1 minute ago, bjd said:

We were clearly never in for him, it's not one we've 'lost' at all.

I didn't say we were, but we bloody well should have been.

3 minutes ago, buzzcfc said:

I didn't say we were, but we bloody well should have been.

Fair enough. I'm just not sure if the 'what a summer' and 'another one bites the dust' comments can be justified when we don't sign a player we were never in for!

Does the same apply to Wayne Rooney? Jon Walters? 

Edited July 11, 20179 yr by bjd

can see them selling morata too and then they'll spunk the money on mbappe. real madrid can afford to sell two of the best squad players and still be a force in europe and spain. it's madness really. 

Edited July 11, 20179 yr by enigma

49 minutes ago, buzzcfc said:

I didn't say we were, but we bloody well should have been.

Not sure he's needed...while it looks attractive in Hazard's short term absence, on the left wing we're relatively well served with Pedro and Hazard plus Mousanda needs some game time too...don't get me wrong, James is a good player but a luxury one...saying that Bayern have a got a terrific deal...but with Douglas Costa leaving for Juventus they have a open berth for him...

Edited July 11, 20179 yr by doctorblue

Lo siento, no puedo escribir en inglés. Soy un fan de Chelsea que vive en Madrid. Diego Costa está en conversaciones con Athletico, lo vio entrar en el terreno hoy y rumores son que va a transferir en un acuerdo swop con Griezmann. Morata se mantiene en el Real Madrid sin negociaciones con Chelsea

Google translate

Sorry, I can not write in English. I am a Chelsea fan who lives in Madrid. Diego Costa is in talks with Athletico, saw him enter the field today and rumors are that he will transfer in a swop deal with Griezmann. Morata stays in Real Madrid without negotiations with Chelsea

Edited July 11, 20179 yr by doctorblue

^^ my very poor translation reads something like: sorry, can't write in spanish.  I'm a fan of Chelsea that lives in madrid.  Diego Costa is in conversation with atletico, saw him at the training ground (?) and there are rumors of a swap with griezmann.  Morata will stay at Real and there are no negotiations with Chelsea."

 

I need to brush up on my spanish lol.  

I can't say I'm overly sad to see us miss out on James, I feel like he was the hype kid of the 2014 world cup. I really don't think he would have fit our system as well as maybe others think, I really feel we dodged the bullet if we were even interested in the first place. The one thing that surprises me is that it wasn't a straight sale, rather this 2 year loan situation. Maybe Real couldn't find someone to spunk 60 mil on him?

6 minutes ago, TheChelsRVA said:

^^ my very poor translation reads something like: sorry, can't write in spanish.  I'm a fan of Chelsea that lives in madrid.  Diego Costa is in conversation with atletico, saw him at the training ground (?) and there are rumors of a swap with griezmann.  Morata will stay at Real and there are no negotiations with Chelsea."

 

I need to brush up on my spanish lol.  

Can't see a swap deal for those two...

Bayern showing clubs how it's done. fast and effective, two things that are not in the dictionary of Marina & Co.

Edited July 11, 20179 yr by magichat

3 minutes ago, MissouriBlue said:

I can't say I'm overly sad to see us miss out on James, I feel like he was the hype kid of the 2014 world cup. I really don't think he would have fit our system as well as maybe others think, I really feel we dodged the bullet if we were even interested in the first place. The one thing that surprises me is that it wasn't a straight sale, rather this 2 year loan situation. Maybe Real couldn't find someone to spunk 60 mil on him?

It's very hard to find a club that could even pay his wages let alone his fee. James is good but he is the type of player you build your team around and would unnecessarily destabilize the current top teams in the world as most of them have a fixed style of play built around players who they had bought for a fortune and on big wages themselves. This compounded with the fact that he didn't even make the bench in a CL final surely made it even harder for Real to fleece anyone. When the likes of Asensio is ahead of him, the selling club will have all the cards in negotiations imo.

1 minute ago, magichat said:

Bayern showing clubs how it's done. fast and effective, two things that are not in the dictionary of Marina & Co.

