Liverpool Attempt a Reverse-Chelsea: Sign Player Who Has Never Scored Against Them
by DPeezy on Jan 11, 2012 9:30 AM GMT
in Chelsea FC: Transfer Rumours & News
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"Liverpool enter transfer chase for Kalou" blares the EXCLUSIVE headline on talkSPORT - a player who has faced them 16 times without a single goal! It's that most devilish of all transfer sources, the Anonymous Magic Source who has whispered as much into the ears of the radio station that is a bastion of non-sensationalism and bland opinions certainly not designed to stir up conversation.
That being said, Salomon Kalou (although just 26) is now in his 6th season at Chelsea. It does seem like he's been here forever though...and we've been waiting for him to become truly world class for about the same length of time as well. Alas, we can probably rule out that possibility at this point and if a club is willing to offer us a decent fee (Kalou was a €4m signing from Feyenoord), it would not be surprising to see him leave.
Make no mistake, writing that last sentence out took much effort on my part. As a card-carrying member of the Cult of Kalou, the last thing I want to see is Chelsea parting ways with the Ivorian...but the reality of the situation is that he has always been and likely always will be, at best, 3rd choice. It's fair to say that he has fallen to about 6th choice this season (and that's not counting Nicolas Anelka who is now swimming in his piles of Chinese money, Scrooge McDuck-style), not doing himself any favors with extremely poor performances when he deputized for Daniel Sturridge to begin the season and sealing his fate with that infamous hand ball at Valencia.
While he has scored a fair few goals for us over the years (57 as of last count), the perception has always been that they were not the crucial ones that won games (except for that lovely offside one v. Spurs last spring). His propensity for head-down dribbling, silly turnovers, and questionable decisions on the ball have left many fuming as well.
Liverpool are now the third team to be linked with Salomon, joining the likes of Arsenal (Wenger hasn't signed a French-speaking player in like a week after all!) and Paris Saint-Germain (Kalou did have his best ever Chelsea season under Ancelotti last year, and the setup there includes other ex-Chelsea men in Claude Makelele and Paul Clement).
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I wish Kalou was flat-out not good enough.
He’s got all the skills to be a top-class player, but not the ability to put them together properly. The only reason I’d sell him now is because of his expiring contract. That said, I’d rather have him go abroad for free than getting some cash from a PL club.
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he's the most frustrating player we have
i kinda want him to leave… i guess
by blue_is_the_colour on Jan 11, 2012 9:53 AM GMT reply actions
If he goes
Sell him to PSG, to avoid him scoring against us.
Kalou is a good player with good ability, just no football brain whatsoever.
It has been frustrating to watch Kalou sometimes, true
and I’d fully understand if he wanted to look for his fortune elsewhere because he isn’t near any starting position currently with us and there is nothing to blame him that at his age he isn’t so much content with that. However to me, all the good he did for us – super sub, late goals and such – still outweigh the negative ones and I’d be truly sad to leave. That said – if he left it would be even worse if he left to a rival – and above all – Pool, the club in the EPL world I detest the most. I certainly hope we don’t see him ending there – in fact I don’t like any of our players ending there regardless of their impact there; Joe Cole wasn’t exactly a bright star for them but I didn’t like to see him there either.
Tor ilisar'thera'nal!
Speaking of the Devil....
…..Joe Cole is having a really good campaign at Lille…maybe it’s time he returned as part of the deal for Kalou.
I mean....
…..if he would deign to come play at a small club, of course.
Maybe he could somehow engineer to get paid by both Chelsea and Liverpool at the same time
It’s the only hope of meeting his wage demands!!
Weren't his wage demands
what made him move on? Or was it really we didn’t offer him a contract extension for the being?
Tor ilisar'thera'nal!
Ouch
I would actually welcome him at LFC. I would love to offload the great ponytail, pull Solomon and De Jong along with a holding mid and call it a day.
That being said I really don’t think this will happen.
DeJong and a holding mid?
What exactly do you consider DeJong to be?
by Stephen Schmidt on Jan 12, 2012 5:21 AM GMT up reply actions
I'd like to give him a chance as we seem to be playing the type of football he'd enjoy.
Lets give him until summer and a couple of starts and see how he does. Unless we buy an amazing left winger. Then we can sell him if he wants to go.
Liverpool just want him
to prove they’re not racist.
Kalou know’s where it’s at, clearly.
by Sabrina Dessipe on Jan 11, 2012 12:26 PM GMT reply actions
If that were the case
then at least they won’t run out of potential targets I reckon
Tor ilisar'thera'nal!
