Romelu Lukaku back to Chelsea - and gone again!

[ashwin]

7 hours ago, junkymunky said:

100m for someone who will be 29 soon, very little resale value and has done pretty poorly at most the clubs hes been at (barring last season with inter) 

Why on earth did we not pay a bit more to get Haaland who is only 20, not even hit his prime yet and even if he stays for 5 years we can resell and get all the money back + likely even more??? Has a much higher ceiling as well. Instead we are signing someone who's probably past his best and when he was last in the prem he was a laughing stock.

 

We are pretty awful when it comes to incoming transfer dealings. In the past 5 years, could probably count on 1 hand the amount of quality signings we've made

What goes through your head when you make statements like "for someone who will be 29 soon"? Do you feel a voice somewhere inside that tells you to verify what you type? Or do such thoughts not cross your mind? 😄 

When you make statements like "Why on earth did we not pay a bit more to get Haaland who is only 20", please spare a moment to reflect on how incredibly little you know both about the negotiations that happened and about the finances at the club.

The club has been terrible with incoming transfers recently, has it? Yet we have one of the best rounded squads in the league. How did that happen?

What a bizzare illogical and ignorant post.

[TomCFC85]

Will be be available for the super cup?

Edited August 8, 2021 by TomCFC85

[mojo]

no

[Valerie]

8 hours ago, comtrend said:

He was over 100 kg when he was at United, since then he has dropped down to 93 kg with a new diet. I believe we will see a new and improved Lukaku since last time he was in the PL.

Oh dear, that may signal muscle loss. He should develop in a lower league and grow some muscles with his new buddy Mason !

[Scott Harris]

10 hours ago, hephzibah said:

I'm not against him. We all want the best for Chelsea. So this is the truth, and I will say it. I mentioned Hazard and Willian, it has always been like that. U can see that with Neymar and Mbappe at PSG, u can see that with Rashford and Sancho at Utd etc. We need creative players on the wings. Skillful players who can get us out of difficult situations and give passes to the striker.

I don't even think Mount is a winger, I think he's like a Lampard. But my point is he's too young. I feel we got into this situation in the season when we had transfer ban and we used the academy players that we had.

At the minimum, for three years, he should still go and develop in a lower team, by then his muscles would have grown enough to play for us, and by then he will be able to do great things for us.

But for now, he is not developed enough to play for us. Yes there are some players who can play well at that age, but also, some players need time to develop to get to that level, and I feel Mount falls in the latter category.

The right line up we should be using in our attack is Lukaku, Pulisic and Havertz. Not just a player who gets the ball and not minding if there's an obstacle in front, he just runs into them, then we lose the ball again and be at the risk of our opponents attacking us.

I feel Pulisic and Havertz will be able to give passes to Lukaku and we will be fine.

Develop in a lower team? muscles not grown enough to play for us?........I gotta ask, did you watch us at all last season? He was one of the key players in our Champions League run, got into the Champions League team of the season and won player of the year with us. I honestly don't see how development could have gone any better for a 22 year old.

Also, how can you say Mount needs to go to lower team and grow muscle and then say we should start Pulisic? Pulisic is possibly the most physically weak player we have.

[JM7]

9 hours ago, comtrend said:

He was over 100 kg when he was at United, since then he has dropped down to 93 kg with a new diet. I believe we will see a new and improved Lukaku since last time he was in the PL.

When Conte left, he thanked him for showing him how training and the right preparation can add to his game. Very much in the way Cesc did with Conte as well. 

[Blue Exile]

Disappointed with this, I don’t like him for a start, it’s a lot of money and a clear indication Haaland isn’t coming - this Summer at least. I think he’ll score goals, but I find it a bit embarrassing we are buying a player back for 85m more quid than he was sold for.

[Chelsbear]

20 minutes ago, Blue Exile said:

Disappointed with this, I don’t like him for a start, it’s a lot of money and a clear indication Haaland isn’t coming - this Summer at least. I think he’ll score goals, but I find it a bit embarrassing we are buying a player back for 85m more quid than he was sold for.

It's not your money. 

It's not embarrassing bringing in one of the best strikers in the world... Which he wasn't when we sold him. 

He's a far better player with much more experience than he was with us. 

Our forward line is now one of the best with his signing. I don't get the negativity, Haaland was never viable, we can't afford him and not many can. 

[Valerie]

20 minutes ago, Blue Exile said:

Disappointed with this, I don’t like him for a start, it’s a lot of money and a clear indication Haaland isn’t coming - this Summer at least. I think he’ll score goals, but I find it a bit embarrassing we are buying a player back for 85m more quid than he was sold for.

Haaland was a non-starter, and Lukaku has gained a fair bit of experience since he wasn't in our squad anymore. You said yourself he'll score goals, so we could do worse, which would be buying (a) nobody.

