Does anyone know Diegos injury record for Atletico?  Interesting to know if this is a reoccurring problem or just one one that he couldn't shake off, probably due to us trying to rush him back.

I agree that Falcao is a one year trial and not a block on our developing youngsters.  My only worry is if next season the league is a lot closer (which I think it will be) and we are in a similar situation towards the end with injuries/tiredness as we were this season, relying on a Drogba/Falcao could cost us the league.  I'm not saying we need 3 Costas but an improvement is needed, the league will be tougher and we weren't good enough in the Champions League.

 

I'm not sure of this one but I'm willing to see how it turns out and hope Jose knows what he's doing.  Remember this won't be the only new player we buy, I'm optimistic that there will be some better signings this summer.

 

The most important factor in the deal, in my opinion. I would much rather see Falcao and Bamford as our 2nd/3rd strikers (with Bale the one big signing) than face the prospect of over-spending on someone still building his reputation, wanting to be the main man, who gets frustrated because he's kicking his heels on the bench for a large part of the season 

To give us some kind of hope.. if this Falcoa turns up it's happy days :) something to notice that very few of his goals show any kind of blistering pace 

 

I'm still all for the deal and I think he will prove a lot of people wrong given a run of games here. 

yup!

I'm still all for the deal and I think he will prove a lot of people wrong given a run of games here. 

 

Is he likely to get a run of games unless Costa gets injured? 

 

I would say he will comfortably better his scoring record at United in our team, be hard not to surrounded by Fabregas, Hazard, Willian and Oscar. 

 

But it's whether he will be an improvement on Remy who I very much expect to become 3rd choice should Falcao arrive. 

I'm against it and I believe that Falcao will continue to struggle in premier league. He won't be able to join pre season with us because of Copa America and might even loose the opening games. I also think Mourinho will continue to pick Falcao over Remy regardless of form, just to prove a point. Last season Drogba played over 1000 minutes, thats alot of points we can loose if Costa/Remy continue their injury troubles and Falcao dosen't improve alot.

Is he likely to get a run of games unless Costa gets injured?

I would say he will comfortably better his scoring record at United in our team, be hard not to surrounded by Fabregas, Hazard, Willian and Oscar.

But it's whether he will be an improvement on Remy who I very much expect to become 3rd choice should Falcao arrive.

I don't see Remy staying if that's the case.

It would be pretty poor from the club to treat him like that after he's performed so well when give the chance, especially when the guy taking your place is not scoring goals.

I'm against it and I believe that Falcao will continue to struggle in premier league. He won't be able to join pre season with us because of Copa America and might even loose the opening games. I also think Mourinho will continue to pick Falcao over Remy regardless of form, just to prove a point. Last season Drogba played over 1000 minutes, thats alot of points we can loose if Costa/Remy continue their injury troubles and Falcao dosen't improve alot.

 

As much as I love Drogba, Falcao is definitely an upgrade in regards to what he can offer on the pitch. 

 

DD was completely useless in a lot of his outings when he started games. He had an impact mostly when coming off the bench when we were able to lump things into him. 

 

Drogba played a lot more than he should have done last year but it was mainly down to being unlucky with injuries that he did because normally you wouldn't expect Costa and Remy to be injured at the same time. 

i think he'll prove a lot of people wrong in this team. He hasn't been given a fair shake at all post injury, then being shipped off to a new league and being stuck in the reserves or on the bench for Utd. What good is that for any top player of his level? with our medical team assisting him, he could well be back to a good level, and it's only for a year, so it's not like he's going to be signing a 3/4 year contract and we'll be stuck with him if things don't work out. 

Edited June 15, 201510 yr by enigma

He's played enough game time to at least hit a patch of good form which he hasn't shown. People need to stop making excuses for him, lessons should be learned from Shevchenko and Torres.

He's played enough game time to at least hit a patch of good form which he hasn't shown. People need to stop making excuses for him, lessons should be learned from Shevchenko and Torres.

