Ross Barkley signs for Chelsea

[spursfan77]

Personally I don’t buy the wages ITK. He wanted to come to us and turned Chelsea down last year. Fuck knows, though.

The injury stuff makes much more sense.

Yep. I also don’t think we’ve been after him for a good few months. All the newspaper reports had him down for Chelsea with us never really mentioned except as an after thought.

 

[nailsy]

haha, so by your reasoning, every move Barkley makes from now on will be for bigger clubs and higher wages.
What makes you think he will not accept a move to one of those clubs if no one else wants him? If he had failed with us, it's a certainty none of the other top 6 teams would've gambled on him.

I haven't said that at all. I've highlighted that he's not allowed himself to be pushed out somewhere he doesn't want to go so you can't just say that he can be moved on if he's not a success. If he's got a contract he can decide if he moves clubs or stays to fight for his place.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Pffftt...

 

[stevenurse]

Tempted to say why on earth would any young player sign for Chelsea? But of course we all know why £££££

In reality, why on earth would you go there if you knew you'd end up being just another number in their machine churning out young players for sale as a business model.

Loftus-Cheek etc. Telling me he's going to go back next season with Barkley, Drinkwater, Bakayoko, Kante, Fabregas and Willian in the middle? Absolute waste of time being on their books

 

[Spurs' Pipe Dreams]

I think Lamela and Wanyama coming back from injury may have influenced Pochettino's thinking on this, plus we've got Onomah and possibly Edwards moving into the first team squad in the summer, plus a new stadium and possibly shiny new signings.

Chelsea may have got a steal, we may be gutted about this in a few months, the juries still out, we'll see if the right decision was made. I hope so

 

[Colonel_Klinck]

Meh. No great loss and no point upsetting the wage structure for him if ITK is to be believed.

 

[Phil-spur99]

Tempted to say why on earth would any young player sign for Chelsea? But of course we all know why £££££

In reality, why on earth would you go there if you knew you'd end up being just another number in their machine churning out young players for sale as a business model.

Loftus-Cheek etc. Telling me he's going to go back next season with Barkley, Drinkwater, Bakayoko, Kante, Fabregas and Willian in the middle? Absolute waste of time being on their books

They wouldn’t deal with us but I’ve been thinking that Poch could turn Loftus-Cheek into a Dembele replacement, similar attributes...

 

[buttons]

They wouldn’t deal with us but I’ve been thinking that Poch could turn Loftus-Cheek into a Dembele replacement, similar attributes...

Signing RLC would make me feel a little less irritated that we missed our on RB.

Amazed we’ve let him seemingly slip away.

 

[jolsnogross]

It's very disappointing to lose out on a player who clearly has the technique to become a top player. He's been inconsistent, no doubt, but given the free transfer circumstances, it was a no brainier.

In comparison to Sissoko, it's a joke really. If Poch thinks he can turn useless workhorses into footballers, rather than train a footballer to improve his work ethic, then that's unfortunate. If we could've plugged RB into Sissoko's position we'd be a lot stronger. At the level we've reached, we can't carry players, and were definitely carrying Sissoko.

Chelsea have a possible long term replacement for Fabregas, and even if it doesn't work out they'll be alright selling him on. Shame, because he'd have had even more opportunity to establish himself with us I reckon.

 

[WexfordTownSpur]

Why should he wait for us though? It sounds like we promised that we'd sign him in the last window and we didn't. It sounds like he pulled the plug on the move to Chelsea because we promised him we'd be back for him in January. If we don't sign him now he's not going to trust us anymore is he? There are obviously reasons why we haven't moved for him, but if another team are showing that they want him no matter what then they're probably going to be his first choice destination.

I think a lot of people are naive, he went where he could get the most wages, and that was, as usual Chelski over us. I don’t blame Levy for this one, we can’t afford to blow our wad and unsettle the rest of the team for likes of Barkley. He has been to date an above average player with injuries, and I am sure what Chelski offered him was way too much. I guess we will see in the next few seasons. I see him being another Moses at Chelsea and on loan by next season, especially if they by big again in the summer, which they will and how many games he gets to play the rest of the season. Who would you take out of the Chelski midfield to play him every week?

