Unless replaced by a world class player its sacrilege, I'd gack on my keyboard if not only hes sold but goes to those dossers utd!

 

Kante, Kovacic and Gallagher I would keep for next season. We only need to sell Jorginho and replace him to have a very good midfield. There is a handful of attackers we can sell  for good money instead, that can easily be replaced.

53 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I never wanted us to sell Matic to United, but I disagree that he was in his prime when we sold him. He was sh*t in his final season with us and I was happy to find a replacement, the problem was that we bought in two players who were much worse, Bakayoko and Drinkwater.

sh*t when we won the league with him & Kante in midfield? He was absolutely terrific that season. We sold him right after becoming champions.

 

Any talk of selling Kante to Man Utd should just stop

I am in two minds with it. The guy is our highest paid player and is not a consistent starter. He is also going to be 32 next season and with his injuries, is it worth keeping a player on the books when we could free up those wages and spend towards other players wages and new signings? We have Gallagher who while doesn't offer the defensive security Kante does, offers same energy and better goal threat. And if we decide to buy another CM, who is younger and even better on the ball, I would not be so against it. I wouldn't say I regret any of the players we sold to United in hindsight (Mata and Matic).

If the fee was around £50m (I doubt), then I think it would be worth considering to fund for another player.

3 hours ago, Sindre said:

sh*t when we won the league with him & Kante in midfield? He was absolutely terrific that season. We sold him right after becoming champions.

From my memory it was pretty much widely agreed that he was the first place we should be looking for an upgrade in.

He was ridiculous for the 2014 calender year but never truly recovered from the experience at WHL on new year 2015.

3 hours ago, Sindre said:

sh*t when we won the league with him & Kante in midfield? He was absolutely terrific that season. We sold him right after becoming champions.

 

If you could find the posts at the time, most were pointing out how poor he was. He was slow in possession, slow to react off the ball, giving away fouls in stupid areas, even losing the physical battle that he used to dominate. Pundits were saying we were crazy to let him join United, but as we have seen since he joined them, his career has only gone backwards. He was on the decline by the time he left us and we were right to sell him, the problem was who we replaced him with.

Removing so much experience from the squad at the same time could make the job of bedding in any new players extremely hard. Personally, I'd offer him a two year deal and be prepared to listen to offers in 12 months time.

I consider Kante the most overrated player in football history so I'd be all over selling him to United for 40m.  anything plus is a bonus.

Great player in niche games and certain set ups and was our best player when we won the CL last season. 

But he just ignores scrutiny or criticism for the 8/10 games he plays were he's ineffective or unable to influence the game due to his lack of technical skills or utility against deep lying defences and tight games.   A much better player for a counter attacking team rather than a team that dominates possession like we tend to.

I guess the trick is to be likeable and smile a lot.

Edited May 28, 20224 yr by HazardousChoice

38 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

If you could find the posts at the time, most were pointing out how poor he was. He was slow in possession, slow to react off the ball, giving away fouls in stupid areas, even losing the physical battle that he used to dominate. Pundits were saying we were crazy to let him join United, but as we have seen since he joined them, his career has only gone backwards. He was on the decline by the time he left us and we were right to sell him, the problem was who we replaced him with.

I don't think he had a poor season though, he did his role while Kante was the player of the season so maybe that influenced the way some looked at him. For example Conte was happy with him and he did say that the sale wasn't his idea nor did he approve of it, despite getting a good fee for a 28-29 year old. The problem was that we didn't get a proper replacement like you say but that doesn't really mean that Matic was a bad player for us, fact is that since him we haven't had a classical DM so it goes to show that he wasn't that easy to replace either.

The interesting thing is that Matic was on a decline after that season, Kante has already been on a decline this season, so if we agree that 40m for Matic back then was a good move, right now 40m for Kante would also look like a good move for us. But once again, we don't really have a proper replacement for such a player, Gallagher will be good for us but that's a totally different profile.

2 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

I don't think he had a poor season though, he did his role while Kante was the player of the season so maybe that influenced the way some looked at him. For example Conte was happy with him and he did say that the sale wasn't his idea nor did he approve of it, despite getting a good fee for a 28-29 year old.

