1 minute ago, Zeta said:

Sell

Keep

I don't know what he is offering us at the moment. Better off playing Mount and keeping Kante & Enzo in that double pivot. 

18 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

Keep

Issue with “keep” is he will be 29 beginning of next season, and wants £200k/w+ contract. We will be buying a DM in the summer so it will either him or Kante starting next to Enzo going forward. Without European football I just don’t think it’s economically wise to keep an ageing £200k/w midfielder on the bench. To put things in perspective neither Gundogan nor Bernardo Silva earn over £150k/w, and both players score & assist regularly.

2 hours ago, ducavis said:

Issue with “keep” is he will be 29 beginning of next season, and wants £200k/w+ contract. We will be buying a DM in the summer so it will either him or Kante starting next to Enzo going forward. Without European football I just don’t think it’s economically wise to keep an ageing £200k/w midfielder on the bench. To put things in perspective neither Gundogan nor Bernardo Silva earn over £150k/w, and both players score & assist regularly.

That is indeed an issue if those are the demands. Along with the Mount saga, to me it’s another topping signal regarding player wages in the premier league that coincides (probably) with the top of an economic cycle that’s going to hit this year. There’s the famous quote regarding economic cycles and what drives animal spirits - there’s nothing worse than seeing your neighbours get rich. It can cause level-headed people to lose the plot.
 

Eventually things overshoot and you get to a point where people are overearning. Then they start underperforming, or not performing at all. Take Mount. Were it not for these dynamics, maybe he’d be having a decent season… on 1/10th the pay, as long as everyone else was earning 1/10th too. Money 🤦‍♂️ 

The problem with Kovacic, is he's all style, no substance. He hardly ever scores (or even hits the target), he rarely creates. His big plus point when he came in was being "press resistant" which I'm sure must have been said about 100 times in the course of this thread, but lately he can't even keep the ball, he gives it away all the time. He used to be ok defensively, and make quite a lot of tackles, then bring the ball forward, but struggles to even do that now. I just don't see him as an important part of a team which wants to improve and start winning again. 

30 minutes ago, Zeta said:

The problem with Kovacic, is he's all style, no substance. He hardly ever scores (or even hits the target), he rarely creates. His big plus point when he came in was being "press resistant" which I'm sure must have been said about 100 times in the course of this thread, but lately he can't even keep the ball, he gives it away all the time. He used to be ok defensively, and make quite a lot of tackles, then bring the ball forward, but struggles to even do that now. I just don't see him as an important part of a team which wants to improve and start winning again. 

Fair points. I’d counter though that it’s easy to say this all now when he’s underperforming. No argument from me on the underperforming btw. I think the “all style no substance” is a bit unfair. Same with the idea that he doesn’t create. In his good spells he played a lot of great final balls that just weren’t capitalised on by underperforming forwards: the lack of a natural goal scorer was our bigger problem for years imo. The dribbling skills (when they were there and I concur that they are presently lacking) are/were a pretty valuable asset. 
 

More generally, I fear there’s a bigger picture we are missing. Something is seriously wrong with the club, and it’s infecting all the players. Do we have a player that IS performing to their potential?

Given this broader sickness, I think we are all asking the wrong questions, as a glance through the most popular threads reveals: which striker should we get? What manager do we want next? Who should we keep, who should we sell? we should be discussing more pressing issues like the sustainability of the club itself. It’s got to a point where i struggle to see how it doesn’t blow up, and I’m not naturally a pessimist, as @axman2526 can confirm 😂 

Reports of Kova in talks to join Citeh, Pep will surely unlock that potential to the maximum, look how he’s bought Grealish on, of the glut of Mids linked to leave, he’s the one I’d keep🤔

Not bothered really. Though undoubtedly as soon as he joins there, he'll start banging in 5-10 goals a season.

Want to keep him, but would understand if he wants to go especially to play under Pep. This is one thing that often gets brought up in football players wanting to play for big clubs but also big coaches. When it comes to Pep there isn't anyone bigger. Don't want him to leave but if we get the £40m we paid for him or make a profit like £50-60m I would accept it.

Personally would like to keep as many of our UCL winning spine together as possible, since we've lost several players from that team:

Giroud, Abraham, Tomori, Rudiger, Christensen, Werner, Emerson, Alonso, Jorginho, Gilmour 

Apologies if I forgot anyone I feel like I might have

 

I don't understand why anyone would willingly want to sell him. A starter for us and performs well in the majority of his games. 

