Chelsea are playing a dangerous game by chasing Cavani
Is Cavani truly worth the price Chelsea is willing to pay?
The Edinson Cavani transfer saga has finally gathered steam. S.S.C. Napoli’s official radio station, Radio Marte, reported that the Italian club accepted a £49.3m bid for the striker.
It seems like the despots running Chelsea decided to write a cheque to Napoli, adding more zeroes on the back due to lack of space.
Former Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini had been dreaming of the day Cavani would set foot into the Etihad stadium, but his sacking meant that City were no longer interested in paying “blood money” for Cavani. This meant that Chelsea didn’t need to enter into a bidding war as they are the only club remaining in the race to sign Cavani.
Chelsea, being Chelsea, must have decided that it’s far more easier to say ‘Shut up and take my money!’ than pause for a moment and think about spending another fortune on another striker.
Even Cavani seems to be mocking at the €63m transfer fee slapped on him.
“I don’t think I’m worth €63m. I will have to talk to [Aurelio] De Laurentiis [Napoli president] about it. I owe a lot to Napoli and I want to leave through the front door if I move on,” he said.
If Cavani’s self-assessment wasn’t enough to knock some sense into the overzealous chieftain of the Chelsea tribe, then I guess Laurentiis is a step closer to pumping freshly minted euros through the water sprinklers of Stadio San Paolo.
However, Laurentiis was recently quoted by Radio Rai saying that he’ll “smack” Cavani if the striker doesn’t decide his future by July 20. Laurentiis’s statements were a bit ambiguous; he is willing to lose Cavani for the right price and, at the same time, doesn’t mind Cavani staying at Napoli for another season.
“Will I let Cavani go before August 10? I trust in the man, then if he doesn’t want to it’ll be a joke on me.
“However, I believe he is a real man and will therefore remain at Napoli. If he does decide to go, it will in any case be after the Confederations Cup,” said Laurentiis.
In the last three seasons, Cavani had scored a total of 101 goals for Napoli in all competitions – an average of 34 goals per season. His stellar form in the Italian league saw his stock double and quadruple during every passing transfer window. He has a release clause of around £54m in his contract.
Normally, a suitor willing to take on Cavani tries to drive down the asking price to the minimum. Unless, of course, we are talking about Chelsea. If you look in the dictionary for the word impatience, you may find a hastily sketched logo of the London-based football club. In the last nine years, Chelsea’s transfer spending had made more millionaires out of businessmen than in the privatization boom that came after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
I am not against the whole concept of Chelsea’s ‘if you’ve got it, flaunt it’ way of living. What worries me is the knock-on effect it would have on the local and international transfer markets. We saw it happen in January 2011, when Chelsea bought Fernando Torres for £50 from Liverpool. As a knee-jerk reaction, the club management swiftly moved for Andy Carroll and paid an inflated sum of £35m. Yes, the same Andy Carroll who was said to be “worth f**k all” by the former Newcastle United managing director Derek Llambias. And Liverpool recently sold him to West Ham for just £15m.
If you say that they were the mistakes of the old management, think again. Even during the years under Jose Mourinho, every transfer window was celebrated like it was a Sweet 16 party.
Even if Mourinho is presented with a gift voucher instead of an expensive gift basket this season, Chelsea’s accounts will not fall in line with the Financial Fair Play Rules. Last November, the London club made a paltry profit profit of £1.4m for the first time in a decade. It was directly linked to the money earned from the Champions League and FA Cup final wins. To make that measly profit every year, Chelsea need to keep winning trophies. However, this isn’t a sustainable business model. The FFP allows a club to lose not more than 45 million euros in a three-year period. For a club that posted a loss of £67.7m two seasons ago, splurging on new players like Cavani would mean that they are playing a very dangerous game. A game that could cost them dearly in the future for violating FFP rules.