48:01.  Going the wrong way.

The more I think about this transfer, the more I come to the conclusion that I must be completely deluded to even suggest it’s a remote possibility.

4 hours ago, thebluekid said:

The more I think about this transfer, the more I come to the conclusion that I must be completely deluded to even suggest it’s a remote possibility.

Nothing wrong with a bit of optimism my friend. On this one though it is misplaced.

Mbappe will be off to Real next season, and Haaland will either join him as the spearhead of a frightening new attack or Barca will turn his head imo.

For me it will be Real for both, with them switching to a front 3 with Vinicius being the third.

4 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Nothing wrong with a bit of optimism my friend. On this one though it is misplaced.

Mbappe will be off to Real next season, and Haaland will either join him as the spearhead of a frightening new attack or Barca will turn his head imo.

For me it will be Real for both, with them switching to a front 3 with Vinicius being the third.

i think Haaland will be here before the season starts.. as outlandish as it sounds i think we will do this.

5 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Nothing wrong with a bit of optimism my friend. On this one though it is misplaced.

Mbappe will be off to Real next season, and Haaland will either join him as the spearhead of a frightening new attack or Barca will turn his head imo.

For me it will be Real for both, with them switching to a front 3 with Vinicius being the third.

I still have a teeny, tiny bit of optimism, but it is deluded optimism hahaha.

I can see it happening re. Madrid. If I'm honest we'd have more chance signing Mbappe than Haaland! 

 

Question is, who do you think we will end up with as CF?

Stumbling blocks: 

We are not Real Madrid

We don't pay players as much as some clubs (MU, Real, Barcelona) 

Mino Raiola 

If one or any of these are not in our/Haaland satisfaction Haaland won't come to Chelsea. 

Reports however say we really really want to sign him. Last summer we signed Werner and Havertz who both were in super-high demand. Neither were left disappointed lifting the big ears. 

I think we will try to sign him. Time will tell how we fare in this quest. 

Dortmund are always straight shooters when it comes to deals like this. They'll give you a price and they'll give you a deadline and if you don't meet both it's not going to happen. They did it with Sancho and Dembele before him.

They are usually pretty open when they recieve bids as well so  I don't think the complete silence is a good thing for us in this case.

5 minutes ago, Sindre said:

Dortmund are always straight shooters when it comes to deals like this. They'll give you a price and they'll give you a deadline and if you don't meet both it's not going to happen. They did it with Sancho and Dembele before him.

They are usually pretty open when they recieve bids as well so  I don't think the complete silence is a good thing for us in this case.

I agree in general but the silence is nothing to go by imho - if they sell Haaland this summer they want his replacement signed before the (possible) Haaland deal is through or at least appears that way in the media -> makes the replacement just way more expensive and complicated.

The fact this is only on 23 pages says it all, there are obvious stumbling blocks. Such a shame as United will be a lot stronger next season with the Glazers reaching into their pockets now and will look to improve on their 2nd place finish. Haaland would be such a statement signing and everything rides on this transfer window with no release clause.

It's hard to not be frustrated by the entire situation, to be honest. I keep reiterating this but the club is in the biggest of crossroads. We really are either on the cusp of returning to the top table in England or becoming a 'cup' team. Being realistic, we're European champions because each and every player gave a solid 9/10 for the entire campaign; in the league, we were utterly bang average and at times embarrassing; the primary issue being the countless, countless missed chances. As a fan, you have to stay humble and not expect your club to sign the latest, greatest talents every year. This year is an exception though; they have the platform to move ahead of the game. This constant silence worries me, there is literally nothing coming out of the club, there would have to have been some inkling of action/bids by now if it was to happen surely? For me, as said previously, this game is over completely. Haaland will be back in pre-season training imminently and that really will be that. 

We're being bloody linked to Calvert-Lewin and Ings as well; that's the depressing thing. I just have a gut-feeling we will bottle this window and the repercussions of it will be we lose the best manager we've had since the OG Jose campaign. I'm not being funny, back the f**king manager and sign a f**king goalscorer who can actually hit barn doors from 5 yards.

Just pay whatever Dortmund want, this summer is our chance to get him. No chance next year.

