abister1

Seems to me the approach she takes is put an offer let them sweat it a bit and then come back. Which is likely to work when maybe you're the only interested party. She's actually competing against others and the approach should be once the first offer is made go through sustained intense daily negotiations with the intention of wrapping up in few days or a week. If it doesnt work move on. We seem to be having drawn out negotiation sessions. Transfer window long ones.

Plus Iron lady has worked for him a lot longer than just Chelsea affiliation and he trusts her very much.

That's true Enigma. But what tends to happen at that level is when an aide is trusted they are given a free hand. Delegation will be the order of the day when you're an international business magnate. There' s only so much he can get directly involved with. Sure there will be a point at which input from Roman will be sought but that limit could be set at a high level he's not required to put any input at all through a whole window's negotiations.

No player in particular. All our deals seem to be following the same theme. We struggle to reach a price with selling club and if we do the player discussions tend to drag on as well.

Just thinking out loud here. I think she's done very well for this club and is rightfully one of Roman's most trusted lieutenants. Inside sources say Granovskaia takes no prisoners when it comes to negotiations, be it transfer deals or new contracts. She's also been at the centre of many big signings, and its been said no agent or player will get the better of her. She always works hard to strike the best deals in Chelsea's favour. Could this be a reason why it's becoming difficult to sign players from other clubs? Maybe they feel like they have to take their pound of flesh as she would do if on the other side of the table. I mean some of our player out deals she has conducted were just unbelievable. Now I'm not as upset as some are about further strengthening the squad but obviously I can see it's more difficult for us to get deals over the line than it was 3-5 years ago. I know the market has changed but there are clubs with means (we are too) still getting deals done. Just wondered if anyone else has this perspective. As an aside I read somewhere Costa is one of her favourites in the team. Wonder if this status emboldened his actions?

The squad is good enough for a top 4 fight with a good manager. We can win all you like, Conte won't be here after next season.

Smoking that good ish. Want some?

Thank you sir. I have come to realise that in the modern game the word fans should have a different meaning. Do this you're darned, don't do it darned anyway. No loyalty, no understanding, no patience. I for one will be over the moon if we don't sign anyone and Conte is forced to start integrating the "not good enough youth" into the team as that is the only way they will get a shot. I will rather they get given a chance and fail to take it than not given a chance at all. I am not saying year on give them important roles but there are 3 players that have been signed of first squad quality, give the opportunity to the young ones I say.

14 players to use as it stands. Balderdash! Wonder what sticks and stones we have been filling our squad with on match day.

Seen.

And when i even say no investment i need to make it clear i don't see a net spend of £30m and getting players in the team like Morata, Rudiger and Bakayoko as not investing. That may just be the end game and strategy of all those years of stockpiling players. To sell and facilitate transfers in future. We don't have the kind of numbers clubs like Man U, Liverpool and Arsenal have in terms of fan base. We are very much a growing brand. On these shores amongst the top clubs in the last decade or so we are the least loved and respected. Any club that has achieved as much as we have will be given a free pass. Case in point last season spurs were the darling and heroes of the league who chased us down and kept the race alive. It is never mentioned at one point they were 7 points ahead of us but we overhauled the deficit and extended the gap during our run. Why not the credit to us for doing that rather all we hear is they chased us down. Especially as we weren't given any semblance of a chance at the title and most of us on here even hoped for just a top four run. The build up to games between us, most of the reporting leaned to favour spurs, how they would deal with us and all that. All the talk about them and us at any time during and after the season a casual listener would think they were our nemesis. Yet in all the matches we played them last season, they only won once, at the place formerly known as the 3 points lane. I have used them as an example as our nearest rivals last season but you could draw the same kind of arguments for the rest of the top 6 when considered against us.

