Superblue

No surprises he's been there 5 minutes and already kissed the badge. The way that club operate is cringe. I will always appreciate and remember fondly what Hazard did for my club but time to move on now like he has. My loyalties are with Chelsea and I really couldn't care less how successful or unsuccessful Hazard is for Madrid so long as it has no impact on Chelsea.

I have to agree with @Tomo on this, our squad I don't believe is anywhere near as bad as everybody makes out and if we had a reliable striker I would be very confident of a comfortable third place finish, even without Hazard. We're not going to be challenging City and Liverpool next season but I don't see any reason why we can't still be competing for top 4 with the rest of the 'big 6'. Some areas could obviously be improved but with the exception of our strikers, the rest of our starting XI is on a par or better with what Spurs, United and Arsenal have. We usually go with two strikers in the squad but this coming season I would definitely keep the three of Giroud, Batshuayi and Abraham and let them compete to see which is the best. The hope is Abraham or Batshuayi strike hot as I think both have that capability to be clinical if chances are created. Failing that we will need to find an effective way of playing through Giroud with players willing to run in behind him. There's a reason why players like playing with him because he's a great team player and I have hope that CHO and Pulisic in particular with their pace and youthful exuberance will be prepared to do this and hopefully cause team's lots of problems playing in such a direct manner. In midfield, RLC is a big loss and if it was down to me, I would be inclined to tweak the formation next season to more of a 4-2-3-1 at least whilst RLC is out. Kante has proven time and again he's excellent in a midfield two and I think Jorginho would also benefit from Kante playing closer to him. It would also push a player further up pitch where we need more goalscorers and help solve the lack of depth in our midfield because the three behind the striker doesn't need to include a Barkley or Mount all the time, it could be made up of 3 of CHO, Pulisic, Willian and Pedro. More than likely controversial but I would prefer to keep Drinkwater over Bakayoko, especially if we changed back to a 2 man midfield. Drinkwater reminds me of Cahill a little bit in that his qualities aren't top level but he is a solid and dependable player who could slot in and 'do a professional job' if called upon. I just have this thought in my head of a big game against City, Liverpool, Spurs, etc and the two options were Drinkwater or Bakayoko I would have more trust and faith in Drinkwater compared to Bakayoko who is woefully inconsistent and has alarming technical deficiencies to his game. Central defence with Zouma coming back we actually have a very good group in there with different qualities. Full backs we can either stick or twist with Alonso and Zappacosta. I would be inclined to sell both if the right offers came in and place some faith in Reece James and Jay Dasilva. If we moan about Alonso's defensive qualities then Kenedy definitely is not the answer as a left back option.

Willian and Pedro are nowhere near Hazard's bracket of being undroppable. Ironically we're almost certain to start the season with Willian and Pedro as CHO will not likely be fit (or at the very least will need slowly integrating back in) and Pulisic will need a period of adaptation and I think will miss some of pre-season due to the Gold Cup with America. I think all four will be rotated and given opportunities and then it's down to who is performing best to get given the nod.

Allegri is favoured by quite a few people mainly due to experience/CV, and his track record of playing more 'industrial' football that Chelsea are better recognised for and to get the most out of an older, experienced group of players. However if reverting back to type with regards to tactics, style, etc is the best way to approach this post Hazard, transfer ban stage then we might as well seriously consider bringing Mourinho back. His CV is better than Allegri, is the master of that style of football and then can also speak English fluently (if one of Allegri's positives is his man management, being unable to speak English doesn't sound too promising) and also ticks boxes for experience managing in the Premier League and knows the club inside out (and still a few of the players). I'm not endorsing Mourinho to return for a third stint but if we go back down that type of route then his track record and CV has to suggest he is the best option for that whether some want to admit it or not.

The nature of the pressure within the club doesn't help. There is very little opportunity for most players to be given time and patience to 'bed in'. But what exacerbates this problem, is the club's transfer policy as a 'one in, one out'. I can fully understand the club needs to operate in such a way to comply with FFP and help raise funds for more transfer activity but it places even more pressure on players to hit the ground running. Bakayoko was injured when he arrived and got rushed back. Granted he looked poor all season long, but would he have been given a better foundation and more of a chance if Matic wasn't sold and we kept them both? Would Morata have coped better under less pressure initially than being the only striker the club had faith in? Bernardo Silva didn't have a great first season in my opinion. But he was given the time to adapt to English football without intense pressure because City had far more options within the squad - De Bruyne, Silva, Sterling, Sane, etc. Now City are reaping the rewards last season, and when De Bruyne was injured for most of it Bernardo stepped up and filled the void. Would Chelsea have given him that time because we do have quite the track record of players either being sold or loaned out after just a season with the club.

Where is this because the recent reports I've seen suggest it should only be about a month which should make him ready for pre season.

