Jype

That front four looks very exciting with three new guys and Lukaku who didn't feature much last season. Piazon and maybe Bamford should get some minutes as well.

You sure? Could be just short for Oscar's club Internacional and not Inter Milan?

We already have Hazard, Mata, Marin, De Bruyne and Malouda hasn't yet left either so take your pick. If I had to guess I would say Hazard and Mata are both essentially the first choice with one of them always playing on the wing and the other in a more central role. Marin probably next in the pecking order after Hazard & Mata with Malouda looking likely to leave and De Bruyne to go on loan.

Is that his real twitter account? At least it has a decent amount of followers and some verified players are following him too, including our own David Luiz. Something certainly seems to be happening with this transfer. Not sure how to react to that because I hadn't even considered Willian since January. During the winter transfer window I would've taken him in a heartbeat but since then we've bought Hazard, Marin, De Bruyne and now some big rumours about Oscar as well.

My assumptions go back a few years when Real Madrid were seriously trying to sign him and if memory serves there were quotes from him and his agent at the time that a move to Real Madrid would be a dream come true for him, especially now that Mourinho is their manager. Also there have been numerous reports ever since he was first rumoured to be on his way to Chelsea this summer that he would choose Real Madrid over Chelsea if he had the chance, and by the looks of things he now has that chance. And as for your post later on regarding the cities and the girls, let's put it the other way around. If Maicon doesn't really want to play for us and instead chooses Real Madrid, we are then free to choose from the other good options and assuming one of them actually wants to represent Chelsea as his first choice club then I would naturally prefer him over a mercenary who would come only for the wages. Of course the vast majority of players are mercenaries like that these days and not many of them care which club they play for as long as they get paid and win trophies but still I would rather take my chances with someone else. Wasn't really that into the Maicon transfer from the start and if he chooses another club then it's his loss and I won't shed a tear over him.

Apparently he's close to joining Real Madrid who have always been his preferred destination and Chelsea just the second choice if Real don't want him. If a player doesn't want to join us then I wouldn't even want him at the club.

What a wanker. Can't believe I actually defended him only a couple of months ago and even after his sacking wished him the best. Seems to be so bitter about getting the sack and Di Matteo winning the double with that same squad who refused to play for him. Well, can't really blame him because I'm sure any manager on earth would rather be a Champion of Europe with Chelsea rather than get sacked and take charge of a second-rate club who are selling all their best players. Spurs fans have now become even more irritating. When AVB was still the Chelsea manager they were constantly undermining him but now he's like a god to them and he's sure to be the next Mourinho. Apparently he only failed at Chelsea because our players and even Di Matteo are all such cunts who stabbed him in the back and the man himself has no faults as a manager.

Judging by that logic Hazard isn't worth £32m because we got Mata for a bargain price of £23m. Each transfer is a unique process with endless negotiations and the transfer fee alone shouldn't be the benchmark when evaluating whether a transfer is good or bad business because there are also the wages, agent fees and numerous other small matters. Third-party ownerships can also affect the fees and Hulk is partly owned by another company. That being said I agree that Hulk isn't worth that much but disagree on the reasons. Then again, is any football player really worth that much?

Haha, that reminds me of Suarez trying to explain his actions by saying "Negrito is not an offensive word where I come from, it's only a term of endearment" when he racially abused Evra last year. If memory serves Rio didn't care for those explanations and straight up considered him guilty. What a fucking hypocrite.

Nice to see Cole at least has some class and isn't making a big issue out of it even though Rio's comment was rather distasteful and no one could blame Ash if he were to seek further action. Same can't be said of that cunt Rio himself...

Hopefully they're not drawn to the same group with us in the CL. They're seeded in pot 4 for the draw but they're already better than many teams in pot 1. :confused: A group consisting of Barcelona / Real Madrid, Manchester City, Juventus and PSG would do nicely.

Lampard -> Hazard -> Luiz -> Mata -> Cole

@CarltonEbanks: @rioferdy5 looks like Ashley Cole's going to be their choc ice. Then again he's always been a sellout. Shame on him. @rioferdy5: @CartlonEbanks I hear you fella! Choc ice is classic hahahahahahha!! So who's the racist now? Wonder if the FA will ban him.

Oh god, I wish people would stop comparing Chelsea to Barcelona. Mata is not Iniesta, Mikel is not Busquets and whoever we would have playing as the playmaker certainly isn't Xavi so let's just stop it at that. Most top clubs have a lot of great players but so far none of them has been able to emulate what Barcelona are doing and nothing wrong with that imo. We should be looking to play our own style of football and not try to copycat some other team.

Yeah, I'm all for attacking football but Mata still isn't a central midfielder. I honestly believe Di Matteo will continue with the 4-2-3-1 with just small changes to make the team play a bit more offensive football but there's absolutely no point going all-out attack without any balance in the team. On the wings we are not going to need the wingers to defend their lungs out like they did last season at least in the Champions League but imo the midfield should stay pretty much the same tactically. If 4-3-3 was the way to go then Ramires is a certain starter in midfield to bring that balance between defense and attack but that wouldn't mean in the slightest that we would once again be playing defensive football and Ramires' massive contribution in both ends of the pitch should clearly show he's a wonderful asset to have in attack as well as defense. I'm usually not one to post all those fancy fantasy lineups but here goes: Torres Hazard - Mata - Oscar Mikel - Ramires/Lampard defensive line + gk Or Torres Hazard/Mata-------------------Oscar/Marin Lampard/Oscar - Ramires Mikel defensive line + gk If that's not attacking enough then I don't know what is. And on a side note, I don't feel comfortable discussing these kind of things when the player isn't yet even close to joining the club. Let's get back to this if / when he signs.

Central midfield consisting of Oscar and Mata, are you mad? And including Hulk in those fantasy lineups is also pointless at this time because recently there has been no evidence whatsoever that he's on his way to Chelsea.

Actually he left Chelsea for free.

My eyes are burning.

Most of us already knew based on the figures from the previous years that winning the CL won't bring the club an extra £100m in prize money directly from UEFA but it's a very significant amount nonetheless. As you mentioned, there is that £9m increase in prize money from UEFA but in addition to that we will be getting next year's CL money as well which we wouldn't be getting had we lost the final and that's about £30m even if we were to be knocked out in the group stage. Also there must have been some performance clauses in the current sponsorship deals and some extra money will be coming from Samsung, Adidas and the other smaller sponsors. Due to the CL win the club has now been able to secure new sponsorship deals with Audi, Delta Airlines etc. which are bound to bring some small pocket change too. All added together that makes a shitload of money and while it may be a bit exaggerated I wouldn't be second guessing that £100m Gourlay has mentioned.

Any guesses for the film of the day?

Have some of that you fucking knobheads. They had me for a moment there with the first couple of sentences the judge said.

I hear a "but" coming a mile away. That's it guys, he will be found guilty, nothing more to see here.

@BluesChronicle: Court rises for arrival of District Judge Howard Riddle, who is about to deliver his verdict in the case. Not long now.

Just posted that same link in the match thread but I guess this is a better place to discuss it. That's a lot of money.