I cannot see why this is getting criticism at all personally.

We've sold a player in a position where we're oversubscribed and replaced him with a player where we are undersubscribed. The overall squad is improved at very little cost.

To me this is an excellent piece of business.

 

Because we sold Matic three years ago, that's the long and short of it really, rival fans and media want to twist this around and make it look as though CFC are incompetent for having let Matic leave in the first place when the reality is Matic leaving in part exchange for Luiz was barely a foot note when it happened and no one could have predicted that he would then rapid progress and improve whilst playing in Portugal. 

 

He's rated as one of the better players in Europe in his position and yet we are apparently going to sign him for significantly less than his buy out clause (£37m) and easily a lot less than the going rate for players in his position (see Fellaini, Fabragas, Martinez).

 

We've financed the majority of the deal with a player that is 6th choice for us and are reinforcing the one area we are screaming out for reinforcements. 

 

Regardless of all this many media outlets are still going to twist the narrative and play the old "Chelsea buying success" story that we've seen re-hashed a thousand times a season for the last decade. 

 

What makes me laugh is that only this morning Manchester United are being linked with re-signing Paul Pogba, if that deal went though you can bet there would be no where near the level of criticism levelled at them as to what Chelsea are getting for Matic and the chances are Pogba would cost a further £10m on top of what we're paying for Matic without United supplementing the signing with any player sales. 

 

It's laughable as always but that's life as a Chelsea fan I guess. 

Can someone who has watched him at least semi-regularly give a report on what to expect from him?

Well at least we have a big figure in our midfield once again, really looking forward to having the big guy in the team, and he seems to wish to be here aswell.

Pondering about the Matic deal is futile in my opinion, as we'll never know if he would have developed in the same way if we had kept him on our books, but sent him out on loan instead. Would he have got the chance on loan to play regularly at a club like Benfica?... Somehow I doubt it, & for whatever reason, it worked out for him there & It wouldn't necessarily work out for him just as well at another top club - that's life.

 

I actually think we are lucky. The planets have aligned and we are lucky to have a very, very good young player coming back to give us the attributes in midfield that we so desperately lack, and we are lucky to still be his No1 choice considering we let him go so easily.

 

Imagine he went to United... Arsenal... City or Liverpool and turned into a force for them? That would be a million times worse, & at least the KDB money will offset most of the outlay.

 

People will soon forget the details once he starts putting in the performances.

Edited January 14, 201412 yr by Elliott

From the little I've seen of him and from what I've read from people who watched him more, I have a feeling he's more of a Ballack type of a player: tall, strong, aggressive in the tackle and yet elegant on the ball and a good passer. We lack muscle in the center of the pitch, and need to address that, so hopefully getting Matic back is the right step in that direction. I'm getting a bit tired of the likes of City bullying our midfield.

I'm putting money on him to score in the first match he plays.

 

I don't know if he's any good or not, but I have a feeling. I'll donate half my winnings to this site if it comes in!

 

Imagine he went to United... Arsenal... City or Liverpool and turned into a force for them? That would be a million times worse, & at least the KDB money will offset most of the outlay.

 

 

You realize thats why theyre all (especially utd fans) bitching and whining? Youll notice theyre all saying 'why are they signing him? they look like idiots now' instead of 'i hope they sign him so they look like idiots'

 

They all know we are already strong and now becoming stronger

Edited January 14, 201412 yr by Lane

Impatiently waiting.

If he ends up improving us - which is very likely; I'm not sure how we would look like idiots. The idiots would be the likes of United who forked 27 million for Fellani who is unable to get into their squad ahead of Cleverly; Giggs or freshly recovered from injury Fletcher.

 

Matic is not comparable to the player we let go of, he would have been hard pressed to actually get enough playing time at our club in order for him develop. 

 

We are not known to produce any first team regulars directly from our Academy and very few of the young players we sign for small fees are capable of even getting a match for us. So it's not surprising that someone who went through our squad actually ended up improving sufficiently for us to actually sign him back. I'm sure there have been over 50-100 youth players signed for small fees over the course of the last decade. Only a few of those players so far actually look good enough to be regulars in our side at the moment and we've gone ahead and signed one back in a position which we haven't really been able to address(MVG's injuries was unfortunate for him and the club).

