BloodIsBlue

Maybe Southampton will have to consider it but as for Atletico and Bayern Munich, they have no intentions of letting these golden boys go. We will waste time going after Costa and Kroos, aside from tabloids I have only hear evidence that they will be staying at their clubs for the longest time.For Costa the only hope I have in us getting him is Jorge Mendes. Kroos is much tougher as I doubt Pep wants to ever strengthen a Mourinho team. If we miss out on Shaw for chasing Costa and Kroos we will be in a lot of trouble, S'oton don't have to sell Shaw.

Stay out of this one Mikel, pls just stay out.

Hamstring Issue could be a weak or two. When he celebrated Diego's goal he was limping back to his seat so it could be two weeks and he'll miss the 2nd leg. I hope it's a few days and not a month or something like that I'd like to see him play Barca.

Rolando is so much brighter than he looks he's not a dumb guy and Italian is a walk in the park for him coming from Portuguese. Maybe he doesn't absolutly expect it but I think he does put demands on players learning Italian, even Kovacic is learning a bit but still a lot better than than many non-English speakers in the league (remember Diarra ). He may have a point on the language thing

At least somebody pays attention. But if we can push through a squeezed market like London football team they could do alright being the only team from Paris. It might take time because the league is smaller but if they continue to have a team with many exciting names I am sure they will grow. FFP will definitely be keeping their head under water for a few years though, I know if Chelsea got Roman with FFP things would not have been so amazing that's for sure. It took us 10 years to really see a major increase int he club's revenue generation. Do these French guys even understand how FFP works? With two teams like ours FFP is a fair discussion topic as it effects our business models greatly. As we are both clubs who field squads that aren't very lucrative considering our not so spectacular revenues. 32 year old Zlatan is no joke, he can definitely score an early goal but we have strong centerbacks in Terry and Cahill I know they can handle big guys better than the little ones. You can't delete them ask a mod too remove it, they'll clean it up. I like PSG kits but they're a collar away from looking like Charlie Sheen bowling shirts.

Balotelli is so underrated on this forum. The guy is fast, he can dribble, he can squeeze through defenders, he can shoot, and he can take set pieces/penalties exceptionally well. Last summer I thought AC Milan would have a good season and I bet so did they, the club is on it's back this season so who knows he might actually be available. Costa and Cavani still make me wonder about their actual availability (release clause doesn't mean he actually want's to be released). We can't be dicking around for players who aren't leaving (like we did with Rooney that damn scouse) I don't think it would be too hard to convince AC Milan and Balotelli himself that this is a good idea.

Benitez wins the Champion's League once, with a ghost goal none the less, and he thinks he is somebody.

Ughhh, stupid article gives me hope we're going to sign Cavani. I doubt it though as it's too soon, we messed up not getting him when he was available from Napoli. But if you sit down and try to think of the numbers we could probably buy Balotelli AND Costa for the same price as PSG would want for Cavani. He would be a dream striker for us though, we would terrorize these leagues.

I did, doesn't mean I agree. Cahill has made many important stops this season, some really entertaining defending too. Hazard, Azpi, Cahill and Terry have carried this team on their backs though plenty of moments this season.

If united wanted to forgo their usual practice in terms of improving a team through signings they could actually do some serious damage. They earn profits so under FFP they're very very very very rich.

The first three will be borderline impossible to get except maybe Costa if he wants to make more money, because he isn't going to come here to fulfill some personal ambition other than money which is good for us. Benteke I wouldn't want to bother with the risk (you guys see him against United?) but Benzema and Balotelli are amazing players we should be very lucky to sign them.

What is this 20m asking price? Sell him for a sandwich.

...the nail on the head right there. You can't just implement effective tactics while your players are playing like ballerinas and expect to dominate.

