Strike

Purely on HG terms - Luke Shaw replacing Ryan Bertrand doesn't affect the situation. But yes, I think Shaw, being a Chelsea fan and a player with such promise could join. Rooney is unlikely though. Just don't think it'll happen. 24-man squad is fine with the youngsters we have. Just hope we don't repeat the shocking 19-man squad of 2010 which had only 4 HG players. Next year we will come around to that problem. If Terry Cole and Lampard all leave - we'll almost definitely have to buy British.

Hello Devil's Advocate Mourinho always had a great connection with his players at Porto, Chelsea and Inter. I am not worried about his inability to control a Real Madrid squad full of differences. His old players still talk to him, see him as father figure. The 'human' connection is something he talks about extensively in a documentary made 1-2 years ago. Madrid is more like the exception than the rule itself

Ross Turnbull is leaving. That leaves only 6 HG- players - Terry, Cahill, Cole, Bertrand, Lampard, Moses, Already Chelsea were a HG player short with Sturridge leaving and now that hapless Ross is also on the way out, Chelsea should sign 2 HG players or leave 2 spaces in the 25-man squad. Ofcourse there are youngsters who can fill it up, but since U-21's don't count anyway, it seems a waste of squad space.

That's the Chelsea history program available on Youtube. If you want to fastrack to the 70's, 80's skip to Part 6-7 of the same program. This covers Chelsea's history up to 1989. The uploader's username is - The Shed End Forum. The recent history (1990-2013) must be easy enough to find Welcome to the Forum

H£ $hould do w£LL th£r£ ( Couldn't resist )

that Benitez has gone there is the only reason this deal will even be considered. i am hopeful but not on the verge of accepting it will definitely become reality Don't necessarily agree that they're worse than Torres but who cares? we are anyway looking at players a class above Damiao quality. Also, this is the 5th window in a row Damiao will be signing for Spurs. We'll see if it actually happens Would probably flip out like everyone else if this happened but part of me thinks it's all too good to be true. Something like a deal one would engineer in FM

Don't use the general word club. Use word like board, Roman, etc. you can't possibly say "club is a complete joke" if you are actually a Chelsea fan.

No denying that Torres could do well in the Serie A but the mistake you're making is thinking that Torres will be anywhere near the top of the list. In Italy, he is not thought of as the shitbag we think he is but I am certain Napoli fans and board alike don't rate him very highly either. Solonapoli will give a clearer view on this but these are his exact words "30 million and Torres is really a ridiculous offer, Abramovich may pay the entire clause"..." or could put some other players not Torres" "Remy is shit, Damiao is shit" is a naive statement to make when comparing with Torres. They will command much less wage and fees than our Torres (fees being the amount Torres deducts from the release clause) Don't get me wrong - not saying this won't happen at all but not as easy as raising offer. The cash fee will have to be really high for Napoli to accept and plus there is the problem of competition from Man City, Torres accepting Napoli. Not all straight-forward.

I don't share that optimism though. The plus point is Napoli will look to sell but de Laurentiis is not an idiot to buy into Torres. They will have striker shortlists by now and it's highly unlikely that Torres is near the top. There's Remy, Damiao, Dzeko, all far better and easier-to-get prospects. There is also the pool of strikers they can sign domestically in Italy - Mauro Icardi from Sampdoria has been linked. and if the rumour about Dzeko being offered is true, Napoli won't even think twice about rejecting Chelsea offer. The only way Chelsea offer of cash + Torres will get accepted in my view is if it is the only offer or if the cash goes nearer to the release clause. Moreover, Torres wages are humongous. Will he accept a wage cut? and more relevant - Will he agree to go to Napoli? Apart from FSW, he has no possible reason to go to Italy. He probably prefers to go back to Spain.

ha!

Yes! Fuck off biting piece of shit. Madrid should be thanked. First Jose (for free), now Suarez

yeah. got it. initially thought you were relating to this season.

Typo?

Not surprised Spiegel but Didier Drogba was the big striker in the early Roman era and if he, by some consequence took #9 shirt, we wouldn't be having this discussion. Anyway, as for the #9 who will bring back the prestige to that shirt, these 3 are good bets - Cavani and Lewa if they do come in

There is a lot more defending and tracking back in Chelsea pivot tthan in Barca's midfield. It is the same reason I don't want the club signing Modric as well. Great players but if we sign Thiago, we need to sign a new DM.

err... because we don't need him? he's not a classic pivot player and there is no chance he will challenge Mata or Oscar for the CAM position. We'll be shelling 18mil on a hybrid

Ivanovic will like him

So, about Jose being confirmed last night....I take it that didn't happen

yes. Chelsea player bias was evident but it was not so much in the pivot and especially in attack. If you take out own player bias, i think de Rossi and Modric was a popular choice in the pivot and Schurrle on the wing. Really surprised to see Ramires get so many mentions although there were some in a 3-man mid where he was the B2B

Given that we're shelling out 20mil + KDB on loan for Schurrle, he's the bigger risk

I disagree. Workhorse and dribblers are different. His situation is not comparable to Hazard , Talking of KDB alone, CAM is easily his best position imo.' He's played in this position at Genk' 'he's played there at Werder' is not a validation of his ability in said position. I can see how you disagree with my statement that he won't succeed on the wing in the PL but the crux of the matter was about his best position PS: Belgium National team

I don't think he can keep up that level of physicality in the Premier League. On the wing, he's constantly up against his opposition full back whereas in the centre he's afforded more space to pick out passes. Also, I'd take Schurrle over KDB (wing) all day simply because a trio of Hazard-Mata-KDB would just get destroyed by effective counter attacking teams like Norwich, Villa etc

Hopefully, no more of Oscar on the wing Eden Hazard is one of our best players and he should naturally play on his best position, the left wing. His right wing game is good but when he can be so dangerous on the left, he should play there. It depends on whether Schurrle can adapt to the right side role

Dead serious. His passing is his biggest strength unlike Hazard who's a dribbling demigod. Sure, he's played RW but it's not at all comparable to Hazard who meets the physical demands to play on the wing. de Bruyne can cope with the Belgian league's physicality does not mean he can step up and give Premier League full-backs a hard time.

Reus has played a few games on the right but at BVB he has played a lot on the left. I think it's more down to Kuba Blaszczykowski being on the right. He played well on the right at Monchengladbach. and yeah, Lamela is like a Right Forward at Roma. there will be a greater importance of defensive tracking back here. in that sense, Schurrle is a good deal. Someone who will willingly track back and put a good shift in. Just that one of Schurrle and Hazard have to play out of position