https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/47027051

any body else seen this? talk about stick to your job mr big mouth politician

You know what my favorite part of the match yesterday was? The first time I remember Higuain touching the ball: he came back to the ball, won it in front of the defender and was actually fouled and fell over. Now, what I really liked was that he 1. fought for the ball and 2. didn't just fall over bc a rain drop landed on his shoulder and 3. he didn't look at the referee like he the defender murdered his family in front of him.

Really, Higuain didn't play exceptionally great, also didn't play badly. But the fact that our (or mine) standards are so low for a striker, is... well striking. He made nice runs behind and linked up well. The amount of chances we create, Higgy should be able to score some goals.

Milan not missing him so far, Piatek, his replacement, has scored two tonight in the opening half hour.

40 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Milan not missing him so far, Piatek, his replacement, has scored two tonight in the opening half hour.

I was slightly confused why we didn't sign piatek. 

1 hour ago, bisright1 said:

I was slightly confused why we didn't sign piatek. 

Because Higuain is proven and the safest option for us to finish top 4. It’d be a big surprise if he fails to replicate his scoring record here.

Piatek, is a gamble and it wasn’t one we were prepared to take.

53 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

Because Higuain is proven and the safest option for us to finish top 4. It’d be a big surprise if he fails to replicate his scoring record here.

Dear Mr Dan

Myself and my best friend are both ex-professional footballers and are big admirers of your work on The Shed End. You always have interesting opinions and seem a very knowledgeable and well informed individual on all football related matters.

You have once again hit the nail on the head with your view on Higuain's imminent successes at Chelsea FC. We too will be very surprised if he doesn't replicate his scoring feats here based on his previous records.

Yours sincerely

F. Torres & A. Shevchenko

I am Italian and a fan of Ac Milan and i started following Chelsea since he sat on the bench King Carlo Ancelotti and I hope that every year Chelsea can win Premier League but I would never have bought Higuain not just for ages but because after Naples has had an incredible decline ! 

A boy from this forum he wrote to me about Bakayoko : "Bakayoko is not good because in Premier  we play too fast and he is too slow and runs a little" Well then you would never have to buy Higuain ! 

However good luck Gonzalo 

2 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

Because Higuain is proven and the safest option for us to finish top 4. It’d be a big surprise if he fails to replicate his scoring record here.

Piatek, is a gamble and it wasn’t one we were prepared to take.

Higuain is also a gamble. But I agree, due to his experience and relationship with Sarri he was the number 1 choice all along.

Though we do need young players that are hungry to prove themselves and that can smell blood at the start of every game, just that right now the stakes are too high but that is all going to change next season. 

So far, top 4, good in all other competitions and 1 final secured, so far so good.

6 hours ago, bisright1 said:

I was slightly confused why we didn't sign piatek. 

Piatek's a great finisher, but his technique/passing isn't very good - I'm doubtful that he would have suited Sarri's vision.

Plus Genoa would probably have made us pay through the nose. 

10 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

Because Higuain is proven and the safest option for us to finish top 4. It’d be a big surprise if he fails to replicate his scoring record here.

Piatek, is a gamble and it wasn’t one we were prepared to take.

But this is the mistake that Chelsea keep making with strikers. We keep buying "proven" but they're best days are behind them (Torres, Shevchenko, Falcao, Eto'o) . 

We spent a lot of money on Morata who despite having played for big teams he'd never actually been first choice and ultimately we learned the hard way why that was. 

What we haven't done for a long time is identify a striker who isn't necessarily the finished article but has a skill set suited to the way we want to play who we can fit into the team. Arguably the striker we did that with was Drogba. He was a bit of an unknown quantity but Mourinho saw in him a selfless front man who was great at holding up the ball and had a big presence in the air. Perfectly suited to his counter attacking football.

I'm not saying we should have signed Piatek specifically but he's definitely the type of player I think we should be looking at. He's young enough that he'll improve but can also be coached to play the way the manager wants. He's cost Milan £30m which is what we're going to have to pay for Higuain this summer. 

8 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

But this is the mistake that Chelsea keep making with strikers. We keep buying "proven" but they're best days are behind them (Torres, Shevchenko, Falcao, Eto'o) . 

We spent a lot of money on Morata who despite having played for big teams he'd never actually been first choice and ultimately we learned the hard way why that was. 

What we haven't done for a long time is identify a striker who isn't necessarily the finished article but has a skill set suited to the way we want to play who we can fit into the team. Arguably the striker we did that with was Drogba. He was a bit of an unknown quantity but Mourinho saw in him a selfless front man who was great at holding up the ball and had a big presence in the air. Perfectly suited to his counter attacking football.

I'm not saying we should have signed Piatek specifically but he's definitely the type of player I think we should be looking at. He's young enough that he'll improve but can also be coached to play the way the manager wants. He's cost Milan £30m which is what we're going to have to pay for Higuain this summer. 

We will be mad to pay £30m for him this summer whatever happens, the £18m to loan him for a further year is also ridiculous.

4 minutes ago, ducavis said:

We will be mad to pay £30m for him this summer whatever happens, the £18m to loan him for a further year is also ridiculous.

That would surely depend on how well he plays though, is he comes in now and bangs in 15 goals winning some silverware along the way and ensuring we get CL next season then 18 mil for him as an option for another year is a great bit of business. 

