I think unfortunately bigger fees for !more mediocre players will become the norm. The influx of money will definitely effect the prices this is how football has gone and has been doing so from the sixties. Only difference then was the bigger clubs cherry picked from smaller who requir d this revenue to survive.

The football world gasped whn Liverpool paid 100k for teenage Alun Evans. Again as the half million mark was reached in the late seventies. Malcolm Allison spent a fortune on mediocre players for City in the late seventies and so the cycle has continued. More money in the game has gone to players, agents and transfer fees, there's no reason to suggest this will be arrested. So in short if we want a player who has a large contract yes we and others will have to pay the going rate or do without.

Did José ask for CM though? Considering we already have a few centre mids with no sign of any of them moving over the summer, as well as seemingly integrating loftus-cheek, i fail to believe we were even in for a centre mid.

In a BT interview he clearly said he wanted a defender, midfield and attacker replace Drogba. This was before any known departures such as Cech and Luis. It's definitely on YouTube.

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

Pogba has a media rights issue were a third party hold them. It has held his current wage down to a reported 70k per week and also his value.If as expected he gets these overturned in court expect both his wage and market value to multiply.

I think unfortunately bigger fees for !more mediocre players will become the norm. The influx of money will definitely effect the prices this is how football has gone and has been doing so from the sixties. Only difference then was the bigger clubs cherry picked from smaller who requir d this revenue to survive.

The football world gasped whn Liverpool paid 100k for teenage Alun Evans. Again as the half million mark was reached in the late seventies. Malcolm Allison spent a fortune on mediocre players for City in the late seventies and so the cycle has continued. More money in the game has gone to players, agents and transfer fees, there's no reason to suggest this will be arrested. So in short if we want a player who has a large contract yes we and others will have to pay the going rate or do without.

 

I remember the uproar when Roy Keane became the first Premier League player to earn £50k a week. 

 

Now that kind of money is used for squad players. 

 

Craziness. 

 

I keep thinking we've reached the glass ceiling of money thrown around but it keeps going up. 

Ed02 from the chelsearumours site has reappeared and given an update on the window. Glad to hear we didn't go as far on the Stones thing as the papers were reporting.

 

Pedro was purchased at a good price. Not sure about a wet Tuesday in February at Stoke but he will prove to be a very good buy. Begovic arrived and will provide excellent cover when required. Pantic is one for the future and much is expected of him. The same is true for Maneo and Nathan who will also stay on loan for at least a season. Falcao will be a good deal if Chelsea can get the best from him - I have a sneaking suspicion it will be away from home in the Champions League where we see the best of him. One of the reasons he was taken on loan is his ability to run across the defence and his timing - and that is what the club will look to get back - training hard apparently. Baba will start to appear more regularly in games as the season progresses - all signs are that he will slot right in with no period of transition. Djilobodji has been on Hillions list for a while and has been interesting a number of sides - he will be used as cover I would think but is very well thought of in France and was seen to be a real bargain by Chelsea. Hector came on the recommendation of his manager and Emanalo took a look at him. During the discussions for Piazon Mr Emanalo raised the subject of Hector again and a deal was struck.

In terms of what didn't happen. There were efforts last week to sign Marquinhos. Chelsea backed out of increasing their bid for Stones a lot lower and earlier than reported. The Abdennour deal was one of those completed during the meetings in Monaco last Thursday - he was not going to be moving to Chelsea. Again, Chelsea spoke with Juventus in Monaco with a view to agreeing the Pogba deal. Efforts continued most of yesterday but nothing could be finalised. About three weeks ago Chelsea dropped interest in bring in another goalkeeper (who turned down two offers and has gotten an injury). There was some disappointment that Donsah could not get agreed as well.}

Sorry I'm struggling to quote FC.

You are right about times like Keane's 52k per week . Dependant on your age we will all recall similar moments at various periods in the game. Truth is the figures are just so far from the average fans grasp, they were 30 yrs ago just as much as now. Will the ceiling be met? Who can tell, I wouldn' t stick my mortgage on it though.

all we did is go like for like. Drogba out, Lolcao in. Petr out, Begovic in. Schurrle and Salah out, Pedro in. Filipe Luis out, Baba in. 

 

No improvement to the squad at all. Big difference between replacing and adding

 

Is that not what every transfer is, a replacement? 

 

Costa and Remy were replacements for Eto'o and Torres. 

 

The question is, are the replacements better than the player they have replaced? 

 

Is Falcao better than Drogba? Yes

Is Pedro better than Quadrado and Salah? Yes

Is Baba better than Luis? We don't know yet. 

 

But this summer is as much about the transfer that didn't  happen as the ones that did. 