I really wanna see a press release by Pool
stating this – and given the recent press releases and statements of the club it might even come :D
Tor ilisar'thera'nal!
Who knows he and Luis might even become mates?
Sabrina, I find this offensive I am lodging my complaint to the FA.
Bit harsh
Maybe he is frustrating to watch. But to be fair to him it’s not out of a lack of effort. He gave his all I’m sure. Just didn’t make the cut. Very dismissive attitude to a guy who did try. Kalou seems like a genuine guy aswell too.
Kalou 4m
Torres 50m
Misplaced anger.
I'd still say
the good moments Kalou brought us over his time at SB outweighs the frustrating negative parts
Tor ilisar'thera'nal!
I want him to stay
even if he never plays. He’s come up huge for us several times, he did a great job during Drogba’s CL group stage suspension of scoring goals and leading the line.
He’s a character, he’s an awesome person, and he’s an excellent backup. If he wants out because he wants first team football, then best wishes for him. But I’d rather not sell him unless it’s what he wants.
There are rumors out there about contract extension talks with Chelsea breaking down...
So it’s not like we’re booting him out (at least not directly). But Kalou no doubt realizes that he’s just about in his prime and that playing super sub and overall nice(st) guy at Chelsea should not be the pinnacle of his career.
Idk. It seems foolish to be paying someone 60k+/week to be a character in the dressing room.
Especially when I would do it for free.
by Valens on Jan 11, 2012 3:59 PM GMT up reply actions 1 recs
Ya but he still is a
Professional footballer. He’s just at the lower end of excellent. His fitness, attitude, attendance are top notch.
The key is the first team action
He’s sort of shown he isnt up to par to be a Chelsea regular lately, so it seems fair that he get to try this out elsewhere and that Chelsea recoup.
I’d prefer him go to PSG or something outside the PL… or mid to lower table in the PL I suppose would be okay, but not preferred. I would think it unwise for Chelsea to sell any of their players to any of the top 6 or so, especially when they’re floating about the edge of the CL spots.
Drop His Ass
The dude is 26 he’s not going to be anything more than a 30 minute substitute who offers nothing offensively on game day except a couple of nice all-star game type moves that lead to nothing and defensively he’s a nightmare who costs us time and time again (Valencia hand ball). The dude has all the talent in the world neck down and has no talent neck up. He’s not 20 anymore where he might one day put it together. We have that player his name is Gael Kakuta.
Ship him to Pool please. He’ll give them another non-scoring forward option and will only help us separate ourselves even more from Liverpool. Ideally we can ship him at a high enough cost that he pays for Inkoom or a different RB option.
This is random but how much did we make on the Anelka transfer? He wasn’t a Bosman yet so we should have gotten something, right?
The Anelka transfer is undisclosed
I haven’t seen any solid numbers on it yet
by Graham MacAree on Jan 11, 2012 7:31 PM GMT up reply actions
Guess
Do you have a guess? I was thinking realistically 5M pound but I’m secretly hoping that a couple of wealthy teams (PSG, Malaga, Al-Ain) were really bidding on him so his price doubled. If we got 10M for him then to me it’s a steal.
This doesn’t fit here but at what price would you sell Drogba? I’m thinking it seems more and more likely if we can’t get him to extend his deal a year or two especially with Lukaku being physically ready for the EPL. I was thinking if players like DI Maria/Hazard are estimated to cost between 30-40M euros I’d hope for half of that for Drogba. However, his history at Chelsea probably bumps his valuation up another 5M euros so if we get a 20M offer I’d take it. Less than that, nope. However, I do think we can get that money because Drogba signing at PSG, Malaga, Anzi or with a wealthy club in an unknown league (China, UAE, Saudi Arabia) would be a Eto’o like move for the club. The name recognition and ticket/jersey sales would mean the club makes a name for itself (or even more). The name Drogba is worth more to China than the player.
I would guess around 7-8M, based on the reported salary
As for Drogba, it would depend whether I knew he was going to walk away this summer or not. If so, I’d probably be ok with anything in the area of 15Mish
by Graham MacAree on Jan 12, 2012 4:24 AM GMT up reply actions
Kalou is still a good option
To be honest I expected to see a lot more of him considering that he played pretty damn well under Carlo past two seasons…but AVB hasn’t really rotated Mata or Sturridge,to give him a shot. He had one bad moment against Valencia,but otherwise was ok. The game against Wigan is the last I remember him playing,he looked pretty good. Yes,I’m a member of the Cult of Kalou,but seriously he should be used more before being totally written off. And never sell to a direct PL rival,IMO.
by Avinash Mohan on Jan 11, 2012 8:39 PM GMT via mobile reply actions
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