What's our backup plan if Caicedo deal falls through? Because, surely, we got to have a backup plan, right?

Time to move on , we are gonna get shafted here . Move on to plan b and c .

45 minutes ago, Girish said:

What's our backup plan if Caicedo deal falls through? Because, surely, we got to have a backup plan, right?

I reckon the back up plan will be moving to the next names on the list. 

Likely names like Lavia, Onana, maybe even Ndidi who will be much cheaper now, ... (no, not Ward Prowse)

1 hour ago, Night-T said:

I reckon the back up plan will be moving to the next names on the list. 

Likely names like Lavia, Onana, maybe even Ndidi who will be much cheaper now, ... (no, not Ward Prowse)

Those are likely supects if this doesn't go through, it seems.

Wonder why we didn't go for a guy like Milinkovic-Savic. £35-40m 'ish for at player with routine that's in his prime - seems like a good deal. 
- Could be that our scouts are seeing some riscs.

I can't see Brighton deciding not to sell at all if a fair offer comes in; they're said to have a non-written gentleman's agreement that he is to be sold this window.

The key here is knowing what Brighton deems as fair. Probably £100m+ or something like that. Obviously it would seem that we believe it's possible for less. 

Can't imagine us not having a list of options in case we can't reach an agreement with Brighton.

51 minutes ago, Hanzen said:

Those are likely supects if this doesn't go through, it seems.

Wonder why we didn't go for a guy like Milinkovic-Savic. £35-40m 'ish for at player with routine that's in his prime - seems like a good deal. 
- Could be that our scouts are seeing some riscs.

I can't see Brighton deciding not to sell at all if a fair offer comes in; they're said to have a non-written gentleman's agreement that he is to be sold this window.

The key here is knowing what Brighton deems as fair. Probably £100m+ or something like that. Obviously it would seem that we believe it's possible for less. 

Can't imagine us not having a list of options in case we can't reach an agreement with Brighton.

That's the elephant in the room. The "gentleman's agreement" back in January. Not worth the paper it wasn't written on. Caicedo's camp screwed up, risking leaving a very unhappy client if Brighton price him out of a sale deal.

42 minutes ago, dermott said:

That's the elephant in the room. The "gentleman's agreement" back in January. Not worth the paper it wasn't written on. Caicedo's camp screwed up, risking leaving a very unhappy client if Brighton price him out of a sale deal.

Exactly. Huge mistake by Caicedo his representatives.

Could end with a lose-lose-lose situation simply due to them not demanding a release clause. We'd lose out on our primary target while Caicedo will end up distracted and unhappy - potentially. Brighton will get to keep a player that most likely doesn't want to be there and miss out on a somewhat big amount of money. 

It seems that it is a waiting game for everyone else but the player to see if the other part will budge. Hopefully we'll up the fixed fee a bit and find a solution.

Would be interesting to be a fly on the wall for these apparant daily conversations...
 

CFC: "We want Caicedo. He want us; you know it - we know it! Here's £70m +15m in bonusses. That should be more than fair." 

BHA: "No. But how about £120m instead? After all you gave £60m for that Cucu-guy we had as a left back. We like Moises - he's twice as good."

CFC: "How about now? Same offer" 

BHA: "Wait, what"

CFC: "This was indeed a pleasing and constructive conversation. Talk to you next week."

 

One week later...

CFC: "What do you think of £70m + 15m then?" 

... 

Romano saying offer is improved and chelsea hoping to get it done this week. Makes it seem like a chelsea spokesperson talking but equally Caicedo agent is incentivized to talk chelsea up. 

Can see it going through just in time for our pre-season game against Brighton, where of course he will either get hurt or make an error leading to a goal

Kind of reminds me of the Chilwell transfer to be honest, that seemed to drag on for months with all the 'in the knobs' saying £80 million, £85 million, Leicester not budging on price, then we sign him for under £50 million.  I don't think we are spending £100 million plus on this guy.

1 hour ago, ozboy said:

Romano saying offer is improved and chelsea hoping to get it done this week. Makes it seem like a chelsea spokesperson talking but equally Caicedo agent is incentivized to talk chelsea up. 

Romano is definitely on Boehly's payroll. Clever really as he has such an influence on the narrative of transfers nowadays

4 hours ago, Night-T said:

I reckon the back up plan will be moving to the next names on the list. 

Likely names like Lavia, Onana, maybe even Ndidi who will be much cheaper now, ... (no, not Ward Prowse)

Yves Bissouma. Was a top, top player for Potter and Brighton. Linked to Arsenal, linked to us but ......... went to Tottenham. Then Conte didn't pick him, he got injured and had a nightmare season. Would probably set fire to his own house if it meant he could get away from Spurs now. Still only 26.

5 hours ago, Girish said:

What's our backup plan if Caicedo deal falls through? Because, surely, we got to have a backup plan, right?

Not sure there is one. The drop off in quality from Caicedo to the next option is massive. The fact Brighton have sat with the club and actually negotiated proves they are prepared to let him go. 

Seeing 75m fixed and 10-15 add ons doing the rounds. 

Telling that Liverpool said they're not interested. Maybe they know something.

Still rumours going around that Partey will be sold.

Agree that this has dragged on so long with the same nonsense "this week" reports and social media posts, that it seems inevitable that this won't happen.

Probably time to move on. Maybe go for Kessie from Barcelona instead, who i would have liked as well as, tbh

51 minutes ago, the special one said:

Telling that Liverpool said they're not interested. Maybe they know something.

