!Hazard!

So Matic-Fabregas-Isco is defensively more sound and dynamic than Matic-Fabregas-Oscar? Or would our midfield still get raped in every major game like in the Spurs game? Isco sure is more comfortable and reliable in keeping possession than Oscar but is that enough. Pointless signing if we still keep putting Zouma, Mikel or Ramires into midfield in the decisive matches.

I would buy Stones and loan him out to Everton for another year. In case we run out of CB's we could recall Kalas or Christensen back. Essentially we have 4 centre-backs in Terry, Zouma, Cahill and Ivanovic. That should be enough judging by our luckiness to avoid injury waves. Paying 35 million pounds for a centre-back would effectively make Otamendi our first-team centre-back whilst Jose would probably utilize Cahill instead of Zouma because of his superior experience in big games and European football. Consequently, Zouma would become our 4th choice centre-back which would probably lead to him being loaned out in January and result in stagnation of his career.

Any new rumours?

I have to admit I do not know this player well enough. Could he play our no 10 role with high pressing and allow that way Cesc to dictate from deep? So how mobile is he because in my opinion that is exactly the ability we need from the third midfielder.

Wow what a signing for Manchester United and Van Gaal! People who say he won't improve their squad are living in denial. Ridiculous how FIFA affects the logic of football fans, 30 year old is far from old in modern football. Terry will play few seasons, Robben might play another five so get over the fact that 30 is some magic age when football stars become worthless. This summer there won't World Cup either so he will have some much needed rest to get his fitness worked out.

Tbh, that cover looks like it was produced in a garage somewhere near South Central L.A.

Jose can try convert him into a defensive mid but if most TC folks can see Ruben's lack of ability in this department from our shitty streams, the Special One should be well aware of this by now as well. Mikel has different characteristics anyways as he is one the finest ball interceptors of the generation. Ruben is not that and never will be, and I have full trust in Jose's ability to identify Ruben's strengths and weaknesses. The biggest problem to his development isn't directly our system of play but Cesc Fabregas and Eden Hazard. These three lads in my opinion cannot function on the pitch at the same time and the lack of opportunities for Ruben because of that might be the real tragedy here. Let's hope he gets his chances and doesn't end up in Arnhem. In November 2014 we had played some amazing football but it was clear to everyone that rotation is necessary in order to maintain that level of player throughout the season. Let's hope Jose will learn his lesson from that and RLC will play a big role in it.

I would like this signing very much. He seemed class during the World Cup and the Copa. And if he doesn't come, I hope Chelsea ends up with a player similar to him and most importantly finishes the deal before the pre-season.

I would love us to sign him. Considering that United are going on a spending spree, an offer around £45m might be tempting for them. If they wanna sell someone else to accommodate all the new players, for example Mata, they are not gonna get nearly as much money for him. This should be at least tried by our board.

He is a good player but Traore (althought completely different player) is going to be the better one out of the two within a year. And there is no need for competition for Oscar when we have Willian, Hazard, Cesc and even Loftus-Cheek who can play that position. What the team needs is another classy and creative CDM. RLC cannot play in the pivot, Cesc is a liability in the big matches, Mikel is a burden and Ramires cannot control the ball. Bring in Moutinho or a player similar to him.

In many games Costa drifts to the left wing anyways so this seems like a likely scenario Falcao Costa Hazard Willian

I would be happy with this transfer. High risk, high reward and Chelsea currently is in a fantastic financial situation. On the side note, Monaco could be for us what Athletico was last summer if we decided to buy Kondogbia/Moutinho as well. Striker + midfielder and our transfer business could be finished again months before the deadline. Kondogbia would be a back-up for Matic and Moutinho would be a back-up for Cesc. Which do you guys think is more important to buy this summer?

