Chelsea Discussion

[True Blue]

Another major set back would probably send his career away from Chelsea and he would have a different career than expected. Hopefully he will fully recover and return to full fitness. He is a midfielder that provides attacking threat and goals, so that is something we need right now. With him back heavy rotation will be possible and Lampard could struggle to find the best midfield out of the current crop.

[Bluewolf]

On 25/01/2020 at 15:22, carefreeluke said:

Really hope the injury doesn't affect him and he's able to get everything in his game back. Also, praying injuries don't hinder his career anymore, genuinely one of England's best players if he can stay fit and healthy.

 

Got to love him, such good balance and strength to hold players off and tricky with his feet, will be good to have him back in the squad

[Bluewolf]

In other news I was reading that Cavani has opted to join Atletico 

[Cicero]

Then we need to keep Giroud and Lampard needs to start utilising him. 

Ive honestly had it with Batshuayi and his limitations. 

[DNA]

Cavani's 300k wages are astronomical, and 'if' he is dropping them.. I doubt it would be a significant plunge. Probably for the best Chelsea miss out, as he will see himself as a solidified first name on the team sheet no matter what, given his pedigree. They need a solid mid-range market striker and maintain the wage structure unless an experienced 'leader type' emerges for their back 4 or they go for a marquee winger.

[True Blue]

Talk of Piatek on loan, but Milan would like to sell. Good age but not a big improvement on what we have to be fair.

[Cicero]

11 hours ago, DNA said:

Cavani's 300k wages are astronomical, and 'if' he is dropping them.. I doubt it would be a significant plunge. Probably for the best Chelsea miss out, as he will see himself as a solidified first name on the team sheet no matter what, given his pedigree. They need a solid mid-range market striker and maintain the wage structure unless an experienced 'leader type' emerges for their back 4 or they go for a marquee winger.

We only want a 6 month loan, to which he’d become a free agent. 

 

[Stan]

6 hours ago, True Blue said:

Talk of Piatek on loan, but Milan would like to sell. Good age but not a big improvement on what we have to be fair.

Spurs want him apparently. 

[Cicero]

1 minute ago, Stan said:

Spurs want him apparently. 

They can have him. There must be a reason why Milan are so willing to sell at such a cheap. They want to sell, not loan. Even Spurs don’t want to pay over 27 million for him. 

[Storts]

9 minutes ago, Cicero said:

They can have him. There must be a reason why Milan are so willing to sell at such a cheap. They want to sell, not loan. Even Spurs don’t want to pay over 27 million for him. 

We want an 18 month loan with option

[True Blue]

16 hours ago, Storts said:

We want an 18 month loan with option

With option to buy?

[Storts]

2 hours ago, True Blue said:

With option to buy?

Yeah but Milan want obligation 

[Bluewolf]

Well glad to see we have finally got at least one of our many targets over the line in this transfer window

[Cicero]

Tbh if no one comes in and no one leaves I’m siding with the board on this one. 

Giroud needs to be played and Lampard has zero reason to play Batshuayi over him, to which Batshuayi has proved time and time again he is bottom half quality. 

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

On 28/01/2020 at 06:52, Cicero said:

They can have him. There must be a reason why Milan are so willing to sell at such a cheap. They want to sell, not loan. Even Spurs don’t want to pay over 27 million for him. 

Milan fans seem to hate him too. So many are practically begging for him to leave.

I've barely watched any Serie A football this year (which is a shame, as it's my second favourite league). But I asked my old roommate (a Milan fan) what he thought about Spurs & Chelsea being interested in Piatek & he said: he's a confidence player that's out of confidence & other than scoring he doesn't make any contribution to the side - so when he's not scoring and out of form (like he's been this season), he's felt like Milan were playing with 10 men.

It seems like if he's getting service and he's feeling confident in himself, there's a potentially great striker in the lad. But if he's on a side that's struggled for creativity until they had to plead for Ibrahimovic to come back and he's lost all confidence in himself because he's not getting service and when he does get chances his shots are awful... well then he's going to look extraordinarily bad.

I can see why both Spurs and Chelsea would be apprehensive about paying a lot for a player that may have just had a purple patch last year and isn't all that great. At the same time, I can see why both clubs that are currently lacking in striking options would look for a player that's got the upside to get them more goals with a change of scenery.

[Cicero]

27 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Milan fans seem to hate him too. So many are practically begging for him to leave.

I've barely watched any Serie A football this year (which is a shame, as it's my second favourite league). But I asked my old roommate (a Milan fan) what he thought about Spurs & Chelsea being interested in Piatek & he said: he's a confidence player that's out of confidence & other than scoring he doesn't make any contribution to the side - so when he's not scoring and out of form (like he's been this season), he's felt like Milan were playing with 10 men.

