Debates, Rivals, Top Stories, Transfers - Written by BlueChampion on Wednesday, September 3, 2008 3:44 | 1,645 Views | 52 Comments | Add Comment
The pressure is off Chelsea, thanks to Man City!
The big spending evil club that is Chelsea, has been outspent this season too. In fact the money raised by Chelsea in player sales was sufficient to fund the player purchases. Of the players that we used last season, Chelsea bought only Malouda and Anelka and the rest were all free transfers. The season in which we bought a certain expensive striker, Roman said that the high spending days are over and I think he stuck by his words.
In his first couple of seasons he did sanction some expensive transfers to set up a league-winning team. If you’re looking for instant success, it is quite necessary to spend that money. Once Chelsea is established as a European footballing power and also after confirming that Chelsea is here to stay in the top four, the money is not flowing as it used to. For two seasons running, Chelsea is not even in the top three spenders in premier league, leave alone Europe.
The deadline day events are quite significant for Chelsea. May be, it even marks a new milestone in Roman’s Chelsea. As far as I can remember this is the first time Chelsea has been out bid. There were occasions like the one with Dani Alves, where Chelsea pulled out due to exorbitant pricing but has never been outbid in a bidding battle such as the one for Robinho. Roman’s ego could be hit. He may not like what happened yesterday. His new manager wanted only two players, and he could get only one of them.
I’m not trying to say that we should have kept bidding until the Sheikhs walked out. I guess even if Chelsea had offer 40m or more, the Sheikhs would have still got Robinho. The whole bidding battle would only have benefited the sneaky bastards of Real Madrid. It is a prudent decision that we pulled out. Chelsea pulled out of the deal not because of the Arabian blitzkreig, but because we’d then be overpaying now or at the end of the bidding war. If you’re asking what’s the big deal in overpaying, haven’t we done before, that’s where my very point comes in. Chelsea has become quite different from what is being propagated. The first season we did overpay, after that I don’t think we overpaid for anyone (barring SWP). The purchases of Essien and Drogba are all value for money.
You can infer two things from the withdrawal. The other thing I infer is that Kenyon & Co were a bit over-confident that we would sign Robinho. It’s fair that he could not have expected this sheikh from Abu Dhabi to appear on the last day and swoop our month long target. For us, it could be a surprise, but in Kenyon’s circle, surely I don’t think it may have been a complete surprise. Anyway, let’s say it was a surprise for Kenyon too. Isn’t it common sense to have a back-up plan especially when the transfer goes down the wire? Shouldn’t we have gone after an alternative winger, if we don’t end up getting Robinho? The back up may not be as good as Robinho. It could be anyone who can find a place in the starting eleven at Chelsea.
Unfortunately, like all of us, Kenyon must have thought that Robinho’s transfer to Chelsea will be over in a matter of hours. Could Real Madrid have known about the man City take over and that’s why probably they waited so long after rejecting good Chelsea offers and waited even after Robinho’s outburst at his press conference? Perhaps, Scolari said that he just needs Robinho and if we don’t get him that’s it he doesn’t need anyone else. Sounds unlikely? I guess it could be Kenyon telling Scolari ‘worry not phil, we’re getting Robinho’. I still stand by my ground that we can win the league without Robinho.
The other important thing we need to understand is that Chelsea is not the top dog anymore. It’s not after the Man City takeover happened. It is since much before. And I’m delighted about this. Citeh have an ambitious project and truly have a bottomless pit of money to support the ambition. The Sheikh is 10 times wealthier than Roman and that also means Man City is now quite big, in money terms. Good thing is, if we win the league, it won’t be undermined as having ‘bought the league’. The Sheikh bought City only on the last day of the transfer window but still they ended up spending about 80m on transfers this summer. If they had bought the club sometime in May or June, they would have broken the british transfer record over and over again. For our own good, let’s accept that City is the top dog now, and we should not try to compete with them in their game.
Roman has been with us for 5 seasons. I guess we’ve come a full circle with respect to transfer spendings. We started big, got the good players (not greats, mind you), got a world class manager, won back-to-back titles and now have even become the top seed in Europe. We’ve stopped spending big on player transfers and on the contrary, we are spending big on the youth academy and training facilities. Now the club looks to be in a mode to settle down and consolidate without losing focus on the ultimate ambition. That’s we won’t or we shouldn’t try to be the top dog anymore. Let Man City have their time of glory, press harassment or public ridiculing as we step aside for some organic growth.
