The Skipper

Let's ignore his UCL wins with Porto and Inter then shall we...

We posted profit this year - and that includes all amortisations of the players we've signed already, our previous transfers are included in there already. The FFP rules instigate that for the next two seasons a club can go €45M in the red if they have an external source that covers them - this amount will be reduced over the years but it's still there for us if we need cover. Also, what many people tend to forget is that FFP does not count any contract signed before June 2010 - so essentially, on our FFP balance sheet we're probably around £10m-20m up if you discount all the wages of the likes of all those signed before that. If you add in the fact that you can discount extenuating circumstances such as managers being sacked (as it's a one off payment) and the fact that FFP doesn't count academy costs either you'll soon realise that we're absolutely fine when it comes to FFP. We've got money to spend. If you're interested in further reading there's an excellent article here which is quite dated (published last year) but still very relevant - it explains our situation regarding FFP excellently. There is no need to worry much about FFP, the club have done a good job regarding that.

@Bir_CFC, I posted this in the Roman thread: So, in this scenario for example, we spend £100m/£120m on players and give them all 5 year contracts; it would collectively show up as (£25m) max on our balance sheet due to amortisation. Not to mention that stuff like academy fees, managerial payoffs etc. don't count in FFP - add that to the fact that we actually made profit this year and you'll soon realise that we do have quite a bit to play around with.

We can, quite easily too.

The commentary...

Here's what I think... It's common knowledge that Moutinho's going for £20m, Pepe would probably go for the same or less, since he doesn't even start for Real anymore. With Bale on the market Real might be looking to use a Di Maria transfer as a means of funds, I think if we were to get him we're looking at £20m-£30m. Falcao would cost around £40m-£50m so that comes down to around £100m-£110m - not to mention that we could be selling players as well (Torres, Essien could bring in around £20m-£30m?). I don't think we'll even get all of them but realistically speaking we should be able to afford it if we go about it in the right manner.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-city/9971838/Yaya-Toure-signs-new-contract-for-four-more-years-at-Manchester-City-to-take-him-through-to-2017.html Yaya Toure signs new contract for four more years at Manchester City to take him through to 2017

Pepe and Luiz would be the most feared CB partnership in the PL for sure.

Uhhm... He scored 12 goals for us last season you know? And that was from the right wing? Don't be so stupid mate. We're discussing Sturridge here, not Suarez, don't even know why you're mentioning him in the first place. i wouldn't be surprised if Sturridge finished the season with 10+ tbh. He's on 8 already.

That would be us done for the transfer window! Cech Azpilicueta - Pepe - Luiz - Cole Mikel? - Moutinho Di Maria - Mata - Hazard Falcao. OMG.

I personally wouldn't look at that - it's a natural thing to do, especially after what Mourinho's said tonight - they've probably been getting a lot of bets that indiciate Mourinho as the next manager, it's not like they're in the know or anything, they just don't want to lose anymore money. They know as much as we do. Having said that though, Mourinho surely has to be favourite now.

Which is exactly what Jose wanted - rightly or wrongly, he's managed to take all the attention away from the Real Madrid loss. This is a real manager (pardon the pun), something we could've used when we've been under controversy this season. I seriously hope Roman offers Jose a contract for next season, he's literally begging to come back home.

It's written, just up to Roman to close the deal now IMO.

Ozil, Ronaldo and Higuain went hiding, and that's why Real lost the tie. Modric was epic tonight though, wow.

But if you think Luiz isn't capable why do you think Cahill is? Luiz has done more than Cahill has for this club. Luiz is one of the few players in the team who drive the team on, he has to be one of the prime contenders for captaincy, definitely over Cahill. The only thing that's holding Luiz back is probably his English, which isn't even that bad right now, but he can improve that. Cahill shouldn't even be considered IMO simply because he's not even one of our starting players.

Yes it does lol... It fully explains it.

Fully agree on your view about Luiz and his role in midfield, and you know my views on Mikel already; like you said we shouldn't derail & turn this into another Mikel debate! What I will say though is that he's going through a rough patch at the moment and it's easy to kick a dog when he's down. He's still a good player in my opinion, but right now he just isn't motivated - maybe that's due to Rafa, we don't know. But we'll leave it there. Thing is, everyone acknowledged that Hazard changed the game for us but Mikel played a role in that too. Everyone can admit that Hazard had a big say in the turn around. Mikel got praised because he gave our forwards a nice platform and recycled possession well.

It's pretty self-explanatory... The teams done alright in the last few weeks and Rafa's said that he isn't staying beyond this season. It's that simple...

Fair enough, I understand the argument that Luiz is needed in midfield simply because we don't have anyone who can distribute the ball like him in there, perfectly plausible argument. After all, our CB area is pretty much still covered up decently even if Luiz doesn't play there. What I don't understand though is the people that want him there permanently - it's too late into his career to permanently change his position to a CDM. Luiz will definitely do the job in midfield against weaker teams who tend to sit deep and not press but against teams like City or United or even Tottenham I think he'll struggle - but we do need his distribution from the pivot, certainly against teams that sit deep. I feel like Mikel can do what Luiz is doing but he isn't being pushed enough - if I was Rafa I'd certainly look at Mikel and tell him "Look, you have the technical abilities to distribute the ball excellently, you need to take gambles like Luiz does and distribute the ball forward as quick as possible". Mikel has that in his locker for definite but he's not being pushed IMO. Mikel needs to bring more to the team offensively, especially when we play against weaker sides. Luiz is more of an offensive threat in midfield than Mikel so that's why he works better against teams that sit deeper and don't really press us. Mikel's been getting a lot of stick recently but I still think he's a better DM than Luiz. He's just going through a rough patch atm. In the big games against teams who we expect to press us heavily I'd actually start Ramires and a motivated Mikel in the pivot and move Luiz back to CB simply because he'll have more space to pick out passes and (if done correctly) can still have license to roam forward. I'd also actually look at playing a Luiz - Mikel midfield (they have looked good together before) but you can't leave out Ramires in the big games. It's an interesting conundrum, and I really can't wait until we get in a proper deep lying playmaker in the pivot who can do what Luiz does even better so Luiz can go back to his natural position - as I've said before, our team would be a lot more unpredictable and we'd have an extra offensive outlet too.

So everyone is a fool? Haha, you crack me up Henrique. Never change.

If there was one CB I would take from Germany right now it'd probably be Howedes.

We beat United and Spurs and top 4 is ours because we open up a 6 point gap between us and Spurs with 2 games remaining and due to our far more superior GD we would be alright. If we win the next two PL games we can fully concentrate on preparing for the EL final if we make it there.

There's not anything official suggesting we're not. People are overreacting because of rumours; they automatically want to slate the board for "contemplating" the sale of KDB even though no one really knows if they even are.

He should've been young player of the year. Real shame.

We'll get them at SB.