[Werner]

[SydneyChelsea]

18 hours ago, enigma said:

Fabrizio Romano must be the hardest working man in football journalism haha. There cannot be a more well known journalist in football. 

He isn't a journalist, he's a gossip columnist. Romano makes a living peddling bullsh*t to Twitter's army of dopamine addicts.

[dansubrosa]

Lukaku spotted flying to London, here we go! #ITK

[SydneyChelsea]

1 hour ago, Blue Exile said:

Disappointed with this, I don’t like him for a start, it’s a lot of money and a clear indication Haaland isn’t coming - this Summer at least. I think he’ll score goals, but I find it a bit embarrassing we are buying a player back for 85m more quid than he was sold for.

Unpopular opinion here but Haaland is a good distance away from being the finished product our team desperately needs.

Like Lukaku, he scores a lot of goals in an open, defensively-poor league. But Lukaku's build-up play and ability to create chances for his teammates is a level beyond Haaland. Haaland has the talent to develop that side of his game to be top class, but I wonder how fans would react to yet-another overhit pass or failed first touch from Haaland. He is able to compensate for this because of the slower pace of the league he plays in but given Werner and Havertz' comments on the matter, it is very hard to adjust that technical part of the game to the speed at which the game is played in England.

The other thing to remember is that Haaland's "availability" was pure speculation. If there's one thing common about a Mino Raiola negotiation, it's that every gritty detail plays out in the media.

There was absolutely no evidence that Chelsea actually bid for Haaland or that he was available for "just" €150m, other than the truism that Dortmund would be tempted by a "ridiculous" bid. If Man City offered a ridiculous £500m for Mason Mount, we'd bite their hand off. I don't pay attention to football social media, but what I have recently learned is that the Twitter brigade who masquerade as journalists (having never written anything beyond 140 characters...) now monetize their followers dopamine addiction through Twitch, Patreon and various podcasts. Speculation is profitable because it doesn't require any actual research other than to be a willing feed for a club or agent's PR machine.

As for his price - do you remember how much we sold him for?

£28m in 2014 is the equivalent of selling Tammy Abraham to West Ham for £70m in today's market.  £100m looks a lot less intimidating when you realise that.

Edited August 8, 2021 by SydneyChelsea

[PloKoon13]

19 minutes ago, SydneyChelsea said:

He isn't a journalist, he's a gossip columnist. Romano makes a living peddling bullsh*t to Twitter's army of dopamine addicts.

This is essentially true, although in the field of clickbait he is considered to be the gold standard of accuracy.

That said, people like him are why I find the transfer window (and the associated "journalism") to be basically pointless to pay attention to.

[PloKoon13]

In addition - I would be very happy if we were to sign Lukaku. I think he fills a gap in our squad which has been a serious problem for us.

[evissy]

22 minutes ago, SydneyChelsea said:

He isn't a journalist, he's a gossip columnist. Romano makes a living peddling bullsh*t to Twitter's army of dopamine addicts.

Hmmm.. His bullsh*t is pretty good if you ask me. He doesn't claim to know what he doesn't know. If he says something is close I believe it is close but he always says negotiations can go the other way in the end as well. He does his thing very well and is followed by millions for a good reason. He just has good connections. Bare in mind he isn't necessarily connected to a club or a player directly. You have to give that to these transfer-specialst. For me it is remarkable they know as much as they know. Agents and their offices has to be the place where the info comes from. 

Not everyone enjoy the silly season but I do. Part of being a Chelsea fan. 

[SydneyChelsea]

Just now, PloKoon13 said:

This is essentially true, although in the field of clickbait he is considered to be the gold standard of accuracy.

That said, people like him are why I find the transfer window (and the associated "journalism") to be basically pointless to pay attention to.

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king!

Most people on this forum grew up reading the Rumours column of a tabloid, once a week on the weekend. You and I grew up reading transfer gossip on websites that were scarcely refreshed each day. Twitter is more of the same bullsh*t, but with hourly updates instead.

[evissy]

1 minute ago, SydneyChelsea said:

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king!

Most people on this forum grew up reading the Rumours column of a tabloid, once a week on the weekend. You and I grew up reading transfer gossip on websites that were scarcely refreshed each day. Twitter is more of the same bullsh*t, but with hourly updates instead.

You are correct in that. I still enjoy it. Nothing wrong with that I suppose. I follow the ones that are well credited and their track record is good. I know however to read them and their posts. You can learn how serious they are. If you just follow anyone on twitter you get that sh*te that is throw around. Skysports is one of the biggest earners on gossip and they throw anything at you. This is why Romano is so followed because he doesn't post anything silly. His Chelsea track record since 2-3 years is pretty good. 

