Two Signings in Ten Days?

By: Devin | July 26th, 2011

If you take the press at their dubious word, then Ron Gourlay claims we’re to add two additional pieces to the mix in the next fortnight. Some are suggesting these signings are Courtois and Romeu- while others are speculating there are in fact two other players on the horizon. Personally, I’m thinking this is more likely the former rather than the latter. Still, let’s dive in and figure this out. More after the jump.

vincent-pastore-1

Vincent Pastore. Father of Javier. Uncle of the People.

Let’s be real. We’ve had a pretty tepid go of things thus far this summer. While everyone and their mother has been throwing cash out for players (some worthy some not), we’ve had our hands in our pockets for much of the proceedings. It’s come to pass that we’ve officially inked Mr. Thibs, while our remaining deals have not been formally announced by the club.

The optimist in me wants to believe that we’re about to close on the signature of Javier Pastore, or Romelu Lukaku, or Luka Modric. But the realist in me knows better. As much as Ron Gourlay wants to stoke the fires and offer up tantalizing cliff-hangers to the press suggesting we’re about to make a splash, I can’t help but feel this is more of a posturing exercise on his part. There have been two successive, albeit failed bids, for Modric. There has been an offer for Lukaku that has not been confirmed by the club or rejected by Anderlect. There’s been increasing chatter on the Pastore front, but the latest indications are that the player is PSG bound in a 40 million Euro’s deal. (Side note, if El Kun is worth 35 million quid to MCFC, then how can Pastore be valued at this amount? I don’t get this world).

The economies of scale in this market are inherently flawed. It makes sense, therefore, that we’ve been coy in our dealings to date. In many respects, though, we’ve been a touch too quiet. Even for Roman’s flamboyant standards, this has been a rather listless closed season. Dare I say it, we’ve been rather fiscally responsible thus far? No massive transfers, no big-name aging stars, no lavish personal terms negotiated. This has been somewhat of a remarkable window in my eyes. We’ve been restrained, and we’ve been steadfast in our silence. That the club took almost a week to formally announce the signing of Courtois speaks volumes of our new approach in this case. I’m not chalking the change in tone up to AVB’s arrival, Gourlay’s increasing comfort in front of the press, or an edict handed down by Roman. I can’t speculate as to the root cause, but I can say I like the evolution.

Back to the point. Two signings in ten days? Likely it’s the one we already have announced, Courtois. The other, will theoretically be Romeu. If I’m wrong, then great. I’ll be happy to say that I was mistaken and we’ve actually secured the signature of one of the many blue chip prospects that we’ve either bid for or has been touted as the next best thing. If I’m right, however, then lets not hang our heads for a split second. As we mentioned in previous posts, these two deals are remarkable for their value as they are in their subtlety. Who honestly thought that at the beginning of the summer it would be Chelsea that would be bringing up the rear, recruiting young prospects and dipping the smallest of toes into the market? Not I, that’s for certain.

But we want your opinion. You think it’s Romeu and Courtois? Or you think it’s a mixture of two additional players. Either way, hit the comments and let us know where you stand. The healthier the debate the better, my friends.

As always, KTBFFH.

Some Related Chelsea Posts:

Category: Chelsea Loans, Chelsea Reserves, Chelsea Team News, Opinion, Player News, Transfer News, Transfer Rumors

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suuley manuure uulow

Vincent Pastore. Father of Javier. Uncle of the People.hehe like it
Keaton the Eskimo

As a modern chelsea fan i have 2 ways of looking at this as im sure most of you do as well....

The Flamboyant Big Spender: No way, were probably on the verge of signing of Modric and Lukaku soon after, these other signings are just small additions we need game changers@69e6ab94c98005ccad82fc6669ea5967:disqus

The Realest Who Desires Stability: These probably are the two signings that Gourlay was talking about. The statement itself is ment to leave you questioning who the signings are. I enjoy the new approach thus far and although i would not mind seeing a big name come our way, for chelsea to evolve into a REAL european powerhouse for years to come, we need a change of pace and all of our signings must mean more than splurging large summs of money on a whim. We need to bring players through the ranks.

