Are Chelski really buying our targets?

[spud]

There's been a lot of talk about keeping our transfer targets under wraps so that Chelski don't find out and swoop in with a huge bid and wages offer. But are they really targetting who we want? They certainly seem to have been buying players as though there were a shortage, and I hadn't seen us linked to the likes of Matej Delac or Kevin de Bruyne. Some of the others, though, are a different story.

Juan Mata: Aitch was quoted last autumn as being surprised that Mata joined Chelski as he thought that we had signed him.
Marko Marin: Often 'linked' to us, but I'm unsure whether there was any genuine interest.
Eden Hazard: Even Stevie Wonder could have seen that he was a major target for us, and I don't recall Chelski's interest until virtually the time they signed him.
Oscar: Another Juan Mata, it seems. We hear that the deal to us was virtually done until Abrahmovitch paid over the odds (to both Inter and the player) at the last knockings.

All of these signings have happened since Levy refused to be intimidated into selling them Modric last summer, and it's at best arguable whether they need all (or perhaps any) of them. So is the russian really trying to punish us for refusing to bend over? The evidence - such as it is - is quite compelling.

If he is, then he's a fool. All that will happen is that Chelski will neglect to strengthen their real areas of need and will ultimately 'do a Citeh': collect an assortment of highly paid players who might not get a game - or even a squad place - and who they will be stuck with as no other clubs can afford to pay their wages. In the meantime, what little squad harmony exists will disintegrate under an incapable, undermined manager.

If that's your plan to run your club, Roman, then carry on with it. You can't buy everybody. We'll get other players and you'll be stuck with a mess that even you can't buy your way out of.

 

[dontcallme]

We're both looking for available players of the same quality but they have more money for wages.

 

[Damian99]

Can i suggest you check out this guy, Jesse Ventura he may be able to sort this out.

 

[SugarRay]

Hazard was a pipe dream. The moron clearly wanted the bucks so flirted with every half decent club in Europe until one of the sugar daddies paid his agent £6m plus a huge transfer fee to his club.
Marin is pants.
Don't know much about Oscar but it always seemed a tenuous link to us. We have a deal with his ex-club, so was always going to get linked. I could never envisage us paying £20m for a relatively unproven kid.
Mata? Remember us being linked. Again, would have been amazed to see us spend that sort of money. What was he, £25m?

They seem like championship manager purchases! Not much thought put in to them, merely throwing money around and collecting a few names/prospects etc.

Plenty of other players out there. The only one I could see us possibly going for was Marin, and that's not to do with how good he is or isn't, it's to do with the small transfer fee.

The other three are far too expensive for us.

 

[Dougal]

I'm guessing most of the forums of similar sized clubs are all being linked with the same players and getting paranoid when the player goes to one of the other clubs. But that's just my theory.

 

[chinaman]

There can be no way to keep our interest secret. Agents are unethical and as soon as we show interest, they'll flog our target around to create a bidding war.

 

[HappySpur]

Thibout Courtois supposedly was ready to sign for us last year and went to Chelsea much like Oscar.

I doubt its a conspiracy.....but it sure is a pain in the ass.

 

[Kingellesar]

No, we were NEVER going to spend the sort of money that the likes of Hazard attract. I still believe our interest ended at enquiring a price if we were even interested at all. Same with Oscar, I don't think we would spend much above our current transfer record on a player, especially when Harry was in charge. Now we may get a player in the £15-20m bracket or a bit higher (Moutinho as a replacement for Modric perhaps?) but I don't think the right players are out there at the minute, teams are HOPING the likes of Chelsea, Man City, PSG or some other oil rich clubs are going to come in for their players so they over estimated players values until they realise that perhaps they won't get the interest they had hoped.

Plus all of Chelseas signings are midgets, I know the Hobbit is out this year but jesus, we are going to get an advanced screening of it everytime Chelsea play.

 

[Kingellesar]

Thibout Courtois supposedly was ready to sign for us last year and went to Chelsea much like Oscar.

I doubt its a conspiracy.....but it sure is a pain in the ass.

Hmm interesting if true, although wouldn't surprise me if Chelsea had a partnership with Genk? Haven't they signed two players from them in last year or so?

He has been solid for Atletico, on another season long loan this year with them I think.

 

[lillywhites61]

I just think they are all quality players that lots of clubs look at, Chelsea have more money and out bid most. We have to be a little more cagey how and who we try to sign.

 

[Mullers]

If they are stealing our targets, then I think that's great. We should make bids for Downing, Aquilani, Carrol and Henderson, immediately.

 

[SandroClegane]

I think we could have landed Oscar for around 13mil, we bid 11 as a starting point, and if Chelsea didn't come in I'm pretty sure JJ/Akqa said he was ours. Look at the transfer window so far, not many players moving for over 10mil.

 

[sim0n]

We're both looking for available players of the same quality but they have more money for wages.

and CL footie

 

[Dundalk_Spur]

I imagine the mickeys feel the same way about us.

 

[Welshiespursboyo]

Fuck 'em.

 

[Adam456]

Again, as said in another thread the blue scum seem to be the only club (with poss exception of PSG) who are completely ignoring FFP. To stay within the rules and not get banned from Europe they're going to have to make big, big profits in 2014, 2015 with a 40k seater stadium. Not going to happen unless they sell 1/2 of their first team

 

[Welshiespursboyo]

Again, as said in another thread the blue scum seem to be the only club (with poss exception of PSG) who are completely ignoring FFP. To stay within the rules and not get banned from Europe they're going to have to make big, big profits in 2014, 2015 with a 40k seater stadium. Not going to happen unless they sell 1/2 of their first team

They will find a way around it. I am 100% sure that this FFP thing will be completely toothless!

 

[sloth]

Of course they're not going for the same players we are as some kind of strategy to piss us off. There's a limited pool of players with sufficient quality to improve teams like our's and Chelsea's so we will usually be targetting the same kind of players. It's a measure of how far we have come in the last few years that these are the kinds of players we now have to go for in order to improve.

 

[sloth]

I think we could have landed Oscar for around 13mil, we bid 11 as a starting point, and if Chelsea didn't come in I'm pretty sure JJ/Akqa said he was ours. Look at the transfer window so far, not many players moving for over 10mil.

Selling clubs always auction their players. The only time they don't is when the buying club has paid so much over the odds that they know they won't get better elsewhere so better to cash in early and use the money to invest in a replacement.

£13m was never over the odds. Inter would simply have said thanks very much and used that as a starting point for negotiations with the buying field. At the end, if no one else had come in for him, they would have come back to us and told us we could have him if we throw in a few million more.

Because this is the way it works, there is absolutely no point going in at the so-called "asking price" (starting price would be a better label), because if they come back to you, you start the final round of negotiations from a worse position, and ultimately end up having either nowhere to move, or paying over the odds. If the selling club smokes out another buyer - as Inter did with Oscar - and the other buyer has more financial muscle than you do, then it's game over anyway.

In other words we bid at £11m for the scenario in which Chelsea weren't interested, because we can't do anything about it once they are, assuming they're willing to push the boat out.

 

[14/04/91]

All that will happen is that Chelski will neglect to strengthen their real areas of need and will ultimately 'do a Citeh'.

Do a Citeh? What, win the league??