Jan transfer window

Lord TSC

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2016/12/oscar-to-depart.html?extcmp=SOCIA_TW_ENG_ARTICLES

Oscar to China confirmed. That is stunning business for Chelsea if the £60m figure is true.

GavRedKing

Some have said £60m others have £52m, either way, its about double what hes actually work IMO.

Its a great price for a guy who has no real place in the 3-4-3 that we play at the moment.

I'm wondering now wil we bank it until the summer or add to the squad now in January.

Chancer3001

Surely that money will go towards a new cm.

Everyone says you need a new cb, but dont forget when zouma gets fit he walks into that team. Then either dave or one the wing backs gets put on the bench.

So if you signed another, hes second defender on the bench. (Not even including terry)

For midfield, cesc is backup 1, backup2 is pretty non existent, unless you count young lads.

Probabaly need a backup wingback also.

GavRedKing

Chancer3001 wrote: »

Surely that money will go towards a new cm.

Everyone says you need a new cb, but dont forget when zouma gets fit he walks into that team. Then either dave or one the wing backs gets put on the bench.

So if you signed another, hes second defender on the bench. (Not even including terry)

For midfield, cesc is backup 1, backup2 is pretty non existent, unless you count young lads.

Probabaly need a backup wingback also.

Zouma wont get back into the current side, of all the CBs hes the least comfortable on the ball and the amount of time that Cahill and Azp get on the ball in advanced areas because teams are worried about our WBs, its something Zouma will have to work on as his technique, ball playing and passing is below the rest.

Hes much quicker and better in the air than any of the CBs though but at the moment, unless some gets injured or suspended, he wont get back in unfortunately.

Main area we need cover is a LWB for Alonso as we've no other natural replacement after that, I dont think we're doing too badly, when you've only got the EPL games to worry about you can get away with a squad made up of 2or 3 youngsters as well as guys like JT, Ivanovic, Cesc, Batshuayi, Willian.

Johner

Jose has confirmed Schneiderlin will be allowed to leave in January.

West Brom have bid £13 million. Closer to £20 million should do it.

Trigger

Johner wrote: »

Jose has confirmed Schneiderlin will be allowed to leave in January.

West Brom have bid £13 million. Closer to £20 million should do it.

Sky still reporting the West Brom bid as £18m, where did you see 13?

Wonder if we will look to add a midfielder if he goes. Will be interesting to see.. especially if Schweinsteiger leaves too

Johner

astradave wrote: »

Sky still reporting the West Brom bid as £18m, where did you see 13?

Wonder if we will look to add a midfielder if he goes. Will be interesting to see.. especially if Schweinsteiger leaves too

BBC are reporting £13m

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/38414374

Harry Palmr

18m for Schweinsteiger? Why? why?! Oh wait it's Schneiderlin - I'm not sure how much sense that makes either.

kevthegaff

Chelsea need a backup striker, Dave azpi us definitely better than zouma, Cahill however..

Agent Coulson

£18/20m for Schneiderlin who has played what 20 games in the last two seasons utd doing well only taking £4/6m loss on him.

GavRedKing

kevthegaff wrote: »

Chelsea need a backup striker, Dave azpi us definitely better than zouma, Cahill however..

I'd agree, however, the Man City game apart, Cahill has actually been decent.

Plus, hes 3rd choice captain so I cant imagine Conte will get shot of him that quick.

We've zouma to come back as well as Ake at Bournemouth whos more of a CM and Christensen whos a very good CB and with Ivan and JT going in the summer, it would make no sense to be buying CBs at the moment, IMO.

Trigger

https://twitter.com/DiMarzio/status/812364935250530304

Everton have offered £40m for depay and schneiderlin

Dirty Dingus McGee

Depay and Schneiderlin could be decent signings for Everton.

Some players are only good when they are important figures in the team and not squad players.

Ulysses Gaze

Tevez to China looking likely.

He will become the highest paid player in the world earning $762,000 per week.

http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2016/12/19/carlos-tevez-china-boca-juniors-transfer-highest-paid

No wonder Bobo Vieri wanted to come out of retirement at 43 to get a slice of that action!

Richard Hillman

I see the bi-annual Saido Berahino talk is back. Surely WBA have to take whatever cash is up for him this time. He has 5 goals from his last 35 games :pac:

Bowlardo

Richard Hillman wrote: »

I see the bi-annual Saido Berahino talk is back. Surely WBA have to take whatever cash is up for him this time. He has 5 goals from his last 35 games :pac:

They should just offload him but tony pulis is thundering **** so you don't what is going on in the bacground

Lord TSC

https://twitter.com/VfLWolfsburg_EN/status/812614449706205184

Draxler to PSG confirmed.

