According to Jim White, Napoli are holding out for £50m.

Would you pay this for Koulibaly?

Well we would end up paying a few million if we don't get him on some substandard replacement who we would no doubt be looking to replace in January. If we are desperate for a proven top centre back then we have to pay the premium. We aren't brining Christensen back so there's no point discussing that as it's clearly not an option.

If we paid 32 million on a young promising striker and talking about 60 odd million on a non top striker then I don't see the price for this guy being 'that bad'.

Just pay the money and get him in, i dont see any other quality alternatives out there.

I watched a youtube-comp of him and he looks very impressive. Tough, smart, athletic and a leader of the line. Senegalese version of JT. I admit it is a youtube-compilation but probably for those reasons his price tag is 50m...

 

Yes, I watched those videos too and he looks brilliant. I realize that you can make many players look good when you cherry pick their best moments but something tells me he's the real deal. 

No, i will bring Christensen back.

This season? Impossible. Cannot be done. 

Our reputation is that of a big spender, so clubs will try and milk us for all we are worth.  Throw on top of that teams know we are desperate for help at the back AND the fact that Napoli has already lost their best player, and you are looking at a huge sum.  At this point, I'm not sure Abromovic will buy for 50.  He just saw Stones, an English footballer who is probably worse than Koulibaly go for less than 50m.  Why would he be willing to pay above that?  

Our reputation is that of a big spender, so clubs will try and milk us for all we are worth.  Throw on top of that teams know we are desperate for help at the back AND the fact that Napoli has already lost their best player, and you are looking at a huge sum.  At this point, I'm not sure Abromovic will buy for 50.  He just saw Stones, an English footballer who is probably worse than Koulibaly go for less than 50m.  Why would he be willing to pay above that?  

 

A reputation as a big spender? When was the last time we paid over the odds for a player? Torres? 

 

to be honest, we've overpaid for a few average players. we've also wasted quite a bit of money on players who never got a chance here and have been sold or loaned out continuously. probably wasted over 100 million on sh*te. probably doesn't need me to write out a list of who those players were, i'm sure everyone here can write out their own list and we'd all come to the same opinion pretty much. 

Edited August 11, 20169 yr by enigma

honestly getting to the point where i would just rather us chuck clarke-salter or timori in the first team next to terry and see how they cope. in a seasons time we'll have christensen back anyway, so if we can't get koulibaly is it really worth looking elsewhere for an inferior cb? 

An article came out today also that talks about our 20 biggest purchases taking into effect inflation. Kinda baffling actually if it's accurate.  

 

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/536938/Chelsea-transfer-news-inflation-calculator-20-most-expensive-signings-sportgalleries

Edited August 11, 20169 yr by TheChelsRVA

Our problem in't that we massively overpay like 40, 50, 60m for players (Torres aside), we just keep spunking 25m here and 27m there on absolutely average players.

An article came out today also that talks about our 20 biggest purchases taking into effect inflation. Kinda baffling actually if it's accurate.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/536938/Chelsea-transfer-news-inflation-calculator-20-most-expensive-signings-sportgalleries

I hate those sorts of articles, they make no sense.

Mustafi out. As is every other target we had (Mammana, Stones, etc.). If we don't get Koulibaly, we will be in crisis mode sooner than later. I am at least hoping Aina starts over Ivanovix.

 

Lets face it: Our defensive line is missing Zouma, Ivanovic, Cahill and Terry aren't getting any younger. The defence was crap last season and chances are Payet, Ayew, Feghouli, Carroll will have a lot of joy in attack. I am not optimistic for our season opener.

Edited August 11, 20169 yr by Jon Stakes

For a manager that has built his teams on a strong defence it's quite baffling why we haven't signed any defenders yet. I hope we haven't put all of our eggs in one basket again like we did last season.

Not on board with spending £50m on him. You do that and going forward every club will be exploiting us when we go for one of their players. There are solid young defenders in the French & German markets.

