LDN Blue

So I put it to you guys out here... I know it's unrealistic with Levy being a giant asshole when it comes to dealing with Chelsea (or.. lack of,) but if Soldado came on the market for less than £20million.. Would be a worthwhile gamble? I know he's been piss-poor at Tottenham but could that have been a problem of tactics in how they played and how they set up to attack? A glance as Soldado's stats in Spain and it's not hard to see why Spurs did pay £26million: 2009-10 20 (32) 2010-11 25 (44) 2011-12 27 (51) 2012-13 30 (46)

Yeah I was just discussing this with a friend and he also said Barca and PSG. It will be good to see Luiz become that player because he's got the potential and he's gifted enough to do so! Just hope the pay we get will match said figures.

Not really.. if we're getting £50m on transfer only we could use that more efficiently and value players more accurately. With a straight swap our opportunity cost could be higher.

If true, just shows how much clubs are willing to pay for ball-playing defenders. Not a critique on Mourinho, all managers have their own tactics and philosophies, but it makes me think if we played in a way Luiz is best utilized what would we have witnessed. Ah well.. It's good to see we're capable of making good profit on players. Mata, De Bryune now Luiz.. Hope the replacement doesn't cost us an arm and leg.

I think the reason it wouldn't get as much recognition is because we couldn't add a European Cup in Mourinho's tenure then/it didn't go on long enough.. Not that it matters, whether other fans will admit or not we did make it more interesting with our rise to title contenders because the power battle between Man United and Arsenal was on the verge of getting stale. Chelsea, with City, introduced a lot more competition along with Liverpool this season. It makes for strong interest whichever way you look at it.

It was kind of the same with Mata too, there was more uproar from fans because of Mata's previous exploits for us.. But on the base of mutual respect in handling the transfer I think it was done well. There was an understanding early that if the right offer came Mata would be allowed to leave and lucky for us it did.

Yeah that's the only thing. He'd have to go lower league to ensure he'd be the best among that defense.. It's an unfair proposition. Especially as you'd think they would begin to prepare to ease out Terry..

I think it's because Mourinho probably had told him sometime in November/December he would alllow KdB to leave it suitable offers came in. A basic green light for his agent to start negotiating without breaching contract. Club deserves some credit too I feel.

Most clubs will often have deal in place before WC. If the parent club has the bargaining power they can wait and hope the WC inflates their value..

You don't see him complaining about the press following him coughRooneycough

I think it's a good idea for Kalas though. Zouma will come with the usual adaptation issues that may face certain players so Jose may prefer to keep him closer to home to help him through this while allowing Kalas to continue to play. I just hope it's in England. Vitesse would probably kill to have him back, but I fear abroad he'd be forgotten..

One my favourite players abroad Rossi, his career is so unfortunately and I'm really glad Prandelli has given him a chance to prove his fitness for the World Cup. I don't think it's a good idea for him to come here though. Fiorentina is good for him. He'll be allowed time and patience because pressure isn't on him. They have Gomez to take the load off (if he remains). He's 27 and needs time.

I think this is all just banter on the part of Eto'o. Their relationship has always been up and down, Eto'o said as much when he was at Inter so I think too much is being read into it. And let's be fair to the guy, he did end up becoming a player for the big occasion haha. Hattrick v United, opened the scoring v Arsenal etc.

But I think those players are like Moses and Bertrand. So suggest they won't have a sporadic contribution is harsh.. Bertrand has shown maturity and capability to play as a back up left back many times when we're played him. The champions league final the most prominent. If anything Lampard is one of those players who you should be looking to not have in for the sake of HG as on the basis of this season his contributions are far less significant, while also taking the place of the youngsters you'd see come into the squad instead.

But by saying 'or squad players' surely Moses, Bertrand and the lot fall under this category. It's not easy to buy HG players to be squad players for an affordable price.. Unless we get them out of contract like Barry et al.

Not sure. I mean he might be a club legend etc but I don't see United hierarchy buying into this emotional chap.. Especially how public they made their pursuit of Thiago

Wow! If that's true, that Bamford would be our third choice striker I'd be very impressed. Sure he's not an academy product per se, but he's young, English and we'd have brought him through.

You can't say Shaw will turn out to be like Bertrand and then say Barkley will solve our problems

In football, a player is only as loyal as his pay..

But he's making assumptions and demands before he even knows what's going on. He's preparing for the CL final and he's talking about he's not gonna be happy if he goes back and Cech is there. He has to earn his stripes at Chelsea and it's disrespectful to make assumptions. Maybe agree to disagree for us.. Like I said, he may have had a point but I just think he must realise that he can't speak out like this. To almost demand things.

Much like we are lol. Source?

He doesn't have to leave the league.. Just swap sky blue for royal

He may be right but that's not his call to make and he shouldn't be saying that. He's ultimately been giving the club an ultimatum of 'play me or sell me' every time he discusses how he won't be put on the bench etc. He answers to Mourinho, not the other way around.

He's doing my head in. Who is he to say what best for the team having him and Cech. Courtois needs to stop running his mouth now, he'll end up annoying Mourinho.. Lukaku is the same, he should stop too.

All footballers are mercenaries..