Gonzalo Higuain | Chelsea Player

Dancfc

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So Morata quietly skulks off to Atletico whilst Chelsea throw a bunch of cash to bring in Higuain.

Can't help but feel if this was us with Lukaku it'd be getting a lot more attention and the club's transfer policy would (rightly) be getting a lot of stick.
Can't speak for the general public but i would be quietly impressed at how quickly you have rectified an expensive mistake getting most of your money back.

I imagine you will be selling him soon away (he will hand in a transfer request if he isn't back as a undisputed starter by the summer) and if you recoup most of his fee then kudos.
 

Sultan

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He's been poor and immobile I've seen on the rare occasion most notably at the World Cup. I'm not sure he still has the pace to succeed in the Premiership. Experience will get him a few goals. Doesn't really seem an improvement on Morrata or Giroud.
 

duffer

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He's been poor and immobile I've seen on the rare occasion most notably at the World Cup. I'm not sure he still has the pace to succeed in the Premiership. Experience will get him a few goals. Doesn't really seem an improvement on Morrata or Giroud.
You've not seen Morata this season I take it.

I'd be an improvement.
 

KM

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Think it's a poor signing by Chelsea. He has shown nowhere near his peak form after that Napoli season. Infact the fact that Juve were willing to take a 35m euros hit on him just two seasons after signing him shows how far he has fallen. Let's wait and watch though.
 

KM

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You've not seen Morata this season I take it.

I'd be an improvement.
Goals aren't everything but Morata has a better goal per minutes ratio than Higuain in this season.
 

Sultan

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Either football is evolving and traditional strikers seem to be less in vogue or a lack of good strikers around to justify their place at top teams.
 

harms

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Think it's a poor signing by Chelsea. He has shown nowhere near his peak form after that Napoli season. Infact the fact that Juve were willing to take a 35m euros hit on him just two seasons after signing him shows how far he has fallen. Let's wait and watch though.
He had scored 55 goals in 2 seasons for Juve. You make it sound like he was a disaster, he clearly wasn't.
 

Ish

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how shit has he been for Milan this season, if some are predicting him to barely be an upgrade on Morata? :eek:

Haven't watched Milan/Serie A much at all but i know how shit Morata was.
 

KM

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He had scored 55 goals in 2 seasons for Juve. You make it sound like he was a disaster, he clearly wasn't.
Then why did they wanted to ship him off for 54m euros only to another Italian club? How does that make sense.
Lukaku scored 27 goals for us last season, do you think he's been a good buy for us?

Juve clearly weren't happy with his performances.
 

duffer

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Then why did they wanted to ship him off for 54m euros only to another Italian club? How does that make sense.
Lukaku scored 27 goals for us last season, do you think he's been a good buy for us?
They needed him off the wage bill to accomodate a certain tax dodger.
 

harms

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Then why did they wanted to ship him off for 54m euros only to another Italian club? How does that make sense.
Lukaku scored 27 goals for us last season, do you think he's been a good buy for us?
Because he isn’t a good fit for Ronaldo and was on high wages that they needed to cut? He was very good in his first season and good in the next one — helped a lot them in the build up as well and scored some great goals and goals against big teams. Lukaku is a bad comparison as they’re nothing alike.
 

KM

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Because he isn’t a good fit for Ronaldo and was on high wages that they needed to cut? He was very good in his first season and good in the next one — helped a lot them in the build up as well and scored some great goals and goals against big teams. Lukaku is a bad comparison as they’re nothing alike.
You're the one who mentioned the goals, not me. If a selling club is willing to take a 30% hit in transfer fees on a player they've signed two years ago, then it clearly means they're not satisfied with a player.

Also Higuain's salary was nearly 1/4th of Ronaldo. All the sources have quoted Higuain's salary as 7.7m euros whilst Ronaldo is around 30m euros which makes Ronaldo's salary 4 times as much as those of Higuain.
 

KM

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They needed him off the wage bill to accomodate a certain tax dodger.
Ronaldo earns four times as much as Higuain in their time at Juventus according to the numbers I saw, so I'm not sure if they really needed Higuain off their wage bill.
 

duffer

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Ronaldo earns four times as much as Higuain in their time at Juventus according to the numbers I saw, so I'm not sure if they really needed Higuain off their wage bill.
If they were both on 7 mil they could probably have afforded to keep him.

