Transfer Talk Topic

[mora]

7 hours ago, Bob Singleton said:

Yes, from what I've read it's not the length of the contracts themselves that are the problem, but the amortisation period that goes with it. I also understand - but I may be wrong - that it's other PL clubs that have complained to UEFA. Looks like clubs will be allowed to offer contracts of whatever length they want but the costs (transfer fee and wages) will be amortised for a maximum of 5 years should the contract be longer than 5 years.

How would that work with the wages?

[Bob Singleton]

1 hour ago, mora said:

How would that work with the wages?

I think you need to ask UEFA, not me, but the talk is of "costs", and when it comes to transfers, Costs = Transfer Fee + Wages + Agent Fees/Commission

[Rob B]

1 hour ago, mora said:

How would that work with the wages?

I would guess that if you signed someone for £50m on a 7 year deal,  you'd have 5 years of £10m transfer fee going out, (plus wages), with the final 2 years of just the players wages. 

Like Bob says though, who knows?!   This is UEFA after all! 

[RDCW]

10 hours ago, Bob Singleton said:

Not a transfer story per se, but quite a few articles saying Thiago Silva will be/has been offered a one year extension

This is an absolute no-brainer! Brilliant news that he likes it here. His involvement with our young squad going forward is vital to its development. I would offer him a two year contract and have done with it.

Thiago Silva's influence on Chelsea is right up there with Gullitt, Vialli and Zola; he is one of those signings which make you turn to the person next to you in the stand and say, " Thiago Silva.....playing for MY team!"

 

[Bob Singleton]

Just now, RDCW said:

This is an absolute no-brainer! Brilliant news that he likes it here. His involvement with our young squad going forward is vital to its development. I would offer him a two year contract and have done with it.

Thiago Silva's influence on Chelsea is right up there with Gullitt, Vialli and Zola; he is one of those signings which make you turn to the person next to you in the stand and say, " Thiago Silva.....playing for MY team!"

 

Absolutely!

Of course it may not interest him - he may have other ideas regarding what he does once he finally does hang up his boots - but the club should at the very least sound him out regarding some form of coaching role going forward.

[NoblyBobly]

10 minutes ago, RDCW said:

This is an absolute no-brainer! Brilliant news that he likes it here. His involvement with our young squad going forward is vital to its development. I would offer him a two year contract and have done with it.

Thiago Silva's influence on Chelsea is right up there with Gullitt, Vialli and Zola; he is one of those signings which make you turn to the person next to you in the stand and say, " Thiago Silva.....playing for MY team!"

 

We have been blessed with world class CBs over the years but De Sllva is special. Not least because he has been playing in a team that has been all over the place in consistency since he joined, plus he has been in a three and a four with a multitude of different defensive partners. Plus he’s pushing 40 and was dropped into an alien league like ours which is all blood and thunder. And I can’t honestly think of a bad game he’s had. I can probably count mistakes or small errors on one hand. It is nothing short of astonishing. 

[Bob Singleton]

Following on from the list of players Chelsea are linked to, and given our need to trim the squad at some point in the near future (certainly by the end of the summer!) here's a list of current players (some out on loan) and the clubs they're being linked to:
 

Arrizabalaga -
Baxter -
Bettinelli -
Cumming -
Slonina -


Ampadu -
Azpilicueta - Barcelona
Badiashile -
Castillo -
Chalobah – Inter Milan
Chilwell -
Colwill – Brighton (loan to permanent), Manchester City, Bayern Munich
Cucurella -
Fofana, W -
Hall -
Humphreys -
James -
Koulibaly -
Maatsen – Burnley (loan to permanent)
Saar – AC Milan, Sevilla
Silva -
Sterling, D -


Anjorin -
Bakayoko - Adana Demirspor
Chukwuemeka -
Elliott -
Gallagher – Newcastle United, Crystal Palace
Hutchinson -
Jorginho – Juventus, AC Milan, Newcastle United, Napoli
Kante – Barcelona, Al-Nassr, PSG
Kovacic -
Loftus-Cheek – AC Milan, Newcastle United
Madueke -
Mount – Juventus, Liverpool
Mudryk -
Pulisic – Newcastle United, AC Milan, Juventus
Santos -
Simons – Charlton Athletic
Vale -
Zakaria -


Aubameyang - Barcelona
Broja -
Burstow – Charlton Athletic (loan), Oxford United (loan)
Felix – Chelsea (loan to permanent)
Fofana, D – Galatasaray (loan)
Havertz – Bayern Munich, PSG, Juventus
Hudson-Odoi -
Lukaku -
Sterling, R – Arsenal
Ziyech – Roma, Everton, Newcastle United, Inter Milan, Barcelona


 

No surprise to see Newcastle mentioned so often. A 'nouveau riche' club looking to strengthen and a whole bunch of lazy journalists will often result in pretty much every player being linked with them at some point.