Still rumours going around that Partey will be sold.

Maybe they are just too busy tapping up Colwill...

It's now less than a month until we kick off against Liverpool, I think it's time to start getting this deal and any other deals done so any new players have a chance of gelling with the squad before the season starts.

I certainly wouldn't want to pull out of this deal now for the sake of £10m or so and then go for someone cheaper like Onana instead.

Caicedo is the kind of player we need in midfield if we've got any hope of turning a 12th place finish into a team that can challenge for European spots IMO.

Fabricius Roman @FabrizioRomano ·12h

 

It's the year 2062 talks are still ongoing between Brighton and Chelsea for Moises Caicedo

The new proposal is £71m fixed plus a multi-pack of Pickled Onion Space Raiders.

Chelsea hope to get it done this week!

[/img]

Nothing will ever beat the Aguero transfer saga back in 2008-2010, or Luka Modric in 2011, that was so f**king annoying. 

3 hours ago, Luca Vialli said:

Fabricius Roman @FabrizioRomano ·12h

 

It's the year 2062 talks are still ongoing between Brighton and Chelsea for Moises Caicedo

[/img]

That's actually a photo of Aubameyang!

If Brighton will not do business at £70m, I would walk straight down the road to Fulham and offer £50m for Joao Palhinha. I honestly think he is the better defensive midfielder, His stats last season (his first in the Prem) are excellent and I would do this not just to save £20m, but to prove to Tony Bloom that Chelsea are not mugs and to stop West Ham getting a player who is arguably as good as Declan Rice.

When Brighton played West Ham Rice was almost in tears of frustration he had been so bossed by Caicedo.Caicedo is three years younger than Rice.100 million is a ridiculous price but it has been set by Arsenal.The question,is it worth quibbling over 20 million for a player who could play for you for 10-15 years.He is already a very good player at such a young age.

I'm starting to get the sweats over this transfer window tbh. Caicedo seems like a never ending saga, whilst we virtually have an under 21 side who will get bullied and out foxed by so many teams, and now stories of west ham opening talks for gallacher. Now im not the biggest gallacher fan but given the senior midfield options right now.... i am truly beginning to think these owners have gotten carried away (once again) and we are indeed heading for a very difficult season. Physical teams are going to walk though us, caicedo is essential, but im not convinced we have a plan b other than an 18 year old lavia. These americans do not know football, its so evident.

Edited July 18, 20233 yr by ALTE

38 minutes ago, ALTE said:

I'm starting to get the sweats over this transfer window tbh. Caicedo seems like a never ending saga, whilst we virtually have an under 21 side who will get bullied and out foxed by so many teams, and now stories of west ham opening talks for gallacher. Now im not the biggest gallacher fan but given the senior midfield options right now.... i am truly beginning to think these owners have gotten carried away (once again) and we are indeed heading for a very difficult season. Physical teams are going to walk though us, caicedo is essential, but im not convinced we have a plan b other than an 18 year old lavia. These americans do not know football, its so evident.

I agree. We're currently in a peculiar situation. Highly unproved squad. Some key players furthermore missed the initial flight to USA due to injuries.  

Last summer I remember at lot of concern as well over the lack of transfers. All of a sudden it exploded. 
- We might see the same this year. It seems that outgoings are the primary focus and then we start building. 

The new sporting directors probably does have a plan. I doubt the fact that our owners are American changes that.

14 minutes ago, Hanzen said:

I agree. We're currently in a peculiar situation. Highly unproved squad. Some key players furthermore missed the initial flight to USA due to injuries.  

Last summer I remember at lot of concern as well over the lack of transfers. All of a sudden it exploded. 
- We might see the same this year. It seems that outgoings are the primary focus and then we start building. 

The new sporting directors probably does have a plan. I doubt the fact that our owners are American changes that.

This whole time i have taken much peace of mind from the fact that we have some very experienced and competent men running our transfers and recruitment.  However it has now occurred to me that they seem very narrow in their search for players, as in age wise, and surely that is due to the parameters set by their bosses, who dont know football. We seem to be showing little to no interest in more experienced players and i'm pretty sure that is going to cost us majorly next season. I'm not sure how many fans are happy to write off this season as one for progression with little chance of a top 4 finish?  But unless we make 3 more very good signings including caicedo, a real good mount replacement and say a harry kane level striker, then i think we are going to need alot of patience and understanding this season.

5 minutes ago, ALTE said:

This whole time i have taken much peace of mind from the fact that we have some very experienced and competent men running our transfers and recruitment.  However it has now occurred to me that they seem very narrow in their search for players, as in age wise, and surely that is due to the parameters set by their bosses, who dont know football. We seem to be showing little to no interest in more experienced players and i'm pretty sure that is going to cost us majorly next season. I'm not sure how many fans are happy to write off this season as one for progression with little chance of a top 4 finish?  But unless we make 3 more very good signings including caicedo, a real good mount replacement and say a harry kane level striker, then i think we are going to need alot of patience and understanding this season.

My fear exactly. We need quality and experience. Still wondering why we didn't went for Milinkovic-Savic at €40m.

And yes! Three or four new quality players are indeed needed. 
- Even if Caicedo comes in, we still need a backup CDM. We need depth/quality in RW. We need backup in CAM. We need a quality leading ST. 

Let's hope that something happens. Otherwise I can't see us ending higher than Brighton, Villa, etc.

Gives me some sort of 2010's Arsenal-vibes to settle for a top 10-finish in the PL. 😶