zekinjo

I don't have any reliable link because that was + 5 months ago. If you had time to watch transfer activities closely you could read about James to Chelsea last year on marca.com (most reliable source connected to Real Madrid), between the others. https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/2428224/chelsea-transfer-news-james-rodriguez-moves-closer-to-75m-stamford-bridge-move-after-real-madrid-star-says-he-will-think-about-offers/ http://metro.co.uk/2017/01/11/cristiano-ronaldo-persuaded-james-rodriguez-to-reject-chelsea-and-stay-at-real-madrid-6375881/ One of those not too reliable but still enough to get the point.

Don't forget that at the end of last summer and especially in January almost everything was done between RM and Chelsea FC but Cristiano changed James mind on last day. News was circulating about Conte's admiration too, for days.

Yes, it's confirmed. http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20170606/sead-kolasinac-to-join-arsenal I didn't understand too but when I read about Antonio's personal call to Schalke and especially clubs director confirmation I had to do a little research about Kolasinac because even if I watched Schalke couple of times I have never turned my attention to their LB before. He's really solid but is hard to predict if he's going to become a top class player. I don't believe Antonio just wanted a quick backup for Alonso at any cost. That would mean we would have 2 solid or less LB's for a long time. So Sead is gone, Ricardo Rodriguez's agent said everything is done with AC Milan. Two of our last summer targets gone.

He sounds like if any good offer arrives and club accept one... Because he already stayed last year as he promised.

Deja vu!

Me too. Now I don't understand our January move for him. We wanted to buy him and didn't want him on free?

My bad. I noticed but I thought people will understand if they read 2-3 last posts so I don't have to explain myself.

I remember Antonio said once how his plan is to play with 4 at the back and even if he's master and commander of 3-4-3 and 3-5-2 with right players would switch to 4-2-4 or 4-2-1-3. His words. Maybe he noticed that 3 at the back mostly works but If you want something big like CL you had to have that extra creative midfielder. Just look at Juve against Real Madrid in CL Final. Even if Juve have probably the best defense (and they played with 5 at the back) they concedes 4 goals and at the end of the night I had that feeling like RM was playing against Bilbao and not mighty Juve. If Conte gets his targets and I believe it will be (should be) all about defense this summer then it's quiet possible we're going to see different formation like Juve did this season mostly playing with 2 CB's and from time to time they switch back to 3CB's. Anyway I don't believe we're staying where we are, it's a big risk having only one plan. Personally I expect something similar Juve did this season and that is to switch formation depending on a team we're playing with. Future can be really good for Chelsea if the board shows full support to Conte.

Its hard to get back to 4 defenders because everyone realized even in September 2016. how bad we're individually and as a team there. This was the reason why we switched formation to 5 defenders. It looks like serious overhaul needs to be done so we can back to 4 defenders.

It would be awesome if we can attract players like Alaba or Alex Sandro but I highly doubt they are ready to switch Barca and Juve for Chelsea. Unrealistic. But sometimes just happens.

This isn't 2000s that you can buy for 20-30m. Some players you just have to pay big. That's how it works these days. Go big or stay home.

I would say Alegri's job was way easier than Conte's at the time whe he was Juventus manager. One has to create and build almost from nothing and Alegri spent + 300 millions in 3 years. But at the end that's how the big clubs works. You have to spend big.

He just needs to be backed by the board, start attracting top quality players and I won't have any doubts about his long term dynasty here.

We have to realize that what Antonio did with this squad is beyond expectations. I keep reading how Matic is terrible and we need to upgrade his position. Yes we have to do that but look at our defense first. Beside Azpi we don't have (top) quality and reliable defender.

Man Utd did it couple of months ago.

Didn't watch the match but damn so embarrassing. No excuse.

Bad apple. But I can understand Conte, it's hard to find top quality and available striker to replace him with.

Winning the league should hold weight but only if you're capable of using that. Let's wait and see after the FA Final what's going to happen. Just hope we won't get into another Bonucci, Koulibaly, Marquinhos, Verratti, Radja, Hector, Ricardo and James Rodriguez sagas without happy ending, like last summer.

Fact that nobody is connected seriously to Silva more shows than all those you tube videos.

If he's really initiated this whole saga and if I'm the president I would get rid of him. He's so unstable and unpredictable that in this whole story football skills are at second place. Don't forget that he already earns millions per year playing for Chelsea FC plus commercials. And he did what? At the most important part of the season he's literally all of the sudden leaving Chelsea FC for a Chinese team, because of money. Wtf? Thanks God we have Antonio for a manager because with Jose it would be an absolute disaster inside the locker room. I mean Diego could bury us alive. I don't know what to think about him anymore. Shame we're in a situation like some average club where players wants to leave because of the money and not playing for a better club. Ridiculous.

If we're going to be competitive on all fronts I'm expecting 2-3 high quality players plus 1-2 new arrivals. Ps: Conte said we're gonna replace Iva, Terry, Oscar, Obi Mikel + if you add Diego Costa we should have 5 new players.

Verratti is a top player who I believe will end up at Barca or Juve. What a statement would it be if we somehow manage to buy him.

If the club wants him sporting director with his team should be persistent from the beginning. Show everyone you're serious, offer a lot of money constantly and maybe the kid will choose us instead of them. Otherwise I can't see we're beating any top club for a top player or prospect. Ps: Exactly that's how we get A. Cole, Carvalho, Ballack, Essien, Robben, Gallas, Makelele, Drogba, Sheva........

Pepe is master and commander of Real Madrid defense. Watching RM weekly and I can tell you if he is Spanish nationality nobody will speak about Serhio Ramos. And don't forget he's 34 y.o. guy with a lot of missing matches lately (last 2-3 season).