Why?

They brought in plenty of players who have done nothing for them over the years. Kezman was far worse than Chamakh, Shevchenko? Boulahrouz? Ben Haim?

They go through alot of players to find the quality that they have and that luxury is given to them by having far more money to spend than anybody else.

In the Abramovic era the below have hadly set the world alight

Shevchenko 30m
Veron 15m
Crespo 17m
Mutu 15m
Jarosik 7m
Ferriera 13m
Boularouz 8m
Parker 10m
Johnson 6m
Del Horno 8m
Kezman 5m
Geremi 7m
Wright Philips 21m

Some of the above flopped worse than others but setting up Chelsea as the yardstick for getting quality is hardly an apt comparison. They managed to recoup some of what they paid out on the above but nowhere near what they paid out

United might be better comparison maybe

Shevchenko and Kezman were silvestre type signings? Seriously? Come on man, Kezman came with a similar CV to Chamakh and Shevchenko came straight into the first eleven.

Squillaci is comparable to the defenders that I mentioned but then you could also look at Glen Johnson, Jerk off, Bridge, Bosingwa etc.

Point is that they go through players like no tomorrow; that is a luxury that they have had since Abramovich bought them. They have the capacity to make mistakes in the market that pretty much no other team has been able to in the last seven years.

Machete wrote:

true but you can bet wont be bringing in guys like squillaci and chamakh

That's what you said and I would take that bet everytime.

Captain wrote:

Shevchenko and Kezman were silvestre type signings? Seriously? Come on man, Kezman came with a similar CV to Chamakh and Shevchenko came straight into the first eleven.

Squillaci is comparable to the defenders that I mentioned but then you could also look at Glen Johnson, Jerk off, Bridge, Bosingwa etc.

Point is that they go through players like no tomorrow; that is a luxury that they have had since Abramovich bought them. They have the capacity to make mistakes in the market that pretty much no other team has been able to in the last seven years.

This is a very fair assessment. Torres, for example, could still go the way of Drogba or the way of Shevchenko.

I think Barca (f them) are a better example of a team that buys well albeit at very high cost (don't listen to all that homegrown, organic farm, mes que un club bollocks). Chrginsky failed, but they have largely gotten output from their expensive signings.

They spend 15-30m on their Silvestre type signings?

As for Sam Nas, I don't blame the club yet for the situation. We'll see how it plays out, but this feels like a situation where Nasri always had the power and is choosing to exercise it.

If Nasri comes out explicitly to say "I don't really want money, I want better players around me", then I start to put more responsibility at the club's feet.

Can anyone with some time on there hands do the research and make a true wage comparison?

It's not possible.

Captain wrote:

It's not possible.

Of course it is, provided you have the time and cash to spend.

Shag one of their HR ladies, bit of coffee talk. Wining and dining, casual lunch and a group outing to the French Riviera. Plenty of things can get done that way.

I fancy a trip to Cannes actually...

Save up and buy 30% of both Arsenal and Chelski, then you get access to their books. Job's a good 'en.

I haven't followed the Chelsea-Arsenal wage-youth debate, but I saw this and thought of it.

YoungGunsBlog Jamie Sanderson
Chelsea paid £5m for Piazón, rising to £8m. Only 17, didn't play first-team at São Paulo, but picking up £1m a year. Amazing.

Machete wrote:

They work at a higher level than us.

Of course they do. I don't know why people are arguing with you about it.

The problem is we just cannot work at that level because we can't spend at that level. Basically we're fucked. In fact the league is fucked, if not the game as a whole.

Nasri's on the cover of the official magazine - July edition.
There's an "in-depth" interview with him too.
I wonder if he reveals his plans for next season?

I think he would have signed by now if he really wanted to stay. At least there would be more confident voices coming out of the club.

I'm starting to get the feeling that Wilshere will replace Nasri next season, with Ramsey taking Wilshere's place in midfield. You'd have to say that Jack is better as a central midfielder than a forward at this point, but then again everyone bar Wenger would have claimed that the opposite was true last summer.