EskWeston

Well time will tell how serious their investment is. So far a £32m investment and the ownership deal hasn't eve gone through 100%. Of course if they build in the right way then they can of course challenge for all honours. The difference they have to when Roman took us over is the CL. They have to hit that before they can attract more big players in reality and that is no easy feat even with a load of money.

There will be less pressure on us now, especially as we have spent far less the last few windows than Man you, Liverpool and quite a few other clubs. The lack of CL football will be aproblem for them, even though they still managed to bag Robinho which is a massive move for them!!! They need top 4 this season to really have a crack at the top. The ones who are really going to be rocked by this are Arsenal, who rely heavily on their CL revenue to finance their debts and also Liverpool who are still looking unlikely to challenge us and Man you.

There is nothing from the Chelsea camp because they were well and truly embarressed by Madrid. We have no idea at the moment if we matched City's bid! It is very likely though that we did and they turned it down because they did not want to sell to us.

Judging by the system that Scolari is playing we will see Drogba and Anelka together for a lot of the time, which will work very well i am sure! When games are tight like Wigan and Spurs it is hard for Anelka to get involved, but Drogba can be like a buldozer and Anelka can feed off him. My main concern is our wingers, Kalou is a great player, as is Joe Cole but he has been short of form. Malouda still shows a complete lack of enthusiasm and if he stays that way Scolari will get shot come January as he likes his players to work for the team. With a smaller squad it does mean that we really need to start including our young players especially Sinclair and Di Santo. Fabio Paim and Miroslav Stoch would also be worth a go on the wings when the chance comes along.

If it is a company then it is less likely that they will input huge sums of money and not worrying about it like what Roman does. Sort of like QPR, they are loaded, with more money than Roman but are not spending like crazy.

Not worried about how much money we have spent. Not at all. But i am worried that our squad is a little light. It means that Di Santo and Sinclair will get plenty of games, which is a good thing.

Well something got seriously screwed up somewhere. Man City had an offer accepted? Did we match the bid? if we did, then did Madrid not accept it from us but did from Man City?? Clearly Madrid were not happy with us and wanted to stick 2 fingers up at both us an Robinho, Madrid would have said to Robinho, fine you want to leave so much then your option is Man City only - and suprisingly he took it! I am not happy that firstly we lost out on Robinho, secondly that we lost out to Man City, and thirdly we are very light on players upfront.

Fortunately Balague doesn't know EVERYTHING about Spanish football despite what he wants people to think..... There are still some major shocks to happen in this transfer window before midnight and i hope Robinho to us will be one of them

Lol, Man City are going to bid on every big name players they can think of and hope that one will go through!!! Seems like these guys are serious though. Next summer could be very interesting for City, although they still need CL footie to attract the REAL big names...

Well that is excellant news for us as it means that Madrid are resigned to letting Robinho go as they stated that there would be no-one out and no-one in for them....

7 hours now...

Have not seen any report that Spurs have agreed a fee for him from Manure? It would obviosuly be in our best interest if Madrid signed him..

I would be stunned if we did sign anyone other than Robinho. It has seemed like our stance has been Robinho or no-one...

We definately only need 1 player. But we DO need that 1 player: Cech, Cudicini, Hilario Bosingwa, Belletti, Terry, Carvalho, Alex, Ivanovic, Cole, Bridge (Ferreira???) Mikel, Essien, Lampard, Ballack, Deco Cole, Malouda, Kalou (Sinclair) Drogba, Anelka, Di Santo 23 players not including Sinclair and including the keepers. We definately need another forward option.

2 birds with 1 stone, Madrid were interested in him last season as well. But i would doubt it as it would leave us light still on players.

Our squad is still very good, although extremely light. The only player i am not particulary happy with is Malouda - other than that our squad is very good. But lacking in options now in forward positions...

Exactly, Drogba has become more injury prone, same with Ballack. I still find it very hard to believe that Wright-Phillips would have gone without us having a replacement lined up - unless someone has seriously f**ked up somewhere....

Not at all likely this season, too late for them to make a real impact in the transfer window and there are never any big January deals.. But if the new owners are prepared to inject some serious cash as it looks like they do then they could be a big threat.

The signs are not great at all at the moment that is for sure. And it is somewhat of a worry that we have Drogba and Anelka as our striker options with Di Santo as an option. And on the wings we have Joe Cole (who hasn't had a great start), Kalou (who hasn't got going yet) and Malouda (who never looks like he wants to get going) with Sinclair as an option. We clearly need something upfront and it was clear right from the end of the season, but the situation has got more neccessary because of us offloading Wright-Phillips, Pizarro and Shevchenko.

Because we need a fast tricky winger/forward type player. We already have Drogba and Anelka who can do what Berbatov does... It certainly seems like Robinho is our only option. And if Madrid are clever they can tie up Berbatov and let Robinho go.

City fans must think Christmas has come a week or so too late. A bid for Berbatov and also going to bid on Villa and Gomes aparently!!

The roumer mill is going into meltdown today.... Aparently Madrid have put in an offer for Berbatov which could open up a move for Robinho, although Berbatov is also a target for Man Utd and has had an offer accepted by Man City!!!! The noises regarding Robinho today are not very optomistic. But we are desperate now for a forward and we have no other players on radar...

I agree, bearing in mind that Scolari wanted our squad trimmed down there was always going to be another departure, i assumed it would be Belletti but it could certainly be possible that Paulo could be the one to go.

In one way it would be very odd considering that he has only recently signed a new long contract. On the other hand it would make some sense considering we have kept hold of Belletti.....

I certainly wouldn't take that seriously, most of the things put up on there are very silly, like this one: 1017: "I work in the shirt sales at Stamford Bridge. I was told this morning to prepare Robinho shirts with number eight. Shaun Wright-Phillips had the old one."