Iskaral Pust Posted December 31, 2018 Author Share Posted December 31, 2018 I think Chelsea should be playing Hudson-Odoi in first team games this season. The EL, PL, CC and FAC give plenty of opportunities, and it’s not like Willian or Pedro are too valuable to rotate occasionally. Plus if Hazard is playing as a false 9 more often, then the left wing is available too. Pulisic is a tough decision for Chelsea or anyone else. His production has dropped and he’s being kept out of the team on merit by Jadon Sancho. Has Pulisic peaked already (seems unlikely), got fatigued or is just a known quantity now for defenders? Everyone knows his marketing value so his fee might exceed his immediate playing impact, although a change of scenery might be a boost for him too. He seems to prefer playing on the right, which is a position already well filled for Liverpool and City. I doubt Spurs would spend on another forward right now. But Chelsea and United both could use new talent in the right forward/wing position, but United’s transfer process is a mess and probably needs a new DoF first. So Chelsea are front runners by default. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan La Cabra Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 Nearly every other top 6 manager would have used CHO more this season, especially with Europa League providing a great opportunity for rotation and intregrating youth players into first team football. Sarri, though, prefers to choose from a small pool of players and seems to be reluctant to rotate heavily even in the Europa League. It took until the fifth group stage game for CHO to start, and by kick off of that game, we’d been guaranteed top spot as group winners. CHO and Ampadu featured a lot during preseason, but have since barely played. If Cahill is to leave the club in January, that may give Ampadu a chance to assume the role of fourth choice centre back, provided we don’t sign a replacement for Cahill. We do need to freshen up the wings, as both Pedro and Willian are over 30 now and Hazard is likely to leave in the summer. Pedro signed a new deal to keep him at the club until the end of next season, and we may have missed the chance to sell Willian on for a decent price, so they both could still be at the club next season. Moses is very much out of favour with Sarri, so I’d expect him to move on. Assuming Hazard leaves, I think we do need to sign another winger like Pulisic, but we also need to keep CHO and let him compete with Pedro, Willian and whoever we sign to replace Hazard. As for the striker situation, I wouldn’t be keen on the Morata / Higuian swap, as I’d rather we were able to sign a striker for the long term. Trying to find that striker is the difficult job for whoever looks after our transfer business, as we still haven’t replaced Michael Emelano. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmanion Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 Chelsea could do a lot worse than picking up callum wilson, would probavly cost a fair bit but seems to be the sort of striker they need and hes starting to find his form on a more regular basis and has scored against teams like city. He is young enough to keep improving and lead the line for quite a while. Doucoure is another one that is getting talked about as being ready to step up to a bigger club, heard something on tv about psg looking at him. Would actually like to see him at Liverpool in place of Wijnaldum, I think we probably need backup for Mane more than anything because we lack the speed on the left if he were to get injured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Antony Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 Pulisic to Chelsea official. Loaned back to Dortmund till end of the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan La Cabra Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 I haven't really seen him play, so it's hard to judge if this is a good signing. However, it is good that we were actively looking to bring a winger in, considering Hazard's contract situation. Hopefully Pulisic can play on one wing and Hudson-Odoi can play on the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 Uff, overpaid much? According to the kicker (attention German link) Chelsea paid 64m €. New record for a player with just another season left on his contract (former record Mkhitaryan 42.5m €). I don't mean to be mean or anything, but I don't think Pulisic worth that much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philokles Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 On the pitch that is a poor move, but the deal is probably worth the best part of that to Nike alone, so they may have chipped in to help with the fee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 It's a gamble of a signing at that price but it's one of those that could seem like a great deal in future years. He's got to get some consistency going but he's a magnificently gifted player in a very similar vein to Hazard and it's quite possible he'll be as good as him some day. A lot of people are getting hung up on the fact that the form of Sancho has kept him out of the team but the form of Sancho would keep almost anyone out of the team, he's having a season for the history books- Pulisic is still a player with elite potential. And while I don't know if Nike chipped in, the fact that he's primed to be the USA's big star in the coming years definitely factored in to their thinking and the price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 Pretty good signing for Chelsea. Pulisic has the potential to be a top player. I don't believe the nonsense about sponsors chipping in on transfer fees. Even at €64m this is still a good deal financially for Chelsea - Pulisic is set to be the biggest star in the cash cow US market so when it comes time to renew these kit deals, Chelsea will make that money back and then some quite easily. Surprised Woodward didn't make a move for Pulisic tbh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 Yes, he is an incredibly talented twenty year old player, and he really could turn out to be the first legit US player to get into the Worldclass bracket. Could is the key word there, however. The last one and a half season or so, his development stalled somewhat (if he has not regressed). That movement/drive towards the goal, well, he seems to have misplaed it a bit, and can't find it. However I stick with my overpaid comment. Dortmund making 45m+x € would've already been a good piece of business for htem, especially since his contract was up in 2020; and he has made it clear he would not sign a new deal. So 60m+ looks kinda crazy money for Pulisic. If Sarri can improve him as a player and push him into the Worldclass bracket, than kudos to him and Chelsea. However I remain sceptical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan La Cabra Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 46 minutes ago, polishgenius said: A lot of people are getting hung up on the fact that the form of Sancho has kept him out of the team but the form of Sancho would keep almost anyone out of the team, he's having a season for the history books- Pulisic is still a player with elite potential. I think that's a very good point to make, regarding Sancho and Pulisic. As I said before, I haven't really seen Pulisic play, but I know he is a highly rated young player, in