So will this be the season Chelsea loses its official title of being a richman’s plaything? Compared to the Sheikh, Roman doesn’t seem very rich after all and he is not certainly treating us like a plaything. I would count Grant’s appointment as a mistake rather than anything else. The multi-million bench that people loved to talk about, is slowly disappearing.
We offloaded a 50m worth bench places in Shevchenko and SWP. The total cost of our team would be in the region of 150m which is in fact profitable considering the money that’s earned in premier league and champions league in the last four seasons. The cost of our 7-member bench should be in the region of 40 - 50 million, which is again reasonable if you want truly compete in all competitions. In other words, in terms of player transfers, Chelsea is back on level terms with the other big clubs. In terms of salaries, Chelsea still has an edge though. Except John Terry and Michael Ballack (who came on a free), the salaries of the other players are not really as high as it’s made out to be. In fact clubs in Spain and Italy pay more salaries to their players.
Let’s look at this season’s stats. I’m looking at the transfer details for some clubs this season.
Man Utd has spent about £63m (£32m Tevez + £31m Berbatov). Man City has spent about £80m (£19m Jo + £5m Tal Ben Haim + £6m Kompany + £10m SWP + £6.5m Zabaleta + £32.5m Robinho). Tottenham has spent about £40m (Modric £16.5m + £4.7 Dos Santos + £14m Pavlyuchenko) plus an undisclosed fee on Bentley. Arsenal spent about £16m plus undisclosed fees (£5m Ramsey + £11m Nasri + undisclosed fee for Bischoff). Aston Villa spent in the region of £34.5m plus undisclosed fees (£5m Sidwell + £3m Shorey + £6m Young + £8m Cuellar + £12.5m Milner + undisclosed fee for Freidel and Davies). AC Milan spent about £35m (£7m Zambrotta + £8m Boriello + £20m Ronaldinho). Inter spent about £39 million (£10.5m Mancini + £13m Muntari + £15m Quaresma). Barcelona spent about £63m (£11.5m Keita + £26m Alves + £13.5m Caceres + £12m Hleb). Madrid spent about £26m (£8m Garay + £3.5m Javi Garcia + £10.5m van der Vaart + £4m Ruben de la Red). Lierpool had a lot of undisclosed transfers so that the scouser fans can keep saying that they didn’t have money to spend. They bought £20m Robbie Keane and the transfer fee is undisclosed for Dossena, Lucas Weijl, Cavalieri, Ngog and Riera.
Some of these clubs have also sold players to fund their purchases but most have clearly spent more than what they have earned. There are lots of other clubs as well (non-champions league clubs) which have also spent more than £20m this season but I’ve not included them here. Just a snapshot now. Man Utd - £63m. Man City - £80m, Spurs £40m plus undisclosed fees, Arsenal £16m plus undisclosed fees, Villa £35m plus undisclosed fees, Milan £35m, Inter £39m, Barca £63m, Madrid £26m and Liverpool £20m plus lots and lots of undisclosed fees.
And now the outspending evil richman’s club Chelsea has spent £26m (£7m Deco + £16m Bosingwa + £3m Franco) and you know what, Chelsea also earned £25m through sales - £5m Sidwell, £5m Ben Haim, £5m Boulahrouz and £10m SWP. And we could earn upto £8m on Sheva’s loan this year. Even Arsene Wenger who takes more pride in lesser spending than in winning trophies, did spend more than what he earned from transfers this season. There are more than a dozen clubs that spend more money on transfers than Chelsea.
Chelsea should no longer be the most hated club for money reasons. We are back on level terms with the rest of the top clubs with respect to spending or to be exact we are way below the spending levels of our European rivals. Chelsitos! Go back and spread this message! I’m not taking any shite from anyone on this topic again.
52 Comments
1. EC
2. Spyder
Guys, just cool down. Its not the end of the world if we dont have Robinho !!. All those who don’t believe in the present team can just f*** off, as for you guys theres a new team down the block and its called Manchester City, you guys can start support it ( stuping f***ing glory hunters ). In what way do you think we wont be in the top 4 ????.
