Superblue

Pirlo would still be welcome here

Don't know how many of our non-UK TC members will have watched They Think It's All Over, but it was a sports quiz comedy show back in the 90's. One of the things I grew up watching. Team leaders were David Gower and Gary Lineker who both got it ripped out of them on the show. Two comedians (Rory McGrath and Lee Hurst, later replaced by Jonathon Ross) and two celebrity guests each week. I can always remember this particular show and managed to find it on You Tube last night (god knows what made me think to look for it) but enjoy - Pure British comedy, fucking hilarious!

This thread had gone massively off topic. I think the general consensus is that most people, including me, would agree with you toronto - hulk is overpriced at £38m. Yes he's unproven in a stronger league but many would argue that he has the attributes to give him a good chance of succeeding and at his age should be or near his prime. It is widely agreed that we need a RW and hulk is arguably the best RW seemingly available this summer. That is why hulk is my first choice. If the club decide they can afford over £30m then great, because he could be a great addition to the squad. However if the club feel priced out of a move then i'll support that we're not going to be bullied into overpaying or a bidding war and hope we find an alternative.

Like Torres? Or Shevchenko? Or Ibrahimovic? Or Kaka? Established stars sometimes don't warrant that price either. Drogba and van Nistelrooy were strikers who came from weaker leagues for big prices in their day. Both thrived and excelled in a stronger environment playing with better players. There is no general rule. Mata is 24 and Hulk is still 25 so there isn't 3 years between them. Although this debate is a waste of time IMO because a 25 year old should hardly be considered 'over the hill'. He should arguably be in or reaching his prime. One of the things that Hulk does have on a par with established stars is the unique marketing opportunities available to us with him. He is also like 'one of their own' in Japan and Asia, and a huge draw over there. We obviously are not just buying him as a product, but it would take into consideration his price tag if more money can be made from his name and marketing potential. Gone through 95 times out of 100? Well they haven't beaten us in the last 7 games over recent years so that doesn't really add up. And it's not just those games - they didn't win their league this year so something obviously went wrong in their results. I agree with the previous post, for all their pretty passing football, they lack a plan B. If they don't pass it through you they won't find a way through. I'm not saying Hulk is the best player in the world or anything, but he will offer something which we don't seem to have now Drogba has left and Lampard plays much deeper. A genuine threat from outside the box. It scares teams from dropping too deep if we have a player who can bash a goal in from 25-30 yards. They will look to close him down which brings players out of a rigid formation and opens up spaces for others.

You're talking as if a player in his mid twenties is on the way down. If we got hulk we should be buying a player at his peak. The club needs the right balance between youth, experience and players in their mid twenties 'peak' years. The argument about coming from the portugal league - yes its a risk but shevchenko and torres have proved buying from a 'stronger' league offers no guarantees. The same argument could be applied to hazard but i don't see anyone complaining. Some players thrive in a stronger league and go from strength to strength. Drogba and van nistelrooy spring to mind as both moved for big money.

And on your basis then not buy another attacker? We will be left incredibly thin if that being the case.

The biggest argument for Hulk however is that he can play predominantly right wing which is a position we need a player for, but also offer genuine quality and a goal threat as a backup striker. We definately need another striker. I'm all for Sturridge and Lukaku being given bigger roles this season, but if Torres were to get injured long term, it would be a massive gamble to pin our hopes on two young strikers to lead the line and score goals for a lengthy period of time. Hulk would give us that more experienced additional option. If we were to buy two players, one for right wing and one striker we could end up paying £30-40m for two players, neither being near Hulk's quality. Yes the price tag is high and difficult to justify, but his versatility is a massive positive for me not to discount him yet.

The lack of effort shown to track Alonso was embarrassing.

Good post. IMO we need a right back, a central midfielder, a right winger and a backup striker. Hulk is the obvious choice because of his ability to play right wing and cover Torres upfront. Right back I would agree with Debuchy. Central midfield I would love for us to try and get Schweinsteiger, but it is very very unlikely! Cabaye would be a good buy, as would Javi Martinez. If we were to buy players for the positions above I would probably look at letting Essien and Malouda leave, both of whom seem to have seen their best days pass them.