Players sold include Matic, Ake, Begovic, Cuadrado, Traore, Atsu, Chalobah. Only the trio of Matic, Ake, Chaloba would cause me annoyance and even then it is certain we didn't want to sell 2 of them but they wanted to leave for more participation. The 3rd one wanted to go to reunite with Mourinho and the hierarchy (stupidly in my opinion) allowed it. Letting all the players that have gone on loan is where i see a problem and it would mean we had intentions to replace as we were linked with several players. We are associated with having the best crop of youngsters on our books. Maybe this will help them grow into the "big players" some suggest we should go after. And if this will help us retain some of them and not lose them like Solanke, Nate, Ake i'm happy with it. Maybe the board don't want to sanction ridiculous sums. If every club in England maybe stuck to that method, maybe the rest of the continent wouldn't find it so easy to fleece us. And i know some will point to Barca and PSG signings but that is an exception. PSG were willing to break bank and only because they knew Neymar was willing to have the move. Barcelona are just desperate now and frankly in my opinion a great football institution is making a mockery of itself. The famed La Masia conveyor belt now needing some grease it seems. Don't get me wrong, across the continent there will always be a deal that goes through that will be wow but it being a norm is hard for me to reconcile. Call me naive, or even downright stupid but i am being realistic to myself. I respect every one else's opinions and thoughts on the matter but that's mine. Conte and the board want to arrive at what's best for the club. The only thing is Conte would prefer instant success and therefore will want top notch expensive players. The board may see itself owing a duty to its owner to be sustainable and deliver gains on and off the pitch so may have a longer term outlook. It hasn't stopped them from itchy trigger fingers in the past which will be contradictory with the longer term outlook point, but maybe that has changed. What if the £100m banked is needed for our new stadium? I believe after spending over a billion of his money in football the man deserves to slow down a bit if he so decides. If we stop competing for 3 years consecutively with no investment then i will start to worry. Until then............breathe easy!

4 GOOD signings have been made. At a cost of nearly £130m. Is that penny pinching? This desire to spend money because we generate money is ridiculous. Chelsea is not and should not just be thinking of short termism from one transfer window to another. The market is crazy does it mean we have to be crazy with it? With the embarassing riches of players Utd bought last season and with arguably the best manager in the league did they win? Did Pep win it? What's to say we will if we do that? Integrating 4 new players into a wining squad should be ok. It's the players that are loaned out that's the issue and even they can be replaced by youngsters. Time to blood them. Traditionally we haven't even bought big name players in their prime. Most made their name whilst playing for us. We have often bought potential from Drogba to Hazard to Lampard etc. We have bought big names that have flopped including a record striker and broke the English transfer record at the time. I always laugh and say to people who think this way. Your chosen model will not guarantee success. It may guarantee a chance at success. The league wasn't made for chelsea alone. Others should have a bite at the cherry if they can. The embarassing line up of quality managers we had never delivered big ears. A manager we all knew,they all knew wasnt good enough for our level delivered it. If we could spend and didn't buy at all its a different thing. Guess we should just buy Sandro,Bonucci,Belotti,Candreva,Bale and others to know we have been active. Sure I'd like more numbers in if possible. It's not the end of the world if we don't. The squad should be good enough for a title run and at least a QF showing in the champions league. And no its not advocating mediocrity but sensibility and understanding in this crazy market we have now found football to operate in. When a player we don't know (in terms of what he has brought to the game) can be the second most expensive player in the world then we need to take a long hard look at ourselves. It's funny though that all the money isn't used to deliver gains to the fans. Winning a cup isn't a material gain. Sure it's emotional and bragging rights are earned but what does the money give to you in terms of what you pay for the tickets? Could clubs make it cheaper with all the extra money, could you access continental games cheaper because the club will subsidise travel costs to loyal fans. Could they improve you match day experience?Not just the corporate big wigs paying £90k a season for an executive box. Or is it just buy big players that will deliver trophy after trophy for bragging rights? Come on let's look at tangible benefits of the money in the game to us as fans and to sustain the long term goals of the club.

This. I said somewhere else if not for the fact that we let a lot of players go and some on loan which makes squad look threadbare we actually have had a good transfer window. Replaced Begovic with similar standard, Rudiger an addition and better than JT as didn't play much last season and in terms of what he has to offer in future as has age on his side, Bakayoko for Matic similar argument as with the age and might be the proper box to box mid we have been looking for. Morata arguably not as good as Costa but for all the baggage Costa comes with we are probably better off. It would have been a seasonal theme with Costa, the trouble on and off the pitch and angling for a move. Let's face it he has never been settled in London for whatever reason even with the happy Spanish and Brazilian contingent we have around him. Apart from Costa and Matic (who was in rotation and from Match day threads I read apparently the popular opinion was he was not good enough or in decline- and that's me putting some of the things said about him politely) we have our first 11 from last season. And a couple others on the bench plus youngsters. I thought we always wanted to see our youth. Well maybe this is the way we can get to see them. I think its an opportunity for Conte to work on them as we have seen what he does with others. He may want more players but he's still got the ability to work well with youngsters.