As for our lineup (with backups) we have
———————————-CECH (Cudicini, Hilario, Taylor) ————————————–
BOSINGWA (Ferriera) —TERRY (Ivanovic)—CARAVALHO (Alex)—-ASHLEY COLE(Wayne Bridge)
—————–LAMPARD(Ballack)—-ESSIEN(Mikel)—–DECO(Belletti)—————————–
———-JOE COLE(Sinclair/Paim)—-DROGBA(Anelka, Di Santo)—-KALOU(Malouda)—————
Here we have utility players in Essien, Ivanovic and Belletti as these guys can cover Defence and Midfield and every single player is an international. Also we have some good youth prospects from the academy like Stoch, Mancienne, Kakuta, etc.
Also for all those shitheads blaming Chelsea/Robinho/Kenyon/Real Madrid, have to understand that it was Manchester City which spoiled our day because none of us would have dreamt even in the weirdest of the dreams that Man City would bid for Robinho and hijack our transfer. Real could have accepted our bid in the last minute if not for the stupid City, which created competition. Also by this tranfer Chelsea sends a strong message to all the teams that we DO NOT over pay for the players in the tranfer market and wont be held ransom by other team. Mind you, the transfer costed 32.5 million quids and not euro/dollars. With that kind of amount we could get a lot better players, also at Madrid Robinho was in good form only in the second half of the season otherwise he was inconsistent, who knows he could have done another Sheva and turn out to be an expensive flop ??? Also in future if Milan/Inter were interested in him then he would definitely leave creating the similar havoc which he has caused so its better not to have these kind of players in the dressing room.
I dont blame Robinho for joining Man City as anyone (that also includes you and me) in the similar position/circumstances would have done the same. He had no support from Madrid’s fans/board and Chelsea were not willing to go beyond 30 million quid so the only option is to join a new club for a better pay (and then try to join Chelsea or any other top team in January or next summer if Man City is on the other half of the table) !!!. Remember we never needed him badly, we just wanted him to add the “extra dimesion and flair” to the game. Also we should be happy that we got Bosingwa for 16 million and Deco for 8 million, which is a great bargain, and this proves that we dont overpay for a player. I hope we draw Madrid in the last 16 and thrash them and also eagerly waiting for the clash with Man City and I would like Chelsea to maul them.
Also with the above team we finished second and were runnerups in the CL (ofcourse with the exception of Bosingwa, Deco, SWP and Ben haim). Now we have strengthened
1. Defence by adding Bosingwa and Ivanovic and selling Ben Haim (whos was drastic)
2. Midfield by adding Deco and Paim and selling SWP and Sidwell
3. Attack by selling Sheva and loaning Pizarro therby boosting the morale of Anelka, Kalou and Di Santo.
Also it was hasty decision by Chelsea to sell SWP before the Robinho deal, but no one expected the deal to be hijacked by man city in the last minute, so cant really blame the guys at Stamford Bridge. Also a good thing about this is Sinclair and Paim will get some more minutes in the game.
This season Chelsea will also save some money when it comes to wages because theres no Sheva, SWP, Pizarro, Ben haim and Sidwell and their presence also would have costed somethin between 350,000-400,000 quids a week.
Manure fans have to note that they spent heavily in the summer when compared to us and Arsenal. They would also buy Tevez sometime this year and make his loan deal permanent which means these arrogant fools have spent over 60 million this season (30.75 million for Berbatov and 30+ million for Tevez) and thats excluding those brazilian imports and possible January transfers, if any. We were fighting for the first place till the end of the season and got the competition to the wire till the last game and this was when our club was in the worst turmoil, faced injury crisis and was also hindered by the African Nation Cup. Now with a world class manager and a great team and also with no African Cup fixtures I am sure we will win the league or at the worst finish somewhere in the top 4 and definitely nothing below it. If anyone sees Manure play you would soon realize that they are a one man team. No Ronaldo no goals and if they have some major injuries I would doubt their top 4 finish.
Any comments on my above post are welcome.
True Blue and Chelsea for life. Guys support the club through thick and thin and be loyal supporters and not some filthy gloryhunter (majority of them are anyways manure supporters so thats not a problem).
3. Yousuf
Big Phil must now play Kakuta, Sinclair and Piam to add another dimension to the team that is dribbling and taking on defenders.
Which I am sorry to say Cole, Maluda or Kalou cannot do let alone cross.
The senior wingers will utimately feel threatened and raise their game.
