OhForAGreavsie

Roma's stance is that the Belgian is not for sale which is always the position the selling club wants to set up for negotiating purposes. (Unless they are contractually obligated to do otherwise.) Had we gone in with an opening offer of €40m what do you suppose they'd be asking for now? Like it or not the world is real, budgets are finite and the game has to be played.

If he said it, then he fibbed. If he dropped it, then it missed.

As all of the furore blew up over this, it emerged that there may have been long standing doubts about the quality of Eva's work for the club. I know nothing about the truth of that either way so have no opinion on it and what I have to say below takes no account of it. Anyone who has read my general comments knows that I'm a huge Jose Mourinho fan but he was undoubtedly in the wrong about this. He not only behaved badly on the day, he compounded it by behaving stupidly afterward. His actions, which have cost the club a lot of money and bad publicity, have also seen us loose an individual who was a big PR asset. A successful woman in a man's world was always a news story and one that showed Chelsea football club in a positive light. Further, it's not too far fetched to imagine that the incident and its aftermath played a part in driving a wedge between the the manager and his players. It was a bad day and a bad business. Good luck to Eva. I wish her every success.

If you offered me both players for free, I'd take the Spaniard. Ten years from now, when you think back and realise that old OhForAGreavsie was right after all, you can send me a pint of Ruddles County and I'll drink your health. Of course, if I turn out to be wrong, you won't find me for dust.

It's good to read a post of yours which I can support. It's just opinion, but I'm certain the club will commit as much money to recruitment as it feels can be afforded. There is bound to be a limit on that however. That limit must restrict what will be possible this summer but affordability is not the only obsticle. We are in a tough place, facing the most competitive transfer market in history. The club will try, is clearly already trying.

Many years ago, visiting Toronto, I did a card trick for some relatives. It's a good trick, but only a trick all the same. One uncle in particular, who is into the mystical, was captivated and persuaded me to attempt it again but this time under scientific conditions, i.e. with no opportunity for me to 'cheat'. I knew I had no chance of getting it right so was busy concocting my excuse, but guess what? You've guessed already. I did not of course have no chance of getting right, I had a 1 in 52 chance and, lo and behold, when the card was turned over it really was the four of diamonds. My uncle was in awe. Despite my denials he believes to this day that I have some kind of power and that the denials are just fibs to protect my secrets. My question to you Kevin is this; will you be OK, will you be able to cope, if you actually turn out to be right?

Old news. This story has been discussed here at least twice before, the first time in January I think. It was being described as a done deal even then. This signing is good news for those of us who actually support this club. It's very encouraging that we retain the ability to attract exciting prospects to our junior ranks despite all the negativity pumped out by those who think the world revolves around them and their keyboard. The young man is extremely talented. He isn't quite in the same class as the youngster Man City signed a couple of seasons ago (who is) but he has great promise. It would be nice if all of us could simply welcome Juan to the club and wish him well. Instead, we are likely to read the usual output from the keyboard warriors, spouting their ill-informed Tosh. Ho-hum. Welcome to the club Juan. I wish you well.

I'm fed up with reading this type of comment. How the heck do you know what the club is doing? You decide what you think the club is doing and then you blame them for it. Sounds like an old joke about women. They ask you a question, they tell you the answer, and you're still wrong!

My question referred to the fact that player was described as not yet world-class despite already being 26 years old. if an outfield player is not yet world-class at that age, when will he be?

This is my own view and backed by nothing more than a personal reading between the lines of Juve's noises but... If potential buyers really are contemplating bids in the region of €100m then I think Juve would rather have the money than the player.

I'd happily do a deal with them where they back away from Morata and we leave the coast clear for them to pursue Pogba.

Yet? At the age of twenty-six what is he waiting for?

He looks more flashy than effective to me. As has been said, many players have looked good against us but it's not just players. Plenty of ordinary sides have put in apparently good displays against Chelsea only to disappoint their manager and fans who, "Can't understand how we can play so well against Chelsea one week, but not turn up against XYZ FC the next." The fact is we can be very easy to play against, with our slow build up and determination to give the ball away cheaply. Most professional footballers will look good if given that sort of encouragement. I'm not sold on Brahimi. Even his highlight vids contain many passages of play which are really scraping the barrel for examples of the bloke's so called quality. If he is the player some here are saying that he is, then I haven't seen it yet.

