Leif

I gave pro's and cons as to why we should/shouldn't buy him. I also haven't said we shouldn't buy him now. Read properly and don't be a rude cunt.

Rooney reminds me of Eto'o a bit and it was always Jose's dream transfer to have someone like Eto'o partner Drogba. Rooney - Lukaku would be amazing in theory.

So you've only seen him play in probably the best U21 team in history and not his club games against top opposition yet. That U21 team would make Marin look like the German Messi he was tipped by some fools to be originally and make Moses literally look like the original Moses and score without even touching the ball. It has to be added that had Romeu not suffered his injury he would have been playing ahead of Asier no doubt or splitting the playing time 50-50 at most. Romeu was an absolute wall for the U21 side when he was playing. Why concern ourselves with the back-up option to who was the original starting-option for the U21 side before his injury?

@, Before I reply - How many games of his have you watched? Not being a dick, genuinely curious. Just like he may have made a good impression on you in 1 game Cavani likely made a bad impression on many vs. Spain. I just need to know so I can gauge how to reply.

We've been 'linked' with Gomez, Dzeko, Falcao, Cavani, Rooney, Lewandowski, Aspas, Higuain and Jovetic just this year though and it's not really a link when it's just posted as a rumour to garner views for a newspaper who make the majority of their stories up. In the exact same position as Asier Real Madrid have also been 'linked' with Benat, Vidal, Pogba, Kondogbia, Toure etc. and just signed Modric not long ago.

Known admirers? How is this known? That 'information' originated in a non-Spanish paper who are still running a story that we look likely to be losing Mata: http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/409202/Friday-Transfer-News-Liverpool-to-sign-Luis-Alberto-as-Arsenal-go-big-for-Gonzalo-Higuain Real Madrid have also had Woodgate, Faubert, Drenthe, Granero etc. but that doesn't mean they're magically good enough for us.

Indeed. But to start with we play a 4-2-3-1. And if we switch back to a 4-3-3 we have Mikel still. If Mikel remains next season there's little doubt he'll be a starter, meaning Asier would be on the bench (neither Mikel nor Asier will take up a role just ahead of the other defensive midfielder surely). So then what happens with Romeu? We just pay for this guy (who we're not even linked with I just realised) and write Romeu off because he had an injury?

Well it is a forum after all which is all about opinions. Just because you disagree doesn't mean you're correct. I backed literally every single stat up Or perhaps you're massively suppressing?

LOL. Mkhitaryan's move to Liverpool looks off the cards for now since he's owned by a 3rd-party like Falcao, Hulk etc. are. His 3rd-party probably want him to join a higher profile club as is often the case with these money-hungry guys. Apparently Hamburger are looking at him. He should go there.

He won't fit in a 4-2-3-1 system too well. He's not worth the money for this system. Despite his amount of goals this season his all-round play hasn't been as good since Napoli switched from a 3-4-3 last season to a 3-4-1-2 this season. Having a player right behind him (Hamsik; Mata) creates confusion for him it seems when tracking back. He prefer to have a big wide space behind him (like in a 4-3-3) for him to run deep into when his team don't have possession. In a 4-2-3-1 he'd be isolated. That formation is pretty much built to get goals out of a striker; hence why there's 3 direct support options; meaning the focus of the striker should be to simply score (anything else is a bonus). Cavani is like Ramires in a way - he runs runs runs, often when he shouldn't. If he runs away from his position in a 4-2-3-1 we've only got our very short support players in attack and none of them are exactly incredible finishers. We'd also have 2 defensive midfielders already deployed in a packed midfield so I could just see constant crashing into eachother. If we go back to a 4-3-3 (after hearing Jose is a big fan of Ramires I get the feeling we may well do) then Cavani probably is the best fit. In a 4-2-3-1 though the likes of Rooney, even Jovetic and Lukaku should probably be ahead of him when it comes to priorities.

