DONE DEAL: Chelsea sign Patrick Bamford from NUFC for £1.5m!

Just minutes ago, Chelsea conformed the signing of 18-year old British forward Patrick Bamford from Nottingham Forest FC. The NUFC striker signed a five-year deal for a total of £1.5 million. He has made two npower appearances for NUFC this season, scoring no goals. However, he made two appearances in the FA Youth Cup, scoring nine goals and assisting three in those two games. Wow. That's class. It's likely that he'll be loaned out soon, considering his age and the lack of experience. He seems to have quite a bit of talent though (and was attracting the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, and Arsenal – hopefully he'll turn out to be a good signing.

Patrick Bamford.

Cheers,
~Matt

DONE DEAL: Kevin de Bruyne signs for £6.6 million!

On the last day of the transfer window, Chelsea have signed Kevin de Bruyne from Racing Genk for a five-and-a-half year deal worth £6.6 million. The 20-year old Belgian left-winger, who can also play as an attacking midfielder, as already been loaned back to Genk for the remainder of the season. 

Kevin de Bruyne receives his jersey.

I have a question for you: Why would AVB decide to loan him back to Genk, considering how badly Chelsea need a left-winger?

Answer: I have absolutely no idea. Really. To me, it makes very, very little sense. 

If de Bruyne had stayed at Chelsea, Mata would have the opportunity to move into the centre of the pitch (as he loves to do) and take over the attacking midfield role. De Bruyne has shown on numerous occasions that he has the ability to play against top teams, so it unlikely that he would not rise to his full potential at Chelsea. 

Anyway, I guess we'll see what else the window brings us as the hours wind down. 

There'll definitely be a debriefing when it's all over. 

For those interested, ESPN is running a live chat about transfer deadline day here: 

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/live/_/id/1014997/deadline-day:-all-the-rumours-and-moves?cc=5901

Cheers, 

~Matt

DONE DEAL: Alex off to PSG

Hey there Chelsea fans,

Another shocking piece of news for you (but not really): Alex is off to PSG for a projected sum of £4.2 million. He had previously submitted a transfer request, along with Nicolas Anelka, and was expected to leave the club this transfer window, so it's not a huge surprise that he's gone.

Alex.

The 29-year old Brazilian defender was a subject of interest for both QPR and PSG, but on January 27th he signed with PSG to play under Carlo Ancelotti, his (and Chelsea's) previous manager. During the past year, he was being used as a backup player to the likes of John Terry, Branislav Ivanovic, and David Luiz, as well as a backup defender for the Brazilian international team at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Overall he made 87 appearances for Chelsea, scoring 7 goals.

An absolutely incredible free kick by Alex to tie the game against Liverpool in the 2009 Champions League quarter-finals against Liverpool.

Good luck to him at PSG. 

Cheers,

~Matt

P.S. Stay connected for for Chelsea transfer news to come. A ton of rumours are circulating about a possible swap: David Luiz for Real Madrid's Pepe; as well as a renewed Eden Hazard bid; and a go for Lucas Moura. Personally, I think all of these are unlikely, but I guess we'll have to wait and see. It doesn't look like AVB is too interested in signing any more players during the window (no idea why).

DONE DEAL: Gary Cahill is Now Officially a Chelsea Player (finally)!

Well, it finally happened. After about 3 weeks of planning, arguing, squabbling over millions of pounds...

THE GARY CAHILL SAGA IS COMPLETE.
Done.
Finished.

Thank god.

Some Gary Cahill highlights.

Many people (myself included) were honestly expecting the transfer to go through pretty much a few hours after the ball dropped on New Year's Eve/January transfer window.

But then it didn't.

And we were waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Finally, we heard the news that Cahill wanted to be paid Ashley Cole's wages (£100,000 p/w) and Chelsea were only willing to pay him Alex's wages (£50,000 p/w). And it started to get a bit stressful, because while the two sides were quarreling over salaries, Tottenham and Liverpool were quietly sneaking up behind Chelsea, hoping to somehow hijack the deal. In the end though, it was Chelsea who emerged victorious (or did they?), managing to agree to an £80,000 p/w/ wage deal for five years, while offering £7 million to Bolton as a transfer fee. Personally, I think £100,000 was definitely too steep. £80,000 is slightly better, although I would definitely have been more comfortable with somewhere in the ballpark of £65,000 p/w. Although, I also believe that Chelsea are in a pretty dire defensive situation, and I think Cahill realized that they would be willing to pay quite a large sum to patch up their aging defensive line. My guess is that he never realistically expected to be paid £100,000 p/w at all, but rather he was attempting to see how much money Chelsea was willing to pay. That's just my opinion though, and I'd say that it's actually a pretty smart move, if that's what he was aiming for.

Thoughts? Was it too much money, or a good signing? Let me know in the "comments" section.

Thank god that's over.

Anyway, I'll give you a few stats now. He's 26, a central defender, and has teamed up multiple times with John Terry in the middle of the defensive line for the England national team. So I guess it's good that they have some chemistry there (although, when you think about it... England's defense isn't the best in the world). He's made appearances for Aston Villa, Burnley, Sheffield United, and, most recently, Bolton, where he made 130 appearances and scored 13 times (and scored the winning goal for them during their 2-1 win over Everton last week). He has been given the number 24 shirt, last worn by current QPR midfielder Shaun Wright-Phillips. 

