The Skipper

So Mikel isn't a proper DM? I think the Mikel debates are spreading everywhere on the forum, so I recommend everyone should just head to the Mikel thread and discuss it there.

Bosingwa wasn't one of the key men though. Mikel was. Everyone had a good final but only a few were truly excellent. Mikel was part of the excellent bracket.

KDB loaned out to Werder.

If you look at his career, the season he had wasn't anything out of the norm. But if that's your opinion then fair enough, I don't think it's right for us to discuss here as DYC. pointed out to. We'll just agree to disagree.

Stats actually don't show that Mikel is that superior, hardly anyone uses stats to depict how good Mikel is. People use their own opinion. It's not a surprise that Mikel has continued to be a mainstay in midfield regardless of what manager we've had. Are you saying that all of these world class manager couldn't see that Mikel is shit? Exactly. Mikel is the metronome of the team, the link between defence and midfield. He isn't flashy, and that's why many people don't appreciate what he actually does for the team. Have you ever sat and considered to think that maybe the managers instruct Mikel to hold up play? To hold on to the ball whilst the team organises itself? To be the outlet of the team when there are no options in attack? There are so many misconceptions about Mikel. Bingo. That exactly explains the general misconception about Mikel. People expect him to be the classic, run-around-closing-down-like-a-headless-chicken ball winning DM. That's not his role. Surely by now people should know that Mikel is in the team as a shield to the back four, an outlet to the midfield and defence, someone who is essential in keeping the shape of the side and the third centreback. What I mean about Mikel being the third centre back is that he allows the likes of Ashley Cole, Bosingwa (seasons he was here with us), Ivanovic etc. to bomb forward. Has no one noticed that when these bomb forward, Mikel drops back in between the two CB? It provides cover for the team, an extra body against a potential counter attacks, and again, an outlet to the team when we win the ball back in defence. Mikel is vital in keeping the team ticking. Again, it's not a coincidence he kept getting picked by every manager we've had. Right. So, Bayern Munich in a CL final, renowned for their attacking football, had a player like Tiote or Parker in their XI right? Barcelona, Man City, Man Utd all have players like them two starting week in week out do they? The fact is, many here think there's only one way to play the DM role. There's many different types, and many are confusing your TRADITIONAL ball winning DM with Mikel's role, which points more towards him being the holding man in our midfield. None in the CFC squad are better than Mikel at the holding role. Few are in the PL. Mikel's strengths consists of good concentration, accurate passing, good anticipation, ball retention and composure. All which are essential attributes for the holding role. Why haven't we been linked with a DM this season? Because there are no problems in that department. And our board and managerial staff clearly, and gladly see that. If Mikel was suspended for that CL final, we would've lost. That's my honest opinion, and that's how highly I rate him. Mikel is vital to our future style of play, not a ball winning DM who runs around closing down opposition players. That would cause us to lose our shape, become more suspect to a counter attack, and lose the safe haven of knowing there's always an option to pass back to if things don't work out in attack. Sorry for the essay but it really grinds my gears when people speak about Mikel like he's some sort of irrelevant League 2 footballer. Besides, we've already a player who can adapt to that ball winning midfielder role in our squad - Ramires.

Hmm. Not too sure still. I don't think it's real.

He said: Which translates into: And I don't think that's his twitter account either.

Embodiment of why he's vital. The link between defence and midfield.

Yeah, I'd take Hulk at £30m. Like many have said, final piece of the puzzle + a RB, and we're pretty much set for the next half decade.

Ignorant? Fool? No need for the sarcastic, petty insults. People can have opinions different from yours. You're being the ignorant one insulting everyone, trying to have snide digs at everyone just because they don't agree with what you think is your "god-like" opinion. I can't even be bothered debating with you why I think Mikel is better than Parker as it's clear you're just going to insult, + this is the Kakuta thread anyway. And again, how is it ignorant logic when you've pretty much confirmed that you do rate Parker ahead of Mikel? Contradicting yourself hard.

No, he just thinks that every DM has to be aggressive and run around like a headless chicken before he's good. I wouldn't be surprised if he rated Parker from Spurs ahead of Mikel.

I just got them off Wiki admittedly. ESPN also claims that he's scored 17 goals though if I'm not incorrect. 17 goals and 11 assists, considering he went through a dry spell is good. Regardless, no one can say Cesc had a poor season at Barcelona. He had a good season, not stellar perhaps, but still good.

Honestly, I think we've got that "other" striker in Daniel Sturridge already. If Torres fails to produce next season, I'm confident Daniel can step up. Daniel can be just as good as Lewandowski, maybe even better IMO. Guarantee you if Sturridge played for another team he'd cost £20m at least, and people would be courting about how we should sign him.

It is quite funny how because Daniel is scoring for team GB he's instantly become good enough again. I and a couple of others here have said he's good enough from the start, it's why we don't need another striker IMO. Sturridge will surprise many next season if he gets his chance to regularly play in the CF role.

He had 10 assists in the league, 4 assists in Europe, and 6 in cup games.

Fabregas wasn't "amazing" last season but he wasn't crap either. He was good, closer to amazing than crap. 15 goals and 20 assists points to a good first season.

No, because I don't think Lewandowski is on Gomez's or Higuain's level. Saying that, Lewandowski is too good to come here and be some sort of second choice striker. The point I'm trying to make is that we shouldn't spend £25m+ on a player who isn't going to be our first choice striker. Torres has the capability to score chances that will be created for him inevitably with the team we're building. So does Sturridge. If he didn't cost more than £20m then fair enough, but anything above that is overpriced for anyone's who's not going to add anything different to the team. It's money wasted as I'd rather have other areas in the team completed first.

If Fabregas was crap last season, so were Iniesta and Xavi. Fabregas had a good season last year. Not Messi level, but still good.

Because any decent striker would've scored 20+ goals in that Dortmund team. He's a decent player but he doesn't warrant a £25m-£30m transfer IMO.

It's not like every youngster who doesn't stay at CFC does a Borini. We offered him a new contract and he didn't take it because he knew he'd have better opportunities elsewhere, which is fair enough. We're not going to drop Drogba, Anelka, Torres and Sturridge just for Borini. He's turned out to be a good player, good for him. How many more that've left CFC do we regret leaving? Not many at all.

Yossi is good enough to start for many clubs. For his own career he should try to engineer a move to a decent club. Wouldn't mind if he stayed though.

I hate it when people bring up his wages. Essien signed a contract pre 2010 which means that his wages don't even count towards FFP. There's no need to sell him because his wages are quite high. Essien can still be a quite valuable player to us if he manages to be even 75% of what he use to be.

Back in his Crystal Palace days he used to play upfront if I'm not incorrect.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that Lewandowski isn't worth £20m+ IMO. We shouldn't have paid £50m for Torres, and Lukaku shouldn't have been £18m either. They've both now got unnecessary pressure on them, as they're both expected to produce something great to represent the outlay CFC have made on them. Personally I only want CFC to spend more than £20m-£30m on players that will have a great impact or potentially have great impact on the team.

Great signing for Sunderland if true and if they manage to pull it off.