 

[Johnny J]

There's a significant chance of his hamstring going again completely and ending his career, based on what we know about the injury. It's a real shame but signing him for huge wages (which it would have been) would be a big gamble.

Clearly we aren't the biggest spenders on wages, and many on here want Levy to increase the wage cap. Signing RB after this injury, without him having proven his fitness and that he's the same player, would risk spending a fortune on wages that could easily end up wasted on a player who spends most his time injured. Wages that we could instead use to help keep Kane, Alli etc.

Plus, if he got crocked or kept getting injured, we most likely wouldn't then immediately splurge £40m+ and £100k pw wages on a replacement. Dembele has had repeated injury problems for at least two seasons and we haven't replaced him. Hell, we still haven't properly replaced Modric.

I'm not saying he won't recover and be a great player for Chelsea. But they can literally afford that risk; for us it's a bigger risk.

 

[t-baggins]

It's very disappointing to lose out on a player who clearly has the technique to become a top player. He's been inconsistent, no doubt, but given the free transfer circumstances, it was a no brainier.

In comparison to Sissoko, it's a joke really. If Poch thinks he can turn useless workhorses into footballers, rather than train a footballer to improve his work ethic, then that's unfortunate. If we could've plugged RB into Sissoko's position we'd be a lot stronger. At the level we've reached, we can't carry players, and were definitely carrying Sissoko.

Chelsea have a possible long term replacement for Fabregas, and even if it doesn't work out they'll be alright selling him on. Shame, because he'd have had even more opportunity to establish himself with us I reckon.

Absolutely agree with all here - it was an absolute no-brainer to push for RB - the main problem is if his agent won't negotiate on wages - no way should he have come to Spurs and be on more than Kane... Or Eriksen, Alderwierald etc...

 

[DJS]

I might not actually too fussed.

Wasn’t massively keen and only reason would have wanted him was if Poch really wanted him but latest ITK indicates it was him rather than Levy who pulled plug.

Also Hercules ITK indicates we have someone elsewhere lined up until the summer and I’d prefer a more specialist engine room player where we’re thinner in numbers.

 

[Thewobbler]

Tempted to say why on earth would any young player sign for Chelsea? But of course we all know why £££££

In reality, why on earth would you go there if you knew you'd end up being just another number in their machine churning out young players for sale as a business model.

Loftus-Cheek etc. Telling me he's going to go back next season with Barkley, Drinkwater, Bakayoko, Kante, Fabregas and Willian in the middle? Absolute waste of time being on their books

I don't even think conte will be there next season. Drinkwater and barkely went for the same reason. A big pay day.

 

[Thewobbler]

Absolutely agree with all here - it was an absolute no-brainer to push for RB - the main problem is if his agent won't negotiate on wages - no way should he have come to Spurs and be on more than Kane... Or Eriksen, Alderwierald etc...

We can't even get alders contract sorted. Probably thinks if VVD is on 180k a week then he should be getting the same.

Time will soon come when levy will have to pay kane his worth and when one gets a big pay rise the rest will want the same.

 

[theShiznit]

Was initially not bothered about Barkley as never been a fan but bought myself around to the idea as it's a new shiny toy, but now back around to not really bothered.

Similar to what we have, yes he can run with the ball, but lacking in acceleration and one paced like 90% of our squad, dwells on the ball (like 60% of our squad and is very indecisive. (like 30% )

Barring getting in 2-3 intelligent passers and movers on the same wavelength we need players with a change of pace and ability to pass and move, in key positions (anywhere in CM or ACM) he is not that.

Looking forward to his first 90 minutes for Chelsea... (which he should have accumulated some time next august )

 

[Syn_13]

Whilst I do think Poch will have improved him and got the best out of him, I don't feel like we've missed out here. Sure, he's an upgrade to the likes of Sissoko, but I reckon we can find a good player in the market of Barkley's ability. Like many players that go to Chelsea he could very well be wasted.

 

[NorthernYido]

That's another greedy young Englishman who's career is over. Ha ha, best of luck getting a game Ross

 

[Shadydan]

People are more upset that we lost our on him because they thoight he's walk into the side and replace Sissoko who had a bad game on Thursday

 

[E17yid]

People are more upset that we lost our on him because they thoight he's walk into the side and replace Sissoko who had a bad game on Thursday

Not just Thursday.