Cahill's released statement reads as follows:

"Chelsea is a massive club, it is a club that looks to win trophies season in season out and it is a big opportunity for me to be a part of that. Opportunities like this you can't turn down. This is the right move for me at the right time and I would like to thank everyone at Bolton because I've had a great four years at the football club. My spell with Wanderers has enabled me to break into the England squad, and I would particularly like to thank the fans for their support along the way. I always appreciate their backing." 

Well, congratulations, Gary Cahill (and Chelsea).

Good luck at Stamford Bridge. 

Gaël Kakuta Accepts Dijon Loan

On January 11, 2012, Chelsea forward Gaël Kakuta accepted a loan offer from French club Dijon until the end of the 2011-2012 season.

Gaël Kakuta

Dijon were promoted from Ligue 2 at the end of last season and currently sit in 16th spot in the Ligue 1 table. He has previously made 16 appearances for Chelsea (assisting two goals in the process), 7 appearances while on loan at Fulham (scoring one goal against Sunderland), and 6 appearances during his arguably unsuccessful loan spell at Bolton (scoring once against Aston Villa in a League Cup match).

He has also made 58 appearances at the international level, playing on the French U-16–U-21 sides and  scoring 15 goals at this level.

Good luck to him, hopefully he can grab some first-team football while in France. 

P.S. Expect news of a Gary Cahill transfer tomorrow. Apparently the two sides have patched up their wage disagreements and the deal should go through very soon.

P.P.S. Tottenham FINALLY played their postponed (due to the London riots in the summer) match with Everton, meaning that each side in the Premier League has played the same number of games! Thank the soccer gods – that was really starting to annoy me.

Hulk: an £84 million transfer?

A brilliant addition to the long list of Chelsea transfer targets:

Hulk

Current club: FC Porto

Clubs interested: Chelsea

Asking price: £84 million

This 25-year old Brazilian international can function as a right winger and striker. He has worked under André Villas-Boas previously, and his agent has issued a statement which reads: " Hulk would wholeheartedly agree to work with André at Porto or Chelsea, or at any other team because he really likes the way he coaches. André knows Hulk very well and they have a good relationship. Hulk at Chelsea? Anything is possible." Hulk has also stated that he would be open to a move, and he seems to be quite adept at scoring. Last season, Hulk was the top scorer in the Primeira Liga, netting 23 and assisting 13 in 26 appearances – an amazing record, to say the least. He works well with AVB and (if he performs to his usual standard at Chelsea) would serve to dispel the circulating rumours about AVB's lack of managerial ability. Hulk would truly be the signing of the year (possibly decade), and his move to Chelsea would completely shatter the EPL transfer record. The most money paid by a British club (up until now) has been Chelsea's £50 million bid for Fernando Torres. This would top both that record, as well as the world football transfer record (Cristiano Ronaldo's £80 million move from Manchesster United to Real Madrid). For that amount of money, of course there's a considerable risk; however, it would honestly be lovely to have a striker in the ranks who can finish almost every time. Let's be honest here: Fernando Torres is a great player, I'm not denying his ability (he has lots); however, it just doesn't seem to be a good fit at Chelsea. Manchester United have Wayne Rooney; Manchester City have Mario Balotelli, Sergio Agüero, and Edin Dzeko; Liverpool have Luis Suárez; Arsenal have Robin van Persie; Newcastle have Demba Ba. Chelsea need a striker of that calibre (especially since Drogba will be gone for the African Cup of Nations, and then also off to another team in January/summertime). We have Mata on the left, Sturridge on the right. Hulk would fit perfectly in that central role. 

P.S. I've also added Hulk to the long list of possible Chelsea transfer targets (previous post). 

DONE DEAL: Nicolas Anelka to Shanghai Shenhua

Well, it's official, and nobody can say that it was unexpected: Nicolas Anelka is no longer a Chelsea player.

Hours after the transfer window opened, Anelka accepted a transfer to Shanghai Shenhua for an undisclosed amount.

During his four years with Chelsea he scored 59 goals in 184 appearances, and was club top scorer twice.

He also missed the penalty kick that lost Chelsea the 2008 Champions League final against Manchester United. Credit to both Anelka and Edwin van der Saar – it was a good shot and an ever better save.

Anelka's kick at about 10:10. Notice how van der Saar points to the top-left corner of the net right before the shot as a distraction tactic. Guess it worked. 

Look: I found a video compilation of Anelka's goals during the 2008/2009 season!

Apparently Anelka has stated that he plans to end his career back in the Premier League. I'm thinking he's planning on getting back at Chelsea for leaving him off the guest list at the club Christmas party (full story here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2080481/Chelsea-deliver-final-insult-Nicolas-Anelka.html)
Anyway, I wish him luck in China, and I hope he finds what he's looking for at Shanghai Shenhua.

Cheers, and Happy Transfer Window to you all.
~Matt

P.S. You may have noticed, I've put up a text box to the right of page detailing the transfers that are sure to come this January. Hopefully I'll have the pleasure of getting to write in names like Gary Cahill, Neymar, and Eden Hazard (and anyone else on that list).