The Skipper

I'd be tempted too if a very decent offer came along, but I think Jose will want to keep him around.

Only if they've been at the club for 3 or more years - and even then they wouldn't even need to be registered anyway - so it's 3 spots wasted. JT can still do a decent job, he's a player you'd like to have around your squad simply because of his leadership qualities which you do need, but most importantly he needs to stay simply because of the squad make up, that's why the club won't be keen on selling him. He'll obviously not play as often but I'm very sure Jose will use him in the right way. JT still has a season or so (maybe even longer, we'll find out next season) of top level football left IMO.

Yes they have more financial power but football isn't just about money. By your logic City should've blown us out of the water for Hazard then. If we come in and rival City's bid (which I'm sure we can if we really wanted to) and offer him decent wages and Jose sells him the dream of playing for CFC and the project we're trying to fulfil then it's more than viable.

For the PL yes, but not for the CL. CL requires 8 players to be association trained and 4 club trained players, for at least 3 years before their 21st. It's why Bertrand counts as an association player and not a club trained player because of the amount of loans we sent him on - so we're essentially 3 players short in the CL - we can only include 22 players instead of 25 and I don't think the board will let that go down to 21 just yet. It's why it's vital we bring through the likes of Chalobah, Ake etc. Lukaku could've been club trained because he arrived at 18 but obviously it's about making the decision on whether you want to develop a player or hold him back - in which I think the club made a good decision, even though they did sacrifice his club trained status.

No, he needs to stay simply because of his HG status in the CL (our only one). JT still has a season or so left so he's still important for the squad make up.

No no, don't be shy... We love our babblers on TalkChelsea. There are plenty of sections in the forum you can babble in so please don't hold yourself back! Looking forward to reading your stuffs .

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I'm tired of these bullshit rumours.

GTFO! No one should speak of The Special One in that manner. Blasphemy.

Italian too. Mourinho's a very smart guy.

Cavani Hazard - Mata - Hulk Oscar - De Rossi Monstrous team - pace, physicality, passion, skill, grit all over the pitch.

Pathetic attempt of a 'kit'.

I'd still take him for a reasonable price.

A bit of a hyperbole perhaps, and what I did mean was U21 (those elegible for that WhoScored team) - Jovetic, Balotelli, Sturridge, Pato weren't U21 when the season when the season started. Don't really consider Neymar or El Sharaawy as out and out strikers either.

Lukaku should be in there too. Him and Benteke are clearly head and shoulders the best young strikers out there.

Of course, Arjen was great in WC2010 too, probably our second best player in that tournament but Sneijder was exceptional and if Robben didn't fluff his lines in the final we would've been world champions in my opinion.

Completely disagree, Sneijder was our best player in WC2010.

It has definitely significantly improved. him and Ash at the end though!

That would be a top deal, especially if we keep his wages at ~100k. £10m is a Makelele esque signing.

I don't think so. Not anymore anyway. Sneijder's hype (compared to what it was in 2010) has died down significantly, hence why I don't think he's overrated anymore. Of course a player of his calibre will always be linked to top clubs because of what he's done in the past and he's still relatively young but that doesn't mean he's exactly overrated. I agree with you that we should look at Oscar or Hazard being Mata's back up over signing Sneijder because I don't even want him here as I've said on numerous occasions but that doesn't mean he's overrated. Each one to their own though, I guess the term "overrated" is very much subjective.