Harry Palmr

If you can tell about a player by the clubs they sign for Oscar and Draxler are not the type to go into battle with.

Andersonisgod

Harry Palmr wrote: »

If you can tell about a player by the clubs they sign for Oscar and Draxler are not the type to go into battle with.

Players go where the money is. It's that simple, always have, always will. That these 2 can earn more in China and France respectively than they can in England and Germany and they choose to avail of that opportunity says nothing about their character.

LiamoSail

Harry Palmr wrote: »

If you can tell about a player by the clubs they sign for Oscar and Draxler are not the type to go into battle with.

Draxler was linked with Liverpool and not a hope you'd be saying that had he gone to Liverpool.

PSG pay better, play in the CL, will win more silver wear and Paris, aside from being closer to his home, is a far better place to live than Liverpool. In fact, it's not even close.

A few choruses of YNWA and a clip of Istanbul doesn't change that

DrumSteve

The way I always look at it is that if another company came in and offered me 6 times the wages to do an (easier) job and I know I could only work doing that job for another few years, you better recognise I'm going to be all over that **** like white on rice.

Harry Palmr

LiamoSail wrote: »

Draxler was linked with Liverpool and not a hope you'd be saying that had he gone to Liverpool.

But he didn't did he? He went to the easier gig rather than a tougher one (which would still have made him richer than he already is). You reach a point in player recruitment where if they shy away then you're better off without them. Liverpool can get players as good who will want to join. In Draxlers case he is a known "dandy"

ERG89

Harry Palmr wrote: »

If you can tell about a player by the clubs they sign for Oscar and Draxler are not the type to go into battle with.

Well Wolfsburg & Chelsea are not beyond offering big fee/wages.
But I wouldn't want to rely on either of them based on their poor form as much as taste for money.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Harry Palmr wrote: »

But he didn't did he? He went to the easier gig rather than a tougher one (which would still have made him richer than he already is). You reach a point in player recruitment where if they shy away then you're better off without them. Liverpool can get players as good who will want to join. In Draxlers case he is a known "dandy"

Very very few players (if any at all) have chosen to take a supposed tougher gig than the one they had. If they did players would all become one club men and never leave the mid table teams or lower that they started with.

Signing from Liverpool is a much easier job for almost all the players they sign.Why didn't Adam Lallana show more character and dog it out with Southampton and try and turn them into a top team rather than going to an already established top team.

Harry Palmr

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Very very few players (if any at all) have chosen to take a supposed tougher gig than the one they had. If they did players would all become one club men and never leave the mid table teams or lower that they started with.

Signing from Liverpool is a much easier job for almost all the players they sign.Why didn't Adam Lallana show more character and dog it out with Southampton and try and turn them into a top team rather than going to an already established top team.

Why pick on Lallana? Why didn't Lovren, Mane, Chambers, Walcott, Ox-Cham, Shaw? Wanyama? Pochettino or Koeman?

LiamoSail

Harry Palmr wrote: »

But he didn't did he? He went to the easier gig rather than a tougher one (which would still have made him richer than he already is). You reach a point in player recruitment where if they shy away then you're better off without them. Liverpool can get players as good who will want to join. In Draxlers case he is a known "dandy"

Well if he went to Liverpool then instead of West Brom he'd be bottler by your logic, taking the easier gig and all that. With the money in England, it'd have still made him richer than he probably is at present.

What about Klopp turning down West Ham before eventually taking the Liverpool job? He'd been on good money at West Ham, probably more than at BVB. Did he want the easier gig too?

Richard Hillman

Can't believe people are getting pissy over a player signing for PSG over Liverpool. I can understand China but PSG, Cmon Man :pac:

Liverpool means as much to Julian Draxler as much as Leverkusen or Wolfsburg mean to Adam Lallana

Fun Fact: Julian Draxler was 12 when Liverpool won the Champions League.

Harry Palmr

LiamoSail wrote: »

Well if he went to Liverpool then instead of West Brom he'd be bottler by your logic, taking the easier gig and all that. With the money in England, it'd have still made him richer than he probably is at present.

What about Klopp turning down West Ham before eventually taking the Liverpool job? He'd been on good money at West Ham, probably more than at BVB. Did he want the easier gig too?

