Superblue

No sub is quite frankly inexcusable.

I'll be worried if Sarri doesn't bring on Giroud at half time. Anybody can see we have no presence up top and so much width and no one in the box to cross to.

I wouldn't be against Icardi moving to Madrid if he wasn't interested in coming here. Real Madrid aren't going to buy everyone and for every big, expensive signing they make, it increases the chances of them not prioritising Hazard and thus us keeping hold of him.

Icardi, Dybala and to a lesser extent Werner are big name players. Unless something crazy happened they aren't going to move in January. I would be surprised if Icardi or Dybala moved full stop to be honest. Icardi's current situation just feels like a way to get a fatter contract and he isn't really interested in moving. And if I was Dybala would I want to move from Juventus?? Jovic and Haller I would say are a bit further along than Piatek, I'd like to see them finish the second half of this season and see how they keep going. But Jovic is on loan anyway so that's also a move that wouldn't happen until his future is resolved with Frankfurt. From the fairly limited amount I've seen of them, Jovic I rate a lot higher than Haller. For me Werner would be the ace this summer. He's a perfect mixture of young but with a lot of experience playing at the highest level in Europe, Bundesliga and internationally. And to top it off, he'll move below his market value with his contract winding down. If he is prepared to move outside his comfort zone of Germany (and the clutches of Bayern) I'd like to think Chelsea would view him as a really attractive target for the summer. For now though, in terms of low risk with the experience and previous pedigree where he could very easily come in and make an instant impact (and his world standing and reputation will immediately make opponents take notice), I don't see a better option this month than Higuain on loan and assuming it all goes through without hitches, I think the club will have done well to negotiate such a deal.

From what I have read (obviously cannot confirm) his loan deal will cost us £1.5m per month, which does seem to tie in with Milan's original loan for this season being about £18m. I'm pretty sure Higuain's contract expires in the summer of 2020 so I would assume unless there is some sort of deal brokered, if he was a success and we wanted him to stay we'd just loan him again next season and play things then a season at a time.

He probably does want to play in England one day, but given his age he may view a move to one of the Italian heavyweights as the next step in his career to grow and develop, play in Europe, etc but in an environment and culture that he is comfortable and settled in (both for him and his family). Add to that he probably feels he needs to move somewhere he is confident he'll play every week. I think he could likely do that here but he would be competing essentially for one starting position in midfield because the other two are as good as taken, and if he struggled to make that spot his own he may feel it would be significantly detrimental to his blossoming career.

Personally I think it's a huge risk paying 10 times the transfer fee someone moved for only 6 months ago. He literally had a hot streak for about 10-12 games and has cooled off somewhat since. Plenty of players, but especially strikers, end up being one season wonders. If he moves to Milan and pulls up trees, fair play to him. But I would view it as a big risk and would much rather see a player do it for a couple of seasons to prove it's not just a one off before sinking big money into them. It all goes to show too that no player is perfect and everyone has their own ideas and positives/negatives to any transfer, so the club will never please everyone.

The fans today that think the likes of Morata and Torres are bad want to watch a video of Paul Furlong and Robert Fleck! These two made Stein and Spencer look like Aguero.

Mark Stein and John Spencer - Glenn Hoddle was acknowledged for bringing a new brand and style of football to the Bridge but there's possibly an argument that he had no choice keeping the ball on the deck with those two midgets up front.

I don't think he's slow like somebody like Giroud is, but on the other end of the spectrum he isn't going to get the ball 40 yards out and beat the defenders for pace. His movement off the ball though has always been good and i think has made him look deceptively quicker than he likely is and helps him get the initial couple of yards. His positioning around the box has always also been strong, especially compared to the likes of Morata and Giroud - he'll look for dangerous spaces to get into when in the box which the rest of our players seem incapable of at times. And one of the biggest positives is he will fight and work for everything. I believe after 18 months of Morata being generally poor overall and pathetically feeble, he'll get huge support from the fans just by doing the things that Morata isn't willing to do. His passion and desire leading the line should be a breath of fresh air.

Agreed, this deal speaks volumes I believe because of the club's stance with over 30's. This must show an intent to make things work with Sarri. The board can't go and trade off half the team in one summer, this evolution will be a slower pace but hopefully we can get top 4 this season and another summer window with a full pre season under Sarri to work on his style and tactics I believe will have a big impact and I would expect us to be far more competitive next season so long as the board don't pull the trigger early.

Not sure, will be even better if they have!

If that deal being reported is correct, that is a great effort by the club and almost a 'no lose' situation. If Higuain struggles then he'll go back in the summer and we start again. If he does well then we'll want to keep him another season anyway, and I'd be more than happy for that to happen if he scores the necessary goals to get us into the top 4. We're still likely in the summer to go for a striker as I can see Morata, Giroud and Batshuayi all leaving. It would give us the opportunity to bring in a top young striker and settle in for a season under less pressure if we have Higuain here. The only disappointment I assume is that he's cup tied in Europe?

His save against Carroll in the FA Cup final too was a match winner and one of the greatest saves I've ever seen in a game of that level of importance and magnitude. He had no right to keep that one out.

