34 minutes ago, drjonesy1994 said:

I would take Sterling all day long. Really surprised to see that seems to be the minority view on here.

it's a very pragmatic and logical signing. He plays in a front 3, can play false 9 and on the left¬ he's used to pressing and defending under pep, he is a winger and goalscorer in 1. he's also still relatively young, only turning 28 in december. 131 goals and 95 assists. There are no other players with these kind of numbers who you can sign for around 40-50 million. The only still active ones with 100+ goals are Harry Kane, Vardy, Salah, Mané and ……… Lukaku 

Edited June 20, 20224 yr by azpi28

Thinking about the way Sterling plays, at least he drives at defences which none of our attackers seem interested in doing. 

6 minutes ago, JM7 said:

Thinking about the way Sterling plays, at least he drives at defences which none of our attackers seem interested in doing. 

he also makes good runs off the ball to get to that second post for a potential tap in 

how often have we seen that the cross was decent but nobody anticipated 

let me say that i'm not a big fan of his diving and his woe is me type of attitude, i always found him a bit irritating. But he's still a good player 

Edited June 20, 20224 yr by azpi28

 

would be nice if we announced sterling with this:

Imitation is the greatest form of flattery 

Welcome Raheem 

Edited June 20, 20224 yr by azpi28

I would definitely take Sterling.

Yes he's not going to bang in 20 goals for us but he is an improvement over Werner, Pulisic and Ziyech. Who else is there to sign as an attacker? 

The potential Sterling signing seems to say that our once - market leading - Scouting network is not doing its job. I get the normal arguments regards Sterling , He is English, he knows the Premier League, He speaks the language, he won't need time to settle in etc etc, but where are the previously almost unheard of talents that we picked up for very reasonable prices. Essien, Robben, Carvalho, Makelele, Ivanovic, Drogba and of Course Lampard.

I would also like to know why said Scouting team do not seem to target South America like the Spanish and occasionally Italians. Not just the obvious Brazilians and Argentinians, but Mexican, Uruguayan, Chilean, Paraguayan, Bolivian, Peruvian, Columbian, Ecuadorian and Venezuelan ?? There must be better value to seen in talented youngsters in these Countries.

I am NOT saying that I don't want Sterling, he would certainly be an improvement on Pulisic, Ziyech and CHO, but I just feel that there must be better value to be had for circa £40-50m and I wonder if Todd and his new team are thinking the same ??

11 minutes ago, coombsie said:

The potential Sterling signing seems to say that our once - market leading - Scouting network is not doing its job. I get the normal arguments regards Sterling , He is English, he knows the Premier League, He speaks the language, he won't need time to settle in etc etc, but where are the previously almost unheard of talents that we picked up for very reasonable prices. Essien, Robben, Carvalho, Makelele, Ivanovic, Drogba and of Course Lampard.

I would also like to know why said Scouting team do not seem to target South America like the Spanish and occasionally Italians. Not just the obvious Brazilians and Argentinians, but Mexican, Uruguayan, Chilean, Paraguayan, Bolivian, Peruvian, Columbian, Ecuadorian and Venezuelan ?? There must be better value to seen in talented youngsters in these Countries.

I am NOT saying that I don't want Sterling, he would certainly be an improvement on Pulisic, Ziyech and CHO, but I just feel that there must be better value to be had for circa £40-50m and I wonder if Todd and his new team are thinking the same ??

I agree with the first paragraph - I think the simple explanation is at the time we were signing all of those players, we were at the top, or close to the top of the food chain. If Chelsea are interested in a lesser known name these days you would imagine that City and Liverpool are probably interested too, therefore making it harder to appeal to these players to come to Chelsea. The last obscure/ unknown name we signed that I can think of is probably Azpi - and he has gone on to have an amazing career with us.  Liverpool signed Diaz who at the time was not a  big name and he looks as though he will be a great signing for them.

Your second paragraph, I think Brexit has had implications on these types of transfers. When we were part of the EU it was much easier for South American nationals to join English clubs, directly from South American because they would be granted a EU work permit. Now we are not in the EU and these players are not getting the work permits, this is why we are seeing more South Americans go to Italy/Spain rather than English clubs. 

PS: I am not advocating a pro or anti Brexit agenda but just stating where it has had an effect. 

