Wouldn’t be my choice. But I would take him as a last ditch thing if it was only on a 5 month deal. I don’t want him long term. I could see situations in some games where he could be useful. Arteta supposedly wanted him back in his first season, as did Pep at one point.

That, and the fact that Saka is a big game player. My impression is that his weaker games have been against lesser opposition or in the cups. World cup quarterfinals, and top 6 opposition in the league what makes him tick. He'll be up for this one.

Exactly.

Looks like no Caicedo then,

Why have we left things so late to try to sign the one type of player we absolutely need to cover Partey, even more so with Elneny's injury?

We spent what seemed weeks chasing Mudryk, expecting Shakhter to cave-in and accept our offer. That went well.

We only signed Trossard after his agent apparently contacted us the day before he signed, so why did it take his agent contacting us to set the deal in motion? Was it just serendipity?

Kiwior looks like more of a successful planned signing.

Let's see what happens to day but its not looking good.

At the end of the day we just don’t have the budget so we have to stretch it. What’s the alternative ? 8 year contracts for unproven players.

Even if Brighton accepted 75 million I’d feel uneasy about it. He’s hardly proven.

Every once in a while we go large. Last summer it was Jesus, apparently this summer it’s Rice but there’s an element of working to a budget. It’s always been this way with Arsenal

I’d rather we sat on our hands than sign Jorginho. Even play lokonga than sign him for 15 million and pay him 150k a week.

No sooner do I post then Ornstein says…

Arsenal advancing towards agreement to sign Jorginho from Chelsea. 31yo Italy midfielder now most likely #DeadlineDay recruit. Acceptance at #AFC that Brighton stance on Moises Caicedo means pursuit of 21yo Ecuadorian is over

The scale of the Jorginho issue will be on what terms he’s signed.

If he’s on a free and we just pick up his wages for the next 16 months it’s not much of a issue really. If he’s useless he won’t play for Arteta and we just move him in the summer. People moan about Willian but there’s wasn’t much loss there.

If we pay 15 million, 150k a week and it’s a 3 year deal it’s likely another situation where we have a player not adding value and could have to be paid off.

The £105m that Chelsea are supposed to be bidding for Fernandez is quite remarkable. Benfica bought him from River Plate last summer for £9m.

A club with our resources and souting network has to do better that Jorginho on the last day of the window.

We have a chance to win the league and you're telling me there is absolutely no one in europe, South America or even Africa who could have come in, even on loan, with a profile more similar to Partey than Jorginho.

Jorginho's contract is up in 6 months, if we end up paying £10-15m for him Chelsea will be laughing all the way to the bank.

I’m surprised that Chelsea would consider letting one of their players come to us. With their dosh they can afford to keep him and thereby stop us strengthening.

Who then? What obvious player can you extract in January.

Unless you pay an absolute fortune like chelsea you are signing a back up player, someone out of contract or someone like wouters who man united went for. It’s not really the time to do business but as Mikel said we have no option we have to use every window

They need to offload wages and squad numbers as a priority. I really hope we haven’t paid much though.

I have seen it reported that Palace want to take Lakonga on loan. Assuming that we do actually get someone in through the door (not a definite by any means) then that would help us out quite a bit.

They probably don't care ltg, they won't catch us and if they get Enzo Fernandez he probably won't play anyway. The Chelsea signings are all about next season and thereafter so why not pick up a tidy little sum for a player who is leaving in a few months for free anyway.

Do they? They seem to be impervious to FFP. Is it the squad numbers thing then?

I think "uneasy" is the appropriate word for the Caicedo fee. I feel the same. It's huge money for a guy who has done very little. If we are serious about Rice, you would wonder if we have the funds to get him in the summer if we have already spent £70/80m on Caicedo.

It's funny how being top of the table changes your perspective. If we were comfortably in 2nd but 5 points behind City, I would say we would be less inclined to favour huge spending in January.

Jorginho is technically a very tidy player but he's got no pace and no legs, not really Parteyesque in any shape or form.

In the event of a Partey injury, does that mean we drop Xhaka in Partey's role and play Jorginho higher up the pitch where his lack of pace and mobility is less of an issue?

Oh wow. I was assuming that he was a free. Anything else is not great.

