Chelsea bag their central defender

JohnnyBravo

Chelsea agree €30m deal
Tuesday, 27 July 2004

by Adam Marshall

Ricardo Carvalho has visited London to have a medical after Porto reluctantly agreed to cave in to Chelsea's financial power.

Jose Mourinho, who claimed he did not want to raid his former club again after snaring full back Paulo Ferreira, pinpointed Carvalho as his first choice target to replace Marcel Desailly within his squad.

The Portugal international was outstanding when handed his chance to shine in Euro 2004 and was also wanted by Real Madrid.

Although the European champions insisted they did not want to lose another of their key figures, with Deco also leaving to join Barcelona, a deal worth around €30 million is understood to have been agreed between the two parties.

The 26-year-old travelled to England on Monday night and is expected to wrap up the transfer soon following positive talks involving chief executive Peter Kenyon.

Mourinho had also stipulated that he wanted his transfer business concluded before flying to the United States as he clinched a double swoop for Didier Drogba and Tiago Mendes.

However, Chelsea looked short of numbers in the centre of their defence and Roman Abramovich's fortune has ensured the new coach has had another of his wishes granted.

Porto will spend some of their latest windfall on Santos starlet Diego with the Brazilian due to sign a four-year contract at Estadio do Dragao.

AngelofFire

I knew mourinho would be after him especially after the way he performed in Euro2004

midget lord

30 ****in million. this is sickening.

midget lord

by the way, where did this report come from?

Pacifico

Here's the story from SkySports

Crazy money!

midget lord

yeah i seen it on the beeb too which is a little more reliable than $ky. they still maintain that cisse is going on loan to barca!!!

Big Ears

Porto are signing Diego .

thats more than a replacement for Deco , this guys a wonderkid .

not quite KAKA but he's getting there .

as for Carvalho .

its a good signing but £30,000,000 is a lot for a defender .

JohnnyBravo

euros not pounds
This isnt rio

midget lord

Originally posted by JohnnyBravo
euros not pounds
This isnt rio

surely you wouldnt be able to buy the entire city for that price?

Big Ears

Originally posted by JohnnyBravo
euros not pounds
This isnt rio

my Euro button dosent work .

eirebhoy

People really are giving Chelsea too much stick about their spending. He cost a couple of million more than Reyes. Also at £20m, Surely he's as good as 2/3 of Rio.;)

leeroybrown

Chelsea are almost unique when it comes to the transfer market. Their priority should be (and seems to be since Mourinho came in) to get the right player for the team regardless of the fee. €20m is a lot of money but he'll probably prove a worthwhile buy for them.

midget lord

no player is not for sale, unless their steven gerrard

Dont be at yourself

Unless their Steven Gerrard what?

Chelsea are getting seriously boned in the transfer market, and unless they start playing hardball it's just going to get worse and worse for them. Not that they seem to care.

Bateman

€30 million is a lot for Carvalho, but then he has 2 European medals, and has proved himself in the Champions League, unlike the player referred to above.

midget lord

so would you prefer to have carvalho or gerrard on your team?

Bateman

Given that Chelsea already have Lampard, Cole, Duff, Makalele, Smertin, and Parker?
I find it hard to be convinced as to how Gerrard could have benefitted Chelsea to be honest. It's a game of opinions, but mine is that he hasn't proved himself at the highest level yet, and until he does, I wouldn't have him at Chelsea. DEFINITELY not for the ridiculous Duff+Parker+cash deal that was being bandied about. Now THAT was madness talk. €30 million is crazy money, but not particularly so when it is for a UEFA Cup/Champions League winner/EURO04runner up.

JohnnyBravo

Besides as keane said gerrard didnt kick a ball for the first three months of the year
He had a purple patch
The media were all over it because he is their golden boy
And then he went back to what he was good at in the europeon champonships hoofing the ball and forgetting about possesion

Bateman

>hoofing the ball and forgetting about possesion


Very true. Didn't show half the technical awareness or the vision that is required at such a high level, and if the Chelsea transfer talk was bothering him, tough, should have been able to put it to one side of his mind and get on with proving himself the player he was touted to be.

