The Remy deal was simple

we hired doctors to assess the risk of his heart and they said they couldn't say with confidence he wouldn't die on the pitch. that's it really. you gambled and I'm not really sure he's been worth it for you either as he's been injured a fair bit.

Liverpool will still be an attractive proposition to many players who Chelsea, United, Arsenal, City, PSG, Monaco, Barca, Real Madrid, Juve, AC Milan, and Bayern don't bid for.

Being a Chelsea manager is dead easy. You just waive a cheque and they sign even if other clubs want them. I doubt you even need scouts to be honest. Agent grapevine and an offer is really all it takes.

Remy has chipped in with some very important goals for us this season.

He could have played more but that certainly wasn't down to injuries apart from in the last two games when we've had to play Drogba.

Not sure why Liverpool thought there was an issue with his heart. If Chelsea had thought that then I seriously doubt we would have signed him.

Anyway I think he would have been a much better signing than Balotelli turned out to be for you.

"I came for the medical tests and everything was fine and after that they wanted to be sure everything was fine with my heart," said the 27-year-old in the Daily Star.

"They asked for a specialist for the heart and apparently the guy said they did not 100 per cent agree if I could keep going or had to stop football."




We keep getting beaten over this and I can't understand other than ignorance or banter.

He has a heart defect. He's talked about it publicly.

If there was an issue with his heart then what is this issue exactly? The Chelsea medical team (who are excellent) didn't pick up on any heart issues as far as I'm aware.

of course they know. remy knows and has talked about it. he knows he has an issue with his heart.

it's a risk/reward assessment is all.

it was a risk chelsea doctors thought was worth taking and the ones we hired didn't or their assessment didn't give FSG confidence enough to gamble on it.

having a heart defect isn't certain death, it's just an issue to assess.

comment by Superb (U6486)
posted 9 minutes ago
If there was an issue with his heart then what is this issue exactly? The Chelsea medical team (who are excellent) didn't pick up on any heart issues as far as I'm aware.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Can't be sure. We're not privy to the medical. Not entirely sure why you'd think you'd get that info here

sorry superb, but your comments are just coming across as a dig/banter

remy has talked about his heart condition

it's real

people upset about Balotelli not working out (Rodgers fault for playing him as a lone striker IMO but that's a different discussion) and people wanting to paint Liverpool in a bad light seem to willfully overlook his dodgy heart to bash our transfers but it's real

I just find it irritating and bemusing in equal measure that we're criticised for not buying someone with a defective heart to be on the safe side. If he died on the pitch for us I'm sure there would be the same people calling us idiots or monsters for letting him play.

All I'm saying is that this is the first time I've heard anyone talk about any heart issue concerning Remy, certainly from a Chelsea perspective.

Wasn't meant as a dig in any way.

It's news to me and I'd like to think that I'm a Chelsea fan that keeps his ear to the ground so to speak.

By the way just found this article with direct quotes from Remy and he himself doesn't appear to think he has a heart problem.

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2014/09/27/5137267/remy-reveals-why-liverpool-move-fell-through

From that article

"I didn't understand because they knew before I came"

"There are a lot of players with the same case as me."

"I have seen the best specialist in London and he has told me I can still play"

there is 100% something there. He's seen specialists about it. In his words we knew about it beforehand.

it's a matter of medical opinion on what the level of risk is.

People forget that we in terms of the plan when Rodgers was hired was to clear the old overpaid players, bring in youth, play more exciting possession football and start getting back to the cl regylarly. This plan was to happen gradually. It wasn't expected that we'd do as well as we did last season. This has led to largely unrealistic expectations this year. If we still had luis and a fit Sturridge this season we cud have expected similar to last year.
With the loss of them and the influx of 9 new players and Rodgers persisting too long with a formation that didn't have the right players for it to work, then we were always gonna decline this year
What disappoints me most is performances like yesterday when we jut don't show up and be the team we can be. Still 2 semi finals isn't bad. Let's see if we can get top four!

There's obviously something but my interpretation is that it's something not uncommon and therefore not particularly serious.

