Alex wants out

[blizeH]

Alex! ;_;

Bit disappointed as I thought he was a decent player; very quick for such a big guy, good in the air and has hell of a shot on him for the occasional free kick, but he doesn't stand a chance of breaking into the team with Carvalho and Terry fit, and even with them out we've got more than decent cover in the form of Ivanovic, and Mancienne when he gets back (not to mention a few players who have covered there last season and done a decent job).

/glances at Brazil shirt with Alex on the back ;_;

[Gem]

:D I like Alex, cue the "he should be first choice with Ricky" crowd. :huh:

[Mr Chelsea]

he's a very good player, but needs 1st team football to boost his international career

it will be a big loss if chelsea let him go

[bjd]

I really rate him, since he joined us last year he has possibly been our most consistent player in terms of level of performances against minutes on the pitch. However we do have 4 top class centre backs and with Mancienne to possible come back too i would understand if we sold him especially as we are hearing we have to sell to buy - if this meant we could strengthen our attacking options it could well be worth it.

I hate to lose good players and he certainly is one , he would definitley go with my best wishes.

[just]

Agree with everything BJD has said. I too think he is absolutely top quality. Very consistent performer IMO.

[kalpitv]

Apparently, Scolari already has replacement lined up in the form of out of contract Thiago Silva. And the money could be used to sign one of Owen, Zaki or Tuncay.

[Virosh]

I for one don't believe it for a second.

First of all, the main source is the Sun. Second, he might be going to Panathinaikos ?! Yeah, sure. Third, he is getting enough game time and I don't believe he can complain that much about it. When Riccy retires, Alex will be our main defender.

Edited December 11, 2008 by Virosh

[bjd]

I for one don't believe it for a second.

First of all, the main source is the Sun. Second, he might be going to Panathinaikos ?! Yeah, sure. Third, he is getting enough game time and I don't believe he can complain that much about it. When Riccy retires, Alex will be our main defender.

Weve got a good few years of Riccy yet! Alex will have long left Chelsea by the time Riccy retires.

The quotes are from the man himself, not as is the norm with The Sun 'an insider', 'a pal' or a 'a source' - sadly this means i suspect it has substance.

[Virosh]

Weve got a good few years of Riccy yet! Alex will have long left Chelsea by the time Riccy retires.

The quotes are from the man himself, not as is the norm with The Sun 'an insider', 'a pal' or a 'a source' - sadly this means i suspect it has substance.

Very, very sad in this case. I really like the bloke, but if that's what he wants, I guess we shouldn't be stopping him. We can get a king's ransom for him, though - he is one of the best defenders out there.

It helps that we have ample cover in that particular area.

[ChelseaYankee]

Very, very sad in this case. I really like the bloke, but if that's what he wants, I guess we shouldn't be stopping him. We can get a king's ransom for him, though - he is one of the best defenders out there.

It helps that we have ample cover in that particular area.

This feels like a stab in the back to me. Screw him. Sell him to the highest bidder not named Citeh. The guy is starting for our team and doesn't want to play for us. Put in Ivanovic immediately until Carvalho is healthy. How much do you think he'll fetch? 10 Mill? 15 Mill?

[loz]

I would be disappointed to see him go - as I said elsewhere he, for me, has been our most consistent defender in the past 18 months. If he really does want to leave we should let him go however we should not sell him in January. We should hold onto him until the Summer as with JT and Carvalho's recent injury history there is every chance we will need him on a number of occasions.

[Mr Chelsea]

the club have released a statement saying

STATEMENT ON ALEX STORIES

Posted on: Thu 11 Dec 2008

Following reports in the media this morning (Thursday) regarding Alex, Chelsea Football Club has the following statement:

'Chelsea would like to make clear that no transfer request has been received from any player. Chelsea will decide the future of any contracted player in the best interests of the club.'

best interests of the club means if they get an offer they think is worth it , players will be sold

[TheWestwayWonder]

I feel like this story has some kind of legs. Soccernet can be a bit sensationalist, but they generally dont report something unless its halfway true.

I love Alex but I dont know how to feel about this. We have to give Mancienne a shot in a blue uniform, and I feel like Alex is probably the most disposable CB we have. I really like the guy for his play and his patience when we were getting his work permit sorted out, and I feel like we will miss having such a physical presence and someone with a hammer of a right foot, but imo Ivanovic is the best of both worlds in that he has decent size and excellent skill. Not that Alex lacks one of those, but in a league with such quick players, I feel like his braun might work against him sometimes.