Phenomenal goalkeeper who dedicated the best years of his career to this club and never complained when Courtois eventually came in. I think it has always been understated also how well he came back from what was a life threatening injury to continue his career at the absolute highest level for a number of years continuing to have to show the bravery and character of a top keeper. Like Drogba, his Chelsea career will forever be highlighted by Munich. Drogba got most of the plaudits but Cech saved Robben's penalty in extra time and two in the shootout (definitely tipped Schweinsteigers pen on to the post) - couldn't have asked for much more against a German team in a shootout! A huge Chelsea legend, regardless of his last couple of years at Arsenal, and I wish him all the best in his retirement.

The risk of him being a one season wonder? 40m euros for a player that cost only 4m six months ago represents a huge risk in my opinion. I'm certainly not saying he can't keep scoring goals and wouldn't keep scoring goals at a bigger club or in a different league but so far this is all being based on half a season, of which he had a huge goal scoring spurt at the start of the season. I believe he has only scored 4 goals in the last 12 league games - is this back to what would be considered his standard level of a goal every 3 games? I'm not sure. I'm not knocking his potential and he could develop into one of the best strikers in Europe, but I would far rather see a longer period of performance before a decision was made on him. Unfortunately the way the transfer market is now is ridiculous and teams will be happy to risk that amount of money on a player based on such a short period of form (Bakayoko springs to mind).

If the terms were right I wouldn't be against an 18 month loan if it smoothed negotiations to get him in now and on the assumption we "clear the decks" with our strikers in the summer (Morata, Giroud, Batshuayi, possibly Abraham).because it still would allow us to focus on buying a new striker in the summer with a much more long term thinking (if it was someone say like Jovic or Piatek), without the immediate pressures of coming into the club and hitting the ground running if we still had someone like Higuain here. The problem in all of this is Juventus wanting an obligation to buy if that is true because that would be ludicrous. But apparently from reports Milan weren't going to buy Higuain permanently so they could not have had an obligation to buy, I assume they had merely an option to buy. An option to buy becomes irrelevant because we can just pass on the option.

Yeah fair enough his goalscoring record is actually a lot better than I thought it would be.

Morata was never a proven first choice and Giroud has never been a proven goalscorer though.

I can agree with that assessment. It's a difficult balance because we have a big short term need. The success we have this season (even making top 4) could have a huge effect over the course of the next couple of seasons whether Sarri stays and the current projects continues or we go a different route and have to effectively start over yet again. The short term for me, I feel more comfortable with a proven striker than a player that has hit a bit of form in the last few months. However I do agree that signing someone like Higuain is not going to be the long term answer and therefore the club must decide if they pursue such a move, how much are they prepared to spend for a much shorter term solution.

It's a huge risk to buy a player like this who has had a really good 6 months which could equate to nothing more than a bit of form. A couple of seasons ago, Belotti was the same. I can remember Papiss Cisse for Newcastle having that ridiculous 6 months at Newcastle where everything he hit went in. We've been burnt a few times in the past buying a player on the back of one good season. Bakayoko in recent times is a good example. But then I guess there are also the likes of players like Kante who we brought after only one season at Leicester and kicked on another level. I just think how important it is to get a good striker who will score goals at present, we maybe need something at least short term more proven. If we had a good striker already at the club and were looking to take a punt on him coming in as another option then the risk would be far less.

Yes, he played a ball over the top for Hazard to win the penalty against Watford in similar circumstances. He is capable of doing it, but the movement of the players in front of him at the moment either isn't good enough or isn't in sync with him. He has made a big difference to our teams ability to dominate the ball. We were regularly under 50% possession last season or just above it and it's not a coincidence that his arrival has helped drastically change that. I know possession doesn't win games but the ability to dominate the ball should in theory lead to more opportunities to create chances, less opportunities for the opposition and tiring out the opponent trying to chase the ball around. I think we've become more solid defensively throughout the season and we still create chances despite our recent lack of goals, we're simply not clinical enough up front and the third midfielder (Barkley/Kovacic) has not really been performing how we need them to as the most attacking midfielder in recent weeks. It's funny how at the start of the season when we were winning he was the best thing since sliced bread, now we've been struggling recently he's now the problem yet his game hasn't changed.

He's developing well at Bournemouth and the way the market is heading £40m might not be the most ridiculous money when we sold him far less proven for £20m. I think it is someone we could well look at in the summer if Luiz was to leave (although I'd prefer Luiz to stay at present). The club also has to be aware of the homegrown quota because with Fabregas left, and the likes of Moses, Cahill and Drinkwater likely leaving soon we have to ensure we're not left short in this regard. I believe Ake would be not only homegrown but club trained for european purposes too?

He's not going to surprise you with blistering pace but I think he's quick enough and as you pointed out his movement has always been very good which I think is actually more important in the Sarri style where intricate passing is needed, as well as a Premier League where must teams in the bottom half will usually sit back and defend deep against the top teams home and away.

He doesn't have blistering pace (he never has) but he isn't slow. Giroud would be what I would call slow. Where Higuain does make up for it is his movement off the ball and positions he'll find himself in are that of a natural predatory striker, something which Morata and Giroud are not. We have players behind him who will create chances for him and I do think short term, he would be a big upgrade on what we have.