Superblue

Higuain for me is the best striker that could realistically be brought this summer. Add to that his relationship with Sarri and having played in his system is an added bonus. It's a lot of money for a 30 year old striker but some of the fees clubs are paying for average players or unknown quantities does put this into perspective. If he can lead our line effectively and score goals over the next couple of seasons that cements our position in the top 4 and helps smooth the implementation of Sarri's system then I'm all for it and would be worth the money for me. I agree with the club's stance on transfer fees not wanting to overpay and preferring to buy younger players that carry a value in a few years time but sometimes you also have to pay out and get a player that is going to impact now on the side. Add to that the striker position is so important and lack of goals was the main reason for our failings last season, this needs addressing. If somebody like Higuain could come in and score 18-20 league goals like Costa we'd be back in the top 4 I've no doubts about that.

If the club aren't sold on anyone currently on the market that would command big money, then Reina would be a good short term, low risk buy to give us a year, maybe two to get the right longer term keeper in. He knows and understands Sarri's system. Looking at Jorginho today that seems to be a big plus. He also has Prem experience.

From what has been written Roman got involved to get Sarri over the line, pushed the boat out to sign Jorginho and we're being heavily linked with Higuain which is against our usual transfer business. A lot of signs point to Roman really wanting Sarri, wanting Chelsea to play his style of football and giving him every opportunity to do so. Marina might have other ideas in her head and have a lot of influence but she doesn't own the club.

A couple of points about Willian - 1. Who is to say that Chelsea haven't sounded out Willian alternatives and are being quoted insane figures. Richarlison is going to Everton for £50m - just let that sink in for a minute. 2. I've read a few times that Sarri is a big fan of Willian and thinks he'll suit his system well. We're wanting the club to back Sarri and give him the best possible chance to make this work so if he wants to keep Willian and we've made the effort to hold on to him hopefully its another big vote of confidence for Sarri.

Thought he would prove more effective in this style but on today's evidence not looking promising. Not everyone is sold on Higuain, I think mostly because of his age, but he has proven pedigree scoring goals and is already used to the Sarri system. We only need to see today how good Jorginho looked with someone used to this way. I think Higuain would be a success here for a couple of seasons which is just what we need to get back challenging again.

He could come in coaching the youth team on a part time basis for a season and split it with media work like lampard done and then decide which his long term preference would be.

Reports in mirror today that he's retiring this summer.

Looking at that video a lot of work needs doing with some of our lot but very positive that he's pushing on with implementing this.

I don't think it's just that people rate him and he clearly made a very good impression at the World Cup which would suggest he'd fit into a Sarri system well, but the price being rumoured (around 30m euros) in this current market seems very good value and has to be attractive to the board who have done far more in recent years seeking value for money. He's at an age, and attracted the attention of other clubs whereby for the price, if things didn't work we wouldn't likely take much of a hit on selling him in the future (think Barkley compared to Drinkwater / Bakayoko). And if he's a hit then it'll be a bargain.

There's been no links for him. The club will want to recoup as much as possible from him and can't sell him if there are no takers. Unfortunately until we get rid of Drinkwater and Bakayoko, it's difficult to justify buying more midfielders.

Will be really disappointed if this is the case as he looks a very promising player and would seem to suit the new manager. Watch him in 2 years time be valued at £70-80m.

Everton trying to buy Richarlison for £50m!!! He looks a decent player but went right off the boil in the second half of last season. Is he really that much better or promising than Kenedy? I'll be interested to see how Kenedy does in a full season at Newcastle. This not only makes the Jorginho signing look like a snip but it also shows that if Chelsea do sell Courtois and Hazard we have to seriously have our finger on the pulse because we could end up paying stupid money for bang average players. Hopefully we've learnt our lessons of last year with Zappacosta, Bakayoko and Drinkwater.

What did Barcelona pay last year for Dembele? Pretty sure it was somewhere around £120m (which was a reach) and he barely did anything. I think even if they offered Dembele, Chelsea should be pushing for minimum £70m on top of Dembele.

If he can be brought for a respectable price I don't mind it, but the other problem with Liverpool buying Alisson (the first problem being he was seemingly our first choice and all our eggs looked to be in his basket) is that by spending so much money on him they could well have fucked the market for goalkeepers which will make it even more difficult for us to replace Courtois sufficiently without being ripped off. If Schmeichel is available for anything up to £25-30m then he would be an option but if he's valued at significantly more I would be extremely against this move.

I agree with this point. My part is on comparing Benitez and Mourinho and in hindsight I'd rather have kept Benitez than bring back Mourinho. There were probably other options at the time that we could have taken instead of both. I just can't remember that far back who would have been available and a good option.

