Real have apparently agreed a fee for Thiago. Kovacic replacement or Modric's successor?

49 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Hazard isn’t going anywhere. 

Five year contract and given the club captaincy by the end of the month. 

Club are going to bend over backwards to avoid becoming a selling club. Courtois was an anomaly, not the norm. 

I really hope you're right, but don't bank on that. 

2 minutes ago, Slojo said:

I really hope you're right, but don't bank on that. 

Chelsea are going to throw the kitchen sink at Hazard to make him stay. They’re going to offer him over £300k a week and basically make him a king at Stamford Bridge.

Kepa is earning a lot less than Courtois was offered in his improved contract so Chelsea will double down on Kante and Hazard because they know that being our only truly world class players we’ve got to build the team and our future around them.

The club will be embarrassed how the Courtois situation panned our, stuff like that has never happened since Roman bought the club.

They won’t be letting it happen again.

This is as an official goodbye as it gets.

Interesting, looks like Real & Chelsea could know something we don’t, I hope this is a permanent move, certainly looks like it based on his statement.

Kovacic is just great, sat too long on the bench.

15 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Real have apparently agreed a fee for Thiago. Kovacic replacement or Modric's successor?

Could be both.  I haven’t seen this reported yet, but I think it would basically be the nail in the coffin on Kovacic leaving RM.

 

I'm surprised more people haven't been interested in this current case. First, when I heard it was a loan with no buyback I found it off-putting, yes Kovacic is a great talent but it felt like we were just developing a player for another team while sitting out RLC and Barkley. Madrid didn't want to loan him out so that's very interesting (or so I hear it's all speculation really)... 

So what to make of that Insta post, it looks like he's never going back to Madrid, that was a very strange and unusual post. But he also treat coming to this club as a loan and not a permanent move here, as maybe you should as a loanee even if there is a buy-out clause. Except... From what we hear there isn't a buy-out clause. What's true and what isn't? I think Madrid are very stupid if they plan to sell Kovacic, I really hope they are, because if Kovacic is here to stay I am one very happy man, we could potentially have the best midfield in England.  

I don’t see what a loan changes. 

Say he has a good season for us, how likely is he to return to Madrid and be first choice?

So he will still angle for a move to play regularly.

You can’t rule out Madrid signing a new midfielder before their transfer window closes either.

35 minutes ago, Slojo said:

I'm surprised more people haven't been interested in this current case. First, when I heard it was a loan with no buyback I found it off-putting, yes Kovacic is a great talent but it felt like we were just developing a player for another team while sitting out RLC and Barkley. Madrid didn't want to loan him out so that's very interesting (or so I hear it's all speculation really)... 

So what to make of that Insta post, it looks like he's never going back to Madrid, that was a very strange and unusual post. But he also treat coming to this club as a loan and not a permanent move here, as maybe you should as a loanee even if there is a buy-out clause. Except... From what we hear there isn't a buy-out clause. What's true and what isn't? I think Madrid are very stupid if they plan to sell Kovacic, I really hope they are, because if Kovacic is here to stay I am one very happy man, we could potentially have the best midfield in England.  

Essentially we have a gentleman’s agreement. Real Madrid wanted to save face and we were more then happy to oblidge. Used Courtois as the handshake of the agreement. 

9 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

I don’t see what a loan changes. 

Say he has a good season for us, how likely is he to return to Madrid and be first choice?

So he will still angle for a move to play regularly.

You can’t rule out Madrid signing a new midfielder before their transfer window closes either.

But he's still contracted to them and from what we know we have no buy-out clause on this contract. I just find it very odd, Kovacic seems very confident he isn't playing for Madrid anymore, is there something we don't know here? Is he really our player? I hope so. 

9 minutes ago, Semper Fi said:

Essentially we have a gentleman’s agreement. Real Madrid wanted to save face and we were more then happy to oblidge. Used Courtois as the handshake of the agreement. 

I might have misunderstood you here so bear with me, but it seems more the case of Madrid wanting Courtois than us wanting Kovacic. From the sources that I read from twitter from they were claiming Madrid did not want to sell the player or even loan him out at that, so we got him on loan as well as a fee for Courtois, however, no sources are indicating that there is a buy-out clause, quite the opposite sadly. But Kovacic isn't acting like he's here for one season, that was a very odd Instagram post and something I didn't expect to see. 

