I think you are failing to see Torres was seen as the replacement for Drogba, a chance to prove himself without the shadow of Drogba, and many including people from this board bought into that fantasy. And given how he started the season, you can forgive the board in trying to waste another heap load of cash on a top rate CF, when they have already invested a lot on Torres, and he was in good form at that time.

The failure they made was to have a fall back option.

JFDI >

You asked me to list some of the club´s poor transfer decisions over the last year and so I did.

Not replacing Drogba with a top class striker last summer was probably the worst of them.
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Seriously, if that is your measure of a poor decision then the board have no chance, it may not have been a popular decision but it made enough sense and is no way supportive of a poor transfer policy. I will counter it quickly and simply by stating Mata.

You may go on to say but he isn't a stirker, true but he was a bloody good transfer decision, you want another, Hazard, a nother? Oscar, Another Lakaku, De Byrne, Courtais, etc, etc, etc, now name a few more failures?

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And by failures I mean players lost, not hose bought that have failed.

I think you are failing to see Torres was seen as the replacement for Drogba

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I recognise that fact. The point is that Drogba´s place in the squad needed to be replaced and it wasn´t.

We went into last season with one recognised out and out striker in our squad (Torres).

Most Premiership sides have three or four strikers to choose from in their squad so why we thought only having one was a good idea I´ll never know.

Ok we had Sturridge but he never played as a lone striker at Chelsea for whatever reason so doesn´t really count.

Yeah we didn't have a fall back option, and when we did in Sturridge, we gave him 30 minutes upfront against WBA and decided that's enough of him.

JFDI >

I´m not denying we´ve made some good transfers in recent times but over the last year I think that the club have made more mistakes than successes.

Over the last year the only real success has been Hazard and he didn´t exactly come cheap.

As for Oscar I wouldn´t describe him as a bloody good transfer decision. Not yet anyway.

Yes he´s had some good games for Chelsea but most of them were in cup competition. In the Premiership I´m far from convinced by Oscar so far and he has it all to do in the Premiership as far as I´m concerned.

That´s not to say that Oscar won´t do well in the Premiership in the future but up until now he certainly hasn´t pulled up any trees in the PL and has it all to prove.

Superb, you say we made more mistakes in the last year than good moves, detail them, I am interested, so far you have listed Drogba I have given you a much longer list, many were in the last year. Oscar you dispute but that is your right as I dispute your example of Drogba but that is nitty gritty, try as I might to get my head around your negative view of transfers I can't so I need your help.

I am beginng to think your view is an emotive one rather than logical after all you are now referring to the last year only whilst earier insisting on going further back.

Superb, you say we made more mistakes in the last year than good moves, detail them

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Ok:

Mistake number 1 : Not replacing Drogba last summer.

Mistake number 2: Going into last season with only one recognised striker in our entire squad. Even worse when you consider that Torres had up unitl then only played poorly for us so it was a huge gamble.

Mistake number 3: Selling and loaning out Meireles and Essien right at the end of the transfer window which didn´t leave us enough time to bring in any replacement central midfielders.

Luckily for us Luiz has filled in nicely at central midfield but that was down to luck more than the board being aware of how good Luiz can play in central midifeld.

I could list a few more mistakes. Some people might argue that selling Sturridge was a mistake. Sturridge scored 11 goals in 17 for Liverpool this season.

Some might also argue that buying Demba Ba was a poor decision. He hasn´t exactly set the world alight since joining us and has only scored a couple of goals since January.

I have no issues with any of those decisions, Essien had become a bit part player at the club since his injury a couple ofd seasons ago and his performances were not up to his previous standards by a long shot. Miereles was a short term buy to fill a gap and never a long term solution at Chelsea.

We had two recognised strikers at the start of last season, but that aside, goals was not an issue for us last year so again I have no issue with that.

Selling Sturridge I have no strong feelings about either way. He should glmpses of briliance but conisitency was an issue as was staying fit. Getting a profit from him was a result.

Ba was brougt in because Torres was not perceived to be working if you watch Ba or Torres when Oscar Hazard and Mata play together they struggle to get in the game, the style doesn't suit them, it sits few of your traditional style strikers.

I still do not see how you could blame the clubs transfer policy if it is Jose wants the player out.

I can't believe I am arguing these points as I think the whole story is a load of bull anyway.

We had two recognised strikers at the start of last season, but that aside, goals was not an issue for us last year

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Maybe not in the cups but it was in the PL and was one of the reasons why we fell away after a good start that saw us go top of the table at one point.

problem last season was that we went in to it, the board having convinced themselves that Torres would become good enough to fill Drogs' boots

dunno how you could criticise the Ba signing, we needed a striker who could actually score. his debut said it all, did more in 45 mins than Torres had done in months!