You guys have seriously never seen Jose sub in a second striker? The decision making of the players were poor. That formation should have scored and won the game. The decision making was poor and it got poorer once we conceded. Defenders were turning their backs to CP players; players especially Hazard were trying to dribbling infront of 5 men instead of dumping it over to Torres+Ba; we lost so many 50/50s; gambled with poor shots from distance as the clock ran down; and last but not least the elephants in the room Torres and Ba. We have thrived off standout performances from players like Hazard, Azpi, Terry, Cech and now Matic so when too many of them have an off day the whole team will.

I feel way happier just being involved in the tightest premier league race in ages than winning the Europa league. If we were something like 15 points off the top and City, Liverpool and Arsenal were going at it for the title it would suck. Europa league is about as satisfying as stepping in gum, it was awesome in the moment but in hindsight it's not so glamorous.

Pass around a collection basket at the game or something. I'd easily pay $100 or more to see someone else with 9.

Not really. I'd take satan himself to be our striker if I felt he was going to be a clinical striker. The thing is I have a very strict opinion on what will make a game changing striker in prem and I believe it's exceptional dribbling and world class shooting. You look at Suarez and Aguero and thats them, incredible dribbling and meteor of a shot. Costa does not have exceptional dribbling (keyword exceptional I'm not saying he is shit at it) and he does not have a beastly shot, this is where my bias against him comes from before his play style. I like dirty as a Canadian who plays hockey I know pretty doesn't win games ugly and dirty wins games, I can easilly accept a dirty player I just want amazing dribbling and shooting. Don't get me wrong if we got him I would be overjoyed but from the main qualities I want in this striker Costa does not excel in.

Ross is a lad. I'm scared to let Lukaku go however especially when Ross still has to compete for a spot. Believe it or not I wouldn't be surprised if we got the option to buy him for cash. Everton are going to need some new players next season (to stay competitive) and I can see them sacrificing him if they feel they can get a complete team within their budget.

Yes with Balo you get a clown but with Costa you get a scumbag, Costa is the dirtiest player of 2013-2014 and he was worse last season ( he has done alright to contain a lot of himself this year). Balo is winner there is no doubt about it and he is becoming more mature and realizing that he a professional and he is here to work. Diego Costa is a moron and I am willing to bet will never string together an English sentence. Anyone remember when he trips the little kid in training and when he chokes the Sevilha player? His betrayal of Brazil by joining Spain is also something else. A least Balo has a soul and he's still only 23. Based on their play alone it's hard to chose I don't see a landslide for either player but I would choose Balo for his dribbling and shooting which is much better than Costa's.

If we loan out Torrs we will still end up paying 10m of his wages so that he could play somewhere else... I'd give him away at this point and let someone else deal with a 13m a year pylon.

Nice one...

I'd still take Balotelli is we could pry him from Seedorf. If we are going to be dealing with antics I'd rather be laughing in embarrassment with Balo then be upset and embarrassed with Costa. We could use his shot.

It takes more than 3-4 years to make the move to profitability after inflating the clubs wages. Most clubs can incur debt many times over what FFP outlines and still consider themselves a viable business. Especially the massive clubs, they have no problem with debt financially but FFP its about principles. It akes more than 3-4 years for your clubs profitibility to catch up to the increased wages that comes with these take overs. Sure investors could easily cover the bill but FFP is there to make sure clubs can't spend more than they are worth or generating. These take overs generally increase the appeal of the club especially internationally and eventually the club's revenue gets closer to the wage spike, but that took us (ChelseaFC) like 10 years before that happened. City is doing it a bit faster than us but PSG will probably take longer than 10 years, especially if they keep up their current pattern. Big clubs that already have their feet on the ground in terms of big club revenue love FFP, essientially it makes it harder for billionaires to transform a club unless it already has a decent revenue platform to work with. Being France's big club I may be underestimating their momentum but the FFP window is 3 seasons which isn't enough time to increase revenues by over 100m, City look more likely to dodge FFP than PSG.

You guys know that if Atletico win the league they aren't selling Costa to anybody. Right?