David Luiz to PSG for record fee

[IthacaMatt]

Somewhere between 48 and 50M Pounds, depending on performance.

Since we are into Luiz's 2nd contract with Chelsea, after amortization, he was only about 7.4M still on the books, indicating that Chelsea will book a 40M profit on the sale. With the new TV deal in England, Chelsea is in great shape in terms of FFP. I believe they will get an additional 60M next year over the old contract. That's like getting a huge boost to your salary cap This is so important, in light of squad limits that will be placed on FFP Offenders like Man City, PSG and Barca.

With all of that as background, it's time to start Chelsea's summer rebuild.

My wish list: Sign these new guys - Diego Costa, Rafael Varane, Mario Mandzukic, Paul Pogba.

Costa supposedly done at his 32M buy out. Mandzukic could probably be had for 15-2oM, Pogba probably around 30M, Varane 20M, since he's coming off a knee injury and looks surplus at Real Madrid.

Outgoing - Torres to Inter or Aletico Madrid for 10M, Ba for 8M to a Premier League side maybe, Cole and Lampard already released (good call on both). Marin to Sevilla for 5M. Eto'o is gone. Mikel to Turkey for 8-10M. Maybe Oriol Romeu to Valencia for 5M. Selling Luiz was the big one. Lukaku might go, too, and we could expect to make 25M on him, maybe more.

Bring back Thibaut Courtois, Romelu Lukaku, Ryan Bertrand, Wallace and Victor Moses from loan spells.

Promote these among the young guys as squad players: Tomas Kalas, Marco Van Ginkel, Patrick Bamford, Thorgen Hazard and Lukas Piazon.

That's an incredibly deep squad. Have a real competition and give the young guys a good look. Evaluate them all. Make Courtois win the job from Cech, not simply be given it.

Should be a great summer!

How about your team?

 

[Bortukal]

Lampard may yet come back on a one-year deal, though he'd spend most of it on the bench. I wouldn't mind seeing John Terry take a walk.

Should be a good summer of shopping for The Blues.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Lampard may yet come back on a one-year deal, though he'd spend most of it on the bench. I wouldn't mind seeing John Terry take a walk.

Should be a good summer of shopping for The Blues.

Terry had a great year. They conceded the least number of goals by far in the Premier League last year. Lampard was a waste of space. He didn't have a single game where he really excelled. I don't think he scored all year, and he runs like a crab now. Chelsea will save a ton on wages by letting him and Cole leave, and they can give some time to a youngster like Van Ginkel as the 4th holding midfielder instead of Frank.

I hope they pick up Paul Pogba (cost around 35M). Put him and Matic together in the holding midfield role and that would be devastating. Ramires and Van Ginkel as the 2 back ups.

I believe Costa has already been signed, so that's one striker. I just read that Ba has been told he will be staying, so that sounds like Lukaku will be sold and they are trying to bring in Mandzukic for the last forward.

If they pick up a Spanish guy (Luis Felipe or the guy who played in the Europa League final, Alberto Moreno?) for left back for 15-2oM, and they get Varane, who can be had for 20M and would be willing to sit behind Terry for a year, then the only spot I still see that needs help is at the number 10. Oscar is the only player who really can distribute and create for others. Hazard is creative, but is too much of a Kobe Bryant kind of player - he mostly creates for himself. Without Mata, Chelsea struggled when it was Hazard, Willian and Salah rotating through the middle behind the striker. All of them are really wingers, not distributors.

I think Cesc Fabregas might be a good fit here. Good enough to challenge Oscar and keep him on his toes. Proven in the Premier League and not such a huge ego at this point, after having to rotate in and out of the squad for 2 years at Barca.

 

[CanadianSU]

Somewhere between 48 and 50M Pounds, depending on performance.

Since we are into Luiz's 2nd contract with Chelsea, after amortization, he was only about 7.4M still on the books, indicating that Chelsea will book a 40M profit on the sale. With the new TV deal in England, Chelsea is in great shape in terms of FFP. I believe they will get an additional 60M next year over the old contract. That's like getting a huge boost to your salary cap This is so important, in light of squad limits that will be placed on FFP Offenders like Man City, PSG and Barca.

With all of that as background, it's time to start Chelsea's summer rebuild.

My wish list: Sign these new guys - Diego Costa, Rafael Varane, Mario Mandzukic, Paul Pogba.

Costa supposedly done at his 32M buy out. Mandzukic could probably be had for 15-2oM, Pogba probably around 30M, Varane 20M, since he's coming off a knee injury and looks surplus at Real Madrid.

