34 minutes ago, Batshuayi said:

Not disagreeing in the fact we need 'someone', however would we not be best placed to sign someone who's perhaps more of an up and coming LWB for half the price? Say Jose Gaya from Valencia, rather than splashing out £60m on someone who will effectively replace Alonso. Alonso has done more than enough to justify a starting position for next season, what sort of message would that give high performing Chelsea players knowing they'll be replaced at the drop of a hat?

I'd imagine it would be the same message that better players than Alonso are getting in clubs like Real or Bayern when someone even better starts ahead of them. If we prioritize players' feelings over team improvement, we won't get anywhere fast.

59 minutes ago, abramovich said:

I can certainly see your logic in looking to sign world class players for positions we need to prioritize. The problem is, signing world class players in general is a very difficult proposition and we've had our share of failings in this respect despite having plenty of money and top club prestige. So if we have a shot in hell of landing Alex Sandro, we should go for it, simple as that. Same for every other world class player we may land, whether they're a number one priority for the current squad or not. If Real Madrid's success teaches us anything is that you can never have too many world class footballers.

 

Agree and how often do we get knocked back on other world class players, if you can buy one that strengthens the team it makes sense, providing he can gel with the dressing room.

Strikes me as just another case of a player being linked with us, before they get a new contract at their club.

3 minutes ago, Zeta said:

Strikes me as just another case of a player being linked with us, before they get a new contract at their club.

I don't think that is the case here. Juve's president Marotti confirmed they turn a massive bid down from us. He is the last person I would think would want to fabricate stories of vast sums on offer to a player, who he is just about to enter contract negotiations with. 

Sorry guys but I can't agree that Alex Sandro is a 'bargain' at £55mil, for me I would much rather we spend the money on getting Bertrand back who would cost about half the price. Sandro is a little better but not 25mil better.

Edited June 19, 20179 yr by timetowaste

if conte wants Sandro and we can afford it, then that's who we should be pursuing. Why push someone like bertrand in him, who would probably cost £35m+ himself judging by the priced being quoted for similar players. 

Would bertrand even want come back? He wouldn't be a clear 1st choice here anyway. Alonso is arguably the better player. 

Sandro is a quality player. The only players that I wouldn't actively look for upgrades for is Courtois, Azpi, Luiz, Kante, and Hazard. The rest have been great this season, but if we want to mix it with the best in europe, we must be looking improve the team. 

It's harsh, but true.

4 hours ago, Batshuayi said:

Not disagreeing in the fact we need 'someone', however would we not be best placed to sign someone who's perhaps more of an up and coming LWB for half the price? Say Jose Gaya from Valencia, rather than splashing out £60m on someone who will effectively replace Alonso. Alonso has done more than enough to justify a starting position for next season, what sort of message would that give high performing Chelsea players knowing they'll be replaced at the drop of a hat?

Pedro has had a fantastic season for us. If we got a chance to sign Sanchez to play in that position would you say we sign some up and coming forward rather than a world class player just to massage Pedro's ego? I'm sure he knows he'll absolutely sit on the bench for a Sanchez type. You say it like Alonso is some important superstar. We basically increased the profile of his career 10 fold by signing him. You're actually sending the wrong message to the best players on the team like Hazard, Courtois and Cesc by NOT signing the best players you can to help win the CL.

45 minutes ago, big blue said:

if conte wants Sandro and we can afford it, then that's who we should be pursuing. Why push someone like bertrand in him, who would probably cost £35m+ himself judging by the priced being quoted for similar players. 

Would bertrand even want come back? He wouldn't be a clear 1st choice here anyway. Alonso is arguably the better player. 

Sandro is a quality player. The only players that I wouldn't actively look for upgrades for is Courtois, Azpi, Luiz, Kante, and Hazard. The rest have been great this season, but if we want to mix it with the best in europe, we must be looking improve the team. 

It's harsh, but true.

In Conte's words, cold hard decision but necessary.

Edited June 19, 20179 yr by Barrettinator

1 hour ago, timetowaste said:

Sorry guys but I can't agree that Alex Sandro is a 'bargain' at £55mil, for me I would much rather we spend the money on getting Bertrand back who would cost about half the price. Sandro is a little better but not 25mil better.

If we're actually making bids for Sandro (which we clearly are) then it's obvious we can afford him along with our other targets even at that price. So why are you complaining? Never seen so many fans say no to world class talent before.

34 minutes ago, Barrettinator said:

If we're actually making bids for Sandro (which we clearly are) then it's obvious we can afford him along with our other targets even at that price. So why are you complaining? Never seen so many fans say no to world class talent before.

