2 hours ago, Valerie said:

Was there speculation about to what club he would be loaned?

Milan was mentioned, apparently they wanted zlatan but that has fallen through, I know morata was linked there in the summer aswell, so it could just be a rehash of that. 

2 hours ago, Valerie said:

Was there speculation about to what club he would be loaned?

I saw Milan rumored as a potential destination for him by Simon Phillips, who was quoting Italian media.

4 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Saw that one. Doesn't seem that anywhere of any real reputation is running with that same story yet. 

Can't see us loaning out one of our two strikers in January unless we were planning on spending big which we haven't really done in a January since we signed Torres and Luiz. 

You just never know with chelsea, going by recent years, I don't think we would spend big on a striker unless we get a decent fee for morata. So if he is only loaned out, I think Batshuayi will come back, or we will be rolling the dice on a cheaper player.

Maybe there is a release clause for someone we have in line, or we could take a punt on someone completely left field. 

Gabriel Barbosa is rumoured to be on the market, either on loan or relatively cheap. Left footed, quick, decent finisher. He had a terrible time at inter and Benfica, but he has had a good season back at Santos. Similar situation to coutinho. Might be worth a Barkley like gamble, and then see how we are looking in the summer. 

56 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I was the same, but it was mainly because I didn't want us to waste so much money on another striker. I would rather we get somebody that will be good enough long term than sign somebody that will only last 1 or 2 seasons at the top level.

Yup. We were in the same boat. At this point, I’ve changed my opinion enough that I’d welcome a straight swap for Higuain and still need to spend big in 1 or two seasons. 

https://www.barcablaugranes.com/2018/12/12/18137660/chelseas-alvaro-morata-an-option-for-barcelona

1 hour ago, Raven8er said:

https://www.barcablaugranes.com/2018/12/12/18137660/chelseas-alvaro-morata-an-option-for-barcelona

I'm off tomorrow, so can drive him to the airport!!! Don't worry about the petrol money Alvaro, have it on me

Must say I'm pretty much over Morata. Just hasn't produced in this league consistently. Doesn't even seem to partner that well with Hazard.

Aren’t we being linked with Denis Suarez from them? Could be used in a swap. 

1 hour ago, ozboy said:

Must say I'm pretty much over Morata. Just hasn't produced in this league consistently. Doesn't even seem to partner that well with Hazard.

Loved him for a good 5 months here, that's about it, highly rated him beforehand, it just hasn't paid off. 

Sadly we don't seem to get much luck with strikers at this club, however, we seem to always sign great defenders and goalkeepers were other clubs seem to struggle in that department so I guess we've got that going for us. 

51 minutes ago, Slojo said:

Loved him for a good 5 months here, that's about it, highly rated him beforehand, it just hasn't paid off. 

Sadly we don't seem to get much luck with strikers at this club, however, we seem to always sign great defenders and goalkeepers were other clubs seem to struggle in that department so I guess we've got that going for us. 

We shouldn't knock ourselves for buying Morata, it all looked good and nearly everyone was happy with the transfer. He's not going to change now, what you see is what you get. Our biggest mistake was not covering our arse for this season.

 

5 hours ago, Raven8er said:

https://www.barcablaugranes.com/2018/12/12/18137660/chelseas-alvaro-morata-an-option-for-barcelona

Read this earlier, had to check it wasn't April 1st. 

1 hour ago, Slojo said:

Loved him for a good 5 months here, that's about it, highly rated him beforehand, it just hasn't paid off. 

Sadly we don't seem to get much luck with strikers at this club, however, we seem to always sign great defenders and goalkeepers were other clubs seem to struggle in that department so I guess we've got that going for us. 

I would agree that we don't often get luck though we have had some very good ones over the years such as Drogba, Hasselbaink, Dixon. 

40 minutes ago, coco said:

We shouldn't knock ourselves for buying Morata, it all looked good and nearly everyone was happy with the transfer. He's not going to change now, what you see is what you get. Our biggest mistake was not covering our arse for this season.