I think this would be very smart move if he agrees to decline his wages to Diego Costa's levels. Costa-Falcao-Remy would be fantastic for next season, it would able us to play with two quality strikers in some matches and signing Falcao might not always eliminate Remy's playing chances as Mourinho has played him as a winger in some games and might continue to do so next season. Signing Falcao might therefore terminate the need for a new winger and instead our resources would be targeted towards another quality midfielder. The season after next when Falcao's loan is finished, we could give Bamford or Solanke the role of 3rd striker. Obviously, this would only be a short-time solution, and in the past two seasons with Eto'o and Drogba, those solutions proved to be quite successful. I would still prefer signing Zlatan though.

A proven goalscorer!

Has anyone seen Moutinho play in recent times? He used to be one of my favourites, could be great backup/complimentary player to Cesc. If Schneiderlin or Schweinsteiger are unavailable, he might be a good buy! Midfield: Matic, Cesc, Moutinho, Ramires, Loftus-Cheek. That team would still be lacking a clear backup for Matic but having both a defensive midfield backup and central midfield backup would really get in way of RLC's chances of ever making it at Stamford Bridge. Ake could play that role as well as Zouma. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Recently I saw the (bullshit) news about us planning on buying Zlatan and I can't get rid of this thought. He could be absolutely fantastic buy for the team. And against lesser teams we could play with 4-4-2 or with Zlatan as #10 in 4-2-3-1. Strikers: Costa, Zlatan, Remy/Solanke For attacking midfield/wingers we should only be looking for the best or leave it as it is. Either buy Bale or Reus or avoid panic buys like the one with Cuadrado. Di Maria could be a good buy if he was available for reasonable discount but his performance levels would not be guarantee, which should be the case with his price tag. Attacking midfield: Hazard, Willian, Oscar, Cuadrado, and a youngster like Boga/Brown. Assumed that Filipe Luis is departing, Ake could be the new backup for Azpilicueta whilst Azpi would be the backup for Ivanovic. The question remains whether the squad would be too thin in that area. Fullbacks: Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Ake, (Zouma/Christensen) I think Chelsea is set in central defence for another year and next year when Terry might retire is the time when a new superstar should be bought. Central defence: Terry, Zouma, Cahill, Christensen (Ivanovic) As Cech seems to be leaving, a new possibly English goalkeeper should be found to be backup for Courtois. Goalkeepers: Courtois, Green, Blackman ----------------------------- Size of squad: 23 players.

Seems like you have not been paying attention since Mourinho has different tactics for every single game. Obviously Jose would not play Zlatan as #10 in a game against Barcelona or so but in games where our essential aim is to control the ball rather than run after it, he could do that role very well. Diego will get at least couple red cards every season anyways and together with his injury record it would be good to have a striker like Zlatan available. Zlatan probably wants to win the Champions League and there is no better place for him to go than Chelsea for that (Definitely not Bayern or Barcelona and probably not Real Madrid).

This would be THE most exciting transfer that could happen! Pogba, Koke and Co, doesn't really bring up that much emotion but with Zlatan we would practically secure the title in the summer. He's problem in the Champions League has been that the fact that he was played as a lone striker with Cavani on the wing whereas I feel Zlatan playing #10 with another physical striker would be much more suitable system for him. Costa Hazard Zlatan Willian Matic Cesc Azpilicueta Ivanovic Terry Zouma Courtois Just buy another defensive midfield like Schneiderlin and Chelsea could be a serious contender for the Champions League

What is with the people who put Christensen in their starting XI? I have not heard a single rumour about him. However, RLC, Brown, and Ake have been rumoured to start and I believe they are gonna start. Cech Ivanovic-Cahill-Terry-Luis Ake-Matic Brown - RLC - Hazard Remy Although Azpi as RB and Ivanovic as CB would make that lineup even better.

