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OFFICIAL http://forum.talkchelsea.net/topic/19900-tbc-juan-cuadrado/#entry1050252

Andre Schurrle has completed a £22m move from Chelsea to Bundesliga side VfL Wolfsburg. The winger, 24, was in Germany's World Cup-winning squad, scoring twice in the 7-1 semi-final victory over Brazil and playing in the final against Argentina. He joined Chelsea for £18m from Bayer Leverkusen in June 2013 and scored 14 goals for the club. Schurrle's transfer should bring closer Fiorentina's Juan Cuadrado's arrival at Stamford Bridge. The Colombia winger, 26, is set to complete a £23.3m move from the Italian club to the Blues. Cuadrado has already agreed personal terms with the Premier League leaders and passed a medical. Schurrle was mostly used as a substitute by manager Jose Mourinho and came off the bench to score in the 1-1 draw with title rivals Manchester City in September. Last month, Mourinho said it would take a "phenomenal" offer to sell Schurrle in the current transfer window. Click here to view the article

Juan Cuadrado has completed his transfer to Chelsea from Fiorentina. Arriving for a reported £23.3 million, the Colombian international's arrival has only now been officially announced after a slight hitch in his paperwork was ironed out this morning. To appease Fiorentina it's been agreed that Mohamed Salah will move in the other direction on loan. Salah only joined Chelsea in January 2014 - but after failing to impress Jose Mourinho, the Egyptian will be sent to reinvent himself in Serie A. Fiorentina manager Vincenzo Montella, on whether his side have been weakened by the deal, said: "We’ve lost a top player but I see similar characteristics in Salah. I don’t think it’s a step backwards". Cuadrado, viewed by Chelsea as a replacement for forward Andre Schurrle who's closing on a move to Wolfsburg, joined Fiorentina in 2012 from Udinese and has been a regular in Montella's side since. The Colombian has scored four goals and set up four more in 17 league appearances for the Serie A side this season. Click here to view the article

He's an outstanding goalkeeper but the poster put up a formation with ten players....

So here's a better idea: let's open the game up even more for City by attacking with our twelve fit outfield players, most of whom played 120 minutes of a semi-final on Tuesday night. What a brilliant tactical idea that would have been. We had a shit hand dealt to us yesterday but we still managed to make a fist of things. Considering the circumstances, and the fact it was a "do not lose" match, we should be content with a point. I don't like the way we sat off either, but the players were clearly jaded and considering how dominant City were in terms of possession and territory, we made them look toothless. How many times did they really test us? Twice? Can't be disappointed with that. We could play shit football like last year for all I care. I just want to win a trophy, which is an obligation, as you quite rightly assert. A trophyless season would be unacceptable given the quality of this squad.

He's not, though, is he? If he was the main goalkeeper beyond doubt he'd have started every game. At the minute he's played about 66% of our games this season. I think that's far less than most people would have expected from him. I don't have to admit that Courtois was labelled as supernatural because I was one of the level-headed few who realised he isn't the second coming of Dino Zoff or Gordon Banks as so many people on here imagined him to be. He is an outstanding goalkeeper, but so is Cech. Both have made mistakes but that doesn't take anything away from them. It was an error yesterday, yes, but you can count on one hand how many mistakes he's made all season so far.

Guaranteed they'll break their goals drought. Can't see us winning. Bogey team. This isn't me being negative. This is just how football works. Villa are the type of team to roll over for our opponents before channelling their inner Real Madrid against us.

We've got ages to iron it out. It's obviously all signed, sealed and delivered and the club is waiting on the paperwork to be finalised. Medical and personal terms will all have been sorted by now.

But let's look at the teams he has played against. Apart from Arsenal, we could have played with eleven outfielders against the rest and just played rush keeper.

He was culpable for a mistake yesterday, but defensively it wasn't our finest hour. Azpi beaten far too easily by Navas, Courtois flapping at a cross, and Ivanovic not being proactive enough to see Silva was lurking on the follow-up from Aguero. All goalkeepers make howlers. Cech made multiple last season, doesn't make him a bad goalkeeper. He's been let down by the defence a number of times this season, he's only returning the favour! As a team we've shipped 20 goals in 23 games this season. Maintaining that rate (which should only improve; I can't see us conceding five goals in a game again too many times this season) would mean we'd end the season having conceded 33 in the entire league campaign. I'd say that's pretty damned good, IMO.

SCENES. He's staying. The official club calendar says so. Shit pic, yes, as it's not mine.

He isn't the best pundit in the world. But he's honest, he has no particular agendas, and he is the most impartial (obviously he is slighted biased towards Manchester United but that is entirely understandable) of any pundit on English television at the minute.

de Gea: 22 goals conceded in 23 PL games. Forster: 16 goals conceded in 22 PL games. Proof Fraiser Forster is the best goalkeeper since Dino Zoff. Aren't statistics wonderful.

Stick a goalkeeper in there and they have a great shout!

