Just now, Sconnie Blue said:

I want to play for Chelsea. Should they sign me? 

If you are good enough.

Just now, nonotnowjim said:

If you are good enough.

I'm proper Chels mate. Who cares about my quality if I play for the badge?

This seems to be the only criteria for some.

Be careful with the narrative that he wants to play for Chelsea. With all the respect and admiration Chelsea deserves...but you were just the first knocking to his head seriously.

Edited January 5, 20233 yr by Aguia_SLB

2 minutes ago, Aguia_SLB said:

Be careful with the narrative that he wants to play for Chelsea. With all the respect and admiration Chelsea deserves...but you were just the first knocking to his head seriously.

Without a doubt. It's why I believe if we don't get him now, we never will. 

He will get a lot of offers come the summer (particularly if Liverpool and United get their new owners) and his agent will definitely persuade him to go to the most stable club, or already established club. 

 

What a bunch of classless c**ts Boehly and Co are.

https://twitter.com/TheBlueDodger/status/1610992432933371905

16 minutes ago, nonotnowjim said:

I would bet big that the vast majority of those on this board, that are getting their knickers in a twist over Enzo, wouldnt have even been able to pick him out of a Benfica lineup

That would probably have applied to Hazard in a Lille line up too.

Wow. We took that move directly from the Barcelona playbook. 

Sounds like we are still negotiating? 

There is one common denominator in all these transfare  cock ups the past two windows and that is Boehly. He has had his pants pulled down by clubs all over Europe in less than 6 months. Agreeing with clubs before players and now promising a player we will pay release clause and then changing tactics. No top player is going to want to play for us with this behaviour coupled with crap manager and dropping out of Europe. Remember this is the guy who promised we would be the top London team in Europe a world force. The guy is all PA watch him panic as the window closes and we spunk money on has beings and second tier players like we did in the summer window

 

9 minutes ago, abramovich said:

What a bunch of classless c**ts Boehly and Co are.

https://twitter.com/TheBlueDodger/status/1610992432933371905

Not condoning the behaviour, but I highly doubt that we have not behaved similarly under Roman. And I expect that many football clubs (probably including Benfica) have partaken in unsettling of players as part of attempts to make signings and get better deals.

Edited January 5, 20233 yr by Snedger

7 minutes ago, drjonesy1994 said:

 

Ah, fantastic. So basically we've ruined our relationship with Benfica by going in 40 million lower than we promised them.

Classless from the Americans.

Have to say I’ve been a fan of what Boehly is trying to do for the club but this really reeks of unprofessionalism. If a Real Madrid or Barcelona were acting like this in pursuit of one of our star players then we would all be fuming. 

My gut tells me Chelsea are hoping for Enzo to hand in a transfer request and therefore try to drive the price down from what was initially agreed. 

12 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Without a doubt. It's why I believe if we don't get him now, we never will. 

He will get a lot of offers come the summer (particularly if Liverpool and United get their new owners) and his agent will definitely persuade him to go to the most stable club, or already established club. 

Mate, the market is mad. MAD!

Enzo is an amazing project of player, but nowhere in the world he worth's 120 milion. This type of clause it's just to protect the team from loosing major elements, like Enzo, and avoid clubs to even try to negotiate, which was exactly what Chelsea tried to do. 

Your department could have been a bit more cleaver and had reserved Enzo for summer in a lower fee. That's exactly how you got Ramires from us in 2010.

 

 

 

 

1 minute ago, Aguia_SLB said:

Mate, the market is mad. MAD!

Enzo is an amazing project of player, but nowhere in the world he worth's 120 milion. This type of clause it's just to protect the team from loosing major elements, like Enzo, and avoid clubs to even try to negotiate, which was exactly what Chelsea tried to do. 

Your department could have been a bit more cleaver and had reserved Enzo for summer in a lower fee. That's exactly how you got Ramires from us in 2010.

That could still be on the table. 

2 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

That could still be on the table. 

Maybe too late, as I know Rui Costa. If Chelsea got the information from the beginning that you would only get the player by paying the clause, you shouldn't promised the player you would pay the clause and then try to negotiate for a lower fee. That made Enzo unstable, made him commit mistakes and to have a bad behaviour, and made Rui Costa get pissed. 

Its all a mess.

 

14 minutes ago, Snedger said:

Not condoning the behaviour, but I highly doubt that we have not behaved similarly under Roman. And I expect that many football clubs (probably including Benfica) have partaken in unsettling of players as part of attempts to make signings and get better deals.

Of course we approached and unsettled other clubs' players in the past, all clubs do that, that wasn't the point. What Benfica coach basically told was we led them to believe we were willing to pay the release clause only to lowball them with a much lower offer later. It's called negotiating in bad faith and it may have long lasting negative consequences for your reputation.