I understand that at the end of the day it isn't our money to spend, but it still isn't great to see the club getting ripped off and also potentially taking away a big chunk of money that could go towards a more important player.

 

Either way, I won't exactly be saying no to Alex Sandro, just seems strange that 55mil is being spend on a wing back.

12 minutes ago, timetowaste said:

I understand that at the end of the day it isn't our money to spend, but it still isn't great to see the club getting ripped off and also potentially taking away a big chunk of money that could go towards a more important player.

 

Either way, I won't exactly be saying no to Alex Sandro, just seems strange that 55mil is being spend on a wing back.

The club probably don't see it as getting ripped off. They want a top class wingback, because it's so important to how we want to play, and they know they'll have to pay for it. Those kind of players cost a lot especially when they come from other top clubs. 

I think we've done ourselves a diservice going after Sandro personally because of the money and because I'm not sure we need him bar a handful of matches. Granted, those will be the biggest ones of the season. 

The route I'd prefer would be to sign a younger player who would be more comfortable playing defensively and have him sort of learn the offensive side of the position while Alonso is still here and capable.

Even if we went after Ricardo Rodriguez it would have made us stronger and represented so much more value. 17m for him is such a bargain and idk how Milan did it. I'd rather have him for that than Sandro for 60 or even 50. 

1 hour ago, TheChelseaBlues said:

The club probably don't see it as getting ripped off. They want a top class wingback, because it's so important to how we want to play, and they know they'll have to pay for it. Those kind of players cost a lot especially when they come from other top clubs. 

I think we've done ourselves a diservice going after Sandro personally because of the money and because I'm not sure we need him bar a handful of matches. Granted, those will be the biggest ones of the season. 

The route I'd prefer would be to sign a younger player who would be more comfortable playing defensively and have him sort of learn the offensive side of the position while Alonso is still here and capable.

Even if we went after Ricardo Rodriguez it would have made us stronger and represented so much more value. 17m for him is such a bargain and idk how Milan did it. I'd rather have him for that than Sandro for 60 or even 50. 

Would you say no to signing Sanchez in favour of starting Pedro and signing some young forward for cheap? Barcelona could have signed some young Spanish player but when they got the chance to sign Suarez, they jumped at it. Right now they're trying to sign Verratti too and he definitely won't be cheap. This whole mentality of trying to be economists even though the club is financially healthy enough to handle a big splash every other summer is actually puzzling. 

1 hour ago, timetowaste said:

I understand that at the end of the day it isn't our money to spend, but it still isn't great to see the club getting ripped off and also potentially taking away a big chunk of money that could go towards a more important player.

 

Either way, I won't exactly be saying no to Alex Sandro, just seems strange that 55mil is being spend on a wing back.

How is Sandro for 55m a rip off? You think he'd have come for 30 million or something? Have you seen today's market? They're quoting 100 odd mil for Lukaku. LUKAKU FFS! Have you seen the prices being slapped on players everywhere? Players like Van Dijk, Mbappe and Belotti have ridiculous price tags after 1 good season. Sandro has been great since his Porto days (along with Danilo back then) and has finally made the leap from great to world class. And he's 26. We get a good 6-8 years out of him. How's that being ripped off?

Don't know much about Sandro. He was okay in CL as much as I saw him.

5 hours ago, Barrettinator said:

Would you say no to signing Sanchez in favour of starting Pedro and signing some young forward for cheap? Barcelona could have signed some young Spanish player but when they got the chance to sign Suarez, they jumped at it. Right now they're trying to sign Verratti too and he definitely won't be cheap. This whole mentality of trying to be economists even though the club is financially healthy enough to handle a big splash every other summer is actually 

By all means sign Sanchez but that would make someone else redundant. I personally think someone should replace Pedro or Willian if we're looking to get better so yea I would be quite happy adding one younger player with talent and easing them in alongside Willian or Pedro but that would mean one of those two has to go purely from a minutes perspective. 

I'm not against signing great players and spending money. Having both Sandro and Alonso would be great for the one or two seasons we'd keep both. Would Alonso/Rodriguez be much worse? 

I'm not saying go pluck some 18 year old off the hot prospect list and let him have a few years to bed in, just that we could accomplish pretty much the same thing for the next couple of years with 2 players splitting time depending on strategy. Juve for example used Dani Alves less in the league and more often for CL matches. Why couldn't that work here? 

FWIW I think Conte will take that approach at RWB with Dave and Moses. 