Outgoing - Torres to Inter or Aletico Madrid for 10M, Ba for 8M to a Premier League side maybe, Cole and Lampard already released (good call on both). Marin to Sevilla for 5M. Eto'o is gone. Mikel to Turkey for 8-10M. Maybe Oriol Romeu to Valencia for 5M. Selling Luiz was the big one. Lukaku might go, too, and we could expect to make 25M on him, maybe more.

Bring back Thibaut Courtois, Romelu Lukaku, Ryan Bertrand, Wallace and Victor Moses from loan spells.

Promote these among the young guys as squad players: Tomas Kalas, Marco Van Ginkel, Patrick Bamford, Thorgen Hazard and Lukas Piazon.

That's an incredibly deep squad. Have a real competition and give the young guys a good look. Evaluate them all. Make Courtois win the job from Cech, not simply be given it.

Should be a great summer!

How about your team?

Any chance Konoplyanka could go to Chealsea? (Google him)! Best Ukrainian since sheva (Milan Sheva)

 

[CanadianSU]

Konoplyanka linked to United

 

[IthacaMatt]

Any chance Konoplyanka could go to Chealsea? (Google him)! Best Ukrainian since sheva (Milan Sheva)

Liverpool and United have been talking to him for a window or two now, so I would put them in the lead for him. Mou worked with Varane, in fact brought him to Real, and Varane has not broken into the lineup. He's still only 21. Zouma is only 19 and Kalas is also only around 20. That's a great group of young central defenders, fast, rangy, athletic.

 

[cusefan88]

Well, Pepe is 31 now and Varane started in the CL final so I think RM hangs on to him. I'm pretty sure it was Zidane that brought him to RM.

Zouma is a very nice prospect and Kalas was decent in that lone start at Anfield.

I'm interested to see what Man U do after their horrible season. Of course I enjoy watching the league as a whole but if I had to throw my support behind a side I'd take Arsenal. They need a DM, CF, and a RB. Hopefully Joel Campbell can finally win a work permit he's a nice player.

 

[cmr27]

Whatever happens, they can't let PSG pick off Hazard and/or Oscar. That would be a step backward because both guys embody the creative free-flowing style that Abromovich wants. But I could see Mourinho wanting to sell. He is stubborn and Hazard can be lazy about tracking back on D. Oscar's late-season disappearance from the starting XI was ominous.

 

[ImperialOrange]

Liverpool and United have been talking to him for a window or two now, so I would put them in the lead for him. Mou worked with Varane, in fact brought him to Real, and Varane has not broken into the lineup. He's still only 21. Zouma is only 19 and Kalas is also only around 20. That's a great group of young central defenders, fast, rangy, athletic.

I think that ship has sailed and perhaps, for us, the Lallana ship as well. Lallana has a 25% buy on fee to Bournemouth who sold him to Southampton so naturally they are looking for 25% over their 20 mil valuation. At the 25 mil mark there are a lot of interesting names. Konoplyanka looks to be avail for 12 mil but I believe that's beyond our valuation and at this point I'm hoping we're after more established players.

Barca has a very interesting list of players they're willing to let go of so they can build before their upcoming transfer ban. Pedro and Sanchez both apperently can be had for the right price which is in the range of the 25 mil Southampton are asking for Lallana. Marco Reus also has a 28 mil buyout if a club wants to try and pry him away.

 

[ImperialOrange]

Question for the Chelsea fans.

Given what transpired with Torres, are you concerned with Diego Costa coming in with the same injury?

 

[ImperialOrange]

Somewhere between 48 and 50M Pounds, depending on performance.

Since we are into Luiz's 2nd contract with Chelsea, after amortization, he was only about 7.4M still on the books, indicating that Chelsea will book a 40M profit on the sale. With the new TV deal in England, Chelsea is in great shape in terms of FFP. I believe they will get an additional 60M next year over the old contract. That's like getting a huge boost to your salary cap This is so important, in light of squad limits that will be placed on FFP Offenders like Man City, PSG and Barca.

With all of that as background, it's time to start Chelsea's summer rebuild.

My wish list: Sign these new guys - Diego Costa, Rafael Varane, Mario Mandzukic, Paul Pogba.

Costa supposedly done at his 32M buy out. Mandzukic could probably be had for 15-2oM, Pogba probably around 30M, Varane 20M, since he's coming off a knee injury and looks surplus at Real Madrid.

Outgoing - Torres to Inter or Aletico Madrid for 10M, Ba for 8M to a Premier League side maybe, Cole and Lampard already released (good call on both). Marin to Sevilla for 5M. Eto'o is gone. Mikel to Turkey for 8-10M. Maybe Oriol Romeu to Valencia for 5M. Selling Luiz was the big one. Lukaku might go, too, and we could expect to make 25M on him, maybe more.