 

I'm sure when we have a sustainable period of stability under one manager - he would have long term goals for our Academy and we would see far more players making it. But since Roman took over we've been focused on the present and winning trophies. Winning Trophies and Developing youth are obviously not incompatible - but it requires stability in order for this process to be obtained.  

I don't give a damn what rival fans and the media have to say about us trying to resign Matic, we ain't the first club to do this and we won't be the last. People just love to hate Chelsea. The greater the hate, the more they fear us.

Again don't actually know hiw good he is but if a DM/CM costs as much as £22m he must be good.

What I know is he is a big lad just like Yaya and he has stamina and good in the air. If you look at our current choices he is bringing new strengths to the team. Mikel is a big lad but has no idea to use it. For a tall guy he loses most of the aerial battles.

He is not here to score goals but to take control of the midfield and provide backup for Ramires to bomb forward.

For me us buying him back is not really that "extraordinary" as everyone in the press seem to think. In a quality side there are limited chances so we have to sell good players as well. Better this than a thin squad. And we got Luiz is the sell so he's served a purpose. And he already knows and apparently loves the club. Win win for me.

From the little I've seen of him and from what I've read from people who watched him more, I have a feeling he's more of a Ballack type of a player: tall, strong, aggressive in the tackle and yet elegant on the ball and a good passer. We lack muscle in the center of the pitch, and need to address that, so hopefully getting Matic back is the right step in that direction. I'm getting a bit tired of the likes of City bullying our midfield.

 

Not a bad comparison, but I think Matic is more defensively-oriented. In his days at Leverkusen in particular Ballack was playing as pretty much the most advanced midfielder in a midfield three. I was thinking about this the other day and Matic looks to me like a mix between Dembele and Carrick. You can see that he can carry the ball forward in a box-to-box manner, but tactically he's reserved to just sitting in front of the defence and plugging the gaps.

Edited January 14, 201412 yr by Teritus

I watch Benfica quite a bit.. Matic is what we have needed for 2 years. He's very tight defensively but he can also place a nice pass ala Luiz.

Can someone who has watched him at least semi-regularly give a report on what to expect from him?

Some tweets from Jan Hagen, a Portuguese football journalist:

Jan Hagen ?@PortuBall

So, If you want a DM who is great at tackling, intercepting, heading, reading the game and play the killer pass, Matic is the man for you.

Jan Hagen ?@PortuBall

He reminds me of a more defensive/deep-playing Yaya Toure. Great at intercepting the ball and good at passing.

Jan Hagen ?@PortuBall

If A Bola's fee on €25,3m for Matic is true we've just witnessed a daylight robbery. He's a beast with a €50m release clause/long contract.

any latest news about the signing?

cant w8 to see him playing for us!

It's now overwhelmingly obvious that Matic is about to return to Chelsea.

We need strengthening in his preferred part of the field. Essien and Lampard have fallen victim to father time, Van Ginkel is out with a serious injury (I think that's done more harm than we think it has this season), and Ramires cannot hold down the area himself. 

 

Welcome back to Chelsea: Nemanja Matic.

Something from his previous time with us:

 

 

 

Welcome back to Chelsea!

 

 

This is dragging out too long

This is dragging out too long

 

If rumour is to be believed he is in London for his medical today so I would assume we would get any announcement either tomorrow or Thursday.... or at Friday's pre match conference. 

 

I did read that the two clubs were still negotiating the fee and that Benfica wanted a player in part exchange as part of the deal (Kakuta's name was mentioned). Like most of these things though it's hard to distinguish between internet rumour and fact. 

Something from his previous time with us:

 

 

 

Welcome back to Chelsea!

 

Music is terrible 

 

51 people viewing this thread. Eager for some transfer news are we fellow Blues fans? 

Music is terrible 

 

What a one-off, eh.

Why do I listen when Twitter tells me it'll be announced today. Erugh. /mug.

Why do I listen when Twitter tells me it'll be announced today. Erugh. /mug.

 

You appear to be getting your slashes (oooh errr misses) and hash tags confuddled... You appear to have transfer fever, I suggest a lie down and refraining from social media for the next few hours. 

Ian McGarry ?@garbosj

Chelsea expect Nemanja Matic to complete a medical tomorrow morning. A fee of €24m has been agreed. Lampard to be fit for #MUFC.