Ok maybe he had a year left then on his contract. I can't see real madrid being able to recoup much more than that though.

I would take sahin aswell. Can't see him costing any more than £8-10m given last season. Real got him on a free i think aswell didn't they?!

Remember hulk would fill 2 areas of the squad that require a player - a RW and ST. We could easily spend £30-40m on 2 players for those positions and neither may not be near hulk's quality. We've all seen the value of players like ivanovic and ramires who can adapt to multiple positions. Also getting only one player will free up an extra space for one of the younger players to maybe feature in a handful of games during the season.

Would the potential Javi Martinez to Bayern Munich move have any link to the rumour that Guardiola will move there after his sabbatical? And could this move pave the way for Schweinsteiger to move. Oh, how I can wish!!!!

KDB is likely to go out on loan. Marin is a wildcard, he could light up the Premiership and thrive at a bigger club or he could struggle. And considering his injury problems last season, I wouldn't want to pin our entire hopes on him. Sturridge and Ramires are not natural's in those positions. Yes they can play there and therefore offer us additional options and depth in these positions but not as a first choice. Ramires should be challenging for a CM spot and Sturridge ST. This only leaves Hazard and Mata, so we need a right sided winger and a world class one to start as first choice.

The Barcelona matches aren't solely down to luck! They haven't beaten us in 7 games now. In a run stretching back to 2000 and 12 games we have only lost 3 times and all of those were with 10 men. Barcelona have never been able to cope with our style. We are defensively organised, an experienced midfield full of strength and in Drogba we had an outlet which frightened the shit out of them. I can guarantee you year after year we are THE team Barcelona don't want to draw in the Champions League. They have never coped with our insatiable appetite for a battle and never say die attitude. You make your own luck in this life.

I think there's one team Barcelona struggle against more than Real Madrid. Just ask Pep Guardiola, seen as it was the only team he ever faced that he couldn't beat!

If we are to keep Essien, you just hope a full pre season schedule free from injuries, whilst never likely to get back to his previous level, will help us get him back to a condition as a very good and solid midfielder. Gone are the days of rampaging box to box runs but we now have Ramires, and to a lesser extent Meireles to perform that job. Essien's experience still leaves him as a very good defensive midfielder. With better fitness, he could hopefully get back up to a good enough standard to challenge and push Mikel for a defensive midfield spot in our team.

I wake up safe in the knowledge that there is at least another 11 months to enjoy as the motherfucking European Champions!!!! :blue scalf:

Where there is smoke, there is usually fire, so it is likely with all the rumours flying around that Hulk is one of our major transfer targets this summer. However it is not out of the question that the Porto president is actually telling the truth and no official offers have been made. The Marin deal came out of the blue, nothing was rumoured about Victor Moses until we made an offer, and the media were also adamant Hazard was on his way to United even after we had won the Champions League. They don't seem to have a genuine idea of what Chelsea are doing. Perhaps Hulk isn't the primary target and whilst the media think otherwise it allows us to focus on our genuine deals without rumours causing other club's interests or inflated transfer fees. I would actually love us to buy Hulk, but thought I would just put another spin on the current situation.

Following on from my previous post, there were reports during the selection process that our proposal was weak and nowhere near what they were looking for. Now surely the chelsea board will have had a very good idea what would be accepted. All along this may have been a plan. Perhaps they had no intention of buying the site outright but by bidding and making public declarations they put themselves and their project in the eyes of other bidders.

Somebody correct me if i'm wrong but the battersea site is substantially bigger than just the power station. The likelihood is we would have found a partner if we had been preferred bidders to use up some of the site around the stadium. This malaysian consortium are buying the land for houses which can be developed around the power station. As certain aspects of the power station must remain intact, this consortium may still be undecided with what to do with that space of the site. Hence putting these images into the public eye may still give us the opportunity to run with it. The consortium would get money back from selling us the power station site and a football stadium could be a big draw to any new residential and/or commercial areas they build on the remainder of the site. I seriously don't believe this is dead and buried yet by a long way!

Yeah, thank god our squad have a lot more spirit and bottle inside them!

Spike do you wish to retract this statement 6 months later lol

We were linked with yaya toure, silva and aguero before city muscled in. Not sure how far enquiries went with them lot though.