Matic

50 million for him on top of the Oscar and co money means we haven't spent that much really so in theory we should be able to bring in 3 or 4 more.

if we don't we are in big trouble as our squad is paper thin as it was before Matic even left. Costa is a goner too so we need reinforcements of the same level sharpish.

From last season we will have lost Ake, Terry, Chabola, RLC, Matic, Costa, Zouma, Begovic. We have brought in Rudiger, Bakayoko, Morata, Christensen and Caballero. So that's 8 players out and 5 in although I've probably missed a departure too! 

2 wing backs, central midfielder and a winger is what we really should be aiming for and they all need to be of a high standard. Not going to be easy that 

 
We are raising money to sign players...

Good luck to Nemanja. Had one amazing season with us and a good season. Both gave us the trophy.

The screamer against Spurs is one of his finest moments.

 
I think we'll miss Matic's ability to pick out a vertical pass to the wingbacks the most, I accept Cesc can do this but we look suspect defensively when he plays and I question if Bakayoko has the ability to do the same under pressure.

I'd be able to get behind this decision if we sign Wiegl, who for me is the only like for like player out there similar to Matic - but that doesn't look likely this summer, if ever.

For me United have just bought 2nd place next season (I think City will win the league).

 
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2 wing backs, central midfielder and a winger is what we really should be aiming for and they all need to be of a high standard. Not going to be easy that 
And all of those players that we will buy must be of a required standard as well and not another Bodji

 
Disappointing to see him end up at another English team (I refuse to call a team who have finished 6th a "rival").

With £40-50m set to be raised from this sale and presumably similar we're going to get for Costa surely we've got something big planned for the rest of the transfer window?

I reckon a move for Sanchez might be on the cards. 

 
We need 2 midfielders now.

is Pasalic staying? I'm not sure if Baker and Pasalic are enough as back up. 

 
Hey we pulled the rug out under Jose, seem to be doing it to Conte, when emenalo gives another interview about another manager leaving maybe then we can start asking questions of him. Or maybe blame our negotiators who at least get us big money every time we gut the squad.

Maybe the master plan is win league, don't qualify for europe, win league with no distractions, don't qualify for europe, win league with no distractions again.

 
Why is it always us that sell to rivals? Other clubs don't allow it or if they do it's rare we seem to be selling to anyone.


Liverpool have Sturridge, Solanke and Salah, all ex-Chelsea, although of course we didn't sell all 3 to Liverpool.

Utd will have Matic, Mata and Mourinho.

Arsenal have Cech.

City have De Bruyne, though we didn't sell him to them.

It's becoming increasingly harder for Chelsea to sign players from other English clubs, now that we're no longer the biggest spenders.

West Ham, Arsenal, Tottenham, Everton, Liverpool etc etc would all seemingly do business with another club, like City for example.

 
50 million for him on top of the Oscar and co money means we haven't spent that much really so in theory we should be able to bring in 3 or 4 more.

if we don't we are in big trouble as our squad is paper thin as it was before Matic even left. Costa is a goner too so we need reinforcements of the same level sharpish.

From last season we will have lost Ake, Terry, Chabola, RLC, Matic, Costa, Zouma, Begovic. We have brought in Rudiger, Bakayoko, Morata, Christensen and Caballero. So that's 8 players out and 5 in although I've probably missed a departure too! 

2 wing backs, central midfielder and a winger is what we really should be aiming for and they all need to be of a high standard. Not going to be easy that 


Agreed.

Mikel and Aina are the two you missed.

 
I won't lie, i'm not happy about this at all. Once again we are selling a player to one of our rivals, and in all honesty i am getting sick of it. They refuse to do business with us so why should keep helping them out ? £40m or £50m is a nice chunk of money for a player who has lost his spark and hasn't been able to regain it for some time now, but that money means nothing if we don't have a replacement already in. We may well have a replacement already lined up, but i would feel a lot more comfortable if that player was already here rather than worry and speculate.