 

 

The thing is though who do we even get in? All the best strikers cost a bomb at the moment. It's always going to take a gamble. 

2 minutes ago, Slojo said:

The thing is though who do we even get in? All the best strikers cost a bomb at the moment. It's always going to take a gamble. 

I guess it is about good scouting I'd never heard of Drogba, Costa or Diego MIllito (Inter) yet they none of them cost a fortune (not cheap though) and performed.

 

12 minutes ago, Slojo said:

The thing is though who do we even get in? All the best strikers cost a bomb at the moment. It's always going to take a gamble. 

We need to find a player who is progressing before he has fully progressed. A bit like Hazard and Drogba. We got them from the French League, so that we be a good place to start looking. We cannot become stagnant, the biggest gamble would be not to speculate.

1 hour ago, Strider6003 said:

I guess it is about good scouting I'd never heard of Drogba, Costa or Diego MIllito (Inter) yet they none of them cost a fortune (not cheap though) and performed.

 

I thought Drogba did cost a fortune at the time? £24m in 2004 was massive, was it not? Probably as much as spending £58m on Morata in this day and age.

2 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

I thought Drogba did cost a fortune at the time? £24m in 2004 was massive, was it not? Probably as much as spending £58m on Morata in this day and age.

Nor as much as we spent on Torres.

1 hour ago, RIP Mourinho said:

I thought Drogba did cost a fortune at the time? £24m in 2004 was massive, was it not? Probably as much as spending £58m on Morata in this day and age.

Yes it was a lot of money for a transfer back then, but that's when we were speculating at the beginning of the Roman era, trying to build a squad of players yet to reach their potential, we moved away from the marquee signings in the pre Roman era like Casiraghi, Weah, and others, and for a few seasons we became the Man city of the day, unbeatable most days. Then we went back to marquee players past their full potential, and we have been up and down since then with a plethora of managers and a mixed bag of a squad of players.

The funny thing is if you looked at his stats you wouldn’t have thought he was even that bad.

So frustrating how 90% of strikers failed here. I don’t understand how we’ve always struggled while the likes of Liverpool never had trouble with strikers. Torres, Suarez, Firmino. 

2 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

Firmino. 

Similar stats to Morata. 0.33 vs 0.35 goals per game. Optics.

6 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

The funny thing is if you looked at his stats you wouldn’t have thought he was even that bad.

So frustrating how 90% of strikers failed here. I don’t understand how we’ve always struggled while the likes of Liverpool never had trouble with strikers. Torres, Suarez, Firmino. 

Tbf, Firmino's only had one great season at Liverpool. Currently averaging a goal every 4 games for Liverpool this season. Morata averaging 1 goal in 3.

1 minute ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Tbf, Firmino's only had one great season at Liverpool. Currently averaging a goal every 4 games for Liverpool this season. Morata averaging 1 goal in 3.

We fell for Moratas stats before we signed him, all that bollocks about his strike rate (goals p/m) at RM, what a load of tosh that turned out to be hey ?

I find his attitude to be the most concerning thing.

All the flopping and appealing for free-kicks and penalties. He's either exasperated at not getting decisions, or he just looks miserable. I don't think that's the mentality of someone likely to hit his straps at the club. I keep wanting him to get there, but we only ever see small glimpses.

His link up play has completely gone to sh*t, what happened to the guy who was assisting Hazard beautifully when we were away to West Brom last season?  Back then, we had a player on our hands, and I even defended the guy.

Now, I also am more than done with him and hope we move on in the January window.

3 minutes ago, mwblue10 said:

His link up play has completely gone to sh*t, what happened to the guy who was assisting Hazard beautifully when we were away to West Brom last season?  Back then, we had a player on our hands, and I even defended the guy.

Now, I also am more than done with him and hope we move on in the January window.

I have also defended him, and do believe there is a player in there. I don't think he has ever wanted to be in England, and IMO this has been reflected in his performances.