Yeah but he also said Matic was basically keeping the spot warm until Bakayoko acclimatised (he never did but still).

Just now, Argo said:

Yeah but he also said Matic was basically keeping the spot warm until Bakayoko acclimatised (he never did but still).

That would have been impossible since Matic was gone before the season started. Bakayoko did have a high tackle per match in Monaco but as soon as he came here I think everyone was shocked how poorly he hold on to the ball, on paper Conte maybe thought that defensively that would be an upgrade but in practice our transition and stability was gone with Bakayoko.

This further points to just how Sarri was important for us, him changing the way we play and basically stealing Jorginho from Pep made us a more stable team that doesn't have huge ups and down, we might be behind Man City by a significant margin still but we have been a stable top 4 team. I honestly don't believe that Tuchel is ready to let go of Kante but we won't get a better offer than this one of 40m. Sadly Tchouameni has chosen Real Madrid and Rice wants to break the transfer fee record... Maybe we should turn to Ndidi and Phillips, a domestic duo signed like that could at the very least keep us in the top 4.

3 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

That would have been impossible since Matic was gone before the season started. Bakayoko did have a high tackle per match in Monaco but as soon as he came here I think everyone was shocked how poorly he hold on to the ball, on paper Conte maybe thought that defensively that would be an upgrade but in practice our transition and stability was gone with Bakayoko.

This further points to just how Sarri was important for us, him changing the way we play and basically stealing Jorginho from Pep made us a more stable team that doesn't have huge ups and down, we might be behind Man City by a significant margin still but we have been a stable top 4 team. I honestly don't believe that Tuchel is ready to let go of Kante but we won't get a better offer than this one of 40m. Sadly Tchouameni has chosen Real Madrid and Rice wants to break the transfer fee record... Maybe we should turn to Ndidi and Phillips, a domestic duo signed like that could at the very least keep us in the top 4.

The fee being quoted is more like 20m with addons. Tchouameni to Madrid is far from done due to tax issues.

5 hours ago, HazardousChoice said:

I consider Kante the most overrated player in football history so I'd be all over selling him to United for 40m.  anything plus is a bonus.

Great player in niche games and certain set ups and was our best player when we won the CL last season. 

But he just ignores scrutiny or criticism for the 8/10 games he plays were he's ineffective or unable to influence the game due to his lack of technical skills or utility against deep lying defences and tight games.   A much better player for a counter attacking team rather than a team that dominates possession like we tend to.

I guess the trick is to be likeable and smile a lot.

I have been looking back through your posts since you joined The Shed End on the 20th of May. Are there any Chelsea players you do like?

6 hours ago, HazardousChoice said:

I consider Kante the most overrated player in football history so I'd be all over selling him to United for 40m.  anything plus is a bonus.

Great player in niche games and certain set ups and was our best player when we won the CL last season. 

But he just ignores scrutiny or criticism for the 8/10 games he plays were he's ineffective or unable to influence the game due to his lack of technical skills or utility against deep lying defences and tight games.   A much better player for a counter attacking team rather than a team that dominates possession like we tend to.

I guess the trick is to be likeable and smile a lot.

That is one of the most 'one eyed' appraisals i've ever had the misfortune to read, agreed his legs aren't what they were, but he was a remarkable player for us, with often overlooked good skills.....so Get in the sea

Think we sell one of Kante and Jorginho and for me that’s pretty straight forward…arrivederci jorginho 

5 hours ago, just said:

I have been looking back through your posts since you joined The Shed End on the 20th of May. Are there any Chelsea players you do like?

Better just to ignore him .. clearly he knows something that the worlds’ top coaches don’t ..just nonsense that doesn’t even deserve the dignity of a response..

16 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

If you could find the posts at the time, most were pointing out how poor he was. He was slow in possession, slow to react off the ball, giving away fouls in stupid areas, even losing the physical battle that he used to dominate. Pundits were saying we were crazy to let him join United, but as we have seen since he joined them, his career has only gone backwards. He was on the decline by the time he left us and we were right to sell him, the problem was who we replaced him with.