Even if they want 150m, just pay it. He’s a freak talent.

1 hour ago, thebluekid said:

It's hard to not be frustrated by the entire situation, to be honest. I keep reiterating this but the club is in the biggest of crossroads. We really are either on the cusp of returning to the top table in England or becoming a 'cup' team. Being realistic, we're European champions because each and every player gave a solid 9/10 for the entire campaign; in the league, we were utterly bang average and at times embarrassing; the primary issue being the countless, countless missed chances. As a fan, you have to stay humble and not expect your club to sign the latest, greatest talents every year. This year is an exception though; they have the platform to move ahead of the game. This constant silence worries me, there is literally nothing coming out of the club, there would have to have been some inkling of action/bids by now if it was to happen surely? For me, as said previously, this game is over completely. Haaland will be back in pre-season training imminently and that really will be that. 

We're being bloody linked to Calvert-Lewin and Ings as well; that's the depressing thing. I just have a gut-feeling we will bottle this window and the repercussions of it will be we lose the best manager we've had since the OG Jose campaign. I'm not being funny, back the f**king manager and sign a f**king goalscorer who can actually hit barn doors from 5 yards.

Plenty of time to go though. So I wouldn't panic yet.

But we do have a habit of messing things up after major title wins so I understand the worry.

Mourinho coming off the PL in 2015? Rahman, Djilibodji, Falcao, Pato, Kenedy, Begovic.
Conte coming off the PL in 2017? Drinkwater, Zappacosta, Morata, Bakayoko.
Tuchel coming off the CL in 2021? Hopefully we have learned our lesson.

11 minutes ago, Sindre said:

Plenty of time to go though. So I wouldn't panic yet.

But we do have a habit of messing things up after major title wins so I understand the worry.

Mourinho coming off the PL in 2015? Rahman, Djilibodji, Falcao, Pato, Kenedy, Begovic.
Conte coming off the PL in 2017? Drinkwater, Zappacosta, Morata, Bakayoko.
Tuchel coming off the CL in 2021? Hopefully we have learned our lesson.

We really do. The club should not let a major title distract them from the blatantly obvious shortcomings of this team. If they were prepared to completely sell out to a European Super League then they really ought to back up their credentials and not make these mistakes again.

 

Another side note; this guy is going to sell millions upon millions of shirts; he is already a global superstar. Signing him is signing a brand. It's akin to when Real signed Ronaldo and within 2 years they'd made their money back on shirt sales and endorsements alone. £150m now may seem a lot, but when he bags you a league title, potentially another UCL and brings you 100s of millions over a 5 year contract from his name alone, it doesn't seem too unrealistic. 

1 hour ago, thebluekid said:

We really do. The club should not let a major title distract them from the blatantly obvious shortcomings of this team. If they were prepared to completely sell out to a European Super League then they really ought to back up their credentials and not make these mistakes again.

 

Another side note; this guy is going to sell millions upon millions of shirts; he is already a global superstar. Signing him is signing a brand. It's akin to when Real signed Ronaldo and within 2 years they'd made their money back on shirt sales and endorsements alone. £150m now may seem a lot, but when he bags you a league title, potentially another UCL and brings you 100s of millions over a 5 year contract from his name alone, it doesn't seem too unrealistic. 

The shirt sales paying for a player is a common misconception probably create by Real Madrid back in the Galacticos days to cover their overspending.   Nike pays us a set amount up front to make our kits say £80 million then takes virtually all the profit per shirt sale, leaving us with a small percentage.  

Furthermore, signing a star player doesn’t lead to as many new kits being sold as you think.  No doubt there will be a small increase in shirts sold, but it's more likely those who were already planning on purchasing a shirt will choose to get the new player’s name on the back, rather than an existing player.  I'm pretty sure Haalands wages would eat up those profits in a couple of months.

If I can remember correctly I'm sure we had similar small/sparse rumours on the Havertz signing last year with many doubting we'd sign him.  We only got him at the start of September so plenty of time yet.

3 hours ago, Sindre said:

Plenty of time to go though. So I wouldn't panic yet.

But we do have a habit of messing things up after major title wins so I understand the worry.

