January 2014 Transfer Window

[stokeriño]

Chelsea must be kicking themselves for selling him in the first place.

He was sold because Benfica said "you know what would complete this Luiz deal? That Matic fella you've currently got loaned over in Vitesse", and the Chelsea hierarchy went and asked the guy in charge of these things (Frank Arnesen, now at Hamburg) "so what you think of this" and he said "sure whatever, the kid's virtually worthless", because Frank Arnesen is a fucking tool.

(With that said, an amusing side story is that when the deal went through Benfica offered the company that had owned 25% of Luiz's rights the opportunity to take 25% of Matic's rights...but they opted for 500,000 euros instead. lol.)

Ah well, this is a player who has been able to develop at Benfica in a way he almost certainly wouldn't have been able to if he'd stayed at Chelsea in the interim. We got him for a fee in the region of £21m when last summer they were touting his buyout clause of nearly £15m more. The deal in isolation is an absolute steal, not to mention exactly what we need.

Really interested in seeing how will Chelsea's style change now.

Not sure it will really. With van Ginkel injured, Essien a shadow of his former self and Lampard unable to play every game, we're low on numbers in what is often foolishly referred to as 'the pivot' (and heaven forbid Ramires should get injured...), so Matic will slot in perfectly there. I suppose it gives us the option to play 'classic' 4-3-3 more often.

[Nerf]

Wait... Matic was £21m? That's an absolute steal.

[GoN_]

Chelsea must be kicking themselves for selling him in the first place.

He was sold because Benfica said "you know what would complete this Luiz deal? That Matic fella you've currently got loaned over in Vitesse", and the Chelsea hierarchy went and asked the guy in charge of these things (Frank Arnesen, now at Hamburg) "so what you think of this" and he said "sure whatever, the kid's virtually worthless", because Frank Arnesen is a fucking tool.

(With that said, an amusing side story is that when the deal went through Benfica offered the company that had owned 25% of Luiz's rights the opportunity to take 25% of Matic's rights...but they opted for 500,000 euros instead. lol.)

Ah well, this is a player who has been able to develop at Benfica in a way he almost certainly wouldn't have been able to if he'd stayed at Chelsea in the interim. We got him for a fee in the region of £21m when last summer they were touting his buyout clause of nearly £15m more. The deal in isolation is an absolute steal, not to mention exactly what we need.

Last summer, our president thought we would do great in the champions league and no one would have to be sold. Things didn't pan out that way and now we deeply needed the money. It's a shame we had to sell him like this mid-season.

I agree with you when you talk about his progression. As much as I talk badly of Jorge Jesus, the guy did a great job developing Matic after we lost Witsel and Javi Garcia.

[stokeriño]

Wait... Matic was £21m? That's an absolute steal.

25m euros, so yes.

Maybe we had a percentage sell-on clause with him which reduced the price or something.

[Colly]

Really interested in seeing how will Chelsea's style change now.

Not sure it will really. With van Ginkel injured, Essien a shadow of his former self and Lampard unable to play every game, we're low on numbers in what is often foolishly referred to as 'the pivot' (and heaven forbid Ramires should get injured...), so Matic will slot in perfectly there. I suppose it gives us the option to play 'classic' 4-3-3 more often.

They call it that because Paul Merson can't say fulcrum.

[Lineker]

Hull City have completed the signing of Everton striker Nikica Jelavic on a three-and-a-half-year deal.

[stokeriño]

St. Etienne centre-back Kurt Zouma has apparently even had a phonecall from José Mourinho, according to an interview he gave in L'Equipe.

Well, its true. There has been an advanced contact. At first I thought it was a joke. But I quickly took [Mourinho's] call seriously. A great man like Jose Mourinho phoning a small player like Kurt Zouma, it's nice. It does not happen to you every day and it is a great sign of respect and trust.

I will always take Chelsea. I loved this club since childhood and blue is my favourite colour. In my head, it is clear: I want a change. When going abroad, it's make or break. But it is a risk worth taking.

We're not the only interested club though. And if we did sign him, I bet we'd loan him back to St. Etienne until the summer.

[brenchill]

Tapping up!

[stokeriño]

AKA the real world

[Colly]

Loved Chelsea since childhood. Is he about twelve?

[stokeriño]

We did probably get some French kids on side with our Desailly/Leboeuf/Deschamps/etc. days...

[Rich]

The days where I thought Chelsea were awesome

[MDK]

My favourite Chelsea memory is this:

Just the look on his face! Oh, he looks like a kid at Christmas! He even left Maldini staring at his studs.

[METALMAN]

The days where I thought Chelsea were awesome

Vialli leaving was where it all went wrong.

[Rich]

That was the start of a slow slide, when Ranieri left it went horrible and far too much John Terry was seen

[brenchill]

I think the decline of Chelsea as a likeable team began when they started winning stuff.

[Rich]

So when Ranieri left, like I said?

[MDK]

Does this mean we'll all like Man U for the next decade?

[Rich]

Only if they sign almost over the hill continental players for us to love.

[brenchill]

So when Ranieri left, like I said?

Yeah, like you said!