Of course Khedira will average less tackles per game. If Real Madrid have 60% possession most games and Real Sociedad have around 40% that's a whole lot more time for Sociedad's players to try and tackle isn't it? Also how much Asier do you watch? If you watch a lot you'll agree that a lot of his tackles hit the ball right towards the opposition and lead to a scoring chance for whoever his team is facing, yes? This is because he slides in, often from behind or the side, with no intent other than to get the ball away from whoever's in possession. He doesn't think ahead. His football brain is naive and young. He doesn't think "I should tackle this player with this technique". It's just "Tackle him" like he's a cyborg. Khedira on the other hand will tackle/intercept and then lay the ball off to Ozil or Alonso and be a constant recycling-possession option, and also offer a lot more in terms of going forward. That is far less fouls. That racks up to 3+ fouls in 2 games for Asier whereas it'd take at least 3 games for Khedira to even reach that 3-foul mark. Again, of course he'll have more passes per game. You're not exactly a main playmaker when you've got Xabi Alonso and Ozil in your team. And again, if you watch him, you'll see that the majority of those passes are quick one-twos with defenders. The exact thing Mikel is berated for by half the forum. To touch on passing; Khedira often uses smart simple passes to a playmaker as he knows he's not exactly Pirlo on the ball. Asier tries too much though and doesn't think enough. He won't even look where he's passing half the time meaning the ball either goes out for a throw-in or his teammate has to run out of position to the stray ball leaving a gaping hole behind him for the opposition to potentially exploit. Having the technique to pass well is one thing. Having the brain to pass well is a whole other and more important thing.

Not trying to 'base opinions off of a Youtube video' but I just Youtube'd him to see what came up. Found this showing exactly what he does consistently at club level. Always winning the aerial duels - but heading the ball back to the opposition and giving them possession while committing a foul as they then attack Real. Lots of dwelling on the ball and then being tackled too. Also note how many passes he attempts when his teammate is clearly offside.

Because Real Madrid have the ball more then their opposition unless they're facing Barcelona whereas Real Sociedad's whole game plan is to let the other team have the ball allowing their defensive midfielders to rack up tackles and try starting a counter-attack. Alonso's primary job is being a playmaker and the tackles in that team are mainly instigated by Khedira. Now if we compare him to Khedira you'll notice the German does his job with far less fouls and also better pass accuracy.

I'm not talking about whatever his buy-out clause may be. I'm saying that his evaluation has shot up after this U21 tournament which I feel should be questioned when you take into account the fact that he performed against players not even in the top leagues in their country. He hasn't shown anything during this tournament that he hasn't already shown with Sociedad. The media like to pick a player and just put them into the spotlight, it's how they do things, and they've just decided they'll go with Asier now. He's not done nor has he been doing anything special. He played around different players but he was deployed in the same position and role with Spain. Regardless whether Spain play possession football or Sociedad play counter-attacking football he has always stuck to his position, limiting his runs forward, looking to break up play and get the ball to a playmaker - usually Thiago or Prieto - to then make a final decisive pass as he's not capable of doing this himself (whereas other deep players are more than capable of this.) He's played like a more agile Romeu. Their strengths and weaknesses are almost identical. He's simply around players who better suit his chemistry with that U21 squad than he is with Sociedad which of course makes people rate him higher. He's barely worth £10m in my eyes. He doesn't bring something new to a team. He's simply an above average decent at most things player. That's what you want at a club as a back-up option when your real talent get injured or need a rest. He's a player Arsenal would go for in hopes he magically turns into the next Fabregas. He's not what a top club like Chelsea should take a second look at. More testament to my point regarding him losing his head a lot is a very simple stat - he had the most yellow cards for Real Sociedad last season - and committed the most fouls - and he only made around the 8th most appearances for Real last season while doing that. So he doesn't have anything to suggest he can be a playmaker, so in a deep role you'd expect his 'qualities' to be profound in defence - yet he doesn't do them any better than our current options do. He's a machine at giving the opposition free-kicks. He's a machine at getting dribbled past. He's a machine at fouling. He's 23 but he plays like a child still learning the game. That is simply not good enough at all.

These rumours and pricetags only started popping up after this U21 tournament, especially after the game vs. Italy's U21. Italy's U21 is mainly made up of Serie B players. 6 of Italy's players were from Serie B. All of Spain's U21's were from La Liga; so of course they impressed. The remaining non-Serie B players were Borini (bench player), Immobile, Insigne out of position, Verratti and Florenzi out of position. When you watch Asier against senior opposition who are actually from a decent league he often goes missing and often collapses under pressure. He averaged around 79% pass completion each game last season in La Liga which was definitely down to panicking when on the ball and being closed down. People talking about him being a potential playmaker need a slap. His defensive side is good however. He averages nearly 2 interceptions a game and over 3 tackles per game. So if you want a cheaper and not quite as good Javi Martinez I guess this is the guy you want.