Klopp and West Ham? Show me the links. Klopp was of course linked with Man City as well but that was just stupid paper talk.

LiamoSail

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Klopp and West Ham? Show me the links. Klopp was of course linked with Man City as well but that was just stupid paper talk.

The link is irrelevant. If a manager of Kloop's calibre wanted the West Ham job he'd have got it. By your logic, the fact he'd didn't implies he's after an easy gig.

And below is one of numerous links online


http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/jurgen-klopp-turned-down-west-10658495.amp?client=safari

LiamoSail

As an aside, I'm a Liverpool fan and if I had the choice between well paid jobs in Liverpool or Paris, there's not a hope in hell I'd be in Liverpool

Harry Palmr

Any supposedly "top top" player who signs for PSG over a big PL side (Arsenal were linked to Draxler more than Liverpool btw) is not worth signing by definition.

Andersonisgod

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Any supposedly "top top" player who signs for PSG over a big PL side (Arsenal were linked to Draxler more than Liverpool btw) is not worth signing by definition.

That's proper self-entitled, little Englander talk right there. Using Oscar as the example, do you really think it was his dream as a kid to play for Chelsea? A club he possibly hadn't even heard of. Of course not, he left his family, friends and culture to go to England for money. Now China want to offer him even more money. Of course he'll take that money and go. Same applies to Draxler. The strength of the English league was built on the tv miney starting in the mid 90's and continued to present. Do you really think international players will care about the "history and tradition" of English clubs if China offers them 3 times the wages they can make in England? Not a chance. The English clubs, the English league and its history, tradition and competition mean so much less than you think they do in comparison to money.

Ferris_Bueller

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Any supposedly "top top" player who signs for PSG over a big PL side (Arsenal were linked to Draxler more than Liverpool btw) is not worth signing by definition.

That is nonsense.

PSG have been Champions League quarter finalists the past 4 seasons in a row, they have also won the title 4 years in a row. Compare this to Arsenal who haven't made it past the last 16 since 2010 and haven't won a league title in 13 years, or Liverpool who aren't even regulars in the Champions League and haven't won a title in over 25 years.

Add to this that Paris is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe and PSG could probably offer him a very nice wage, IMO he would have been a fool to choose Liverpool or Arsenal over PSG.

LiamoSail

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Any supposedly "top top" player who signs for PSG over a big PL side (Arsenal were linked to Draxler more than Liverpool btw) is not worth signing by definition.

That's delusional. Why would the opportunity to play in a more competitive league be a bigger attraction to anyone over more money, more silverware, guaranteed CL football and an opportunity to live in one of the best cities in the world.

Kirby

Andersonisgod wrote: »

That's proper self-entitled, little Englander talk right there. Using Oscar as the example, do you really think it was his dream as a kid to play for Chelsea? A club he possibly hadn't even heard of. Of course not, he left his family, friends and culture to go to England for money. Now China want to offer him even more money. Of course he'll take that money and go. Same applies to Draxler. The strength of the English league was built on the tv miney starting in the mid 90's and continued to present. Do you really think international players will care about the "history and tradition" of English clubs if China offers them 3 times the wages they can make in England? Not a chance. The English clubs, the English league and its history, tradition and competition mean so much less than you think they do in comparison to money.

It very well might be the first sign of the apocalypse......but I actually agreed with AndersonIsGod.

If we start seeing horsemen......

Andersonisgod

Kirby wrote: »

It very well might be the first sign of the apocalypse......but I actually agreed with AndersonIsGod.

If we start seeing horsemen......

I'm making a late play for most popular Boards.ie Soccer forum poster 2016. The campaign starts here and will roll through various superthreads in the coming days.

Kirby

Make Boards great again!

Dirty Dingus McGee

Playing in England I would say means absolutely nothing to players from Brazil they have a much richer footballing tradition themselves and they contantly abandon it for the money in England,Spain and Italy.

Playing for Brazil is probably Oscars main ambition footballing wise and not doing anything at club level.

Although people in Europe may be brought up on the champions league being the greatest competition of all it probably means **** all to players from South America.

Most of the big name players going to China tend to be South American and not European. I'd imagine most European players if they have a chance to win the Champions League wouldn't want to give up on the chance of winning it but it's different for players who aren't European.

Also Oscar has probably worked out by now that he is never going to become a legendary player at club level and so he's not giving up on any fame or status within the game by going to China.It must be comforting to be in a situation where you realise all your hard work won't lead to anything substantial but you can still cash in and enjoy yourself.

