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Making sense of our summer transfers


ForeverCarefree

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Record Spending

 

It was a record breaking transfer window for the Premier League with an all time high of £870m spent. 

 

Last season's top four, Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal and Manchester United, made up 40% of that total having spent £340m between them. 

 

That's a lot of money but break it down even further and Manchester City were responsible for almost half that amount having spent around £160m this summer.

 

Manchester United were the next biggest spenders with 19 year old Anthony Martial's £36m transfer fee being more than Arsenal spent all summer (just £11m on Petr Cech) and makes up over half of what Chelsea spent too. 

 

Chelsea spent just shy of £70m this summer, so who exactly have we invested in? 

 

Baba Rahman, £21m; defender

Pedro, £21.1m; attacking midfielder

Asmir Begovic, £8m; goalkeeper

Michael Hector, £4m; defender

Kenedy, £6.7m; attacking midfielder

Nathan, £4.5m; midfielder

Papy Djilobodji, £2.7m; defender

Danilo Pantic, £1.25m. midfielder

Radamel Falcao, loan: striker

 

Of our 9 new signings 3 have been sent straight out on loan joining 30 other players registered to the club. 

 

So taking away those players we have 

1x goalkeeper

2x defenders

2x attacking midfielders

1x striker

 

How exactly was our business conducted? 

 

Stage one was nice and efficient, reminiscent of last summers ruthlessly fast acquisition of targets. We knew Petr Cech and Didier Drogba would be leaving. 

 

Cech, Chelsea's greatest ever goalkeeper, was always going to be a big loss but a player of his quality was never going to be content sitting on the bench. So out went the best reserve goalkeeper in the league and what did we do? Signed the best reserve goalkeeper in the league! Fantastic business by the club convincing Begovic to come to Chelsea.  In my opinion he would walk into team of 3/4 of the Premier League clubs. 

 

Out went another club legend, Didier Drogba with his 1 year contract expired. At 37 I don't think it's a disservice to say that DD was no longer up to the pace of starting games in the Premier League and given the amount of football both Costa and Remy missed last season through injury we needed a replacement who Mourinho could feel confident on calling upon frequently. 

 

In come Falcao who in his first full season since covering from a serious injury went on loan to Manchester United where he was a ineffective. 

 

It feels like venturing into Torres levels of excuse making when defending this signing however it is worth remembering that last season Falcao was playing in a new league for the first full season after recovering from his lengthy lay off. The United side lacked identity still reeling from the Moyes era with Van Gaal's "philosophy" causing a lot of confusion among players as comments from the now departed Di Maria and Hernandez confirms.

 

That said, I see him as an upgrade on Drogba, he's 8 years his junior and based on early appearances for Chelsea he won't be asked to do as much leg work as he was at United. He's job is primarily going to be to get into the box, find space and finish chances created. 

 

Next to leave was Filipe Luis. Despite the large fee we paid for him last summer there seemed to be a reluctance from Mourinho to give him minutes with Azpilicueta preferred despite the lack of natural width he offers. We managed to recoup nearly all of the £16m we paid for Luis with him returning to Atletico Madrid but we had to wait some 3 weeks or so for his replacement to be signed, this was an error by the club as meant we ended going into the new season with just 5 defenders for the 4 positions.

 

Eventually the signing of Baba Rhaman was confirmed and at £21m that's an eye watering amount of money for player that's coming in as back up. Rhaman at 21 only has 1 year of experience in top flight football, moving to a new country I question how long it will be for Mourinho to trust that he is ready to start games, there was a fairly lengthy bedding in period for Zouma last season. 

 

Failed bids, dead wood, youth

 

Stage two of the transfer window seemed to be about focusing on targets to upgrade the team/squad as apposed to looking for direct replacements to departing players. 

 

The main target appeared to be John Stones. After a saga that dragged on for far too long we didn't get him and I can't help but be reminded of our futile pursuit of Wayne Rooney from a couple of years ago. 

 

We were clearly given enough encouragement to pursue the transfer but like we did with Rooney our opening bid was so low it was almost insulting to the parent club, the minor increases in our bids did nothing to help out cause and as with Rooney we were left looking to player to force the issue. Unlike Rooney, Stones did hand in a transfer request but that time the affair was too far gone and Everton had dug their heels in. 

 

What the reluctance is from Chelsea to meet the valuation for English players, which Mourinho acknowledged carry a higher price, I don't know but it's the second time since Mourinho's return we've failed to secure a primary transfer target. When we missed out on Rooney we were left without a quality striker for the whole season. 

