The Skipper

Still, doesn't prove he's athletic as Yaya Toure or Vidal to me. I've watched Rakitic for a long time. He never has been and never will be. He's best at CAM where he just concentrates on creating IMO.

Rakitic doesn't have the athleticism of let's say a Matic, Yaya or Vidal. Technically he's complete but physically the others are far ahead, hence why I don't think you can even call him a complete midfielder. Good player though.

I love Matic but offensively, Vidal and Toure are on another level.

Again from '4 months' to nothing serious...

The fitness saga, the fact that he doesn't know who Tony Adams is, the fact he thought Victor Moses was his toughest opponent... Sure, guy can definitely play but Southampton did extremely well to flog Shaw for £30m. Seems like a Luiz esque deal now

Whilst that is true, Tony Adams is an iconic defender, the fact that he's an English defender as well makes it truly baffling. As Nish said above, it isn't even about age, that's just pure ignorance.

I know, but to say Italy was the best league during that time is untrue. La Liga and PL had overtaken them by then already IMO.

How old is Luke? How can he not know about Tony Adams....

I would say Ibra if he played in a more competent league.

The fact that his name is Gohan makes this even better.

Haha no chance, Serie A hasn't been anywhere near the best league in the world for over a decade now.

Around £90k according to the DM.

Interesting post, but completely disagree with anyone who calls Ballack, a complete midfielder, limited. What exactly was he limited in?

Believe it or not, Lallana is actually 26. Older than Costa .

He's getting there. Another 30+ goal season and then we can seriously talk.

Who's Surraez?

Brilliant attitude from Happy:

Luis was one of the best all round left backs in Europe last year, if not the best. He'll get his chance.

Possibly. Mainly due to his impeccable ability in the air. Minus aerial ability I'd say Henry though, maybe Ronaldo 9 too but aerial ability is important in determining a complete striker so yeah. King DD all the way. IMO he never truly gets the recognition he truly deserves.

Drogba's touch was on and off for me. Sometimes it would be so exquisite you'd be thinking, 'how does a big man like that pull that off?', Zlatan-esque. Other times it was very poor. I agree in his prime that he was probably one of if not the best complete CF in the world but I can also see Costa reaching that level. If he does then we'll be able to compare.

LOL.

Haha I agree. With Jose as manager it'll definitely be a more balanced version though, but naturally we'll see a lot more high scoring games than last season because of the profile of the squad now after some great attacking additions.

All of that is true but I do think Costa has better technique than Drogba in general (not to say Drogba's technique was bad obviously!). Also seems a bit more explosive than Didier. If Costa has a similar career to King DD though, happy times ahead.

I agree, but are our players fully accustomed to the system like Dortmund's players are? Doubt it very much. Was speaking from that view point.

Haha well, we haven't fully established our style yet but it's definitely fully taking shape this season, hence why I said it that way around.