Superblue

Yeah but Chelsea can still announce it like the Marin deal...

And at 29 and having broken his leg now twice this season I would have to pass on this one. Would rather a younger full back.

That video against England has surprised me just how strong he is on the ball. I can see how the comparisons to Messi are drawn in that regards (I'm obviously not saying he's as good as Messi at the moment). In all respect to Belgium, the attacking talent he will be playing alongside for us, he will look so much better because we have players who can finish some of those excellent passes.

There is no point making public that we have agreed a fee with a club in case the move breaks down because of personal terms or he fails a medical. Chelsea probably felt it a bit embarrassing the Cahill deal took so long. I think it was Bolton that announced they had accepted an offer, otherwise I don't think Chelsea would have made it public until he signed. Hazard only finished international duty yesterday and Hulk is still in America playing for Brazil. It doesn't happen overnight so everybody be patient. I believe Hazard may be announced within the next day or two and Hulk probably within the next week.

If he has a strike partner who plays on the last defender and gambles for a cross (eg falcao) then hulk is more than capable of taking a player on outside and crossing with his right.

Yeah, thought as much. Also they wouldn't have an 'exclusive' first interview with Hazard on chelsea tv on a sunday. If anything it would be on a weekday in or after the blues news they do daily. Chances are its done and dusted and he's already recorded the interview. Everybody stop worrying!!!

We'll never know. He had a temperamental character, but i can remember him being excellent for real madrid and at the time was exactly the type of player we needed (even scolari realised that). I happen to think he would have been a lot better at chelsea as opposed to man city where at the time he was literally their one star player. It's funny because we still need that type of player 4 years on hence why everyone is so excited about hulk and hazard.

To be honest the hamstring is the more important one. That needs the most rest, playing an intense tournament with games every few days would not have helped his hamstring if its not 100%. The jaw will heal naturally and they have a few weeks before pre season now.

Agreed we publicly confirmed our bid for robinho remember and we all know how that panned out!

Good news for Chelsea, gives him proper time to rest up that hamstring

Whether there fans do or not, the board and players certainly do. There players no doubt have a psychological problem facing us, especially messi. And i read somewhere that a couple of years ago the board were doubting the barca philosophy because it didnt work up against us. They were looking to add more steel and size to the team but, and rightfully so, stuck with their principles. To cause that amount of doubt though is a real honour.

I would imagine it will all be tied up before he goes on holiday but of course this doesn't necessarily mean it will be announced before he comes back.

This, he's always looked good when I've watched him playing for Holland. The club have maybe realised in Ivanovic they have an excellent defensive RB, but need a separate option of a more offensive minded RB when taking the initiative against teams. If we were to buy Hulk and Hazard as our two wide men, both like to cut inside or drift so it is important to have two full backs who instinctively spot that space left and exploit it to stretch teams and get in behind. This is why the club maybe looking at him over other options. And to be fair I believe Ashley Cole is one of a very select few full backs in the modern game who is both excellent offensively and defensively (hence why he's regularly hailed the best LB in the world)

He's just being careful about what he says. He doesn't want to come across as disrespectful to porto, especially if they decide to play hardball and we don't buy him. I'm pretty confident this deal will go through, have faith mate.

Just looking forward to piers morgans twitter being terrorised when hazard owns arsenal next season. A friendly doesn't give you anything to base a player on. Get him signed up asap and watch the boy become a star!

Yes i would expect us to be much more like united in that regards, especially at home and turn the screw on weak opponents. 1 or 2 becomes regularly 3 or 4-0

Agree to an extent. We'll still have a back 4 and 2 defensive minded midfielders to defend for us. The attacking 4 will press teams further up the field and hopefully win the ball at times in key areas which pins teams in just like real and barca do.

I saw an interview with him once and they asked him what he does in his free time. He said he goes straight home from the training ground to spend the rest of the day with his wife and young daughter He came across as a very humble family man. I think the worries about his work rate and going down at times easily can only be determined once he has been here and settled at the club. A lot of the foreign players do not have such qualities when they come here but they embrace the English spirit and that spirit is arguably strongest within Chelsea. For example look at somebody like Mata. His work rate was tireless and he showed real defensive discipline in 2 games against Barca and the final against Bayern. I wouldn't have expected him capable of showing that when he first joined.

I went to the parade on the sunday so got from the megastore the programmes for the champs league and fa cup finals. I also got a champions of europe t shirt and an unofficial one from the market stalls outside. I brought my 18 month old daughter her first chelsea kit aswell. Going to also definately buy the dvd and souvenir mag. Not sure what else yet. Maybe the chelsea kit with the star above the badge and drogba on the back - it just has to be done!

^^ this. They like their new signings to have their first interview with chelsea tv as an 'exclusive'. That is why hazard is purposefully ignoring and avoiding all media.

I also heard that night Drogba stormed their dressing room, kicked them all out of the bridge one by one and told them next time they step foot in our stadium we'd exact revenge!

Good luck Sala Glad he doesn't look likely to move to another English team.

Whether people agree with signing Hazard or agree with signing Hulk, or disagree or whatever one thing is for sure...these are two players with big reputations on the continent and the rest of the Premier League and probably most of Europe will be shitting themselves at the thought of playing against a three pronged attacking midfield of these two and Mata

I must admit a couple of weeks ago I thought we must go out and get another striker knowing Drogba was going. However I do like the idea of Sturridge and Lukaku as understudy's to Torres. In what is likely to be a 60 game season you would hope for Torres 30-35 starts, Sturridge 20-25 and Lukaku 5-10. Sturridge and Lukaku should also get good game time however from the bench. My biggest worry is if Torres picked up a long term injury, it is massive pressure on two young players to carry the burden of the central striker for the club through the bulk of a season. I think this is why Hulk is the best choice of signing because he will predominantly play RW when players are fit which means Sturridge and Lukaku will get chances at CF. However if Torres picked up a bad injury, and the pressure proves too much for Sturridge and Lukaku to stand up as first choice striker for the club, we have a fall back option of a player who has good experience and is used to carrying the burden of the 'go to' guy at a big club (and I know the Portuguese league isn't the strongest but Porto are a big club with big expectations).

I can understand your viewpoint mate, but I think the fans as a whole could see that Torres was going through a difficult phase but was putting in a lot of selfless running down the channels, etc, working back, pressing, and most importantly, setting up a lot of goals. So although things were going dreadful from a goalscoring point of view, he was still contributing by making goals. When Sturridge had his poor form, he would shoot from ridiculous angles rather than pass which contributed nothing to the team. When he was playing well the confidence could be seen taking shots on, but he also set some goals up by taking it on the outside of the full back and pulling the ball back (both Manchester clubs at home spring to mind). However when his dip came he seemed to refuse to do this and instead try to play for himself to get a goal. That is why the frustration mounted for the fans. I've got no problem him taking on some difficult shots now and again because no doubt Hulk will if and when he joins. But taking a man on the outside is critical to keeping him unpredictable and difficult to play against. Hulk will bring that to the RW where he is comfortable. Sturridge is now better off as Torres' understudy at CF, and if Torres isn't firing early in the season it is up to Danny to take his chances.