Leif

Just to put something into perspective. Here is a more accurate list of the only players I believe that, club loyalty/retirement plans etc. aside (so let's imagine they don't care about their current club that much), we couldn't buy for £38mil: Casillas Ramos Ronaldo Benzema Ozil Alonso Higuain Valdes Fabregas Iniesta Sanchez Messi Maybe Pastore Buffon Chiellini Thiago Silva The usual Man Utd/Man City/Liverpool/Arsenal/Tottenham players Ribery Gomez Lahm Gotze Neymar L.Moura Neuer Literally anyone else in the world could potentially be ours instead of Hulk for the same amount of money, club loyalty/age aside. One final thing:- Hulk - £38mil or - Adam Johnson - £15mil Nuri Sahin - Loan Debuchy - £12mil/Anyone else around the same price or anyone decent on a free. Any squad, youth or back-up players with the final £11mil. Grand total of Johnson, Sahin (for a season), Debuchy and some extra players? Same as Hulk. Now - Which is more appetising?

Well then. Spend £15mil on A.Johnson, and with the £23mil left over from what WOULD be spend on Hulk, we could buy a deep-lying playmaker and a back-up right-back.

Adam Johnson. Free to leave Manchester City for £15mil. Top winger. Matt Jarvis. Forrest from Celtic (amazing prospect). Farfan. Turan. Cazorla. A young relatively unknown player if our scouts ACTUALLY did some scouting.

I'll be ecstatic if we don't sign Hulk. Hate it when this forum blows up when we're linked with a new player and people decide we should go for him regardless, even if they've only seen a few international games of his and maybe 3 club games. It's as if people can't understand such SIMPLE things in football. Hulk is an inside-forward who plays on the wing, and loves getting goals. He sometimes cuts in, and sometimes (but less often) hugs the touchline. If we have Hazard and Mata interchanging, whenever Hulk cuts in, there will be a complete clusterfuck in the middle and our right side will be completely exposed, while Hazard, Mata and Hulk all run into eachother. There will then be someone charging down our right flank, and Torres, as he does, will then chase down that man on our right flank as he enjoys winning back the ball, meaning we don't even have a striker in position anymore. Just because someone plays on the wing doesn't mean they're a winger. De Bruyne isn't a winger, Kakuta isn't a winger, Kalou isn't a winger, Mata isn't a winger, Hazard isn't a winger etc. What we need is someone who grew up as a small child, and had the mentality of - "I want to be a winger when I grow up! I love getting assists!". Not a Brazilian striker who didn't work out in his favoured goal-getting striker position, who was then put out wide. ALSO - It's not a case of "It's not our money, who cares if Roman spends it?". It's a case of if he spends this much on Hulk right after what's been spent on Hazard, he's less likely to want to invest again this season in other areas which need improvement more. Imagine the amount of top players, squad players or prospects we could buy with £38mil. We could buy literally any player in Ligue 1 for that amount, almost any player from the Bundesliga for that amount, any player from Serie A, (barring Thiago Silva), for that amount. Any player from La Liga, barring Barcelona and Real Madrid players, for that amount. Any player from any lower league in any country, barring Neymar, for that amount. And you guys want to spend it on HULK!? Shocking.

That Transfer News Central page spreading even more bullshit as they copy a piece of "news" from a fake Jason Cundy Twitter saying that RDM has turned down the job. How people believe that page baffles me.

While we're on the subject of Hulk though - Here's a list of better players suited to the right wing role who would be realistic purchases AND cheaper - Ayew Adam Johnson (Manchester City are probably stupid enough to sell to a rival, and he won't get any playing time there.) Cazorla (Only moved club a season or so ago, but a good bid would get him with Romeu or someone going out on loan the other way.) Our own De Bruyne Our own Ramires Matt Phillips Darko Lazovic Valbuena (Prefers to play through the centre, but is great on the wing) Gaston Ramirez James Forrest (Yes, I'm serious. Reminds me of Pat Nevin.) That'll do for now.

Don't trust TNC. All they do is copy and paste from other pages, tweak a few words and then claim it's from their 'sources'. I should know. They originally stole my own fucking page. (long story)

Here's a point everyone is missing - It wasn't Torres who made Spain look dangerous when he came on - It was the midfielders. The tactics changed the moment he got on the pitch, and from that moment on, the midfielders no longer tried to pass the ball into the box, but instead tried as many hoofed, looped and through balls as possible, while Torres just ran behind the defenders, and then wasted the shot or dwelled too long before passing.

Well, I'm not calling you a liar, but your profile says that you're 17, meaning you would be around 11/12 just as he's leaving Atletico Madrid, thus not giving you enough time to become a fan of his. Of course unless you mean you started being a big fan of his when you were around 10 years old or younger, but I've rarely heard of non-Spanish people following Atletico Madrid of all teams or any of their players at such a young age, especially considering La Liga wasn't even broadcasted outside of Spain back then I believe. Again, not accusing anyone of lying - Simply smelling something fishy. (maybe I need a shower.)