Edited June 20, 20224 yr by drjonesy1994

I really do see him as a very ideal transfer. At 27 he should be entering his prime - and though his finishing could be better, he has a brilliant sense of finding the right spaces, while having staggering pace and dribbling ability. Futhermore, he's English and from London - and he's a proven winner. If we can get him for €40-50M I'd take it all day long.

Edited June 20, 20224 yr by Hanzen

20 minutes ago, coombsie said:

The potential Sterling signing seems to say that our once - market leading - Scouting network is not doing its job. 

It really took being linked with Sterling for you to think that?

We signed an untalented Dortmund bench warmer while ignoring the 2 talented Wingers who were starting ahead of him.

We signed Lukaku despite him already proving he isn't talented enough for a big club and having glaring technical flaws that he has displayed for a decade.

Zappacosta, Drinkwater, Kepa, Bakayoko, Emerson.

Our scouting has been awful for a long time.

Kepa in particular was particularly bad because he had an 18m release clause 6 months before we bought him that no club on the planet wanted to trigger because Kepa was never an 18m goal keeper.   Our scouts clearly hadn't heard of him or apparently any other goal keeper up until the day Courtois left and then it was full blown panic

I'm pretty sure our scours just googled keepers with the highest release clauses and then made the assumption that must make Kepa decent and went for it.

Sterling would be a scouting masterclass in comparison to most of our business over the last 5 years.

Edited June 20, 20224 yr by HazardousChoice

32 minutes ago, coombsie said:

The potential Sterling signing seems to say that our once - market leading - Scouting network is not doing its job. I get the normal arguments regards Sterling , He is English, he knows the Premier League, He speaks the language, he won't need time to settle in etc etc, but where are the previously almost unheard of talents that we picked up for very reasonable prices. Essien, Robben, Carvalho, Makelele, Ivanovic, Drogba and of Course Lampard.

I would also like to know why said Scouting team do not seem to target South America like the Spanish and occasionally Italians. Not just the obvious Brazilians and Argentinians, but Mexican, Uruguayan, Chilean, Paraguayan, Bolivian, Peruvian, Columbian, Ecuadorian and Venezuelan ?? There must be better value to seen in talented youngsters in these Countries.

I am NOT saying that I don't want Sterling, he would certainly be an improvement on Pulisic, Ziyech and CHO, but I just feel that there must be better value to be had for circa £40-50m and I wonder if Todd and his new team are thinking the same ??

There is far more competition for the talent than when we were buying makele and essien and Robben (who we couldn't keep anyway). And back then who knew that Lampard would turn out to be better than any of the others? Now we have City, Liverpool, PSG and a host of mid tier clubs with more money than they used to have competing for the same players. Its true that lots of young talent still goes through a finishing school like Porto or Dortmund but the spanish speakers are mostly not going to have England as first choice.England is not in the EEC anymore. 

All that said scouting can add value  but to my mind its just a lot harder. The real talent goes to Citeh who have more money than anyone or PSG if you only want to play in France and don't get bored easily.

And I guess I admire Liverpool to be honest since Klopp arrived. They built with a budget not much more than ours if at all a really good side with players like Robertson who didn't cost a fortune.

Edited June 20, 20224 yr by ozboy

53 minutes ago, azpi28 said:

it's a very pragmatic and logical signing. He plays in a front 3, can play false 9 and on the left¬ he's used to pressing and defending under pep, he is a winger and goalscorer in 1. he's also still relatively young, only turning 28 in december. 131 goals and 95 assists. There are no other players with these kind of numbers who you can sign for around 40-50 million. The only still active ones with 100+ goals are Harry Kane, Vardy, Salah, Mané and ……… Lukaku 

Wonder how much he benefits from playing under “Pep”, Ferran Torres who left City for Barca this season hasn’t really kicked on. How much of his output do you then attribute to having 2 of Silva, Gundogan, Bernardo Silva & De Bruyne playing behind him, and picking out his runs. We have moaned this season about not having a player capable of spotting runs, and picking passes in the middle of park. He has always had 2 behind him.

Sure the £40m is low but he has 1yr left on his contract, and there are no interested parties because of his already ridiculous wages. That is sticky point for me; on a 4yr contract that is £72m-£80m in wages on a player with no market (see Lukaku). To put things in perspective; City will be replacing him with a 22yr old Julian Alvarez for £14m on £50k/w wages. 