[mora]

1 hour ago, Bob Singleton said:

I think you need to ask UEFA, not me, but the talk is of "costs", and when it comes to transfers, Costs = Transfer Fee + Wages + Agent Fees/Commission

Sure, but the wages continue to be paid after 5 years...

The talk about wages reminded me of the NHL. There, long-term contracts were (still are?) done with a salary structure of e.g. 5 million for the first two years, 10 million for the following two years and then 1 million for the remaining contract period.

[xceleryx]

52 minutes ago, Bob Singleton said:

Following on from the list of players Chelsea are linked to, and given our need to trim the squad at some point in the near future (certainly by the end of the summer!) here's a list of current players (some out on loan) and the clubs they're being linked to:
 <SNIP>

FYI the list of players are using black text, which can't be seen while using the dark mode theme. 

[Rob B]

17 minutes ago, Bob Singleton said:

Following on from the list of players Chelsea are linked to, and given our need to trim the squad at some point in the near future (certainly by the end of the summer!) here's a list of current players (some out on loan) and the clubs they're being linked to:
 

So 50 players, (51 if you include Mendy 😉) which means we need to lose half the list before any further incomings are taken into account! 

Some are quite obvious e.g. Sarr, PEA, Ziyech etc and a lot of the youngsters will likely go on loan e.g. Vale, Hutchinson, Burstow but it's still going to leave some very difficult decisions on probably 10-12 senior players. 

No mean feat! 

[xceleryx]

8 minutes ago, Rob B said:

So 50 players, (51 if you include Mendy 😉) which means we need to lose half the list before any further incomings are taken into account! 

Some are quite obvious e.g. Sarr, PEA, Ziyech etc and a lot of the youngsters will likely go on loan e.g. Vale, Hutchinson, Burstow but it's still going to leave some very difficult decisions on probably 10-12 senior players. 

No mean feat! 

Not sure it'll be that difficult, those that need to go kinda all stand out from the rest really. Will be more interesting to see if what interest some generate and just how much we haggle over prices. I think we'll look to take what we can for most, with maybe only a couple we'll want to get maximum value from. 

Lukaku's situation is going to be the big one though. I can see this taking the most effort over the window to sort, as Inter can't afford him and I'm not even sure they'd want him at this rate. 

[Bob Singleton]

34 minutes ago, xceleryx said:

FYI the list of players are using black text, which can't be seen while using the dark mode theme. 

Whaddya mean you can't see 'em? I can see them just fine! 🤣

Yes, I'll have to put my thinking cap on regarding a colour that works on both a dark and light background

[Bob Singleton]

35 minutes ago, Rob B said:

So 50 players, (51 if you include Mendy 😉)

[SNIP]

 

Damn... I just knew I'd miss one somewhere.

[xceleryx]

33 minutes ago, Bob Singleton said:

Whaddya mean you can't see 'em? I can see them just fine! 🤣

Yeah, that's my bad. I should have known that I needed to highlight the list first in order to see them. Squinting harder just wasn't cutting it. 😂

[xceleryx]

Saw this earlier and had a good chuckle.

 

[My Blood Is Blue]

I've heard great things about Hierre Wego to be fair 😉

[Rob B]

3 hours ago, xceleryx said:

Not sure it'll be that difficult, those that need to go kinda all stand out from the rest really. Will be more interesting to see if what interest some generate and just how much we haggle over prices. I think we'll look to take what we can for most, with maybe only a couple we'll want to get maximum value from. 

Lukaku's situation is going to be the big one though. I can see this taking the most effort over the window to sort, as Inter can't afford him and I'm not even sure they'd want him at this rate. 

There's definitely a number I'd think warrant careful consideration.   For example....

• How do you choose four centre-backs from  Silva, Badiashille, Koulibaly, Fofana, Chalobah and Colwill? 
• Is there room in the squad for Gallagher AND Chukwuemeka?  
• Is Havertz and Nkunku (who isn't on the list yet) enough or will we need an out & out number 9?   If so, who makes way? 
• Are we going to buy a new goalkeeper and if so,  who becomes number 2 out of Kepa or Mendy?  If any? 
• Assuming Zakaira goes, another two from Kante, Kovacic, Jorginho and RLC need to go.  The latter won't want to and you can't force him, so you're then looking at the first three. 

It's all well and good making decisions on some of these players on paper,  but given the wages we pay and most of them probably being quite settled living the high life in London,  it's another thing trying to shift them on.   It's why RLC, Kepa, Koulibaly and Havertz probably aren't going anywhere anytime soon even if they don't always make people's dream squads. 

