The Skipper

https://twitter.com/mraiola/status/474498801643032576

Meh. Me too. I'd be okay going into next season with Costa, Lukaku & Torres though.

Don't know if it's been posted already but apparently Torres said this: "He is a kind of player that Chelsea don't have at the moment. Great players are always great signings. We know him well, he was one of the best players in the Premier League while playing for Arsenal and is a player who brings a lot to the team," Torres said in an interview with Movistar. "He is a player who brings ball control and goals. If he feels important, if he feels like a leader he proved at Arsenal that can lead a squad."

Is Fab still going to United then?

Thank you. It's like he's never even seen Fabregas play.

True, but Strootman basically loves LVG and vice versa, and could go to United just because of that.

Makes sense. LVG built the Dutch team around Strootman before he got injured so this is very understandable.

He definitely played out wide... To accommodate Falcao.

Cup games or not, 20 goals and 15 assists from out wide when you're not the focal point of the team counts as a great season for me.

Nah, U21s don't count towards HG status either. We can have as many of them as we want - so essentially they aren't taking any space in the squad whatsoever.

Balague is an idiot. I remember last year he was adamant that Benitez wasn't going to be CFC manager and then we signed him on a few days later. Also insisted that Ozil wasn't going to Arsenal and voila, Ozil went to Arsenal.

£26.8m is a fucking steal.

Explain how signing Fabregas means Oscar's off... Especially when Mourinho called him, Hazard and Matic the future just a few weeks back.

Just today:

This is gold.

Apparently they're one of he most reputable sources out there in Spain and have very close ties to Barcelona. Edit: Pretty sure @petre.ispirescu can confirm the above?

Apparently some guy on RAC1 said that Fabregas is definitely signing here for 33m euros plus add ons.

Arsenal Supporters Trust had an open Q&A with Ivan Gazidis (their CEO?) tonight and regarding Fabregas, here's what was said:

One game... You lot are funny.

Fair enough. I can understand the concerns on the defensive end, because Fab obviously isn't exceptional defensively, but if we do get him; trust Jose. I'm pretty sure he'll get the best out of him and if he didn't fit at all with what he was trying to do we wouldn't sign him.

That's completely irrelevant because Shaw plays for a PL team that have a wealthy owner. There is no way anyone from the Belgian league will go for £40m.

He's a huge talent, but even if he does stay for two more years, there is no way he'd go for £40m...Anderlecht don't have the financial clout to reject a bid of even half of that.

You don't have to be as naive as Wenger or Rodgers to create a team that scores goals though... His time at Real proves that. Real we're still predominantly a counter attacking team but because they still had great finesse, were very versatile and effective going forward and in possession, and they were regularly putting 4, 5, 6 past teams. Mourinho's underlying system will still be there but we'll simply be more adventurous, and a player like Fabregas would essentially help towards that. I wonder... Would you be as against this if we were signing Rakitic (who I know you rate highly) instead?

Which is fair enough, but Messi shouldn't be worth twice more.

See, you don't know that. One could say that you're neglecting the fact that Jose might be willing to change. You don't know and can't say for sure whether Jose is going to remain conservative or whether he'll change the style of play again to the one he initially promised when he first came back. Sure, Fabregas doesn't fit the profile for the teams we put out in the 13/14 season but who's to say that Jose wants to keep it that way? Who's to say Jose doesn't want to go out and get goals just like he did in his 2nd season at Madrid?