1 minute ago, ducavis said:

Wonder how much he benefits from playing under “Pep”, Ferran Torres who left City for Barca this season hasn’t really kicked on. How much of his output do you then attribute to having 2 of Silva, Gundogan, Bernardo Silva & De Bruyne playing behind him, and picking out his runs. We have moaned this season about not having a player capable of spotting runs, and picking passes in the middle of park. He has always had 2 behind him.

Sure the £40m is low but he has 1yr left on his contract, and there are no interested parties because of his already ridiculous wages. That is sticky point for me; on a 4yr contract that is £72m-£80m in wages on a player with no market (see Lukaku). To put things in perspective; City will be replacing him with a 22yr old Julian Alvarez for £14m on £50k/w wages. 

Ferran Torres only played for a very short time under Guardiola

2 hours ago, drjonesy1994 said:

I would take Sterling all day long. Really surprised to see that seems to be the minority view on here.

My concern is what it does to the wage structure. At 45 mill even that is fine as transfer fees go these days, but if he is already on 300k at City at best case he will accept the same here, he won't come for a pay cut likely.

So that would be him, Lukaku and Werner all recent signings all in that bracket of earnings and Kante there before them. With no more Roman to write off the debt.

How long before Mount, James, Mendy and Chilwell plus other key players want parity?

Edited June 20, 20224 yr by axman2526

35 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

My concern is what it does to the wage structure. At 45 mill even that is fine as transfer fees go these days, but if he is already on 300k at City at best case he will accept the same here, he won't come for a pay cut likely.

So that would be him, Lukaku and Werner all recent signings all in that bracket of earnings and Kante there before them. With no more Roman to write off the debt.

How long before Mount, James, Mendy and Chilwell plus other key players want parity?

Unless the club decide to restructure the wage policy at any point though this is always going to be a concern if we sign a top quality player regardless of who the player is. If Sterling is currently on £300k at City because of what he has achieved there, then that is what City valued him at at the time. The bigger concern for me is the recent policy of giving big contracts to players who don't really deserve them. Drinkwater was on north of £100k when we signed him, as was Bakayoko and more recently players like Lukaku and Werner on north of £250k. When Chelsea we dish out contracts like this, then of course the genuine world class players we sign will want the same if not more than that. 

I don't think this is a problem that is unique to Chelsea though. I think it is quite big across a lot of the top European cups. I personally think the top leagues aren't a million miles away from some wage caps rules, or a limit as to what their top players can earn. 

I am hoping with the change of ownership that there will be a bit more caution in these contracts, but that will not be an overnight thing, that is something that will have to be phased in over a few seasons. 

2 hours ago, ozboy said:

There is far more competition for the talent than when we were buying makele and essien and Robben (who we couldn't keep anyway). And back then who knew that Lampard would turn out to be better than any of the others? Now we have City, Liverpool, PSG and a host of mid tier clubs with more money than they used to have competing for the same players. Its true that lots of young talent still goes through a finishing school like Porto or Dortmund but the spanish speakers are mostly not going to have England as first choice.England is not in the EEC anymore. 

All that said scouting can add value  but to my mind its just a lot harder. The real talent goes to Citeh who have more money than anyone or PSG if you only want to play in France and don't get bored easily.

And I guess I admire Liverpool to be honest since Klopp arrived. They built with a budget not much more than ours if at all a really good side with players like Robertson who didn't cost a fortune.

Was going to say the same, Its also the army of agencys, Solicitors, agents and reps blah blah hoofing up every price on anything and everything that can kick a ball and run a decent mile time! Then theres also a reduction in the spectrum of skill, Now the gap is much closer between players at all levels and with huge money on offer competition between players and clubs is rife.

Also I think some of it is childish, Like the psg and real drama of mbappe for instance, All the owners are competing against each other to be the guy with the best toy!

 

It's probably in Sterling's best interest to wait until he's a free agent and receive a massive signing bonus + wage. Unless the reports he wants to move back to London are true, which means we have the leverage then. He'll need to accept a wage decrease. 

Either this signing doesn't happen or it does and Sterling takes a massive wage decrease. 

Sterling also seems to me to be the type of top signing you spend big money on when he is the final piece of your jigsaw, not one piece in a huge rebuild.