Big Ears

heres a lesson for u Bateman (and its 1 Leeds have already learned)

Rouque Junior , World Cup winner .
Rouque Junior=****e

u can be a weak link and still win championships , although in the case of Carvalho , he is one of the srtongest links .

I am just afraid that his game wont suit the Premiership .

midget lord

lol.


did any of you guys actually watch SG play last season? He was the best midfielder in the premiership. By Keane saying that he reckons he can still put it up to SG and paddy viera is an admission from keane that SG is one of the best in the premiership. Hell, even ferguson thinks so!


When that rumour was flying around a couple of weeks ago, i.e the parker duff and cash deal i was saying take it. It was never going to happen.

Given that Chelsea already have Lampard, Cole, Duff, Makalele, Smertin, and Parker?

Gerrard and Lampard would make the best cm in britan, you can keep your makalele, smertin and parker.

He had a purple patch

LOL

Dub13

A lot of agents are makeing big money out of Chelsea.


CHELSEA

In: Arjen Robben (PSV Eindhoven, £12million), Petr Cech (Stade Rennais, £7million), Paulo Ferreira (Porto, £13.25million), Mateja Kezman (PSV Eindhoven, £5million), Didier Drogba (Marseille, £24million), Tiago (Benfica, £10million)

Out: Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (released, Middlesbrough), Marcel Desailly, Winston Bogarde, Mbark Boussoufa, Danny Jeffreys, Joel Kitamirike, Emmanuel Petit (all released), Mario Melchiot (released, now Birmingham), Carlton Cole (Aston Villa, season loan), Juan Sebastian Veron (Inter Milan, season loan), Hernan Crespo (AC Milan, season loan), Jesper Gronkjaer (Birmingham, £2.2million)

Big Ears

especially considering agents make between 5-20% on transfer deals . (20% being in special cases)

for some reason im think back to that programme on RTE , the Beutiful game , where Kevin Keegan made money(personnaly) by buying a player , because he owned a stake in an agent company .

midget lord

Carvalho at Bridge to seal £20m Blues transfer - Agent


Chelsea have flown Ricardo Carvalho into London with a view to completing his £19.85m transfer, according to the Portugal defender's agent.

Carvalho's agent Jorge Mendes - who also represents Blues manager Jose Mourinho - claims a deal is reported to be close with the Porto player, who starred at Euro 2004.

"There is an agreement between the clubs for Ricardo Carvalho," Mendes said.

"This evening we will begin to negotiate the contract of the player. I can't say any more because we still haven't signed."

Real Madrid were reported to be interested in Carvalho, while Mourinho stated earlier this week that he was targeting a central defender following Marcel Desailly's decision to leave the club.

It is reported that a fee of 30m euros (£19.85m) has been agreed between the clubs and he will become the second Porto defender to move to Stamford Bridge this summer, following in the footsteps of £13.8m Paulo Ferreira.

Carvalho is reported to have arrived in London on Monday night along with Blues chief executive Peter Kenyon.

from teamtalk

mike65

So Chelsea spend 19 million squids and Liverpool spend 2 mill, I wonder who got the better deal?

Mike.

PHB

Alright so help me out, pick a top 11 for Chelsea this season.

eirebhoy

Originally posted by midget lord
Gerrard and Lampard would make the best cm in britan, you can keep your makalele, smertin and parker.

Lampard-Makelele/Smertin ,Gerrard-Makelele/Smertin, Parker-Makelele/Smertin would all be better than a pairing of the those two players together.

Other than qualifying for the quarter final's of Euro 2004, what do the following players have in common: Costinha, Zagorakis, Galasek, Cocu/Davids (when asked), Makelele, Albelda, Linderoth, Poulsen? If you figure that out you should then know why the pairings above would be better than Lamps-Gerrard.

Dewey

I thought Carvalho was brilliant for Portugal in Euro 2004 but i think Chelsea paid to much........AGAIN. I dont know if Carvalho will be good in the Premiership but we know he can do it the champions league. Its a good signing for Chelsea but they paid to much for him.

Gerrard and Lampard would make the best cm in britan, you can keep your makalele, smertin and parker.

Did you not watch Euro 2004?? the Gerrard/Lampard didnt work for England and i dont think it would work for Chelsea. Both players have said they dont like to sit back, i think Chelsea are better with the holding midfeilder(Smertin/Makalele) along with the attacking midfeilder(Parker/Lampard).