If they're paying someone 30 million a year, of course they need to make savings elsewhere.
 

KM

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If they were both on 7 mil they could probably have afforded to keep him.

If they're paying someone 30 million a year, of course they need to make savings elsewhere.
I mean I'm just saying that it wouldn't make sense for us to sell a 25k player just to buy a 100k player. Ofcourse they sold him off because they saw a chance at signing a much better player.
 

harms

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You're the one who mentioned the goals, not me. If a selling club is willing to take a 30% hit in transfer fees on a player they've signed two years ago, then it clearly means they're not satisfied with a player.

Also Higuain's salary was nearly 1/4th of Ronaldo. All the sources have quoted Higuain's salary as 7.7m euros whilst Ronaldo is around 30m euros which makes Ronaldo's salary 4 times as much as those of Higuain.
Lukaku only provides goals, Higuain does (or, at least, did) much more. I can’t believe I’m defending him here as I’m not his biggest fan at all.

They signed Ronaldo and they had to make cuts somewhere — which means that they could’ve not afford having a number 9 (given that Ronaldo is basically a 9 at this point) on one of the biggest wages on the team to have as a bench/alternative option.
 
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There are so few strikers about, and they are costing an absolute fortune. £6m for the rest of the season is quite shrewd. They will likely buy a high profile striker in the summer - it’s better than spending £20-40m on someone who won’t be first choice at the start of next season.
 

12OunceEpilogue

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It seems a decent temporary solution but obviously Chelsea need to sort this out for the long-term. As to them getting relatively few pelters in the media for the entire Morata situation all I've really heard about Chelsea this year is that Hazard is leaving, Kante isn't being used properly and they need a top-level striker, and even if you think the media aren't being hard enough on them the fans I know certainly are. I watched that dismal Arsenal performance with my Ski-supporting cousin and he was popping a tit looking at that formless mess.
 

crossy1686

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He's been poor and immobile I've seen on the rare occasion most notably at the World Cup. I'm not sure he still has the pace to succeed in the Premiership. Experience will get him a few goals. Doesn't really seem an improvement on Morrata or Giroud.
100% this. Sarri can't say he wasn't supported when he gets the boot in the summer. Would be more than surprised if Higuain returned anything near what's expected of him.
 

Mb194dc

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Morata put a transfer request in and asked to leave. It's not like keeping him sulking around was even an option. Considering that we were in the market for any half decent striker and Higuain is a good option.

Our main issue is not our striker though. It's our lack of creativity from midfield and out wide / full backs. Kante main strength is tackling and he's playing high up the pitch, doesn't work against good opposition.

Sarri has difficult tactical and team selection issues to fix. Bit like Conte after we got beat 3 0 by Arsenal. He can find the solution like Conte or be a goner at the end of the season.
 

Nedved

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He's been poor and immobile I've seen on the rare occasion most notably at the World Cup. I'm not sure he still has the pace to succeed in the Premiership. Experience will get him a few goals. Doesn't really seem an improvement on Morrata or Giroud.
Not sure about that. Higuain scored 3 and assisted 1 against Spurs just last year in the CL. He clearly didn’t have a problem with the pace.
 

Enigma_87

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Panic choice a bit. Higuain is IMO past it considering his Milan form. Was pretty good for Juve but is clearly on the wane.
 

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Didn't He score like 40 goals in a season at Madrid? at that point I thought He was a world class CF and now it seems like He's an uber, fancy version of Emile Heskey. I knew nothing about La Liga though.
 

Adam-Utd

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Didn't He score like 40 goals in a season at Madrid? at that point I thought He was a world class CF and now it seems like He's an uber, fancy version of Emile Heskey. I knew nothing about La Liga though.
He was a very different player to what he is today. He used to be quite mobile and dribble a fair bit.

Now he's more of a poacher but he's still got great technical ability. If Chelsea manage to get him fitter they could have a real weapon up front again.

He's scored 30+ goals in Spain and Italy, no doubt he could do it here too.