Sad that he has done nothing wrong, yet we just dont have a place for him. Well, im sure one or more Italian clubs will be lining up for his services (especially if Milan miss out on Gallas Iscariot) and im confident that if Kenyon pulls his head out of his arse and employs a little bit of cunning, we might get a sweet fee for him. Wouldnt for one second deal with Madrid though. Unless they were willing to stump up 32.1 million pounds for him

Maybe Kenyon can get some help from this guy:

[coco]

Obviously his transfer request must be stuck in the Christmas post.

[PloKoon13]

I really hope that's not true... although I did wonder how long a defender of his calibre would be content to rot on the bench for...

[geezer]

Given the club have felt the need to make a comment, something they very rarely do unless there's either a denial or actual substance to a story, it would appear there is definitely something occurring here.

[TomP]

We will definately lose quailty if he leaves - but I can understand why he would want to go.

He is way to good to be a backup player - and realistically, that is what he is at Chelsea. He would be a definate first choice at most of the best clubs in Europe, but with us, he is undeniably behind JT and Carvalho in the pecking order, with no sign of that changing for the next few years.

From the club's point of view, he will be a loss, but we already have good cover in Ivanovic (not quite as good as Alex, in my opinion though), and it would give Maccienne a definate spot in the first team squad. And we should get good money for him - realistically, he should be in the 10-15 million price bracket.

It might actually be good for all concerned.

[icecoolguy22]

If a good offer comes in , we should look into it, especially when we are short of cash. Alex is a good player, but we can survive without him. 3 Quality Central defenders plus a couple of youngsters should have us covered.

[jack h]

He's a brilliant player and i'll be gutted when we lose him but unfortunatly i can't see us getting anymore than 5 million for him.

[The Moos]

I can't see why he should rot on the bench when Riccy comes back. Chelsea will play alot of games (even if we are out of the CC) so surely we could rotate a bit. Let JT rest in a game and let Alex play. Then rest Riccy and let him play there or else give Ivanovic some time.

I would however like to point out that if Alex complains now that he's not getting enough time on the pitch then he is rather spoiled.

He has after all played 7 games in the premier league and quite a few in the other competitions.

He knew when he came to Chelsea that there was two other defenders called Riccy and JT who had both proven themselves and been rock solid for us. Did he really think he would just come here and replace one of them and play every game?

Alex will get to play games in the future even when Riccy comes back.

Having said that I'm still not sure how much we can rely in the "quotes" in the paper. Haven't we seen incidents before when a "new" quote turns out to be an old one and therefore completely out of date?

And Chelsea releasing a comment about this doesn't prove anything because they actually just said that "We haven't gotten any offers for him". It doesn't mention the comments Alex made and that might mean that it's nothing worth reading.

I hope Alex stays unless we can get lots of money for him. We have Ivanovic and Mancienne after all.

[mad_mac]

Upset that he will leave us, but I really hope that we can hold onto him until the Summer.

How soon can we call Mancienne back? If Alex were to leave in January, and we could call MM back at that same time, then I wouldn't be too concerned. Concerned, yes, but not overly so.

As someone said, if he gives us some cash that we can then use to get another attackinf palyer, I think that'd suit us better.

[clubhappy]

Solid centre half but Ivanovic is a good replacement if needed . My worry is Riccy's consistent injuries , im not sure we can depend on his

fitness over the long term.

[Tim]

It's funny that we are now back to that novel concept of having to sell players to buy other ones - feels kinda odd don't it and reminds me how spoilt we've become!

But Mac yes, I agree that we do really need to sell one of our defenders

a) to raise funds for an attacking player

to give Mancienne some sort of a chance next season

so as much as I like Alex and Ivanovic, it does make sense for one of them to go.

Erm, the smilie is supposed to be a 'b.' i'm not winking at you all...

Edited December 12, 2008 by Tim

[yorkleyblue]

If a good offer comes in , we should look into it, especially when we are short of cash. Alex is a good player, but we can survive without him. 3 Quality Central defenders plus a couple of youngsters should have us covered.

This is exactly the sort of thinking that left us with Paulo and Essien as centre-backs up at the rat-infested sh ithole that is Anfield - and we all know how that ended up, don't we children?

[Valerie]

I've erased that from my memory. Don't put it back there please.