EskWeston

The only reliable webiste is the official one. Roumers are just that, roumers. You can get an idea if how reliable a roumer is based on the detail of the roumer and how widespread it is. But other than that it is all guesswork until it is on the official website.

Yup, just signing his first pro contract is all. Still good news though. Looked very good at the end of the season after overcomming some form and personal problems.

Belletti is a popular player and has done well for us. My only problem with him is that he is a decent player, and more often than not he will get the nod to come on as sub over younger players and i would rather have in our squad a young player trying to come through than a decent older player. Using players who are just good as squad players to me is something of a waste and something i would like to see us change.

With all the talk of who will come in this summer there is also the other angle to look at as to who will be departing from CFC this summer. There is a clear group of players who are likely to be moved on: Shevchenko, Pizarro, Ferreira, Hilario, Belletti, Miniero, Deco Then we have a group of players who are less likely to move on but could still move on if the right deal for them came up and others who have been mentioned as possible departures: Carvalho, Di Santo, Malouda, Bosingwa, Kalou So who will actually be leaving? I think it is fair to say that Sheva and Pizarro will not be returning to Chelsea for next season and will find new homes. The rest of the top group in my opinion should be moved on to allow us to bring in some new blood, not just our own youngsters but bring in some younger replacements. Of the bottom group Carvalho is the most likely to go, but with Bosingwa possibly being used in a deal to get Ribery or even to allow us to bring in Johnson then he is a big possibility too.

Due to what Real Madrid have kicked off transfer fee's and wages for the best players around has sky rocketed. Plus the U.K tax laws will not help matters when it comes to wages. It will all come to down if if we are prepared to accept their wage demands or let the player slip by and go for an easier target...

It doesn't seem very likely that we would have both Johnson and Bosingwa in our squad. IF we are seriously after Ribery and IF Bayern are seriously interested in Bosingwa then we have the leverage to make a deal work for both parties, Bosingwa and a lump of cash for Ribery..... Maybe Bosingwa doesn't fancy staying on with us for next season for whatever reason? Maybe Ancelotti doesn't like Bosingwa and would rather Johnson?

That is of course if the story of Aguero's wages are correct! Isn't Tevez asking for big wages also though? The club will know what they need to do, and i am confident that we will be announcing arrivals all within a short space of time soon.

His wage demands are going up every day!!!!

This one keeps comming back in the news and getting me excited. But i really can't see it happening......

The only thing that makes sense is if we are using Bosingwa in a part exchange for Ribery, which is certainly possible.

Sebek is certainly looking like becomming a big talent for us. The problem with him is that up until a few months ago his form was poor, he was not looking like living up to his hype until he made his reserves debut! Since then i have very much liked what i have seen, however next season would be too soon for him to be third choice keeper. The lad is a monster though. Rhys Taylor has not progressed enough since playing reserves on a regular basis. Maybe a loan for him is needed next.

Pizarro has definately done us a big favour by having such a good season, it does mean we will be able to pick up a decent fee for him, which considering we got him on a free would be very good news for us indeed.

Sturridge is more than capapble of playing Premier League football and doing very very well too. A lot of things depend on our formation and such, but sturridge is one we can look forward to bringing through over the next year or 2 to becomming a regular.

No-one is expecting these lads to be first team starters on a regular basis. But you would hope that they would each be able to accumulate some good playing time, comming on as subs and actually starting against lower league opposition. We don't have to play a whole team of young players but 1 or 2 in the starting line up is no risk.

Exactly, and there was many more instances throughout the season where that was the case also. Young players are not going to miraculously pop up in the first team and be absolute quality from day 1.