Big Ears

Chelsea are paying over the odds for most players , but one of there best buys(IMHO) was Alexei Smertin for £3,000,000

DapperGent

Jesus but Chelsea are royally fu]cked in the transfer market. The cash they've paid for Ferreira, Robben, Drogba and now this new punk is just ridiculous. Hasn't anyone told them that it's a depressed transfer market.

Those prices (with the possible exception of Robben) would have looked stupid back when Arsenal were spending £13m on Sylvain Wiltord.

Man I wish I was Pina Zahivi.

JohnnyBravo

I never thought id actually see smertin play for chelsea

midget lord

Originally posted by eirebhoy
Lampard-Makelele/Smertin ,Gerrard-Makelele/Smertin, Parker-Makelele/Smertin would all be better than a pairing of the those two players together.

Not a chance. Smertin is not where near the class of SG or FL, Parker is a good challenger but again no where near the other two. IMO they also paid above the odds for an average holding midfielder in makelele.

The two boys didnt play well in euro 2004, yet they scored 4 goals between, not bad from CM. In the normal world it takes more than 4 matches for a pairing to settle down.

Is Euro 2004 the new benchmark that all football should be measured against?

smuckers

A terrific signing and I was sure he was off to Real. With all due respect Big Ears, Carvallho is in a diffferent class to Roque Junior.

TwoShedsJackson

He's a very good player and still ten million quid less than Rio Ferdinand Should do well.

eirebhoy

Originally posted by midget lord
Not a chance. Smertin is not where near the class of SG or FL, Parker is a good challenger but again no where near the other two. IMO they also paid above the odds for an average holding midfielder in makelele.

Did you not figure out what the above players have in common? They are all holding midfielders. Every team needs one to succeed and SGE showed if you don't have one you won't get much possession, thus probably won't go very far. Playing Lampard and Gerrard in the middle would be suicide. You could ask Gerrard to play the holding role but his frustration would get the better of him and he would wander too far forward. Anyway, Smertin has years experience as a holding midfielder and he would easily be better than Gerrard in that role.

Another example of a manager trying to convert a player into a holding midfielder was Stilian Petrov playing that role for Bulgaria in Euro 2004. He was diabolicol.

Big Ears

Originally posted by smuckers
A terrific signing and I was sure he was off to Real. With all due respect Big Ears, Carvallho is in a diffferent class to Roque Junior.

I know I said he was , I was just poiting out that if you've won things it dosent make you brilliant .

Big Ears

Originally posted by eirebhoy
Did you not figure out what the above players have in common? They are all holding midfielders. Every team needs one to succeed and SGE showed if you don't have one you won't get much possession, thus probably won't go very far. Playing Lampard and Gerrard in the middle would be suicide. You could ask Gerrard to play the holding role but his frustration would get the better of him and he would wander too far forward. Anyway, Smertin has years experience as a holding midfielder and he would easily be better than Gerrard in that role.

Another example of a manager trying to convert a player into a holding midfielder was Stilian Petrov playing that role for Bulgaria in Euro 2004. He was diabolicol.

agreed , I would prefer the paring of Smertin and Parker than Lampar and Gerrard anyday , because its more balanced even if the players arent of as much quality .

evilhomer

parker has the ability to be one of the best midfielders around. he never stops running, great passer, gets in a lot of tackles and always harrasing players, not giving them time on the ball. i'm not sure how many times ranieri played him as holding midfielder (usually played on right for chelsea, in the matches i seen).

Bateman

>i think Chelsea paid to much

Relative to your own notions of money, Abramovich and Chelsea have completely different notions, if Chelsea have it they can spend it, to get moralistic is ridiculous.

I agree that Parker is a great prospect. It's going to be a great season.

andyman

Chelsea dont care if they overspend because they have Abramovich

I think Chelsea's strongest team is:

1. Cech

2. Paulo Ferraria
3. Bridge
4. Calvarho
5. Gallas

6. Lampard
7. Robben
8. Makalele
11. Duff

9. Kezman
10. Drogba

Bateman

I might be inclined to go with Gudjohnssen and Kezman up front, I am really excited about Kezman but Drogba doesn't do much for me.