CHOULO19

Yeah, exactly what I was thinking. But any talk of 20m+ is very unrealistic, imo.

Joking aside, I would have seriously taken Kalou this season over Falcao.

The jokes about his infidelity got old like 8 years ago....

Did you watch it? If so, how did he do?

Needs to break into a PL team or he risks ending up a championship striker for most of his career.

In the sense that everyone around him and in the media seem to be telling him that he's already a superstar when he still has a very tough road in order to make it. Incredibly dangerous at this stage in his career.

You do know we have a whole network of scouts, right?

Wait, hold DOWN the fort? Is the fort attached to a trillion helium filled balloon and about to float away and we need Zouma and Miazga to hold it down?!

The rapey smile is kind of a give away...

No. 12 goals and 6 assists in a season, including some vital goals in big matches, from a squad player is a good return, regardless of how you look at it. NO ONE expected him to replicate his Inter or Barca performances at his age.

Welcome to the Chelsea family and best of luck. To the inevitable comparisons with Falcao, firstly, coming from the Brazilian league, Pato's wage is undoubtedly considerably less even after Falcao's rumored wage cut. Secondly, obviously getting Pato is a risk, but it's an understandable one to take se as there are very few available options in the market in January; unlike when we signed Falcao in the summer when there were a lot of other options on the market. Finally, Pato's issues at Milan were always his lack of fitness and chronic injuries, but whenever fit he was usually pretty consistent and would still perform to a very good level unlike Falcao who has failed to perform well since his injury. I'm not saying, btw, that Pato will set the world alight here, there is little proof to suggest that, but I am saying that his chances of performing well and becoming a part of the team are much higher than Falcao's were when he joined in the summer. And if he can stay fit and recreate his Milan levels then we get a bargain in the summer for 8m.

I really hope I'm wrong, but this kid reminds me so much of McEachran.....

To be fair, if we do sell Loic, we would absolutely NEED Inzaghi to maintain the team's offside averages...

Azpi is totally checking him out!

Should really start tomorrow. He's not at all behind Pedro the way they've each been playing so there can be no excuses about needing to take Dons seriously.

He's had about 4 or 5 brilliant games (most recently in the cup against Inter) but he's mostly been average or below for the rest of his matches. Be sure that there's no way that Juve will pay what we paid for him. If they do decide to sign him permanently, they'll be signing a squad player not a nailed on starter.

What a RAWKish thing to do!

So basically he's here to fill the Djilobodji role? Brilliant... Btw, "Djilobodji role' should become the official name for signing for Chelsea, taking a photo with the jersey, wearing that jersey for 60 seconds in a cup match before being loaned out...You know, kinda like the 'Makalele role' only a lot shittier..

Never even noticed that on the old layout.

Then that brings me back to my original point that we need to sell him because our team performances are too reliant on him. The problem with Costa, aside from attitude and tendencies to act like a right prick at times, is that all he brings is goals. His technical ability on the ball is largely poor (except when finishing obviously), his dribbling..................................his passing is erratic at times and for a big bully he can often be muscled off the ball too easily. So when the goals dry up, we basically play with a man less in attack. Seriously? You want proof how Costa is unprofessional? Have you even watched him play for us?! Costa is NOT a leader. I wouldn't give him the armband if he was the last man in the team. Leaders are role models. They set an example for the rest of the team to follow. They don't elbow and stomp on opposition players and they don't get themselves needlessly into trouble in almost every single game. Take the blue tinted glasses off for a second, there are probably youth coaches showing kids videos of Costa as a guide for how NOT to act on a football pitch!

You mean if there has been new posts since you've clicked on a thread and you wish to view them before posting? If so, you should get a small pop-up notification saying something like "2 new replies" and you just click on 'View'.

Not a full answer, but the likes you've received are mentioned in your own feed on your main profile page along with your posts:

Genuinely very sad to see him go, purely for sentimental reasons as the fee was too big to turn down and he deserves to be playing regularly. An incredible professional and servant to the club and generally a very underrated player. Never really got the credit but he was one of the best players in Europe in 2012. Certainly changed the history of this club when he played a crucial role in us winning the CL. But what a story he is. From a construction worker in Brazil to basically winning every possible honor in England and Europe with us, to this big-money move now. Generally, I'm not at all fond of rich people, but I couldn't be happier for Rami picking up those massive paycheck. His erratic technique on the ball served as a constant reminder for me that this guy was never even part of a youth academy, but maybe it was part of the reason why he seemed to only score wonder goals. Genuinely believe he was one of the best finishers in our squad. Just wish someone would make a video compilation of all of his goals here. Thank you for everything, Rambo. Wish you all the best in the world.

Costa has many limitations, so we can easily have two types of strikers and keep them both happy a la Torres and Ba under Rafa (but hope fully A LOT better). We can have for example a Cavani who can hold up and a ball and be the focal point of attacks and start him in game when we need such skills while playing Costa in game when we need a lot of movement and runs behind. Or we can bin Costa, which as I said, I wouldn't at all mind.

Btw, Lukaku is still a very frustrating player to watch. He makes all the wrong decisions on the ball then waves his hands annoyingly blaming everyone else.