Tricky

Going to enjoy bumping this thread when Nando hits 20 league goals next year. Give the guy a break, at his best he used to single handedly tear us a new one when ever he played against us. He wasn't great last year, but then baring a few UCL games neither was Drogba. In fact Drogba wasn't that great the season before either. Cavani is a great footballer, but I'm most definitely backing our three existing strikers for the season ahead. I mean if we don't start trusting and developing our youth players you'll find future talent won't sign for us.

City and United typically start with two out of the four strikers in there starting eleven. I doubt this is our intention given the number of attacking midfielders in the current squad. If we have an additional striker like Cavani you can kiss goodbye to Lukaka and Sturridge as they would be wanting regular first team football.

Read between the lines. We have three strikers and I've posted this in a Cavani thread! ?

Torres, Lukaka and Sturridge ( he has always been a striker. If we sign Cavani that's 4 fighting for one place. What's the point in that? Besides we have squad limitations for most competitions of 25, of which x amount must be comprised from HG talent. People seem to offer this when they talk about buying new talent.

Do you remember how bad Drogba was in his first 18 months? And Sturridge was converted to play as a winger last year, he has played CF most of his career. We don't need 4 strikers for one starting position, only going to undermine squad harmony.

100% agree, shall have additional games (world club cup, euro super cup) which is going to require additional rotation. And at times last year (and under carlo) we simply made the same subs every game through necessity rather than for tactical reasons. Our squad was thread bare, strength inf in all areas can only be a good for thing for future success.

Yeah I'm thrilled with that, replaces Malouda, Kalou and Anelka with some very promising talent. I'm putting my faith in Torres, Sturridge and Lukaku so only a right back to replace Boswinga and we are good to go. Board have really impressed me in the close season, keeping RDM on for the minimum of a year was a master stroke.

Malouda and Benayoun are leaving and Piazon is not going to be a starter. Ramirez and KDB are more likely to play in CM. really leaves only three genuine attacking midfielders.

Intresting could buy him and Oscar for the price of hulk!

Urban dictionary says its a black perdon pretending to be white. For me to infer a difference between two people based purely on their ethnic background is racism. How does one pretend to be white? Do white people behave differently to other people? Is the colour of thier skin the cause? So much is wrong with that statement from Rio but he is far to ignorant to see the statement for what it is. TWAT!!!

Roman pre FFP maybe, think our recent transfer policy has shifted to take that into consideration. Said it before but this deal with wages and fees could easily hit £80 million. That's a lot of cheese....

I stand by my comments, I think a players value is based on several things, ability, contract length, competion being a few of the more inportant ones. In the case of Mata we had no competition for his signature and Valencia needed cash. In Hazards case he wanted to leave, they had no financial reason to sell and there was stiff competition for a very talented player. In hulks case Porto need the cash and there is no competition. It is a unique stand alone deal and because of that I think a fairer price would be £25-28 million. Asking for £38 million plus is an outrageous fee, and I'm glad the club are now looking elsewhere.

If we sign Oscar this deal is as good as dead. Can't see the club spending over £100 million on players. Not unless they offload a few.

Guy is not worth £35 million. Hazed was £32 mil and his price was inflated because of the competition for his signature, nobody else wants Hulk. Glad we are finally playing hard ball, paying stupid money for players should be left to City, Madrid and PSG.

Can't believe someone has raised Mikels heading ability as a plus. Guy stands at 6"2 yet has never scored a goal from a set piece for us. His lack of speed / power means he barely gets more than 6" off the ground. He is not the most mobile of players, and this can undermine the team sometimes. Especially when it comes to covering the flanks. His pass success rate is high, but when asked to contribute more creatively he struggles. Most of his passes are side ways or backwards. I've tried to track down his assist record but have not had much luck. (edit: 6 assists in 197 starts 45sub). Having said that he offers strength, teamwork, stamina and very good composure on the ball. I personally find him to be very frustrating. There are certainly better DM out there but he does enough to warrant a place in the squad and is currently more reliable than Romeou (but I do see him as the future).

I know hence my £40 million comment, I'm sure your right with regards to bonuses and increased exposure which would affect commercial sales. But I believe clubs have long term cash flow projections and I'm sure CL money is factored in as a given for us. More a case of money saved than extra money won.

AVB biggest problem was that he alienated most of the squad. You dont as a 33 tear old coach go in and make it public knowledge that you want to drop or sell most of the established stars then ask them to go out and give 100% each week. It's called man management and his in this instance was appalling (actually hear he has very good man management skills). His second biggest mistake was trying his revolution rather than evolutionary approach to a change in tactics. To change formation and playing style you need to slowly bring in a different type of player. He failed at this, and we were left scrambling for ppl such as Meireles (he best improve because I for one think he was pants last year) on transfer day. I for one don't believe he had any involvement in the Mata signing, most off our transfers are conducted by the scouting network. Most of this stems from the arrogance he showed when ever he was questioned by the media. But as ppl have pointed out he was largely hung out to dry by the Britiah rag papers. I wish him well (but not at the spuds), and think he was slightly hard done by at Chelsea. Think he could be a wonderful manager... Having said that I'm glad he was asked to shuffle on when he was. Come on RDM!!!

So what this actually means is £9 million more than last year, and increased revenue (CL spot plus world club cup) next year. It's not the £100 million extra that ppl seem to think it is. My guess would be that the CL win was worth a minimum of £40 million all in, but then I think most of the clubs future projections are based on playing CL football. So this isn't an unexpected windfall! Oh and the sooner we leave the Bridge the better. We need a new ground, I was massively disappointed that the Battersea site fell through. Earls court anyone?

Wrong, you might capture highlights but you don't get a better feeling for the game. When your watching on TV you miss so much...

Figures are probably wrong but your logic is sound. With FFP in place do we really want another £100k+ wage on our hands for a guy approaching his twilight years? Or a guy earning half that with the best years of his career still ahead? Hope common sense prevails, board have been doing a lot of that lately.

Seriously? What about Marin, Lukaka,Romelu they have all signed knowing they shall be squad players. With the super cup and world club cup we could easily play 60 plus games. Plent of first team opportunities, better players which shall improve there game, and more wedge! Not sure they would have a problem signing for us.

Spending vast sums on players reaching the end of their careers is crazy. Thank god Roman realized the error he made, we are finally building a squad with the long term in mind.

What this guy said. I expect Ramires would start on the RW in most of the away games and against the better opposition. He offers an attacking outlet with his speed and better work ethic and cover coming back. Against the Evertons of this world (at home) I think your more likely to find us playing Marin or a more technically proficient player who offers additional creativity.

If we are going to play a 4-2-3-1 then I agree he would be better suited to the RW. His pace and dynamism stretches defenses. I'm not convinced he is suited to playing in the double pivot, he has a habit of dwelling on the ball and was caught out a number of times last year.

And you leave out Lampard? Absolute madness, he is going to be a starter, especially in a double pivot. Oh and not sure Ramires is suitable for the position you've specified. Would sooner play him RB than as deep lying midfielder.