 

Why is Ivanovic going into the season with essentially no competition for his place in the team? 

Is anyone in the squad actually pushing Fabregas and Matic for their place in the team?

 

After our opening games of the season I'm questioning why those areas weren't addressed. 

In a BT interview he clearly said he wanted a defender, midfield and attacker replace Drogba. This was before any known departures such as Cech and Luis. It's definitely on YouTube.

He also said in that interview that youth and or people coming back from loan would also count as signings.

So does RLC being brought into the first team squad count as that midfielder?

Also do attacking midfielders count as midfielders? If so do Pedro Kenedy and Traore not count?

Surely if we were desperate for a CM we would have been interested in more players other than just Pogba.  

Or we could have simply brought MvG into the squad.

I think are assumptions of what Jose wants / the team needs has warped how successfully we are viewing this transfer window.

 

Personally I'd call an attacking midfielder as an attacker. If you heard the full interview he talked about young players like RLC as well as bringing a midfielder in. Our pursuit of Pogba also suggests we were seriously looking at strength in this department of the team. Simple fact is we knew we needed to look there, José did and the board will have too.We will probably never know if we were close to getting Pogba or if we looked elsewhere,its all conjecture and doesn't really matter now. Simple fact is we are light there now and will have to manage with available resources.

Why is Ivanovic going into the season with essentially no competition for his place in the team? 

He technically does have competition from Baba as Azpi came here as a RB but agreed I would have liked another full back in the squad. And bringing in Baba so late means there hasn't been any up to this point which wasn't ideal.

 

Is anyone in the squad actually pushing Fabregas and Matic for their place in the team?

With the introduction of Pedro to the squad I would say yes, as this will allow us to play Oscar deeper if needed so he can provide competition for Fabregas.

Also I would say Mikel is providing a little competition for Matic I know there is a gulf in quality between the 2 and lots of people don't rate Mikel very highly but he is still a very good holding midfielder and has a very similar play style to Matic, so if Matic really isn't on for there is a decent replacement. Also I really don't see Mikel haven't such a back seat this season, remember he did miss a huge chunk of last season with injury and then there was also the AFCON. Would we have struggled as much against PSG with a midfield 2 of Matic and Mikel? I wouldn't think so.

And then there is RLC to through into the mix, I'm sure we will want to give him some game time and that will put a bit of pressure on both as he can play both roles by the look of things so one of them will have to get dropped from time to time.

And then Ramires... sigh. He is still a very good versatile midfielder but his passing and decision making isn't something to be admired, would have liked Ramires to be upgraded (especially with Juve's interest) but I suppose he is very useful to have in a squad.

Admittedly this isn't as much competition as there could be, but there is still some dependable players there if we need them.

Sorry I'm struggling to quote FC.

You are right about times like Keane's 52k per week . Dependant on your age we will all recall similar moments at various periods in the game. Truth is the figures are just so far from the average fans grasp, they were 30 yrs ago just as much as now. Will the ceiling be met? Who can tell, I wouldn' t stick my mortgage on it though.

Wasn't Sol Campbell the first £100k a week player, ironically at arsenal, whos fans are the most vociferous in condemning us for ruining football.

He technically does have competition from Baba as Azpi came here as a RB but agreed I would have liked another full back in the squad. And bringing in Baba so late means there hasn't been any up to this point which wasn't ideal.

 

We went into the season with no competition at all for the full back positions. It was more or less nailed on the Azpi and Ivan would start barring injury, that's a terrible position for us to have been in. 

 

So now Baba is here, it's on him to show in training he warrants a place in the side.

 

What my main issue is, is that he is effectively providing competition at left back. We don't have someone in the squad who provides cover/competition specifically for the right back position. 

 

With the introduction of Pedro to the squad I would say yes, as this will allow us to play Oscar deeper if needed so he can provide competition for Fabregas.

 

For what it's worth I think Oscar could do very well playing slightly deeper but if he was going to played in that sort of a role it would have happened right now. 

 

I can't see Mourinho after two years of giving him an advance role suddenly trying to convert him into a box to box type player. 

The ironic thing about this window was if we'd signed Pedro on deadline day as opposed to two weeks ago we'd probably all be buzzing

I think it's clear to see we were in for a big player and Pogba looks like he was the one we were trying albeit silently to get done.

I think we knew we had to bring him here now because of Barca's ban being over in the next window...well summer anyway. I think he's out of our reach now because not many will turn down Barca and to play with the best player in the history of the game.

Who will we go for next in terms of midfield? Who knows but it's going to be a scrap as there are few true top class players available and the ones that are will be a target for several clubs (Koke, Veratti, Pogba and the likes).