I believe that Mr. Thibbs is one of these signings and although we have made steps to sign other big name players, we are in no hurry to spend our money. Refreshing isnt it?
seth

when is the predicted Exodus going to begin?
AVB giving everyone a chance before he chooses to cut them loose is a nice change, either way.
S Barnes

The signing of Courtois is a joke, total waste of a transfer, pay big bucks for a young keeper then loan him straight out leaving us again with Hilarious and Toss Turnbull as back up to Cech (god help us if he gets injured), Im not saying he is not a good keeper but what about Matej Delac, I thought he was our up and coming number two. Then theres Romeu, Young up and coming central midfielder, What about Josh Mceachran, I thought he was our Young up and coming central midfielder Im afraid if we carry on like this then we will be competing with Liverpool Arsenal and Spurs for champions league places (providing Cech stays fit), While the title will almost certainly end up in Manchester. The squad is getting no younger and is weakened with the loss of Essien, the squad needs improving as proven last year with our worst season since Abramovich took over. Malouda, Ferriera, Anelka, Bosingwa, and Zhirkov need to go raising cash and slashing the wage bill to make room for some creativity (Pastore, Hazard) some pace ( Mata, Navas) and a RB (Van Der Wiel)
Keaton the Eskimo

Out with the old and in with the new will not win us the premership next season, but i agree. Look at it this way, we have a house, It used to be the top of the line Billion dollar mansion, now its a bit outdated. We dont need to tear it down to the foundation and build it from there. We just need to:

Change the paint ( Get rid of some old strikers )
Trim the shrubs ( Bring up some of our young talent )
and Remodel the Kitchen ( Bring in a new face or two to shake things up )
Mouzinho

Kun has a minimum release clause for that much, that is why.
Raiyanzakir

the only 2 players we need is modric and hazard.(hazard will cost 15-20 mil less than pastore).avb should also try to try new style of attack.9like barcelona how barcelona play)mesi and pedro cuts in from the wing into the d-box.
Edwardnyimbo

all nows that anelka,malouda and lampard they cant do anything so why chelsea they dont sack that peolpe? and to gets another new players like radamel falcao,edison cavan and sanchenz
Edwardnyimbo

i think now its time for chelsea and avb to put a new blood i mean that a new player like modrich,lumelu lukaku and others i think we can player together with torres and benayoun with kalou
Timlos

Guys I'm getting concerned. First, I watched this Audi Cup competition featuring Bayern Munich, AC milan,Barcelona. I saw the match between Bayern and AC Milan and what I saw scared me when compared to what Chelsea wants to take into the season considering that CL is one of our targets. Are we serious at all? Second, Mancity is about to sign Aguero, Man U, we all know will still sign someone despite all the lies of that old man, most likely Snidjer and we go around buying 18 and 19 yrs old players. We barely nicked Mancity to 2nd last season and if we think they are acquiring the players they have so they can fight for 3rd or 4th position again, WE ARE DREAMING. And guess what, of the top 3 teams, which will anyone honestly say has improved? The club should please let us know what is the objective for this season. Maybe we are still building a team and so we'll accept that trophies will not be expected this season. Not to raise our hopes and then dash it.
Chris

romeu and pastore are the two players in question Im about 90% sure
Blue_Juggernaut

I think we can all respectfully agree (well all of us who have done any research on AVB-if not get it done you will be impressed) that whist AVB is short of experience one thing he does know is how to get the best from his players and the team as a whole,oh and he is an absolute genius of a tactician,genius!! and he has shown his class by not coming in like a kid in a candy store spending all Roman's millions on high profile names, but rather taking his time to assess the squad and invest where he thinks is needed, he has said himself we have a strong squad and we do nobody can argue!! we have spent an absolute fortune on the academy and rightly so as this is the future for the club and AVB has said players will be chosen on performance not by the name on their jersey,if he sticks to this we will see the likes of Josh, Van Aan Holt, Kalas and Slobodan(work permit permitting), and perhaps even a few of the youth team to push forward(I for one can not wait for the day Lalkovic starts playing for the 1st team his speed and dribbling are very Hulkesque i wont be surprised if AVB gives him a go at some stage but that's another issue) by these players pushing forward and competing for places it will give them experience and promise of a future as well as a kick in the butt for the established players who will know a poor performance means a seat on the bench or in the stands which will only do worlds of good for The Blues!! all in all we can sit and say what we want i think if we can get A.J great do it he is brilliant with Premier League experience, but i believe AVB knows best and i trust that by the time the season kicks off we will have the squad we need to challenge for top honours and with him already bringing youth through the ranks the future only looks bright so let's stay positive and not be obsessed with buying big names let's build big names!!
Cool Personable

Players like kalou, malouda, anelka & boswinga will never bring us the champoins they not play for the team ; ;
we want players like JT and Ivanovic who play for win.

