He would have been a great signing but I don't really blame us for not wanting to pay what they want, for a 21 year old CM €120m is obscene 

29 minutes ago, Aguia_SLB said:

I don't think so. He has been saying for months that he would only leave by activating the clause.

Beside, Benfica does not have any sort of interest in delaying this, as we had to find a substitute for Enzo, and in this transfer window this would be a much harder task for us than it is for you. 

 

I did not believe this deal would happen when the rumoura first came out, did not honestly believe the player would be so stupid as to force through a move to a club that very likely won't have CL football next season, when he could have his pick of clubs when benfica decide to sell/his release clause is met.

Also did not think Benfica would not sell unless they had to with the title in reach and a draw giving them a straight forward root to the CL quarter finals.

Looks like I was wrong on the players sensibilities, however right on Benfica and this not happening.

Disappointed is an understatement. It's either now or never, theres no chance we get him in the summer. Can see him ending up at City to replace gundogan, with his mate Alvarez. 

Crazy how much money we have spent without improving any position. In the process of signing another centre back, that is arguably worse than Colwill, and we bought in a striker that will most likely spend 18 months on loan. 

Pity we didnt use that money on Fernandez.

Then theres talk we want hijack Mudryk who has been openly begging to move to arsenal for 6 months.

All seems very none cohesive. Takeover has been a sporting disaster so far. Sat in 10th midway through the season having spent £300m+. 

1 minute ago, big blue said:

Disappointed is an understatement. It's either now or never, theres no chance we get him in the summer. Can see him ending up at City to replace gundogan, with his mate Alvarez. 

Crazy how much money we have spent without improving any position. In the process of signing another centre back, that is arguably worse than Colwill, and we bought in a striker that will most likely spend 18 months on loan. 

Pity we didnt use that money on Fernandez.

Then theres talk we want hijack Mudryk who has been openly begging to move to arsenal for 6 months.

All seems very none cohesive. Takeover has been a sporting disaster so far. Sat in 10th midway through the season having spent £300m+. 

The Enzo "deal" was Vivell first big suggestion and task too apparently.

2 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

The Enzo "deal" was Vivell first big suggestion and task too apparently.

Not a good look is it. I think theres been loads of mistakes. Even that Lukaku deal was extremely poor. Shouldve put there foot down and got an obligation to buy. Now it's a wasted asset. 

We are in a tricky spot with Enzo now though, if there is a plan, and the club believe he is a key piece, then we cant be signing plan b targets. We have to wait and try again in the summer, even if I think it is going to be near impossible.

Also waiting for the summer means we have to carry on with the utter dross we have at the moment.

Do we wait? Do we move on? Do we pay the RC? 

 

40 minutes ago, big blue said:

Not a good look is it. I think theres been loads of mistakes. Even that Lukaku deal was extremely poor. Shouldve put there foot down and got an obligation to buy. Now it's a wasted asset. 

We are in a tricky spot with Enzo now though, if there is a plan, and the club believe he is a key piece, then we cant be signing plan b targets. We have to wait and try again in the summer, even if I think it is going to be near impossible.

Also waiting for the summer means we have to carry on with the utter dross we have at the moment.

Do we wait? Do we move on? Do we pay the RC? 

 

We play Carney, Santos and Casadei 😉

So apparently the reason why Benfica slammed the door in our faces here, and insist on the release clause paid in full no other deals now, if because we negotiated with them in bad faith.

Last week the  negotiations were ongoing where we agreed terms with Enzo, and had a verbal agreement with Benfica for a deal totaling 120 mill euros in 3 installments plus 10mill euros in bonus. This was agreeable to Rui Costa as the total amount was worth more than the buyout, meaning he sort of kept his promise.

However this week when time came on Wednesday to submit a official written offer we ignored what had been agreed verbally and offered 85mill euros only. Which Rui Costa took as an insult and a waste of his time, and sees us where we are now.

Have I mentioned I really don't trust these new owners with our club?

So, tomorrow (well, technically now today)..

Confirmation of the Enzo deal being off, followed by a 5-0 Haaland butchering to put the cherry on top. What a day. When it rains, it pours. 

Feels like Hulk all over!  Perhaps worse.

Something is amiss here based on what we've read the past few days.  The internet doesn't lie. 

If what is reported is true then whoever is in charge of negotiating needs to be fired. Why pay something else when a different fee was negotiated? Sounds like Kounde all over again from 2 years ago. Unless the journalists are making an excuse to save face on a rumour that wasn’t true that seems very amateurish.