4. Jo
i think we have to blame both man city and real madrid….real madrid did not want to sell to chelsea…and man city went into a frenzy by bidding for berbatov, robinho and many more… Without Robinho I still believe chelsea can win…but we need ti improve on one thing…which is taking defenders on… We need to let Paim and di santo play…jcole can take defender on but he seldom take the risk ..malouda cant dribble well….kalou can dribble but they dun threaten much even if they dribble past defenders…see ronaldo…whenever he dribbles…he threatens the defedners alot…that is wat lacking in chelsea right nw….maybe robinho will come chelsea in the winter….but at the mean time lets show y robinho should come chelsea….with the current squad we can win everything….robinho is the added dimension for us to play more attractive football
5. BuildChelsea
@2. Spyder ……..excellent post……you have mentioned everything thats needed to be said…….well done……anyways , its but obvious that Man City can never break into the top 4……no matter how much money they spend……and i doubt any top player would play for a team which doesn’t even play in the champions league…Robinho’s case is different….he had to get out of Madrid ……the fans would have booed him all season….Scolari should start giving more chances to Miroslav Stoch ,Fabio Paim,Michael Woods ,Sergio Tejera ……they are really talented players and would make a great addition to our team….
6. Craigy
Great comment Spyder!
Just to add my thoughts on all this - we finished second in the champions league, premiership and carling cup last year. Although this is a major disappointment (galling in fact), we have to take comfort in that we were so very close to winning all three (in the case of the champions league, the wrong player taking a penalty, in the league and carling cup silly mistakes at the end of the game against Wigan and Spurs, respectively). This year will be very different. We have to bear in mind we lost Mourinho at the start of the season, we had several players on African Cup duty (for 6 weeks), and had major injury problems that lasted most of the season (Cech, Cudicini, Terry, Ballack, Lampard, Drogba). We’ve got rid of the dross now and bought a couple of class players (especially Bowingwa at last seasons problem position - rightback - and Deco in the centre). Without doubt we have the best squad in the premiership, and a manager of real calibre (count on one hand how many living managers you can name that have won the world cup?).
I’ve got a tenner on us winning the Premiership, Champions League and either the FA Cup/Carling Cup!!!
7. Nihongo Blue
Hello BC,
Excellent post. I think we need to include ivanovich, franco di santo too as they joined first team this season only.
I think reals denial to sell robinho to chelsea may also have been influenced by the fact that they havnt won CL for quite some time and giving robinho to chelsea means increasing chelseas chances very much if they meet us. quite possible as they have always escaped us.
Regarding city i feel the arabs were in trasfer market right from the start else they would not have been chasing ronaldinho, jo and likes. Showing up in the end was a statement of intent on EPL showing we can outbid chelsea. i totally agree with you had we bid higher they would have rebid. They needed a eventful entry and were successful. atlest for 2 days everyone is just talking about city.
Actually i would have loved robinho in the side as that would have just made the squad even better. Its still very good but injury to joe cole and wings look weak. may be scholari has high expectation from malouda.i think we should ahve chased queresma also. 18 milion + player valued around 6 million pounds what inter paid even we could have paid. may be a million more but scholaris mind would have been peaceful.
cheers
8. Alby
Sinclair and Piam must play we need player that tribling and who knows..maybe one of them is the new Ronaldinho…!
9. stan (Scolari Must Read This)
have u seen kakuta play?
after d lost of robinho, we should look 4 a replacement.
kakuta can be better than him if given the chance.
watch the video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKSV9O4J0bI&feature=related
scolari please make a fast change. do we want to win the league now and suffer next 5 season
or lose now and win next 5 season (chelsea fans think about it)
is better 2 see boys draw games than men.
i want 2 watch young bloods
will get u more videos soon on other young players
10. stan (Scolari Must Read This)
i jist saw another video kakuta is 2 good
y go 4 robinho when we have him
11. Arthur
Great post and fine views! To nihongo - we signed ivanovic and franco in the january window along with anelka.
12. stan (Scolari Must Read This)
i think we should start encouraging our young stars so they can take over next season
and dont have 2 spend much
i believe in them.
watch scott sinclair here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4kAJfBOMoE
i think he can be effective in counter attak.