OMG I miss Micheal Balack and I bet our team miss a player like him <3
CharlieFineman

He's not Boswinga, it's BoSINGWa goddamit!!!
Manboth

It is very shrewd of AVB to opt for no spending. At the end of the year his record will look much better in Roman's eyes if he cost him nothing.
As

IMO, Pastore, Lukaku out on loan to Bolton or another premier league club that will start him, give Danny and Josh more playing time. And maybe let go of a few vets, Anelka first imo
Nymphetaminez

We need a winger! Play Yossi on left instead of Malouda and bring in a decent right winger, hopefully Kakuta can replace Yossi. Let Josh play behind the midfeild he is capable of being the playmaker. Also I'd like to see Luiz play DM some time see how he does.
kaka

Don't worry you guys. What ron gourlay said was chelsea will add two more players to the squad and will not stop with courtois and romeu. So be happy. Chelsea for life
Irvine82

aguero & pastore please ! well thats the 2 id buy if i was roman and was serious about being one of the worlds best clubs for the years ahead .
Nelson

this should be our line up for this season and we will win the champions league

Cech, Terry, Luiz, Cole, Ivanovic, Ramires, Modric, Benayoun, Josh, Hulk and Torres
Ed

dreamer
Nelson

what is kalou, malouda, anelka, boswinga, ferriera and drobga still doing at chelsea? kalou and boswinga are real flops in this club hope you are not turning this club to a dorm-ping ground? we need new faces avb or you will regret it if you dont send this flops away.
Nelson Moon39391

we need more players here...... pls sell some old legs and buy new. we need a change in this team. we have too many players who are not good enough. like kalou. malouda,anelka, boswinga and ferriera wake up AVB or else you will be s
Endre SoHard Søyland

Pastore and.. what do Chelsea actually need? Our team will hopefully be like these next season.
Cech
Ivanovic-Luiz-Terry-Cole
Pastore-Essien(injuried, so let's give Ramires, Benayoun or Mikel the chance)-Lampard
Kalou(or another who plays rw)-Torres-Malouda
Sub: Hilario-Alex-Bertrand-Ramires-Benayoun-Anelka-Drogba, if we don't need Benayoun, then we will puss in McEachran in for Benayoun and maybe Romeu in for Anelka, but we actually need fresh blood as "Chels" said. We have to sell alot of "old crap" which is Anelka, Hilario, Turnbull(25, but sucks), Benayoun, Drogba and Paulo Ferreira, and get some new replacement.
Nelson

i still ask what is kalou,anelka malouda boswinga, ferriera and drogba still doing at chelsea come on this guys are weak sells. malouda as a winger dont have the skills, kalou cant shoot anelka cant run boswinga not technically good same with kalou drogba dont like playing with torres same thing he did to shevshenko and co so please let this guys go elsewhere or else this season will be the worst cos we are not finishing top 4
Nymphetaminez

Anelka can't run? he is one of the fastest squad members, shows how much you know.
Kenny Shackelford

Drogba is with us for another year, Benayoun never really got going last year due to injury (not saying he's the answer but definitely not the problem,) and I would think Ramires is a definite opening match starter. He's only going to get better, and the second half of last season was evidence of that. Anelka probably should go so Studge gets a proper runout this season.
Seamus Lynch

yes, I think we all hope a marquee signing or two is to follow. Pastore and Lukaku would be teriffic - but i can't see both coming. One of those plus a lower-key signing like N'Zogbia or Parker wouldn't surprise me.
I would really doubt Gourlay could misjudge the mood of fans by making lots of us think we were getting superstars but really just confirming two promising youngsters...
Kenny Shackelford

N'Zogbia is off to AVFC mate. I would hope Gourlay is referring to the minor signings and is hinting towards bigger impact transfers. Modric and Pastore are who I'd want out of who we're linked too. Frankie won't be around forever and those two could be in our midfield for quite awhile. I'd rather have Falcao before Lukaku as well.
Drewwalkersmith

Finally, someone with some sense! Pastore and Modders are both required. As of right now, Ramires is the only midfielder who is an automatic starter. Essien is done, lamps is waning, and Josh isn't going to win anyone trophies (yet). Pastore and Modders would go straight into the team and stay there for a long time. Although I see us best utilizing that talent in a 4-2-3-1, that could look something like

--------------Cech---------------
Ivan-------Luiz---JT--------Cole
--------Ramires---Josh---------
---yossi----Pastore----Modric--
-------------Torres--------------

A team bursting with creativity, pace, and energy
Toby Southall

an extra 10million for de bruyne who can play where yossi, Pastore and modric are there and we have quality back-up for every position. All for around 75 million which is what we spent in January and isn't much at all considering we were expected to spend up to 150million. However, I think that figure was a guess and they just doubled Jan spending.
Wakeupme52

yea thats what im talkin about
Elvyn

good formation but the team seems a little lightweight for BPL, we certainly need some one like (fit again) Essien if the game gets physical..
Chels

Probably Courtois and Romeu but I hope it's Pastore and someone else. We need some fresh blood.
Biffas

i think we need 3 or 4 players

Pastore OR Modric or even both as pastore is an attacking midfielder, Defender Cahill or dann and Winger or forward Lakaku or even the Hulk but he would cost his buy out which is about 70-80 million if not more on players leaving i would sell OB ONE, KALOU, SHIIRKOV