 

Considering the rumoured late bid for PSG's Marquinhos, I don't think it is a stretch to suggest that Mourinho wanted an upgrade in defence this year. We ended up signing Papy Djilobodji of questionable quality instead of bringing in a player to provide better competition for places it looks like we bought in someone to make up the numbers instead. 

 

It's not over with Stones, I would expect us to go back for him next summer and so the impression I get with Djilobodji is that he is a expendable asset. 

 

Elsewhere in the team we've signed Pedro who brings some much needed quality and competition on the right wing after the failed signings of Salah and Cuadrado who the club have shipped off on loan to Italy, there's more than a little "out of sight, out of mind" to those deals. 

 

Victor Moses for the second season running was included as part of the Chelsea, given a squad number but then at the last minute shipped out on loan. If Mourinho doesn't rate him enough to stick around why he was offered and why he signed a new four year extension is anyone's guess? In the end it looks like we had him stick around in case we failed to secure a work permit for our 19 year old Brazilian Kenedy (who cost a whole let less than United's new teenage signing Martial). 

 

And so this brings me to the final observation of the transfer window. 

 

Now more than ever during the Ambramovic era there is focus on youth players. 

 

The likes of Zouma, Rhaman, Kenedy and Loftus-Cheek look set to play a vital role in our season. 

 

Is this by failure or by design? Given our frankly awful start to the season this is a massive test for Mourinho. Is he going to have to break character and ditch the under performing ever presents that he heavily relied upon last season? Right now an argument could be made for Ivanovic, Fabregas, Willian and Hazard to be dropped from the starting line up. But does Mourinho trust the likes of Rhaman and Loftus-Cheek enough to come into the team?

 

Considering Mourinho asked Zouma to play in central midfield last season ahead of the likes of Nathan Ake and Loftus-Cheek who are more familiar with role it seems strange to now expect Mournho to have faith and confidence in those types of players to turn the season around. 

 

After Ancelotti won the double the club sold off a lot of our experienced players including Deco, Ballack and Belletti investing in a very raw and inexperienced Ramires as the only replacement. The lack of quality in depth cost us that year and ultimately cost Carlo his job too.... It's quite easy to draw parallels with our dealings that year to this season but I am hoping it is not history repeating itself.

 

So fellow Shed Enders, what do you think of our transfer dealings? A smart investment in youth or foolish lack top quality first team players to evolve the team?

 

If you're unhappy who is to blame? Mourinho for a stubborn persistence with a small group of trusted players or the board for not conducting negotiations well with low bids that were destined for failure? 

 

Or are you happy with a dealings and think we are on course for a successful season despite our poor start? 

 

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Eventually the signing of Baba Rhaman was confirmed and at £21m that's an eye watering amount of money for player that's coming in as back up. Rhaman at 21 only has 1 year of experience in top flight football, moving to a new country I question how long it will be for Mourinho to trust that he is ready to start games, there was a fairly lengthy bedding in period for Zouma last season. 

 

Good post mate. The German league is tougher than the French league and Zouma was 19 when he made his debut for us. Baba may be young by Jose's standards but he should be able to play. Given the money paid, and our need for defensive cover, you'd hope he was.

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Good post mate. The German league is tougher than the French league and Zouma was 19 when he made his debut for us. Baba may be young by Jose's standards but he should be able to play. Given the money paid, and our need for defensive cover, you'd hope he was.

 

If ever there was a time to throw him into the side, it's now. 

 

We're conceding too many goals and too many shots on target.

 

If the defence continues performing this badly we're in trouble. 

 

Handing Ivanovic the vice captaincy is looking a mistake right now, it's placed an emphasis on his standing within the squad. It's labeled him as integral part of side. 

 

I'm cynical about the opportunities Rhaman will get because regardless of how well Luis performed he was always dropped. 

 

It's at a point where I think Mourinho views Azpilicueta as a left back and I'm wondering if in fact we lack cover for the right back position? 

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Good post ...have we improved the squad from last year and created competition for places ?

Slightly yes to point 1 no to point 2 ……..I do feel JM’s reliance on 4 3 3 is the issue , we are predictable . Stop Fabregas passing , keep Hazard out wide we are a spent force . We can’t play a high back line as we lack pace at the back massively. Teams have learnt we leave a lot of gaps due to the player coverage being stretched and have learnt to take advantage of this.

In my view Cahill had a shocker the last 3/4 months of the season as this was the area we need to address massively and Terry as we all know will be battered if he has to turn on the pitch or has to play higher up the park . Kalas on loan was a mistake to me he should have been pushing for a place .

The amount of players on loan is just stupid and a very bad return of investment ………..

Very disappointed we didn’t get Stones and still feel we are short of a striker …..