13. Nihongo Blue
Yup Arthur i do remember we signed in jan but they were always in reserves. BC mentions
“And now the outspending evil richman’s club Chelsea has spent £26m (£7m Deco + £16m Bosingwa + £3m Franco)”
I think it should include ivanovic as well making it £34m (£7m Deco + £16m Bosingwa + £3m Franco+ £8m(?) Ivanovic)”. Isnt it?
14. Zul
A brilliant post.
I think that Robinho may be a flop because Man City’s team isn’t good enough to provide ample ammunition. Also making Man City become a second Chelsea very likely would be impossible. Comparing the current Man City and Chelsea before the Roman era, they are very different. Man City may become the world’s most hated club.
di Santo and Paim are such brilliant prospects. We should get Paim permanently.
15. CFCIR
Chelsea is a better team without robinho. now young blues have chances in EPL AND CL.
chelsea young lads are better than arsenal youths. scolari must give them a great chances. with young players like paim and sinclair and ….. we can play faster and better.
16. stan (Scolari Must Read This)
who will disagree wit me that we cant play a counter attack on any team
we need young fast,dribbler (paim, sinclair, di santo, kalou is also good)
not men that just want 2 play long balls
they should be a blend in d team (7 men - 4, 3 young lag)
we suld giv it a try
its not a crime 2 use young players
CHELSEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
17. BuildChelsea
@14. stan (Scolari Must Read This)….thats right….. Scolari should not use Lampard , Ballack , Deco and Joe Cole all in the starting line up…….somebody has to be dropped….not permanently but according to the opponent we face.we should combine the above players with young players ……otherwise the opposition will always figure out how to deal with our midfield …….
18. Johnarejr
Read a blog this morning about Chelsea “fans” switching to Man City. I can understand fair weather supporters going Italian for Inter. We all know who’s managing Inter. But, what sort of smiley faced chump would turn to City?
Yep, I was ticked off when we didn’t get Robinho. I understand this rich Arab makes Roman look like a beggar. But, what the heck has Mark Hughes won yet? Has City finished in the top four at any time in the last 5 years? The 07-08 Manchester City was NOT the 03-04 Chelsea. “Tinkerman” made the Blues competitive. Won an FA Cup in 2000 and derailed the “mighty” Arsenal to get to the CL Semis before getting sacked. Then, Jose, a man who has won silverware, made a competitive team Champions. Even when we had the Toad (and still finished second in the prem and cl), City was nothing more than a good mid-table squad. If moving a team from second to first is “buying silverware” what the heck is moving a 8th place team to first? And they haven’t won anything yet. Any defector that does not see this is defective.
19. CJ - 16yrs Blues Fan
Excellent post BC…. sums up everything.
BTW, just read one very interesting news on Pele’s comment on Robinho’s transfer….
http://www.teamtalk.com/football/story/0,16368,2483_4089708,00.html
…. I’ve said this before and will say it again……….
“WE ARE DAMN LUCKY!!!”
20. Joe
Spurs actually made more money through selling than they spent as did Real Madrid. Also as with Chelsea, Arsenal were only £1m off breaking even so those clubs didnt really lavishly spend like Man City and Man United. As for Aston Villa and Barcelona i feel they spent very wisely to improve their team and strengthen their squad but i do think Dani Alves for 26m is a bit much!
21. CFCIR
at the next game we must beat man.city 4:0 at their home . next game is a crucial game for chelsea .winning that game is a great step to EPL glory.
22. JoseHoliday
Can’t wait for the next game !
23. Nihongo Blue
Atleast no one can beat us for this - we reached to CL spot without Romans money 
24. chelsea4life
I have been following Kakuta ever since he was brought from Lens(if I remember rightly)…I am quite confident this lad will be a big future star…he has all what is needed….only thing is needed that out physios must work to make him strong physically, even though he is just 17 years old or so…another guy is Stoch..he is alao a big talent…
its high time that we stop looking to other clubs for those ‘zing’ players who can convert a draw into a win with a moment of brilliance…..we need to have few of ours own…Scolari can play a big role i this as he has a great reach in Latin market….
25. denver
11. Nihongo Blue .. he was around 9 mil guy
26. sule
Am sad we missed Robinho,i really like that boy i will miss him.i hope we will win our next game when we meet city.
27. Chaka
If only players like Joe Cole were consistent,we wouldnt be worrying about signing the likes of Robinho.Its like JM knows him better that why he often uses him as a substitute.Big Phil take note.
