CHOULO19

It says it's only an "idea" Milan are having and they only want him on loan till the end of the season because he is not cup-tied in the CL. So I can't see us agreeing to that. Plus, I'd take everything out of Italy with a pinch of salt, even if it is the Gazetta.

Staying at Inter is what seems most likely (much to the frustration of the Inter fans). Most probably no truth to the Osvaldo rumors as Inter are only looking to loan him now or buy in the summer.

Lmaooooooooo I literally laughed out loud at that!

A few deeper readings into the matter: http://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2014/1/9/5293028/chelseas-wage-bill-climbs-to-176-6m Surprised to see our wage bill actually go up (176.6m per year now) despite us getting rid of some of the higher earners in the team. However: Obviously, we'd still need to replace them, but we can still end up saving a lot especially if you consider that Eto'o replacement will most likely be Lukaku. http://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2014/1/8/5276182/chelsea-player-wage-database-salaries-january-transfer-window#comment_tease This is a very important point about wage exemptions and why those screaming "Just pay 60m for this player or 80m for that" are very far from reality: Also, how in the world is Oscar on 40K/wk only?! Someone give this man a contract renegotiation ASAP! A more detailed explanation about FFP rules Annex 11 relief and why we could not use it, not that we needed it in the end: http://www.danielgeey.com/uefa-ffp-and-chelseas-12-13-accounts/

Right, because no one can notice the extra a and the absence of the verified mark..

Runner up for African player of the year. Yaya won it for the third consecutive time.

Yeah, he played a lot as a winger last season under Strama.

Very disappointed with his loan spell with the scum. I was hoping that if he did well he would come back to be our 6th AM because he fits completely the bill, imo especially that he is homegrown. But, unfortunately, it looks like he'll be gone by the end of the season.

In an ideal world, I would totally agree. But the issue is that there is discrimination and homophobia does exist. That is why we need to work to get rid of those things in our societies and the people who are working on this would be very happy with a positive and accepting reaction for fans and the media about this because it creates a supporting environment and atmosphere for more homosexual footballers to come out in the future so that eventually enough people "come out" such that it would be a normal thing and we end up in a society were there would no need to "come out". No, I totally get the point you are trying to make. But what I do not get is how you deduced that the solution is for homosexual footballers to not "come out" and to continue to be discriminated against and not accepted in society instead of the solution being the obvious one (to me at least) which is to not have communal showers because communal showers themselves are a form of discrimination against homosexuals because they assume that all their users are heterosexuals.

Still brings a tear to my eyes :')

Get back on topic. Don't make me ban you!

Both are, tbh

Plus, you know it'll be thrown around by the media every time there is a football related issue with the player.

We're practically doing the exact same with Luiz and Cahill this season with both getting chances and then going by form. We haven't yet (that I remember) once made a "Tactical" sub by bringing one for the other. .

He literally made 3-4 sub appearances at LW for us last season. And Ash was never out for long last season. Ryan was as much a squad player as Garry Cahill (45 app) or Mikel (38 app). The point is, he was a very much trusted regular in the team. We're not talking about Marin or Paulo Ferreira here. I'm not discussing if Ryan can be a top player or not, in fact, I agree that for a team like Chelsea he should be a very reliable squad player, but at the time all the other options at LB should not be at a top team like us. Simply put atm, he is better than Cole and Azpi at LB so he should be starting regardless if he isn't a top player or not.

That's not entirely true, though. AVB benched Ash for him and RDM used him quite a lot (even if more at LW than at LB) and last season he made 38 appearances for us! He was slowing becoming a regular for us until Jose came and halted the progress even though Cole's performances have taken a dramatic decline this season. For the past two season, even though Ash was providing net to nothing going forward, he was still very solid in defense and very much a big game player. In fact I remember people on here only a year ago saying that he was still the best LB in the world. But he seems to have lost a lot that this season which naturally should have meant a bigger role for Ryan in the team but for some reason it meant playing our only RB at LB. Ryan deserves a genuine shot at becoming a starter and he's probably not getting it because he isn't a big name player and no one in the media is making a big deal of his lack of matches and the fans don't make a fuss about him not playing like they do with Mata or KDB.

There was an article last season (in the mail I think) with some nutrition expert saying that the breakfast our players eat before early kick-offs was all wrong and linked it with the team under-performing when play on Saturday at noon. It's probably just some BS article by mail, but our results in the past couple of seasons at least in early kick-offs have been very bad for one reason or another.

Unless they are offering us 5 PL titles and a couple of CLs, then I'm pretty sure we can "resist".

Compared to what Cole has been delivering and even compared to Azpi in terms of ofenssive contribution, he was like a breathe of fresh air. I agree, he just did what you expect your LB to do, but we've rarely seen what's that is like recently here at Chelsea.

He played 90 mins in the derby at the weekend and Valecia have quite a lot of options at CM. It only makes sense that the manager makes changes for the cup.

Our game against United can't come quick enough.

I think Michael Carrick would...Maybe not in the form he's in this season but ability wise he's, imo, better than the options we currently have at CM.

Don't force me to lock this thread!

Please leave the political discussion out of this thread. We have a politics thread, if you want to discuss politics, go and do so there.