I'm guessing this is the same level of disappointment you had when Chelsea beat Spurs to Ross Barkley.
Interested to see how the signings fall in. I like Higuain a lot but hope the money can be spent more effectively elsewhere.
Chelsea need a reliable striker, Higuain was really good under Sarri... these stories write themselves.
Sounds like the only way we get him is in a swap with Morata. I can’t believe I’m saying this but I’d rather have 25 year old Morata with a chance under a new manager than 30 year old Higuain
A 30 year old Higuain is coming off of his worse season since 12/13...and regression is never linear. Give me a young, talented, 25 year old Morata who is reinvigorated and fit to play in Sarri's system over a 30 year old, regressing Higuain any day.
Team keep Morata, he has shown the ability to be aggressive when we don’t have the ball and should work well in a high press type system.
Only hope is that after a few training sessions with Sarri, he changes his tune. I'll just start rationalizing how we may get a record fee for him. But it's going to be painful no matter how big the check is.
He's mentioned several times that he wants to play elsewhere. He's refused to sign an extension and can sign for free next season. Roman isn't exactly in the strongest financial position at the moment. Not saying a theoretical move wouldn't be expensive but let's not act like Chelsea has all the leverage here.
Refusing to sign was more because of the commitment by the club with Conte at the helm. We will see but Chelsea isnt going to let him walk when finding a replacement even close to his ability is going to be near impossible. Enjoy your new gk though.
Won't they find themselves in the same spot as the Courtois situation this time next year? Why not take €125-150M now instead of settling for <100 in 12 months?
He can sign for free in 2 seasons. He has 2 years left on his chelsea contract. We would have to sell him next summer. Don’t have to this summer. We could decide to sell him but it will cost over £200m with the way transfer fees have been going.
I mean we are about to get 50 for Courtois. Hazard staying gets us back in the Champs League and allows us to find a replacement. He is on contract till 2020 from what I am reading.
By 'next' I mean the one beginning in 2019, not 'this' season as in the one starting in a monthish. He can sign for free on Jan. 1 of next season.
If hazard truly wants to go Chelsea should go to him and offer him an extension with a buyout clause that will come into play next summer. Ask him to get us back into the champions league and not end his Chelsea career on a low. Maybe you can convince him that he likes the new manager. If not, he gets sold next summer and you have a year to formulate a plan of how to replace him.
Of course he would. My point was Chelsea would have much less leverage at that point if he could just walk in 4 months
I would think Chelsea probably would prefer to not get Alexis’d, so yeah, Chelsea’s position is way weaker next summer.
Hazard won’t move for cheap (less than 150) this window. If we struggle first half I could see it in January.
Coutinho went for like £130m. Hazard is at least 200 in that sense. Maybe closer to 150 if it’s next summer. Madrid will be looking to replace Ronaldo and if PSG say no to Neymar and Mbappe then hazard becomes the only guy who would have the star appeal. Will be an interesting few weeks.
I would like to retract my previous statements about Pedulla, even though we went through 15 "48 hours". Forgive me Alfredo.
Coutinho signed an extension at Liverpool in 2017 to last until 2022 Chelsea has little leverage at best here if Hazard no longer wants to play there. Assuming he wants to go to Real Madrid, with his contract situation and their usual fuckery it would be best to just settle on a decent fee now rather than drag the drama out or delay the inevitable and get £0 out of it. Add to that getting a new manager, not a situation you want to saddle him with right off the bat.
People pay 25 million euro for a handjob these days. Crazy that that number was associated with Neymar coming out of Brazil less than a decade ago.