By the looks of it he looks like he's going to stay here, or at least never go back to Madrid. 

2 hours ago, Slojo said:

But he's still contracted to them and from what we know we have no buy-out clause on this contract. I just find it very odd, Kovacic seems very confident he isn't playing for Madrid anymore, is there something we don't know here? Is he really our player? I hope so. 

I might have misunderstood you here so bear with me, but it seems more the case of Madrid wanting Courtois than us wanting Kovacic. From the sources that I read from twitter from they were claiming Madrid did not want to sell the player or even loan him out at that, so we got him on loan as well as a fee for Courtois, however, no sources are indicating that there is a buy-out clause, quite the opposite sadly. But Kovacic isn't acting like he's here for one season, that was a very odd Instagram post and something I didn't expect to see. 

By the looks of it he looks like he's going to stay here, or at least never go back to Madrid. 

Thats why we have a gentlemans agreement. Ill try to make it easier for you. Real Madrid will sell Kovacic next season and we have the first chance to buy him. Madrid wont try to feck with us about the price and etc because we gave them Courtois without a HASLE at the deadline for us, even though this made us overpay for Kepa. 

In return for the favor, they gave us Kovacic on loan and will sell to us next year on a gentlemans agreement (without having to state it as such). Its a win win for all parties involved including the players. 

Edited August 13, 20187 yr by Semper Fi

53 minutes ago, Semper Fi said:

Thats why we have a gentlemans agreement. Ill try to make it easier for you. Real Madrid will sell Kovacic next season and we have the first chance to buy him. Madrid wont try to feck with us about the price and etc because we gave them Courtois without a HASLE at the deadline for us, even though this made us overpay for Kepa. 

In return for the favor, they gave us Kovacic on loan and will sell to us next year on a gentlemans agreement (without having to state it as such). Its a win win for all parties involved including the players. 

Ah right gotcha, I figured that's what you were trying to say but I still have an issue with it. The reason being as to why we couldn't just have a buy-out clause to begin with, what's the trouble with that if Madrid are going to sell him to us anyway? 

Because I'm guessing a gentleman's agreement is having to rely on their word, that's nothing solid and I think that's poor business by the club if so. 

8 minutes ago, Slojo said:

Ah right gotcha, I figured that's what you were trying to say but I still have an issue with it. The reason being as to why we couldn't just have a buy-out clause to begin with, what's the trouble with that if Madrid are going to sell him to us anyway? 

Because I'm guessing a gentleman's agreement is having to rely on their word, that's nothing solid and I think that's poor business by the club if so. 

Not at all. Madrid fans are vicious and Florentino would like to save face with the fans, they elect him after all. 

In the end he will say that he tried to keep Kovacic but the player really wanted to move ao he showed compassion and allowed the player. This covers Florentinos ass, which in Madrid its what you need to do. 

 

Id say its great business having good relations with one of the biggest clubs in the world. 

Yeah theres absolutely no way that Kavacic goes back to Madrid. He went AWOL to force through a move, theres no coming back from that at Real. I think having a loan deal can be an advantage, kind of a testdrive begore we buy. Real never ask for unreasonable fees for players who want to leave as they seem to prefer to get it done and dusted as fast as possible. Wouldnt be surprised if ee signed him in the January window tbh

5 hours ago, Semper Fi said:

Not at all. Madrid fans are vicious and Florentino would like to save face with the fans, they elect him after all. 

In the end he will say that he tried to keep Kovacic but the player really wanted to move ao he showed compassion and allowed the player. This covers Florentinos ass, which in Madrid its what you need to do. 

 

Id say its great business having good relations with one of the biggest clubs in the world. 

Lets not kid ourselves here. Real Madrid are not going to be doing us any favours if Kovacic has a belter of a season. Especially if their midfield needs freshening up at the end of the season. They have already had our pants down getting Courtois on the cheap and a one year loan of Kovacic without an option to buy. We're probably paying all of  his wages for a year as well.

Make no mistake if Kovacic has a really good season Real will be asking top dollar. There's no such thing as a gentlemen's agreement.

A year is a long time and anything could happen. He could fail to impress and Chelsea may not want him.

IF we do want him and IF Kovacic wants to come and IF Real are willing to sell they are holding the cards and the only leverage we have is money. Kovacic could do a Courtois and force a move but that's a lot of IFs.

