Daily Mail reports that Tottenham has signed Carlo Cudicini for £1m. I know he’s too good a keeper not to get enough starts. He is 35 and he may have another 3 or 4 years to offer. With a world class keeper like Cech in the squad, he has very little chance of getting regular playing time. This season has been particularly bad for him. You know, in 04-05, he started in 11 matches, in 05-06 again started 11 matches, in 06-07 he started in 10 matches and in 07-08, he started in 16 matches. This half way through season, he has started 2 matches. He has a right to feel disappointed. His situation is the same that of Wayne Bridge. Quality player, but has a better quality player as the first choice.
Wayne Bridge was allowed to leave but we have not yet filled the place. Ashley Cole is certainly not the injury-free type of player. We should have a decent left back as a backup for Ashley Cole. If there is a any truth in this rumour about Cudicini leaving, I’d be sad but I’d also think about replacements. We had Hilario start 16 matches in 06-07 including home and away ties against Barcelona but I doubt if Scolari would play him and get the best out of him. If Scolari decided to leave Cudicini for Spurs, at least he could have commanded a better price! £1m for Cudicini? He is one of the best keepers in the premier league. I would only rate Cech, van der Sar and Reina over Cudicini. He is a first choice keeper in most of the teams. We could have certainly got a better bargain. He is worth £5m to £6m in my books. Should have done better there.
With Joe Cole also injured out for the season, we will be short of three players for the rest of the season. This means we should be getting reinforcements. Or Scolari would fill these gaps from the reserve or youth players at his risk. He has some hidden gems to replace Joe Cole. He can use Fabio Paim and the like. Or he may opt never to play the 4-3-3 for the rest of the season so he won’t miss Joe Cole much.
For those who thought that Scolari would offload Drogba this month, his stance on Drogba is very clear. He says that Drogba not being chosen was a tactical decision. There were some matches when Drogba was chosen ahead of Anelka but there were no stories about Anelka being shown the door. It’s just that anything about Drogba makes some spicy news. Allright, Drogba had a couple of poor matches. Tell me which Chelsea player did not have a couple of poor matches this season so far. Only Frank Lampard comes close but that’s because he is Frank Lampard.
There are rumours that we’re after Valencia and di Maria. I know very little about di Maria. I’ve heard that he is young, quick and dribbles well. I’ve seen Valencia in action. He is a very good player. Is he Chelsea material? Well, he can be. Can he be consistent? Possibly. He is a good option to have in the team. If not anyone else, a player like Valencia who gets to join Chelsea from Wigan, would have all the hunger, desire and determination. And he is worth, hold your breath, £20m says Steve Bruce. With Man Utd, Real Madrid and Chelsea chasing, any player would be worth more than £15m, wouldn’t they?
And for you folks, Roman Abramovich has clearly declared that he has no intention of selling the club. He’s even gone a step further. He is suing Times for publishing a front page news that he is considering the selling of Chelsea. Think about those stories of Roman choosing between his yacht and Chelsea. Rubbish. Rubbish. Rubbish.
Meanwhile, Peter Kenyon has talked about the positives of Man City’s rise. For once, I agree with him completely. In fact this quote from him looks like an excerpt of an article I had written earlier on this topic:
We are delighted not to be the richest club any more and other clubs may spend more without having as much success on the pitch. This would dispel the idea that we have just bought our titles. We have taken sound financial decisions recently regarding trimming costs.
Well, he also said something about best players not being available mid-season. Hope Anelka would not mind it. I mean I’m kidding. I know Peter was talking also from the players-being-cup-tied angle.
That’s it for now. See you later. Oh wait, I can’t finish this without talking about Kaka story right?
Berlusconi once again proves what he’s made of. He is a politician first and anything else later. He managed to take full mileage out of this whole issue at the cost of imperial wrath. At more than £100m, it would have been a wise decision for Milan to sell Kaka and get three of four quality young players. Kaka wants to be in Milan and that’s his choice. As I said earlier, this transfer would have been good for football, on the whole. Poor Man City! Now, who’ll they be after? Messi? Aguerro?
It’s going to be a exciting finish to this transfer window too.
30 Responses - Add your comment!
we no longer have fabio paim,,left the club on mutual terms a few months ago
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/article2153685.ece
Robinho wants out, you forgot to mention that BC! Whether there is any truth behind it remains to be seen but it makes sense and it is a rumor nonetheless!
Quoting True Blue in L.A.
