Transfer Talk Topic

[Max Fowler]

If Poch wants Thiago to stay honestly I question any fan who says we should get rid.
Why? Because we need to "move on"?

We can sign a top centre-half for 70 million and still keep Thiago around for free. Honestly to me it makes more sense selling Gallagher for 50 million (at least getting somewhat of a fee than getting rid of Thiago).

He adds experience, connection to the fans - and no I am NOT saying he should play every week next season.

[Max Fowler]

1 hour ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

Personally, I don't think we should be spending the sort of money mentioned on him. My reason for this is partly that I'm not convinced he is worth it, but my main reason is that any money spent should be spent elsewhere first, most importantly on a new CB and following that an experienced midfielder that can help us control games and manage games better. Once we nail these signings, then I'd turn to a striker, but it still wouldn't be Osimhen, purely because of the cost.

Goal scoring isn't our big issue anymore, although it is quite reliant on one man at the moment, but if he maintains this level then we should build the attack around him and actually, someone like Jackson is quite a good option to play with Palmer as he's willing to work hard and link up play, being the man for Palmer to play off.

I think you are mixing a few arguments here.

Simply put I would say if the club is prioritising a striker which it seems to be, then we should have a debate about who the best option is.

At this point I don't understand why Sesko is a good option when he has scored 9 goals in 26 games for Leipzig.

vs Osimhen's 63 in 103 for Napoli. At least Gyokeres has been banging them in for Sporting.

[My Blood Is Blue]

3 hours ago, Max Fowler said:

I think you are mixing a few arguments here.

Simply put I would say if the club is prioritising a striker which it seems to be, then we should have a debate about who the best option is.

At this point I don't understand why Sesko is a good option when he has scored 9 goals in 26 games for Leipzig.

vs Osimhen's 63 in 103 for Napoli. At least Gyokeres has been banging them in for Sporting.

No, I was giving my reasoning for why we shouldn't sign Osimhen, which is essentially, don't spend that money on him as we need other key areas sorted first. This is just my opinion. If the club are prioritising a striker, as you suggest, then I stick by my view of not signing Osimhen because I think the money required to get him would really limit our ability to sort the other areas of the squad after getting him in. In my opinion, if we don't sort out a new and top-quality CB and get some experience in that role and in the middle of the park, it will be nearly irrelevant what striker we sign.

If we wanted to discuss what strikers to sign, then I have to take the above into account, otherwise, I would just suggest we go out and pay £200m for Kane or Haaland, if money wasn't an issue.

I don't have anything against Osimhen as such and to be fair, I've barely seen him play, but from what little I know and have seen, I don't think he's a £100m+ striker. A big issue is, is that the pool of top-quality strikers in world football has shrunk, so finding any real value is nearly impossible. It may be time that we accept a 'classic' top-quality striker isn't there at the moment and therefore playing Palmer off Jackson and letting them build on their relationship may be a good way to go and try and find a different type of player to bring off the bench/start in certain games (a cheaper version of Ivan Toney for example). 

Gyökeres is smashing it at Sporting, but I would be nervous about him, purely because he's played in this country before, at a lower level and didn't exactly set the world on fire. That isn't to say he couldn't cut it in the PL, but I'd probably want to see his 2nd season at Sporting before spending too much.

Sesko does look like a decent player and I'd be more interested in him than Gyökeres, but he is young and patience would likely be required. Those goal-scoring stats are a little misleading as they are in the league only and he has started on the bench for half those games and rarely plays a full 90. Of his goals, 6 of the 9 have come in matches where he's started rather than come off the bench. In addition to his league goals, he has 4 in 10 in other competitions. His record at Salzburg, Liefering and Slovenia is very impressive for his age.

So of the 3 mentioned above, Sesko is probably who I would sign, but he is only 20 and I'm not sure we want someone that young! I'd be keeping an eye on things at Newcastle as well, in case Isak becomes available. 

As I said, I haven't seen too much of Osimhen, so would be good to hear why you think he is worth that fee and how he'd fit into the team we have/are building?

[My Blood Is Blue]

3 hours ago, Max Fowler said:

If Poch wants Thiago to stay honestly I question any fan who says we should get rid.
Why? Because we need to "move on"?

We can sign a top centre-half for 70 million and still keep Thiago around for free. Honestly to me it makes more sense selling Gallagher for 50 million (at least getting somewhat of a fee than getting rid of Thiago).

He adds experience, connection to the fans - and no I am NOT saying he should play every week next season.