[ozboy]

39 minutes ago, SydneyChelsea said:

He isn't a journalist, he's a gossip columnist. Romano makes a living peddling bullsh*t to Twitter's army of dopamine addicts.

Hmm I’m a fairly successful (33 yr career) investment banking analyst and I think your comment is as ignorant and stupid as some of the comments I’ve read about lukaku. Romano is good at what he doors. He gets good sources and his signal to noise ratio is high, in my opinion. It’s not worth arguing about and I’m not putting him on a pedestal just acknowledging that like a player he is good at finding and disseminating information and providing a service to the football loving public. journalism  and analysis are valuable skills. I’ll leave it at that. 

[Guest Sindre]

 

[PloKoon13]

26 minutes ago, SydneyChelsea said:

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king!

Most people on this forum grew up reading the Rumours column of a tabloid, once a week on the weekend. You and I grew up reading transfer gossip on websites that were scarcely refreshed each day. Twitter is more of the same bullsh*t, but with hourly updates instead.

I was a Ceefax man myself. Back in the days when if the BBC reported something you could reliably consider it to be true.

But yes, this is surely the most tedious part of being a 'big' club.

[strider6004]

10 hours ago, big blue said:

Id be surprised to see that tbh. Kounde is unlikely to play right wing back. He has played right occasionally for Sevilla, but he isnt a better option there than James, or CHO. I actually think he will be eased in over the season and rotated at right centre back.

Jorginho will definitely start more often than not,as he sits better than the ither 2.

Werner is going to be the main casualty i suspect, because Lukaku offers a lot of what Werner brought last season, plus the physical and aerial ability, and obviously finishing. 

Havertz will play ahead of Werner for me.

On Werner I think he will assist Lukaku.

I could see Lukaku getting on the ball with two defenders in front of him and then Werner sprints in front of the defenders as though to take a pass creating the space and giving just one defender for Lukaku to power past. Havertz can't do that for me.

Havertz might play on the Right though.

Of course I might be wrong and I think with the other attacking forwards / mids we will have rotation.

[abister1]

When I hear people croon about why settle for 2nd choice because Haaland is unavailable, I laugh. 

Isn't that what life and affordability is all about? You want something but cannot afford it, you cut coat according to size and get what you can afford. 

Haalands ridiculous munbers are only as ridiculous as the fact that people want their club to buy him no matter what financial impact it will have. 

If there haven't been heavy investments recently you could say okay.... 

Yes we had a transfer ban and saved up some money but last season we saw the better part of quarter of  £1b spent. Geez

Same people shirk and cry jealousy when accused of buying up league titles and inflating markets (which I don't agree with). Its insane money for a player proven at Norwegian, Austrian and German football level. 

Some transfers are not just worth the disruption they are likely to cause to the squad balance ultimately. 

Edited August 8, 2021 by abister1
Incomplete

[strider6004]

1 hour ago, Blue Exile said:

Disappointed with this, I don’t like him for a start, it’s a lot of money and a clear indication Haaland isn’t coming - this Summer at least. I think he’ll score goals, but I find it a bit embarrassing we are buying a player back for 85m more quid than he was sold for.

We did that with Matic too and I think the argument was we were buying back a more experienced player. 

Edited August 8, 2021 by strider6004

[SydneyChelsea]

40 minutes ago, ozboy said:

Hmm I’m a fairly successful (33 yr career) investment banking analyst and I think your comment is as ignorant and stupid as some of the comments I’ve read about lukaku. Romano is good at what he doors. He gets good sources and his signal to noise ratio is high, in my opinion. It’s not worth arguing about and I’m not putting him on a pedestal just acknowledging that like a player he is good at finding and disseminating information and providing a service to the football loving public. journalism  and analysis are valuable skills. I’ll leave it at that. 

You are giving him way too much credit if you think he is "finding and disseminating information". Romano is a willing conduit for club and agent PR who is, to his credit, able to monetize this information to an audience eager for entertainment. If anyone is naive enough to believe that Romano has carefully curated sources at almost every large club in the world, I have a bridge to sell them!

Even clubs in the lowly A-League follow the same tactic of curated media release; imagine what billion-dollar European clubs (many of which are bound to private equity) do to manage PR?

I realise that in 2021 we should not have high expectations for what passes as journalism, but this is a bridge too far. There is no investigation, no analysis or critical comment, just endless pursuit of mindless entertainment. I'm not saying that he isn't credible, i'm saying that his credibility stems from the fact he is a club/agent mouthpiece.

I'd love for him to engage in player analysis or critique of transfer strategy - you know, actual sports journalism - but gossip is far more profitable.

PS hope you're doing okay with lockdown etc.

Edited August 8, 2021 by SydneyChelsea