29 minutes ago, nonotnowjim said:

We cannot say the strategy is sh*t - until it is proven to be sh*t. 

What we can say is it's been sh*t so far, and these clowns are now into season 3.

I think this is a tough one, I completely understand those that are aprehensive about signing him. He had moments in his loan spell here, but the overwhelming feeling was that he flattered to decieve. 

I don't know if I go with the whole he failed at Barca so what chance would he have elsewhere narrative though, there is still something about him that makes me think hes going to get it right eventually. 

So this is where the finances become the issue. Because we've had a test drive and read the reviews and he's clearly not a top of the market signing. But if we can get him for a reasonable fee, theres a chance he can add some value. 

Its weird, I end up fighting his corner in my head as if he's ours aleady, in a similar way that I would delusionally convince myself Mudryk will come good. I can make excuses for why things havent worked up until this point, but none of it then means we should spend more than 30/35m on him. 

It's a no from me, if we didn't have so many options I would consider it but its just not who and what we need right now.

Even though Samu is unproven I think he makes more sense but if it was me I'd stop spending and stick with Jackson, Guiu and Nkunu as forward options. Put the chequebook away and go with the investments you've already made.

57 minutes ago, Niall1905 said:

I think this is a tough one, I completely understand those that are aprehensive about signing him. He had moments in his loan spell here, but the overwhelming feeling was that he flattered to decieve. 

I don't know if I go with the whole he failed at Barca so what chance would he have elsewhere narrative though, there is still something about him that makes me think hes going to get it right eventually. 

So this is where the finances become the issue. Because we've had a test drive and read the reviews and he's clearly not a top of the market signing. But if we can get him for a reasonable fee, theres a chance he can add some value. 

Its weird, I end up fighting his corner in my head as if he's ours aleady, in a similar way that I would delusionally convince myself Mudryk will come good. I can make excuses for why things havent worked up until this point, but none of it then means we should spend more than 30/35m on him. 

I get what you're saying and in isolation it sounds like a reasonable argument, but as mentioned with Mudryk we have a team full of hopefuls and risks.  Think we are at a point now where we need to only add low risk proven quality.

2 hours ago, Nick05 said:

It's insane what's going on. Never in the history of football transfers we've seen sh*t like this. Atletico are basically saying - "We buy your good experienced player but in turn you have buy our sh*t inexperienced player for the same amount" with the Samu deal and we're going along with this sh*t as if it's a sound strategy. 

I'm not the chronology is right here. We have bene sniffing around this Omorodion for a while now, whilst Gallagher was being courted, apparently, by Villa and Newcastle/Tottenham. The Gallagher to AM is a fairly recent development which would make me think that the financial arrangement is probably our idea and it is us that have then tried to change the terms of the deal once we are in the middle of it.

1 hour ago, nonotnowjim said:

The merit of the strategy cannot be judged at this stage.

In theory, shifting out a player we deem as replaceable, and who is not featuring in our first team plans - and swapping him for a world leading young striker, could be sound. If Samu turns out to be the next Haaland, then a swap for Connor would be heralded as a master stroke.

We cannot say the strategy is sh*t - until it is proven to be sh*t. 
 

What we can say it is a high risk/high potential reward strategy.

We can also question the underlying motive of such a deal when the player that we are after does not show up on any statistical analysis to warrant such a fee. The PR noise now about his potential ceiling is all window dressing for the real strategy, which appears to be solely driven by accounting necessity rather than any footballing measure. It has already been widely reported that whilst we met the PSR criteria for the expired year, we definitely have a hurdle to overcome for this coming reporting period.

I would think that the new contract would spread the remainder of the original fee, over more years, thus reducing the annual amortization.

1 hour ago, WhiteWall said:

We can also question the underlying motive of such a deal when the player that we are after does not show up on any statistical analysis to warrant such a fee. The PR noise now about his potential ceiling is all window dressing for the real strategy, which appears to be solely driven by accounting necessity rather than any footballing measure. It has already been widely reported that whilst we met the PSR criteria for the expired year, we definitely have a hurdle to overcome for this coming reporting period.

