How much will we get for Sheva?

[Tim]

So, without being cruel, he's been unquestionably the biggest flop and waste of money the Prem has ever seen, and surely will not be at the club next season. Really hurts to say that about someone who was once a world beater and is a true gent, but it is true.

Given the constant noises from AC about wanting him back, it looks like we at least have a potential 'buyer' but how much of the 30 million do you think we are likely to get back?

More than 5? Hope so, but honestly don't see how we have any leverage, given how poor he has been.

Negative thread I know, but the sooner we can move on from the Sheva debacle the better, in my mind. The whole affair has been very embarrassing and I hate to see him hobbling around the touchline like a lost foal. He need to go somewhere where he can adjust to his lack of pace without being in the media spotlight, and we just need to move on asap.

[midlandblue]

probably a similar deal to Verons, with Chelsea still contributing to the players wages.

[Scott]

Fark all

[BLUENUT]

Nothing I'm afraid, what's to say he'll want to leave while picking up 130k per week, couldn't he do a Bogarde if still under contract?

We'll have to pay his wages to play for someone else.

This transfer has cost us more than 30m in transfer fee. (130k per week over 18 mths is 2.34m in wages so far aswell) It destroyed whatever wage structure was already in place, and put a massive strain on the relationship between manager and chairman.

Worst transfer in Chelsea's and British football's history.

Who would 'pay up' for him?

[heckel]

Worst transfer in Chelsea's and British football's history.

I for one think a resurrection is still possible, if he trained like Zola did over the summer when he lost form, Sheva might be able to break into the side at the beginning of next season, particularly if he can catch the eye of our new manager. In fact perhaps we should get Zola over to give him some career reviving tips. 31 is no where near too old, look what Sheringham did at manU - a not dissimilar type of striker. Sheva will need to reinvent himself. On the plus side, expectations could not be lower.

[evissy]

If we are not getting "anything" for Sheva we might as well keep him. His salary is outrageous but before he got injured last time he showed some signs of a world class striker. If we lose Drogs and replace him with, lets say Huntelaar I think our strikeforce is on good basis. Anelka, Huntelaar?, Shevchenko, Pizarro, Kalou.

The thing we need to concentrate IMO is to create a formation that complements the likes of Sheva and Anelka and that's why we need the changes in midfield. VDV, Totti type of shadowstriker, playmaker might be what we need...

[blizeH]

Get a grip guys, Sheva does not seem the sort of person who'd be happy to stay on the bench (or the reserves) even on £130k a week. He'll join another club (back to AC?) and take a considerable wage reduction, and no doubt start playing at a consistently awesome level again like he's shown glimpses of whilst at Chelsea.

[Guest]

Worst transfer in Chelsea's and British football's history.

I for one think a resurrection is still possible, if he trained like Zola did over the summer when he lost form, Sheva might be able to break into the side at the beginning of next season, particularly if he can catch the eye of our new manager. In fact perhaps we should get Zola over to give him some career reviving tips. 31 is no where near too old, look what Sheringham did at manU - a not dissimilar type of striker. Sheva will need to reinvent himself. On the plus side, expectations could not be lower.

I think Heckel has a point here. Yes the transfer has been a failure, a big failure, but his scoring record for Chelsea this season hasn't been too bad and even his harshest critics would admit his been better this season (albeit off a low base).

He is still one of the smarter strikers in the premiership (even if his legs are gone) and if nothing else, when played as part of a 2 striker partnership up top will cleverly draw defenders out of position to allow his strike partner (assuming they are any good) to bang in some goals.

[c3blu]

The reason Sheringham was able to play at an older age is because he never had pace to start with so he did'nt lose anything as he got older. In fact he became better with age and experience.

Reinventing yourself as a player is easier said than done.

[Elliott]

I think a realistic price is somewhere between £6-8 million, if we're lucky.

No doubt, the fee will be undisclosed anyway.

[Dorset]

The only indisputable response to the original question is ‘nowhere near as much as was paid for him’, but therein lies the truth of the matter. Sheva was an Abramovich trophy signing that didn‘t fit in for Jose and doesn‘t feature for Avram. He has become an adornment that might be worn on high days and holidays, but in reality we’re not even sure if he‘ll ever be taken out of our trinket box again. With this in mind, together with balance sheet considerations, it is unlikely that Roman will go on such an expensive whim and a prayer again and the best thing that can be said about him cutting his losses at the end of the season is that he will also make a massive salary saving, assuming he has the sense to avoid the ubiquitous loan deal.

