Transfer Talk Topic

[Bob Singleton]

38 minutes ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

Apparently we’ve gone back in with an offer for Enzo, €120m and no players included this time, but Benfica still saying no.

If we trigger the release clause (supposedly €106m) then Benfica can't say no.

Given the figure quoted is €120m (more than the release clause) it suggests that we're again offering structured payments... which we've clearly been told Benfica have no interest in. So either a rehash of an old story done for clicks, or just a load of bollards 😉

In other news, Newcastle have just signed Anthony Gordon from Everton.

[paulw66]

36 minutes ago, Rob B said:

For transfer fees and release clauses yes….  But not for ‘buy out clauses’ according to Jake Cohen.  

He tweeted this a few days ago which is quite interesting…

If that is true, you can see why it hasn't happened and they are negotiating 

[My Blood Is Blue]

17 minutes ago, Bob Singleton said:

If we trigger the release clause (supposedly €106m) then Benfica can't say no.

Given the figure quoted is €120m (more than the release clause) it suggests that we're again offering structured payments... which we've clearly been told Benfica have no interest in. So either a rehash of an old story done for clicks, or just a load of bollards 😉

In other news, Newcastle have just signed Anthony Gordon from Everton.

Yep, absolutely and if that is the case, we’re wasting time and starting to look a bit silly…. If indeed any of it is true.

[My Blood Is Blue]

Talk of Chelsea talks with Benfica for Enzo starting again are all over Twitter. I think it’s going to happen.

[Bison]

5 minutes ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

Talk of Chelsea talks with Benfica for Enzo starting again are all over Twitter. I think it’s going to happen.

I was quietly confident we would get both Gusto and Enzo once I read Uefa changed their rules regarding player costs being spread across a maximum of 5 years.

Enzo is going to be our biggest transfer outlay by far - he will likely cost 90-100m. If the club want him then you have to get him now in order to spread his huge cost across 7+ years because the Uefa rule change will not apply retrospectively.

If we're going to sign him it's now or never.

[Bob Singleton]

13 minutes ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

Talk of Chelsea talks with Benfica for Enzo starting again are all over Twitter. I think it’s going to happen.

Yes, the rumours are spreading like a wildfire now.

1 minute ago, Bison said:

I was quietly confident we would get both Gusto and Enzo once I read Uefa changed their rules regarding player costs being spread across a maximum of 5 years.

Enzo is going to be our biggest transfer outlay by far - he will likely cost 90-100m. If the club want him then you have to get him now in order to spread his huge cost across 7+ years because the Uefa rule change will not apply retrospectively.

If we're going to sign him it's now or never.

Indeed. From an FFP point of view, it really does seem to be a now or never situation.

We're also going to need to be clever with outgoings, either now or in the summer.  If Enzo does come in, I guess that means no extension for either one or other of Kante and Jorginho... both those (potential) wages need to be removed from the books. With Lukaku staying at Inter looking less and less likely by the day, plus Aubameyang also on big wages, we have a lot of restructuring to do.

[Bison]

1 minute ago, Bob Singleton said:

Yes, the rumours are spreading like a wildfire now.

Indeed. From an FFP point of view, it really does seem to be a now or never situation.

We're also going to need to be clever with outgoings, either now or in the summer.  If Enzo does come in, I guess that means no extension for either one or other of Kante and Jorginho... both those (potential) wages need to be removed from the books. With Lukaku staying at Inter looking less and less likely by the day, plus Aubameyang also on big wages, we have a lot of restructuring to do.

I'm really keen to see what the club does commercially. We have new shirt and sleeve sponsors to announce as Three and Whalefin are both coming to an end.

Boehly-Clearlake have spoken about how they're going to increase revenue so (along with being smart with outgoings) I also want to see them deliver on the commercial side of the club. Making more money would help with FFP, salaries etc.

[paulw66]

Story is growing legs.... My word, what a window! 

[My Blood Is Blue]

Enzo seems very likely and it must be for the reasons you mention @Bison. The summer is going to be very busy for us in terms of outgoings as has also been mentioned, but it’s not going to be easy to move some of our players on.

Pulisic and Ziyech probably going to go for fairly cheap, to get them off the books, along with Jorginho and Kante on free transfers. I do think it’s risky losing both, from an experience POV, but with Silva hanging around that makes a difference.

