See, I didn’t think he was super overhyped. He wasn’t like Jude Bellingham hyped. He was just supposed to be a really good, mainstay box to box midfielder; which he is. He has the technique, vision and flare to be an upper echelon mid when the team improves around him and he’s playing with more than one functional hip.
Chelsea doesn’t have the draw of a Madrid or United. 80 to 100m is going to be a fairly average rate for anyone who has those sorts of options. If we had waited til Summer, we probably wouldn’t have gotten him at all. I think he costs us about 8 to 10m a year towards our FFP cap? and they got the up front number they wanted. That’s matters more than the number outlets run with.
Paying 100m and a lower salary for a 21/22 year old is a LOT different than paying 70m for a 28 year old on a 3 year deal worth 300k per week (generalized example). Thats something people still seem to have trouble grasping with the Chelsea “project”.