The Skipper

Mikel will definitely stay. Jose loves him.

He didn't say false - but premature. He did say Jovetic though, but I think it's going to one or the other. Unless we're looking to reshape our whole forward line which I doubt is the case.

I'm not getting too excited just yet. Does anyone know how reliable Mediaset are?

You said we weren't going to sign him anymore and pursue Lewandowski instead.

Because he is!

Which is why I really wanted him to be our number 2 as he's class, but it looks like he's taken the number 1 shirt at Stoke.

I can't believe I just wasted 15 minutes of my life. This isn't even good trolling, this is the worst trolling effort I've EVER seen on these forums.

LOOOOOL. Not going to lie - missed this idiot.

I really want Cavani but I can't see the club paying his release clause... Hopefully they can persuade Napoli with a £35m + Torres offer and convince Torres to take a wage cut. It's the furthest I'd probably go.

At least it confirms our interest in Cavani, which is good.

I seriously doubt Fernandinho moved to City for £45k a week. Even the official Shakhtar website says it's 40m euros, and I'm more inclined to believe them than twitter. "On 6 June, FC Shakhtar and Manchester City reached an agreement regarding the transfer of the Pitmen’s midfielder Fernandinho to the English club. The Citizens signed the Brazilian for 40 million euros." They wouldn't include his wages in there.

I don't think Real will sell Di Maria for 25m euros to be honest. If they were then obviously City or us would've brought him in instead of Schurrle or Navas.

Aubameyang - He's a striker. De Bruyne - He's already registered as one of our players in case you've missed that. Jese - Do you really think Real would even contemplate selling Jese? Piazon - Piazon isn't better than Schurrle. If you're willing to give him a shot as back up (something Schurrle won't be, he'll be a squad player who can provide Mourinho with tactical flexibility and a more direct threat) then you might as well give Marin a shot. Payet - Again, won't be available for less than £17m. Muriel - A striker, who again won't be available for less than £17m. Amin Affane - LOL. Juan Quintero - A CAM of which we have plentiful in the squad. JP Boetuis - Nowhere near ready, shouldn't even be mentioned as a first team squad player for us when he's barely even played at Feyenoord. Jeremain Lens - A decent suggestion but Schurrle's a better player. Heung-Min Son - He's off to Leverkussen to replace Schurrle. Griezmann - Not going to go for cheaper than £17m. Alexis Sanchez - Not going to go for cheaper than £17m. De Bruyne - Already part of the squad. Di Maria - Clearly not going to go for anything cheaper than £17m. Gaitain, Jese, Aubayemang - Again, not going for anything cheaper than £17m. The majority of them are nowhere near as realistic as you're trying to make them out to be.

Please be true.

Obviously I was solely referring to the two games versus Barcelona.

This is bogus sorry, Schurrle was nowhere near as hyped up as Marko Marin was. Marin was called the German Messi for crying out loud. His last season at Mainz was brilliant and he hasn't yet reached that level with Bayer (mostly due to him moving down as an inside forward - still getting fully accustomed to that role IMO) but that doesn't mean his development has completely stagnated. He's still one of Bayer's most dangerous players, clearly. He's only 22 so he has plenty of time to still develop his game so to simply write him off because he hasn't been as dominant as he was at Mainz is mind boggling. He still produces at a decent enough level to be warranted a good purchase, he's miles better than Marin at the moment. Funny how you're completely ignoring, as I said in my previous post, that Schurrle has played on the flanks far more often than Ramires so they shouldn't even be compared. Schurrle is a bigger threat in and around the area than Ramires is; and has similar work rate to Ramires is where the comparison stops. Well, you're confusing finishing with decision making then. Andre has a good finish on him, you don't score 13 goals in a season if you don't. His decision making isn't perfect but it's more or less what to expect from a 22 year old who still has a bit of development to do.

Yeah you're absolutely right. I mean look at Bayern against Barcelona, a possession based side, last season where Bayern were set up as a counter attacking team. They were so inferior right? By your logic, Bayern beating Barcelona 7-0 on aggregate should be disregarded because they were set up as a counter attacking team. Bayern were clearly the inferior team .

Yeah, because signing Schurrle concludes that we'll primarily be a counter attacking team even though our best talents are Mata and Hazard right? Yes, because Schurrle is going to be our only signing this season... Again, because signing Schurrle means we're not going to sign anyone else and we're just going to go into the season with the squad as it is now even though we're only in June right? So, so disgusting. God.

No, I doubt anyone actually comes out and says "this guy is merely better than Ramires on the RW". That's rubbish. Again, don't really know why you're so hellbent on comparing him and Ramires in that position when clearly the difference between Ramires and Schurrle is that Schurrle is used to playing on the flanks and Ramires isn't whatsoever - so comparing them is useless in my opinion. There similarities stop at them both being hardworking players. Name me games where Schurrle has started and finished at RW this season. There isn't enough evidence around to suggest that Schurrle is like Ramires at RW so you have to look at his attributes. Schurrle is a decent dribbler, very direct, has great acceleration and has played on the flanks for seasons now so one would think that he'd fair far better than Ramires at RW. No, you don't compare Ramires to Schurrle simply because they play in different positions. One is more acclimatised to the middle while the other is used to playing on the left flank as an inside forward. Just like how you think comparing Hazard to Torres (because Hazard has played one game as a false 9), it's retarded. Why you're even saying Schurrle is poor at finishing - probably due to the stat that he's missed the most clear cut chances (20) in the Bundesliga (a bogus stat in my opinion as they're strangely defined) - is strange. RVP missed 22 clear cut chances this season according to Opta, does that mean RVP is a poor finisher? Of course not. Why you're even saying his crossing is poor is also bewildering considering he averages 0.5 crosses a game (just using this stat to back up that he isn't the sort of player that crosses the ball, he plays as an inside forward at Leverkussen). If you think Schurrle's qualities are only the fact that he's hard working you need to go out there and watch him play more often. His pace and directness is what we've been lacking many times last season. He adds physical presence in the 3 behind our centre forward, something we've been lacking again this season. At £17m, which is around the fee big clubs pay for squad players, he's a good signing that like I said before, will pleasantly surprise a few of you on here.

BBC Sport's Saj Chowdhury reports: "Barcelona are not interested in signing Chelsea defender signing David Luiz, according to a source close to the Spanish champions. However, the Catalan giants have made strengthening the defence their number one priority and have already begun their pursuit. Barca were interested in bringing Paris St-Germain's Brazilian centre-back Thiago Silva to the Nou Camp, but they could not afford to match his salary demands."

No it isn't common knowledge, that's just your opinion. Why do you keep comparing him to Ramires as well when they're clearly very different type of players?

Nice.

Piet basically said that the he isn't the only person at Chelsea that rates him highly (presumingly he means that the board and Emelano rate him too) so I don't see us selling him at all, especially if he's trying to convince Mourinho to keep him this season. I'd love a squad make up of Hazard/Mata/Oscar/KDB/Schurrle/Moses - it just screams depth. I still personally see his future in the middle of the park though.

This guy will pleasantly surprise a few on here.

So the most successful manager in world football over the last 10 years is so fucking overrated? Almost forgot how much of a troll you were. Welcome back I guess...