28. denver
don’t worry guys we will do just fine, really a truly it is Robhino and City who look like retards!! the guy held a press conference to beg Madrid to allow him join us … and turns around and joins city I would be ashamed if i were a city fan … to know he never really want to join city….. what will he say .. OOO, city is a great club, one of the best in the EPL.. hell no, that would be a damn lie, just goes to show how these player only play for money no pride, I’m not saying the guy in not a good play just because we didn’t get him. he is a hypocrite, and he need counseling. Kenyon really let down Scolari .. I mean the man didnt ask for much… serves them right though, I told them go GET DEIGO….which im still saying …please get him January or next summer!! back to my point. kenyon should have had a plan B (Quresma, Deigo, Scheinsteiger) come one…Simao even!! give the coach the right resources !! im only upset about that, I think we will have a few player coming in for the january window! now … what to do?? move on …. our squad is good enough to win everything up for grabs! believe men. !!
** what we need to do is get young players involved(Kakuta, Miroslav Stoch ,Fabio Paim,Michael Woods ,Sergio Tejera ) in games like Carling cup with a mix of experience ofcourse.
As i said the coach did ask for much we should have atleast gotten a player similar to what scholari wanted
29. BuildChelsea
@25. denver ……….what is with this Quaresma fixation??…….if you are talking about dribblers we have Kakuta, Sinclair and Paim to do the job……. Simao ??…please…..Scolari knows more about these players than anyone else and he never asked the club for them……nope we don’t need them and anyways Quaresma has signed with Inter so forget it…….Schweinsteiger would have been an excellent option , but lets see maybe in the next transfer window there will be a few interesting transfers……better we keep our transfer targets to ourselves…..ADUG is waiting for another hijack….
30. denver
@26. BuildChelsea … kool!
31. bluefan #1
this man city is trying to do to the team and bring every star to one team is very bad for fotball. the players cost will be much moore. and fotball will not be the same. it will be more political and more kurupted.
32. cap123
hehe my wish for schweinsteiger could still be on the cards! i put my wish to one side when it was rumoured we were getting robinho, but come january… you never know! i hope bayern have a horrible season so he wants a move by then
he’s not quite as fast, but he is built for the premier league.
33. BuildChelsea
@29. bluefan #1 ……..atleast now , some of the heat will be off Chelsea …..all negative publicity and hatred will be directed towards them…..and they deserve it……just because you have money doesn’t mean you splash it all around….i don’t mind if they use it in a sensible manner….apparently they are lining up a bid of 135 million euros for Ronaldo…..insane is not the word for it…..as if the player would ever play for the club….
34. BuildChelsea
@26. denver ……. i loved your post…..i just don’t like Quaresma to be a part of our team…..i consider him to be a show off , not a team player……but thats just my thoughts…..
35. bluefan #1
@ 31 they allso want to get fabregas torres kaka berbatov and many moore. and this prem league teams are not giving these players away for little money they will have to spend big. i dont se this as a good thing. i dont mean im scared that they will be better than chelsea, i mean this sport is going in the wrong direction.
36. owonatty
Berbatov confirmed Man City and Chelsea tried to sign at the last hour on deadline date. Meaning we are also trying to get a striker in immediately when Robinho deal failed. With the present squad without injury to key players till January then we should be able to win the league.
More importantly, our next two matches are very important to win.
Up Blues
37. bcfan
Most likely Hughes will lose his job ..
38. terryislegend
Man Utd is with us on the spending …
Top 10 Premier League Transfers
1. Robinho: Real Madrid to Manchester City - £32.5m (2008)
2. Dimitar Berbatov: Tottenham to Manchester United - £30.75m (2008)
3. Andriy Shevchenko: AC Milan to Chelsea - £30m (2006)
4. Rio Ferdinand: Leeds to Manchester United - £29.1m (2002)
5. Juan Sebastian Veron: Lazio to Manchester United - £28.1m (2001)
6. Michael Essien: Lyon to Chelsea - £24.43m (2005)
7. Didier Drogba: Marseille to Chelsea - £24m (2004)
8. Wayne Rooney: Everton to Manchester United - £23m initially (2004)
9. Shaun Wright-Phillips: Manchester City to Chelsea - £21m (2005)
10. Fernando Torres: Atletico Madrid to Liverpool - £20m (2007)
39. terryislegend
BC - This link says liverpool has spend 41 MM , this year.