Bring back Thibaut Courtois, Romelu Lukaku, Ryan Bertrand, Wallace and Victor Moses from loan spells.

Promote these among the young guys as squad players: Tomas Kalas, Marco Van Ginkel, Patrick Bamford, Thorgen Hazard and Lukas Piazon.

That's an incredibly deep squad. Have a real competition and give the young guys a good look. Evaluate them all. Make Courtois win the job from Cech, not simply be given it.

Should be a great summer!

How about your team?

To my knowledge, Chelsea have always done well by the FFP rules. The fact that the serial offenders are now in the crosshairs are helping to keep the market value down of tranfers this window which helps those of us who have been more frugal recently.

 

[cmr27]

Question for the Chelsea fans.

Given what transpired with Torres, are you concerned with Diego Costa coming in with the same injury?

Has Costa had surgery? I'm not really concerned. Torres was an Abromovich signing made belatedly to fix his Shevchenko mistake. I get the impression Costa's signing is being driven by the football braintrust, i.e. Jose. In recalling Torres failure, I'm surprised more isn't been written about his injury coming into Chelsea. His game at L'pool was a wonderful power/pace combo that depended on being able to make slashing runs behind defenders. Robbed of the pace, he was subpar against Premier League defenders. I will say this: Torres retains an uncanny ability to score in big competitions. All levels. WC. CL. EC. He remains a good third striker option on a top team because of his big-game ability. I really wish him well.

 

[ImperialOrange]

Costa has not had surgery. Not sure of he'll need it or not but was a unique parallel between he and Chelsea's last major signing at striker. I'm curious when he'll be back at 100% and if he'll have Hazard to feed him. I rated Costa prior to this season and he's obviously done nothing to disappoint this season.

I do see he and Torres as similar players with Costa being power/pace vs torres pace/power. I believe Costa is a bit more crafty with the ball at his feet vs relying on someone to release him. Torres lost a half step and that was what would take him free off a center halfs shoulder. Neither of them waste shots though. Costa doesn't take many forced shots and likewise Torres doesn't shoot unless he's got a fair amount of daylight. Costa, if healthy, has the ability to make more space at this point. He's a bit of a Suarez/Torres hybrid to be honest which is a scary thought for defenders.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Question for the Chelsea fans.

Given what transpired with Torres, are you concerned with Diego Costa coming in with the same injury?

No, because Costa's game is different. He's more of a bull in the box, but has good feet and scores in close on loose balls in the box. He is a decent header, but is no Drogba in that regard. Torres is a good header of the ball and has decent pace, but he isn't as quick as he used to be at Liverpool. His game was built on running at center backs, but he doesn't have the explosiveness he used to have to get past the top defenders. He is not that nifty with the ball at his feet. That has been his problem. Torres gets service at his feet in tight spaces with the current Chelsea midfield lineup and that's not his game. But that's precisely what Costa excels at.

 

[ImperialOrange]

No, because Costa's game is different. He's more of a bull in the box, but has good feet and scores in close on loose balls in the box. He is a decent header, but is no Drogba in that regard.

I think Costa's speed gets undervalued because he is so physical in the box. He's not lightening quick but he's fatser than a lot seem to give him credit for. He'll fit well at Chelsea if healthy.

As to the Drogba comment, guy was one of a kind. If that's the expectation folks will always be disappointed.

 

[cmr27]

I think Costa's speed gets undervalued because he is so physical in the box. He's not lightening quick but he's fatser than a lot seem to give him credit for. He'll fit well at Chelsea if healthy.

As to the Drogba comment, guy was one of a kind. If that's the expectation folks will always be disappointed.

With Drogba, Chelsea fans remember the good times but the start of his career at Chelsea was pretty milktoast. I think Gudjohnsen was still our top scorer, Lampard had come into top form and Drogba wasn't expeced to carry the scoring load. The expectations that accompanied Torres and Sheve -- and that await Costa -- were stratospheric. I'd like Chels to bring in two goal scorers so Costa doesn't carry the weight of all those expectations.

 

[ImperialOrange]

With Drogba, Chelsea fans remember the good times but the start of his career at Chelsea was pretty milktoast. I think Gudjohnsen was still our top scorer, Lampard had come into top form and Drogba wasn't expeced to carry the scoring load. The expectations that accompanied Torres and Sheve -- and that await Costa -- were stratospheric. I'd like Chels to bring in two goal scorers so Costa doesn't carry the weight of all those expectations.