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If ever there was a time to throw him into the side, it's now. 

 

We're conceding too many goals and too many shots on target.

 

If the defence continues performing this badly we're in trouble. 

 

Handing Ivanovic the vice captaincy is looking a mistake right now, it's placed an emphasis on his standing within the squad. It's labeled him as integral part of side. 

 

I'm cynical about the opportunities Rhaman will get because regardless of how well Luis performed he was always dropped. 

 

It's at a point where I think Mourinho views Azpilicueta as a left back and I'm wondering if in fact we lack cover for the right back position? 

 

I said couple of years ago we needed a proper RB, it's a position we've neglected, Ivanovic is out of position anywhere near the wing imo, he should be CB or DM, we haven't got a proper dedicated RB in the squad, we used Aina at RB against Fiorentina and he did well and warranted further chances imo. 

 

So going back to your question, yes we do lack cover at RB, terribly.

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I said couple of years ago we needed a proper RB, it's a position we've neglected, Ivanovic is out of position anywhere near the wing imo, he should be CB or DM, we haven't got a proper dedicated RB in the squad, we used Aina at RB against Fiorentina and he did well and warranted further chances imo. 

 

So going back to your question, yes we do lack cover at RB, terribly.

Azpilacueta is a right back, 

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Azpilacueta is a right back, 

 

He's played left back for us a lot more than he has right back... At what point do we stop saying he's a right back? 

 

We've bought two left backs since Jose came back and sold Bertrand too, there's no reason for Azpilicueta to keep playing there unless Mourinho seems him as our best left back. 

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Good post ...have we improved the squad from last year and created competition for places ?

Slightly yes to point 1 no to point 2 ……..I do feel JM’s reliance on 4 3 3 is the issue , we are predictable . Stop Fabregas passing , keep Hazard out wide we are a spent force . We can’t play a high back line as we lack pace at the back massively. Teams have learnt we leave a lot of gaps due to the player coverage being stretched and have learnt to take advantage of this.

 

Jose's alluded in pre-season he wants us to be more flexible formation wise. 

 

He said he feels we're better equipped to play two up top now Falcao is here and in the Palace game we did just that but for whatever reason instead of getting the ball out wide to with a view to putting in crosses for Falcao and Costa we punted hopeless balls through the middle. When we did get it wide, Pedro set up Falcao for the equaliser... I think we might be seeing that tactic more often, especially if Willian continues to play so poorly.

 

He also said we could play 3 at the back if we wanted... We kind of have already considering how bad Ivanovic has been but regardless I don't see us doing that unless we're chasing a game.  

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He's played left back for us a lot more than he has right back... At what point do we stop saying he's a right back? 

 

We've bought two left backs since Jose came back and sold Bertrand too, there's no reason for Azpilicueta to keep playing there unless Mourinho seems him as our best left back. 

Im hoping the reason we have been buying left backs is to move him back to right back. I always felt Luiz was brought in to do that, Mourinho for whatever reason just didnt fancy/trust him so kept Azpilicueta there.

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I'm 50/50 about our transfer's this summer. Pedro is a great signing and he sorts out one of the areas we aren't so strong in and Begovic is the perfect backup goalkeeper. I'm still very unsure about Falcao and i don't know enough about Rahman to make a comment about him and i certainly don't know anything about Djilobodji. Kenedy is young, but in the small amount of time he has been at the club he has looked pretty decent.

 

I think signing a CM was crucial for our season though and we have failed to bring one in. I just don't think Mikel and Ramires are good enough backups to Matic and Fabregas. With both Matic and Fabregas being out of form i don't think we can rely on either Mikel or Ramires to take the pressure off and get us out of trouble. RLC is still young and i don't think he is at all ready to come in for an out of form Fabregas or Matic but i don't think he would do any worse than Mikel or Ramires. I personally think one of Mikel or Ramires should have been sold and we should have found a strong CM who can pass the ball well, it is exactly what we need.

 

With no CM added i am hoping Mourinho tries Oscar there, it's something i have wanted to see for such a long time now. Mourinho tried it out in pre season and it worked, hopefully he plans to put Oscar there during the season.

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I'm actually really happy with the transfer window we have improved our squad and have improved the competition in the majority of positions, despite there not being much talent available. I also like our policy off signing younger talent. 

Up front;   Traore and Falcao have added depth at striker and if Falcao hits his form of old he would probably get in ahead of Costa in any case it's a lot more competition than Drogba was last season.

Attacking Mids;  Pedro has not just provided competition he is likely to be a starter which is a massive bonus to the squad. We have also introduced Kenedy who looks talented but raw and the same can be said for Traore who is also naturally an attacking mid and scored as many goals as Depay last season and we all know how over hyped he is being portrayed. So AM looks stronger as all of these players look better than our only spare option last season Cuadrado.