If Silva wants to stay, then I wouldn't be against giving him another year, but it would mainly be for his influence and experience in the dressing room rather than on the pitch, otherwise, we're just kicking the can down the road. We all agree (I think) Silva can't be the answer anymore, mainly because at his age, at any point his body could give up and it just won't be able to do what his brain wants it to do... think Ivanovic and Azpilicueta, they stayed a season too long and it was hard to watch.

I think the other problem with keeping him is that it makes bringing in another CB, which we really do need, even harder as we'll need to move on at least 2 if not 3 other CBs as we already have Silva, Disasi, Badiashile, Colwill, Chalobah and Fofana.

Getting rid of Gallagher instead of Silva would be very shortsighted IMO.

[Max Fowler]

2 hours ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

If Silva wants to stay, then I wouldn't be against giving him another year, but it would mainly be for his influence and experience in the dressing room rather than on the pitch, otherwise, we're just kicking the can down the road. We all agree (I think) Silva can't be the answer anymore, mainly because at his age, at any point his body could give up and it just won't be able to do what his brain wants it to do... think Ivanovic and Azpilicueta, they stayed a season too long and it was hard to watch.

I think the other problem with keeping him is that it makes bringing in another CB, which we really do need, even harder as we'll need to move on at least 2 if not 3 other CBs as we already have Silva, Disasi, Badiashile, Colwill, Chalobah and Fofana.

Getting rid of Gallagher instead of Silva would be very shortsighted IMO.

I wasn't saying we should get rid of Gallagher intead of Silva, I was saying it actually makes more sense to get rid of Gallagher but I still don't think it make sense to get rid of Connor at all.

Naturally I don't agree that Azpi stayed a season too long. It just helps to have these experienced players in the side. 

Also the framing of Silva as not "the answer" is a misleading one. I agree but I also don't think Badiashille is "the answer", nor Disasi nor likely Fofana (due to his injuries).

At least with Badiashille and Disasi we could still sell them for money, as with Gallagher.  I could equally say not selling Badishille and Disasi now is just "kicking the can down the road" because they don't look up to the level either.

They all come with pros and cons but like you say keeping Silva for his leadership qualities and experience alone (for free!!* + wages) seems an absolute no brainer to me, especially when Poch wants him.

Edited April 19 by Max Fowler

[Max Fowler]

2 hours ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

No, I was giving my reasoning for why we shouldn't sign Osimhen, which is essentially, don't spend that money on him as we need other key areas sorted first. This is just my opinion. If the club are prioritising a striker, as you suggest, then I stick by my view of not signing Osimhen because I think the money required to get him would really limit our ability to sort the other areas of the squad after getting him in. In my opinion, if we don't sort out a new and top-quality CB and get some experience in that role and in the middle of the park, it will be nearly irrelevant what striker we sign.

If we wanted to discuss what strikers to sign, then I have to take the above into account, otherwise, I would just suggest we go out and pay £200m for Kane or Haaland, if money wasn't an issue.

I don't have anything against Osimhen as such and to be fair, I've barely seen him play, but from what little I know and have seen, I don't think he's a £100m+ striker. A big issue is, is that the pool of top-quality strikers in world football has shrunk, so finding any real value is nearly impossible. It may be time that we accept a 'classic' top-quality striker isn't there at the moment and therefore playing Palmer off Jackson and letting them build on their relationship may be a good way to go and try and find a different type of player to bring off the bench/start in certain games (a cheaper version of Ivan Toney for example). 

Gyökeres is smashing it at Sporting, but I would be nervous about him, purely because he's played in this country before, at a lower level and didn't exactly set the world on fire. That isn't to say he couldn't cut it in the PL, but I'd probably want to see his 2nd season at Sporting before spending too much.

Sesko does look like a decent player and I'd be more interested in him than Gyökeres, but he is young and patience would likely be required. Those goal-scoring stats are a little misleading as they are in the league only and he has started on the bench for half those games and rarely plays a full 90. Of his goals, 6 of the 9 have come in matches where he's started rather than come off the bench. In addition to his league goals, he has 4 in 10 in other competitions. His record at Salzburg, Liefering and Slovenia is very impressive for his age.

So of the 3 mentioned above, Sesko is probably who I would sign, but he is only 20 and I'm not sure we want someone that young! I'd be keeping an eye on things at Newcastle as well, in case Isak becomes available. 

As I said, I haven't seen too much of Osimhen, so would be good to hear why you think he is worth that fee and how he'd fit into the team we have/are building?