a position we will probably need to fill, so it could be a very good deal for us. I'm not sure how long his contract with Chelsea is for, but we gave Kepa Arrizabalaga a seven year deal, and he is older than Pulisic, so Pulisic could be on a lengthy contract, too. As for the transfer fee, in today's market, it is hard to get value for money, especially for a rich English club. A lot of transfer fees paid by big English clubs look excessive at the time, only for them to look good value once the player plays well or inflation grows. Think of VvD, Alisson, Walker, Laporte, Arrizabalaga, to name a few. ETA: As mentioned previously, I hope this doesn't effect Callum Hudson-Odoi's chances of leaving the club. I still wouldn't see the point in spending big to sign Pulisic if we intend to sell another highly rated young winger that we haven't really given a proper chance to. I hope that Chelsea plan to keep Hudson-Odoi and potentially play the two players together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philokles Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 1 hour ago, Consigliere said: Pretty good signing for Chelsea. Pulisic has the potential to be a top player. I don't believe the nonsense about sponsors chipping in on transfer fees. Even at €64m this is still a good deal financially for Chelsea - Pulisic is set to be the biggest star in the cash cow US market so when it comes time to renew these kit deals, Chelsea will make that money back and then some quite easily. Surprised Woodward didn't make a move for Pulisic tbh. Chelsea’s deal lasts to 2032, so it is pretty unlikely they will see a direct return in their next negotiation. They will still get around 10% of Nike’s profits from their shirts, thousands of American fans and the commercial deals that will come with that, but Nike is the big winner here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 8 minutes ago, Philokles said: Chelsea’s deal lasts to 2032, so it is pretty unlikely they will see a direct return in their next negotiation. They will still get around 10% of Nike’s profits from their shirts, thousands of American fans and the commercial deals that will come with that, but Nike is the big winner here. It's a good financial deal for Chelsea as well. As you say yourself, they should be receiving a bit more from Nike and Pulisic will help to attract further sponsorships from American companies in addition to making use of his image rights - making back the money plus a shitload more shouldn't be a problem unless Chelsea's commercial people are incompetent. Sure, Nike are going to make a killing and Dortmund will be over the moon but taking into account Pulisic's age, potential and huge marketability, this represents a low risk with potential high rewards for Chelsea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 In shock news, failed manager who used to play to a decent standard gets a new job despite being shite pretty much everywhere he has ever been (Steve Bruce to Sheff Wed). When will this managerial merry go round end? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 2 hours ago, Jordan La Cabra said: As for the transfer fee, in today's market, it is hard to get value for money, especially for a rich English club. A lot of transfer fees paid by big English clubs look excessive at the time, only for them to look good value once the player plays well or inflation grows. Think of VvD, Alisson, Walker, Laporte, Arrizabalaga, to name a few. Is Arrizabalaga looking like good value? He's looked ok when I've seen him play, here's an article from statsbomb in November comparing how Alisson and Kepa have started, they basically have Arrizabalaga performing at an average Premier League goalkeeper level. There's nothing wrong with that and with it being a small sample size and him being a young player he could well improve beyond that level but with the transfer fee they paid you'd want him to be world class. I'd guess that'd be the same concern you'd have with Pulisic, he's certainly talented but they've probably paid more than he's currently worth. It'll be interesting to see how he does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted January 2, 2019 Author Share Posted January 2, 2019 I’d take Hudson-Odoi at Liverpool if he’s now feeling even more frustrated about his path to the first XI. He’s probably ready now to back-up Mane, while Klopp seems to think Curtis-Jones is not ready yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan La Cabra Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 2 hours ago, ljkeane said: Is Arrizabalaga looking like good value? He's looked ok when I've seen him play, here's an article from statsbomb in November comparing how Alisson and Kepa have started, they basically have Arrizabalaga performing at an average Premier League goalkeeper level. There's nothing wrong with that and with it being a small sample size and him being a young player he could well improve beyond that level but with the transfer fee they paid you'd want him to be world class. I'd guess that'd be the same concern you'd have with Pulisic, he's certainly talented but they've probably paid more than he's currently worth. It'll be interesting to see how he does. I think he has looked good value. In my opinion, Hazard, Rudiger, Azpilicueta, Kante and Arrizabalaga have been Chelsea’s best players this season. If you compare him directly to Alisson, you’d say Alisson definitely has made the bigger impact, but Alisson has maybe been the best goalkeeper in the Premier League this season. This may be a premature statement, but the only area of the goalkeeping game I think Arrizabalaga is a downgrade on Courtois is his ability to claim a high ball/cross - and even at that, he hasn’t really fumbled or flapped at anything major. In terms of shot stopping, personally, I didn’t think Courtois made many outstanding saves. Already this season, Arrizabalaga has made a few fantastic stops. As for playing out from the back, Arrizabalaga seems much more comfortable with the ball at his feet, and takes more risks with his passing. Chelsea gave Arrizabalaga a seven year deal and Barkley a five and a half year deal, so it’s likely we have given Pulisic a lengthy one, too. So while the fee for Pulisic looks expensive now, unless he is a total flop and we have to sell him, it’s hopefully going to look like a good deal in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daemon the Leaner Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 I won't cry if we don't have a goalfest tonight, just take the 3pts and leave St James goddamn Park as fast as possible. United with easily one of the best bench in the league, with Fred, Alexis and Lukaku all benched (one of 'em returning from injury, I'm aware). Too bad I can't tell the same of our starting XI. We are decent in midfield and attack, but our back 4 remains doubt-maker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted January 2, 2019 Author Share Posted January 2, 2019 Bournemouth behind to Watford ATM. They are in a rotten run of form after starting the season well. I think they’ve lost eight of their last ten, or something similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 What the fuck is happening at Bournemouth? I just flicked over and it's 3-3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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