Whatever said, Totterham had to sell Keanne and Berbatov as they spend 50 MM this season. ( without Pavlyuchenko - if they strikers have stayed, then Pavlyuchenko must have not come).
40. trueplatinum
to be honest, i didnt expect the deal to go through, it was obvious calderon wanted to do everything in his power to make things difficult for robinho, he said from the start he wanted £30million plus but then for whatever reason he got angry, and decided robinho could only leave if his contract was bought out. Hypocrite calderon, ridiculed fergie when he rightly stopped ronaldo going to madrid, since before ronaldo signed, he said he wanted to play for madrid one day and that his mother wanted the same thing. Fergie says one day, but right now, stay here and calderon slates him. In his lust to get ronaldo, he tries to offer two very coveted players being sneijder and robinho as make-weights. sneijder clearly didi not want ronaldo there and robinho realised he was just a pawn in the calderon game and wanted out, scolari calls him up and says im brazillian, you’re brazillian, we speak portuguese and play champions league, come here.
madrid were never going to let us have robinho for anything less than extortion, the last straws were the shirt incident and robinho calling that conference, legend. we boast the strongest team in europe, we are finally putting trust in youngsters, if they can’t shoulder the responsibility, we can bring in bargains of the geremi/makelele kind to give us the stability we need to finish the season
41. needJOSE
great comment….i always thought that chelsea need to be more prudent and more importantly to use our youth players…franco and sinclair looks promising and it is only matter of time when they will be nurtured as a star player..i do believe scolari know he got massive resources in his team
one thing for sure, i believe man city may not have enough british bulldog mentality…we have JT, man u have rooney, liverpool got stevie…..but arsenal dont have and that is their problem..u must have a core British type player..u may argue arsenal still got walcott, but the kid is still learning..and for man city, i guess they got nothing…the only hope is Sparky….look what he did at Blackburn and this could be their only edge
42. CJ - 16yrs Blues Fan
I echoed the voices of some post stating that the whole EPL is not heading in the right direction. In the late 80’s and early 90’s BIG POTENTIAL EPL clubs has transformed from being owned by local tycoons/businessmen to corporate style businesses which is still “ok” in someway as it is managed more like a big firm comprises of stakeholders which helps in coordinating/organizing the finances. But this already hurting the local academies as the pressure to conquer Europe and winning silverwares forcing clubs to buy big players as the margin of errors is almost equivalent to none. But now, clubs are transforming again to nothing more than a piece of commodity. “They” will buy a club at a reasonable price (sometimes with a huge loan; ManCity case not included) with good prospect of future values by throwing in 200-300 million pounds in the transfer market. Re-brand and package it as a new Euro contender. This will cause a sudden hike in clubs buying/selling trading trend.
Of course, as football fans this will make EPL a damn good league to watch with every match filled with superstars. But as an EPL club fan….. this stinks like hell as takeovers involved uncertainties and causes turmoil with a high turnovers in manager/management/player casualties.
I’m still “proud” to say that CFC is still a full-on business firm owned by a football fan (Roman) but for how long.
BC and fans; what’s your thoughts on this?
(In the meantime, lets enjoy supporting CFC with all our hearts and passions with what we have now while it still last……..sad but true)
43. Jo
chelsea will always be my beloved club..!!!!!!!
44. Lissette Evil Blue
Spyder U should be a news man great post. Tanx to you Robitchnho is out of my head. Now Chelsea will probably pay attention to the youth sistem that they are developing. And its not what U buy Al (Fashit) Fahim Its what U achieve with what U HAVE. And Scolari made it clear all the time that Robitchnho will be nice to the club Not that they needed him like Manu needs CRonaldo United because they cant play gel ball without him. Tanx again the pressure is off (us) Chelsea.
Brilliant reporting as always. Keep it up. This site is the only thing I have to get the real scoop on Chelsea. I’m glad we didn’t get Robinho, although I must admit, at first I was swept up by the hype. Now, I’m just more excited with the prospect of watching Di Santo, Paim and Sinclair become stars in front of our own eyes! Let the rest of the world covet our own players! That’s why Scolari was never worried if he didn’t get Robinho….his plan B, now plan A are sitting right there on the bench waiting their turn!
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