Edited June 20, 20179 yr by TheChelseaBlues

By all means sign Sanchez but that would make someone else redundant. I personally think someone should replace Pedro or Willian if we're looking to get better so yea I would be quite happy adding one younger player with talent and easing them in alongside Willian or Pedro but that would mean one of those two has to go purely from a minutes perspective. 
I'm not against signing great players and spending money. Having both Sandro and Alonso would be great for the one or two seasons we'd keep both. Would Alonso/Rodriguez be much worse? 
I'm not saying go pluck some 18 year old off the hot prospect list and let him have a few years to bed in, just that we could accomplish pretty much the same thing for the next couple of years with 2 players splitting time depending on strategy. Juve for example used Dani Alves less in the league and more often for CL matches. Why couldn't that work here? 
FWIW I think Conte will take that approach at RWB with Dave and Moses. 

No mate. Alonso/Rodriguez is nowhere near Sandro/Alonso. Not even close. Rodriguez is a solid LB. That's it. He's not world class. You need world class to win the CL. When team apart from us have you seen win the CL in the past 10 years with sh*t/average/decent/very good full backs? Just go on a memory trip and you'll see what I mean. It's an absolute important position and even more important for us now that we deploy them as wing backs. We may not even retain the title next year with Alonso and Moses starting every game for us.

12 hours ago, timetowaste said:

Sorry guys but I can't agree that Alex Sandro is a 'bargain' at £55mil, for me I would much rather we spend the money on getting Bertrand back who would cost about half the price. Sandro is a little better but not 25mil better.

Bertrand at wing back would be horrific.

13 hours ago, timetowaste said:

Sorry guys but I can't agree that Alex Sandro is a 'bargain' at £55mil, for me I would much rather we spend the money on getting Bertrand back who would cost about half the price. Sandro is a little better but not 25mil better.

Sandro is £100 million better than Bertrand. Bertrand is a mediocre mid table premier league left back. Sandro is probably the best LB/LWB in the world along with Marcelo. 

14 hours ago, timetowaste said:

Sorry guys but I can't agree that Alex Sandro is a 'bargain' at £55mil, for me I would much rather we spend the money on getting Bertrand back who would cost about half the price. Sandro is a little better but not 25mil better.

In the current market we'd be lucky to even get Bertrand at 25m. With being homegrown and all plus he'd want the first team spot to avoid history repeating itself. If Southampton is fleecing us for Van Dijk, I highly doubt they won't fleece us for Bertrand. It'd be around the same fee I bet if we went back for Bertrand now 

it seems these days you gotta pay big for elite players in any position. if a striker then they're worth a lot more, but you're still looking at £50+ million for defenders and midfielders, and £60+ for strikers. if you can get a bargain on a consistently top level player than great, but it's getting rarer. 

Edited June 20, 20179 yr by enigma

2 minutes ago, enigma said:

it seems these days you gotta pay big for elite players at any position. if a striker then they're worth a lot more, but you're still looking at £50+ million for defenders and midfielders, and £60+ for strikers. if you can get a bargain on a consistently top level player than great, but it's rare. 

I blame it on the Pogba-MU deal. Funny thing is, this is only common for clubs in the Prem. Anywhere else the prices are still relatively ok. 

1 minute ago, Deino said:

I blame it on the Pogba-MU deal. Funny thing is, this is only common for clubs in the Prem. Anywhere else the prices are still relatively ok. 

Everyone knows how rich us Prem teams are now. Try and fleece us for every penny we have.

4 minutes ago, Deino said:

I blame it on the Pogba-MU deal. Funny thing is, this is only common for clubs in the Prem. Anywhere else the prices are still relatively ok. 

the end of the day though, premier league is becoming a much more lucrative league and the financial distribution in the league is allowing the bigger clubs within it to spend more, whereas this isn't possible in other top leagues. in some ways the premier league clubs have never had it better financially, but it also doesn't guarantee success as we've seen. it also doesn't guarantee top players will want to come play here, money or not. until the money equals success in the league and english clubs are top in europe again, spain and italy, and bayern will always be preferred destinations for success. 

Edited June 20, 20179 yr by enigma

Key is that Ryan would cost a mint to get back as well. Great player who we never should have let go. But the die is cast now sadly.

I've been saying for sometime that Ghoulam from Napoli is the guy. He has one year left on his deal and is an excellent player up and back.

 

@Barrettinator we'll have to disagree he's world class and every FB who has won the CL the past 10 years are as well

1 hour ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Everyone knows how rich us Prem teams are now. Try and fleece us for every penny we have.

Can't really complain when even PL clubs are fleecing each other