Madmax

These arrogant Madrid hags are hilarious. Utter shite of a team and people.

Don't want him hanging around after these comments. Good luck playing for the 'biggest club in the world'.

Gonzalo Higuain says Real Madrid are "very confident" about signing Ashley Cole and says the Chelsea left back will face less intrusion into his private life if he does move to Spain. "At Madrid, Cole's football will make all the headlines, not his private life. I think that will be a big incentive for him," Higuain said in The Sun. "I have spoken with a couple of senior players who the club confide in and they are very confident that we will sign him in the next few weeks. The vibe around the training ground is that the deal will be done. All the players are very excited about his arrival. "It does not surprise me that Chelsea say he is not for sale. If you have a player who is the best in the world in his position then you do everything you can to try to keep him. But when Madrid want a player we usually get our man. "I was speaking with Cristiano Ronaldo and he told me Cole is the toughest defender he has ever played against. So if Ashley Cole decides he wants to join the greatest club in the world and play for his old friend Jose Mourinho again, then I am sure the transfer will go through before the start of the season." Story

Oh so one pre-season friendly and one reserve game. Very credible. But you forget the performances that count in normal people's books. The likes of Champions League knockout rounds, crunch Premier League games etc.

Not a surprise, this. We knew from the back end of last season that there was going to be such an operation.

Oh well. A million dreams go up in smoke. Still a tiny corner of my heart holds out hope of this being talk by Carlo to get potential rival bids out of the way.

With Stoch it was him wanting a move away since we couldn't guarantee him first team footie, not us wanting to sell him to get some $$$. I haven't watched Bertrand play so cannot comment on him, but Franco probably will be moved on. If he didn't have Borini and Studge to compete with, he could have stayed longer to try and establish himself, but atm doesn't look like he's worth waiting for.

Wow. How fickle can you get? One pre season friendly where he fucks up and suddenly he's 'destroyed all your faith'? ffs show more maturity

Hillsborough and Heysel stadium disasters I reckon, though I dunno why.

Again, no quotes, pure speculation.

One for the future, certainly. I hope Carlo doesn't deploy him out wide. He's a proper striker and needs to be played in his best position to aid his development.

Don't see what's to gain by keeping him here. He won't get too many games at all with Studge and Borini ahead of him. He won't be too happy to play reserve footie either. Best to move him on.

Welcome!

I'm quite sceptical about this. I don't know if it'll work, but I obviously hope it does. Anyway, welcome to the Bridge, boy. Come make a name for yourself.

Thanks!

^ I still can't edit my prediction! and in the post above Kez, I meant to say Drogba, not Malouda. So, can someone edit the First Blues scorer part in my prediction for the Ajax game from Drogba to McEachran? Pretty please with a cherry on top?

Can some one change the First Blues scorer part in my prediction of the Ajax game to McEachran instead of Malouda?

Hope this doesn't happen. We're already short on numbers in the middle. The midfield can't be any more threadbare.

Nowhere does Moratti specifically name Chelsea as a club interested in Balotelli, nor does he give any indication of us being in the running. Pure media tosh, put Chelsea in the headline so more papers will sell.

When does the game start , according to GMT?

No Hutch?

All this stuff about forcing a transfer is non-relevant. The guy's got a release clause of around 28 million which we can activate if we really are that into him, although City will get a chance to offer similar terms to the ones we offer because they have the right to first refusal on him.

Just because some Greek guys got a bit excited to see Riera arrive at their club doesn't mean we can sell Deco for double digit millions and the other club will accept it with a smile and a curtsy. Deco is 32, injury prone and really really wants to leave, which means that everyone knows that we are not in the best bargaining position. Also, 8 million? You really think anyone would pay us what we payed for him 2 years back considering how poor he's been here? The player is unhappy here and there's no point keeping an unhappy player on the books. Better we release him and start looking for younger guys to fill the hole in our midfield.

Yep Turnbull over Hilario, any day.

What a load of bollocks. People in lesser known leagues aren't dumb. Everyone and their mother knows Deco wants to go to Brazil and clubs there realise they are in the driver's seat when it comes to bargaining, not us. Go figure who's taking the piss.