The Chels

Apparently only wants to move to London though.

That's a table cloth not a shirt.

The reverse argument also applies to the WC though... If a player performs well during it his price tends to inflate drastically; with this transfer there's also the risk of Wenger changing his mind the longer it drags, particularly if Fabregas plays really well during the WC.

Also this: “The only thing I can say is that the market is closed. Chelsea will be calm and quiet during that period. We are not going to be the noisy team buying and selling and selling and buying.” http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/jose-mourinho-expects-chelsea-to-make-critical-signings-in-the-summer-9317392.html

Seems legit.

He does on transfers too: "Edison Cavani is a done deal [to Manchester United] - if they can persuade him to sign. It'll cost £80m to get him out of PSG." http://richardajkeys.com/richards-blog/entry/back-to-the-future

I don't think the club will work on the basis of who is the bigger name, but I do think Rakitic is more of a 'Mourinho player' and that he'd work better in the pivot least of all because he can get back and break forward with pace.

I wonder why the club isn't interested in Rakitic — he has similar qualities to Fabregas but is pacier and more adept at defending. Barcelona are apparently going to replace Fabregas with him (now that Koke looks set to stay put) for around £20m.

From their twitter:

Wow that City fan seems to think Man City are complying with FFP and we're not. Talk about delusional.

Think it's Chelsea or nowhere now lol

Pretty obviously this:

Wouldn't even be surprised. Hopefully Levy refuses to sell to us again though!

So we apparently want to bring Courtois back and will sign Costa soon, and now we want Filipe Luis and Koke as well? Hah what the hell there are other clubs to buy from apart from Atletico! Given that they seem to have really good players in every position perhaps it's the system/tactics making them look better than they actually are, which means they're far from guaranteed to be a success here if any of them do come (although that applies less to Courtois).

I'm pretty sure he has a wife... I think it was just a moment borne out of hype and excitement like the Scholes-Neville kiss. Brilliant player nonetheless, exactly what we need in CM. Real Madrid will probably get him though — who Real Madrid want, Real Madrid get unfortunately!

Azpi's link-up play and crosses aren't necessarily the best but they're a lot better than Ivanovic's. His defending is better too hence why lots of fans want to see him restored to RB and an actual offensively good LB come in.

Please be another Modric/Rakitic!

Well I think Ramires and Ivanovic are Mourinho's two untouchables and so you could say his favourites are technically inept. Ramires, he wanted at Inter and Real and hasn't once dropped/criticised in spite of his regular bouts of ineptitude and recklessness (he even greeted him after getting sent off against Bayern). Mourinho has also given Ivanovic more playing time than anyone else even in games against the smaller sides where he is more of a hindrance.

Hmm? Ivanovic and Ramires are technically woeful, Costa perhaps less so but relative to the level you'd expect for a striker at the top level he's not exactly great in that department. They are all hard-working though, and Ivanovic and Ramires are practically undroppable with the former playing more minutes than anyone else in our team this year. What do you disagree with there?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacrilege Sacred objects/people and blasphemy have nothing to do with religion?

Eh, how so?

Yep probably because it would be a much more unexpected buy, while we all knew the club would buy a striker.

We missed our chance for Cavani last year. Buying Napoli's best player and buying PSG's best (or one of) are two very different propositions.

He's only 25 so I suspect that he will naturally improve as he reaches his peak years but I think it's unrealistic to expect (like I've read) Mourinho to improve him drastically because while they are both very similar in terms of their attitude and passion, we shouldn't forget that his current manager is Simeone, who just oozes passion. I doubt Costa would be playing this well without Simeone's management, so it will be interesting to see how he does fare away from him.