Leif

Kalas looked much more comfortable than Cahill. Kalas had better passing and positioning than Cahill. Kalas is better than Cahill. Cahill should be behind Kalas in the pecking order for that right central spot.

Wallace getting a penalty to top off one of the best debuts he could probably imagine

I don't think I've ever seen a better passing game from Essien.

It's nice finally having a great set-piece taker (De Bruyne)

Lukaku has such odd positioning at times.

Wallace would make a tidy winger you know.

I'm loving Wallace so far. Incredibly eager. Not long before he'll get Dani Alves comparisons.

Shows how important it was having SaF as manager. Just this week they've lost out on 3 top targets: Strootman, Thiago, and I guess you could say Fibreglass. Now with this 'stunt' they've completely embarrassed themselves. Rooney will leave, Moyes will be sacked within 2 seasons. The United ship is sinking. Fun.

It's on Sky Sports. It was on the scrolling "Breaking News" thing before the "Manchester United reject Chelsea bid for Wayne Rooney" news took over.

Good gracious. An Email sent in to Sky Sports from a United fan saying Rooney never filled his potential. How much more could he have done there?

It was known in the very early hours of the morning/last night that we'd bid for Rooney. The Daily Mail will have got the same info from the same or similar sources and then decided to make the Luiz/Mata trade story out of thin air. Ben Smith at the BBC doesn't know shit. The BBC aren't reliable when it comes to their own actual journalists. He constantly posts whatever rumour has speed adding to it regardless whether it's concrete or not. Nothing to worry about.

Sky Sports reporting Mourinho has dismissed the links saying that we're after De Rossi.

^^^ That's yet another (FUCKING) fake quote which was captioned alongside the clearly (jokingly) put together picture of De Rossi at an airport. Not coming back in this thread now til the season starts.

The last time our players talked up a player this much we signed him. That guy was Hazard. A repeat of that please

Sky Italia have reported nothing. Originated from a Twitter account with around 900 followers. "Chelsea3Updates" or something.

Nothing about the actual transfer or real world of football, more of a fun thing of course, but guys - Purchase this guy on Fifa 13 (career mode) if you haven't already Bought him in the 2nd season and he's almost pushed Hazard out of the team

Anyone know if the apparent quote from him saying he wants to spend his entire career here is true? If it is I'm more than happy with that regardless how good or not I think he may or may not turn out to be. It's the right mentality.

Kinda hope he won't finish his career in Turkey. He is appreciated there but I doubt he considers it 'home' like here or, where I think it would be more fitting to retire, Marseille.

Napoli's president has said that Cavani and Ibra won't be playing together as the latter has been promised a transfer.

"Have many contacts in the game". Yeah, sounds like a reliable account. Is there a face to show genuine anger on here? All the emoji things are too comical.

Without Rooney dropping into midfield, picking up the ball and hitting a through-ball or one-two with the main striker (in this case Welbeck) United look like an average team - which they are without him. Even with Van Persie they'd be above average but not elite like ourselves, City, Madrid, all that lot. They're missing their dictator on the field. Guess Carrick would help too.

I remember that ESPN guy ^^^ No idea what exactly he reported, but he got loads of deals spot on last summer if i remember correctly. I guess this is really happening It won't be the same since of course Frank is past his prime, but my dream midfield around 5 years ago had both Lampard and De Rossi in it. I'm finally going to see it

Allegedly this is a photo of him leaving the training pitch for the final time today, showing that his hamstring is fine. (Note the flip-flops.) Here he is leaving the hotel (on his own):

If we get him for free after his contract expires I will cream myself.

Are our matches ever shown on ESPN? Regardless whether they are or not, is there a similar fixture-schedule for ESPN out there anywhere for next season? Never paid for the Sports package with Sky but being a BT Broadband customer I'm getting ESPN for free next season due to some ESPN - BT merging or something Less 10-second-lag streaming for me Edit: For anyone interested, the ESPN/BT Sport schedule: August Liverpool v Stoke - Saturday 17 12:45pm Fulham v Arsenal - Saturday 24 12:45pm Man City v Hull City - Saturday 31 12:45pm September Man Utd v Crystal Palace - Saturday 14 12:45pm Norwich v Aston Villa - Saturday 21 12:45pm Tottenham v Chelsea - Saturday 28/09/13 12:45pm October Man City v Everton - Saturday 5 12:45pm Newcastle v Liverpool - Saturday 19 12:45pm Crystal Palace v Arsenal - Saturday 26 12:45pm November Newcastle v Chelsea - Saturday 2 12:45pm Everton v Liverpool - Saturday 23 12:45pm Tottenham v Man Utd - Saturday 30 12:45pm