Exactly. Every player we sign for 40m over say 7 years is another 5 million cost per year over that period, without even considering the wage bill. This just adds to the weight of our ongoing PSR challenge for the foreseeable future, likely resulting in more enforced sales of academy products.

2 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

I'm not the chronology is right here. We have bene sniffing around this Omorodion for a while now, whilst Gallagher was being courted, apparently, by Villa and Newcastle/Tottenham. The Gallagher to AM is a fairly recent development which would make me think that the financial arrangement is probably our idea and it is us that have then tried to change the terms of the deal once we are in the middle of it.

I think we're sniffing around literally every young player in this solar system. I simply can't get my head around the fact that we're willing to spend 40 million on this guy without it being some sort of scam. Let's remember we sold such a promising player in Ian Maatsen for less than that. To offer 40 million for someone who's scored a grand total of 9 goals in La liga is beyond reason.

3 hours ago, Gordon Bennett said:

What we can say is it's been sh*t so far, and these clowns are now into season 3.

Sums it up perfectly.

1 hour ago, Nick05 said:

I think we're sniffing around literally every young player in this solar system. I simply can't get my head around the fact that we're willing to spend 40 million on this guy without it being some sort of scam. Let's remember we sold such a promising player in Ian Maatsen for less than that. To offer 40 million for someone who's scored a grand total of 9 goals in La liga is beyond reason.

Is this a scam to give AM the money to pay for Conor? I suspect Felix's wages are far higher than Conors so I really don't think is going to happen. Something doesn't sound right with this story

The problem with all this is we are losing one of our best players for a song and gaining a player that doesn't even get in the team. 

 

4 hours ago, forbzy said:

Exactly. Every player we sign for 40m over say 7 years is another 5 million cost per year over that period, without even considering the wage bill. This just adds to the weight of our ongoing PSR challenge for the foreseeable future, likely resulting in more enforced sales of academy products.

It would be 8m amortization (40m divided by 5 years) plus wages. Chelsea paid that for the Felix loan last time. If the loan arrangers can recoup these costs on loans with some players they’ve bought there’s no hit to PSR and if they can sell at a profit in a couple of years it could be a net gain. Thats what they are betting on, more winners than losers. We have to stop thinking that the young guys are bought as first team prospects. 

On 12/08/2024 at 19:25, DarkMata said:

Honestly why are we making do with not 1st choice but decent?  Surely with the current squad we now need the star players added to upgrade rather than push out players we bought for their potential to make room for a mediocre option.   There's no point in us buying mid range players to replace mid tier players.  We need a few cherries.

As I've said before we never needed a player in his position.  Olmo was passed around with a reasonable buyout clause and we never even blinked which is strange for Clearlake.  Barca were busy chasing Williams we could have signed him up if that was what was needed and he's more than decent.  This is all situational not football related bullock.

Because we are playing conference league football, we don't offer massive wages, and the signing of felix is more linked to getting that Gallagher money than us needing Felix. 

I don't agree with it, but to say why don't we just sign Olmo, is just pie in the sky. You have absolutely zero idea whether we couldve signed him.

Realistically Gallagher should just be a separate deal, but there are lots of accounting tricks being used by club s to legally circumvent ffp. Omorodion only cost £6m for Atletico, so while it isn't pure profit, to transfer would've been a significant boost to their figures. 

This is also a reason why I'm skeptical Felix will get done, Gallagher price to Atletico would probably have to increase, so we can pay more money to Atletico to at least cover Felix's book value. 

Declan rice played against him and recognised the ability. I think felix could be a perfect defence unlocker in a maresca system. Its also been clear to see that he has a bond with l chelsea and has pined for us ever since his loan spell. He had an underwhelming time in the most underwhelming season we ever had in the prem, so its hard to imagibe he really could have thrived in that situation. I think hes we worth a punt.. If its 40 mil.

36 minutes ago, big blue said:

Because we are playing conference league football, we don't offer massive wages, and the signing of felix is more linked to getting that Gallagher money than us needing Felix. 

