5 hours ago, abramovich said:

I didn't say anything about throwing away  a 100 million pound asset. The most likely outcome out of all this is that Lukaku realizes he's made a mistake and issues an apology, and the club and the player just move forward. The fans won't forget obviously, but as long as he delivers on the pitch where it matters, they'll support him. After all, this is probably the best decision for both parties. I never wanted him at Chelsea and stil wish we haven't bought him, but what's done is done, we've massively overpaid for him due to our desperate need of a goalscorer and a shortage of genuine world class strikers on the market and now it's going to be very difficult to move him due to the fee and wages involved, not to mention finding and securing a suitable replacement.

I completely disagree that nobody outside of the club cares about how it's handled. Reputation matters, in business world  or any other. And football at the highest level is not just a matter of money, it's about fans, people who are emotionally invested in their clubs, and you better believe the clubs care a whole lot about how they're perceived in public, just look at the reaction to the Super League protests. If you check the feedback to this situation not from just CFC supporters' point of view, but even from the rival fans and pundits across the board you'd realize it very difficult to  find anyone taking the player's side in this matter. And I repeat if it was something that happened behind closed doors at Cobham, we could deal with it privately because it would have been in our interest to do so. But since the player in question was dumb enough to arrange an interview for the whole world to see, our reaction couldn't have been just limited to diplomacy behind closed doors. Now that we've made our point publicly, comes the behind the doors part, the outcome of which we'll find out shortly.

Yes, I don't want a precedent set where players feel they can throw the club and the manager under the bus and won't have any consequences. No, you can't control everything but there has to be an accountability for your actions in any professional environment and we're talking about one of the biggest football clubs in the world. And again, it wasn't the club's choice to take it public, it was the player's. It was Lukaku who arranged the interview without authorization, it was Lukaku who said all those things. I honestly don't see how we could have dealt with it in any other way. 

Before we bore everybody to death with our back and forth, let's agree to disagree . It's not as if Marina has us on speed dial for our advice, although she should of course 

2 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Works for me, but Inter can't afford Lukaku's wages, which were apparently 3x what they are paying Martinez .. and that's before we doubled them as well ... 

But If Lukaku Loves Inter As Much As He Says, Then He'd Be Willing To Take A Pay Cut To Go Back There

23 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

One rumour possibly from the meeting. When he was signed Lukaku did indeed expect the team to be built around him and his strengths. As Conte did. 

The fact Conte did it now means he expects any coach to do so, especially when he costs a club record fee. Apparently he seriously believed this would happen and is part of the main reason he is unhappy.

All thar suggest she was not TT signing.

Our record transfers post Roman.

2004 Drogba

2006 Shevchenko

2010 Torres

2017 Morata 

2018 Kepa 

2020 Havertz

2021 Lukaku

It's a massive gamble to try building a team around any one player, apart from truly World class players like prime Messi. Ronaldo... The game has moved on, City can have injuries and never miss those players, if they built a team around one player and he gets injured then the wheels come off.

2 minutes ago, Jackson27 said:

But If Lukaku Loves Inter As Much As He Says, Then He'd Be Willing To Take A Pay Cut To Go Back There

I think what he loved was Conte blowing smoke up his arse and building the whole team around him, rather than anything specific to do with Inter or the city of Milan itself  ... although I do love Italy as a vacation destination and can definitely see the appeal of the lifestyle, the scenery, the climate and the people. 

9 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Works for me, but Inter can't afford Lukaku's wages, which were apparently 3x what they are paying Martinez .. and that's before we doubled them as well ... 

So he takes a big paycut like JFH suggested lol

3 minutes ago, coco said:

Our record transfers post Roman.

2004 Drogba

2006 Shevchenko

2010 Torres

2017 Morata 

2018 Kepa 

2020 Havertz

2021 Lukaku

It's a massive gamble to try building a team around any one player, apart from truly World class players like prime Messi. Ronaldo... The game has moved on, City can have injuries and never miss those players, if they built a team around one player and he gets injured then the wheels come off.

