EskWeston

Yes, it's incredibly hard for young keepers to break through to first team, but if they are good enough then at some point the manager has to put some faith in them, having a young keeper as third choice is perfectly fine, none of ours are ready at the moment but given time they could be.

Well according to reports that is the figure we got. I think that is fair enough given the lads talent and the season he had last season, would be delighted if we signed a player like Stoch for 7.5m... Di Santo will get his chance to impress in Pre season i would imagine, chances are with Sturridge and Borini pushing to get games it is likely that Di Santo will move on, but we will see, the boy has talent the question is if Carlo will wait to see if it really comes through.

Well according to Neil Bath it is very likely he will make some appearances, not talking about starts but coming on from the bench. Age doesn't always mean much, he has had sessions with the first team since he was 15. The lad is extremely talented, reminds me of Kaka in the way he plays. For anyone who has not seen anything of him, check out this vid and it gives an idea of what he is capable of:

We would probably get around £4m to £5m which is what we would like to recoup for players we have developed if they move on at this stage. The academy earns back the money spent in no time....

Most pointless bid for a player.... They know they have no chance, just trying to upset things if they can

Why not? Matic is streets ahead of Mancienne when it comes to midfield quality, and Jack Cork has played a lot more games in midfield too and i would say he too is ahead of Mancienne in terms of midfield quality, . I would have no problem keeping Mancienne around, he can do a good job in the holding role, but we have a lot of good options so i could see how we could let him go if we do.

Lallana would be an interesting signing, looks to have good quality and would be able to come at a decent price. With Gosling it seems that he has made his mind up to go to Newcastle a while ago.

It's good to see him back training, i like Bosingwa very much. Ivanovic has done a fantastic job for us there all season but for me i think Bosingwa offers us something different much in the same way that Ash does on the left, that pace and energy is a valuable asset for us.

I think we should be concerned by Man City's signings. It not the money (they are clearly spending way over the odds on transfers and wages) but the increase in quality of their signings. David Silva and Yaya Toure are very good signings for them, they had a decent squad last season and now they are building on that and can be a very dangerous team this season for everyone if they can pull it together, there is still time for them to make more signings too, so it is a waiting game to see who else they sign and to see if Mancini can get them to work together and function as a team. But yes i think we should be concerned as will Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool.

Thought i was bring this thread back to life. Josh is training at the moment every day with the first team and he will continue throughout the season to train with the first team and with the reserves when required. Neil Bath has also said that it is Josh's aim to make some first team appearances this season and he fully expects him to that this season. It is an exciting prospect, Josh is an amazing talent, if we can bring him through and see how he copes with first team football we could see him playing more regular than anyone thought.

Kakuta, Borini, Sala and Mellis will not be around for this match as they are off at the U19's tournament. Have to say it is poor to have the tournament at this point as these boys are missing an excellent oppertunity to impress in Pre Season and try and make a claim in the first team..

Not too sure about Lalkovic myself at the moment. Raw talent is there, but for me he is too inconsistant, has a tendancy to be a little greedy too at make the wrong choices at crucial times. Not as good as Stoch was at this point but there is still potential to grow into a good player because he has all the ability he just needs to start using it right.

Rhys is the first to make a loan move for this season and it is a good move for him with their first choice keeper out for 6 weeks give him the chance for real first team action and maybe pick up a longer loan move either at Crewe or elsewhere...

League Two outfit Crewe have completed the loan signing of Chelsea goalkeeper Rhys Taylor. The 20-year-old will link up with Alex on Wednesday after agreeing a two-month deal. Taylor will act as cover for first-choice keeper Steve Phillips, who is expected to miss the first six weeks of the season following a double shoulder operation. The Welsh shot-stopper, who is yet to make his Blues breakthrough, has been capped at Under 17, U19 and U20 level. Source: Sky Sports

Definately Borni in that Pic, and the blue straps measure the activity done during training, usually worn by all players during pre season.....................

Thats a good point, players are only allowed to talk to other clubs once they are given permission by their current club, so either we have given him permission to talk to other clubs or the deal has done without our consent.

Couldn't fault the quality if we do sign him, but as i said a number of times, i don't see where he fits in for us.....

Judging by the comments by the Fluminense president, the deal can only be done if Chelsea agree to release him from his contract? I think Chelsea may find it difficult to agree to that, but we should be looking to move him on this summer i think......

Not the sort of player i wanted to see us sign, but he is Chelsea now........

It's not that we are not signing "names" but that Benayoun makes no real improvement to our squad, i would rather us sign a player like Matic or when we signed Ivanovic that no-one has heard of but we will train into a quality player. We have enough experience in the squad and we need to be looking forward and building something here rather than look at a short term view.....

Not a bad idea, but there is also a lot to be said for bringing him straight in and getting used to Chelsea and the way we are set up, sending him off to Chadwell Heath every day isn't going to do much to make him warm to London and English football............

Benayoun is not the sort of signing we need to be making. We have a very very good core of experienced players, we don't need more average squad players when we should be looking to bring in younger players to challenge the experience. For Benayoun solves nothing other than making up numbers! Certainly not helping us to bring through any of our own prospects. I know it's been mentioned before but i would much rather bring on Kakuta than Benayoun from the bench, because lets me honest, how many starts is Benayoun going to get?

It is hard to know who Carlo will want to use this season, we don't know who will get sent out on loan, who will be recalled from loan ect... I think that Matic and Kakuta will certainly get used plenty this season and hopefully impress enough to get more and more games. I think Sam Hutchinson will be used sporadically, he will have to be due to his situation, loan isn't an option for him and the club and Carlo like him so i think he will get a look in this season. The Mancienne situation is unclear. We don't know if players used last season like Borni, Van Aanholt and Bruma will get loan moves this season or not. I would like Jack Cork to be kept around and involved. Then the more impressive youngsters will get chances here and there also i would think. I wouldn't be suprised to see Josh McEachran and Connor Clifford given a run out this season. I will be doing a nice big pre season report for the youngsters soon, probably next weekend.

That is actually a really good club for him. The lad is an athletic player but he lacks in awareness and is prone to very silly mistakes. Was never going to make it with us but as always hope he goes on to do well. The article above also mentions other players, yes they are all very likely to move on. Clearing of the players who are not going to make it with us and allowing the space to develop the ones who have great potential. Strickland is definately out of contract, not sure on the others but i am sure they will all find new clubs this summer. On another note player signing their first contracts as scholars yesterday were Danny Mills Pappoe, Jamal Blackman, Todd Kane, Reece Loudon, Amin Affane (new signing discussed some time ago) and Archange Nkumu

Seems to have been very poorly advised if you ask me!!!