Chelsea To Relive Old Times With Benayoun?
Chelsea never cease to amaze me! With the same ageing side that’d struggled to keep up with United the season before, last season we managed to come away with the double. And so, with us obviously wanting to sustain that success now that we’re back into winning ways again, it was clear we’d need to see some movement of personnel during the summer.
So here we were getting ourselves all excited with all the names being bandied about…….and then we go and sign Yossi Benayoun! Hardly a statement of intent is it? I mean, I can’t see Fergie calling any emergency meetings with his board to shore up his squad if the strength of our first summer signing is anything to go by.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to start having a go at what is now a Chelsea player, I just don’t get it really. 28 year old Joe Cole struggled to get off our bench last season (following a pretty bad injury) despite needing some sort of consistency to get back from his long-term absence and then we go and sign a 30 year old who only managed 3 more league appearances without an injury to get over.
Fair enough, out of the two of them you’d have to say Benayoun had the better season but at 30, surely he isn’t the sort of signing we’d all been hoping for? And yet again, the club have not only invested £6million to bring in an over-30 but they’ve also given him a three year deal. No wonder he’s saying “I am very excited to come to a club like Chelsea, it is a big club and I think it is a dream for every player. Hopefully we will be successful.”
As for the man who signed him, Carlo Ancelotti tells us “We are happy to have this new player. Yossi has a lot of quality in midfield and can play in lots of positions. I like his behaviour on the pitch and he will do a great job for us next season.”
Oh well, at least it’ll give Yossi and Bosingwa the chance to catch up on old times eh?
Filed under: Current Players, Rants, Transfers, Videos
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That is one reason i like Bosingwa!
You really haven’t looked at the bigger picture have you? I believe Benayoun has been signed as a squad player. Somebody happy to sit on the bench and play a part in helping the youth players come through and get first team experience. We have released Ballack and Belletti already, and Deco will leave shortly. These gaps will be filled by younger, less experienced players. Obviously you can’t expect Kakuta to fill the boots of Ballack or Deco straight away (for example) and so Benayoun will bring some experience whilst they get settled in. As sad as I am to see Joe Cole leave, I fully stand by the clubs policy of not being held to ransom. It’s about time too. A player who contributed very little last season should not be demanding an increase in his wage. That wouldn’t happen in the ‘normal’ working world would it. If I performed poorly at work then marched into my boss’ office demanding a pay rise I think I know what the answer would be. Benayoun has the possibility of being a very shrewd tactical purchase for us and I look forward to seeing him play his part. Finally we are building for the future and not relying upon marque signings which, lets face it, have on more than one occassion let us down.
Thanks Boycie, exactly what I felt!!..Welcome Benayoun and wish you all the best with Chelsea.
Great comment Boycie, when I first read about the possibility of signing Benayoun a while back, I couldn’t believe what I was reading, but when you see who’s leaving, there will be quite a bit gap left in the midfield in terms of experience, so I think he will be a good, reasonably priced signing.
Benayoun is a really good-fluid player who has good EPL. So, he is used to being muscled out. I think chelsea made correct move by getting an experienced player , instead of buying big shots who might end up like Schevchenko (if u know what i mean)
I think we r gonna need a left back and a Good striker…and we are done for season!…
Cause Essien and Jose will be coming back soon so midfield is coverallrite…
just that cole will be leaving 4 sure…and left-back may be a problem!…
This chelsea team can do same what they did last season any time of year and twice on my birthday!..
boycie summed it up perfectly,nothing more to say.
Boycie – strangely enough considering I was dead against Joe Cole leaving, I agree with everything you’ve said on that. I even agree to an extent about the rationale behing Benayoun’s signing but what I find hard to get my head round is that we’d pay 6million as a transfer fee (plus whatever he’s getting paid) and give a three year contract to someone considered a squad player. He’s over 30 and according to the rationale is effectively a filler over the next season – possibly even part of the following season if needs be – but into a third year? I cant see it, so why will we still be paying his wages then?