I'm not too bothered if we don't make any further signings as I think we have done well in the market. 4 quality and potentially very good players. The folly was in allowing all those loans and sales as the players could have been useful. Even if we did buy players it probably isn't too good integrating too many new players in a team at same time. You could make an argument for us performing as equally as we would if we added more with the players we have now.

I think he's a very hard worker as probably most of us do. And i think it helps his performances seem better than they possibly are. However i think he's a very unintelligent player. He has the pace and skill to beat players and initiate so many counter attacks but he doesn't seem to be able to analyse the game and take advantage of his opponents weaknesses.

The state of this place sometimes. God sake!!

I don't like to say or think we are getting a player to replace him but rather to support and provide competition(which helps you be at the top of your game). He is a very effective player, offensively and defensively. I like that he has that killer instinct when in the opposition area and I saw an impressive stat on Sky Sports this morning about him having the most goals contribution by a defensive player which supports this.

Caam onnn (Conte's accent for come on). They always pull it off when the odds are stacked against don't they? Off the mark. Let's go!!!

Yeh but not much takers. Lots of fans would like him at their club but most managers would actually stay clear. The fastest way to lose your job is by being undermined by a player especially a star man. Atletico were always the best cos of his relationship with them. He and simeone are dirty scoundrels so get along well. So I would say that amount I'd fair. Actually making a profit aft er r he helped deliver 2 titles,lots of negative press when he was on the pitch and now he's off it. Was it worth it I'd say yeah some may argue otherwise. Just think some players come to a club stay 3 years and move on. Without helping delivering titles. He's a man you can love and hate but I'd just say I'm glad saga may be near over.

Wouldn't really put Stones and Koulibaly on the world class scale . Even the other 2 are debatable. Sure good players in their own right but world class? I beg to differ.

Yeh pal, know that. Just a throwaway comment. My Sarcy didn't quite get there. But honestly he was never respected, regarded or loved. Vilified in the dictionary probably has a picture of him under it. Fans are quite disloyal in the real sense of the word but expect loyalty from their star men or favoured players. A boy that chose us over Man Utd. For that alone it is cult status for me. And always professional, never kicked up a fuss. I always maintain my view that Chelsea, primarily Mourinho limited his career. He might not have lasted as long at the level he did but would have been more respected for his work on the pitch in his growing developing years if under a more attacking minded manager.

The fans were never fans of Mikel. Did you arrive here late?

It's hard to be disappointed if you already have the mindset that we won't have him long term. Like i have said before tops 2 more seasons but even that will be an achievement with the way things have escalated. As fans we are emotional, that is the essence of it all but if we stop for a second and just be rational isn't it obvious? My feeling is that Conte communicated a desire to leave this season when he maybe saw the transfer strategy as handicapping him. The only way the club could hold on to him was an increased pay package, crucially with no extension on length (signifying no desire or commitment to staying long term) At that point the club knew that they were facing the situation of a "first" with him. A manager dumping them. They would maybe back him if they feel that would improve the chances but problem here is that he is not only wanting to commit to them but also throwing a spanner in the works of their long term strategy of making money from players as drafted by their visionary board. It is obvious board and manager are on different paths at the moment hence why all the media stories are coming up. It isn't too difficult to work out . Case in point; initially they sang from same sheet with Conte on Costa now club's official stance is for him to return and compete for a place. If they are in agreement with the manager (who doesn't want Costa) does that make sense? Plus people criticise Conte for letting so many players go on loan but managers don't negotiate loans, they could advise but ultimately club's decision. In this case, he isn't even a manager. The main issue i think is clarity. The same way they give us no clarity on what their plans are it seems they have left Conte unclear as to situation of things as well.