You make some good points. To be honest I haven't seen much of Osimhen either, but I still think there is a general concencus on here that has emerged for no good reason (because we all saw him struggle in the AFCON final?)

I also haven't seen much of Sesko but like you say I am concerned about more youth.

I would also point out that Caicedo was no way worth that much money but we still dropped the bag for him because he was a specific type player also in a limited market. Just like Osimhen.

The pros for me for Osimhen are - goalscoring record, won the title for Napoli, AFCON player of the year, actually really highly rated across world football, has experience, and clearly fancies joining us a lot (Chelsea/Drogba fan growing up)

If he wants to join he represents a foray into an elite market which we may have little access to in other positions. Whether he is elite compared to strikers of old is irrelevant, if he is the best available and we are going all out for a centre-forward then we should get him.

EDIT: But I agree with you overall, if going all out for Osimhen hinders us from buying top quality players in other key positions, it's worth considering getting someone cheaper

Frankly I don't think the board is willing to go all out to get a top quality centre half / goalkeeper etc.

Edited April 19 by Max Fowler

[My Blood Is Blue]

24 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

I wasn't saying we should get rid of Gallagher intead of Silva, I was saying it actually makes more sense to get rid of Gallagher but I still don't think it make sense to get rid of Connor at all.

Naturally I don't agree that Azpi stayed a season too long. It just helps to have these experienced players in the side. 

Also the framing of Silva as not "the answer" is a misleading one. I agree but I also don't think Badiashille is "the answer", nor Disasi nor likely Fofana (due to his injuries).

At least with Badiashille and Disasi we could still sell them for money, as with Gallagher.  I could equally say not selling Badishille and Disasi now is just "kicking the can down the road" because they don't look up to the level either.

They all come with pros and cons but like you say keeping Silva for his leadership qualities and experience alone (for free!!* + wages) seems an absolute no brainer to me, especially when Poch wants him.

I think Azpi stayed 1 too many seasons in terms of the game time he had, if you know what I mean? His experience was invaluable, but he was more important to have around the squad rather than on the pitch, which is how I see Silva being if he’s here next season. Guato for example has been much better for us on the pitch this season than Azpi was last season.

I agree Disasi and Badiashile aren’t the answer as well, which is why I’m so keen for us to sign a proper quality CB to partner Colwill next season. I think Disasi is a decent back up for the squad and Badiashile I’m unsure of because he looked good last season, but terrible this season. Fofana… I think he’s a write off already.

[My Blood Is Blue]

23 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

You make some good points. To be honest I haven't seen much of Osimhen either, but I still think there is a general concencus on here that has emerged for no good reason (because we all saw him struggle in the AFCON final?)

I also haven't seen much of Sesko but like you say I am concerned about more youth.

I would also point out that Caicedo was no way worth that much money but we still dropped the bag for him because he was a specific type player also in a limited market. Just like Osimhen.

The pros for me for Osimhen are - goalscoring record, won the title for Napoli, AFCON player of the year, actually really highly rated across world football, has experience, and clearly fancies joining us a lot (Chelsea/Drogba fan growing up)

If he wants to join he represents a foray into an elite market which we may have little access to in other positions. Whether he is elite compared to strikers of old is irrelevant, if he is the best available and we are going all out for a centre-forward then we should get him.

EDIT: But I agree with you overall, if going all out for Osimhen hinders us from buying top quality players in other key positions, it's worth considering getting someone cheaper

Frankly I don't think the board is willing to go all out to get a top quality centre half / goalkeeper etc.

The reasons for signing him are fair, I agree and can see why people would want to sign him and I wouldn’t be against it, just not for the money Napoli would have us play.

I partly agree with your last point as well, I don’t think the board will go out and spend the money needed on a CB. A GK I’m less concerned about though, I think Petrovic is fine for the level we’re currently at, but can be and should be upgraded on when the right opportunity is there.

[Max Fowler]

15 minutes ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

The reasons for signing him are fair, I agree and can see why people would want to sign him and I wouldn’t be against it, just not for the money Napoli would have us play.

I partly agree with your last point as well, I don’t think the board will go out and spend the money needed on a CB. A GK I’m less concerned about though, I think Petrovic is fine for the level we’re currently at, but can be and should be upgraded on when the right opportunity is there.

Yeah I think we're agreed that one of the first priorities is a top centre back.

Maybe the board can pull something out but I really think we'll go for a Guehi or someone, not what we need.

If we need to wait for the right player in the right position then fine - I just hope the football team realise we need to elevate the squad with a new key player in a key position (not just another one to add to the pack). 