Kirby

He's still young enough to spend 2-3 years in China making serious money and then come back to play in Europe.

Harry Palmr

LiamoSail wrote: »

That's delusional. Why would the opportunity to play in a more competitive league be a bigger attraction to anyone over more money, more silverware, guaranteed CL football and an opportunity to live in one of the best cities in the world.

Winning a Ligue 1 title is arguably less prestigious than getting promotion to the PL from the Championship. No one gives a **** about the French league, and making the quarters of the CL every season is by definition the mark of moderately highflown failure. PSG players can fool themselves into thinking they play for a team that matters in some way - they don't. It's a home for international playboys.

Andersonisgod

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Winning a Ligue 1 title is arguably less prestigious than getting promotion to the PL from the Championship. No one gives a **** about the French league, and making the quarters of the CL every season is by definition the mark of moderately highflown failure. PSG players can fool themselves into thinking they play for a team that matters in some way - they don't. It's a home for international playboys.

This sounds like it came right out of the Richard Scudamore book of rhetoric.

LiamoSail

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Winning a Ligue 1 title is arguably less prestigious than getting promotion to the PL from the Championship. No one gives a **** about the French league, and making the quarters of the CL every season is by definition the mark of moderately highflown failure. PSG players can fool themselves into thinking they play for a team that matters in some way - they don't. It's a home for international playboys.

You're coming across as a parody of the stereotypical delusional Liverpool fan.

I'm sure Draxler, living in Paris, winning titles and playing in the business end of the CL will look over with envy as he sees Liverpool put together another charge towards fourth place.

I'm sure every German grows up dreaming of challenging for 4th place in England. Never mind the history, culture, cuisine or even decent climate in Paris when you have the strip clubs and ship yards of Liverpool on your door step.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Winning a Ligue 1 title is arguably less prestigious than getting promotion to the PL from the Championship. No one gives a **** about the French league, and making the quarters of the CL every season is by definition the mark of moderately highflown failure. PSG players can fool themselves into thinking they play for a team that matters in some way - they don't. It's a home for international playboys.

Yes.Winning one of the top 5 leagues in Europe is definitely less prestigious than winning promotion to the premier league.

That;s why when Falcao,James Rodriguez,Jaou Moutihnio,Edinson Cavani,Zlatan Ibrahmovic,Dante,Tiago Silva were signed by Ligue 1 clubs they all stated they were happy to be there now but disappointed Barnsley and Brentford didn't make an offer for them.

Buford T. Justice XIX

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Winning a Ligue 1 title is arguably less prestigious than getting promotion to the PL from the Championship. No one gives a **** about the French league, and making the quarters of the CL every season is by definition the mark of moderately highflown failure. PSG players can fool themselves into thinking they play for a team that matters in some way - they don't. It's a home for international playboys.

Stop beating around the bush, Harry, and tell us what you think of the French League:pac:

I would agree with most of that, though not the Ligue1 v Championship bit. In essence, PSG win a one-team league every year. There is no team even close to them.

It's funny when we all make Arsenal-for-4th jokes but PSG are in a similar position as regards the CL in that they are 99.999% guaranteed to qualify for the knockout stages but the quality of players just isn't enough to make the jump to the next stage.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

Stop beating around the bush, Harry, and tell us what you think of the French League:pac:

I would agree with most of that, though not the Ligue1 v Championship bit. In essence, PSG win a one-team league every year. There is no team even close to them.

It's funny when we all make Arsenal-for-4th jokes but PSG are in a similar position as regards the CL in that they are 99.999% guaranteed to qualify for the knockout stages but the quality of players just isn't enough to make the jump to the next stage.

Halfway through the season and PSG are 3rd now 5 points behind Nice.

If Nice and Monaco don't bottle it there's a decent chance PSG won't win it this year.

Harry Palmr

Naturally I'm hoping PSG finish 4th and the whole bejewelled Ferrero Rocher styled edifice comes crashing down

yabadabado

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Any supposedly "top top" player who signs for PSG over a big PL side (Arsenal were linked to Draxler more than Liverpool btw) is not worth signing by definition.

Hahahaha

Delusional post of the year.

GLaDOS

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Winning a Ligue 1 title is arguably less prestigious than getting promotion to the PL from the Championship.

:pac::pac::pac::pac::pac:

Lord TSC

DiMaria being linked to China now, as per L'Equippe.

niallo27

The French league is ****e though. Why are we afraid to admit it.