I have no issues with any of those decisions

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So you have no problem with us going into last season desperately short in both the striker department as well as in central midfield ?

The only reason we got away with the lack of central midfielders calamity is because luckily it turned out that Luiz can play in central midfield.

Had that not been the case then that mistake would have been much more ruthlessley exposed than it actually was.

Who would you have got in?

Miereles and Essien were bit part players, the savings in their salaries help bring in newer players, during change I do not expect it to be easy nor to have direct replacements immediately available, I have no issues and we finished 2 places higher in the league than we did the previous season, overall can't complain (except for the Rafa decision).

Miereles and Essien were bit part players

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Meireles in particular played a significant part for us in the 2011-2012 season, especially in the Champions League and he was missed last season in my opinion.

As I said we got lucky that Luiz was able to play in central midfield and that went a long way to covering up the error that was not replacing the space that Meireles and Essien took up in the squad.

In the CWC semifinal in Japan we didn´t even have enough central midfielders to fill the two spaces in the team which is why Luiz got his chance at central midfield in the first place.

As for who I would have got it that´s a completely different matter for another article.

What we are talking about here is the error that was made by the club by not replacing the spaces in the squad that were left vacant last summer by the departures of Drogba, Meireles and Essien respectively.

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Doesn't help that Romeu is made of glass

However we really should've brought another midfielder when we sold him seeing as we were targeting one last summer/season before that now

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Exactly, we went into the season last season with only 4 recognised central midfielders - one of them being unproven rookie Romeu who´s been injured most of the season.

So take Romeu away and that leaves us with just 3 recognised central midfielders in the entire squad (Lampard, Ramires and Mikel) which is simply not enough.

As I said we got very lucky that David Luiz was able to play in central midfield otherwise I don´t know what we would have done at certain points in the season, especially with Mikel away at the ACON for much of December and January.

Maybe Cahill would have had to play in central midfield. I can´t think what else we would have done. Or maybe Oscar would have been tried in a very unfamiliar central midfield position.

Either way I personally think that was particularly poor planning by the Chelsea board.

When is anybody happy about a team, fans of any club will moan that this player or that player is lacking from the squad, it doesn't mean that the transfer policy is flawed or poorly planned. I maintain the acquisitions we have made particularly recently show that are planning is in fact pretty good, we have attracted some young up coming talent, some of which was being pursued by some of the biggest clubs in Europe and the fact that the likes of Luiz are being coveted by others further adds to this.

Loans and subsequent cover within the squad is not down to transfer policy in itself, keeping some of our acquisitions would not be possible without them getting game time. When you have young players with promise they will not be happy sitting on a bench or in the reserves.

Jose not wanting Luiz though is not transfer policy, that is manager preference. If you believe the story in the first place.

JFDI >

So you´re happy that we went into last season with effectively only 3 proven central midfielders and 1 striker ?

If so then you are in a small minority judging by all the comments I´ve seen on this site all season.

I am happy we finished 3rd and won the Europa.

Start of any season I worry about how we will fare, any and every season.

Now answer my question, how does Jose wanting to sell Luiz reflect the clubs transfer policy?

Now answer my question, how does Jose wanting to sell Luiz reflect the clubs transfer policy?

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Not sure I ever said exactly that. If you can show me where I ever said that I´ll happily take a look at it.

What I did say is that the club have made what I think are some very poor decisions regarding players over the last year or so in particular and I gave you plenty of examples to back that up.

I am also reasonably happy that we won the Europa League and finished 3rd but we should be doing much better than that when you consider our outlay on transfers and wages.

Only 1 Premiership title in the last 7 seasons is in my opinion an under-achievement and the reason we have stopped competing for PL titles is because we´ve been lacking in key areas - ie up front and in central midfield.

You started this post, look at the title, you have since gone on to bash the clubs transfer policy yet if like your title suggests this is José's decision, what has club policy got to do with it anyway? Good or bad?

If our transfer policy is so bad which clubs do you se as examples of a good policy?

JFDI >

If I don´t think that the club´s transfer policy is good enough am I not perfectly entitled to give my opinion ?

If you think that our transfer policy has been so great then please explain why we´ve only won 1 PL title in the last 7 years and haven´t even come close to winning the title in the last three years despite an enourmous outlay on players and wages ?

Ok we´ve won some FA Cups in recent years and were very lucky to win the Champions League in 2012 but apart from that I don´t think we´ve been anywhere near as good and we could and should have been.

You are, as am I. I am merely trying to understand your thinking behind your conclusion.

Me I base my view of our transfer policy on our success in getting quality players into our club and retaining them. Nothing more nothing less.

Trophies, results, titles are more than transfers alone, you can buy all the best players in the world and have adequate cover in all areas and still not win the league.