I look at Van Dijk as the model - or even Palmer now (though he is not easy to replicate).

I agree on Petrovic.

[Max Fowler]

22 minutes ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

I think Azpi stayed 1 too many seasons in terms of the game time he had, if you know what I mean? His experience was invaluable, but he was more important to have around the squad rather than on the pitch, which is how I see Silva being if he’s here next season. Guato for example has been much better for us on the pitch this season than Azpi was last season.

I agree Disasi and Badiashile aren’t the answer as well, which is why I’m so keen for us to sign a proper quality CB to partner Colwill next season. I think Disasi is a decent back up for the squad and Badiashile I’m unsure of because he looked good last season, but terrible this season. Fofana… I think he’s a write off already.

But then we have had to play CBs a number of times at right back this season because James is so injury prone. Could have helped to have Azpi around, but he wanted to leave anyway. For that reason I was fine with letting him go but I don't necessarily agree that he was here too long.

[bertles86]

Amorim is on a plane to London. Does this count as transfer gossip?

If we got him, things could get exciting. Great young coach.

 

Edited April 22 by bertles86

[Max Fowler]

 

 

[My Blood Is Blue]

1 hour ago, Max Fowler said:

 

 

Did you not notice our wonderful new breaking news ticker on the home page?!

[Ham]

18 minutes ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

Did you not notice our wonderful new breaking news ticker on the home page?!

I'm so glad the old site went down.

Great work @My Blood Is Blue

Edited April 22 by Ham

[Mark Kelly]

20 minutes ago, Ham said:

I'm so glad the old site went down.

Great work @My Blood Is Blue

Me too, Sam has been absolutely brilliant from day one. 

[My Blood Is Blue]

4 minutes ago, Mark Kelly said:

Me too, Sam has been absolutely brilliant from day one. 

I was hoping to use the breaking news ticker for the first time to announce Poch going, just for you Mark, but it isn’t to be… yet.

[Chelsea_Matt]

4 minutes ago, Mark Kelly said:

Me too, Sam has been absolutely brilliant from day one. 

💯💯🔥👀🫶🏻 

[chara]

16 minutes ago, Mark Kelly said:

Me too, Sam has been absolutely brilliant from day one. 

 

37 minutes ago, Ham said:

I'm so glad the old site went down.

Great work @My Blood Is Blue

Seems almost superfluous for me to totally agree with both posts,,,, The breathing of new life into the Forum and a lighter touch all round has led to..for me...a great place to wander  around in my later Chelsea years.

The off subject wanderings bring a feeling of companionship and willingness to share thoughts, smiles and worthy issues whilst still keeping the Chelsea/Football debate at a high level of input and conflicting..or rather different view points argued at what ever level of emotions debaters choose.

A True Blue oasis for the real Chelsea heart and Sam could not have a better Forum moniker!

Not to forget how ably Sam is aided by Jane and MT...and the almost instant support at the new beginning by everyone especially those who reached out to the many Lost Boys who found their way back!🎀

[JaneB]

Without Sam we would be nowhere, literally.

He’s also one of the nicest and kindest people you will ever come across.

Best decision I ever made when I asked him to help me a few years back when sadly Michael was poorly and away from the site.

💙

[My Blood Is Blue]

Thank you for the nice messages, but stop it now and go back to debating whether Poch will go or if Disasi is any better than Chalobah!

P.S. He won’t and he isn’t.

[chara]

3 minutes ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

Thank you for the nice messages, but stop it now and go back to debating whether Poch will go or if Disasi is any better than Chalobah!

P.S. He won’t and he isn’t.

Ha Ha Sam..... We wont and you know it 😁😆🤣

[Max Fowler]

 

worrying

[Mark Kelly]

3 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

 

worrying

Mykhailo Mudyks is still not convinced by Pochettino's defensive work and tactical naivety also .

Neither am I 

[Morgs]

6 hours ago, Mark Kelly said:

Mykhailo Mudyks is still not convinced by Pochettino's defensive work and tactical naivety also .

Neither am I 

Kid needs a loan. I've been saying it since he arrived.  We should loan him to Pompey if they go up to the Championship, it would be superb. 

[Floyd25]

On 23/04/2024 at 11:53, Max Fowler said:

 

worrying

Good job he’s got experienced players around him to help him…..oh wait he doesn’t. Well good job there’s a good structure in place on and off the pitch…oh wait it’s a shambles, just everyone on the same wage fighting over penalties for contract bonuses.