The season starts for us in exactly one week and we have Fabregas, Kante and Baker as CM's, that's it. Bakayoko won't feature for a few weeks and has played zero minutes of pre season football, he's not even close to being ready for us, and being forced to go with Fabregas in a two man midfield for any length of time is not something i want to see. Fabregas is a fantastic footballer, but he can't play in a two man midfield anymore, that has been obvious since the disaster of 2015/16. The opposition will be rubbing their hands with glee if they see that midfield, one pass through and they are in.

I just don't understand this strategy of ours. Our squad is thinner than it's ever been. I can understand letting the odd player go here and there before bringing anybody else in, but it seems like we rarely sign a player anymore before we let other players go. Caballero, signed after we let Begovic go. Rudiger, signed after we let Terry and Ake go. Bakayoko, signed after we let Chalobah and Loftus-Cheek go. Morata is the only one we have signed where somebody hasn't gone first, and he's only here because Costa is leaving. 

We are one week from the season beginning and we are the only team out of the top sides that has let so many players go without bringing enough replacements in. With Matic leaving, that brings our total number of players who have left the club since January to 10, 11 when Costa leaves. We should be adding to the team, not shrinking it. We are already 3 players down through injury or lack of fitness. With the size of our squad, we can't afford injuries.

I don't know what's going on but it seem's like we are taking huge gambles right now and i could quite easily see things going really badly wrong. As its stands, we still need a few more players to fill this squad out. There is no way this squad is ready to compete in 4 competitions. With the way things are going, the training ground will be half kids and half senior players.

 
Agreed Scott! ^^^^

Time is running out, the Community Shield is not far away and although it is not really a competitive match we should have the squad at 90% strength at the very least. 

We still have questions in a lot of areas. I would hope we would only sell Matic if reinforcements are secured, I doubt Conte is this stupid but as I said time is a tickin'! 

 
Very disappointing. I wouldn't have cared if he had gone abroad but going to Utd, under Jose? Upsetting.

Matic is a strange one. He wanted a move last summer? Why? Conte persuaded him to stay. This summer he wants out again. He's clearly not committed and Conte's right to ship him out, particularly as he was possibly the weakest of our normal starting XI last term.

Good player, was outstanding before January in 14/15, but has never been the same player since, although he was criminally underrated by some on these boards. Jose isn't splashing out £50m on a dud player, although having said that it's damn good money, it's just simply too good to turn down, similar to Tottenham and Walker. It's a lot of money folks and we can put that money to good use. Hopefully we can mould the squad more in the way the manager wants.

I think it's telling that we've sanctioned this move. Conte has already bought Bakayoko so it's clear he felt he could upgrade on Matic, and I don't think Conte's going to be too upset about this, otherwise I hope it wouldn't have happened. Conte wants more energy in the middle of the park, a bit more dynamism, a player that can impose himself more than Matic, he wants more of a main man. Matic will be screening the defence for Utd, something he hasn't done for a long time at Chelsea but which is without a doubt his best role. It's not what Conte wants and Conte has the confidence to back his judgement.

Conte is a brilliant manager, we mustn't forget that. What he did last season was incredible, and totally unexpected. Every player improved under him. Matic improved from the previous season but he never hit the same heights as his teammates maybe because his ceiling is far lower. Conte saw that and he's deemed him dispensible. I'm okay about it but I'm gutted it's Utd but there you go. If we end up splashing the cash on a player Conte wants I won't complain, if we don't then we certainly have problems with lack of depth. Any midfielder we bring in will know they're only there for depth so we're rather restricted in who we can tempt I imagine but maybe we'll bring in somebody else in another position who's top-notch. Sadly City and Utd don't seem to need to raise funds by selling the way we do these days but that's another story I guess. 

This one's bad but it's not too bad. Let's hope there's a silver lining. Last season we brought in Luiz and Alonso at the eleventh hour, remember that? How did that one end up? I reckon our manager has a plan and I reckon it's a good one.

Edit: Keep the faith.

 
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