Superblue

Stranger things have happened in football before. If Morata got a significant injury of some sort or was really struggling to adapt to the league, I wouldn't be surprised if some sort of reconciliation was attempted. As others have pointed out, a similar situation occurred with Mancini and Tevez a few years ago and got sorted for the sake of the club. Conte is a winner above all else, and I believe if push comes to shove he would put that mindset and the club's needs above his own. I think it would come down to Costa's professionalism. If he had accepted Conte's decision in the summer but fought to change his mind, I have no doubts Conte would have kept him within the squad for that time being and he'd be getting game time and giving Morata chance to adapt. Players and managers don't have to like each other. It helps but plenty of examples of such in the past that haven't had a negative effect.

I actually think he gives conte a 'safe' option in some games. Against the big teams Conte may not want us left as open as we might be playing fabregas, but he still brings a better ball playing option than kante or bakayoko might. Similarly against weaker opponents he's good enough to do the hard work and tackling, mopping up etc to possibly play with fabregas in a 2 if we're struggling to break a team down to win a game. As people have said he's a high upgrade on Chalobah and leaves us far stronger in that area of the park. I like his reason for joining too. He's had a taste of winning big trophies and wants more. You'll be surprised how many people don't have that mentality and are just happy with what they've achieved previously rather than going again and kicking on.

I think he'll become someone Conte trusts a lot. We only have to see over the last couple of days that it seems Ox and Barkley haven't got the stomach to fight for a place at the champions but he's shown the right mentality to back himself to come here and make an impact. Of course you need options on the bench like a Barkley who can change a game that you're not winning but you also need players that can help see a game out and his Premier league experience with that to boot will make him an important option throughout the season. People mock Cahill at times but despite any faults or flaws he's played a big part in a lot of trophies won and has obviously stepped up since at bolton. Hopefully drinkwater can do the same and kick on further with the move here.

Always takes longer as the club won't announce until the usual photos, short interview etc are completed.

This will leave us desperately short in midfield if that's the case.

I hope you mean in a good way! I don't know anything about him, could you give a bit of insight?

Our squad may be a little thin in areas but : City are top heavy. Pep still has question marks in my opinion whether his style will get the club over the line throughout the season in England. Keeper is unproven. And they are also thin in key areas if Kompany and Fernandinho get injured. Liverpool haven't addressed that their keeper and defence are shite. Spurs only replaced Walker with Aurier - is that an improvement? Llorente and Sanchez only beef up the squad and don't improve the starting XI of a team that haven't won anything yet. Arsenal I don't even need to go into. I still think as long as we don't get key injuries we'll be challenging with United and City for the title. Liverpool and Spurs challenging for 4th place.

I'm happy with the signings we made. Rudiger and Christensen (if you'd include him) strengthen our defence and I believe one will edge Cahill out as first choice during the season. Bakayoko and Morata I think will prove to be younger and intelligent buys to replace Matic and Costa. Caballero is a solid replacement for Begovic and experienced backup. Zappacosta I don't know much about but will trust the Italian journalists that rate him and think he'll do well under Conte. Drinkwater, assuming it goes through, in my opinion is a solid option for centre midfield. Premier league experience, played with Kante in a 2 man midfield setup, will do a solid job when called upon I believe. I'm a little concerned with the depth in certain positions. Striker in particular because we don't know if Morata will struggle at some stage playing so many games for us during the season, especially how intense our league is and I'm really not sold on Batshuayi. That's why, for a fairly small fee, I'm surprised we didn't go in properly for Llorente who would have helped shore that position up. I feel we could have kept a couple of the younger players we've shipped out on loan just to beef up the squad. We have to assume we will usually have at least a couple of players unavailable for games when playing 2 or 3 times a week and our bench at the start of this season showed obvious depth issues. Boga for example, surely should have been kept. We have effectively got 5 senior players for 3 positions. It's a risky game. However if we have a run like last year keeping key players fit throughout the season we'll go close again because we are very well balanced and in my opinion still better equipped than Spurs, Liverpool and Arsenal.

Knowing the way our board operates, I wouldn't be surprised if they've seen that Barkley is fucked until about December anyway and have told him we'll try and buy you again in January for a much more discounted fee and split the saving with you.