Oh Lord what a painful list that is... Drogba stands out like a sore thumb.

3 hours ago, Deino said:

Howard is looking for clout. A retired footballer turned pundit needs street cred and insider sources

Exactly. Trying to prove to his employers that he's worth the pay rise he's probably going to wrangle for soon as he's got the inside track on happenings still in the UK football World. 

Just now, axman2526 said:

Oh Lord what a painful list that is... Drogba stands out like a sore thumb.

We got lucky with him.

Just now, coco said:

We got lucky with him.

We did cause otherwise boy is our judgement sh*t. Hang your heads in shame Michael E and Marina G.

Maybe Havertz still works out but the rest...

1 minute ago, axman2526 said:

We did cause otherwise boy is our judgement sh*t. Hang your heads in shame Michael E and Marina G.

Maybe Havertz still works out but the rest...

Its not so much a 'number 9 curse', but more like a 'club transfer record curse'.

1 hour ago, axman2526 said:

One rumour possibly from the meeting. When he was signed Lukaku did indeed expect the team to be built around him and his strengths. As Conte did. 

The fact Conte did it now means he expects any coach to do so, especially when he costs a club record fee. Apparently he seriously believed this would happen and is part of the main reason he is unhappy.

All thar suggest she was not TT signing.

Educated guess: There wasn't talk of a change of system, Rom (once again) overestimated his own ability and thought he'd seemlessy adapt and slot in. 

7 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Oh Lord what a painful list that is

Here's a much nicer list...

Fabregas 29m

Rudiger 31.5m

Hazard 31.5m

Kante 32.2m

Makelele 18m

Essien 34.2

Costa 34.2

Kovacic 40m

 

Just now, coco said:

Here's a much nicer list...

Fabregas 29m

Rudiger 31.5m

Hazard 31.5m

Kante 32.2m

Makelele 18m

Essien 34.2

Costa 34.2

Kovacic 40m

 

How can do that list and miss the two 8mill men of Brana and Dave? I forget maybe Cahill cost that too.

5 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

How can do that list and miss the two 8mill men of Brana and Dave? I forget maybe Cahill cost that too.

Yes point being player value means absolutely ZERO.

6 minutes ago, coco said:

Yes point being player value means absolutely ZERO.

Maybe we should just stay away from club record deals.

49 minutes ago, coco said:

Our record transfers post Roman.

2004 Drogba

2006 Shevchenko

2010 Torres

2017 Morata 

2018 Kepa 

2020 Havertz

2021 Lukaku

It's a massive gamble to try building a team around any one player, apart from truly World class players like prime Messi. Ronaldo... The game has moved on, City can have injuries and never miss those players, if they built a team around one player and he gets injured then the wheels come off.

I will admit, i bought a Shevchenko jersey. Still have it as I could never wear it the way he played 😞

55 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

We did cause otherwise boy is our judgement sh*t. Hang your heads in shame Michael E and Marina G.

Maybe Havertz still works out but the rest...

I suspect Emenalo had shag all to do with Sheva and Torres. More of a case of his boss' involvement I'd think. ME also managed to snaffle Lukaku, De Bruyne and Salah for relative peanuts, but alas it was other clubs that got the main benefits of those three.

But yes for Marina G. Some questionable decisions on her watch for sure. I still think Kepa was some sort of money laundering deal LOL

Supposedly back in training today. Obviously I have no way of knowing whether or not this is an old photo.

Romelu Lukaku: 'Zero chance' Chelsea striker will leave the club in January or the summer

More to follow...

This is a breaking Chelsea news story that is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh this page for the latest updates.

A transfer away from Chelsea has never been discussed, and there is a commitment now from all parties for the Belgian to now let his football do the talking.

Well done TT and the Club ! Well handled.

2 minutes ago, coco said:

let his football do the talking.

Which language will that be in ?

 

He's still a knob

2 minutes ago, Carloseyebrow said:

He's still a knob

True, but he's our knob LOL