The Chels

Fair play to the lad. Why would you reject Bayern when your manager won't even start you over Willian?

Yikes.

Haha it always goes the same way. You're not allowed to criticise a manager for very obvious flaws at the start, but later on everyone wants them out for those flaws.

Mixed messages. Some English and Italian journalists have now said that we do have an option to buy (and Matt Law says he believes so but isn't sure), but then the Guardian and Marca say we definitely do not. http://www.marca.com/en/football/real-madrid/2018/08/08/5b6af21fe5fdea0f5e8b457e.html Since Marca did break this story, I'd be more inclined to trust them but then again they are a propaganda outlet.

As expected, no option to buy. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/aug/07/chelsea-kepa-arrizabalaga-athletic-bilbao-record

Hard to believe a board as stingy as ours would spend that much on a keeper. Much more likely to be Butland IMO.

"El Chelsea se refuerza con un extraordinario futbolista y el Madrid sigue teniendo el control de un jugador sobre el que tiene depositada una fe ciega." "Chelsea is reinforced by an extraordinary footballer and Madrid is still in control of a player on whom he has placed a blind faith."

No it's not the same at all. Bayern had an option to buy. Big difference.

Developing a player for Madrid's benefit like a small team would? No thanks.

"Done deals" that go quiet for a while do have a tendency to collapse. Sarri probably doesn't want him.

Only last summer Everton bought him for £30m. Will be impossible to negotiate a reasonable price with them, especially after his World Cup performances.

If we can't find a suitable replacement, then surely we'll just keep him and let him go for free next year instead?

Well this just screams fake account.

The first top player we're being forced to sell in ages. Weird feeling.

Sure ideally they'd like to win everything, but I don't think Madrid and their fans even care that much about the league. They prefer to conserve energy for CL games. instead of arriving dead like Barca against Roma.

Madrid fans in the comments calling for Florentino's resignation over this LOL. 4 CLs in 5 years... That spoilt fanbase's sense of entitlement is SO annoying.

Well rumours in Spain suggest Hazard is Madrid's third choice after Neymar and Mbappe, but it will be virtually impossible to move them from PSG so soon.

Yeah that quote is fake, sadly. From this interview it seems pretty obvious he wants to leave: "I've spent 6 seasons in England...."

Hmm, Marina outbidding City sounds far-fetched... The sceptic in me thinks this is a strategic leak from Napoli's end to push City to bid higher. We'll see.

Thank you and farewell.

Hah, is Matt Law on Conte's payroll now as well? The first sentence doesn't even make sense. Conte's "deflecting blame towards the club's transfer strategy", i.e. is saying that the current set of players isn't good enough. How is that protecting them? Just because he hasn't been super openly critical of the players doesn't mean he hasn't implied all the same things. Let's not forget all the drivel like "we're getting what we deserve" or "I'm taking the maximum from my players," etc. He's done nothing but shift the blame elsewhere. Very Mourinho-esque. Too proud to consider the possibility that his own limitations might be (are) at fault too.

Think Luiz will have a big role to play again next season, when he's no longer "injured".

Hazard's 27 now and a player of his quality deserves to fight for the CL, and sadly we no longer have the conditions to provide that platform here. If Real Madrid come calling then he's gone and we can't blame him.

He'll ride it out now as it's too late to make any real difference. If he was going to be sacked during the season, it would/should have come after that Watford game.

I miss the international break.