Sunday, December 18, 2016

Transfer market conspiracies - Part 1

Chelsea signed Oscar in 2012 on a 5 year deal and then got him to extend his deal in November 2014 till 2019. So when he leaves this January to China, he will have 2 years left in his contract and he will still be only 25. However, he has not been playing regularly for the last 12 months and therefore the 60m price that Shanghai SIPG are willing to pay Chelsea plus the 400K a week wages just seems too good to be true...which is what I think...it’s not TRUE.

What I really think is happening is something darker and murkier. Firstly, Chelsea probably want to spend a lot this summer to get players who are more suited to Conte's style, however just to be on the safer side of the increasingly weak/toothless FPP, they need to sell in order to buy. What I think could be happening is that Chelsea "want" to show a big inflow, the Chinese club want to show their supporters how much they are investing in players and therefore some obscene figures are being bandied about to make all parties look good. In reality, the money on THIS deal is probably much lower (though there are other fringe players who are going to get shifted) and Roman is probably just going to infuse Chelsea with more of his own money. Having AVB as the manager in China also helps since it is a well-known fact that Roman and he still get along great. 

Btw, Alexis turns 28 in December and in January 2017, he enters the final 18 months of his contract. He is in the form of his life and ideally Arsenal should be doubling his wages and tying him down to 3 more years atleast.  However, no player is larger than the club and should not be allowed to hold the club for ransom so if I were Dick Law and Alexis does not extend his contract by March, I would hawk him out to China for 80m, Alexis might get his wages and everyone is happy. If we were selling to a European club, I would insist on a cash + player deal with pretty much everyone who might be willing to buy him.

·         Real - Isco + cash
·         Bayern - Thiago or Bernat + Cash
·         Juventus - Dybala (hahahahaha) or Coman or Rugani (hahahaha)
·         PSG - Kurzawa + Cash


If he is intent on moving to an EPL rival, we should just let him rot on the sidelines and allow him to see out his contract. Seriously, the guy plays so much for Chile and insists on never taking rest that he is a disaster (like missing an entire season through injury like Welz) waiting to happen - I just hope it doesnt happen when he is at Arsenal.