Everywhere you look at Chelsea discussions for our squad for the comming season there is always talk of us using our younger players, most notible among them are Michael Mancienne, Franco Di Santo and Miroslav Stoch (and had Gael Kakuta stayed fit he would have had some minutes last season and would also be mentioned a lot). As fans the is nothing better than seeing a young player come through and playing for the first team, at the same time we let the club off the hook with the excuse that it is hard to bring players through at a top club like Chelsea. Whilst that is undoubtedly true, Chelsea are still doing far too little to get these players gradually more and more invovled in the first team (in my opinion). We know the club are exceptionally keen to utilise our academy but we need to be less scared about it and start having some faith. Michael Mancienne for example, a wealth of experience now at Championship level, gaining praise left right and centre wherever he went. Got called up for the full England team BEFORE ever making a Chelsea first team appearance. People who have watched Mancienne over the years have known he is a talent capable of making our first team, but at 21 it still has been too little. Lets compare Mancienne to our most sucessful academy graduate JT. Terry in the 98/99 season at the age of 17/18 made 6 appearances for our first team. The following season he made 9 plus a loan spell at Nottingham forest. The season after at the age of 19/20 he made 26. Mancienne is now 21, at that age JT had made a whopping 88 Chelsea first team appearances in the Premier League and cup comps. Mancienne has made a total of 6! Now people will more than likely make 1 of 2 arguments for that: 1. That things are different now than when JT was comming through. Yes they are, of that there is no doubt. But lets also remember the players at the club at that time were top class players playing in Europe including the likes of Desailly. So it isn't as though JT at that age was better than what was infront of him, more of a case of being the given the chances to improve to his potential level. 2. That Terry at the age of 17/18 was a better talent than Mancienne at the age of 17/18. With heindsight that is very easy to say, but both were VERY VERY highly regarded as they were comming through. Had Mancienne and JT come through at the same time and given the same chances would they both be Chelsea and England stars now? My guess would be definately yes. Franco Di Santo has done marginally better, making 16 appearances this season, all from the bench though, but the actual minutes he has been given is bordering on the pointless for the most part. For united Macheda has made 5 appearances for them with 2 starts, and Wellbeck has made 13 with half a dozen starts in there. Neither of which are any better than Di Santo or Stoch, or even Kakuta and possiblY Borini and Nouble if the FA Youth cup is anything to go by. But they have had they chances, the actual minutes on the pitch. This season i can think of 1 game only where we used our young players in a situation when we really needed something and they got right in the action and that is the home game to Stoke. And i am sure we can all remember what happened there, Di Santo set up the equalising goal with a great header and Stoch was massively instrumental in the winning goal. Given the right oppertunities these players can grow into real special talents. But isn't going to happen without the minutes on the pitch for Chelsea FC.... Sorry for the long post but thought it was a point worth discussing again given the talk at the moment.

Hmm, shame if true. Would have thought he would have been given a chance to show himself pre season and at least another season on loan..... I have said it before and i will say it again that the club dealt with Sahar very badly which ruined his development.

Harsh on Bosingwa, especially considering the comments he made were not at the time of the game and the day after. Not as if it is the first time someone has made similar comments after a game, remember Henry in the arse CL final.... Plus the fine for the club for a couple of flags finding their way onto the pitch is also very harsh considering some of croud trouble that has happened and been punished far less for. Once again UEFA are using rules and punishments that only relate to Chelsea FC. The club could use previous punishments for similar incidents to argue our case but they wont...

And Malouda could revert back to his poor form! Was Malouda's problem "bedding in"? Who knows, but the people who make the descisions will know if they believe Malouda can continue his form or not..

Cech, ??????, Taylor/Sebek Bosingwa, Terry, Alex, Ivanovic, Mancienne, A.Cole, Bertrand Mikel, Essien, Lampard, Ballack, ??????? Aguero, Malouda, J.Cole, Stoch Drogba, Anelka, Di Santo, Sturridge I am not sure who i would most like us to bring in as a backup keeper to Cech but we certainly do need one. Also i think we could do with a young attacking midfielder to add to our numbers in midfield and someone to try and come through and take over from Ballack in the squad. Even then we are probably light a couple of players........

Malouda had a very good end of the season for sure. It all depends on who we are planning to bring in now as to know if it is worth letting Malouda go or not. Certainly not descision would be made on Malouda until we have a replacement lined up.

For what purpose? Players can't officially sign until then but deals can be done all signed, sealed and delivered! Maybe we want to show off Ancelotti first? Who knows, but there isn't much gap between 1st July (pre season start) and when we fly off to America. Last time we went majority of the signings had already been done and dusted..

Ramos most certainly will be staying. But yes the other 2 would be good signings.... Drenthe i don't know hardly anything about. I guess it depends if we are willing to let Bertrand have a crack at being Cole's understudy, or even Van Aanholt who has impressed last season. If not then we certainly do need backup for Cole....

Again, Sturridge would be a great signing. And i am suprised that somone who is out of contract has taken so long to get a club lined up. I wonder if there could any particular reason why we would want to be holding out on announcing any signings?

What a twat. Did he honestly get up that morning thinking "i know what would make me look great today" and then put that gear on..... more money than he can handle and he walks around looking like that!!!!