The Skipper

I think Di Maria is underrated too but I just really like Benzema as a player and I don't often hear people say that he's top 5 striker in the world - hence why I don't think he's overrated.

I've watched City and Dzeko a lot over the past few seasons, even Dzeko at his Wolfsburg days a few times where he was great as well. He isn't simply a striker that needs to be fed... His link & hold up play is very good, strong in the air, can pass it pretty well and has very good movement. Yeah, his finishing *can* be inconsistent sometimes but more often than not his finishing is very good. He isn't simply a poacher as you've described, he's very much a complete CF. 28 goals and 10 assists this season for City speaks for itself.

I see what you mean but maybe if Lukaku is off then the transfer would make more sense - having an experienced head up front is not a bad thing. He is on big wages though (not exactly sure how much?) but if he comes as you said he would definitely be a good signing, especially if we can grab him for around £20/25m. Even if he comes in as number 1 striker it'd be okay, even for Lukaku's future here - Dzeko, Lukaku and a 3rd choice striker is a massive improvement on our current strikeforce.

Corresponds with what Mou has been saying here: Dzeko would not be a bad signing at all. Great player.

If there was anyone of our loanees that I would want to fill in that 6th AM spot, it would definitely be Thorgan.

I actually think he's slightly underrated because a lot of people use that exact reason which is unfair on him.

Anyone else witness Kovacic ripping it up with three assists today (only player to do so this Serie A season) vs. Lazio. My word, this kid would actually be a dream signing. The way he effortlessly glides past players as well is majestic. Would be the perfect partner for Matic.

I highly doubt that Azpi would be our starting left back should we sign either Shaw or Rodriguez. Ivanovic would be the one that would move to being a squad player. Shaw isn't more inclined to a move to United either - it's not like he's got Chelsea and United to choose between. No one has matched United's supposed crazy offer of £30m and £100k wages.

"Clearly, Chelsea had a fantastic team that lasted for 10 years, but that team is over, it doesn't exist any more. Chelsea needs to build another team with some similarities to that one. Some of these boys are still here, but not many of them. And Chelsea is building its future. You could see this season that these people were important to give some stability, to give some experience to the team, but obviously they're not the players for the next 10 years. The players for the next 10 years have to be the Hazards, Oscars, Matic... these young guys are the guys for the next 10 years. [...] Eden has had a big evolution in his game and a big evolution in his personality. He had a high that lasted for a long time - many, many months. He couldn't finish on a high because he was injured and in the most important moment of the season - for the second leg against Paris, for the first leg against Atletico - he was not there. Against Atletico in the second leg he was there but not in top condition. He wasn't there for the last few matches of the Premier League because of his injury, but he was clearly a player with a big evolution and hopefully he will be even better next season." Good stuff Jose.

Doesn't even necessarily mean you need one holding and one b2b midfielder - you can have different combinations - i.e. A holding and a playmaker, destroyer and playmaker or a b2b and a playmaker etc.

It's hardly as significant as you're trying to make it seem, especially when you have team mates and managers that speak multiple languages.

That's the problem some seem to have on here. I love Mourinho for what he's done for the club and was so delighted when he was announced back, it was like a dream come true - but if you don't always agree with everything he does (even if you go about it in a respectful manner) some seem to think that you don't support the club and that you're a glory hunter - which is ridiculous to begin with.

If we cannot get Shaw for an affordable price he must be our first target for the LB spot.

Done!

Van Ginkel is in Holland.

What happened to our attack? The club put too much faith and gave Torres way too many chances.

Fair enough. If we do somehow sign him, of course I'd support him as a player as I do with all others, but that is besides the point. Listen, Paulinho is not a bad player, but he isn't the type of player we should be looking at all, especially since we've got Ramires who is very identical to him, and especially if we want to become a proper dominant force. Hence why I think it would be a terrible signing.