Chelsea would have been made aware of this issue and their medical staff gave him the all clear.

and our medical staff couldn't say with certainty that he should still be playing

it's not complicated

two different doctors assessed it and one said it's OK, the other wasn't fully convinced there wasn't a risk (no one said if he plays he'll definitely have a heart attack or something extreme like that)

but at the end of the day, we backed out on medical grounds. We wanted to sign him.

It's clear that we opted for Balotelli instead of Remy. I don't buy the medical reasons. The committee or even Rodgers fancied a big name and Remy was not that guy.

that sounds a bit tin foil hat Kash.

They could have just not said anything and went for a different player.

I just don't think people would come out and lie for no real reason when they could easily be outed for the lie. That makes no sense at all to me.

Not much of it does make sense though and Remy seems as confused as anyone about it.

In Remy's own words he said that there are a lot of other players with the same thing as him (whatever it is) so we have to assume that it's nothing serious or out or the norm.

Also Remy said that the best specialist in London had given him the all clear to play. On top of that the Chelsea medical team found no issues and he passed his medical.

I think better phrasing is they didn't think his issues posed a risk.

the way you phrased it Liverpool found a non-existent issue, which we both agreed isn't true.

semantics

Not saying Liverpool found a non-existent issue, I'm saying they found an issue that in Remy's own words a lot of other players have.

We don't know what that issue is as it's never been made public but if it's something that a lot of players have then it's fairly safe to assume that it is something that a lot of people have.

Therefore if you follow a simple logical path then you have to assume that it's not anything particularly serious which would also account for Remy's surprise at failing the medical.

It was a win - win for Liverpool on Remy. They managed to avoid a big risk in remy and got in Balotelli

I think we're going in circles

how it looked to me is we were being cautious (perhaps overly cautious) based on what our medical advisors told us.

that's basically what the club said as well.

if they're lying then fair enough. I just can't see why they would over a player who would have been second choice or a moderately priced partner for Studge.

Remy does have a heart defect, it could be a hole in the heart, it could be irregular heartbeats, it could be poor return of blood into the heart from the veins or a number of other things.

One thing that does stand out is that certainly the majority of cases involving heart attacks onfield or in training seem to involve African or Sub Saharan descendants.

Fabrice Muamba, Mark Vivien Foe, Sam Okwarajii all suffered major attacks with only Muamba being lucky enough to have a top Heart Surgeon watching him at White Hart Lane.

The Ivorian players Adama Niambele and Yussouf Kone both failed medicals with Italian Serie A clubs because they were found to have "enlarged hearts" that would potentially put them at risk.

The heart condition with which the Senegalese winger Khalilou Fadiga competed with distinction for several seasons at Auxerre in France and at the 2002 World Cup with his country was slightly different.

On joining Inter, their medical staff detected an irregular heartbeat and advised him to give up his career. Fadiga persisted with it, but after suffering a collapse while with Bolton, had a defibrillator fitted. Such cases are not uniquely African. The highest-profile deaths from heart problems on the field in the last five years both involved Spanish top-flight players, Antonio Puerta and Dani Jarque.

It has also been apparent, at least historically, that footballers in Africa had less regular access to sophisticated medical screening than typically a young footballer might receive in Europe, which would heighten the risk of unanticipated problems on the field, particularly in hot, difficult conditions.

But when a Fifa-backed medical research team focused specifically on heart risk among the players at the 2009 African Under 17 championship in Algeria, the team of academics involved found that "black African athletes seem to have an increased risk of adverse cardiac events during sports events".

They recommended improved screening procedures and awareness that, while sub-Saharan Africa may produce more than its share of talented athletes, a small but slightly higher than average proportion of them may be vulnerable.

Some very interesting points there Greaves. A lot of stuff I didn't know there.

Kaisers going back to my original point, regardless of whether or not Remy has a heart condition I think he would have been an excellent addition to Liverpool.

Especially as Sturridge has been injured for big chunks of the season and has never really looked fit.

I certainly think he would have been a much better signing than Balo.