Completely see and understand your points. Is there an argument though that at the time we were in a state of transition with Drogba having left, the likes of Cech, Cole, Terry and Lampard nearing the end of their Chelsea careers that having someone steady and safe was what we needed to keep that transition smooth. It has always felt like the board had done a fine job of finding replacements for some of our key players (Courtois for Cech, De Bruyne for Lampard, Lukaku for Drogba) and a younger group of players were being primed for the club and when Mourinho came back that script got ripped up completely when in hindsight it shouldn't have been.

Really not sold on Donnarumma. He was pretty poor last season and there is always a worry that he hasn't yet followed up on his early career promise. To be honest I don't see anything particularly standout that may be available, and nothing near the standard that Courtois is at. Donnarumma and Schmeichel would likely cost more than what we'd get for Courtois. I understand the contract situation, but paying out more money to get weaker does not sound enticing. With that in mind, I would rather us go for someone like Butland in that situation who we could probably get fairly cheap with Stoke getting relegated (probably around £20m and one of our good young players on loan for the season perhaps). He'll either make the step up, or if he's deemed not good enough in a year's time we haven't wasted too much money on him and would likely recoup our money back, which may not happen with more expensive options. There has to be a valid argument though for keeping Courtois because the money we get for him will have to be reinvested in a replacement anyway which may not be one highly valued and thought of at the club. Also missing out on the Champions League again could cost so much more.

I definitely wouldn't have him now. At the time though, i feel he deserved a full season after his interim stint to see what he could do. He has won the league previously with Valencia and with the greatest respect to his Liverpool tenure, he was never going to consistently challenge us and United at the time. I think at the time he did what was needed which was to shore us up and get us a Champions League spot. It wasn't pretty at times but there was also some potential that could be seen there and we were in a transition phase trying to get the overall makeup of the squad younger. I've always found it intriguing to wonder what his take on the squad would have been that summer with the likes of Lukaku and De Bruyne coming back from successful loan spells if he had retained them and integrated them into the squad where Mourinho didn't.

Not sure if I'm in the minority but the biggest regret for me is that we didn't keep Benitez. I can understand the initial dislike of him coming in with his Liverpool ties but the crowd didn't warm to him mainly because of fake quotes spread around the internet years earlier. It was pathetic because he steadied what was a fast sinking ship under Di Matteo. The defence was far more solid, he was getting a better tune out of the likes of Hazard and Mata and even Torres was serviceable in his time. I just felt after getting us comfortably in the top 4 and winning the Europa he deserved a chance if the fans hadn't hounded him out. Despite winning the league, Mourinho coming back was a disaster - tainted his legacy and left us selling some of our best young attacking players that we are yearning for still now.

Think you're getting confused between tammy and chalobah.

Whether it's this summer or not, in the long term i would like us to have lozano and bailey amongst our ranks. Both exciting, young, talented players with a lot of untapped potential and both have a directness and blistering pace to scare the life out of any defender.

My bad mate!

The thing that struck me about Sarri's Chelsea TV interview and then even more so his press conference today, was his perceived approach. His first priority is to play good football and everyone (himself, players and fans) enjoy it. Winning seems to come second. Sarri has to have given Roman and the board this same vibe and they must have brought into this philosophy. This would be a massive shift in culture from previous where it's almost been a win at all costs mentality. This strikes me as a long term plan, and I really hope that not only I'm correct in my assumption that Roman is buying 'all-in' to it but also that he doesn't have second thoughts and pull the trigger too early. It won't be easy initially to make the changes that are required, but in time we could have a fantastic team playing really good football that excites fans, the board, sponsors, etc and helps retain players who enjoy playing in this way. I have no doubts that if Sarri can do what he did at Napoli here, we will have success given the upgrade in quality of some of our players individually and the better resources we possess.

How can you say that Hazard can't be improved? He has been criticised in the past by our own fans, let alone rival fans, that his goalscoring record isn't as good as it perhaps could be given his talents. There have also been numerous arguments on these forums about his consistency at times, ability to rise above being marked out of a game, etc. I love Hazard, I think he brings a huge amount to our team, would be nigh on impossible to directly replace and really hope he commits for the rest of his best years at the club. But there are areas of his game he could always improve. Hopefully Sarri coming in and playing a more expansive, attacking style will get more out of Hazard.

Realistically the club won't have a first team squad of 25 players. It's too many, some players will hardly play, the academy players will get even less chances then they already do, etc. A squad of about 18-19 players + 3 keepers is sufficient. Remember the likes of Hudson-Odoi, Ampadu, etc on the fringes of the first team aren't included in this number and will therefore fill out the squad.