This feels like the kind of guy Jose would target. When he's at his best, he does a good job of picking players on the rise and not just signing a name (Zlatan being a notable exception).
Well played. I tend to forget how much I enjoyed the first two seasons, then how much I disliked the second half of the series.
I don't expect him to be sold in January. His buyout is higher than what Lindelof will go for to ManU and there was talk that he was about to sign a new contract. SLB usually makes a deal for less than the buyout, but they would want to keep him thru the rest of this season. Depends if Jose doesn't mind paying a price for a player he doesn't get until next summer.
Is this move all about the money, both for Chelsea and Oscar? He's only 25, so even if his form has dipped, he has at least three to five years of top potential.
My sense is that Griezmann really likes Spain, and that he really likes Simeone, so I think he is happy at Atletico.
He's reportedly going to make over 25 million per year. So yes, it is all about the money.
Cheap compared to Tevez who is allegedly going to China on a salary of more than $40M a year.
Hmm, seems to be a ton of debate on it: ESPN has 225,000 a week (pounds), BBC has 310,000, Mail, RT, Guardian, telegraph, Sky, and Xinhua all have 615,000 a week on a 2 year contract. FoxSports says it isn't clear which is true.
Seems like BBC and AP agree, ESPNFC is somehow lower and different from the ESPN crawl*, and the others (some less reputable than others) are way out there. Whatever it is, it's a lot.
He's under contract. Chelsea doesn't need to do anything. They can have him train with the reserves until his contract expires. He and his agent need to tread lightly. These deals can be made, but it's hard to force an Oligarch into doing anything he doesn't want to do.
I feel bad for Saints fans that this relationship went so sour. Fante, their captain, had been their rock in the long climb from the the third tier and the brink of financial implosion to being a Premier League team qualifying for Europe. It seemed different when Fonte was rumored to be off to ManU to unite with countryman Mourinho...heading to West Ham instead steels of a messy divorce between club and beloved player.
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In today's market, that seems an absolute steal. I wonder if West Ham was unwilling to sell him in England...
25m+ for a player about to turn 30 isn't too bad, especially for someone as mercurial as Payet. It's a decent piece of business since they bought him from Marseille for 10.7m 18 months ago.
As a parting FU Westham demanded his January salary back ..
