Interesting how we think about them as big spenders but if you take a look at the transfer fees of their strongest starting XI right now versus our strongest starting XI right now, ours isn't too far off:
Courtois - £6m
Cahill - £7m
Terry - n/a (academy)
Azpilicueta - £7m
Ivanovic - £9m
Fabregas - £30m
Matic - £21m
Ramires - £18m
Oscar - £25m
Costa - £32
Hazard - £32m
= £187m
Mignolet - £10m
Moreno - £15m
Sakho - £18m
Johnson - £18m
Lovren - £20m
Henderson - £16m
Gerrard - n/a (academy)
Coutinho - £9m
Lallana - £25m
Markovic - £20m
Sterling - n/a (academy)
= £152m
And that's leaving out Balotelli (£16m) and Sturridge (£12m), who, if added, would bring us darn close to their total fees for their best XI.
we're not exactly the paupers FSG would like the supporters to believe we are.
You need to include the wages and you might see a condiderable disparity.
And the timing, year and scenarios involving most of those transfers.
Courtois - £6m // Mignolet - £10mCourtois was purchased, at the age of 19, in 2011 after breaking through at Genk in the Belgian Pro League.
Mignolet was 25, bought in 2013, and was already an established Premier League keeper. Besides, Mignolet cost £9m, not £10m.
Cahill - £7m // Sakho - £18mCahill was 26 at the time and on the last six months of his contract at Bolton. It was damn good business by Chelsea because he's a quality CB, but let's be honest here: Bolton's hands were tied. They could have either accepted a fee below Cahill's value or let him go on a free.
Sakho was 23 and coming from PSG, a team he captained at all levels since he was in the academy. It's not like PSG need the money, so we overpaid a touch here, but by how much considering it was the summer window and Sakho's reputation in France?
Azpilicueta - £7m // Moreno - £15mAzpilicueta was a GREAT signing by Chelsea. No doubt about this one. He looked like garbage his first few games, but really stepped up and became an integral part of their backline.
Moreno actually cost £12m, not £15m. He's only been here 6 months. He could still turn out to be a monster of a player and a bargain at £12m.
Terry - n/a (academy) // Lovren - £20m
Laughable gulf of quality. Shaking my head.
Ivanovic - £9m // Johnson - £18mIvanovic is quality, but bought from Lokomotiv Moscow, in fairness.
Johnson is much more complicated. While he was bought from Portsmouth, part of the reason he was bought from Portsmouth was that they still owed us £7m for Peter Crouch. Take that into context, and Johnson's fee looks more like £11m than the whopping £18m we paid for him. (On a side note, this was the era when Rafa couldn't get the players he wanted because Hicks and Gillett were siphoning money out of the club.)
Fabregas - £30m // Henderson - £16mReally no comparison. I like Henderson, but Fabregas is world class. £30m is looking like a real bargain right now.
Matic - £21m // Gerrard - n/a (academy)Matic used to be a Chelsea player, then they didn't give him a chance, then they realized "Hey this guy is actually good," so they scrambled to get him back last winter. Everything that's wrong with that club in one transfer.
Ramires - £18m // Lallana - £25mRamires joined in 2010, Lallana obviously this year when there was a much greater influx of money in the league the past two seasons due to sponsorship, new TV deal, and overall revenue. When you take that into context, the fees aren't terribly dissimilar. Besides, I think Lallana's a better player, personally. £25m was a tad high, though.
Oscar - £25m // Coutinho - £9m
Oscar has what Coutinho lacks: Goals. Coutinho has what Oscar lacks: Great vision. For fairly similar players, I think we got the better deal. £25m to Internacional vs £9m (in winter, even!) to Inter Milan.
Hazard - £32m // Markovic - £20mHazard, like Fabregas, looks like another bargain for Chelsea. Markovic has pretty high potential, but £20m was steep.
Costa - £32m // Sterling - n/a (academy), Balotelli (£16m) and Sturridge (£12m)
Costa was a good signing -- he fits exactly what Chelsea need.
I rate a completely fit Sturridge higher though (obviously, a completely fit Sturridge is the complicating factor). Even with his injuries, £12m was a steal for a player who has one of if not THE best goals-to-games ratio in Liverpool history. Balotelli was a waste of money. The only game he looked good in was, ironically, when he played next to Sturridge. As mentioned above, Sterling actually cost us money: £600,000 rising to £5 million.