So - You've been a Torres fan boy for 5 years, you admit. 5 years ago was 2007 - the year Torres signed for Liverpool. So you've been a supporter and follower of Fernando Torres since he became Liverpool's (who we hate) star man? This is what I was meaning earlier when I mentioned in my original post to everyone "Do you support Chelsea or do you just support Torres?" or whatever it was.

How about - Sign Fellaini for around £12mil (they need the cash), and loan Romeu to Everton as an instant replacement at their end. THAT I'd be happy about. As long as Romeu gets to play.

Obviously, I'll get the 'glory hunter' title for this, but I may start following (not necessarily supporting) PSG. Love the city, love Alex and Ancelotti, love Thiago Silva, and it's simply an exciting project to follow. Rumours have it they could even sign Maicon O.o Maicon---Alex---Silva---SomeCrappyLeftBack = Wow.

To be honest, I will respect Silva if he joins PSG. Same with Lavezzi. Do you know why? They don't care about the Premier League hype, or want to battle in the El Clasico. They want to ENJOY their football again while getting paid very well. Yes, players get such a huge amount of money, but the stress of being one of the best players in a top, top, top league is huge. This will be good for football if it happens.

Messi is great, no doubt, but certainly not the best. He's far from a complete player in his position, mainly due to his lack of areal ability. Zidane, Beckenbauer, Platini (hate him), Gerd Muller, Gentile, I could go on and on. These players are truly great. I understand that Messi has an absolutely extraordinary scoring record; but that still does not make him the best. Gerd Muller is an example. His scoring record on both an international stage and at club level surpasses Messi. Zidane is simply the greatest midfielder ever, Gentile the greatest man-marker ever, Platini the 2nd greatest perhaps midfielder after Zizou, etc. You could put all these players in one team, and Messi would look like a boy amongst men (although I'm sure there would be moments of great skill thrown in there.) The players I've mentioned just really are a class above the rest. They really are spectacular. Also, when against an Italian defence, he simply doesn't score from open play. When against a solid defence like ours, he doesn't score full-stop. When it matters at an international level (no, a friendly against Brazil's "C" team like the other day doesn't count) he often flops and goes missing in the games. Not the best.

1) - He wants to be playing because no one likes to wake up in the morning and read "£50million bench warmer" as every headline. If he wanted playing time, he wouldn't have left Liverpool for us. They had less strikers than us, less competition for a starting role, and was adored by fans. 2) - I'm not even trying to be funny, but he should know by now that after what feels like 10's of thousands of messed up chances in front of goal and chances to help the TEAM, that it's complete idiocy to think that he'd get the chance to take the most important kick of our clubs recent history. He'd probably fluff the shot or have it saved. Not exactly helping the team there, is it? The only reason anyone would want to take such an important kick under such circumstances would be to try and redeem themselves, with their own personal feelings ahead of the club's. 3) - Yes, they are. Just like Torres is a 'legend' in some of the supporters eyes at this club. Although I, you, or anyone else may or may not agree with it, you cannot just say "No, they're not" or that they shouldn't be, as it's not up to us to decide. That's like telling someone not to like the colour pink because it's 'girly'. 4) - I'm pretty sure he said he wanted to stay at Liverpool, regain his fitness and lead the club to glory. *fast forward a few weeks later* ... *hands in transfer request at a club which gave him almost everything where he was adored by supporters, players and staff*. Ooo, what a nice man. Talk about loyalty and wanting to be there for the team.

SORRY FOR BEING A TOTAL COCK IN ADVANCE:- (And damaging my rep. further) Some of the fans we've picked up since January 31st, 2011; need to ask themselves - Am I a fan of Chelsea? Or just a fan of Fernando Torres? The reason I say this is because it's baffling that so many Chelsea 'supporters' seem to put blind faith in an Ex-Liverpool player who still loves the reds, regardless whether the Liverpool fans like him or not, and clearly doesn't give a F' about being here. Did you see how he reacted when he couldn't take a penalty in the shootout vs. Bayern? He didn't care about the team. He just wanted personal glory, to try and drag himself out of the sh**hole he's dragged himself into, and that same hole we were in for a while this season courtesy of Mr. Nando. Of COURSE we were going to have our legends; Cole, Lampard, Drogba (And Mata and Luiz are already legends in many of our eyes) take the penalties ahead of him! He isn't CHELSEA. He's simply a passenger who's along for the ride. (Thanks for winning that corner which lead to Drogba's goal though.) The moment any offer comes in for him, he'll jump at the chance to leave. Will you then 'support' his new club? Again, this is not aimed at ALL people who are putting faith in Torres, as the majority of you are actually Chelsea supporters. I'm just not so sure about some others. (I guess it's just sad seeing people slate players like Kalou, Bosingwa, Malouda (regardless how many bad moments they've had with us) but refuse to criticise the man with sexy blonde hair.)