What a crazy January window, never seen anything like it.

[My Blood Is Blue]

26 minutes ago, Bison said:

I'm really keen to see what the club does commercially. We have new shirt and sleeve sponsors to announce as Three and Whalefin are both coming to an end.

Boehly-Clearlake have spoken about how they're going to increase revenue so (along with being smart with outgoings) I also want to see them deliver on the commercial side of the club. Making more money would help with FFP, salaries etc.

Yep, new sponsorships going to be very interesting and very important, another reason securing European football of some sort next season is important. I would imagine these owners will be very good at finding and agreeing big sponsorship deals, with the background they have.

[Bob Singleton]

@BisonAbsolutely.  Even if we don't qualify for Europe next season (and I personally don't discount our chances of winning the CL... we've won it with weaker squads) the team we're building for next season and beyond looks very exciting. Our past history, what looks like being a bright, exciting future, and a more American approach to sports marketing ought to see us getting decent sponsorship deals.

I'm not saying we did badly under Abramovich, but I think we were a bit "safe" at times. I get the impression Boehly & Co intend ripping up all the (unwritten) rules - just as they have done with these long contracts.

[My Blood Is Blue]

3 minutes ago, Bob Singleton said:

@BisonAbsolutely.  Even if we don't qualify for Europe next season (and I personally don't discount our chances of winning the CL... we've won it with weaker squads) the team we're building for next season and beyond looks very exciting. Our past history, what looks like being a bright, exciting future, and a more American approach to sports marketing ought to see us getting decent sponsorship deals.

I'm not saying we did badly under Abramovich, but I think we were a bit "safe" at times. I get the impression Boehly & Co intend ripping up all the (unwritten) rules - just as they have done with these long contracts.

I think you’re spot on here Bob, we have to think the owners have got some big sponsorship deals lined up for the summer, plus some outgoings and if that’s the case, then we appear to have ourselves some very savvy new owners. We’re going to be hated even more than we already are… fantastic!

[My Blood Is Blue]

 

[Bob Singleton]

This is what we will have (based on current squad and loanees) between the final game of the season and the official start of the next transfer window

 

GOALKEEPERS: Kepa, Mendy, Bettinelli, Slonina (U-21)

FULL BACKS: Azpilicueta, James, Chilwell, Cucurela, Sterling D, Maatsen (U-21), Gusto

CENTRAL DEFENDERS: Silva, Koulibaly, Chalobah, W Fofana, Sarr, Ampadu, Colwill (U-21), Badiashile

CENTRAL MIDFIELD: Kante*, Jorginho*, Kovacic, Loftus-Cheek, Gallagher, Zakaria***, Chukwuemeka (U-21), Hall (U-21), Santos (U-21)

WIDE MIDFIELD/ATTACKERS: R Sterling, Havertz, Mount, Pulisic, Ziyech, Felix***, Hudson-Odoi, Anjorin, Nkunku**, Mudryck, Madueke

STRIKERS: Aubameyang, Broja, Lukaku, D Fofana

* Contract ends 30th June 2023 - yet to be renewed
** Not officially confirmed yet
*** On loan to Chelsea

I think this may spell the end for Azpi, Dujon Sterling, Maatsen, sarr, Ampadu, Kante, Jorginho, Loftus-Cheek, Pulisic, Ziyech, Hudson-Odoi, Anjorin, though what we might get for some of those, only time will tell. Just don't expect big fees, as other clubs will know we're desperate to sell.  As for Aubameyang and Lukaku... those are two big headaches I really wouldn't want to have, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Lukaku back in the No 9 shirt with us next season.

Summer's going to be fun!!

[Sciatika]

A few years back, we used to say that if we could get one or two players a year through the academy to a level that they could represent the club then we could become self-sufficient and not have to rely on the transfer market. It is appealing as an idea but was always unrealistic. Very few players reach that level. However, if we can develop enough players who are able to play at a high level, the income they generate from sales might be sufficient to cover most of the amortised cost of the team especially given that the contracts are long and the annual costs would consequently be much lower. We don't need to develop the highest quality because that is very difficult. We simply have to develop enough at the next level. We would have a model where we sign the best talents and pay for them by developing a conveyor belt of very good players. Of course, one or two might become good enough, but since we have to farm them out to get experience, we may just as well sell them with buy back clauses. All we have to do uis make sure they have sufficient club/association experience to satisfy association and European squad rules. Is that the model being pursued?

