead of players like Rahman and Cuadrado?
Hard to say, maybe. But I don't see them every week like the Chelsea management do so can only presume they don't think so. Cuadrado looks ****e though!!