A lot of players can make those simple passes, doesn't automatically make them desirable. I think an in form Ramires is better than Paulinho. There's a few we've been linked to that are in the right ilk. Some have already been mentioned in this thread. You're advocating the sale of Luiz and maybe even Ramires but keep bringing up the financial aspect. If the former happened (even if we just sold Luiz) we wouldn't have any financial problems in regards to getting a top midfielder in at all. The financial aspect of it is a myth - especially when Paulinho would likely go for £20/25m+ at least. Add a bit onto that and you can actually get the type of player our squad doesn't have i.e. a Rakitic. So you've concluded from the fact that I don't want Paulinho here that I don't want to give young players a chance? How have you imagined that one? It's the exact opposite in fact; it would be an even bigger stumbling block for the likes of MVG, Chalobah and RLC who can all do what Paulinho does and all have a higher ceiling. Signing a player with a different profile will actually give them a bigger chance to break into the team, instead of further putting them behind the pecking order. It's also very ironic that you now think it's massively simplistic to not look at other areas we need to spend in. Levy is still bitter about the Modric and Willian dealings. There's bad blood between the clubs when it comes to transfers - the same rubbish rumours that have started this are the same ones stating that he has potential suitors in Italy, so you're wrong on that aspect (if we follow those rumours of course). You and I both know very well that Jose loves Ramires as a player, and his comments recently have also supported that. There are no rumours suggesting that we're shipping Ramires on, you're making that up in your own mind; Mourinho's recent quotes should tell you that he strongly considers Ramires as part of the midfield here next season. As mentioned above, signing Paulinho who is a similar player to the top young CMs we have at the club (MVG, Chalobah, RLC) would actually be even further detrimental to their ascension at Chelsea than signing a player that has a completely different profile to them, a type of player we don't even have in the squad, a type of player that would compliment their style of play. So you're saying the Paulinho signing would be akin to the Meireles signing - a squad player. So you want more squad players? Why should we buy more squad players when the first team XI clearly isn't completed yet? When we should be looking for a starter next to Matic? Signing Paulinho as a squad player is nonsensical when you have a very similar player in Ramires there who could so easily fill out that spot in the squad. We are talking about signing a starter next to Matic, not a squad player and in that context Paulinho would be a bad signing. Me saying Paulinho would be a bad signing doesn't mean I'm impatient, we haven't even signed him or aren't close to signing him at the moment, and I've not once suggested that we need to hurry up with our signings at all. By your own words, if you're prepared to see how this plays out then you can't say it'll be a good signing yet because we haven't even done our dealings this summer to begin with. It has nothing to do with patience - don't know how you've managed to spin that into people being impatient either. Yes, because saying Paulinho would be a bad signing = popping or deriding anything the club does... Get over it man. Don't pretend like you've never even derided the club over a signing (Eto'o - but of course yours was justifiable and your criticism was measured ). Matic deal is a very irrelevant comparison because we're dealing with a club that aren't in need of money like Benfica were. We're dealing with a club which we have a very bad history with when it comes to transfers (Modric, Willian hijack). If we went in for Paulinho there is no way Tottenham would want to deal with us in a civil manner, you can't be that naive about it all. Answer me this, if you had the choice, would Paulinho be the number 1 midfielder you'd be looking at this summer, to start alongside Matic? Unless we're shipping Ramires (very, very, very unlikely) and directly replacing him with Paulinho he definitely would not be my plan A. And even then, we would still need another midfielder - so we're back to square one. Would you buy another Paulinho type player again if that was the case? The Paulinho deal does not make sense at all unless we're selling Ramires and that's very unlikely.

Fair enough. Thanks for that.

Is Luiz dating Sharapova or something?

The club has signed plenty of U16 players, it isn't idiotic at all. News like this shouldn't be published though, it's not like he's anywhere near ready for the first team, plus he's still a kid.

Because our board nor Mourinho have ever made a bad signing before?

It's not hard to have better technique or a better eye for goal or for any player to be less impulsive than Ramires... That doesn't automatically make you an impressive player and it doesn't mean the Paulinho signing makes sense. If we sell Luiz and Mikel and lose Lampard we'll have more than enough funds to buy a top class midfielder, not an average one that's slightly better than Ramires (which again is very debatable - IMO an in form Ramires is better than Paulinho) + they are essentially the same type of player. Besides, do you really think Levy would sell him for a cut price to us? He'll try and extort the highest amount of money from us, surely the Modric debacle proves that? There's no point in signing him if we have Ramires here, even as a squad player. I'd rather give the likes of MVG, Chalobah and RLC a chance than sign Paulinho. It would be a stupid signing not worth stunting the growth of the former three. Again I reiterate we can do so much better than Paulinho especially if we raise the funds this summer. He would truly be an awful, awful signing. He is not the sort of midfielder we need at all at this moment.

Paulinho would be a horrible signing, we can do so much better.

Damiao is so average.