[Bob Singleton]

@Sciatika Only time will tell if that is the model we pursue, given the new owners haven't been here a year yet, but I suppose the multi-club ownership they've talked about could see us going down that road.

Developing a conveyor belt - for want of a better phrase - of 'more than decent' players (such as the likes of Guehi, Tomori, Abrahams, etc) and using that as part of the revenue stream to offset against investment in the highest talents makes more sense than expecting to create a team of mainly home-grown players and adding exceptional talents from outside.

[Rob B]

Another reasonable source of income, particularly where we may not be able to make sales, could be loan fees.  

It’s not unrealistic that some PL clubs could pay up to £5m for some of our better talents, which adds up when you have the likes of Colwill, Slonina, Hall, Chukwuemeka, Broja, Gallagher and Chalobah (even) on the books, most of which without any transfer fees to offset.

The latter two would be a bit unusual given their minutes this year and not necessarily something I’d advocate, but with Silva and Kante in the twilight of their career, we just might be able to sell them the longer term view. 

(Ordinarily I would add RLC and CHO to this list but both have a year left on their deal, so I doubt we’d loan them unless they renewed) 

[boratsbrother]

Fans of other teams are having hissy fits over our spending this season. Some are saying it's "sports washing" while the more reasonable ones are correctly saying our owners are just gambling on the spending paying off.

 

[JaneB]

10 minutes ago, boratsbrother said:

Fans of other teams are having hissy fits over our spending this season. Some are saying it's "sports washing" while the more reasonable ones are correctly saying our owners are just gambling on the spending paying off.

 

Welcome back 😊 How did you find us?

[chara]

30 minutes ago, boratsbrother said:

Fans of other teams are having hissy fits over our spending this season. Some are saying it's "sports washing" while the more reasonable ones are correctly saying our owners are just gambling on the spending paying off.

 

Great to see you made it back!

"Sports washing"?...huh...do they know what that means?

All "investments" in players are a gamble...some work some don't...always been the way at any level.

Examples...Silva...worked..Pulisic...not so much!

[thevelourfog]

13 hours ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

Enzo seems very likely and it must be for the reasons you mention @Bison. The summer is going to be very busy for us in terms of outgoings as has also been mentioned, but it’s not going to be easy to move some of our players on.

If Fernández comes in now and with Nkunku and Gusto already done for June, our summer dealings are surely going to be almost solely outgoings! Hope some of those brought in are selling specialists.

[Thiago97]

Wow what a January window this has been already, even more so if we pull off Enzo late in the day.

I think these January deals whilst notoriously difficult to pull off, they can also have a large upside if you can get them over the line. It's easy to underestimate the value of having players bed in for approx half a season, especially when they are coming from outside the PL. This will only serve the club well ready to hit the ground running from next season. We saw this to some extent with Spurs strong start this season, and how key players like Bentuncur and Kulusevski have been ready to go in the PL after having Jan-May last term to understand our league.

We also surely seem to have done a lot of our difficult summer shopping already. A summer which focuses on outgoings, with only possibly 2-3 key incomings , gives the coaching staff less disruption with the squad mix.

Question marks can be asked of the owners in some areas, but you cannot question their ambitions and the investment they are injecting into the club on the pitch.

[paulw66]

51 minutes ago, thevelourfog said:

If Fernández comes in now and with Nkunku and Gusto already done for June, our summer dealings are surely going to be almost solely outgoings! Hope some of those brought in are selling specialists.

That is somewhat lost on those crying about FFP. The core of the squad is now very young. IF the majority of these signings come off, then we wont need to sign many players at all for the next 2 or 3 years. 

[My Blood Is Blue]

What’s funny is that we’re going to spend all this money on these amazing young players and our best player will still be a 38 year old CB we signed for free. I love Thiago Silva, ridiculous player.

[CarefreeMuratcan]

14 hours ago, paulw66 said:

Story is growing legs.... My word, what a window! 

I knew this would happen. We would keep prodding for a discount, Benfica would hold out for the full amount and deadline approaches so we just go for the full amount to get it done.

I suppose it makes sense from our perspective. We were probably secretly prepared to pay the full amount from the start, but just wanted to let the days play out and see if we could get a discount. The risk I suppose is leaving it too late for the paperwork to get done.