28 minutes ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

If what is reported is true then whoever is in charge of negotiating needs to be fired. Why pay something else when a different fee was negotiated? Sounds like Kounde all over again from 2 years ago. Unless the journalists are making an excuse to save face on a rumour that wasn’t true that seems very amateurish.

Can Boehly fire himself?

2 hours ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

If what is reported is true then whoever is in charge of negotiating needs to be fired. Why pay something else when a different fee was negotiated? Sounds like Kounde all over again from 2 years ago. Unless the journalists are making an excuse to save face on a rumour that wasn’t true that seems very amateurish.

It could be journos looking to save face. So many different sources put this forward as being agreed verbally beforehand though makes me believe there is something to this.

1 hour ago, ducavis said:

Can Boehly fire himself?

If only. If there are protests at thr Bridge today I hope some of them are against Todd. Too easy to focus on what Potter is not doing, and to look past the root cause of all this.

Deeply question why we do everything so out in the open. Even the BBC confirmed we were indeed negotiating with Benfica.

10 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

Not sure anyone is blaming the club for anything. Just highlighting that nowadays there is an entire media industry populated with fking idiots like that Kaveh Solekhol bloke who all act as if they are in the know when it its all a load of media BS created by kids and idiots on the internet with nothing better to do.

I just can't believe that we allow ourselves as a club to get dragged into this media narrative which seems intent on setting us up for a fall all the time. You don't here this stuff with other clubs of our supposed standing.

But we as a club dont allow that, its always been club policy to not discuss any of this sh*t, and they dont, pretty much, its almost entirely made up nonsense that twatter mentalists wind themselves up believing because fabrizio talkbollocksio wrote a load of vague nonsense. 

Just look at this page, people wanting someone sacked with absolutely no factual information. Its hilarious.

Edited January 5, 20233 yr by dkw

Enzo Fernández deal. As things stand, Chelsea & Benfica have not scheduled new meeting after talks collapsed 🚨🇦🇷 #CFC

Rui Costa always said: €120m [clause] or no way. Chelsea verbally discussed that with Benfica then official bid was €85m. No deal.

Bizarre if we lowballed them after discussing figures with them. 

The new owners will never be better than Roman, they say one thing then change the deal in the last second and don't even get their player. This was too good to be true, the club is now clearly way too much incompetent.

I don't see Costa budging until we dish out at least €100m... interesting to see how Boehly and co will continue with this.

“According to Record, Chelsea submitted a cash bid of £75m plus Hakim Ziyech for Enzo Fernandez, and also included Datro Fofana and Andrey Santos on loan. Benfica insisted on €120m release clause.“

 

Who knows..someone is playing games. Either us or Benfica

9 hours ago, axman2526 said:

The Enzo "deal" was Vivell first big suggestion and task too apparently.

Love the old ‘apparently’. You’ve a source for this?

9 hours ago, axman2526 said:

We play Carney, Santos and Casadei 😉

Would love to see them given a chance, although I think Santos will struggle getting a work permit, and it's a massive jump from the Brazilian 2nd division, so will take time to settle.

Would love to Hall and Hutchinson too tbh.

Love it how the so called "in the knows" never admit when they have it so wrong! All made up nonsense and click bait headlines.

I have said it once, and will say it again - I miss Colin Hutchinson who would just pull transfers out of the hat without media picking up a thing.

So the player wants to come and we desperately need him so let's take the piss and low ball them and lose him to someone else in the Summer while we currently have no competition for his signature?

Stupid club.

7 minutes ago, Luca Vialli said:

So the player wants to come and we desperately need him so let's take the piss and low ball them and lose him to someone else in the Summer while we currently have no competition for his signature?

Stupid club.

It’s disappointing not to get a target that we were interested in but I don’t know why people think it’s a low ball offer. From what I see being quoted on here it seems that he is never worth 120€ as a 21 year old and a true price would be nearer to what we offered. The 120 is only a buy out figure negotiated when benfica bought him for whatever lowly sum and does not reflect his worth.

Benfica are in a good position as to not need to sell atm and know that they will probably get a similar figure in 6 months.

I can’t understand the negativity and running Boehly down. The consortium has bet really big on Chelsea. Sure it’s not a brilliant season and some of the transfers are duds. Sure. We might not make champions league this season. That’s dissapointing but it’s happened before. Anyhow I just tend to avoid the forum when it goes negative. Is anyone on here actually a professional manager, or professional footballer or football club owner?