Can't fit triple digit numbers on shirts?

I would assume the system would get tweaked so it’s more of a 2 to protect the back 4

Fee is 12m. That’s a lot for a player who is only signing a 16 month contract.

Very slow, one-paced midfield.

Ridiculous.

Reeks of deadline day desperation.

Arteta wanted him apparently, lets hope he's got this one right.

Hardly a league-winning formula if there is a long term problem with Partey? But that was always going to be a big ask.

So a decent bench option maybe.

This is the most important thing really.

People are comparing it to the wengers chelsea signings but we have Arteta in control now. A control freak who can’t stand his players giving the ball away let alone tracking back. Nothing misses him.

He’s probably going to start 3-4 games at most before being sold in the summer. Honestly just don’t play Partey in any europa games.

Is it that much money? What can you sign nowadays for £12m.
I’m not massively keen on the signing and we’re taking a certain degree of risk here but the reality is he’s hopefully only needed for 6-8 games this season and next season is a bonus.

How many prem ready players could have come in and helped us? Caicedo and Rice for sure but we can’t get those guys now.

I think if you imagine Jorginho only plays the last 25 minutes of some games to give Partey a rest and maybe starts some Europa games and a couple of home games against the bottom 3 his presence shouldn’t effect the team

He’s been right on most things that the fans questioned him on. If you can’t be backed as a manager by the fans when you’re top of the league with a 5 point lead having turned over the entire squad in 3 years then when can you?

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foo ... 72610.html

Unbelievable
Speechless.
That stuttering penalty run up is bad enough but he is as slow as f****
How on earth does he do the same job as Partey???
I hope Arteta has got this right.
Only upside is it doesn't hinder us getting Rice/Caciedo in the summer.

Apparently lokonga is being loaned to palace. Just bizarre.

So you are still down to only 1 player covering Partey

Here's a cracker from Arseblogger:

"BREAKING NEWS- Chelsea have just submitted a £33m bid for Jorginho!"

£12m is a lot for a 31 year old with only 6 months left on his contract. Having said that, are people not dismissing him a bit too readily? He is a very talented player in terms of technique and passing ability. He doesn't have pace but he never did. He won't press well but that doesn't mean he can't play on a team that does. Italy were very aggressive at pressing when they won the Euros with Jorginho sitting behind it and dictating a lot of the play.

It isn't a signing to set the pulses racing but he is a good player.

Xhaka is being layed further forward and it is Partey who has been deeper. Given Xhaka's tackling "technique" I would not put him deeper. I 'd say Jorghino will be used in Europa League matches and where Partey is subbed and we are comfortably ahead.

Erikssen out till late April

What!?!?

Ally McCoist is a Chelsea fan!?!?

I'm sure we've all heard the news. Not the ideal signing. Obviously a stop gap as his age alone goes against Arteta's methodology of signing great YOUNG players who are mobile.

His signing can only mean, at least to me, all other options were not available. Also, we'll have to wait for the summer for any big DCM /holding midfielder signings.

The two positives are, first, he's experienced and knows how to win and won't freeze up in big games and make mistakes like Lokonga. Second, its help. It's a body we can put in there that is better than we already have in that position.

The gooner who called in this video says we are doing Chelsea a favor and said we could have put Zinchenko or White in there in a bind, admittedly the latter has been by some as not an option. I'm just hoping its not another Willian debacle. Čech was a good signing but he couldn't save a PK to save his life.

I've lost interest in United now that their games against us and City are finished.

There’s a few connections between Chelsea and rangers historically.

I’ve watched us at Ibrox and the rangers fans were chanting “Chelsea,Chelsea,Chelsea” to taunt us. Obviously this left us a bit bemused as surely spurs would have been a better bet.

More here

https://www.reddit.com/r/chelseafc/comm ... riendship/

If it’s Jorginho, I agree it’s not an inspiring transfer.

However, Arteta has got us to where we currently are; top of the league by 2 points with 2 games in hand. So I think he’s entitled to do what he thinks best.

Damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t.

Likewise with rangers and Chelsea I’m sure our older fans will remember the joint Arsenal/Celtic bobble hats you always used to see in the 80s around Highbury