Doesn't sound like PR talk to me. Sounds like wording agreed with Eva's side as part of the settlement.

Hope not anyway. It's like the age old question, "Do you prefer a striker who shoots, or one who passes?" The answer is neither, we all want a striker who shoots when that's the right choice, and one who passes when a pass is what's required. Sometimes to play on the counter is the right choice and your team is incomplete if you can't do it. If Antonio is saying his default set up will be to press then, good, I like it. Thing is though, any fool can press. The trick is to press without risking getting opened up. That means avoiding being passed around while you are hunting the ball and then not yielding up possession too quickly when you do turn the ball over. None of our recent squads would have had any hope of implementing the pressing philosophy successfully across a whole season. Antonio needs to get his players in before getting dogmatic about what he is, and what he isn't, going to do.

We definitely do. As @Tomo points out however, what you say here is not quite right.

That sounds odd. What would be the point of a binding buy-back clause if it can be circumvented merely by bringing the selling date forward? I'd be very surprised if that is really the case. Obviously if that loophole does exist then Real are a non-factor until July but, even if Real's buy back option is binding as of now, that needn't hold up the deal. If the two clubs want to do it, all that needs to happen is that we, or any buyer, just pay Real a fee to waive their right to repurchase Morata's contract. Rumour has it Real want €40m for his registration. If that is the figure agreed then the buyer just pays Juve the amount stipulated by the buy-back clause, and the rest to Real. Deal done.

Absolutely true. The quality of player we'd like to sign probably doesn't have to choose however. We want, and need, top level performers. Once they've established themselves, assuming we think Kante is established, such players will be in high demand which makes it highly likely that they'll find a club which meets their footballing and personal ambitions as well as their financial ones. Given they can earn silly money in a number of places, the other factors are likely to get more consideration than would be the case if there was only one big pay cheque on the table. For example, some players go to China or the Middle East but some turn them down.

As for Kante, it seems certain that he will have options he's likely to find more attractive than Chelsea.

As I've changed my post to say, although you quoted it before I did, I can't be bothered. People will believe what they want to.

Sell on clauses, as with KDB for example, are exactly what we do because it amounts to pretty much the same thing as a buy back. In the whole history of football how many players can we name between us who have returned to their former club as a result of a buy-back clause being exercised? I say between us but I don't think I'm going to be much help to be honest. Instead of being exercised, the buy back clause ends up being bought out by the purchasing club in any new move. This is what will happen with Morata if he goes to a third club this summer. Twitter and the media are full of stories of Madrid buying him back then selling him on. That won't happen. Whoever signs the young Spaniard will just pay his former club a fee in return for them waiving their rights.

No there isn't. Meanwhile, if we were into floating boats, I and people who see things my way would need a fleet of cruise liners to take to the waters.

Absolutely 100% yes, I am going to chant his name. Did we chant SFL's name before kick off vs City season before last? Did we* continue to do so throughout the time he watched from the bench? Did we do so again, but louder, when he came on and did we even cheer him after he scored an equaliser which, for all we knew at the time, might have cost us the title? Absolutely 100% we did, yes. And quite rightly so. Frank is a legend, Jose is a legend. Along with many others, they deserve an ovation whenever they return and they will get one. I simply do not understand this black & white, 2D view that you recommend. You get a much clearer, more informative and more interesting look at things when viewed in 3D with colour. Stamford Bridge is going to do that, Jose's name will be sung and you are going to have to deal with that. *I say 'we' in a collective sense but I don't go to away games so I was not there personally on that day.

I can't deny that everyone making this point is absolutely correct. I just doubt that's how it will be.

Let's keep perspective, relatively few Chelsea fans have a problem with Jose's move. The vast majority of us love the man and respect his right to do what he thinks best for himself. Like me, I suspect most wish he hadn't joined United, but only because it strengthens them and because we will now be in the very strange position of wanting a Mourinho team to do badly week after week. That will be a new, and a hard, experience. Personally I'll be chanting his name at the top of my voice when he turns up at The Bridge next season. No matter what impression some posters here might give, so too will be almost everyone else in the stadium on that day. When the expression Chelsea fans is used that includes me and hundreds of thousand, perhaps millions, of people like me. I am not in the least bit angry with TSO and I expect time will prove that almost all Blues' fans are with me.