The Skipper

You need to post more often.

Well logic says that Real won't sell Karim, but you're right, Perez is crazy. Wouldn't surprise me if he did end up selling Benzema, and would love it if we were the ones that benefitted from that.

Have said it before, if he's available we need to grab him ASAP. I feel he's mature enough to be the number one striker for someone like us now and his talents are obvious, exactly the sort of striker we need. He can also easily play with Lukaku, just put him out on the wing. There are only two strikers I'd sign ahead of him and they both aren't available (Benzema and Cavani).

Let's just stick to discussing Torres' contributions to the team because you fully know that I don't say any of that about the likes of Ramires, Mikel, Eto'o, Luiz, Cech etc, who have all (bar Eto'o) done way more for this club than Torres has. You're acting like Torres has done so many things for this team... Like I said, apart from playing well against average European sides in the EL, Torres has practically done fuck all for us.

No, that was Schweinsteiger. But yeah if BvB offered that amount I'm pretty sure we probably would've let him go but I sincerely doubt they actually did.

He's played for them in almost every other game.

Yeah sure, Torres was pretty vital in the Europa league against average European sides, but apart from that he hasn't had much of a say in any other trophy he's managed to obtain here.

We sold Juan because United made a great offer, I don't think BvB did the same for KDB.

I'm not judging Salah's performances here at CFC at all, I've actually defended him in that aspect - however I never wanted him to begin with, hence why I wished we signed someone like Griezmann instead.

We should've just signed him instead of Salah IMO.

How much is he worth to you then? I think Luke is probably worth £15m at most but because of the 'English player tax' his value slightly rises - but it doesn't matter because he is definitely worth it IMO, not because of potential but because of where he's at right now. I've stopped looking at him as a young kid with potential... He's already one of the best left backs in the PL. Second best English left back only behind Baines right now IMO.

My main point was that Costa was a better player than Mandzukic in the Pep analogy. Regardless, Costa would be better for our set up than Mandzukic would be simply because of Mourinho's counter attacking system which I think Mandzukic would be useless in.

I don't think Mario's link up play is "way better" than Costa's. He's surrounded by better players and a better link up play system (he's not as isolated up front as Costa is) so his link up play will obviously look better. Costa is usually isolated upfront on his own, doesn't have as much support as Mario does, so I don't think you can really compare their link up play in that manner. Diego Costa has more pace/power about him than Mandzukic does, and is also more technically adept. Mandzukic cannot play on the wing, whilst Costa can because he has better technique and is technically in general more adept. If you stick Costa in the Bayern team, he'd also benefit of the link up play system there and IMO would do better. Vice-versa, I definitely doubt Atletico would be challenging for the title if they had Mandzukic up front this season. Costa is definitely a very major reason why Atletico are up there challenging for the La Liga this season. If I was Pep and you offered me a straight swap; Costa for Mandzukic; I would be out of my mind not to take it IMO.

I have an interesting question for you - if both Mandzukic and Costa were available at £32m, would you still think Mandzukic is the better player for us?

He wasn't comparing ATM to Stoke, he was comparing Rayo to Stoke.

That is a really poor argument. Aguero, Torres (when he joined Liverpool), Negredo is all I'll say.

This, this and this. Just because you score goals doesn't mean you should automatically be a striker. Schurrle wouldn't have been in the position to score those if he was playing up front.

Eto'o Hazard - Willian - Schurrle Matic - Luiz Azpi - Terry - Cahill - Ivanovic Cech

Mandzukic really isn't better than Costa IMO, if he was they wouldn't have signed Lewandowski. Mario is not a bad striker but he's not elite. Diego Costa has more about him.

No one is saying that lol, people are just bringing up DD because he was similarly doubted at the start of his Chelsea career for the same reason.

His price is set. It's £32m, his release clause. It's not going to go up or down, and in today's market, for a top class striker, £32m is not a bad price at all. We will spend £30m on a player if we want to - the Willian signing proves that. He exhibits the traits that we need in a CF as well. His back to goal and link up play is great, he has great work rate and can easily lead the line on his own. He comes up with big goals as well as he's proven this season. This isn't his first great season either. Last year, he still grabbed 20 goals even though he wasn't playing as the main forward as Falcao was there - so he isn't a one season wonder. He's not 26 either, he's 25. That means if we did sign him we'd get him with his prime years ahead of him. I would not be disappointed with this signing at all.

Late bloomer.

They're saying it simply because of the vast amount of talent Real have available. Player for player it is a great Real, but nothing will beat the Galactico era of Ronaldo, Zidane, Beckham, Raul etc. in my opinion (player wise).

Some player this guy is. Dreaming of him and Hazard terrorising teams on that left flank.

This is because he wasn't playing upfront. He used to play out wide when Falcao was there.