BlueLion.

Lukaku was sold for £28 million, but people forget the loan fees - £4 million in total. As TX says, we've found a way of usurping the FFP regulations. Our transfer policy is absolutely magnificent. I really have to give it to Gourlay and Emenalo, because they're making UEFA look stupid.

Very fair shout, totally forgot how much they managed to rip United off by!

I wanna know where the fuck Everton have got £25 million from!

Good luck to the lad though, I hope things work out for him. I don't know if it's a case of either Mourinho doesn't think he's good enough and/or Lukaku thinks he's better than he actually is... either way, hope things go well at Everton.

You should work for the Scottish tourist board, pal!

After some people on here thought I was being offensive and disrespectful for saying I'm "over" Mata's departure, I'll state in advance I'll make no apologies for the following statement: Anyone else not really bothered that he's going? He's played for Chelsea about ten times, his attitude stinks (can't seem to deal with the competition) and every time I've watched him play for Everton he's mainly looked sloppy and lazy, and his inconsistent performances are papered over by a half-decent goalscoring return. £25 million to go and spend on someone who won't moan their way out of the club. José clearly doesn't think he's good enough for Chelsea, and I have to agree with him, personally. If that offends you then I can recommend a good cure for butthurt, but I have literally no emotional attachment to the player whatsoever. Sorry guys, but I'm siding with TSO's judgement here.

I know what you mean CC:

His inconsistency concerns me. He's not as good as some people make him out to be, that's my point. As I said, I expect more consistency from him before we start to get too excited. We have a player on our hands here, but he's very, very raw. Regarding your first point, read my post and you'll see I already said that. I hope you're correct about Fabregas' arrival alleviating some of the pressure on him, and thus helping him become more expressive in matches. I had hoped Cesc coming would see us switch to a 4-3-3 which would reduce some of his defensive responsibility, but pre-season thus far indicates either a 4-1-4-1 or a 4-2-3-1.

His Chelsea career ended the minute we signed Willian. The headstone was inscribed when Salah arrived. RIP Moses.

Willian offers more to the team than Reus ever could. Willian's work-rate is phenomenal and we haven't even seen 10% of what he can do in an offensive capacity. He's a brilliant finisher and hugely skilful at dribbling. There's no denying Reus is the better attacking player overall, but in terms of the role dictated by Mourinho, Reus would be more akin to Mata and his relative lack of work-rate.

I hate him. Genuinely hate him. He was never this bad when he was with us, either.

FFS I'd just gotten over that Jake. Twat. 1. What would you say is the biggest difference between British and Australian culture? (P.S. don't say that we're funnier than you because that's just fucking obvious. Also don't mention that you're better than us at every sport we've ever invented. I'm thinking beyond those). 2. If you could move and live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why? 3. Favourite-ever Chelsea player? 4. Best film you've seen in 2014?

He's under severe threat of being completely over-shadowed by Cesc this season, and his mantle of being our main man is similarly being challenged with the arrival of Costa. Let's see how he likes the competition. I know they're totally different positions that those three play in, but they all thrive on being the man. That sort of attitude could help Eden improve his performances. There's this massive myth that he was fantastic last season - he wasn't. He did nothing before November, and even at his "best" he was usually only effectual for 10-15 minutes a game at most. Of course he had those matches every now and again where he was totally unplayable, but come on, even Torres had some brilliant individual performances last season, such as Spurs away (for me, his best game in a Chelsea shirt and possibly in English football, certainly that I've seen anyway). The disappointing thing last year was that Eden's cameos were still more than what most offered in the entirety of the season. We're going to need far, far more from him, because at the minute he hasn't shown the development I think a lot of people expected. Thankfully, there is a "trend" that players coming to the Premier League from Ligue Un usually explode in their third season - Drogba and Malouda being good Chelsea-related examples. Let's hope that's the case this season, because I expect more from Eden. He is a talented boy but he's ridiculously over-hyped on this forum. I hope he starts to show more consistency this season, because that is what separates him from even breaking the Bale-Reus-Neymar-Zlatan calibre of player, let alone the Messi-Ronaldo bracket.

I think the "hate" was superficial. It's like I "hated" Torres because I begrudged Liverpool for having such a quality striker. Now I hate him for real because of how shit he is :lol: Everyone knows I'm joking, deep down he's still one of my favourite players, doesn't change the fact he's been shite for us besides a dozen matches! Does anyone really "hate" Cesc? If they do, they won't as soon as they watch him tear shit up this season.

The Daily Star, a tabloid worse than The Sun, is making a huge deal out of the fact we haven't given him a squad number yet. Might be something to do the fact that he hasn't been asked to report for training just yet.

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Yeah, your point about City is a fair one though. Almost all the elite clubs have Nike or adidas, there are very, very few exceptions. I don't know if you'd include Arsenal - I know I certainly wouldn't. Dortmund are perhaps the best team out there that don't belong to either kit manufacturer, although their position as Germany's second-best team is severely under threat from Schalke and Leverkusen. All the biggest (and best) teams in world football - Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, Juventus, AC Milan, PSG, Benfica etc. etc. - are all either Nike or adidas. The tick and the three-stripes are a sign of prestige. If we were to leave adidas, the only kit manufacturer I'd like to see us go for is Nike. Puma make a good kit once in every ten, Warrior are utterly horrendous, Umbro are usually placid, uninventive designs. People might be bored with adidas' constant employment of black away kits, but I'd rather have kits like this, this or this, than some Warrior-horror like this or this. adidas are consistent with 7/10 or 8/10 kits, and once every now and again you get a 9.5. Like I say, it's a prestige thing, and their kits are genuinely better than most manufacturers.

Nike don't own Umbro anymore.

Everyone debating over Cech or Courtois obviously doesn't know José that well.... he'll probably play Schwarzer against Burnley just to take the piss

More of a KP in fairness pal, I'm not a very patient batsman at all.

Eh? I've always looked about 43. I'm only 5'10" as well, so hardly tall

Fag The cigarette kind

The home kit, as a full uniform, looks excellent. I just can't seem to love the shirt by itself. Maybe if we win something in it, I'll change my mind (I wasn't a massive fan of the 11/12 kit until Wembley/Munich), but right now I think it is the poorest home shirt we've had since 09/10.

Too busy playing cricket preparing stuff for my PGCE to become a Humanities teacher to watch pre-season friendlies, Ron!