[Bob Singleton]

15 minutes ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

I've heard great things about Hierre Wego to be fair 😉

Talking of ridiculous rumours, we're yet again being linked with Anthony Gordon (Everton) as are Newcastle. I can only hope that this is purely down to his agent trying to drum up business. AG had a run-in with Everton fans recently, and it's clear he wants to leave the club. Newcastle may be where he wants to go, and they've shown vague interest of late... but nothing like adding another club to the mix to gee up a potential suitor!

[Mark Kelly]

11 minutes ago, Bob Singleton said:

Talking of ridiculous rumours, we're yet again being linked with Anthony Gordon (Everton) as are Newcastle. I can only hope that this is purely down to his agent trying to drum up business. AG had a run-in with Everton fans recently, and it's clear he wants to leave the club. Newcastle may be where he wants to go, and they've shown vague interest of late... but nothing like adding another club to the mix to gee up a potential suitor!

Looks like we're being used as a stalking horse due to our previous interest to get Newcastle to offer what Everton want for him.  £60m could get you 120 Everton quality players in this day and age.

[My Blood Is Blue]

23 minutes ago, Bob Singleton said:

Talking of ridiculous rumours, we're yet again being linked with Anthony Gordon (Everton) as are Newcastle. I can only hope that this is purely down to his agent trying to drum up business. AG had a run-in with Everton fans recently, and it's clear he wants to leave the club. Newcastle may be where he wants to go, and they've shown vague interest of late... but nothing like adding another club to the mix to gee up a potential suitor!

I really hope so. Gordon is not even close to the level needed here. Consider that he is a year younger than Mudryk, different level entirely.

[Bob Singleton]

Just now, My Blood Is Blue said:

I really hope so. Gordon is not even close to the level needed here. Consider that he is a year younger than Mudryk, different level entirely.

Given that we've just bought Mudryk and Madueke, brought in Felix on loan, will be adding Nkunku (new signing) and Husdon-Odoi (loan return) in the summer to a squad that already includes Sterling, Havertz, Pulisic, Ziyech and Hutchison and I really think this is a journo who's been told by his desk editor to come up with 300-500 words of click-bait to fill some space on p34!!! 🙄

[Bison]

@Rob B with regards to the CB situation: 

One thing that I’ve noticed about Kouliably is that he struggles badly to defend 1v1 situations in wide areas. His lateral movement/quickness is really poor so he is very easy to beat. With the way Badiashille has slotted in seamlessly I think there’s a big question mark on Koulibaly’s involvement beyond this season. Of course this will depend on finding clubs willing to cover his salary and ultimately I think that will prove difficult.

Badiashille/Colwill for LCB and Fofana/Silva for RCB with Chalobah as additional cover across the backline. Chalobah definitely seems like a squad player at this point and if he’s happy to provide cover for rotation and injuries then excellent.

And if the reports are true that we are in the process of signing a RB then that would also give you the option to have Reece James cover at RCB if there's an injury crisis.

As a back line that would leave us with:

• LB - Cucurella & Chilwell
• LCB - Badiashile & Colwill 
• RCB - Fofana, Silva & Chalobah
• RB - Reece James & Gusto*

I'd be happy with that.

Edited January 24, 2023 by Bison

[RDCW]

1 hour ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

I've heard great things about Hierre Wego to be fair 😉

I think there were more than one. We don't really sing their names at the start of matches any more though.

[Bob Singleton]

@Bison Personally, good though he already is, I think Colwill should spend another season out on loan.

Not being at Chelsea, with the inherent pressures that brings on any player, where he can develop at his own pace will do him good. He'll be 20 in a month's time, so still plenty of growing up to do.

[Rob B]

30 minutes ago, Bison said:

@Rob B with regards to the CB situation: 

One thing that I’ve noticed about Kouliably is that he struggles badly to defend 1v1 situations in wide areas. His lateral movement/quickness is really poor so he is very easy to beat. With the way Badiashille has slotted in seamlessly I think there’s a big question mark on Koulibaly’s involvement beyond this season. Of course this will depend on finding clubs willing to cover his salary and ultimately I think that will prove difficult.

Badiashille/Colwill for LCB and Fofana/Silva for RCB with Chalobah as additional cover across the backline. Chalobah definitely seems like a squad player at this point and if he’s happy to provide cover for rotation and injuries then excellent.

And if the reports are that we are in the process of signing a RB then that would also give you the option to have Reece James cover at RCB if needed or there's an injury crisis.

As a back line that would leave us with:

• LB - Cucurella & Chilwell
• LCB - Badiashile & Colwill 
• RCB - Fofana, Silva & Chalobah
• RB - Reece James & Gusto*

I'd be happy with that.

I'd be very happy with that, but as you quite rightly say, shifting Koulibaly will be difficult.  He's on a 4 year contract at £160k per week.  No PL club would take him off the back of his performances this season, and no one overseas can match that sort of offer for a player approaching 32. 

Unless we loan him out, I'd imagine he sticks around...