I personally believe that, IF we keep Torres (which we are it would seem), Sturridge + Lukaku are fine. If we buy Cavani, all I'll hear on here is - "Y LUKAKU NO GIVEN CHANCE!? ". Also, people don't seem to realise that this was Sturridge's 1st season of regular senior football of his career - and even then, he was dropped for most of the tail end of the season when Di 'sexy' Matteo came in. If given another full season as a rotation option as a STRIKER and not an inside forward on the right, I'm sure that the following season everyone will want Sturridge to be the main man.

Love him. For any new fans we've picked up since the CL win, here are 2 of his most memorable goals. Pefect:

This frustration isn't from the game today. He had a good cameo. Instead, for me anyway, this game just allows me to release the frustration I've built up now that he's worn THREE different Chelsea home kits, and only scored 7 league goals.

Our whole squad could be so much better without Torres. We sell Torres. We play Sturridge in his CORRECT position. We FINALLY have a good English striker again. With Torres gone, Lukaku is the back-up/rotation option, with Hulk capable to play as the striker if needed. When Sturridge is tired out or we're against a weaker team, Lukaku shines. In fact, Lukaku shines so much, that the manager doesn't know who to pick when, at around Christmas time, we face Manchester United. Di Matteo takes a gamble, and plays them both up front. We play a cautious game. Welbeck scores an audacious goal, running from the half way line, jolting past our defenders, exchanging a one-two with Kagawa, to then chip poor old Cech. This goal is quickly ruined by a Vidic own-goal from a Mata-taken corner just minutes later after Cahill headed the ball onto Vidic's left boot. For the rest of the game, we hoof long balls up to Lukaku who battles against a shook Vidic, holding the ball up and flicking it past the final defender for the pacey Sturridge to latch onto. Chance, after chance, after chance... and then a goal. 2-1. Sturridge makes his biggest impact as a Chelsea player. Full time. After seeing the success of Lukaku, faith is restored in the Chelsea board and management, and they now again believe that we CAN indeed succeed with our youth. Over the course of the season, we bleed in the likes of Josh McEachran and Todd Kane against Wigan, Reading etc, even Chalobah, Feruz and Piazon get a few cup games. We're finally looking towards the future. January comes, and unlike usual, we don't need to splash the cash on some panic-buy. Our players are happy, playing with confidence, and we're sitting nicely in 2nd place, just 4 points adrift leaders Manchester City. Match day comes on the first weekend of January, and we face the blue half of Manchester under floodlights while the snow beats down. Sturridge, with 13 goals already to his name this season, marks his return to his old club with his first Chelsea league hat-trick. Heroic is the only word. Lukaku is an unused sub. Hulk came on for Sturridge in the 83rd minute as Marin started on the right. We're now 1 point behind Manchester City, who have United, Arsenal and Newcastle for their next 3 games. We have Southampton, Liverpool and Norwich City. We're getting back to the top. (I can dream, right?)

Can't believe that this is our main striker next season. Completely ruins and makes me forget the feeling. THE feeling. That WE won the Champions League - Without a scoring striker; barring Drogba's few games. Imagine how much we could have won if we had...anyone else. Literally anyone else. Not optimistic for next season.

Has anyone on here ACTUALLY watched Chelsea TV today and seen/heard Jason Cundy even mention Di Matteo? Looking at the Chelsea TV schedule, doesn't look like there would have been anything on yet which would allow Cundy to even be on TV yet.

Note about managers and transfers: I'm shocked that more people don't know this, but it's actually RARE that in a top team the manager is just given a sum of money and then makes whatever transfer(s) he wants (which is what most people assume since they play Fifa, PES and Football Manager this way.) The top scout, DoF (if the team has one) etc. all have their part to say in each and every transfer and staff addition, and eventually, the manager is more like an idea-man who sees a player, thinks "Oh, he'd go well in my team", but then must run it by the members of the board to get their approval before making a formal move. The board want to make sure the transfer is OK for the team in their eyes, won't damage the club's reputation, and most important of all; good for business. Managers like Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson are very lucky to be in almost complete control of transfers. The main top league where managers get the least say in transfers is Serie A. Rarely will a manager have anything to do with negotiations, choosing his own players etc. Juventus are a prime example. Antonio Conte will choose maybe 2 players that are to his liking (Pirlo and Vidal), get the board to approve + sanction the transfers, and then the board will make 3-or-so more signings by themselves and tell Conte: "Do your best with them. Make them work." This is nothing new what we're doing. We're simply an Italian style club I guess. • Our owner is involved in everything. • We play defensive-counter-attacking football. • We don't have much patience when it comes to managers. • We don't use many homegrown players. • We don't give our manager much control. Take a look at Inter, AC Milan and Juventus, and then compare them with us. They have almost the exact same structure. We were simply the first major team to do this in England. Regardless who we get in, or if Di Matteo stays, the transfer policy will remain.

I just want us to sign a good value deal for once, or sign someone we'll make a substantial profit on. I'm probably missing someone really obvious, but the last person I remember us making a good profit on was Robben to Real Madrid. I believe we got exactly double our money back.

Messi scores 3 goals in the strongest possible Argentina line-up against Brazil's "C" team (barring 3 players) - Media jizzes like there's no tomorrow.