Yup.

We heard the same with Torres for what seemed like forever.

I'm not sure how many more examples we need of former world class players who have lost that 'spark' that made them the best.

United saw what he is now and couldn't get him out the door quick enough. Yesterday wasn't a one off, he's ben giving those type of performances for 16 months. If he was going to get back to where he was we would have seen it by now.

Another Torres.

I do hope we don't go down the Torres route of , he needs a pre season, it's the formation , it's the service etc

I can't do that again...

The big difference here of course as someone has rightly pointed out is that we have a get out after a year and he won't be first choice meaning that the club we not be totally fixated on pandering to his every fail.

Still I find it all perplexing really, there genuinley cannot be many Chelsea fans who think this is going to work out. Hopefully the club know something we don't!

Edited June 15, 201510 yr by bjd

I do hope we don't go down the Torres route of , he needs a pre season, it's the formation , it's the service etc

I can't do that again...

The big difference here of course as someone has rightly pointed out is that we have a get out after a year and he won't be first choice meaning that the club we not be totally fixated on pandering to his every fail.

Still I find it all perplexing really, there genuinley cannot be many Chelsea fans who think this is going to work out. Hopefully the club know something we don't!

 

I think most supporters are prepared to wait and see. No-one knows how he will turn out but that's the case with every striker isn't it? I'm sure some thought Costa would flop but he didn't.

I do hope we don't go down the Torres route of , he needs a pre season, it's the formation , it's the service etc

I can't do that again...

The big difference here of course as someone has rightly pointed out is that we have a get out after a year and he won't be first choice meaning that the club we not be totally fixated on pandering to his every fail.

Still I find it all perplexing really, there genuinley cannot be many Chelsea fans who think this is going to work out. Hopefully the club know something we don't!

Most I know seem very sceptical on it.

I suppose we know more so than anyone about former world class players who go to Sh*t after injuries and we sign them.

I think most supporters are prepared to wait and see. No-one knows how he will turn out but that's the case with every striker isn't it? I'm sure some thought Costa would flop but he didn't.

 

I knew Costa and Lewandowski would be great. It's not that hard, buy strikers with good stats and attributes (speed,dribbling,strength etc) who are in their prime (22-27). Don't buy/loan players close to their 30s, who have had a major injury and in Falcaos case have shown nothing for the past 16 months. Some might bring up Drogba here, but I think he is a rare exception to this rule.

I knew Costa and Lewandowski would be great. It's not that hard, buy strikers with good stats and attributes (speed,dribbling,strength etc) who are in their prime (22-27). Don't buy/loan players close to their 30s, who have had a major injury and in Falcaos case have shown nothing for the past 16 months. Some might bring up Drogba here, but I think he is a rare exception to this rule.

 

And of course if it doesn't work out you quit out before saving.

 

16 months again

 

The fact that you acknowledge that there are exceptions to the rule and the FACT that people here could bring up any number of strikers who simply fail at certain clubs despite having good card stats records up until that point does suggest that certainties very rarely exist in football. 

 

You may have been certain Costa would succeed, others were certain he'd flop. I'm sure there's been transfers where you felt sure it would work and it hasn't. That's what makes sport so great - it's unpredictable. When it comes to injuries it's interesting that you chose Costa because he had a cruciate ligament injury too a few years ago.

 

The point is that however certain you are that he'll flop, there's someone equally certain he'll succeed whilst the majority of people are probably in the middle taking a wait and see approach. If it works great, if it doesn't we cut our losses. 

16 months again yes because he's done f**k all for 16 months that's a long time and enough time for him to rediscover his best form at his age and guess what? He hasn't shown it at all. I agree a years loan he's not a risk but we need to improve to win the CL and he certainly doesn't look like much of an upgrade on a 37 year old Drogba.

Those that criticise the deal fail to come up other solutions. Can anyone name a third choice who is available for a decent price?

