I’m not going to quit this one.
Chelsea have been linked with Marc Ter-Stegen and Emi Martinez recently, and despite the latter being played down, there is genuine interest in both players from us.
Chelsea want an older goalkeeper in the door ideally because they rate Mike Penders very highly and do not want him to go off on loan for years and potentially fall in love with another club – just like Thibaut Courtois did.
So, if you want an older goalkeeper, then you bring Mike Maignan, right? He’s the best available. And no, not one single person will ever convince me that £25m is ‘overpaying’ for Maignan, not when we’re about to drop £55m on 20-year-old Jamie Gittens with ZERO international caps or call-ups to his name yet.
I’m not saying that Gittens is a bad signing, far from it – I think he’s a decent signing. But again, nobody can convince me that £55m is not overpaying for him. Fabrizio Romano is reporting a £55m fee, of course we will probably get Chelsea pushing out a cheaper fee, and Dortmund pushing out a more expensive one, but we will know that it is going to be £55m or there about. And that’s an extortionate fee for a player who has had just two full seasons in Bundesliga so far. Players coming from that league to the Premier League have notoriously found it tough. Not all of them, granted, but a lot of them. It’s a whole different ball game.
But don’t get me wrong, I rate the player, and he is a winger that Enzo Maresca will love. I think he can become a world beater down the line and eventually IF that happens, nobody will mention his fee. But it’s still overpaying for him at this point in his career, it just is. And that’s fine if they want to overpay because they believe in him and believe he will soon become a full England international and a top player for years to come. But then don’t tell us all how you are not going to have your pants pulled down in negotiations and will walk away from deals, to then do the exact opposite. They overpaid for Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez at the time but that’s working out just fine, so it’s not an issue to overpay.
And if you’re overpaying for player, then ‘overpay’ for Maignan, a player with proven quality and experience and a player who instantly improves a position on the pitch that desperately needs improving. A player the club have wanted for three years.
It looks like we could end up ‘overpaying’ for Joao Pedro too. So what was all this ‘tough in negotiations’ nonsense we heard?
At the end of the day, sometimes you just have to overpay to get the players you want in. And that’s fine, fans will accept that. But show consistency. Some players are worth overpaying for, others not so much. We aren’t just always going to sign our targets on our terms, it’s impossible.
I want to just end this by saying that I rate Gittens, I really do. I think he has the ability to be a devastating winger. But again, it’s another young player coming in who has areas of his game he still needs to improve, and is still a raw player. I’m not upset at all that we are buying him though.