Just now, Spiller86 said:

Is this all coming from that bloke on Sky? 

Also according to El Larguero. 

Loaning Ampadu and Gilmore and this falling through would be a proper cluster f**k. 

Back on and 100% done deal according to Fabrizo Romano!

And Matt Law!

Edited August 31, 20214 yr by 2211

2 minutes ago, Spiller86 said:

Is this all coming from that bloke on Sky? 

No mate, apparently Laliga granted Barcelona, Atletico, and Sevilla 20 mins extra to get paper work done for Greizmann and De jong, so Atletico signed there part of the Saul deal. Crazy how clubs work. Its like students starting assignments the night before they are due! 

Typical Chelsea heart attack stuff though, seems its all done now though, I bet you are very happy! 

Im looking forward to seeing how Tuchel utilizes him.

And according to Mundo Deportivo does atletico have20 extra min for griezman deal. 
what a soap opera 😂

Sky reporting the same, transfer matching system down in Spain hence why paperwork not logged yer

1 minute ago, big blue said:

No mate, apparently Laliga granted Barcelona, Atletico, and Sevilla 20 mins extra to get paper work done for Greizmann and De jong, so Atletico signed there part of the Saul deal. Crazy how clubs work. Its like students starting assignments the night before they are due! 

Typical Chelsea heart attack stuff though, seems its all done now though, I bet you are very happy! 

Im looking forward to seeing how Tuchel utilizes him.

All a bit odd that this deal would be linked to the deal for Griezmann noting they play different roles. Anyway, let's see what happens. I think he is a good signing if it happens! 

There must be a good reason for it. But I always wonder why so many clubs wait till last day to do transfers. 
I can understand it if you want to buy deadwood from another club. For an opportunity. But if it’s a crucial transfer…  Must be a very valid reason. As it happens so much every final day. 

It's official 🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾

“Loading” being teased on Chelsea’s official Twitter site, it’s 100% done guys!!

Edited August 31, 20214 yr by 2211

Class player and imo an upgrade to Koavic. 

Atletico needed free wages to get Greizman in so win win for us both. 

 

I’ve seen a few say he’s an upgrade on Kovacic… Must be a bloody good player then.

For me Kovacic is one of a kind, ive never seen a central midfielder dribble as well as him, surely Saul isn’t as good? (Yeah I’ve seen the Bayern goal)

6 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

I’ve seen a few say he’s an upgrade on Kovacic… Must be a bloody good player then.

For me Kovacic is one of a kind, ive never seen a central midfielder dribble as well as him, surely Saul isn’t as good? (Yeah I’ve seen the Bayern goal)

He's a different player to Kovacic.  Fewer tricks but does the little things better. At his best he is definitely a better player but there is a question on that. That goal against Bayern probably is a player who may no longer be there. But he adds versatility, a left footed option in midfield and has that Spanish midfield DNA with the ability to pass and move to shift a defence. 

I'd pitch him now as being a bit like Dave as a midfielder. Can play anywhere, has a big game mentality, big character and will give you 7/10 every week. 

Edited August 31, 20214 yr by Spiller86

At worst, a rotation player till Billy Goatmour returns.

At best, a really good bargain 

Could have been much worse, no signing leaving us short, or a rush of blood buying  a player not up to standard on the last day. He's a proven good players, a couple of seasons ago be paying for a hell lot more for that. He will fill in the gap, and if he finds his form, we will get a good player for peanuts in today's market.

Glad the club bought some insurance. Waiting till the last day got us a good price, at the expense of a few frayed nerves. Maybe this can be a medium term answer while we wait to see if any of the youngsters are going to really make the grade. As well as Billy have to say I was super impressed by Connor Gallagher's brace on the weekend. I can see he doesn't score many but the second of those goals was really classy, as good an individual skill as I saw in front of goal from any chelsea player last season. if his general play is at the same level he could come through like Mount.

Edited August 31, 20214 yr by ozboy

1 hour ago, dansubrosa said:

I’ve seen a few say he’s an upgrade on Kovacic… Must be a bloody good player then.

For me Kovacic is one of a kind, ive never seen a central midfielder dribble as well as him, surely Saul isn’t as good? (Yeah I’ve seen the Bayern goal)

Iniesta.

So in the end what Barca proposed to Atletico sort of came off, only not as it was first meant to.

Originally Barca had hoped to swap Saul for Greizmann, which would slash a large amount off their wage hill even with Saul's wages and they wanted some cash on top of that.

The clubs could not agree on that as Atletico wanted a straight swap.

So Atletico have been trying for a while to sell Saul for a fee close to what Griezmann would cost. As they needed both the money and wages freed up.

Atleticos manager did not particularly want Saul to go, however he really wanted Greizmann back as was willing to sacrifice him if it got him.

That is why all the late late dealing, Atletico wanting to sell Saul, to get Griezmann who Barca wanted to sell not loan but accepted loaning with obligation to buy to free up the wages.

Why it was close to collapsing and took so long to do. Such a complicated set of deals.

This guy used to piss blood just so he can keep his place in the team and was played almost everywhere by Simeone. 

Really hope he can rediscover his form with us 

53 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

So in the end what Barca proposed to Atletico sort of came off, only not as it was first meant to.

Originally Barca had hoped to swap Saul for Greizmann, which would slash a large amount off their wage hill even with Saul's wages and they wanted some cash on top of that.

The clubs could not agree on that as Atletico wanted a straight swap.

So Atletico have been trying for a while to sell Saul for a fee close to what Griezmann would cost. As they needed both the money and wages freed up.

Atleticos manager did not particularly want Saul to go, however he really wanted Greizmann back as was willing to sacrifice him if it got him.

That is why all the late late dealing, Atletico wanting to sell Saul, to get Griezmann who Barca wanted to sell not loan but accepted loaning with obligation to buy to free up the wages.

Why it was close to collapsing and took so long to do. Such a complicated set of deals.

That makes more sense. Barca tried to activate Saul's 70m buyout clause a few years back so it would make sense that they wanted him as part of the deal. 

21 minutes ago, Deino said:

This guy used to piss blood just so he can keep his place in the team and was played almost everywhere by Simeone. 

Really hope he can rediscover his form with us 

Yes, he asked to have a kidney removed and played with a catheter. This is a guy who will give you everything. Literally bleed for the cause. Part of why I think he'll be a good addition regardless of his best form. 

The 2016 @Spiller86 just died with excitement

Hopefully all of you who are fans and think he will be a good addition are proven right, be interesting to see if he does enough to make us take up the option. 

I feel too much is read into his kidney accident. As far as I know he is 100% with one kidney. He wouldn't play if he wasn't. 

I think he might just fit the Premier League fine. He is a physical player with tons of skill. I am hoping his footballing IQ is good. We sort of need additional brains to accompany Jorginho's.

We needed a quality 4th mid and we got him, what's not to like about this?  The option to buy is also great as we aren't obligated to sign him if it doesn't work out.  It's going to be a very long season and we need this kind of quality in our depth if we want to fight on all fronts.  I think he'll do a fine job here as he's 4th mid so no real pressure but when asked upon I think he'll show us all why it is such a great loan.

Only having one kidney is not a big deal. You'd be surprised how much of your body you can do without. I think Fleming wrote about it in one of the James Bond books.