It seems like if he's getting service and he's feeling confident in himself, there's a potentially great striker in the lad. But if he's on a side that's struggled for creativity until they had to plead for Ibrahimovic to come back and he's lost all confidence in himself because he's not getting service and when he does get chances his shots are awful... well then he's going to look extraordinarily bad.

I can see why both Spurs and Chelsea would be apprehensive about paying a lot for a player that may have just had a purple patch last year and isn't all that great. At the same time, I can see why both clubs that are currently lacking in striking options would look for a player that's got the upside to get them more goals with a change of scenery.

Milan were even willing to take a loss in profit on this transfer. They genuinely wanted to get rid. 

Reckon both us and Spurs dodged a bullet. 

[True Blue]

We are linked with Mertens

[Cicero]

Tariq Lamptey to Brighton for 6 million. I do hope we include a buy back in there. 

Good for him wanting first team football. No way he will get playing time here given the competition ahead of him. Our captain and our best youth prospect. 

Edited January 31, 2020 by Cicero

[True Blue]

6 hours ago, Cicero said:

Tariq Lamptey to Brighton for 6 million. I do hope we include a buy back in there. 

Good for him wanting first team football. No way he will get playing time here given the competition ahead of him. Our captain and our best youth prospect. 

Same i love a player that doesn't want to sit and be loaned out forever. Tariq is definitely super talented and at Brighton he would shine and open doors for bigger moves. Sad to see it happen but wish him the absolutely best.

[CaaC (John)+]

 

[Cicero]

Think he really wanted Cavani. Other than that, there’s no one available that would upgrade on what we have. 

We lose tomorrow things will go tits up by our fan base no doubt. 

[Bluewolf]

With this lack of activity and knowing we need to strengthen I can't help but wonder if they have one eye on another manager coming in over the summer potentially?? Why invest in new players that Lampard might prefer if they might not suit the next incoming manager? It's clear he is not happy with the lack of transfer activity and we are left to wonder just how hard we tried to bring in players even if they were on loan?? Makes no sense that we would not try and improve the squad to keep pushing to keep that top 4 position

[Cicero]

Because the club and Lampard agreed that they will only pursue the right players who are available at the right time. Too many panic buys/poorly thought out transfers have stagnated this club for years (2015 and 2017 summer windows specifically). 

Cavani was virtually the only player available who’d improve us and would be a short term signing to help us secure top 4. He didn’t want an England switch and PSG laughed at Atletico’s offer. 

I’m actually glad there’s no activity as based on everyone we’ve been realistically rumored with this month, they aren’t upgrades on what we have or what we should aspiring for. A lot of our issues defensively is coaching and a lot of our lack of chance conversion is confidence. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

2 hours ago, Cicero said:

Because the club and Lampard agreed that they will only pursue the right players who are available at the right time. Too many panic buys/poorly thought out transfers have stagnated this club for years (2015 and 2017 summer windows specifically). 

Cavani was virtually the only player available who’d improve us and would be a short term signing to help us secure top 4. He didn’t want an England switch and PSG laughed at Atletico’s offer. 

I’m actually glad there’s no activity as based on everyone we’ve been realistically rumored with this month, they aren’t upgrades on what we have or what we should aspiring for. A lot of our issues defensively is coaching and a lot of our lack of chance conversion is confidence. 

That approach of the right players at the right price at the right time has been Klopp's approach. Sometimes though, when a club knows you're exclusively in for your player... they can squeeze a bit more out of you, as we found with Virgil (granted, getting caught tapping him up probably hurt our case ).

Assuming pressure doesn't mount on Lampard, which I fear it will because it's Chelsea, but assuming pressure doesn't start piling up with Chelsea's issues and the lack of investment... I think this is the correct approach. Those specifically chosen players (although there should always be backups - Salah was a B option for Klopp... but what a second choice, because he was still identified as a particular player that'd take us up) are the players that'll improve Chelsea pretty massively as they're bedded into the squad. But there's always little overall tweaks and improvements that can be made with the current crop of players, who aren't bad, they just need to have errors coached out of them. And fixing those errors and the whole squad getting good at consistently doing the basics right means that overall there's more consistency in that side and that little tweak translates to a bit of steady gradual improvement.

I think overall that's better for Chelsea's long term prospects of success and it's more sustainable (and a better use of Chelsea's enormous resources) to only spend big on the players the club has spent a long time identifying and making sure they fit in with the more positive approach Lampard is trying to instill at Chelsea.

I just hope they give him a fair shake, considering how he's still pretty new to management - especially at this level. I fear one bad transfer window from Lampard and the Chelsea board will go back to their instinct of sacking the manager.

[Cicero]

You’ve become the new Sirbalon