Yeah they think ankle ligament damage, probably 4-6 weeks and should be ready for pre season. Huge opportunity for some of these lads next season. RLC, CHO and Christensen have showed the pathway is potentially there and up to them to follow route.

Apparently just been stretchered off for the England U21's. This is getting a joke now.

I haven't said that Allegri's CV isn't impressive but I wouldn't view him currently as an outstanding candidate. One of his biggest positives reading articles is his man management in much the same way as Ancelotti, but he doesn't speak a word of English. His tactics as you said are much more of the 'industrial' nature but is this club just going to keep flip-flopping between styles and tactics season after season or are we actually going to devise a much longer term plan and strategy which may mean taking a step or two back to move forward. I don't believe we should play the young players for the sake of it, they have to be good enough. The problem has always been that there is regularly a new manager in. This gives a 'new slate' for players who haven't proved to be good enough for the club already and also these managers are always under pressure to be successful to keep their jobs and the easy, less risky option is to place trust in experienced players over younger players. I read a while back that Conte was really impressed with RLC in training but couldn't risk playing him for the first team. Many people on this forum have been critical how long it's taken Sarri to bring CHO and RLC into the team on a regular basis this last season. If Conte had been able to trust RLC and started playing him in some games that first season he may have been more confident in his abilities and RLC himself may not have needed to go out on loan to Palace for football and to develop. The likely impact of this would have been the club not needing to waste £35m on Drinkwater and in turn that money could have been used to get better players in that transfer window (instead of Zappacosta and Bakayoko, etc). It's a what if scenario but it's an example how failure of the club to get through academy players or young signings for small money has meant not just the first team but the entire squad has had to be brought through the transfer market and this is catching up with us now because of the market inflation and many more teams can compete with us in terms of financial resources. We spent a fortune on players in the summer of 2017 and then another £50-60m in January 2018 on multiple players and the only player to come out of that as a definite success is Rudiger. None of the rest of these players have managed to establish themselves even as first choice. I would much rather see a transfer budget used on 2 or 3 players of the highest quality we can buy then it spread out over 6 or 7 players like two summers ago because fairly average players now are moving for £30m+. The amount of players we have on loan and through the academy means a rebuild can be started next season and this squad can be refreshed but it needs somebody willing to come in and do that. For me that equates to Lampard (and Jody Morris is a huge part of that too) being the person I'd be most confident would facilitate that.

If there was an outstanding candidate available on the market, or if Sarri wanted to stay then I would agree with you. However as I don't believe there is one and Sarri looks intent on leaving then I do see Lampard as the best option. The reason for me is based around the transfer ban - The club needs a rebuild and overhaul of the squad over the next couple of seasons and my worry this coming season is the club panic and try desperately to hold on to everything they have and hope the experience in the squad can get us through. The problem with this is the following summer we'll be looking to get rid of a number of squad players who we already know aren't good enough and then need to spend millions to replace them. I believe there is far more chance that Lampard will be happy for some of these players to leave this summer and he'll instead integrate some younger players into the squad because I firmly believe that his priority will be the long term success of this club, even if he wasn't here to see it through as opposed to a manager with no affinity here who may well not be prepared to use younger players because they know they may only be here for a season or two. Therefore being more prepared to make the difficult decisions. I do think Jody Morris coming back with him also increases those chances because he has the most experience managing and coaching a number of these players and will be in a much better position than anyone to recommend which could be good enough to make the grade. If a manager is out there that is prepared to do this and is far more experienced than Lampard then I would be happy to go with that and hold fire with Lamps, but I would not be impressed with a manager coming in and not being prepared to give Reece James a squad role instead of Zappacosta, or Mount and Ampadu roles ahead of someone like Bakayoko coming back. These players aren't good enough, we can already see that so let's give some talented youngsters a chance to see if they belong. I'm not expecting 4 or 5 youngsters to just be thrown into the first XI but its happened for years that the quick managerial turnarounds has left some players who aren't good enough with multiple chances under new managers and thus stayed at the club far longer than they should have. It might seem harsh because throwing Lampard in at the deep end may not work out and could end up with him only lasting a season or two here, but ultimately no person is bigger than this club and I would far rather see the club rebuilt properly for future successes, that has to be the priority for the club.

We all would love him to stay but I think he's likely planned this for a couple of years now. He would know that Chelsea would never willingly sell him and putting off a contract for so long it's allowed him to be able to get a move to Real Madrid just at the right time for him before he gets too old and not as attractive an option for them. A lot of people have complained on the forum that if the club had built properly around him he may have stayed but i disagree. I think Madrid was always something that he wanted to do and it wouldn't have mattered how much success we had, this would have happened. If this was his childhood dream he would have finished his career thinking 'what if?' if he hadn't have made this move and that's never a good situation to find yourself in. We provided him with a stage to become the player he has - winning trophies, winning mentality, given largely a more free role than others in the team to be the main attacking outlet and he has delivered at his end too by being our talisman. It was a great partnership and both parties will always look back on it all with fond memories.

