January 2014 Transfer Window

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

Rudy Gestede and Tom Cairney have joined Blackburn from Cardiff and Hull, respectively.

[Lineker]

Chelsea have recalled Sam Hutchinson and Gael Kakuta from their Vitesse loans.

[stokeriño]

Chelsea have recalled Sam Hutchinson and Gael Kakuta from their Vitesse loans.

Because they're almost certainly about to be sold.

[Gazz]

Berbatov to Arsenal could be a decent cover option for £2m. He can still do a job up top, and he's a proven goalscorer. Top bit of shrewd business by Arsene in my opinion, even if the fans will be calling for a major signing like Diego Costa or someone to that effect.

It's easier to win football matches with eleven players on the pitch.

Just ask Fulham.

[stokeriño]

"Chelsea bid £50 million for Higuain" is a silly enough story, Daily Telegraph, but to say that they "plan a second bid after that was rejected" is just madness.

[Baddar]

And, didn't Jose say no strikers would be brought in this month? Or that was reported, at least.

[stokeriño]

He did say that. We always buy more than José says we'll buy (this time he's said no one and I'm pretty sure we're going for Guarin), but not buying strikers makes sense because there aren't strikers worth buying in this window. Hence I believe him on that one.

[Plubby]

Chelsea need to sell to buy for FFP purposes don't they?

[stokeriño]

No.

But the big summer cash boost is just another reason why major purchases will almost certainly wait until then. That, along with poor january availability and the possibility of a number of squad places opening up at the end of the season (e.g. Essien, Eto'o/Ba, etc.).

[Plubby]

No.

That's staggering to me that Chelsea can post such large losses and still be in a FFP position to buy anything more than tuppence on the pound, so to speak.

[Rich]

Its because their losses in 2012 weren't that high, champs league win and all.

[stokeriño]

Firstly, you're probably looking at headline losses, not losses that are relevant to FFP. And you may be forgetting that the losses are counted over 3 seasons (from 2011 onwards).

Our recent 2012-13 figures reported a c.£49m loss but £15m of this is on costs not counted for FFP (Academy costs, any lingering pre-June 2010 contracts, etc.), so the FFP figure for 2012-13 was a £34m loss.

In 2011-12 it was reported that we made a minor profit (FIRST TIME EVAR) of £1m or £2m or something. This again was the headline figure, and we can assume that the deduction for FFP-irrelevant costs would be the same if not higher (for example, pre-June 2010 contracts of Drogba, Kalou, etc. were on the books), so we will have made a profit verging on £20m, in FFP terms at least.

Secondly, you may not know/recall that, although transfer fees are generally paid up front (unless you're Portsmouth), in the books they're always amortised over the length of the player's contract. For example, signing a £15m player on a five year contract will only appear as a £3m loss in that season, or £9m over the full course of any three year FFP monitoring period.

And thirdly...we get fees back for loaning a bajillion players out, you know.

[Matt]

there's no way that FFP will affect big sides/sides with s rich owner.

[stokeriño]

Obviously. It's there to cement the status quo and prevent smaller clubs from investing, which is bloody disgraceful and not 'fair' at all (and I say that with Chelsea being part of said 'status quo').

[Colly]

there's no way that FFP will affect big sides/sides with s rich owner.

Indeed. Stoker could have saved himself a massive post by just replying 'lol, FFP'.

[stokeriño]

I like talking numbers...

[Plubby]

I knew it was 34m total

[stokeriño]

I also forgot that we got a bigger deal with Adidas from last June, increased to £30m per year (for 10 years) from...some much smaller amount that I forget ...that will help boost our balance from this year onwards.

[Nerf]

Colin Pascoe has categorically ruled out Raheem Sterling leaving on loan in this window, contrary to reports.

[Lineker]

Striker Adam Morgan has signed for Championship side Yeovil on a two-and-a-half-year contract from Liverpool.