I don't agree with it, but to say why don't we just sign Olmo, is just pie in the sky. You have absolutely zero idea whether we couldve signed him.

Realistically Gallagher should just be a separate deal, but there are lots of accounting tricks being used by club s to legally circumvent ffp. Omorodion only cost £6m for Atletico, so while it isn't pure profit, to transfer would've been a significant boost to their figures. 

This is also a reason why I'm skeptical Felix will get done, Gallagher price to Atletico would probably have to increase, so we can pay more money to Atletico to at least cover Felix's book value. 

Think you underestimate how much pulling power we still have.  We managed to beat Liverpool to two players and supposedly in for Osimhen.  It’s not like Olmo is a megastar either he’s been quietly playing under the radar at Leipzig for 4 years.  

But the point I was making and agree with you is like you said its all accounting bo**ocks.  Olmo wasn’t even a consideration cause we don’t need another 10.  The interest in Felix is not football related.

In the end selling Gallagher and not buying anyone in return is the best financially and I don’t need to be a billionaire hedge fund manager to work that one out.

Although I’m getting more skeptical the Felix deal will happen too.  

I agree we don't need felix, but they need to sell a player to buy Gallagher. 

What I don't understand is, do they think this is Hollywood!!!

Try and bluff buying omorodion just to get Gallagher sold then back out of it! I really hope that's not true, they can't be that stupid! 

I commend them that they are trying to adhere to Gallagher wishes (they accepted a higher price for him from spuds and villa but Gallagher said no), but this isn't Hollywood and AM, Napoli, etc are no muggs. 

We don't need anyone else...would love a top gk, and cb tbh but they need to sell first.

I was one of those on here who liked Felix when he was here and what he gave us. I wanted him to stay.

That said, if he did come back to play as a number 10 for Maresca, I would much rather he gave Carney that role. I am totally baffled as to why Maresca has almost completely blanked Chukwuemeka. IMO he has looked a real talent everytime he has been on the pitch for us. 

Do we really need him or another goalscorer? we have goals in this side. Felix doesnt really score goals. Fifa player. "Our 77 league goals is our third-highest total in the Premier League era, behind 2009/10 (103) and 2016/17 (85)."

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/article/2023-24-the-stats-of-chelseas-season#:~:text=Our 77 league goals is,2016%2F17 (85).

Really hope we can get the deal through, I've always been a fan of him I just think his time here was massively blighted by managerial issues and the fact that several senior players wanted to leave. I think for the style of football Maresca wants to play he's perfect. 
 

If we end the transfer window with Felix, Palmer, Nkunku, Mudryk and Neto as our choices for the 3 spots behind the striker I'd be ecstatic. 

 

We should buy the club Atlético de Madrid. 

We would do them a favor.

Chelsea will be great again. 

Basically we are trying to fund them to buy Gallagher, just buy Oblak and get it over with, there will be money left to buy Gallagher, a choice of Sterling and Mudryk ( or both), and 3 backup GKs

Ok, I’ve had another look at his time here before and as much as don’t think we need him, and we it certainly shouldn’t mean the sale of Noni, he’s a live wire and things happen in and around him when he’s on the pitch. We also have better attacking players to complement him now IMO.

He was quite unlucky as well, hitting the woodwork a good few times.

I won’t be unhappy if we sign him but again there’s players before Noni who should be sold first and I also think we should have got a top defender and goalkeeper (I.E. the one Liverpool are looking at) and properly addressed the striker issue.

But here we are, the season is only a few days away and worst case we need to start getting in shape for Game Week 2 of the season onwards as the Man City game is probably beyond us ATM.

So, for the right price I’m in for Felix.

Reports in Spain the fee is €45M. 
 

 

Wellcome Felix, f**k Atletico de Madrid. 

My taylor is rich and my mother is in the kitchen.

I suspected a club may have triggered Carney’s release or have come close to it. 
 

Felix has a lot of fans he needs to prove wrong.