I feel we missed a huge opportunity and also by not shoring up the midfield it really hinders us as most teams now exploit the now 'powder-puff' pairing of Cesc and Matic.

Actually the below info is wrong, as Baba Rahman has 2 years of experience in top flight football. He also played first team at the age of 18 in 2012/2013, where he was the best player on his team Gruther Furth. Also - given his previous club choices - he would have never joined Chelsea, if Chelsea hadn't guaranteed him that he will not be a substitute player.

 

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.

We went into the season with no competition at all for the full back positions. It was more or less nailed on the Azpi and Ivan would start barring injury, that's a terrible position for us to have been in. 

 

So now Baba is here, it's on him to show in training he warrants a place in the side.

 

What my main issue is, is that he is effectively providing competition at left back. We don't have someone in the squad who provides cover/competition specifically for the right back position. 

 

 

For what it's worth I think Oscar could do very well playing slightly deeper but if he was going to played in that sort of a role it would have happened right now. 

 

I can't see Mourinho after two years of giving him an advance role suddenly trying to convert him into a box to box type player. 

Yeah agreed it was stupid coming into the season with no cover, I do remember Jose playing Zouma at left back at some point in pre-season that would have been stupid if we had to resort to that in the prem.

Going into the window I thought a RB was what we most needed  as 3 full backs for 2 positions is awfully risky, maybe it means Jose has trust in Aina... but that's unlikely or more likely someone like Zouma playing there but again would prefer someone who's in there natural position.   

Even still I wouldn't say there is no competition as I think Dave is the better RB out of the 2 so for me it's down to how good Baba is, if Baba is performing better Ivan is on the bench ignoring vice captaincy.

Also with regards to pre-season I also remember seeing Oscar being played deeper meaning Jose has thought of trying it out, I don't see it as our main option as Oscar is our best no.10 IMO but I wouldn't mind seeing it from time to time especially with Cesc playing so badly.

Edited September 3, 201510 yr by PedroMendez

Main question to ask: Did we improve over the summer with signings? No.

I think in terms of prices and wages, the money won't last forever and they will come down. Yes the latest TV money made a massive impact but Sky/BT can't continue to keep paying billions out as they will only have to increase subscription fees (which does have a limit).

There will be a crash at some point.

I think Jose and the board underestimated the need for buying higher quality players. At the end of the season, Jose said that all he needed was some players to add depth.

I think did think they underestimated.

Main question to ask: Did we improve over the summer with signings? No.

 

It's quite easy to try an simplify it like that but it doesn't really answer anything. 

 

What in the first XI needed improving? 

 

What reason(s) were there for not buying players in certain positions? 

 

Let's take right back as an example, we were after John Stones, what's to say that the intention wasn't to play him at right back for a lot of games this season? Had we been successful in our pursuit of him, would that have improved the team? 

 

Looking at our rivals, which of them signed players that would have improved our own team? If there is no one available or no value in the market can the club justify buying players for the sake of buying them? 

Main question to ask: Did we improve over the summer with signings? No.

Any transfer window that ends with having a viable option to bench Willian is a good transfer window.

Any transfer window that ends with having a viable option to bench Willian is a good transfer window.

harsh!

I give our activity in the transfer window a C+. If Pedro had not come in, it definitely would've been an D- or even an F. 

 

I'm satisfied, but it's not enough. Hopefully we plan accordingly for next summer. Maybe we'll see someone like Fekir, or some breakout star from the Bundesliga get signed. 

There wasn't much the club could do about Stones not happening, although I haven't given up on it happening during the next transfer window or in the summer. After all John Terry is still one of the best there is and this replacement is mid to long term ( at least I think so ). The central midfield is a different and possibly more urgent problem with no short term or alternative solution in sight, however, with Pedro, Hazard, Oscar and Willian to pick from we should have a very strong support for the forwards.

In summary, United and City spent the most but then again they had to. City in particular must be keen to improve their European performances. I'd be most nervous if I was a United fan.

I am reasonably happy but not elated with how it panned out for us.

This summer window has not been great at all and im rather disappointed that we didnt act quick enough and left it late and ended up missing out on Stones and who knows who else.

 

Compared to last summer window where we acted quickly and managed to get Cesc and Costa who were the two missing pieces to our squad and helped us win the title this one hasnt really improved us while City have managed to adress their issues and thats why I also think they will be champions this season without any real competition.

 

You have to keep improving even if you win the title rather comfortable, standing still and letting other teams catch up is just shooting ourselves in the foot.

 

Stones and a world class CM together with Pedro and Rahman would have been ideal.

 

Selling Cech to Arsenal was also the biggest mistake of all, I know Roman let Petr decide himself but come on. A massive cock up.