Quite where this leaves us on the replacement front is anyone’s guess, but it should provide an opportunity to attract a big name [salary-wise] without increased outlay. If Didier doesn’t go, it would be excess rather than need to go for a striker and I anticipate the cash prize going to a midfielder such as VDV or Modric. More likely is a Drogba departure and, if Roman wants to avoid the pitfalls seen in signing Sheva [not proven in Premiership, not hungry enough (?) and not sufficiently ‘exciting’ for the new credo] there is, for me, only one standout candidate. So, without further ado, please step forward - Dimitar Berbatov.

[youlots]

Well those bionic legs that were grafted on (but didn't take) might be worth a bob or two. Maybe we should sell him in bits - might get more in the end.

[barak81]

Any one that still thinks sheva has a shout of bringing back the glory days is living in cloud cookoo land, blistering power and pace complimented his good eye for goal the former has now abandond him and in the prem there's just no hiding place. It actually upsets me when i see him brushed of the ball by average defenders.

Comaprisons with zola and sheringham are not really fair because along with crespo these are players who never had ammazing pace to being with but speed of thought and technice that is second to none.

[The Brit]

i remember reading recently that he will go back to ac milan on loan with them paying his wages, although i'm sure we'll still pay a percentage...fact he was left out of champs league squad says it all about his future at chelsea...shame he got injured after scoing that goal v liversum in league cup as he'd gone on another mini-run of form and goals

[evissy]

Any one that still thinks sheva has a shout of bringing back the glory days is living in cloud cookoo land, blistering power and pace complimented his good eye for goal the former has now abandond him and in the prem there's just no hiding place. It actually upsets me when i see him brushed of the ball by average defenders.

Comaprisons with zola and sheringham are not really fair because along with crespo these are players who never had ammazing pace to being with but speed of thought and technice that is second to none.

He just changed to a wrong league. His pace is not what it used to be when he played with Dinamo but it was just enough to be a leading attacker in Serie A. I still think he can be 20+ goals a season in England, I have no doubt about it. If Chelsea ever played with formation that supports Sheva he could be our main man now. Jose build our attack around Didier and that is the way it is. I think we seriously need to rethink our formation as/if Didi goes to Italy or where-ever.

[Guest]

I don't beleive he can score Chelsea (or any Premiership side) 20+ goals a year anymore. However, I think he could still be a productive striker, chipping in with a few goals and providing a good foil to a strike partner. If he were to go back to Italy, he'd could well go back to scoring the kind of goals he was in the later seasons of his time at AC Milan.

Sometimes fans assume a loss in form is a permanent. I just don't beleive Shevchenko is as bad as a player as we have seen. How many people wrote off Ballack after his first season at Chelsea as being "too old" and "past it"?

[c3blu]

I dont think to many people wrote Ballack off, they may have questioned his first season form but just thought he needed time to settle into a new league.

Form can be recaptured definetely, but pace cant.

Its a shame, we all hoped he would come and be the player he was in Italy. I had questioned the amount of money we were paying for a 30yr old at the time and hoped we could get a few good years out of him before this happened, unfortunately for Sheva this has'nt been the case and the clock is against him at his age.

[TomP]

Agreeing with midland blue, I can see another shady "extended loan" back to one of the Italian clubs in the summer.

The reason being (same as Verson and Crespo) than there isn't anyone who can afford to sheel out 130k per week on a player who would be a serious gamble, to say the least.

I would be guessing we see a "loan" to AC Milan, where where the 130k per week would be split 50/50.

[Tim]

Agree this is the most likely scenario, and that depresses me a lot.

[Pauly]

haha- the stupid milan ultras made a petition last night against the signing of sheva, and saying fat silvio only had the ambition to sign old over the hill, injury prone un-milan-class players now and should kindly f**k off..

expect ronaldinho and 7 others shortly...

my view on sheva is that he was officially and unluckily finished after his injury while DD was at the ANC. As we've seen, an unfit shevchenko is not the same player and he needed a run of games to work himself into top condition/timing. It never happened and he is next to useless to us now with our squad/formation and with the amount of playing time he'll get.

given that fitness and run of games i think he will be a great success wherever he goes