That has been widely known and discussed at least the last 3-4 months. It's crazy to offer a 3 year deal to a 31 year old winger. It's not good business. Can you name a highly productive and effective winger in the EPL that's 33/34 years old?
There's no reason to think he can't do a job, lots of older players stick around to provide rotation minutes, versatility, and an experienced leader/vice captain-like presence in the changing room. Milner has played lots of positions for LFC and has been a key part of their success the past 3 years and I hope he still stays for another year into his mid 30s. Just a matter of wages... whether you can make it work on that level. With Willian, maybe that's the part that doesn't make sense. If Willian also leaves they'd better get Havertz or bring in some defensive recruits... because the others at the top of the premier league are going to be getting better too. Sancho to United is supposedly happening.
What's more crazy is letting him walk away over what amounts to 6-10 million in additional wages. I mean, have you seen what 6-10 million can get you in the transfer market these days? It's not a player like Willian. Ziyech has proven nothing in the EPL. Mount has proven not to be as effective in the Willian role as Willian. Pulisic has proven to be far more effective on the left. There are just a lot of reasons not to let Willian go to a rival to save what amounts to an average Championship-level transfer fee these days.
I don’t know what William’s career earnings are, but at this stage of his career the logic of maximizing salary over the various other “fit” issues escapes me. Unless he has spent like a drunken sailor for his entire career.
As a former drunken sailor, I should point out to you that had he spent like one he would have been the most frugal professional soccer player of all time.
https://patriotswire.usatoday.com/2020/08/03/patriots-tom-brady-christian-pulisics-injury/amp/ Interesting
There is a way to structure the deal so that he has what he wants. The guy is worth a three year deal, especially if the third year is heavy incentive laden. He's got at least one outstanding season left followed by two years of slow decline. I don't know why they won't do it as opposed to having him do what he does for Arsenal. Losing him on a free to one of the in town rivals, having the guy carry a grudge against the team every time they play Chelsea, seems like a risk that doesn't make sense, especially over one year of salary. That is of course if he wasn't willing to negotiate on the structure of the third year and his salary demands were unreasonable for the next two.
To add to this, he may want to opt out of a third year anyway in order to sign a 2.5-year deal with an MLS club.
FWIW the Chelsea boards are expecting six weeks totally out and 12 weeks until he's completely match fit. So a return in late October/early November. Also, they are quite happy with Puli some going as far as saying they wouldn't swap him for Hazard. Also, the new arrivals are expected to take some of the load off him. There are comments about how Alonso seems to avoid passing the ball to Pulisic too.
It's pretty much worth nothing without a diagnosis. We can make the same guesses (and I think some BS posters are on the Chelsea forums making some of those guesses).
I understand your view point, however we don't have all the details behind this offer/negotiation. This is his last paycheck/contract, I am sure he's pushing hard for every last penny. Heck, he might be pushing for a wage of 170k a week for 3 years. That's $26.5M for the duration of the contract. I think of it from a total cost perspective. Is he a guy worth paying a wage of over $25M for maybe 1 more year of high level productivity? And there's still the a debate of his overall performance past seasons. From a Goal/Assist and xG/xA point of view, I think his numbers that are not that impressive for an attacking winger.
Correct on all points. There are still nothing official coming out from Chelsea or their Medical staff regarding his injury or expected length of time out. All guesses by everyone at this moment.
Why would this be his last contract? He has expressed a desire to finish up in MLS and his fitness and skillset lead me to believe that he has four-to-five more years of at least MLS quality play in him. What he will command from MLS at 34 or 35 is not what he could get now, but it will still be a paycheck.
I doubt anyone pay a 34/35year 5+ million a year on a multi year contract. Unless he's Messi or Ronaldo.
I kind of think Brady is right. Flexibility is something you can train for. Whoever said he should get with the CR7 regimen was right. Or the Brady regime . Or the Jokovic regimen. It’s all the same thing. Train that way and you can play a long time.
Hulk is getting paid €320,000/week (over €16m/season) in China, playing for Shanghai SIPG. And he just turned 34. https://www.statista.com/statistics/256331/average-player-earnings-chinese-super-league-soccer/
I didn’t know who Hulk was so I asked my (college age) son, who said he’s a Brazilian player. So I asked what his real name was, and my son said, “I don’t know, maybe ‘de Silva‘?” Anyone know Hulk’s real name?
And more solidly-middle-class-white-kid upbringing. That's where the grit and determination comes from.