January Transfer Thread 2018/19

I thought he'd been pushed out by Sancho who is looking like the best player in the Bunderliga currently so its not massively negative if he is keeping you out of the team.
 
fez said:
Could be a good buy for Chelsea. Looked good when USA played us and £58m really isn't that much for any sort of top player these days especially a young one with a lot of potential.
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£58m isn't that much? People have become so blasé over transfer fees in the last few years. Yes we've seen signings for far more money but these have typically been for far better and more established players. If Pulisic wasn't American he'd not be considered half the prospect he is now. It's not just Sancho (2 years younger than him) that's playing more often than he is at Dortmund, he's fallen behind another youngster in Larsen too - could you imagine if anybody offered £58m for him?

I think it was actually in a reply to you some months back that I mentioned Liverpool's interest in him but I said we wouldn't gamble on him and would have been happier to pay more than what he may have cost last summer if and when he'd proven himself. Since then he's done nothing to prove himself and if anything he's gone backwards in his development. This deal looks a lot like when Owen went to Newcastle and Pogba to Utd - Chelsea have paid OTT to blow any other interested sides out of the water because despite what I said, he's still got potential to develop and being American I'm sure there were other sides interested in him in the summer but probably at around half the price they've paid.
 
BaZ87 said:
£58m isn't that much? People have become so blasé over transfer fees in the last few years.
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Transfer fees have blown up in the past few years. Like it or not, £60m for a top english club for a first team player is not that much. Liverpool paid £53m for Keita recently so £58m for Pulisic isn't much different. Look at the fees for keepers clubs have started paying.
 
fez said:
Transfer fees have blown up in the past few years. Like it or not, £60m for a top english club for a first team player is not that much. Liverpool paid £53m for Keita recently so £58m for Pulisic isn't much different. Look at the fees for keepers clubs have started paying.
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Wow. I'm glad you used the Keita example as it's exactly the point I'm getting at. The season prior to Liverpool signing Keita he was the best midfielder in Germany and arguably the best player in the league (I think he was voted 2nd to Lewandowski). While I'm sure we hope/hoped he may improve even further, we weren't signing him purely on his potential because he had already reached a level to justify the sort of money we paid given the way fees had risen. Pulisic isn't the best player in Germany, he's not the best player at Dortmund, he's not the best player in his position at Dortmund, he's not even the top 2 players in his position at Dortmund, he's not even in the top 2 under-21 players in his position at Dortmund. Chelsea have signed outright potential, nothing more because at the level he's playing now he's not nearly worth the fee paid. Btw Pulisic is only 18 months or so younger than Keita was when we signed him.

Re fees for keepers you can only mean Alisson and Kepa. I think I said in the summer that Chelsea had backed themselves into a corner with their keeper situation and were faced with paying ott or accepting an inferior keeper. Alisson was and has continued to perform as one of the best keepers in the world so again, we were buying proven quality at a young age, with potential to get even better.
 
BaZ87 said:
Wow. I'm glad you used the Keita example as it's exactly the point I'm getting at. The season prior to Liverpool signing Keita he was the best midfielder in Germany and arguably the best player in the league (I think he was voted 2nd to Lewandowski). While I'm sure we hope/hoped he may improve even further, we weren't signing him purely on his potential because he had already reached a level to justify the sort of money we paid given the way fees had risen. Pulisic isn't the best player in Germany, he's not the best player at Dortmund, he's not the best player in his position at Dortmund, he's not even the top 2 players in his position at Dortmund, he's not even in the top 2 under-21 players in his position at Dortmund. Chelsea have signed outright potential, nothing more because at the level he's playing now he's not nearly worth the fee paid. Btw Pulisic is only 18 months or so younger than Keita was when we signed him.

Re fees for keepers you can only mean Alisson and Kepa. I think I said in the summer that Chelsea had backed themselves into a corner with their keeper situation and were faced with paying ott or accepting an inferior keeper. Alisson was and has continued to perform as one of the best keepers in the world so again, we were buying proven quality at a young age, with potential to get even better.
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also the allison fee is assuming we win the champions league/ premier league and number of starts etc. If he doesnt perform and we dont win anything I think it was more like £50m or so depending on other bonuses.

people like reporting the top figure for transfers but 15-20m of it isnt even money we've paid yet. Keita was similar with his deal depending on if they qualified for the champions league before he joined us etc. we could have got him 10m or so cheaper if things played out differently and they didnt qualify for europe.

edit double checked. £56 for allison before bonuses.
48-59m for keita and we ended up paying £53m.
 
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Doesn't seem to have been mentioned yet, but Pulisic's contract ends in June, so thats 58m for a player with 6 months left on his contract?
 
I may regret saying this but glad we didn't buy him at that fee, hasn't looked remotely great this season.

He also wouldn't get in our team as it stands.
Interesting to see how he develops from here
 
Standard is garbage so he will do well, I mean Scott Sinclair scores goals up there which says enough.
 
Sounds like Clyne is going on loan to Bournemouth and Solanke may now be signing for Brighton on a permanent deal rather than joining Palace on loan.

Assuming both Sturridge and Origi aren't going anywhere then I'm not too fussed about Solanke, he had a few chances and while he looks a decent youngster it's a massive step-up to get into our attack. Letting Clyne go is more than a bit concerning. Aside from him we've got 5 fit defenders, two of which are LB's and one of those being Moreno. We have no cover at RB and even when Gomez is fit again he's been our first choice CB so an injury to Trent would mean making at least 2 changes to the backline.
 
The only possible positive I can take from this is that we might get a look at this Hoever kid vs Wolves. 16 years old, signed from Ajax in the summer, he started in the under 17's, within a month was a regular in the under-23's and for the last month or so has been training full time with the first team. Not sure I want a 16 year old in the first team for a PL or CL game if we get an injury at RB or CB though :/
 
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