A perfect Rumour…
For wings, Sinclar and Stoch should be trained. No new signings required. Or best case scenario Kalou
are you serious about paim?! Its a shame. .lisbon has a reputation for good academy players eg.ronaldo,quaresma.some likened him to the portugese maestro himself. Anyway sinclair has more experience than all our youth players(3years on loan.1st team exp with grant) call him back. Have stoch,di santo and kakuta as 1st team players permenantly. They wil flourish.
heard a rumour that we accepted a 15mil bid for alex from citeh. Scrap the cash and force robinho in the deal at all costs. Alex will swap paths(wil be happy plenty brazilians there) also heard citeh into cudincini throw him in too(at 35yo needs match time) and we get robinho.would help us in champs league because he is not cup tied! Maybe 5mil as well so mark aint heartbroken.
Think dimaria would be a very good addition 2 d team n lets 4get bout robinho. ope phil puts stoch & co in d 1st team. really sad 2 hear bout fabio hoped 2 see im play. Blue 4 life
I dont entirely agree with you BC. I do feel that Man Citys offer would bring money into the game and stuff, but now that theyve bid $200 million + for Kaka, all managers are gonna set higher price tags on their players. Recently, Sam Allardyce set a £40 million tag on Santa Cruz. I mean, he might be really good, but I doubt he is worth THAT much of money…that being said, I think Cudicinis £1 million offer seems peanuts !
ROBINHO !! chelsea go.
Quoting ash
My bad. I thought he was still around. So his loan was more of a trial then!
sup
From what I understand, I dont think robbinho can play for us. A FIFA rule say a player cant play for three teams in one season. Robinho have played for madrid in the super cup game before the season now city so this will rule him out. plus I think they would ask more then the 32£ mil they paid for him just cause they are pissed off on him milan and for suckin this season lol.
I would love to have had him here from the start of the season, but even if he comes over now, just by entering the pitch in a chelsea shirt wont solve all our problems. some seem to think that way including LFS.
am indecisive when it comes to our goolie leaving for spurs, on one hand I want him to stay wit us cause he is a great backup if something happens to cech, at the same time I understand he wants to play regular and I wish him well. He will be a “free-agent” in the summer I guess thats why the fee is set at 1 milj £.
OMG Man u seems to go for five this year. Come on chelsea lets stop this domination
/K
sinclair has been loaned out already to birmingham, paim is gone(never that good anyway).
Stoch is good but not good enough or strong enough to last the season, di santo is pretty good as a striker. The best young LB we have is probably bertrand but even he isnt that good. We might not need a true RW since chelsea doesnt really play with one, belletti can also kind of fit that role anyway. I dont see chelsea buying any expensive players this season.
Quoting Craig4rmS.A
i think he played in the uefa cup so i think that means hes not allowed to play in the champo league!
Quoting Mike Ayad
A player that has played in the UEFA cup can play in the Champions League,but the club can namre only one such player in theri squad for the higher rounds(this was Anelka’s case last year).But just forget about signing Robinho as kuhulai rightly mentioned about the FIFA rule,I also read in one of the article that “no player can play for more than 2 clubs in a season”.So just forget about Robinho for the entire season.
As for us,I dont see us buying anybody at all,and as BC mentioned about Peter Kenyon’s comments,we arent going to buy anybody.
But damn ,I am gutted with this.So many player sare exiting the club and I expect a lot more to go come summer(it also depends on silverware).
But I think a loan deal wont be any harmful,there were rumours linking Bentley to us,I wouldnt mind even if its a loan deal.
The league title seems to go Man Utd’s way.They might even do the quadruple.But it will be very difficult.
But still,I have not lost hope,a long long long way to go in the league.
I am confident that they will drop points.The only thing Chelsea needs to do is just not let Pool or Utd run away.Thats it.
Branislav Ivanovi? is on his way to Manchester City according to his own agent who claims that Inter are interested in bringing him in as well. City have made an offer for Bane but it’s all up to Chelsea if he’s leaving or not.
Thart Article from the Sun sates:
——–
Since the day he broke down in tears during a Press conference in Madrid last summer and begged to be allowed to join Chelsea his feelings have not changed. When that possibility receded he pinned all his hopes of a better career at City on the signing of Kaka.
Robinho’s close friend added: “That would have made the world take notice and respect Manchester City. “And it would also have legitimized Robinho’s decision to be here with a future where he could fight for titles alongside Kaka. Now the whole thing is a mess.”
Which just about sums up Manchester City and their botched attempts to turn Eastlands into football’s promised land in six months.
