17 hours ago, Nibs said:

.........then they can f**k off.

 

I agree nibs, problem is we are desperate, how the club got into this situation I will never know, miss management of the highest order, Stevie Wonder could of told board in the summer that we couldn't go into season with Morata and Giroud, utter f**king madness

Sounds as if it’s happening

18 month loan deal sounds excellent. I'm in! 

Edited January 15, 20197 yr by evissy

That’s a great deal. He can keep us going while we take our time to find the right elite striker to lead us for years.

It’ll also stop us from panic buying a striker like Morata and Giroud. Great deal. 

I'm not his biggest fan, but we desperately need a striker. An 18 month loan deal is something I can get behind.

If an overpriced Callum Wilson or over 30 on huge wages Higuain are our only options, then we really are missing Emenalo or some other scouting/planning support.

I'll say it again, after the Torres debacle and up to Mourinho version 2, we made better decisions in the transfer market. Not perfect, but better. We bought in the likes of Lukaku, De Bryne, Salah, Oscar, etc. Players that weren't known about at the time and while we screwed up developing them at Chelsea, they all went on to either give a transfer profit or embarrass us by turning out really really good at other clubs.

We need to go back to that system. The one that scouts and buys players before they reach potential. It won't always work out, but bang for buck we were doing better before Mourinho and Conte came in and made generally horrible decisions in the transfer market that is responsible for the mess we are in now.

I know this view still probably isn't very popular, but the director of football model where the manager wasn't making so many decisions in the market worked for us (for the most part). 

But anyways, in the meantime, Higuain might be a decent stop gap.

Triple H trident to fly !

Hudson-Odoi Higuain Hazard

Having nightmares of starting next season with Higuain supported by Pedro & Willian upfront. 

18 minutes ago, ducavis said:

Having nightmares of starting next season with Higuain supported by Pedro & Willian upfront. 

Yup, that will be our 2nd team.

Marina/the board need to get this deal through ASAP. I would have hoped this deal could've been sealed by now. Important fixtures coming up, we need reinforcements now not at the end of the window. 

2 hours ago, Qaz said:

If an overpriced Callum Wilson or over 30 on huge wages Higuain are our only options, then we really are missing Emenalo or some other scouting/planning support.

I'll say it again, after the Torres debacle and up to Mourinho version 2, we made better decisions in the transfer market. Not perfect, but better. We bought in the likes of Lukaku, De Bryne, Salah, Oscar, etc. Players that weren't known about at the time and while we screwed up developing them at Chelsea, they all went on to either give a transfer profit or embarrass us by turning out really really good at other clubs.

We need to go back to that system. The one that scouts and buys players before they reach potential. It won't always work out, but bang for buck we were doing better before Mourinho and Conte came in and made generally horrible decisions in the transfer market that is responsible for the mess we are in now.

I know this view still probably isn't very popular, but the director of football model where the manager wasn't making so many decisions in the market worked for us (for the most part). 

But anyways, in the meantime, Higuain might be a decent stop gap.

Pulisic, Barkley, Kovacic?

We can't really lose out with an 18 month loan.

Morata will likely leave to make way for him and Giroud will likely leave in the summer when his contract expires, meaning we will sign a new striker regardless of how well Higs does.

If he flops/underwhelmes we will sign a new striker and he will see out his time here as a squad player and if he's a success he will be an excellent safety net just incase the new striker doesn't do well or needs time to settle.

Edited January 15, 20197 yr by Argo

If a loan deal is true, then we basically got a mulligan on Morata, which would be fantastic.

Chelsea hope to get the green light to move forwards with a deal to sign Gonzalo Higuain by the end of the week. Higuain is with the AC Milan squad for Wednesday night’s Italian Super Cup final in Jeddah against his parent club Juventus.

Atletico have already met their capped wage bill of €293 million per year, which means they must sell or loan out players before they can sign anybody. Summer signings Gelson Martins and Nicola Kalinic, who have both struggled to make a significant impact, could be sacrificed to make room for a move for Morata.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2019/01/15/chelsea-hope-make-progress-gonzalo-higuain-deal-end-week/

Edited January 15, 20197 yr by mojo

1 hour ago, Argo said:

We can't really lose out with an 18 month loan.

Morata will likely leave to make way for him and Giroud will likely leave in the summer when his contract expires, meaning we will sign a new striker regardless of how well Higs does.

