Fulham last night declared via various sources reporting on the club that they would not take less than £90m for Joao Palinha, their midfielder.
He’s been vaguely linked to Chelsea without anything too strong. But this communication spells out more than anything that clubs are demanding unprecedented fees for their players – the £100m that Brighton are asking us for our top target
Both Fulham and Brighton are in the same position. They may seem like smaller clubs in the division, but they’ve got plenty of money, and they have important players tied to long contracts.
They’re happy to sell, but only at a monster price.
So whether Chelsea want Palhinha, Caicedo or someone else, they’re going to have to get used to the idea that they’re going to be paying crazy money if they want to get them direct from the Premier League.
Declan Rice seems to have been priced out of reach – these two could soon follow. The £40m or so we could have paid for Rice a few years ago seems tiny now. Oh well, you live and learn. Things are only going one way, and the worst situation to be in would be reaching the end of the window without a solution.
It is not certain players are priced out of reach, the problem is coaches who come to Chelsea and demand certain signings ,overlooking academy players. At the end some academy players end up being loaned out and some being sold for wrong reasons.
So Chelsea must learn from this.
The days of Chelsea picking up players from other Premier league clubs on the cheap are gone! What can they offer a player that Brighton cannot because it certainly isn’t European football is it??? Jog on and get you house in order Chelsea you are a joke at the moment
Chelsea need caceido and tchouameni
Billionaire owners didn’t become billionaires by giving away the family silver!