I'd prefer Chelsea NOT bring in 2 scorers for selfish reasons.

 

[IthacaMatt]

With Drogba, Chelsea fans remember the good times but the start of his career at Chelsea was pretty milktoast. I think Gudjohnsen was still our top scorer, Lampard had come into top form and Drogba wasn't expeced to carry the scoring load. The expectations that accompanied Torres and Sheve -- and that await Costa -- were stratospheric. I'd like Chels to bring in two goal scorers so Costa doesn't carry the weight of all those expectations.

I agree that they have to have two guys of top caliber. Costa and Mandzukic should be an affordable pair. The Bayern man reminds me of a better Edin Dzeco. Both are poachers who convert in close. Add in Lukaku as the third man, especially to use as a late sub when defenders are tired. That's a terrific group, in my mind.

I see that they are bidding 25M Pounds for last year's "it boy", Radamel Falcao. He's good, but his ACL might take a little longer to heal from since he's 25 and not 21. At that price, though, I'd take the chance.

They've always had an interest in Cavani. I see Cavani's game as built more on speed, a bit like the old Fernando. Cavani is a real greyhound. He would be a great change of pace from Costa and would excel on the counterattack. PSG may be forced to sell him. I am not crazy about the talk of swapping Cavani for Hazard. Hazard is a top talent, even if he's not quite there yet.

I kind of wonder about chasing Levezzi unless you are going to team him with Cavani again. I'm sick of reading in London tabloids that he's "the answer to Chelsea's striker woes" - the guy's not a number 9, he's a winger. He seasoned, and he has a killer instinct. But we've got a ton of wingers already.

What we need is another guy in the 10 spot. If Oscar goes down, Hazard, Schurlle, Willian and Salah showed that none of them really can create for others. That's what we missed about Mata in the 2nd half of the season, despite his lack of effectiveness on defense. We are supposedly going to bid around 25M for Cesc Fabregas. That would be a perfect addition - keep Oscar on his toes and committed. Cesc can create for others in the box. He also has a good work rate and has been a very successful player in the Premier League. Could be a key addition.

 

[IthacaMatt]

With Drogba, Chelsea fans remember the good times but the start of his career at Chelsea was pretty milktoast. I think Gudjohnsen was still our top scorer, Lampard had come into top form and Drogba wasn't expeced to carry the scoring load. The expectations that accompanied Torres and Sheve -- and that await Costa -- were stratospheric. I'd like Chels to bring in two goal scorers so Costa doesn't carry the weight of all those expectations.

I agree with this, to an extent. Drogba would lose interest in matches and not really work for his teammates. He helped get Carlo Ancelotti fired (along with the bad luck of Lampard and Essien's injuries that year).

You can't argue with Drogba's performance in Cup Finals, though. I think he went 9 goals in 9 finals when he was with Chelsea. That's why he's a legend.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I'd prefer Chelsea NOT bring in 2 scorers for selfish reasons.

Who do you think Rogers is realistically going to add this summer? I know he needs to add probably 3 or 4 guys who have potential to make the squad deeper, but he definitely needs 3 world class players to make it work - a central defender, a defensive midfielder and another guy who can play behind the strikers as a number 10.

I could see Ashley Cole going there on a free transfer as your new left back. It may sound crazy but Mata would fit better with Liverpool than he does with United (if Barca doesn't buy him this summer). He would excel with Suarez and Sturridge up front, and he is great on set plays.

Everyone wants Mats Hummels or that Greek guy Konoplyiakos (sp?). You guys need somebody good in central defense, maybe two. What are your thoughts as to what's realistic?

 

[cmr27]

What we need is another guy in the 10 spot. If Oscar goes down, Hazard, Schurlle, Willian and Salah showed that none of them really can create for others. That's what we missed about Mata in the 2nd half of the season, despite his lack of effectiveness on defense. We are supposedly going to bid around 25M for Cesc Fabregas. That would be a perfect addition - keep Oscar on his toes and committed. Cesc can create for others in the box. He also has a good work rate and has been a very successful player in the Premier League. Could be a key addition.

Great assessment. Salah is a little like Torres in that he was signed partly because he played really well against Chels. I think Jose loves Schurle and he'll play a lot more next year.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Great assessment. Salah is a little like Torres in that he was signed partly because he played really well against Chels. I think Jose loves Schurle and he'll play a lot more next year.

Salah also is really fast. He could be killer on the counter attack next season. I don't think he's going to be a regular starter, but if you play 60 games in a season, a guy like him could be really useful in 20-30 of them.