Name is being dragged through mud now. Embarrassing. 

Unsettling players without the means to buy them. Shady as hell. 

This is with a full sporting boardroom now too. Who have they employed that thinks this is how to do business, and of all the clubs, Benfica is one of the best to have a good relationship because they unearth so many gems.

Looks like that relationship is in tatters. 

1 minute ago, abramovich said:

Of course we approached and unsettled other clubs' players in the past, all clubs do that, that wasn't the point. What Benfica coach basically told was we led them to believe we were willing to pay the release clause only to lowball them with a much lower offer later. It's called negotiating in bad faith and it may have long lasting negative consequences for your reputation.

I wouldn't go that far. Maybe there is misunderstanding on terms of the message about the release clause. What has made him fuming is Enzo is now "crazy". That is basically the only problem here.

If you have a player that has 120€m clause you are an idiot if you just go in and pay that sum. Especially if that player is basically untested. 

I wouldn't worry about that. Benfica might budge on 100€m or we can just snatch him for that release clause still. 

51 minutes ago, Aguia_SLB said:

According to Roger Schmidt, Benfica manager, Chelsea promised Enzo that they would pay the release clause and not to worry about nothing else. 

Well, if true, Not very nice.

 

 

 

If true certainly a good way to make sure a player never wants to join you again.

8 minutes ago, big blue said:

Name is being dragged through mud now. Embarrassing. 

Unsettling players without the means to buy them. Shady as hell. 

This is with a full sporting boardroom now too. Who have they employed that thinks this is how to do business, and of all the clubs, Benfica is one of the best to have a good relationship because they unearth so many gems.

Looks like that relationship is in tatters. 

Given what the Benfica manager said, and not one of the online ITKs, I think we can safely say there is something in this and is a real shame we would risk our relationship with Benfica this way.

Ideally we should maintain a good relationship with them, Porto and Sporting as they do develop some really outstanding players.

4 hours ago, goose said:

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

I think I heard Fabrizio say it on one of his vids, could have been on Football Therapy on YouTube as well, Jan covers all the Chelsea stories.

52 minutes ago, abramovich said:

What a bunch of classless c**ts Boehly and Co are.

https://twitter.com/TheBlueDodger/status/1610992432933371905

Or perhaps the Benfica man is saying what the Benfica fans need to hear about a player leaving?

4 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Given what the Benfica manager said, and not one of the online ITKs, I think we can safely say there is something in this and is a real shame we would risk our relationship with Benfica this way.

Ideally we should maintain a good relationship with them, Porto and Sporting as they do develop some really outstanding players.

Agreed. As far as I can tell we have maintained a pretty decent relationship with Benfica in the past, and have recruited some important players from them. Regardless of whether this deal goes through, I hope we can sort any issues between the clubs.

 

From @ChelsTransfer

Enzo Fernández 's transfer to #Chelsea finally fell through on Wednesday. Except for a massive turnaround, the Argentine will not end up playing for that English club. (TyC Sports)

#Chelsea had been monitoring Enzo Fernández since he joined #Benfica. Just after the World Cup, Chelsea had their first meeting with Benfica who made it clear to Chelsea: they pay the €120million clause, that had to be in a single payment (TyC Sports)

#Chelsea made a verbal counter-offer to #Benfica: they stated they were willing to put up €127m but through a payment in several installments. After deliberating for several days & following Enzo's request to leave, President Rui Costa opened the doors to negotiate. (TyC Sports)

Negotiations began days before the New Year & were halted for the holidays without an agreement yet. #Chelsea didn't even go so far as to arrange Enzo's contract because they knew that this was not going to be a problem and could easily improve his salary in #Benfica (TyC Sports)

On Monday, January 2, #Chelsea and #Benfica resumed dialogue: Benfica was waiting for the structure of a €127m complex operation to be put together - how much was going to be in a first payment, installment terms and how much money would be in objectives. (TyC Sports)

However, #Chelsea verbally changed the conditions of the deal and #Benfica issued an ultimatum: everything had to be resolved in 48 hours. Both on Tuesday the 3rd and Wednesday the 4th, they met in person in long meetings that even ended at dawn in Europe. (TyC Sports)

Yesterday, #Chelsea with negotiations led by Christopher Vivell & everything monitored by owner Todd Boehly, informally made a new proposal to #Benfica: €90million to be paid in 4 installments and the possibility that there are players included. Benfica were furious (TyC Sports)

#Benfica returned to the initial position of termination clause or nothing & said that the decision was set in stone. Benfica ended the meeting. The operation is dead today unless #Chelsea revise their plans and pay the exit clause, which they are unwilling to spend (TyC Sports)