I think we need to strengthen in the areas where we are already the strongest. And that would be the central/defensive midfield. In my opinion, 90% of our problems this season occurred because of four reasons: 1) Cesc and Matic (and Oscar) were tired because of lack of rotation (= lack of quality back-up players) 2) Cesc can't defend (we were overrun in midfield in games like Spurs etc.) 3) Terry is slow and we can't play high line (this makes the role of midfield players even more demanding) 4) Sometimes we were unable to kill the games (lack of quality in finishing) So for the two first reasons, we can certainly do something. Third part is something that is going to be there nevertheless and we just have to deal with it for another season at least. That means than Azpilicueta is going to play the left-back. Fourth part is something that we can improve from within the team as Costa is now more adapted to the league, Hazard has become better at finishing, Willian has found the fantastic form ever since the signing of Cuadrado.Also, Cuadrado has all summer to get used to the team and the league. And then there is Remy, who is fantastic finisher but just can't get rid of injuries. I hope this season has helped him a lot as he hasn't played that much and has received the top treatment from our health department. So we should definitely get some serious upgrades in to the midfield. We need a player in the mould of Cesc and another player in the mould of Matic. In an ideal world, we would sign Verratti and Schneiderlin. Verratti has the quality to not only be a backup for Cesc but also push Cesc to the bench in the big games and this competition would add another dimension to our midfield play. That would add some much needed rotation as well. Schneiderlin is a fantastic defensive midfield and has very good long passing range as well. These two signings would cost about 50-70 million euros, so some players would have to be sold. Oscar and Mikel would be the most obvious players to be sacrificed in this scenario. Then our midfield would look like this: Verratti (Loftus-Cheek) Matic Cesc (Schneiderlin) (Ramires) Or in big games: Verratti/Cesc (Willian) Matic Scheiderlin (Ramires) (Loftus-Cheek) That would be the best and most balanced midfield in the world right there! Selling Verratti would allow PSG to buy Pogba. Only problem is that Real would be challenging to buy Verratti as well. Well, if they would buy him, they would also have to sell somebody, probably Modric. That would still allow us to buy Modric and Scheiderlin, and our midfield would be fantastic nevertheless. The only problem with that is the lack of opportunities Loftus-Cheek would be getting, but we can never be sure about the injuries that might happen to Cesc, Matic and others. If both of them would get injured at the same time, our hopes of winning anything next season would be destroyed. Maybe we should sell Ramires then to add more space for RLC but I do not see that as a realistic scenario because Jose absolutely loves him (but Ancelotti loves him too and maybe we could get decent amount of money for him). Of course buying a world class winger would be fantastic (likes of Reus, Bale, Di Maria, Griezmann) but our problems would still be in the lack of depth in the midfield. I would want to see our strikers to be Costa, Remy and Solanke (and Brown). If they would get a healthy pre-season, the probability of injuries might be lower. And, with those new players in the midfield, Chelsea could play the whole season showing that fantastic attacking football that we saw from August to December.

I had a dream of Cesar being the new captain of Chelsea. They also had made a gigantic statue of him next to the exit of Fulham Broadway station.

I just fucking love the fact that Liverpool has become the team against which we can afford to play our reserves :blue scalf:

Cech should have started this! And it would have been better for Ruben to play alongside Matic. But otherwise, really looking forward to it! Plus Zouma, Filipe and Remy starting! Greaaat Josee

When was the last time academy player was given a start in Premier League? Very excited to see RLC today!!

Whats up with the beards in today's popular culture. Everyone seems to have one and big stars like Leonardo DiCaprio are seemingly happy to look like hobos at this point. This was totally on topic of course...

How much would we need to offer for David Alaba? Bayern are reported to be interested in Ivanovic so maybe Chelsea should try a cheeky bid like £40M + Iva. One of the most complete players in the world and he would be perfect in a pivot playing next to Matic. He is basically Ramires and Koke put into one player, just insane guy and he is only 22 years old! Matic-Alaba-Cesc would be fantastic midfield and would raise our game to the next level in counter-attacks as well as possession play. I read he would prefer playing in midfield but psycho-Pep keeps putting players in weird positions. He played centreback before getting injured ffs. Apparantly Real Madrid are also interested in him.