Bayern and Juve is a very well run club I think. Juve has a good scouting network and good negotiator in Marotta although Marotta has a penchant for selling WC talent for huge sums of money.

Bayern on the other hand is essentially the ideal club so to speak. They only sell for big money, good scouting network, history of competing with the best, overall good youth setup and consistently dominate their league. They are in this spiral of upward trajectory, arguably their only downside is not consistently dominating in Europe in the last decade but they are consistent challengers in the CL, I think their only blip year in recent years is not winning anything in the 2011/12 season.

20 minutes ago, doctorblue said:

Can't see a swap deal for those two...

Me neither, but let's take it over to the griezmann thread...or the morata thread...or the diego thread...really anywhere else but the James thread 

14 hours ago, Deino said:

It's very hard to find a club that could even pay his wages let alone his fee. James is good but he is the type of player you build your team around and would unnecessarily destabilize the current top teams in the world as most of them have a fixed style of play built around players who they had bought for a fortune and on big wages themselves. This compounded with the fact that he didn't even make the bench in a CL final surely made it even harder for Real to fleece anyone. When the likes of Asensio is ahead of him, the selling club will have all the cards in negotiations imo.

Don't think wages were too big of an issue with him, tbh, a bit of Googling suggests he's on the equivalent of 120k which is chicken feed for most top-end clubs. Well short of his team mates such as Ronaldo (365k), Bale (350k) and Modric (180k). Bayern are comparatively stingy on wages but they've lost Alonso and Lahm who were two of their top earners, so there's plenty of room to absorb Rodriguez.

If the deal is seen as a loan-to-buy it looks a fairly good transfer for both parties, Real get the bulk of their initial outlay back (sans wage expenditure, of course), Bayern get to try before they buy.

 

Heard Jupp doesn't like James, could sell/send him back to Real in January. 
Would you take him? 

32 minutes ago, TomCFC85 said:

Heard Jupp doesn't like James, could sell/send him back to Real in January. 
Would you take him? 

There are many things I like about James game, has got great skills and when on fire he is a fantastic player. Maybe I wee bit too much of a luxury player for us I feel, we would need a bit more consistency. Not sure if he is a Conte player but could see him doing well under Pep.

25 minutes ago, goose said:

There are many things I like about James game, has got great skills and when on fire he is a fantastic player. Maybe I wee bit too much of a luxury player for us I feel, we would need a bit more consistency. Not sure if he is a Conte player but could see him doing well under Pep.

Anyone of that quality if comes available and fancies playing in prem league are Manchester bound

8 hours ago, goose said:

There are many things I like about James game, has got great skills and when on fire he is a fantastic player. Maybe I wee bit too much of a luxury player for us I feel, we would need a bit more consistency. Not sure if he is a Conte player but could see him doing well under Pep.

With the amount of problems that are piling in front of Chelsea i would not splash that kind of money for him. Plus if things go wrong he could end up being our Mezut Ozil !!!! 

14 hours ago, brownindian said:

With the amount of problems that are piling in front of Chelsea i would not splash that kind of money for him. Plus if things go wrong he could end up being our Mezut Ozil !!!! 

To this day, I'd have Ozil at Chelsea.
He just needs a manager who can give him a right kick up the arse! 

10 minutes ago, TomCFC85 said:

To this day, I'd have Ozil at Chelsea.
He just needs a manager who can give him a right kick up the arse! 

Nah, the guy plays at one pace no matter what the situation is. If you are chasing a game, he can't be relied on to show some urgency. He also look's knackered after about 60 minutes of football. He's good against teams you will dominate against, but when it comes to the crunch, he goes missing.

Chelsea are a workman's club.  We have built this identity over many years.  A player like James does not fit our culture/style and would be luxury at best.  We see this today with Fabregas.  We ask him to do too much.  Far better suited coming off the bench for the blue collar style we try to play.  

James is a spoilt nightclub going, cigarette smoking prat with gold in his boots.

If he stopped dicking around he'd be one of the best around.

 

Right now I'm not sure what we need is another ego though.