I’m excited to see what he can do for us. No offence to Barkley and RLC, I can imagine Kovacic will take us to the next level!

2 hours ago, Andy North said:

Lets not kid ourselves here. Real Madrid are not going to be doing us any favours if Kovacic has a belter of a season. Especially if their midfield needs freshening up at the end of the season. They have already had our pants down getting Courtois on the cheap and a one year loan of Kovacic without an option to buy. We're probably paying all of  his wages for a year as well.

Make no mistake if Kovacic has a really good season Real will be asking top dollar. There's no such thing as a gentlemen's agreement.

A year is a long time and anything could happen. He could fail to impress and Chelsea may not want him.

IF we do want him and IF Kovacic wants to come and IF Real are willing to sell they are holding the cards and the only leverage we have is money. Kovacic could do a Courtois and force a move but that's a lot of IFs.

Thats wrong on many levels. They did not have our pants down, Courtois refused to train just as Kovacic refused to train to force a move to us. We spend our budget on Kepa, Real did us a favor loaning Kovacic for a year and then theyll sell him to us next year when our budget allows us to do so. 

 

There are definite gentlemen agreements between clubs and this one is as obvious as it gets.

Good option for depth, if he eventually fits in and gets a starting spot i think we will be looking to buy him next summer.

1 hour ago, TrueBlueBIH said:

Good option for depth, if he eventually fits in and gets a starting spot i think we will be looking to buy him next summer.

Don't know if he's a depth player, it sounds more like he's bigger than that. I haven't seen much of him, but I've heard a number of fans of other clubs talking about a Kante-Jorginho-Kovacic midfield as quite possibly the strongest in the league.

1 hour ago, TrueBlueBIH said:

Good option for depth, if he eventually fits in and gets a starting spot i think we will be looking to buy him next summer.

Haha @ "depth" I'd love for us to have so much quality that a player like kovacic was classed as a depth player. Lol

2 hours ago, Semper Fi said:

Thats wrong on many levels. They did not have our pants down, Courtois refused to train just as Kovacic refused to train to force a move to us. We spend our budget on Kepa, Real did us a favor loaning Kovacic for a year and then theyll sell him to us next year when our budget allows us to do so. 

 

There are definite gentlemen agreements between clubs and this one is as obvious as it gets.

I'm sorry but there is no such thing as a Gentlemen's agreement. If people agree things they get written into contracts. When they can't agree they don't. Why do you think Real didn't give an option to buy? They value Kovacic too much to sell him. They want to see if he has a good year and/or if they are in a position to sell him next year. They are keeping their options open without having to commit to any arrangement with Chelsea. They let the loan go through as sweetener at best. They will not be doing Chelsea any favours at the end of the season.

We, on the other hand, have let a world class keeper go for £35m when Liverpool have paid £60m for Alison and we have paid £71m for Kepa.

I'm sorry but I know which side of the deal I would want to be on.

 

37 minutes ago, Andy North said:

I'm sorry but there is no such thing as a Gentlemen's agreement. If people agree things they get written into contracts. When they can't agree they don't. Why do you think Real didn't give an option to buy? They value Kovacic too much to sell him. They want to see if he has a good year and/or if they are in a position to sell him next year. They are keeping their options open without having to commit to any arrangement with Chelsea. They let the loan go through as sweetener at best. They will not be doing Chelsea any favours at the end of the season.

We, on the other hand, have let a world class keeper go for £35m when Liverpool have paid £60m for Alison and we have paid £71m for Kepa.

I'm sorry but I know which side of the deal I would want to be on.

 

We will find out who stands corrected at end of season. 

I'm sorry but there is no such thing as a Gentlemen's agreement. If people agree things they get written into contracts. When they can't agree they don't. Why do you think Real didn't give an option to buy? They value Kovacic too much to sell him. They want to see if he has a good year and/or if they are in a position to sell him next year. They are keeping their options open without having to commit to any arrangement with Chelsea. They let the loan go through as sweetener at best. They will not be doing Chelsea any favours at the end of the season.
We, on the other hand, have let a world class keeper go for £35m when Liverpool have paid £60m for Alison and we have paid £71m for Kepa.
I'm sorry but I know which side of the deal I would want to be on.
 

I'm happy to be on our side of the deal. It's not just money and seeing the back of Courtois and having him replaced by someone who has the potential to become one of Europe's best is not half bad. Kovacic will also be a plus.