He got the mixed reaction he deserved. Plenty of respect but also a few voices of discontent, which I think sums it up perfectly. He's still a legend, but we're not happy about what's happened. Hopefully that's the last we see of him in a City shirt in regards to Chelsea. I'm glad yesterday has come and gone, I was dreading what may have happened. Let's just move on and forget he ever played for them.

Chelsea did what they had to in yesterday's 1-1 draw with Manchester City - and man of the match Kurt Zouma was at the heart of everything good from a Blues perspective. The young Frenchman, a £12 million signing late in the transfer window of January 2014, has earned rave reviews for his exceptional performances in both the draw yesterday evening and Tuesday's Capital One Cup victory over Liverpool. For those who are not followers of French football, such an extravagant transfer fee for a 20 year old may have, at one point, seemed extravagant - but after usurping the experienced Gary Cahill and putting in a series of creditable performances that bely his tender years, Zouma is firmly establishing himself as a fans' favourite at Stamford Bridge. A young man whose middle name is Happy will be no less than delighted with the visible progress he has made since his début in a 2-1 League Cup defeat of Bolton earlier in the season. Don't let Zouma's size fool you. This man mountain is almost impossibly strong and possesses an incredible leap even from standing positions. His aerial hang time defies gravity. But he is also a technically adept and intelligent young footballer who compliments club captain John Terry with his proactive and aggressive style of defending. Whilst Terry, not particularly blessed with pace, is the ultimate "sweeper" centre half, relying on his reading of the game and instinctive intuition to snuff out danger, Zouma is a ravenous bloodhound of a defender who chases down the opposition with unrelenting fury. The Frenchman - unlike many young defenders who are too naive in their approach - demonstrated maturity in the way he dealt with a serious of threatening Manchester City attacks yesterday. The most tremendous example is his wonderfully-timed and -executed sliding tackle to deny the ever-dangerous Sergio Aguero a shot on goal in the first half. Rather than launching himself into tackles overzealously, Zouma has an aura of control about himself that even far more experienced defenders lack. And for a big unit - a massive 85KG of pure muscle - Zouma can shift as well. He is hardly a hulking behemoth; in fact he has a burst of pace that was visible when he matched speed king Raheem Sterling stride for stride to make up his own misjudgement in Tuesday's semi final second leg against Liverpool. Zouma is still very young and has time on his side to continue his visible improvement under José Mourinho, but he is already a very promising prospect. He compliments the likes of John Terry and Gary Cahill through his more aggressive and proactive style of defending. Also good in possession, he often channels his inner Marcel Desailly by striding out come from the defence and driving forwards with the ball. In - albeit temporarily - displacing Cahill, who has looked shaky at best for the large part this season, Zouma has broken into the Blues first team sooner than most people may have anticipated. After incredibly mature performances against two of the best club sides in English football, the former St Etienne man has shown he is more than ready for the step up from squad player to first team stalwart. Cahill, in being a wonderful servant to Chelsea, has put his body on the line countless times for the Blues cause, but his flaws as a footballer have been exposed by Mourinho choosing to utilise a higher defensive block this season. In his quest for a more attacking style, José has had to sacrifice some of his defensive solidarity and has instructed his rearguard to play a higher line by a clear 10-15 yards. Though that sounds negligible, it means that there is more pressure on the Blues' back four to step out and make that first pass to initiate attacks. For Cahill, this is problematic. Whilst Terry is more than competent at threading balls into the feet of Cesc Fabregas, Eden Hazard et al., Cahill regularly panics in possession and more often than not just hoofs the ball upfield, surrendering the ball to Chelsea's opponents. Zouma is a more deliberate footballer in possession, capable of making incisive passes into feet. Surprisingly so for someone of his age, he is not fazed when under pressure from the opposition, and whilst a fair number of his passes may not come off, he is confident enough to try and play percentage football - in the hope that one of those brisk balls into feet can instigate a Chelsea attack. And the way the young French constantly hounds the opposition makes him the perfect defensive foil for Terry, who, at 34, perhaps lacks that yard of pace necessary to close down an opponent. Most managers are keen for their centre-backs to take up different roles in a back four - "one hold, one attack" is a rule of thumb in the Mourinho school of thought, and whilst Cahill is more likely to back off and hope for defensive support to defend in a two-on-one situation, Zouma is happy to press and harry in his overtly more proactive style. Whilst further defensive reinforcements look sure to arrive next summer, with Real Madrid's Raphael Varane a touted target, Zouma has certainly seized upon his chances this season and has been more than impressive in doing so. A star in the making has been discovered. Click here to view the article

Apart from the fact he's injured?

the fuck is that bench?

Line-up has been leaked,

LOOOOOL Let's sell Hazard, Courtois and Costa and bring back Torres while we're at it. Get the hell over it.

A hurricane or typhoon is a system with sustained winds of at least 74 MPH. Maybe we've just signed a force of nature.

Hahaha Chelsea don't give a fuck. This is from the official Chelsea website's match preview: HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH SCENES