Strike

Contract runs out at end of next season. We should keep him as 5th choice if we can't get atleast 5mil as transfer fee. Defence lacks bit of depth with Ivanovic covering 2 positions

Yeah but I would keep Kalas, Omeruo > Bruma

Wow. Straight away you've compared Luiz's performance to Mikel and praised him. Is that a yard-stick of comparison now? Firstly, he's played the bulk of his career in defence and his defensive ability is miles ahead of his ability with the ball. David Luiz should not play midfield unless there is an injury crisis. You don't use your best players as cover for another postion unless you absolutely have to. Take Tottenham for example, they continued to use Gareth Bale at Left Wing even though Assou-Ekoto, their only left-back was injured. AVB used Vertonghen and Naughton at LB, why? Simple - Gareth Bale is their best player. So he plays in his preferred position even though he could be an accomplished Left-Back. The fact remains - This is an experiment and it hasn't been a big success. His best moment in the game against Basel had nothing to do with his position. He's our first choice CB. He shouldn't be used as a utility player

The source (Sky Sports) had quotes saying Hamburg will not bid for him and imo, SkySports is the most reliable source of transfer news now. They don't post silly stuff and wait for quotes and clear-cut confirmations. Also, weaintgotnohistory picked up on that and they're pretty sensible tooo http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2013/4/26/4269468/jeffrey-bruma-will-not-be-staying-at-hamburg-next-season

Cahill vs Spurs is not getting enough credit. Fantastic technique on that volley. Watched it come all the way down and thumped it

fair points but i will say that we lack that bit of cutting edge up front and Arjen Robben has a good goalscoring record and he's the kind of player who gets on the end of things. imo, we lack any sort of dynamism up-front. As soon as our players take the ball into the final third, there's no real penetration aside from side-ways passing anyway, just putting Robben as an option out there. I will take other Right Wingers over him but if Pep transfer-lists him, then he could be a bargain addition

Nope. Strictly okay on the right. He is much better on the left and our best players should play in preferred positions. Hazard on the left, Mata in the middle. Schurrle is another left winger - who has popped up on the right at times - but a left winger nonetheless. one of them will have to adapt to Right wing role and i think we can eliminate this issue altogether if we go for a genuine right winger rather than Schurrle.

Yes. i agree completely.The ego is definitely a big problem but he's 29 and maybe has 2 more years at the top. He will want to spend that in a top club. If we, by some circumstance, miss out on Schurrle AND if Robben is available, i'd consider him. We don't have a Right-Winger atm. Moses, as you said, knows his place in the squad. He is a backup player. We could add a first-choice right winger.

Pass. We have better options in Capoue, Fernandinho etc who are similarly priced. DM is not even our priority atm. Mikel/Romeu are at the club and Luiz can do a job if needed. I would prefer we sign a playmaker before worrying about a natural DM

If Pep is letting him go for under 20mil, I'd jump at that chance. Our best right winger now is Victor 'Can't cross to save his life' Moses. Robben will definitely be an upgrade and i think he Still has 2 years left in his tank and tbh, this squad needs a kick of experience more than anything else Ofcourse, if we sign Schurrle - then this won't happen

Arjen Robben, our former player seems to be on the transfer list at Bayern. The German Giants have enough wide players in Ribery, Muller, Shaqiri and now have Gotze coming in. This could mean Robben maybe surplus to requirements under Pep. Also, remember, Pep made radical changes when he took over at Barcelona as well - sold Ronaldinho & Deco and built a new team, so, it's very likely that Robben maybe classified as 'dead-wood' by Pep. Signing Arjen Robben will leave the squad better balanced than signing Schurrle. I've made this point in the another thread already that both Schurrle and Hazard are left wingers and one of them has to adapt to the Right Wing role if we were to sign the former. Arjen Robben is highly experienced on both the left and right wing. He is one of those players who will take the full backs on more than passing but since we have enough playmakers at the club, maybe it's time to look at a direct winger? If he's available, would you like to see him return?

:D

It seems he's coming back to Chelsea. Arnesen all but confirmed it. I think Kalas/Omeruo are better if we are keeping a defender around as backup but I won't mind Bruma. After all he'll be 5th choice CB

Sanchez offers better balance to the squad than Schurrle. You HAVE to play your better players in their preferred position. Eden Hazard on the left is a different animal to the one on the right and with Schurrle - another left winger, one has to adapt to the right wing role. Sanchez on the other hand has experience playing on the right Having said that, Not a penny more than 20mil for him.

Roger Federer wearing the half-scarf just makes me happy

yes. I think the plan all-along was to get one of these two because Chelsea is barely linked with Lewandowski or any other striker. or...stick with Torres. who knows

Carefully worded to gain public sympathy. no one should buy this. i hope this is the last we've seen of this cunt in England

Put it this way; when people speak of Cavani - they use words like "powerhouse striker, strong" etc but When people refer to Falcao, they talk of him being the 3rd best player in the world Cavani is a great striker but Falcao will bring that extra psychological edge with him.

In the past month, we've signed Jose 6 times.

Firstly Begovic is unrealistic. He was in fantastic form, atleast at the start of the season and he won't throw away a promising career by sitting on the bench here. Cech and Courtois are already here, so there's no way any quality GK will come, especially not home-grown. We will be signing another Turnbull if it's home-grown. If we are signing a backup GK, we have to look at the unpopular leagues like Scandinavian or Eastern European. Arsenal - Szczesny (backup when he was bought), Fabianski ManC - Pantilimon ManU - Lindergaard (Kuszack before him) these are striking examples of good backup keepers coming from unpopular leagues and doing quite well in England(except Fabianski) edit: as far as HG backups go, Butland was our best bet and he rejected Chelsea's offer.

Yes with Turnbull as 3rd choice. we can hide 2 HG players as backup GK's then

yes. as 3rd choice, he'll hardly ever be on the pitch. that way the club can hide 1 HG player among the GK's yes. i hope his contract is extended

Yes but also consider that Mata is the better dead-ball shooter. Good technique and fairly consistent in hitting the target. on a rough estimate, he hits 6-7/10 on target and Luiz maybe 4-5/10. luiz is still learning and improving though. gotta admire him for that

So Luiz is the first-choice free-kick taker now? He was pathetic before; fairly accurate now but still think Mata should be first-choice taker

are we even keeping him? We'll have a hard time finding 8 HG players if we keep selling guys like Sturridge, Turnbull etc