It could be exactly for the reasons being speculated - that the club do not want the appeal to be deemed 'frivolous' and be seen simply as a delay procedure for our ban as in that way we may have the ban increased. I cannot see CAS rejecting the appeal and increasing the ban if we haven't requested the ban to be frozen whilst the appeal is heard as that would be extremely harsh. I would expect if we are banned from signing players this summer and then the appeal is accepted then we would have significant grounds to sue FIFA for quite a significant amount of money (prize money, potential champions league qualification this coming season, etc) which could well amount to tens of millions. At the moment though I agree with @OhForAGreavsie, there simply isn't enough information at the moment out there to know for sure what is going on. As much as we all like to moan, the club have officials within and external law specialists dealing with this case who are far more qualified then all of us and we just have to trust the club that they know what they are doing and are doing the best they can to (1) successfully overturn this, and (2) limit the damage the ban may cause.

Matt Law reported earlier in the week that we don't want to request freezing the ban in case CAS reject the appeals and deem we have only done so to defer the ban. In this case I think there would be fair grounds for them to increase our ban further, hence why the appeal appears more cautious by us.

Don't forget though we only got £35m for Courtois. The leverage as a selling club just isn't there once there is only a year left on a contract.

Of course each case is relevant to be treated separately. The circumstances and potential penalties over each are completely different and as frustrating as it is, all of us are simply speculating over our case. Are you sure about not being able to extend the ban, because if reports are true this is what is causing our stance on the ban (likely because we know ourselves that we're unlikely to be able to successfully argue). If that is true then I would agree it wouldn't make sense why we aren't more aggressive. Also, there's no guarantees that City's appeal is going to be successful just because of the timing of their appeal and how quickly they've submitted it. There's been lots of rumours recently regarding Guardiola having a clause in his contract to walk if they're kicked out of Europe and these links with Juventus. The conspiracy theory in all of this could be that City are trying to delay the inevitable to also stop Guardiola getting poached, who knows?!

I'd rather they didn't, but United are screaming out for a player of his ilk. I could see City being interested too to be honest, he looks a very good player and will likely only get better.

I've seen that Inter may be but that could just be an easy link with Conte. I'm sure there would be some level of interest as his stock has been somewhat repaired after this season at Milan. It's a shame that we have a ban because we could have enquired with Lyon about a possible deal for one of their midfielders that would involve Bakayoko. Unless we can loan him somewhere like that this season in the hope it will give us an advantage plucking one of their players the following season.

Apart from RLC is out long term, so realistically it's 5 players for the short term future. Will 5 be enough bearing in mind we're back in the Champions League next season?

Of course it's hypothetical at present but if there is interest in Baka and we can sell him for around similar money to what we can buy Kovacic for then I would do that deal. Even though he has had a decent season at Milan, I just do not rate Bakayoko and cannot see him making the grade here.

It's difficult to be too critical of him because my wife suffers from mental health and in something as tribal and passionate as football, it's awareness and effects are largely ignored and/or forgotten. What I would say is there are clearly problems there from a mental perspective and in that case he needs to be where he is happiest. I was always adamant that bringing him back despite the ban just wouldn't work because he clearly doesn't want to be here and that's even more true now. Morata is a classic example of just how important the mentality of a footballer is to be successful, not just natural talent. Hopefully Atletico grant his wish and buy him. If we can recoup anywhere near his original transfer fee (even within £10m) then we will have done well and can move on.

First part is true but second part regarding Charly Musonda if true, then Tomori would be scribbled out too.

Possibly, but would he be good enough to be first choice immediately? If the answer is no, then for him it makes sense to stay at a club where he already is first choice and has just qualified to play in the Champions League anyway. The thing is even if we brought Kovacic, we realistically need two midfielders back from loans or the academy to compete next season as we'll still only be left with 4 (we have to be realistic that RLC will not likely be back until after Xmas and quite possibly not reach full fitness and form until the following season) and I just don't see the club going back to Drinkwater and Bakayoko. Pasalic and Mount could realistically fill those spots if they're prepared to take on those roles in the squad.

They are two completely different cases against two different footballing bodies.

But Atalanta have an option on him. Also I'm not sure if there's been work permit issues with him in the past?! I'd have no issues with bringing him back next season because he seems to have performed very well this season but it may be out of our hands.

According to someone on Sky Sports, Madrid plan on playing Hazard on the right wing next season if they play 4-3-3 or as a second striker if they play 4-4-2.