11 minutes ago, Remodez said:

I don't understand why anyone would willingly want to sell him. A starter for us and performs well in the majority of his games. 

He has had a poor season and the chances are he won't be a starter next season under the new coach. He has always been a decent squad player but the size of our squad has to be reduced so probably a good time to cash in.

I'm just concerned at all of the senior players going and leaving us with basically a team of inexperienced players 

2 minutes ago, Nibs said:

the size of our squad has to be reduced so probably a good time to cash in.

I absolutely agree with you on that point but I’m not sure Kovacic is the right player to sell, we aren’t exactly stacked in midfield. Who do we have past Kante, Kovacic and Enzo? Maybe I’ve forgotten someone really obvious but Zakaria doesn’t really count for me as he won’t be here next season.

https://www.thechelseachronicle.com/news/report-chelsea-will-not-stop-their-40m-player-from-leaving-this-summer-if-he-wants-out/

Even if he goes to Citeh I wouldn't bet on him being a first XI starter.

Would probably be a bench filler substitute like Jorginho at Arsenal.

City want him? Let him go for at least £60m, that oil state club can afford it. If not, he can go to any other country.

If they offer a good fee let him go. Will help our FFP issues.

10 hours ago, Ballack & Blu said:

Reports of Kova in talks to join Citeh, Pep will surely unlock that potential to the maximum, look how he’s bought Grealish on, of the glut of Mids linked to leave, he’s the one I’d keep🤔

Player in final year of contract, looking for one last big contract. Pep has acknowledged City’s squad is ageing & needs to be refreshed, last thing he is going to do is sign a 29yr old Kovacic to replace a 32yr old Gundogan. Pep doesn’t sign older players because he needs fresh legs, and prefers players that can play multiple rooms.

Would love for it to happen just for kicks, just imagine the look on Pep’s face when he keeps shooting into the stands.

Reports are saying Kovas agents were in England and held a first round of talks with City Yesterday.

We are said to have told City we want a 30mill fee. Kova has 8mill FFP book value so would leave us with a 22mill FFP profit.

8 hours ago, just said:

https://www.thechelseachronicle.com/news/report-chelsea-will-not-stop-their-40m-player-from-leaving-this-summer-if-he-wants-out/

Even if he goes to Citeh I wouldn't bet on him being a first XI starter.

Would probably be a bench filler substitute like Jorginho at Arsenal.

Think he’d get decent amount of playing time if he goes there. And people will realise his ability to create chances is not what it’s cracked down (or whatever the opposite of cracked up is) when there are decent forwards receiving his through balls. Still in his prime - just had more than a few disruptions this season.
 

 

It’s disappointing to me that one bad season is all most (or way too many) fans need to reach for the “sell” button. And it’s often the same ones who talk about building for the long term. 
 

I get that the players are mercenary too, but why wouldn’t they be? What’s the message of the Mount saga to everyone? He’s the kind of player all the fans would have been clamouring to keep not so long ago. He’s certainly not blameless, afflicted by greed, short-termism like the rest of us. We’ve all created this monster together.

Football has been absurd for a long while and the direction of travel has been clear to anyone paying attention. But the absurdity has reached new heights and in so many other ways too (a winter World Cup as a direct consequence of blatant corruption to name just one). People seem to have normalised it. To me it seems unsustainable. Needs a massive shakeout/crisis which I think is coming though maybe I’m just an idealist. 

On 21/04/2023 at 22:24, axman2526 said:

Reports are saying Kovas agents were in England and held a first round of talks with City Yesterday.

We are said to have told City we want a 30mill fee. Kova has 8mill FFP book value so would leave us with a 22mill FFP profit.

Liverpool and United interested apparently as well. 

I'd sell him.  Technically brilliant player and can break the press, but just no end product.  Wouldn't get near a midfield back in the day that included Maka, Frank, Ballack, Essien, and dare I say players like Ramires offered more all round.

Pochettino has apparently green lighter his sale.

40mill price tag, and he will have his choice of clubs including Bayern and City.

Hope it's Bayern!

Judging from what Pochettino likes in his midfield this makes sense. You look at Spurs/Saints midfield, it is clear Pochettino has a niche in what he wants in his midfield. Physical prowess + expansive passing range.