They took a hard line with Joe Cole for financial reasons (and fair play to them for that) and then go and sort a deal with Benayoun that flies in the face of their apparent newfound financial awareness!
ermm sorry…i disagree with most of what has been said.
I understand that squad players and experianced heads in midfield are needed as Deco, Ballack, Joe and Belleti have gone. But to replace them with Benayoun??
I hope you havent watched a coupla clips on youtube and thought hang on a minute this Benayoun looks good!! because no! remember this was a fringe player of a team that finished 7th last season and that was for a reason!! The only kind of impact he has ever made has been coming on as a sub in the last 20 minutes..but those kind of performances were few and far in between!! Ive seen Benitez try and start with him and he really really really struggled!! not only that hes older now…hes 30!! Fact is if I made a compilation of Titus Brambles best ever tackles he could be made to look like the worlds best ever defender. Benayoun…is weak, poor on the ball, loses it way too often 2 easily from what ive seen!!! and has now lost that bit of pace and acceleration that he had..so what were doing signing him I have no fcking idea!! You know some players you cn kind get round to seeing it from another point of view..this signing does not make sense in a million years from whateva angle you look at it!!! it must have been political!!!
and we get rid of Joe Cole!! who I think people have already forgot just how good this player is!!
We shall see but overall I think maybe we should have kept Ballack on and not signed Benayoum. Either way, Cole does not come into the equation because they are different players and the comment above about asking for a pay rise when have you had a poor year precisely sums up that position. Note that nobody has rushed to sign Cole whereas Ballack was signed up within a couple of days of leaving, we will miss him big time i think.
Am
I missing the point here, we have signed a top class squad player who actually has some effect on a game, o never saw it with Joe, he had alot of diabolical performances for us, couldn’t shoot, pick a pass and had a low work rate!
What the hell did people expect? That we would super-mahically get younger versions of our stars and that everything would be great?
We made a VERY nice quality signing that will continue helping us creatively score goals
We were not going to make massive changes as we CURRENTLY HAVE A TITLE-WINNING TEAM and there is zero sense selling off a major piece or buying a new major piece
Now next season? Maybe
I also think we went for the cheaper option of Benayoun to free up some money for a creative midfielder, Ozil maybe? Also, Ballack leaving and Benayoun coming in have no relation to eachother, we have enough midfielders (especially with Matic coming in). Now that Cole’s gone, an experienced right-winger is what we needed (to let the youth settle in like Chelsea D said). He’s also versatile and with Belletti and Deco going we need someone to fill that squad player void.
squad players have been very important to chelsea, they’re why we never really seemed to have a problem when someone got injured this season (except for maybe Essien), and like I said, cheaper option frees up money for that creative midfielder we desperately need!
I’ll judge the price tag once i see his contribution
LukaCrotia and Namo should be banned for racist comments. Judge players on skill and ability and that is all
That was not why I was replying. i have been waiting for a big signing this summer and so far nothing. I have believed for the last few years that our lovely owner Roman was a billionaire who although paid a lot wanted a deal and felt as the team wanted 30 million he got the player for 28. Problem is he does not realize that if the player is big and the team wants 30 million, Real, Barca and Man city will pay 35.
Roman started the big boy money purchases in 05 now he needs to keep up and realize this was his doing so stop looking for the deal and start looking to be Euro Champs
We all know that Joey is better than Yossi but we must never forget that Yossi wouldn’t mind being on the bench whereas Joey didn’t want to even when his performance was bad coming back from injury. Benayoun is indeed an under-rated player and his not-so-good season at loserfool is mainly because rafa chose useless lucas ahead of Yossi!
Yossi is older but he is a calmer and creative player, he is decent. So, as a Chelsea fan, i would sincerely like to wish him successful years with Chelsea.
I would be delighted if we can at least get hold of Ozil and Aguero!
Slightly off topic maybe, but who do you think will have opportunities in the first team next season, I’ve seen a little bit of Gaël Kakuta and Jeffrey Bruma also looks impressive, while I can’t see Daniel Sturridge realistically having much opportunity, anyone else from the youth team or reserves likely to be in with a shout?