Cavani? £30m

Beneteke? £32m

Kane? Never gonna happen

Lets face it, we all think the club can do better than Falcao but prehaps, they can't. Maybe Falcao isn't first choice but represents a low risk, cheap option.

For a one year loan, its worth a punt. We won't be stuck with him like Torres.

Just to point out that the person who first said he'd been poor for 16 months also posted this absolutely fantastic comment.

 

 

It should be noted Falcao played with Monaco the season before he joined United and still struggled badly at the end of the season when played.

It's clear the injury has taken something from his game...unless you didn't watch him at United and are basing all of this on other players....

 

Falcao was actually out injured at the end of Monaco's season. That probably contributed to his poor performance's during this period.

 

But why 16 months? Is it just plucked out of the air?

 

For 6 of those months he was out injured. He then came back for Monaco, scored 2 in 3 before going on loan to United. 

 

Why take account of 6 months of injury but not say, oh I don't know 20 months? Is it because then you'd have to include the 11 goals in 19 appearances he got before his injury?

 

No-one thinks this is a guaranteed banker for us, that Falcao is going to come in and be back to his best. It's a gamble, as are all transfers but this one comes with limited exposure to long-term damage (like Torres if you want to invoke his transfer with some credibility). 

 

But to go back to Barak's fantastic point that has been overlooked almost completely, what is the opportunity cost of this signing? What are we missing out on by going for this? Benteke or Griezmann? Bamford possibly getting maybe half the minutes he would elsewhere? Mandzukic, who incidentally is looking like the primary target of what is arguably the biggest team in the world?

 

When Man United seem to be chasing Mandzukic, doesn't that suggest there may be a paucity of nailed-on, can't miss strikers in the market? If that's the case, and if we already have our number one striker then what exactly is the danger here?

Those that criticise the deal fail to come up other solutions. Can anyone name a third choice who is available for a decent price?

Cavani? £30m

Beneteke? £32m

Kane? Never gonna happen

Lets face it, we all think the club can do better than Falcao but prehaps, they can't. Maybe Falcao isn't first choice but represents a low risk, cheap option.

For a one year loan, its worth a punt. We won't be stuck with him like Torres.

 

The one striker I'd really love is Tevez but he'd cost £10 million and want a long-term contract. Seems perfect for Liverpool but if it doesn't work out then you've got a 31 year old with no resale value on high wages and few suitors, exactly what you don't want with Falcao.

Those that criticise the deal fail to come up other solutions. Can anyone name a third choice who is available for a decent price?

Cavani? £30m

Beneteke? £32m

Kane? Never gonna happen

Lets face it, we all think the club can do better than Falcao but prehaps, they can't. Maybe Falcao isn't first choice but represents a low risk, cheap option.

For a one year loan, its worth a punt. We won't be stuck with him like Torres.

 

But when playing a 1 striker system, why do we need an expensive 3rd choice striker at all? 

 

You look at Real Madrid as an example, they often have 2 strikers 

 

Our 04/05 squad was Drogba, Gudjohnsen and Kezman. 

 

Why not sign another Kezman like striker in the sense of fairly cheap (under £10m) and with a respectable scoring record. 

Those that criticise the deal fail to come up other solutions. Can anyone name a third choice who is available for a decent price?

Cavani? £30m

Beneteke? £32m

Kane? Never gonna happen

Lets face it, we all think the club can do better than Falcao but prehaps, they can't. Maybe Falcao isn't first choice but represents a low risk, cheap option.

For a one year loan, its worth a punt. We won't be stuck with him like Torres.

 

The thing is, Falcao will likely be second choice and we already have someone good enough for that, Remy.

 

 

Why not sign another Kezman like striker in the sense of fairly cheap (under £10m) and with a respectable scoring record. 

 

Who?

 

The season after Kezman we used a 29 year old South American whose signing some labelled a 'flop'.

Richard Keys ?@richardajkeys Jun 14

Falcao to Chelsea should be confirmed in the next 24 hours. 1 year loan - with an option to buy.

Ah Keysy