If he flops/underwhelmes we will sign a new striker and he will see out his time here as a squad player and if he's a success he will be an excellent safety net just incase the new striker doesn't do well or needs time to settle.

We can though and this is just an example of our scattergun approach, and a lack of forward planning. Higuain is on £175k which would make him our 2nd highest earner. Should it not work out we will be left picking up his wages, while he sits on the bench. 

Now where does this signing leave Tammy Abraham? If I was his agent, I will be asking him to demand a move away this summer at the latest. For me a 6mth loan with an option to buy would have made more sense. If he is a success the club has a decision to make in the summer. We are backing ourself into a corner like we have done with Giroud,  Juve can’t & don’t want to keep in on their books. 

7 hours ago, Qaz said:

If an overpriced Callum Wilson or over 30 on huge wages Higuain are our only options, then we really are missing Emenalo or some other scouting/planning support.

I'll say it again, after the Torres debacle and up to Mourinho version 2, we made better decisions in the transfer market. Not perfect, but better. We bought in the likes of Lukaku, De Bryne, Salah, Oscar, etc. Players that weren't known about at the time and while we screwed up developing them at Chelsea, they all went on to either give a transfer profit or embarrass us by turning out really really good at other clubs.

We need to go back to that system. The one that scouts and buys players before they reach potential. It won't always work out, but bang for buck we were doing better before Mourinho and Conte came in and made generally horrible decisions in the transfer market that is responsible for the mess we are in now.

I know this view still probably isn't very popular, but the director of football model where the manager wasn't making so many decisions in the market worked for us (for the most part). 

But anyways, in the meantime, Higuain might be a decent stop gap.

Qaz, I remember the club previously wanting long term purchases and the managers wanting short term purchases and the two came together.

I think that has stopped with the long term purchases as with the Italian system masters as the club does not know what type of specialized players now fit the systems.

 

Edited January 15, 20197 yr by Strider6003

Gennaro Gattuso insists Chelsea target Gonzalo Higuain hasn't asked him to leave Milan

 - Evening Standard

ffs 

Edited January 15, 20197 yr by the special one

I’m fine with this if it’s a loan deal only. 

15 minutes ago, Gem said:

I’m fine with this if it’s a loan deal only. 

Agreed - I can't see us accepting anything other than a loan

I'm still hoping for a surprise signing of someone else. Like when Kepa was signed where most of the fans had no idea until the very day before his official signing. Because why not, I find it so hard to believe that there is no other player being scouted for this role that we have been missing for almost 2 years.

3 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

I'm still hoping for a surprise signing of someone else. Like when Kepa was signed where most of the fans had no idea until the very day before his official signing. Because why not, I find it so hard to believe that there is no other player being scouted for this role that we have been missing for almost 2 years.

Trouble is we have no decent scouts...look at the dross they have provided so far.  Seems to me unless this is a loan deal we are just throwing good money after bad; time is running out and the only good news for us today is that Kane will be out for about 6 weeks which might give us the edge to catch them if we stop pissing about in the transfer market.

10 hours ago, ducavis said:

We can though and this is just an example of our scattergun approach, and a lack of forward planning. Higuain is on £175k which would make him our 2nd highest earner. Should it not work out we will be left picking up his wages, while he sits on the bench. 

Now where does this signing leave Tammy Abraham? If I was his agent, I will be asking him to demand a move away this summer at the latest. For me a 6mth loan with an option to buy would have made more sense. If he is a success the club has a decision to make in the summer. We are backing ourself into a corner like we have done with Giroud,  Juve can’t & don’t want to keep in on their books. 

We just offloaded 256k in wages with fab and GC if he goes. 175 for a goal threat that if he works out will secure us too 4 is worth it 

11 hours ago, CFCCAN said:

Trouble is we have no decent scouts...look at the dross they have provided so far.  Seems to me unless this is a loan deal we are just throwing good money after bad; time is running out and the only good news for us today is that Kane will be out for about 6 weeks which might give us the edge to catch them if we stop pissing about in the transfer market.

In my opinion the time of the scouting is gone. The football is almost all in the hands of the agents.  Anyway i don't see any young centre-forward of top level  on the market.

Chelsea needs a top level centre-forward or nothing, because centre-forwards of medium level there are already four Morata-Giroud-Batshuayi-Abraham.

Higuain not pictured in a team photo with the Saudi prince on the eve of their game with Juventus tonight for the Italian Super Cup.