capriccioso

Mikel is a brilliant player and cannot be sold. Meireles falls in the Kalou bracket of useful but not quite good enough to play 40+ games a season.

He's 21. He won't mature in either sense of the word for several years.

Nice. Much more subtle than my trolling effort a few pages back.

Hazard is also a massive dickhead. I wouldn't say he's matured as a player or a person.

Fucks sake . If you are leaving, please go to Feyenoord where I can continue to support you without any guilty feelings. Giving Malouda and Essien new contracts ahead of Salomon verges on criminal. He's by far better than either.

Do you guys remember him trying to force Lassana Diarra to speak English?

Surely he knew he'd miss

Kalou's role isn't just that of super sub anymore, but one who starts and closes down opposition full backs. Sturridge doesn't like to do this, which is why we can't suddenly change to some awesome Pep Guardiola 3-3-4 press all over the pitch style of football even though Drogba's leaving.

Leave him on the wing and he'll become a monstrosity to football like Arjen "Zinedine" Robben. All he'll do is cut inside, dummy, put the ball in row Z.

I think the greatest thing about him, what sets him apart from other tycoon owners (except that Jack Walker? bloke at Blackburn in the 1990s) is that he genuinely cares about the club. Most of us have at some point disagreed with his decisions but in hindsight, aside from the Mourinho/Grant/Shevchenko affair, they all make sense. Off topic: When it comes to cool Russians, a certain Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov lol's at this thread. /Off topic.

8 years ago, SSC Napoli were in the Serie C. Now look at them. That transformation is bigger than what Roman has done with us, in 7 years he got the team promoted twice and qualify for the Champions League knockout stages.. Also, he didn't have the benefit of having hundreds of millions to spend.

Best owner in the world, except Di Laurentiis at Napoli. We have truly been spoilt.

Perhaps this deserves a thread of its own, but the first thing I would do is ask my dad to get me on the phone with Kalou's agent...

Don't let Roman catch you saying such things or you'll be off to Siberia, where you can keep Big Phil and Avram Grant company

It's not worth the risk to build a team around either Sturridge or Torres. Sturridge has about 20 goals to his name in his entire career while Torres has been poor for nearly 30 months now.

I always thought it was the first of June?

Enjoy the famous Anfield atmosphere in the Championship, mate.

Great to see such passion from the big Boss himself and his children. They will serve us well, especially if they have been brought up as Chelsea fans

I can't comprehend why he's going to China/AFC in general when he still has unfinished business with Cote d'Ivoire. He needs to win an AFCON with them to be recognised as Africa's greatest player, IMO. He will also be loathe to be regarded in his country as a guy that flopped for nation but excelled at club.

The speculation and suspense is too much. I just want it over and done with, now. There's still 9 days for his contract to expire. The fates, just to destroy my nerves, will reveal he is getting a new contract late at night on the 31st of May.

If they pay over 3 million for him (what his speculated annual wages are), which anyone surely will, we will be better off keeping him for a year and then selling him rather than letting him walk away.

Nah. He's leaving us for first team football, he'll be behind Benzema and possibly Higuain at Real Madrid. Sorry to go off topic, but if he doesn't get 'Legend' status on FM13 I'll riot.

Just watched a couple of youtube tributes again. I'm crying harder than I was last night Please Didier, return one day, even if just to cut the grass. Also, nice interview with Albert Drogba, Didier's dad: http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2012/05/23/3121396/albert-drogba-the-time-was-ripe-for-my-son-to-leave-chelsea

At Arsenal: You can stick your 13 leagues up your arse, up your arse You can stick your 13 leagues up your arse, up your arse You can stick your 13 leagues up your arse, up your arse (need a good, rhyming line about being the first London team to win the CL).

The Abramovich Dynasty Similar to the Moratti family at Inter, I think it will happen. But the problem is, his children must be just as astute in business and have that same hunger to continue amassing wealth. Roman's only about 45, right? Still at least 25-30 years from retiring from his role as owner.