CHOULO19

It's the French BeIN that are allegedly reporting this. I know little about them to say if they are reliable or not. But the Arabic BeIN are extremely reliable.

Jake is not reporting those wages, he's assuming them to say how much he'd cost on FFP.

I've had my doubts as well, and frankly it's more fear than doubts because of all that we've went through with striker in the past. I think it's only normal. But with looking so likley, I think the best thing is to be hopeful and supportive. Yeah, I think it's just bad timing to join the Spanish NT because as I said, I think they're going through some sort of identity struggle. I'm sure that he has his sentimental or otherwise reasons to join Spain, but purely technically speaking, Brazil would have been the much better fit for him, imo.

Reading he's agreed to sign for Real Madrid.

Guys, we already have about a dozen Cech vs Courtois threads. Can we please keep this one about the next Chelsea captain?

*bump*

Gesundheit.

Says a lot about his ability (and the lack of quality in the match) when he can easily win MOTM for showing up for less than 10 minutes in the whole match. But, FFS, Eden, it won't kill you to be a bit selfish at times!

Just wanted to add that this is no way aimed at anyone on here in particular or even the community here as whole, just at some over the top responses I've seen online.

“If Chelsea had a 20-goal striker up front, there is no doubt that they would have won the Premiere League.” One of the very few things you’ll ever find the fans agreeing with the ‘experts’ about. The statement is almost a football fact; but it’s little consolation to the Stamford Bridge faithful. If anything, it only adds to the woes of going so close to the perfect reunion season with Jose Mourinho and coming out just short of. The issue goes beyond this past season. The club has failed to find the appropriate man to lead the line since the dramatic departure of Chelsea legend, Didier Drogba. From the fiasco of the Shevchenko signing to arguably the worst transfer in the club’s history that is Fernando Torres, passing through the controversial Sturridge who still divides Chelsea fans and (the very talkative) Romelu Lukaku whose chances of ever putting on a Chelsea shirt seem to be diminishing with every passing day. Therefore, it was only natural that Chelsea fans rave about the prospects of signing the top strikers in Europe, in particular, Diego Costa. That is because, first and foremost, Diego has arguably been the most in-form striker in Europe, finding the target 27 times in 35 matches in La Liga alone this season and propelling Atletico Madrid to an unlikely league title ahead of Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid. Secondly, he’s always seemed like the most likely to end up at the Bridge this summer for various reasons. Apparently, he’s “Jose-type” player (whatever that means), been linked to us all season by reputable sources such as Skyand BBC and has been odds on to move to Chelsea by everyone. Just look at the odds the top betting sites are offering about Costa joining Chelsea at GamblingSites.org. So, typically, when Diego Costa’s transfer to Chelsea was all but confirmed, we, as Chelsea fans, proceeded to tear down the man we’ve been dreaming about signing all season, breaking the record for the quickest a fan base has ever deemed a signing as a flop: Before he has even signed! I realize that the above introduction is very broad and rather long, but I feel the context of the signing of Diego Costa after years of striker woes and desperate need for a top goal scorer, adds immensely to the absurdity of our hastiness (and sick need?) to bring down the Spanish/Brazilian striker. Diego has had a bad World Cup (all 120 minutes he’s played so far!). He’s failed to register a single shot on target so far and has missed chances that could have saved his (chosen) country from an embarrassing early exit. There’s no denying that, and I’m not trying to. But passing judgment on the guy based on this tournament alone is just ridiculous. If you’ve been against this signing from the start, then fair play and you of course have a right to your opinion. I’ve personally had my doubts and reservations in the past and still retain some of them, but some of the fickle 180 degrees have been frankly embarrassing for the rest of us, Chelsea fans. First of all, Diego is far from 100% fit. He had suffered a hamstring injury at the back end of the past season that had practically kept him out for over a month and that was made worse by Simone’s (and I expect Diego’s) insistence on starting games that he was not fit for, only to be subbed out minutes after the start. He was even a doubt for the group stages of the World Cup but decided to play despite being far from full fitness. Secondly, this lack of fitness has meant that he’s been unable to complete the 90 minutes in either of Spain’s matches. As eluded to above, he’s only played around 120 minutes. No footballer in the world hasn’t had a sub-par 120 minutes in his career, especially right after returning from injury. 2 hours is no sample to judge a player on. Moreover, and probably most importantly, Diego is, in my opinion, simply the wrong striker for the current Spain NT. He’s playing in a side that has undoubtedly great individuals with different playing styles and even philosophies that just can’t seem to work together at the moment. On one hand you got the bunch that look lost in the aftermath of the fall of the tiki-taka football that won them 3 consecutive major trophies, and on the other there are the players that are trying, and so far failing, to introduce the styles that have won the Real and Atletico the CL and La Liga this season. The product is a team that has played collectively very poorly and looks without an identity of its own. In short, Diego has not had the conditions in the team necessary for him to do well in this WC. How can we single him out when the whole Spanish team has been abysmal? And finally, the Spaniard has come under immense pressure for choosing to be so. Away from all the discussion of whether or not it was the right one, his decision to play for the Spanish NT instead of the Brazilian NT has obviously contributed to his WC form. No matter how professional you are, it has to be unnerving to hear 60000 fans rocking the stadium with boos every time you touch the ball. And it has affected him mentally as is clear in a couple of the chances he missed which we’ve seen him dispatch in the net throughout the past season. I am not completely excusing Costa’s performances in the WC, so far, I’m just saying that, given the circumstances explained above, his potential move to Chelsea should not be judged based solely on them. So, in conclusion, if I were the Chelsea board, I’d wait a bit before putting Diego Costa up for sale. Click here to view article.

Dig at Jose?

Buffon had one of the best seasons of his career this year.

Great that it finally worked. As far as I know, Jim paid them yesterday. So, this is another chance to send a huge thank you to everyone who donated and helped us through this issue

Wow, you are really bad at this. Stick to your boring facts and stats

Done. Log in name remains the same.

Will Iva be if/when we sign a LB?

No, that's Mikel.

Don't count your eggs...

Cahill has had a great season, but he's no leader, in fact, he needs a leader besides him to be at his best. Iva tends to lose it too easily, same with Rami. We don't know if Cech will be a starter and Courtois has not yet put on a Chelsea shirt. Mikel might not be here next season. Oscar is way too shy and his English is still an issue. Cesc... Salah is too young and has not been at the club for long. Same with Schurrle to a lesser extent. Hazard is just not the leader type and his English is far from perfect as well. Willian has not been here long and still can't speak English. Torres...lol. Azpi and Matic seem like the best choices, but even them are far from ideal captain material. Maybe it is the influence of having players like JT, Drogba and Cech that has spoiled us, but I just don't see any perfect captain for us from the current squad.

New poll.

He's also 31 and tends to have a very short fuse. I just can't pick a captain after JT.

Their form dropped before Piazon was dropped. In fact, it Piazon's drop in form and in ability to score or assist anymore that caused the drop of form for Vitesse. Dropping Piazon was an attempt to stop the run of bad games for them.

Both for good reasons, imo. Piazon just couldn't deal with being doubled up on and Kakuta offered Dijon nothing when the goals and assists dried up.

I wouldn't say he was the main man because IIRC he was dropped at the end, but yeah, that's probably the highest level he can play at.

You could argue that his Dijon loan was actually decent.