Centre Mids;   RLC has another year of development and Mikel is likely to play more after a year blighted with injury and the AFCON, thus I can't see Mikel being as bad or absent this season. I also think the introduction of Pedro means Oscar might be played deeper. So I think there should be adequate competition in this position. There is also Ramires for added depth across the board. (However I would have liked to see him upgraded with Naingollan or Witsel and then there is Pogba who would have massively improved our squad but just seems a little unattainable). For me we look stronger again on paper here than we did than last season.   
 

Centre Backs;   Zouma like RLC has had another year of development and looks beastly which will certainly put pressure on Cahill and Terry for their starting places, all 3 were very solid CBs last year, so the only concern for me is Terry potential decline due to age and the lack of leadership there is when he isn't in the side. The signing of Djilobodji provides added depth in case of an injury crisis allowing our youngsters to be loaned somewhere where they get game time, as I don't think any of our youngsters are currently good enough to be competing for a place here and I don't think this 4th CB spot will get much game time especially as Ivan can cover there. The signing and loaning of Hector isn't much to be hold but I think its just a punt that he will increase in value as he has apparently developed a lot over the previous season so might be a late bloomer especially with CB peaking later. So I can't really complain about the CB situation, would I have liked Stones? yes but that's for the future and not necessarily now so I doesn't bother me that much.

Full Backs;  Is probably a weakest area for depth in our squad as we only have 3 out and out full backs, Zouma and Djilobodji (apparently) can fill RB and there's the youngster Aina but I wouldn't be to confident with any of these options. Hopefully Ana gets some game time in the cups and shows his worth. I do like the signing of Baba as he looks a real prospect and can play for many years to come and I'm happy we almost recouped what we spent on Luis. But we all know the big worry is Ivan who looks shot of form and fitness (which has been a little unexpected at least to the extent of the drop especially since he had a decent season last year), for this I am really hoping the break does him the world of good and it isn't a permanent drop in quality. If it is permanent we best hope Azpi and Baba stay fit. I would have liked us to sign a RB for more depth but it shouldn't be the end of the world(season) that we haven't as we have plenty of options.  

 

Goalkeeper; Begovic is a great signing and I'm happy with the way we treated Cech (I would have been less so if Arsenal had strengthened elsewhere but luckily Arsene decided not to).

All in all I think are squad is stronger than last year and that we have just hit a minor blip in form in which we have had 7 of our main players not on form at the same time and I can see us getting out of the rut quite sharpish as there has been plenty of positives in all of the games so far and I think the main reason for the poor start has been are stupidly designed off-season. 
Also some long range shooting practice and training wouldn't go amiss.  

Edited by PedroMendez
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Good post FC.

I think it's been decent window but I think the Stones saga left us (fans, players and manager) all disappointed. I think the fact that Jose out RLC and Kenendy on is a sign that he might be ready to give these guys a chance.

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Good post FC.

I think it's been decent window but I think the Stones saga left us (fans, players and manager) all disappointed. I think the fact that Jose out RLC and Kenendy on is a sign that he might be ready to give these guys a chance.

 

Time will tell but Jose has sometimes used substitutes before as a message to the team. 

 

Remember when he made a double substation against Fulham after about 20 minutes during his first stint? 

 

Hopefully against Palace it was a sign of trust toward Kenedy and RLC rather than political move on his part. 

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I have a feeling the club was trying to lineup a blockbuster transfer but it never happened. Not Stones but an actual world class first team ready talent.

How one feels about the window will come down to what their goals are.

If this was a window to cement CFC as the best BPL club and one who could legitimately go for the CL, then this was a failure.

Of this window was to plug a few gaps and just remain competitive, challenge but not stroll to the title and go for a decent CL run, whilst giving youth a chance then I think it's a good window .

Personally I think top 2 in the league, second stage of the knockout rounds and a domestic cup would be a good season providing we see Kennedy/RLC advance to regular squad players ( like Zouma last season or even ,ore so) and Zouma stake a spot in the first 11.

We just became the first club in nearly a decade to win the league while making a profit in transfers. How fantastic would it be to see us win the league featuribg a squad with 3-4 academy/youth products in the next year or two? Will it be easy? No, but that'll make it just the sweeter.

