It took Chelsea the best part of eight months to complete the signing of Moises Caicedo from Brighton. Negotiations (or at least public interest) started in January 2023 and went on right down to the end of the summer window in mid-August.
During that time, Chelsea shifted their attention and pushed on to buy Romeo Lavia, having, at one point, looked like getting neither. Liverpool were ousted at the last minute, and it took Caicedo himself stating that he wanted Chelsea for a deal to get over the line.
Chelsea had also spent most of January purring over Enzo Fernandez. The midfielder was not so much available after winning the World Cup with Argentina but Chelsea wanted him anyway.
After more than 31 days of talks (because the noise predated the January window opening in the first place), he signed for a British record transfer fee. Within a year he was the second most expensive player, behind Caicedo.
On both occasions, and with Lavia, Chelsea took their time and tried to get things their own way. Despite Benfica and Brighton being firm on their price for both, Chelsea dallied and hassled.
It is a legitimate tactic, to negotiate and try to move to price down so it suits you. It makes sense, especially as nobody can reasonably justify such money on either player, no matter how impressive they have been at Stamford Bridge since.
Chelsea are doing the same again now with Mike Maignan, but on a much smaller scale. They are trying to get value for money due to his age, form, contract status, and Milan’s absence of any European football.
In this instance, Chelsea hold genuine strength in the market. For Caicedo and Fernandez it wasn’t really the case. Instead, Chelsea had already become a bit of a basket case from the outside. They were spending money on everyone and everything, often at inflated prices for young players.
The Clearlake Capital-Todd Boehly regime were disruptors but only as far as disrupting themselves. Most other clubs sat back and laughed at their business, even if they did feel a little threatened by the uncertainty of it. Liverpool. after all, had to scramble at the end of the summer window to find a midfielder having missed out on both top targets.
Arsenal, in January, backed out of Caicedo and signed Jorginho. The trouble is, Caicedo went from being an £80million player to being £105million with add-ons taking it to £115million. Chelsea were keen to keep that price down, wanting it to end up at closer to £60million.
Caicedo had been valued at £70million in January but nobody was spending that sort of money. Except, of course, Chelsea, who held emergency talks in person with Fernandez on deadline day before agreeing to break the £100million for him.
This is now relevant for a number of reasons. Firstly, as mentioned, the club are back at the table for Maignan. They want to spent less than £10million on him if possible whilst Milan are after £30million. A middle ground will need finding, even if Chelsea do hold a lot of the cards due to Maignan’s preference being to leave.
The same is true for Jamie Gittens. Borussia Dortmund want at least £50million for him but after Chelsea failed to agree a new contract with Jadon Sancho (who would have cost £25million to make his move from Manchester United permanent) it is a lot of money for a player with less experience and end product.
Gittens has raw talent and is an exceptional dribbler but his decision making leaves plenty to be desired. Whereas Sancho did not come to Chelsea’s terms on wages under their new structure, as he would have had to accept being a squad player and being paid as such, that is not thought to be a problem with Gittens, who is only 20.
Therefore, Chelsea are once again looking to get the price to a much more understandable £30million or so. There is a clear deadline for both Maignan and Gittens, with the mini summer window closing on June 10 before the Club World Cup group stage.
Players signed after the window reopens on June 16 will be able to register and be used in the knockout stages. It increasingly looks like that is what Chelsea will have to settle for.
This is certainly the case in their interest of Hugo Ekitike of Eintracht Frankfurt. The Frenchman is valued at £84.5million. For a 22-year-old with 15 Bundesliga goals, it is an enormous asking price, and football.london understands that nothing is close currently.
It is no surprise that Chelsea have not dropped at Frankfurt’s knees to pay. Whereas Liam Delap at £30million was totally logical, this would be a transfer of extortionate cost for someone still growing.
Ekitike is a wonderful striker and is more advanced for his age than Alexander Isak was at Real Sociedad, for example. However, Ekitike is not the end product and his price comes in as if he is.
Chelsea have been here before. They spent a month trying to get Fernandez for less and ended up going all out. It took an entire summer to pay more for Caicedo than initially bargained for.
In both events, Chelsea were told firmly up front how much they would need to pay and as time went on, the price would rise. Finding a replacement becomes harder the longer time goes on. There are still months of the summer ahead, but if Chelsea cannot get Ekitike, Maignan, and Gittens done soon then they will risk having to repeat the trick of just paying up.
With Ekitike it is the most painful. It is reported that he is keen on a move to London but that has not seen Frankfurt budge. Chelsea are said to have offered players in the deal as well but the German side only want cash.
We have seen this story for Chelsea. It has tended to play out one way. They might get their man but it comes at a big cost. So, are these negotiations the start of a new, tighter line for the sporting directors, or will they end up putting their hands in their pockets regardless?
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