To say at this stage that its ridiculous is jumping the gun somewhat

10 minutes ago, Bonzodog29 said:

That would surely depend on how well he plays though, is he comes in now and bangs in 15 goals winning some silverware along the way and ensuring we get CL next season then 18 mil for him as an option for another year is a great bit of business. 

To say at this stage that its ridiculous is jumping the gun somewhat

£18m for a one year loan is ridiculous money. 

31 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

£18m for a one year loan is ridiculous money. 

Spot on! That is a £90m player amortised over a 5yr period. 

31 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

£18m for a one year loan is ridiculous money. 

If you look at the figure as a stand alone then yes 18m is a lot of money, however you have to put it into perspective, I know nuance isnt big on forums but:

2 years ago Juve paid 85 odd million for him, his loan agreement with milan was for 18 m per season with an option to buy. 

so if and it is a big if, he is banging in the goals and we decide to take the option of another year then 18m isnt that bad

9 minutes ago, Bonzodog29 said:

If you look at the figure as a stand alone then yes 18m is a lot of money, however you have to put it into perspective, I know nuance isnt big on forums but:

2 years ago Juve paid 85 odd million for him, his loan agreement with milan was for 18 m per season with an option to buy. 

so if and it is a big if, he is banging in the goals and we decide to take the option of another year then 18m isnt that bad

Paying £18m for one player for one year, plus wages in the region of £8m (if not more). £26m for a single season isn't great and it's extremely short sighted because then in another 12 months we're going to have to make another large investment on the same position in the team. 

If we get into the top four it will be seen as money well spent yet if we don't............

1 minute ago, Strider6003 said:

If we get into the top four it will be seen as money well spent yet if we don't............

this is the point, 

 

9 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Paying £18m for one player for one year, plus wages in the region of £8m (if not more). £26m for a single season isn't great and it's extremely short sighted because then in another 12 months we're going to have to make another large investment on the same position in the team. 

Lets assume he has a couple of great seasons and scores 50 plus goals including the winner in the CL final 26 m for a season would be a fine investment to make... it is an option to take on loan not a contract, and either way we would need to invest in the position. To state outright that it is bad business is naive as we currently dont know how he will turn out.

3 minutes ago, Bonzodog29 said:

Lets assume he has a couple of great seasons and scores 50 plus goals including the winner in the CL final 26 m for a season would be a fine investment to make... it is an option to take on loan not a contract, and either way we would need to invest in the position. To state outright that it is bad business is naive as we currently dont know how he will turn out.

Hypothesising about the extremely unlikely scenario that he scores 50 goals in 18 months including the winner in a European Cup final then calling me naive. Gotcha. 

The winner in the Europa final would come in handy!

5 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Hypothesising about the extremely unlikely scenario that he scores 50 goals in 18 months including the winner in a European Cup final then calling me naive. Gotcha. 

are you a professional bellend or just a talented amateur? 

 

The scenario is merely there as a point of context to put the figure into a situation, I am saying that to state definitively that the price quoted is bad business is naive not calling you naive (I am calling you a bellend though so there is that) 

 

We do not know how well Higuain will play, if he play badly and we activate the option to loan for 18m then it is a ridiculous price if he scores hat fulls then it isnt, I dont see how you cant make that distinction.

Which part of the bell am I? 

Edited January 30, 20197 yr by ForeverCarefree

18 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Which part of the bell am I? 

the noisy part.

There’s certainly no guarantee Higuain will score goals but I feel he’s a safer choice than Piatek. He knows Sarri well, has bags of experience, whereas Piatek could well turn out to be another Belotti.

I remember everybody really wanted Belotti, where is he now?

2 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

But this is the mistake that Chelsea keep making with strikers. We keep buying "proven" but they're best days are behind them (Torres, Shevchenko, Falcao, Eto'o) . 

We spent a lot of money on Morata who despite having played for big teams he'd never actually been first choice and ultimately we learned the hard way why that was. 

What we haven't done for a long time is identify a striker who isn't necessarily the finished article but has a skill set suited to the way we want to play who we can fit into the team. Arguably the striker we did that with was Drogba. He was a bit of an unknown quantity but Mourinho saw in him a selfless front man who was great at holding up the ball and had a big presence in the air. Perfectly suited to his counter attacking football.

I'm not saying we should have signed Piatek specifically but he's definitely the type of player I think we should be looking at. He's young enough that he'll improve but can also be coached to play the way the manager wants. He's cost Milan £30m which is what we're going to have to pay for Higuain this summer. 

I think we have signed strikers with potential, it's just none have worked out. Lukaku, Sturridge, Batshuayi, Morata, we're all young strikers that we hoped would be good enough to lead the line at some point. We have tried signing strikers in their prime in Costa and Torres, but when things haven't worked out, there have been some short term fixes like eto'o, falcao, and now higuian. 

The market is just so crazy now. 5 years ago, we could spend under £20m for a young player with high potential, now young players are being sold for prices as if they were already the finished article, and players that are the finished article are either already at big clubs, or are out of price range. 

I don't think there is lot of options either, icardi is the obvious one, and there is maybe 1 or 2 in Germany. 

I guess we will have to just keep our fingers crossed on higuian.