Mourinho coming off the PL in 2015? Rahman, Djilibodji, Falcao, Pato, Kenedy, Begovic.
Conte coming off the PL in 2017? Drinkwater, Zappacosta, Morata, Bakayoko.
Tuchel coming off the CL in 2021? Hopefully we have learned our lesson.

Yeah better we sign nobody than have a summer like those. 

I do think the club will sign some players, but wouldn't be surprised to see us offload some players before we announce any incoming transfers (even though some may be well underway).  The wage bill is high and squad is very large post loan returns.  Can think of nearly 10 players we need to balance before showing our hand.

Maybe, just MAYBE, this might be happening. Pessimistic optimism is the way forward; I’m telling you I was that convinced we’d lose the UCL final, we actually won the c***.

On 06/07/2021 at 18:51, Sindre said:

Plenty of time to go though. So I wouldn't panic yet.

But we do have a habit of messing things up after major title wins so I understand the worry.

Mourinho coming off the PL in 2015? Rahman, Djilibodji, Falcao, Pato, Kenedy, Begovic.
Conte coming off the PL in 2017? Drinkwater, Zappacosta, Morata, Bakayoko.
Tuchel coming off the CL in 2021? Hopefully we have learned our lesson.

The most egregious one for me was Ancelotti coming off the PL in 2010. Ramires, Benayoun and a bunch of youth players in the Summer. Torres & Luiz panic-bought in January. 

We can really only say we've successfully backed a winning manager once: 

2005 - Essien, Wright-Phillips and Del Horno, all Mourinho's top targets. Dominated the EPL in 2005/06 but were lukewarm in Europe.

There are two summers where a winning manager was backed but resulted in a relatively poor season, similar to Conte's 2017:

2006 - Shevchenko, Ballack, Boulahrouz, Kalou and the mighty Hilario. 
2012 - Hazard, Oscar, Moses and German Messi

 

 

 

 

 

14 minutes ago, SydneyChelsea said:

The most egregious one for me was Ancelotti coming off the PL in 2010. Ramires, Benayoun and a bunch of youth players in the Summer. Torres & Luiz panic-bought in January. 

We can really only say we've successfully backed a winning manager once: 

2005 - Essien, Wright-Phillips and Del Horno, all Mourinho's top targets. Dominated the EPL in 2005/06 but were lukewarm in Europe.

There are two summers where a winning manager was backed but resulted in a relatively poor season, similar to Conte's 2017:

2006 - Shevchenko, Ballack, Boulahrouz, Kalou and the mighty Hilario. 
2012 - Hazard, Oscar, Moses and German Messi

German Messi amazing!

What made 2010 worse was that we then panicked and bought rubbish in the Jan window for huuuge money which upset the whole team rhythm. 

That said Luiz and Rambo did play a role in the CL win two years after, but you can't help but feel like Carlo could have lifted us higher more consistently if he had been given proper reinforcements in key areas.

Ramires overall was a very good player for us. He had a quite poor first half of the season in 2010/11 (I remember him being basically unable to pass a ball), but made huge improvements later on. What didn't help was a) our decision to release a load of senior players in summer 2010 (including Ballack), and b) a terrible injury crisis which resulted in us playing through two months with a midfield of Mikel-Ramires-Zhirkov.

Ramires was great. One of the most under rated chelsea players in the -ast 20 years

Simon Phillips said it’s confirmed that we have made contact with Dortmund about the transfer of Haaland.

It’s going to happen i reckon.

17 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

German Messi amazing!

What made 2010 worse was that we then panicked and bought rubbish in the Jan window for huuuge money which upset the whole team rhythm. 

That's not true, as useless as Torres was he did serve to galvanize the other forwards (knowing that their place weren't safe anymore) and give us a relitevely strong end to the season. Luiz was very good for those first few months until that Old Trafford moment.

3 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

Simon Phillips said it’s confirmed that we have made contact with Dortmund about the transfer of Haaland.

It’s going to happen i reckon.

Fingers crossed mate!

3 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

Simon Phillips said it’s confirmed that we have made contact with Dortmund about the transfer of Haaland.

It’s going to happen i reckon.

Dortmund and straight shooters. And if the rumor is true that they told us he is not for sale this summer, then he is not for sale this summer.