The Skipper

Lukaku has been basically saying the same thing for a long time now, but people will dismiss hard quotes from him and Jose as "shitty rumours". It's hilarious.

You wake up. It's not even something new that's been discussed, people have been saying this for a long time, Jose pretty much came out and confirmed it. It's a fact that Lukaku would rather be undisputed number 1 striker at Everton than fight for his place at CFC. Why would Jose lie about something like that? If Jose was lying about something like that surely Lukaku would come out and state that what Mourinho said was wrong, since he does like to talk? How have you even concluded that Lukaku would be 3rd choice behind Drogba? Who's the one guessing and making assumptions now?

Never mind that our manager came out and pretty much said exactly the same thing right...

Seems like I'm repeating myself, but have you ever thought about it the other way? Have you ever thought about the fact that Romelu didn't even want to be here to begin with and that he wanted assurances that he was the number 1 striker here?

Disagree with that. He was great under SAF.

It's funny because some were very certain Mourinho's team doesn't operate with a playmaker from a deeper position, nor an "attacking, creative left back" (as Jose describes him). We will definitely have the same underlying philosophy in our play (i.e. fast paced counter attacking football) but we will do so more expansively, and with the additions we've made it allows Jose to have even more weapons to tinker and change accordingly. 3 "clinical" signings as Jose likes to put it... It's going to be a very interesting year indeed.

If we needed a midfielder I'd say definitely, James is really underrated. But we really don't, so it'd be an unnecessary signing. We're stacked in midfield.

Really happy with the comments Jose has been making recently. We'll definitely see a return of the more expansive style of play we deployed in the earlier part of last season - this time however we'll be much better at it considering we finally have a fully balanced team. The additions of a top LB, top CF and a top CM were all vital and I'm glad Jose thought exactly the same thing. Definitely going to be a good year, Jose's confident because he has all the tools now.

Nothing wrong with that quote because he led his team very well and was actually one of the best forwards in Europe last year.

Regarding Mikel, His agent apparently said he won't move because he wants to get his British passport as he's completed 8 years in the country in October. Don't know how true that is though.

It's been out for some time now, one of the best Nike kits this year IMO:

Make or break season coming up for Osc. Hopefully he matures and steps it up. Still consider him as our starting #10 atm.

Edited!

Not the full interview but it's something.

Not to mention (I know this has been repeated to death but some obviously still don't know) we only get a small percentage from shirt sales. Most of it goes to Adidas.

He certainly has the right to question whether he's number 1 - he's one of the best in the world in his position and has already won titles like the Europe League, La Liga, Copa Del Rey, all where he played a pivotal role in. He sort of has a right to at least get some assurance that he'll get minutes at GK - which is also a completely different position to any outfield players as it's difficult to share minutes. Romelu's case was completely different since he is an outfield player and hasn't achieved anything near as much as Courtois has done and isn't even one of the best in the world, and as I've said before, that's completely delusional.

He isn't the undisputed number 1 here at all, that's the truth. If he's out of form he'll easily be replaced by Cech, simple.

Torres, Mikel and Romeu (on loan) for me. Promote Chalobah because he's HG and get in a new 2nd choice striker.

At least Courtois is willing to duke it out with one of the best in the world for that number 1 spot, unlike a certain someone.

This really won't happen IMO, people shouldn't get their hopes up.

Don't forget they just sold £90m worth of players, cash is not really a problem at Soton. I can see them staying up quite easily as well, yes they've lost some good players in Lambert, Lallana, Shaw and Lovren but honestly they've already gone and replaced half of them with equally as good players in Pelle and Tadic. Bertrand is not a bad replacement for Shaw either, and of course they'll bring in another player to replace Lovren too. They still have better players than a lot of PL teams.

Let's hope he does well, a potential £10m on the line.

Romelu was mocked and booed from the beginning? Now I know you don't even know what you're talking about, your whole argument is completely void. What the hell are you on about? You're making up stuff again... Chelsea fans really, really wanted him to succeed here and everyone was supportive of him during his WBA loan, and at the start of his Everton loan before he started talking. Everyone had big hopes for him, go back to the early stages of this thread yourself if you want to see. Even people like The Only Place To Be, who used to be one of Romelu's biggest supporters, initially criticised Mourinho for allowing the loan to happen, but that was all before he started talking. No one talks as much as Romelu does. You don't have to constantly talk to show that you're ambitious at all. Why can't you simply understand that the problem people have with him here is not him as a player - I, for example, said numerous times that he'd be the ideal 2nd choice striker here but the problem people have with him is this attitude that he thinks he deserves to be number 1 striker and that he isn't willing to fight for his place in our team. It has nothing to do with his goal scoring statistics, we all know Romelu is a natural goal getter. Most people that are bashing him aren't even bashing him as a player either, so I don't know why you want people to be sympathetic or that we should respect him. Respect him for what? Because he's scored 32 goals in the PL at the age of 21? Hats off to him, but I don't really care because none of those goals were even scored here. He'd get my respect if he stayed at CFC and fought for his place.

Not a fan at all of this transfer but it would be worth it if it gets rid of Torres.