 

According to Sky Sports News Real Madrid see Sterling as an alternative to Mbappe after missing out on him, Barca are interested to and Bayern may be willing to accept him in a swap for Gnabry.

6 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

According to Sky Sports News Real Madrid see Sterling as an alternative to Mbappe after missing out on him, Barca are interested to and Bayern may be willing to accept him in a swap for Gnabry.

Barca is interested in every player on the planet 

7 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

According to Sky Sports News Real Madrid see Sterling as an alternative to Mbappe after missing out on him, Barca are interested to and Bayern may be willing to accept him in a swap for Gnabry.

FFS!

3 hours ago, drjonesy1994 said:

Unless the club decide to restructure the wage policy at any point though this is always going to be a concern if we sign a top quality player regardless of who the player is. If Sterling is currently on £300k at City because of what he has achieved there, then that is what City valued him at at the time. The bigger concern for me is the recent policy of giving big contracts to players who don't really deserve them. Drinkwater was on north of £100k when we signed him, as was Bakayoko and more recently players like Lukaku and Werner on north of £250k. When Chelsea we dish out contracts like this, then of course the genuine world class players we sign will want the same if not more than that. 

I don't think this is a problem that is unique to Chelsea though. I think it is quite big across a lot of the top European cups. I personally think the top leagues aren't a million miles away from some wage caps rules, or a limit as to what their top players can earn. 

I am hoping with the change of ownership that there will be a bit more caution in these contracts, but that will not be an overnight thing, that is something that will have to be phased in over a few seasons. 

Liverpool & Arsenal don’t have that problem, actually quite surprised we are not making more effort to correct this by getting rid of all all underperformers on fat wages this summer. Arteta did this in one window, and Klopp wouldn’t go near any player earning over £250k.

9 minutes ago, ducavis said:

Liverpool & Arsenal don’t have that problem, actually quite surprised we are not making more effort to correct this by getting rid of all all underperformers on fat wages this summer. Arteta did this in one window, and Klopp wouldn’t go near any player earning over £250k.

Who do you think we should sell? 

20 minutes ago, Kantesmini said:

FFS!

Real would be a nice fit for him, lining up with Benzema and Vini Jnr.

Bayern could work too, one team league would be easy for him.

Barca I doubt can afford it, I expect that is just speculation.

21 hours ago, HazardousChoice said:

I have no idea how anyone can look at our incredibly untalented Wingers like Pulisic and not want Sterling 

 

21 hours ago, HazardousChoice said:

Pulisic isn't particularly quick anymore.

And he's never been skillful.  One of the worst dribbler we've ever had imo and the worst we've ever had who people pretend is skillful.

When's the last time Pulisic beat a man?  Putting his head down and running 20 yards into the blind Alley the centre back is showing him into is dribbling!

Pulisic is actually very consistent, he's a consistently bad player.  7 poor seasons at top European clubs in a row without scoring 10 league goals in any of them.   Scoring 4 or fewer in 5 of them is very consistent.

If we could send Pulisic to City to help cripple a rival it would make the Sterling deal even better.

We get it you don't like Pulisic ... Jesus!😄

7 hours ago, HazardousChoice said:

It really took being linked with Sterling for you to think that?

We signed an untalented Dortmund bench warmer while ignoring the 2 talented Wingers who were starting ahead of him.

 

 

21 hours ago, HazardousChoice said:

I have no idea how anyone can look at our incredibly untalented Wingers like Pulisic and not want Sterling 

 

21 hours ago, HazardousChoice said:

Pulisic isn't particularly quick anymore.

And he's never been skillful.  One of the worst dribbler we've ever had imo and the worst we've ever had who people pretend is skillful.

When's the last time Pulisic beat a man?  Putting his head down and running 20 yards into the blind Alley the centre back is showing him into is dribbling!

Pulisic is actually very consistent, he's a consistently bad player.  7 poor seasons at top European clubs in a row without scoring 10 league goals in any of them.   Scoring 4 or fewer in 5 of them is very consistent.

If we could send Pulisic to City to help cripple a rival it would make the Sterling deal even better.

We get it!! You don't like Pulisic. Jesus! 😄

Sometimes you mention Pulisic when his name has not even been discussed. The agenda is real 😁