Lionel Messi

[Luke 60]

how old is he now? does anybody know?

i do think a player like ronaldinho, kaka, messi... is the kind of player we need for next season

kalou/malouda/swp just arent good enough

[DavidEU 2,023]

Messi 20

Ronaldinho 28

Kaka 26

[Badboy 1,526]

Sorry but thats hilarious. How many times have you seen the chap play?

Listen this is why england's football system is so shit you would rather give a team 35 million

for a young player than bring one of your own in. When barca had there horrible period, they

wanted to wait for messi instead of getting ronaldo because they have faith in there academy.

Frank arnesen neeeds to bring in the ajax academy system, instead of this bull dog english system of spend millions on youth players and facilities and have one player come through.

[DavidEU 2,023]

Yes, thats correct, but it doesnt support your point.

You said Kakuta is going to be world class - whats that based on? A hatrick against Port Vale in the Youth Cup?

Obviously I'd love to see him come through, but hes along way from doing so right now. As I said before, Mikael Forssell and Carlton Cole were superb at the level Kakuta is now, and look at them now. Carlton set extraordinary goal scoring records at youth level, but hasnt done much since.

Its far to early to judge how good Kakuta is going to be.

[Badboy 1,526]

Yes, thats correct, but it doesnt support your point.

You said Kakuta is going to be world class - whats that based on? A hatrick against Port Vale in the Youth Cup?

Obviously I'd love to see him come through, but hes along way from doing so right now. As I said before, Mikael Forssell and Carlton Cole were superb at the level Kakuta is now, and look at them now. Carlton set extraordinary goal scoring records at youth level, but hasnt done much since.

Its far to early to judge how good Kakuta is going to be.

1. Laugh out loud how can you compare kakuta with carlton cole and forssell them 2 jokers

did not have half the ability of kakuta. Lampard said out of his own mouth,

"Kakuta stands out for his ability His natural talent for someone who is just 16 is amazing "

2. Kakuta will be a great player one day his natural ability is amazing. This is His first year and he has done really really well.

[DavidEU 2,023]

1. Carlton Cole scored something like 40 goals in one season in the youth team. Which is an all time record at that level. I'm guessing you didnt support Chelsea when he was coming through, otherwise you would be aware of the exitement we had when he was coming through.

2. Franks right, Kakuta does have talent and ability. So did Carlton though. All I'm saying is dont carried away just yet.

3. How can you tell how good a player will be when he's only 16?

[Luke 60]

i remember Chelsea fans saying carlton cole would be better than rooney when he was coming through (i was one of them) but i do believe our youth set up has improved dramatically in the last 2-3 years, i'd love to see a few youngsters being given a chance in the first team but its hard to see it happen, especially when the premier league is becoming better and better, with teams not being able to afford to lose a single game, big teams cant afford to rest players and take gambles anymore! which is a shame as i would love to see players like scott sinclair, micheal mancienne etc getting games! i do think its a shame that we have players like tal ben hiam in the squad rather than a young english prospect, i do think the new rule of allowing 7 substitutes in league games will help now, for example, if were winning 4-0 etc at home to the likes of stoke, we can give a couple of youngsters a run out!

it definately needs to be looked at by the big clubs to bring more youngsters through for the good of the game, england not getting to euro 08 wasnt about bad luck, it was purely because we didnt have the talent to compete, as well as a shit manager!

[MAXI 0]

Messi would be a great signing but as other people have said i cant see him leaving Barcelona and NO player is worth 80 million.

[Badboy 1,526]

1. Carlton Cole scored something like 40 goals in one season in the youth team. Which is an all time record at that level. I'm guessing you didnt support Chelsea when he was coming through, otherwise you would be aware of the exitement we had when he was coming through.

2. Franks right, Kakuta does have talent and ability. So did Carlton though. All I'm saying is dont carried away just yet.

3. How can you tell how good a player will be when he's only 16?

1. Carlton never had anything special he was just bigger than the other kids. He developed quicker than the other kids thats all. The thing is, in europe coaches look at technique and vision first in england coaches look at size. Carlton cole would not of made it into the ajax

academy when he was young, neither carragher or sol campbell.

2. Kakuta has the vision and technique thats something you just cant teach.

[changingman2000 35]

Graham Hunter (Spanish Football expert) said on talkSPORT last night that Messi has a buy out clause of 150,000,000 euro's and it's rumoured that Abramovich is going to put up the wonga.

Barca would be slaughtered if they sold him, but if his buy out clause is met, there is nothing they can do to stop him leaving.

[EskWeston 696]

Messi is absolutely outstanding and i would not be up in arms if we did pay £80m for him!! At his age and with his ability it would be worth it. Although i can't see them selling, they will cash in on some players this summer i feel, Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Deco ect..... but Messi is the one player that they will hold onto no matter what!!

To join in with the Kakuta debate, both are correct really. Kakuta does look like being world class. He certainly has more natural ability that both Forsell and Carlton Cole. But we don't know how the next few years of development will go. Will he suffer what i call second season syndrome? Which both Sinclair, Stoch, Sahar and Woods suffered from, outstanding first seasons but found it much harder in the second...... we really don't know for sure yet.

[Badboy 1,526]

No player is worth 80 million no way should we be taken to the cleaners like that.

[EskWeston 696]

No player is worth 80 million no way should we be taken to the cleaners like that.

If a player is that good and if their club is willing to let him go for that money and we have that money and want the player that badly then we would pay it......

[changingman2000 35]

As Hunter explained last night, Most of the top spanish players have release clause's in their contract. It suits the players current club too as if someone comes in with a ridiculous amount of money that match's the clause then there isnt a thing that the club can do. By the same token, the fans cant give them dogs abuse for selling because all they need to say is the truth, plus a wee bit of spin, a la: "We didnt want to sell him but they matched the clause so we were powerless to stop him moving"

Suits both parties.

For what its worth, given the fact that he's just 20, I think Messi is an outstanding talent, and would love to see him in a Chelsea shirt, Who know's, in time, he may turn out to be even better than Pat Nevin

[bombayblue™ 55]

messi as good as he is, is too injury prone, injured half the season.. thats not worth 80 million to me, and besides boixos nois would kill laporta if he sold messi now, not to mention he wouldnt get reelected..

at the threat of sounding too anti star signing.. kaka has not been half as consistent in the league as he has been in the CL and i'm not talking about just this season..

[DavidEU 2,023]

CM. I think every player in La Liga has the buy-out clause dont they? Believe its a rule in Spain that hasnt happened anywhere else yet.

[changingman2000 35]

CM. I think every player in La Liga has the buy-out clause dont they? Believe its a rule in Spain that hasnt happened anywhere else yet.

Aye pretty much mate, certainly the players in the top bracket anyway. When Abramovich came in, there was talk abot him wanting Raul from Real Madrid, and if, I remember right, his buy out clause was 114,000,000. which seemingly he was up paying.

[manpe 10,855]

Lol... 114,000,000 For that you can get Van Der Vaart, Diego, Dani Alves, Berbatov ... practicaly 4-5 world-class players instead of an old one. This buy out clause is ridiculous, but I don't think he was ever meant to be sold either