themightyblue

Willian has been left out for Shakhtar's next game once again and Ukranian press are saying its so that he stays injury free for his move to us

http://m.globoesporte.globo.com/futebol/selecao-brasileira/noticia/2012/07/oscar-e-liberado-pela-selecao-e-faz-exames-medicos-no-chelsea.html Released for a medical!

Very interesting read, wonder if Schurrle will force through the move. http://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/why-andre-schurrle-will-be-a-nailed-chelsea-signing-3364091 Sounds like the club are huge admirers

One link i found, which claims its source is L'equipe http://www.lensois.com/2012/07/17/50560-thorgan-hazard-en-route-pour-chelsea

L'Equipe is reporting that Thorgan could be coming to Chelsea from Lens Only thing i know about him is that he's 19, anyone know how much ability/potential he has?

The tweet on Willian's twitter account is followed by praying symbols next to the article link. Hmmm

The Santos president did say he was coming to Chelsea at the end of the season a while back

Being reported in Brazilian Media that Willian may sign for Chelsea next week. The striker Willian, Shakhtar Donetsk, may be close to hitting a move to Chelsea. The player was out of the last two matches of the Ukrainian club precisely because of the negotiation, which can move this week. If the deal goes through, it will face the Corinthians at the end of the year by the World, the club said. According to LANCENET! found at the beginning of talks between Shakhtar and Chelsea, the value offered by the English was lower than desired by the Ukrainians, but in recent days, the numbers came. William left the Corinthians in 2007 directly to Shakhtar. There has won three championships and a Ukrainian UEFA Cup (now Premier League). (Translated from Lance)

Schurrle and Sturridge have no correlation to each other. Schurrle is more a winger who can play up front, while Sturridge is a Striker who can do a job on the wing. The way i see it is if we bought in Oscar and Schurrle, for the 3 attacking midfield positions we'd have: Marin, Oscar, Schurrle, Mata, Hazard competing (with Ramires for games where we look to counter) and for the CF we have Torres, Sturridge and Schurrle. That is brilliant depth if you ask me

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://www.bild.de/sport/fussball/bayer-leverkusen/chelsea-laesst-bei-schuerrle-nicht-locker-25135630.bild.html They haven't taken any notice of the Leverkusen CEO saying that they could sell him

His agent and the president have said otherwise. Something is in the pipeline, just maybe not as close as we all thought

http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~2848131,00.html

De Bruyne has said he's fine with going on loan and just wants to play games. He'll be judged on pre-season, not by the number on his shirt

“It’s a proposition I put to the players on the first day that we met,” Villas-Boas revealed. “We have to see, of course, whether it’s realistic or not. Other squads are evolving and you can’t always compete with Chelsea and Manchester City for players, as you know, of course, with Oscar [the Brazilian international Chelsea have this week gazumped Spurs to sign]." - AVB If AVB is admitting this then to me the deal is very close

Attitude and behaviour seem to be a big problem

Oscar just isn't a pivot player. He presses well, but his tackling is way off the mark. He'd come to bring depth to the 3 attacking midfield positions and once he's really adapted fill one of those roles. We'd ruin him playing him there

unlikely

If Moutinho leaves, then Hulk will probably stay

Has anyone actually considered the fact that the reason why we may want Schurrle is because Sturridge might be leaving? If we want him, then there has to be a reason behind it

I didn't write that by the way

The most important thing to note about Oscar is that he isn't a loping playmaker like Ganso, nor is he a speedy winger like Manchester United target Lucas Moura. Rather he is a mix of the two, boasting a more rounded game and a lot of footballing intelligence. Oscar is such a talented central midfielder that he could certainly play in the same sort of role as Luka Modric does at Tottenham. And although his tackling is not great and he could do with beefing up a little, the same was said about the Croat when he arrived in England. With his record of scoring goals and his inherent footballing qualities it is only natural to want to see Oscar play high up the pitch and closer to goal, which would put him in the central attacking role of a 4-2-3-1 at Chelsea, shifting Juan Mata out to the left. When he was younger he sometimes played on the right of that three, but it seems unlikely that we would see him there regularly now. He could be a player that moves further and further back during his career, though, as the likes of Modric - who was a 'number 10' at Dinamo Zagreb - and Danny Murphy have done in the Premier League to help their sides keep possession and build from deeper. That sort of shift should be some way off though. Just as Sir Alex Ferguson killed the dynamism of a young attacker in Anderson, so any manager that tries to shackle the brilliance of Oscar would be making a big error and his goal in the recent Brazil friendly against Argentina last month shows some of his best attributes

Modric is actually a good tackler, very underrated side of his game probably because he is short. Whenever Oscar has played for Brazil its either been as a number 10 close to the striker (where people say he is best), a wide forward or as the most advanced midfielder in a 433. Dropping deep doesn't exactly mean he can play as a CM, its exactly what Rooney does for United. Drops deep and spreads the player. I would reckon he's coming here to play in a band of 3, best for him and the club

Dropping deep doesn't mean he can be a pivot player. Not saying he couldn't be in future, but player like Mata and Hazard drop deep to collect the ball. As i said before i'd be shocked if he's coming in as a lampard replacement/rotation

I very much doubt that he's being bought with the view of being a future player in our pivot. That wouldn't be in his interest at all as he's already in the Brazil setup and trying to convert him would probably result in him losing his place. As well as this it would probably take a good season before we see any results with him as a CM and in terms of future prospects for the pivot we're already loaded with De Bruyne, Mceachran and Swift etc. So it doesn't make sense in terms of buying him as a future prospect for him or us. I think he'll be competing to play on the right and centrally where he is currently excelling

Let the club worry about finances. They know how much we can afford to spend and if they want to spend this much then i'd just trust them. The reason we'd sign Oscar is because he can really improve the team should he adapt and another reason being rather than having to fork out 40m in future, we pay half the price now. As has been said, should he come i'd assume he'd be competing/starting in the hole or on the right. He's a direct player too which is a bonus. There's not really many negatives to draw from this transfer because once again, its splendid work by our board