No they aren't really that stupid. Centre backs don't grow on trees and we aren't the only ones with money anymore.  

okay, maybe i should rephrase that. is the board really that incompetent to not be able to secure any top CB these past 3 transfer windows?

we're not the only one with money anymore. that one easy to see. but that's not an acceptable excuse. do you expect us to just give up? if they fail to secure a CB, they fail at their job. simple as

 

Wonder if some people are stupid to ask the questions they ask when looking at the team from the outside. No stakeholder consultation apart from with other fans yet they're so much more enlightened than the board. Like poster above said the market dynamics is different. No more like taking cake from a baby.

as i said to Van Butsen, "market dynamics" is not an excuse for failing to strengthen. if we don't want to compete in term of money, that's quite telling about our ambition

i understand what you two are saying, i know us fans should be more patient. well forgive me for being concerned at our transfer window activity. usually i have always been patient, but you've seen our last summer transfer window. last summer transfer window i always said "well there's still time to secure a CB", then bam, window closed and no CB bought (except Papy ofc)

 

this transfer window still has three weeks to go, i hope we find a top CB before it closes, but the time is ticking. if, a big if, we fail yet again in this transfer window to buy any top CB, then the board has to be held responsible. no excuses about "centre backs don't grow on trees" nor "market dynamics"

Edited August 11, 20169 yr by magichat

This is getting ridiculous.  One report saying that we had agreed 45 Million for him.  Then a few tweets later claim that KK will sign a new contract with Napoli, just to increase his release clause, and that will put Chelsea off.

 

What a s-show

okay, maybe i should rephrase that. is the board really that incompetent to not be able to secure any top CB these past 3 transfer windows?

we're not the only one with money anymore. that one easy to see. but that's not an acceptable excuse. do you expect us to just give up? if they fail to secure a CB, they fail at their job. simple as

as i said to Van Butsen, "market dynamics" is not an excuse for failing to strengthen. if we don't want to compete in term of money, that's quite telling about our ambition

i understand what you two are saying, i know us fans should be more patient. well forgive me for being concerned at our transfer window activity. usually i have always been patient, but you've seen our last summer transfer window. last summer transfer window i always said "well there's still time to secure a CB", then bam, window closed and no CB bought (except Papy ofc)

this transfer window still has three weeks to go, i hope we find a top CB before it closes, but the time is ticking. if, a big if, we fail yet again in this transfer window to buy any top CB, then the board has to be held responsible. no excuses about "centre backs don't grow on trees" nor "market dynamics"

Totally get what you're saying. The board will be responsible and they know it. Truth is as fans it costs us bragging rights and expenses associated with watching/supporting the club. It costs them their reputation,points on their cv and perhaps ultimately the loss of livelihood. I'm just being pragmatic and looking at things realistically. All well and good saying we have a rich benefactor and he should splurge the cash. I've never supported it even though it sure feels good to show other teams you have the financial ability and spend violently. But the tide with chelsea's spending over the last few years has changed. Like a poster said earlier we have spent on duds recently and not chicken change, but they have generally bought less and sold more. I do not in anyway support paying 50m plus for a defender and 70m plus for a striker when we have a youth team that has dominated home and abroad. They aren't at that level yet but can't we start to integrate them slowly instead of letting teams fleece us. Napoli are not even bidding up to 30m for KKs supposed replacement yet they are gunning for over 50m from us.

£53m on Maka, bargain.

Our problem in't that we massively overpay like 40, 50, 60m for players (Torres aside), we just keep spunking 25m here and 27m there on absolutely average players.

 

The club is poorly run in many ways. If Tottenham and Arsenal had our resources they'd do much better than us for sure.

The club is poorly run in many ways. If Tottenham and Arsenal had our resources they'd do much better than us for sure.

They do and they don't

How good is this guy, really? I never heard of him until we linked up with me, again I haven't watched much Italian football for years. I now everyone is overpaying these days, but 45M+ for a defender is hell of a price still. I just hope, we don't spend 50M on him then dissever he's just another Papy.

How good is this guy, really? I never heard of him until we linked up with me, again I haven't watched much Italian football for years. I now everyone is overpaying these days, but 45M+ for a defender is hell of a price still. I just hope, we don't spend 50M on him then dissever he's just another Papy.

 

 

 

i know it's only youtube but when you're a centre back and you have 14 minutes worth of youtube highlights i guess you're pretty good

The club is poorly run in many ways. If Tottenham and Arsenal had our resources they'd do much better than us for sure.

Wolves in the Championship are linked to a 25 million pounds player. We beat Palace, Westham and (surprise surprise) Spurs to 33 million pounds Batshuayi. With the new TV deal, every club can splurge. You don't want to ask a gunner or spud fan about how their club is ran.

Still think he's over-valued. His agent admitted Napoli thought him not good enough for them before he had a monster of a season. But if reports are true he's Conte first option for reinforcement in defence and the club is willing to get fleeced in backing him.

Edited August 12, 20169 yr by summer is coming

The club is poorly run in many ways. If Tottenham and Arsenal had our resources they'd do much better than us for sure.

The Tottenham and arsenal that have billionaire owners? The Tottenham and arsenal that haven't won a 10th of our trophies in the past decade? Them?