Edited by Barry Bridges
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My take was we were just going to replace whoever wants to go, so we done the Begovic and Falco fairly early. We were aiming for a big name player, never materialised. Pogba/Bale were always going to be too difficult to get. Most of us came to know Gierzman has a relatively low release clause, but maybe he just didn't want leave, therefore the release clause is pretty meaningless. Maybe he will just follow the script of Costa joining us the following season. Few bad games, we realised we aren;t that good, so here came the best available player - Pedro. We had some sense to stop bidding for Stone, another year we would have bid 50M for him. Couple of last  minute defenders signing, one of filling the gap, the other one to fill in the compulsory loan quota.I don't think our transfer business made us a worse team than the one won the league few months ago. Thank god the mad season is over, we just got to do with what we have ( not a bad team at all), and start show some intent and aggression on the field.

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Chelsea not signing a top quality defender and a defensive minded central midfielder will make Mourinho's job a lot harder than it should.  Thus, it's been a poor transfer window - the only saving grace for the club was the signing of Pedro to compete with Willian and Oscar. 

 

Quality signings are only half of the picture though as Mourinho will need to encoursge compettion amongst the players and abandon his "untouchables" policy and rigid pivot formation.  It's no use having Baba Rahman, Kenedy and Loftus-Cheek if they never get starting spots due to the likes of Ivanovic, Fabregas and Willian being undroppable regasrdless of form.

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Well personally I was a bit disappointed in the window. The club recognized our central midfield was light. On song Cesc-Matic is tge best in the league but there is no one coming close behind that duo. We tried to get Pogba and failed. Failure. No backup for him in sight.

After a great season I thought we'd tweak the squad from the high end trying to close the gap with the likes of Barca and Bayern. We tweaked the fringe/youth end. Fair enough.

Stones was supposed to come so we could play the high line as JT can't. We got Papy and he can do it but not sure if Jose rates him...we'll see.

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I think one of things to come out of this window is that clubs on the whole are now rich. With TV money they are no longer reliant on generating funds via transfers,haggling a price will only work if the player is close to the end of his contract.

As for own window the manager asked for a defender and CM, we failed to secure these targets so no matter what positive spin we put on,simple fact is we failed on these objectives.

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Well personally I was a bit disappointed in the window. The club recognized our central midfield was light. On song Cesc-Matic is tge best in the league but there is no one coming close behind that duo. We tried to get Pogba and failed. Failure. No backup for him in sight.

After a great season I thought we'd tweak the squad from the high end trying to close the gap with the likes of Barca and Bayern. We tweaked the fringe/youth end. Fair enough.

Stones was supposed to come so we could play the high line as JT can't. We got Papy and he can do it but not sure if Jose rates him...we'll see.

Good points but I take issuse with the bit about playing a high line. Even if we signed Stones JT is next to him so Im not sure wed have played that anyway. Stones and Zouma? Sure but JT is not coming out of the lineup any time soon

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Im pretty sure we were in for Pogba but realistic about our chances. Juve have no reason to sell him and unlike Stones he isnt asking to leave. Pogbas price goes up next summer so I think we were hoping to get him before things got astronomical.

I personally am quite fine with RLC and Van Ginkel going foward. We'll need the money to buy a CB instead of Pogba

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I think one of things to come out of this window is that clubs on the whole are now rich. With TV money they are no longer reliant on generating funds via transfers,haggling a price will only work if the player is close to the end of his contract.

As for own window the manager asked for a defender and CM, we failed to secure these targets so no matter what positive spin we put on,simple fact is we failed on these objectives.

 

Do you think the influx of new money had a bearing on our own transfer dealings? 

 

There was obviously a reluctance from Arsenal to buy in the current market and we were pretty sheepish with our own bidding for Stones. 

 

City and United (arguably) overpaid for fairly untested talent in the likes of Martial and Sterling. For those players to cost £36m and £49m respectively is crazy. 

 

So how much are the likes of ourselves and Arsenal being asked to pay for experienced and highly rated midfielders and strikers? 

 

Could it be that Arsenal and Chelsea felt that ultimately there was no value in the market during this window and refused to pay the sort of prices that United and City were apparently a lot more willing to pay? 

Edited by ForeverCarefree
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^That's a good point fc, but will the situation improve next summer? Player values are only on the increase.

I'm more disappointed how unorganised the summer has been rather than how much we actually spent and the players we bought.

Pre season was poorly planned and we have left ourselves with a hell of a lot of work to do to defend our crown.

Why didn't we sign papy in time for preseason? If we managed to tie up john stones, then he could have gone out on loan.

We also let luis go before signing a replacement, which meant we have had just 5 defenders for the first 3 games of the season.

I can understand pedro might have wanted to wait and see how his chances were of getting more game time at Barca, and not starting the super cup probably was the final straw.

We need a big September because if we don't pick up form soon, the season will be more about securing champions league football, than challenging for the title.

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