Torres has actually declined massively. I was in the same boat as you last year, thought we should give Fernando his final chance to prove he's good enough to lead the club as the number 1 striker but he's obviously failed at that so naturally I'd be happy to see him off. Luiz's case is different - he's steadily improved this whole season to the point where he's considered as one of our best players now - and it's clear that he still hasn't reached his prime yet, which I personally think he'll start showing next season under JM. The prospect of Luiz working under Mourinho is mouthwatering in my opinion, he's the perfect coach to bring the best out of David. I fully agree - but why look at rebuilding something that's one player away from being pretty much perfect when there are other issues that need to be sorted out in the team? Do you seriously think that we would've been so defensively frail if our midfield was solid last season? Of course not. It really makes you think how good Luiz would've been if he had a proper pivot in front of him. It's quite sad actually how disorganised that area of our squad is. If we get a solid midfield we will easily see the best out of Luiz. Well personally I don't think there is any defender in the world with the exact skill set as David Luiz, that's how unique of a player he is, and we should be looking at that more than looking for a adequate replacement for £30m. Luiz is practically priceless in my opinion simply because of the skill set and attributes he has. It is very rare that a CB like Luiz comes along, so the fact that we're probably the only top club in Europe that have a CB like him should be exploited and not passed upon. Depends what you want to have in your team. I view Luiz as part of our new core very much, behind Mata and Hazard I count him as the most important player going forward. Luiz is a good defender who can have great games defensively but why I'm so hellbent on keeping him is the fact that he brings far more than just that to the team. Luiz is an attacking threat from defence - that in it's own is an unique ability - this ability, if implemented correctly, can be very advantageous to the team - if we implement a system where opponents have to keep an eye on what Luiz is doing it creates more space for those in front of Luiz, causes more tactical confusions for the opposing manager, adds to our offensive threat... There are many possibilities if this is correctly implemented by JM. Lucio was considered by some as the best defender in the world when Jose was at Inter due to the way he brought the ball up and added to the team offensively and I think Jose can do something similar with David. Definitely agree that Barcelona don't make good signings all the time, no team does, probably going a bit off topic here but personally I don't think Song, Fabregas, Zlatan and Sanchez were bad transfers. Regarding Song, I just think he's been massively underused. Song can easily play in any midfield in the PL right now - I could easily see him starting for United, City, Arsenal, or us. Barcelona have mistreated him more than anything. Zlatan and Sanchez are the unfortunate by product of a Messi-centric team, they're both phenomenal players who would again be star players for most teams in the world but obviously the Barcelona team is far too Messi geared for them to actually shine. Fabregas is an interesting case, he's actually been decent for Barcelona so I wouldn't call him a bad signing but you're right in saying that he hasn't exactly fitted Barcelona. I think he's too direct for a team like Barca. Yeah, we're building a new team but in my opinion we've already formed it's spine and Luiz is very much part of that (again, IMO). It's not like we're starting from scratch - we've got a team with bags of potential in place there already and there's no point in hypothetically using that as an excuse to sell a player when we haven't even anywhere near fully exploited the team's potential. Again, one thing I hate about the general consensus around Luiz (90% due to the media's campaign against Luiz) is that he can go months without making an error and then when he makes one, people get all self-righteous and think they were right about him all along. Luiz has still been our least error prone defender this season, no matter what way you put it. As you've rightly pointed out, there are many more intangibles surrounding Luiz which makes him worth a lot more than £30m to me. Football isn't just about a player's skill, it's about their character too and Luiz has both in abundance - this automatically makes him worth a lot more than £30m to me. Luiz is a great player to have for team spirit, I can actually see him and Jose forming a special bond due to them both speaking the same language and their personalities... Add in the fact that we're clearly established as a top 5 European team now there is no reason for a club like us to go around selling our best players. Well, at least give him that chance. I'm sure he deserves that after his performances this season.

An overrated player is a player that gets more hype and credit than he's actually worth, which is not necessarily a player in decline. Sneijder's hype is understandable as he was one of the best players in the world in 2010 but obviously he's not at that level anymore and many people realise that. What most people are saying is that he can come in and do a good job as a squad player. He's still a very good player but I doubt the general consensus have him amongst the best midfielders in the world, which is why he isn't overrated. I certainly don't rate him amongst the best anymore anyway. I think if we did hypothetically sign him he wouldn't be a starter but more of a squad player but as I've said before I can't see him cutting his wages or being a squad player here.

There's a difference between saying someone's overrated and someone's performances have dipped. I don't know why you're combining that difference but I'm very sure everyone knows Sneijder isn't 2010 Sneijder anymore. Doesn't mean he's overrated. I don't want to sign him either but I'm not going to call Sneijder an overrated player.

So Italy and the WC2010 weren't "hard" stages? Anyone who's the main creative fulcrum of a too team that won the treble or took his nation to the World Cup final is a great player. Obviously he's not been at that level recently but no one's coming along saying he's the best midfielder in the world because he obviously isn't anymore (he definitely was in 2010) so I don't understand how he's "overrated".

No. Holland implemented the 4-2-3-1 system with Sneijder as our number 10 in 2010, when he had Nigel De Jong and MVB behind him and had Robben and VDV/Kuyt flanking him (all interchanging to be honest) whilst also having RVP upfront. Sneijder can easily be a Mata's substitute, his best years have come whilst playing as the player behind the striker. The thing with Sneijder is that he's quite versatile - he'll play decent ish on the flank or a bit deeper in midfield but his best position is as a number 10. If you think Sneijder isn't able to perform the role Mata is I think you need to go watch some old footage of him. I mean I've been following him since his Ajax days so I know exactly the type of player he is - he's actually quite similar to Mata attribute wise - both can provide that killer pass, both have exquisite technique and both have a good finish on them. How anyone could say you can't compare Sneijder to Mata is bewildering. Regardless I don't want him here because he's not going to sit and be a squad player and he's not going to cut his wages down.