I think it says a lot about the English mentality - comfort zone, playing without pressure. You only have to look at Sanchez wanting to move to City to see the much more driven mentality of foreign players in my opinion.

Just seen on Sky Sports we have had 41 outgoings this summer. I know the vast majority of these are loan deals for youngsters but to be left so thin this late in the window. Just keeping 2 or 3 of those would have made our squad look so much stronger this summer and a lot less people would be moaning on here.

That's the one haha

The one thing I would say is that Zappacosta came completely out of the blue with no media speculating it half hour before it was confirmed happening. So let's just hope the board are working on some targets on the hush which will get done tonight.

They did have Robbie Savage remember!

I rate Willian and Pedro highly, but I think Mahrez gives something different to them. He is a lite version of Hazard in terms of what he could produce and would be a fine alternative. At the end of the day having all four would make our attacking options far more potent and give Conte another attacking option to change a game in our favour.

My cousin's husband is a massive Leicester fan. He said Mahrez is the most talented player the club has ever had. He also was adamant last summer that Chelsea would win the title after buying Kante. I think he is a very creative and talented player and could add a lot to the team. It's obviously not a position we are in desperate need for, but will add extra depth to the front three.

It's not ideal but apparently this Zappacosta can play on either side, so if we do buy him we'll at least be in a better position than we were last night when the options looked to be Rafinha and Bacary Sagna! Let's hope there are some more in the pipeline...

Let's just hope after today he wants to come back from his holiday!

I've just read a rumour we might go in for Bacary Sagna on a free transfer. I never thought it would reach this point...

Fantastic support.

He'll never get anywhere near the level that Gerrard was and I've never been Gerrards biggest fan.

No that is not what I said and that wouldn't be the clubs plan. I'm saying it from the likely point of view of the player that he feels it is the best stage of his career to see if he has what it takes to play for a top club at the highest level. However if the move wasn't to work out for him, he is still at an age where he could easily get a new club in a couple of years time still playing to a solid standard in the league. I can understand reservations, but some players kick on and improve upon joining a top club and playing alongside top players. Chelsea have had a number through the years. Cahill is an obvious example in the current team. Yes there are plenty that don't and that is the risk you take. At least with Drinkwater, he was a big part of Leicester winning the league 2 seasons ago and played Champions League football last season so there is some experience of playing at that top level.

At 27 he probably feels he is reaching his prime and the chance at joining a big club may not come round again. He obviously backs himself to make an impression and take any chances that come his way. If it doesn't work out and he struggles for game time, he could easily find a club like Leicester to move to in a couple of seasons time and still be on the right side of 30.

In the case of Llorente though who else in the Premier League has backup strikers that are top level? The only ones you could argue are United and City but their cases are different - United have Rashford who is still very young and come through their academy so will be more willing to be rotated and City brought Jesus young and unproven in Europe so again a similar situation. I can guarantee that if City start playing Jesus over Aguero then Aguero will soon kick up a fuss. The only way you could get around it if you had a hybrid player that is capable of filling in both as the main striker or in behind, Sanchez for example. In the case of Drinkwater, we are talking 4th choice centre midfielder. We won't find anyone available better than Kante for the job he does and we've clearly brought Bakayoko to become a main player for the club (that was already our buy to improve the first team). Fabregas offers a different option and is one of the most creative deep midfielders in the league. So again it's finding someone who is well experienced in the league to come in when needed.

What has 32 got to do with it when Drogba and Lampard were winning us the Champions League in their mid 30's? Yes he won't be around for the next 5 years but it's not a lot of money for a proven top level striker that will improve our squad. He scored 15 goals last season playing for a side who barely stayed up. Add to that his experience at the top level in Europe, already being known to Conte, the signing makes sense. At the current stage he is an upgrade on Batshuayi and I'd much rather rely on Llorente if Morata got injured. I understand your expectations but we will not attract top bracket players to come and sit on our bench. People may not be happy with it, but players like Llorente and Drinkwater who are Premier league proven and experienced enough to come in when others are unavailable or be trusted to come on for the last 10-15 minutes to see a game out makes complete sense.