Pizy

Only sensible reason I can imagine as to why we haven't signed him yet and now it appears we haven't even made an offer is that the club still thinks they can get the #1 prize: Bonucci. They're deluded if they think that.

Think Hazard's comments are much more concerning than Diego's vague picture. Hazard is literally irreplaceable whereas I genuinely think Lukaku could match Costa's output rather easily.

Still has the same problem he's always had, though. He has no end product. He's brilliant running with the ball down the flank but when he gets to the opponents box it's as if he doesn't quite know what to do.

That'll only serve to piss De Laurentiis off more and raise the price even higher. Seems to me that when you try to negotiate with Napoli you have to keep things calm and quiet. Otherwise the owner gets angry and shuts everything down.

As expected. Seems like we've hit a brick wall on every major transfer target in the past two years other than Kante. Stones, Pogba, Nainggolan, Morata, now Koulibaly. This might be the most frustrating one because it's our biggest need and he's the most perfect fit for what the club are after. Still hope the club do whatever it takes to sign him.

Meh. I think it's just a bit of poor written English. Don't think there's anything in it. Like I said last night, with an injury prone player like Diego who's doing double sessions everyday and traveling around the US you don't necessarily want to push him too much before the real season starts.

Matic has been so poor. Lumbering around and continuously losing the ball.

Don't like Ruben that high up the pitch. He needs to be running with the ball from slightly deeper rather than trying to run on to the ball like Costa or something. He was fairly invisible because of this. After a bright start from Willian we kind of just ignored the right side of our team as the half went on. Can also still see the warning signs due to the lack of pace in our defense. Caught out or nearly caught out several times. Further evidence that a new CB is an absolute necessity.

Knew there was no way Eden would play but Costa is a strange omission. Maybe Conte feels like the double sessions plus a game wouldn't be the best idea for an injury prone player.

Apparently Costa isn't even on the bench for this one...

Definitely thought Michy would start this one.

Wow. He's...he's actually serious about playing Ruben as a striker.

Battle of the technical area maniacs. Let's see which formation we put out!

Yep. He's basically saying that he wants to have a brilliant season and then he'll be off to Real Madrid or Barca. If he had left after that shocking season everyone would hate him. If he "goes out on top" after a great season I guess he feels everyone will understand.

Still just have vivid memories of De Bruyne just breezing through our midfield over and over again last season when they smoked us. At least against the very best teams like City he absolutely cannot play in a midfield 2. Really, against any side that plays with more than 2 in the center we should think very carefully about playing Cesc.

It's awesome, isn't it? His English is great! Shows how dedicated he is to making the most of his opportunity at Chelsea.

True, true. But they didn't exactly miss him when he was dropped. They were no worse off.

Imagine if we were to get this beast for about £12m less than what City are about top lash on Stones. Arguably the best CB in Serie A last season for less than one who was benched a bunch for that woeful Everton side. They couldn't defend to save their lives and the £50m man couldn't get in the team at times.

Nah, I think we're all expecting them to reject it. Only way I'd have a meltdown is if a small time club like fucking Everton sign him ahead of us.

Get ready for another De Laurentiis gem later today. "Koulibaly is worth £70m. He won't be sold."

Hopefully that's not our final offer because I have the distinct feeling their owner will refuse it.

Get her done, Chels!

If we're playing with 2 strikers we'd be giving up numbers in midfield against many teams from the get go. When out of possision we'd be at a significant disadvantage defensively with Cesc in the middle of the pitch. Asking Kante to run himself into the ground trying to cover his area plus pick up the slack for Cesc is risky. Such a selection headache! Conte has talked up Matic so much that I kind of feel he's nailed on to start and obviously Kante will. At the same time it also seems clear that we'll play with 2 up top. If that's the case I can't see any place in the starting XI for Cesc.

Bullshit! We already have 2 pure DM's in Matic and Mikel who have limited skill sets. Last thing we need is another one of those. Maybe if we sold Mikel, but God knows that ain't happening. Even then we wouldn't really need him.

Matic & Kante should be our starting midfield pairing for the big games against the top teams. Conte and a couple of our players have confirmed that we'll be playing with 2 in the middle (which I'm not a fan of, personally) and you simply cannot play Cesc in a 2 man midfield anymore. It would be like an anchor around Kante's neck doing the work of 2 players. 4-2-4 with Kante and Matic primarily. Maybe bring Cesc in and sacrifice the second striker against parked buses and against weaker opposition.