Kaka’s decision to turn down a wheelbarrow full of cash in favour of playing at a proper club appears to have opened Robinho’s eyes to the truth. It’s not just love money cannot buy, it’s football.
——–
I say let “Robin-Ho” stew in his greedy jucies. Any player that acts like that is not good for our club. And how long after LFS grabbed him would he get bored and start his antics at the Bridge. He has had problems every where he goes. In American footy (or Throwball as we like to call it here) we have got a guy like that. His name is Terrel Owens – everywhere he goes drama follows. It look as if Robinho is cut from the same cloth. I will gladly eat my words (with my hat if he does eventaully make it to West London and turns out to be our next Super Frank) but I see nothing but trouble here.
I’d say we get Robinho. Hook… line… sinker! The man is a future Ballon D’Or winner and a marvelous talent to have in any squad and frankly doesn’t make that much trouble… lets be honest here!
Well.. LFS might be able to reel him in a bit but I guarantee we would eventually have problems with him. Isn’t there a better Left winger / striker “for the money” that we could get for under 30 million pounds? (hint hint ~ 1st name of Lucas)
Besides we don’t have that money to spend, we would have to trade and unless they want Malouda + the 12m back they already paid for Bridge I don’t think it is really an option regardless.
Buy Robinho now, I don’t care what drama comes with it. We’ve dealt with Drogba’s drama the past few seasons.. imagine having a forward line featuring Robinho and Drogba (assuming Drogba actually gives a sh*t). We could do some serious damage in the champions league. BUY ROBINHO NOW
Chelsea chase Robinho
http://www.goal.com/en/news/1711/chelsea/2009/01/21/1071599/chelsea-prepare-mega-bid-for-robinho
hmm.. I wonder about this FIFA 3 teams in 1 year issue. Even if it is true, I’m still betting it won’t happen. Juciy Gossip none the less!
Quoting True Blue in L.A.
Cash plus one plus one player make senses. Cash plus 4 players doesn’t make any senses. If 4 players are needed, why not think about, cuddicini, alex & paulo ? And it will all go down the drain, if Robinho gets injured
Quoting GamingTheSystem
I wondered the same thing, but Mascherano was faced with the same issue, when he went to West Ham but found a loophole to transfer again in the same year to Liverpool, so it looks as if there are ways around it. But just because Chelsea want Robinho and Robinho want Chelsea doesn’t mean it’ll happen. If it does it will be a really complicated transfer. I’m remaining hopeful!
dont get robinho just yet, also its clear the city wont let him leave, he is their way of showing to the world, look city can attract big names as well.
Chelsea may buy 1 player this season but i highly doubt it, more likely then not we will just blood youth since the squad is able to handle any major injuries since essien is nearly back and he can play RB/RW/DM/CM, ferriera can play a LB but one who is very defensive.
————–Hilario———-
belletti—alex—-mancienne–ferriera
————-mineiro—————-
—–ballack——-deco———–
stoch———————anelka
———–di santo—–
thats essientially our reserve squad with some players from 1st team filling in for second since we have alot of quality midfielders. Generally i think anelka can do wonders in that left winger/second striker role since it lets him shoot with his dominant foot after cutting in and allows him to utilise his pace. So expect no players but if we are lucky we could see a player bought in on loan or something.
Here is an interestin article arguing that Abrohamovic will NOT sell Chelsea:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/99486-who-will-roman-abramovich-sell-chelsea-fc-vs-pelorus-the-yacht
Anybody got an update on the return of Essien?
BC, I was wondering what your thoughts on the Robinho rumors were
Chelsea Prepare Mega-Bid For Robinho:
The Spanish daily reports that the London side are ready to pay £17 million for the winger, and also give the Northern side a few unsettled players.
The names that have been mentioned are Salomon Kalou, Nicolas Anelka, Florent Malouda, and one of Alex or Ivanovic.
NO Salomon Kalou :S instead of KALOU,DIDIER DROGBA.
bc, heard the rumor of bayern interested in malouda as a long term replacement for ze roberto? And how podolski has fallen out of favour with the coach? They value malouda more than podolski(who cant get game time) and are willing to let him go because of the lethal partnership of toni and klose.podolski is left footed and versatile up front or wing.he can handle the grit of epl evident in the euros.straight swap no money involved.though he cant play in the champs league.
podolski signed with cologne, no?
@BC
Fabio Paim got sent back because he was a naughty boy. Apparantly he got too big for his boots!!