I think we should give Ramires #5 (Essien's current number), any new defensive midfielder Romeu's #6 (and if none come in, give it to Mikel), give Mikel's then-vacant #12 to Essien as it's more of a squad-role number, and give Ramires's free #7 to Hazard because it is more his sort of number. Don't care what Romeu wears in the least harsh way possible!

Do we need another homegrown/English player in the team next season? Like are we actually lacking one to comply with the rules? I genuinely cannot see Blackman getting promoted (and even if he does, Lamps will be leaving next season probably and the club will want to have another homegrown player ready to try fill his void) & if it's true we haven't even been talking to Napoli this whole time then I'm actually kinda confident this will happen. We are Chelsea after all.

If only Drogba was still here But anyway, you can't really deny the fact that he does suit our shade of blue. To me this does actually look 'right':

I think that was more of an excuse some of us made for him than an actual feeling people shared though. Anyone who was watching him before we signed him could see his legs were absolutely gone. Rooney still has his pace and engine. He's a very fit (no not that way) player.

I watched nearly every Real Sociedad game this season (they were amazing to bet on if you put Over 3 Goals every single game ). He's one of those players who never grabs headlines and will always be under appreciated but he's actually the player quietly starting each attack and recycling possession well. That said, he doesn't impose himself on the game. He won't tackle you hard like Alonso, isn't as expansive when it comes to passing like Benat and doesn't have the work rate someone like Chalobah has. He's a player you 'settle' for when you can't quite get the very best in my opinion - which is why Arsenal is the club for him If we want a future great, a young Spaniard who will be the undisputed best playmaker Spain has one day, then we can do no better than Atletico Madrid's Oliver Torres. Tracked him for 2 seasons now. He's incredible. At times he's like Pirlo, at others he's like Iniesta, at others he's like Xavi. This is probably my favourite game of his:

I won't touch on why we should consider him more than Cavani because certain members have already done that better than I could possibly do, but I'll try touching on why he would want to come here:- I think he'd give his all for this club. Not because "Oh Chelsea is a lovely club with great fans, they deserve the best" - i'm not an idiot, I doubt that would go through his mind - but i think we can all see he's craving a new challenge. He looks bored now at United. He also wants to prove himself again. There's been doubts about him, he was dropped last season in crucial games (and made a huge difference when coming on as a sub it must be said) and he knows surely that he's no longer 'the man' at United with Van Persie there. The fans treat him like shit. One of their all time great goalscorers but he's being swept under the rug. I'm sure Terry loves Chelsea, as do Cech, Drogba etc, but in their prime and even after their prime there's not a single Premier League club (aside from perhaps Tottenham when it comes to Terry) who'd turn them down just because they love this club. It should be no different with us and Rooney. Also Cole loved Arsenal; I mean he even supported them growing up; but he made the switch to Chelsea and rightly so. We have the pulling power here. United are on the down even if they sign Thiago. Rio is nearly done, Vidic nearly done, Scholes is gone, I think Giggs will 'shock' some people and this or the next will be his last season, even Van Persie can't keep going too much longer but while he is going he'll remain in the limelight; and then there's the fact he'd be going from playing under one of the greats to David bloody Moyes who he seems to despise Who would you rather play under? Moyes or Mourinho? Who would you rather play with- a declining team whose only young talented purchase recently has been Zaha or the team who's got Hazard/Oscar/Schurrle/De Bruyne etc? We're also slightly more prolific when it comes to the amount of trophies we've been winning this decade compared to United and that can only increase with Mourinho back at the helm. Professional footballers in this country often have a dream growing up. To walk out at Old Trafford, to score at Old Trafford, to become a legend at Old Trafford. He's done all 3 of those now, perhaps the last one in slightly controversial fashion, and he has nothing left there. Then we can just add in small bits like the fact London is much nicer than Manchester. And if our fans chanted "Rooney, Roooooney!!" after a goal we wouldn't have that annoying Manc accent making it sound weird. So there. I have no doubt he'd want to come here.

Good ol' VipBox.

So Liverpool just paid £7m MORE for Belgium's #2 than we did for Belgium's #1

So people forget Napoli's president coming out and categorically stating that Chelsea FC phoned him? This 'there's been no contact' is nonsense.

GOLAZO