Matic was a strange player. He always play well only in the 1st half of the season then he just fell off the cliff after that. He was fantastic under ole after covid break. 

 

 

12 hours ago, just said:

I have been looking back through your posts since you joined The Shed End on the 20th of May. Are there any Chelsea players you do like?

The majority, but there's little point posting on a forum circle jerking the players you do rate highly.

Wouldn't be much discussion if there's 20,000 posts all stating how brilliant Reece James is.

As for Kante, when is the last time he had a season where he wasn't poor for the majority of the season, Under Conte?  He had massive question marks all through Sarri's time with people saying he looked poor in the 3 and didn't have the technical ability for the system but people blamed Sarri, looked poor under Lampard but people blamed Frank and has been poor for the majority of Tuchels time as coach.

Kante benefits tremendously from his off the field image even if it's incredibly creepy how so many weirdos baby a 31 year old man but he's not beyond scrutiny and he's not a player I've ever rated particularly highly given how many games he's ineffective in.

A tier below the likes of what Essien and Makelele were for me and I'd personally take Kovacic over prime Ngolo in any side that is going to keep over 40% possession.

Edited May 29, 20224 yr by HazardousChoice

Kovacic over prime Kante 

22 hours ago, comtrend said:

Kante, Kovacic and Gallagher I would keep for next season. We only need to sell Jorginho and replace him to have a very good midfield. There is a handful of attackers we can sell  for good money instead, that can easily be replaced.

Not that easy, as we know from our previous.

18 hours ago, HazardousChoice said:

I consider Kante the most overrated player in football history so I'd be all over selling him to United for 40m.  anything plus is a bonus.

Great player in niche games and certain set ups and was our best player when we won the CL last season. 

But he just ignores scrutiny or criticism for the 8/10 games he plays were he's ineffective or unable to influence the game due to his lack of technical skills or utility against deep lying defences and tight games.   A much better player for a counter attacking team rather than a team that dominates possession like we tend to.

I guess the trick is to be likeable and smile a lot.

Wow that is some statement. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but i must ask, how long is your history in football? i'm guessing not very long at all.

7 minutes ago, Kev56 said:

Wow that is some statement. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but i must ask, how long is your history in football? i'm guessing not very long at all.

20 years, with me being a season ticket holder at the Bridge for 7 of those years.

I can't recall a single player as limited technically as Kante or someone so ineffective for much of the season due to being incredibly limited in the types of games he can influence and only being useful in one style of play (which isn't a typical system for a top league winning side) being heralded like N'golo has.

We've seen Kante's glaring flaws hobble us in possession for years now and at the time he often gets the criticism he deserves but the second he has his 1st good performance in 10 games it just vanishes and people go back to parroting the idea that he's still this world class player and that no other defensive midfielder can replicate what he does.

Edited May 29, 20224 yr by HazardousChoice

13 minutes ago, HazardousChoice said:

20 years, with me being a season ticket holder at the Bridge for 7 of those years.

I can't recall a single player as limited technically as Kante or someone so ineffective for much of the season due to being incredibly limited in the types of games he can influence and only being useful in one style of play (which isn't a typical system for a top league winning side) being heralded like N'golo has.

We've seen Kante's glaring flaws hobble us in possession for years now and at the time he often gets the criticism he deserves but the second he has his 1st good performance in 10 games it just vanishes and people go back to parroting the idea that he's still this world class player and that no other defensive midfielder can replicate what he does.

Ok i'll leave it there.

2 hours ago, HazardousChoice said:

20 years, with me being a season ticket holder at the Bridge for 7 of those years.

I can't recall a single player as limited technically as Kante or someone so ineffective for much of the season due to being incredibly limited in the types of games he can influence and only being useful in one style of play (which isn't a typical system for a top league winning side) being heralded like N'golo has.

We've seen Kante's glaring flaws hobble us in possession for years now and at the time he often gets the criticism he deserves but the second he has his 1st good performance in 10 games it just vanishes and people go back to parroting the idea that he's still this world class player and that no other defensive midfielder can replicate what he does.

who you pick to bring in then, Master Yoda...