LDN Blue

He was 6 then.... Imagine :|

Yep, Van Ginkel should have a future with us. Sure they're not proven world beaters, but Tiago isn't exactly one either.. He's in good form and he's out of contract, yeah it's not a massive hit on finances but it's an unnecessary signing too.

Call me naive, but I really don't think Mourinho is under massive pressure to deliver. Chelsea have now won everything there is to win (well, with the exception of the Club World Cup) under Roman Abramovich so I actually think Mourinho has the leeway that you believe he'd be granted if we won something. Sure, he hasn't won the European ones with us but he also really doesn't have anything to prove. I'm sure his objectives were that, and they always will be, but the hierarchy won't be entirely upset with this season.. We got to the semi-finals of the CL, we were in the title race till week 37 (which was a feat within itself with our squad). I'm not entirely dismissive of the fact we have to continue to mount a good title challenge and be in there again till week 38 and European aspirations will always be the objective.. But Mourinho would not have come back if he hadn't made a series of reality checks to the board. If it's true they want expansive football then he would've told them that you can't just do that overnight (as our managerial history has shown). And the board aren't naive. You look at the way Mou talks about Oscar, Matic, Hazard and Salah "the future of Chelsea", so he/they do want the young players in. They probably do want to therefore use the academy players. No-one is saying use Feruz/Bamford to lead the line, nor are they saying use Kalas-Zouma as our #1 CB partnership. But does it really do damage to have Chalobah alongside Matic? Nat's proved he can do it at Championship level and obviously it would be a learning curve, but he's protected by having Matic next to him and JT/Cahill behind him.. In the grand context of the squad it's not a dangerous place to play someone.

Only makes sense if we're losing Mikel AND Ramires to be honest because he just seems like he's coming for depth. If that's the case then I definitely cosign the calls for Chalobah to come do that same role. This doesn't make sense unless it's a rolling contract..

Yeah course, each to their own! Haha I have a long standing theory his translator is the real brains behind pochettino's success

Yeah but I don't even see him in Turkey or anywhere like that. I could only see him working under a manager he already knows, which only really leaves Carlo.. But I think the Real ship sailed a while back. LA Galaxy have always had an interest in him so I'm sure he wouldn't mind working with Robbie Keane.

To be fair I've not read him demanding such wages, the transfer fee is down to Southampton he can't do anything about it. Chelsea can always compromise on his wages over a long term, if he's indeed a fan I'm sure he'll be open to such negotiations.

I'd say it's more him than his father. Almost certainly priced himself out of a premier league move with his wage demands and being caught up in his own hype. Could've been back at Liverpool instead ended up at Palace. Inter are the only ones who'll pay his ridiculous demands.. But it'll be good to see him being successful abroad.

Yeah Terry alike. But I don't see Lampard moving to another English club anyway, certainly not one that would be in a relegation scrap for sure. Abroad makes sense.

Didn't he win them their first Ligue Un title?

He also spends almost recklessly and then leave said club to go bankrupt or in severe financial trouble. As a motivator he's brilliant, even man management could be classed astute. But tactically he's anything but inept afaic, he's good for getting teams promoted but so is Nigel Adkins, Chris Houghton, Sam Allerdyce and Ian Holloway..

It's not just that though. They've made the deals with the American and Australian football clubs to have ownership or whatever it was. This immediately increases their brand value to unprecedented levels (for them).

Don't see that being the case, they can only officially sign these players in June when the 2013-14 season has ended. It would be the 2014-15 summer window.

LMAO I read this too and Rio?! Wheeler dealer Harry Redknapp has truly returned back to the Premier League. Thankfully Lampard has more class and dignity, bet Rio will jump all over the offer..

Apparently he can't do it on a cold night in Stoke..

Agreed, but we have shown before that you don't necessarily need a marquee player that wins the Ballon d'Or to have that. But yeah, if Hazard is going to live up to the hype then he must be the one to showcase his talent on the grand stages not just against Newcastle in the EPL. It's only natural we're gonna hear about PSG, but the club spent so long chasing him they won't let him go when we need him the most.

Well Henry admitted they lied about the clause to the media.. In private I'm sure they told Suarez as they be contractually obliged to.

Gracias

Prove it

Someone said this before and to be fair their recent success in the striker department have been players already established as that good. Aguero & Falcao most prominently.

Yea but they'll be able to replace him as they've always done.. They'll reinvest that money from Costa on another upcoming/established striker who they'll then repeat the cycle with

Don't think that matter, I've never heard any rival fan bring that up as an issue.. But our rise is in a relatively young age too, it's only very recently we've become a top European side (with 2 European Cups in 2 years) so I don't think they expect us too. That being said, Lampard was inches away from 2005 it's a shame he was competing with Ronaldinho.

Doubt it's true, their board won't make such a move 6 months after signing him for such money.. It simply wouldn't make sense.

OMG as if they've done a photoshop image of him... That was bad enough when members here did that a few years back

Because they're not in a European competition?