Stats

Part of the reason why Mikel is more difficult to sell is because he does not currently have a British passport. Once he gets his British passport in October he will be more of an attractive option for other clubs. So he could move to the Serie A without having an effect on rules of non-EU players but right now it will have an impact on such teams if he were to move. So people who think he can't be sold because he does not offer anything need to use their brain a little and think why. Once he gets his British passport he will have quite a few teams after him. I like him as a squad player anyway so I am happy to see him here for the upcoming season. A reliable player who does what is asked of him.

Mourinho is praising Solanke. WOW. That does not mean he should play him. He has bundles of potential but he is only 16 years old. The step up is completely different. He has just left school. Solanke will not be involved with the first team for sure and I am supportive of that. He will develop with the U18s and U21s. While he has scored bagful of goals for the youth side you can't put two and two together and think he is good enough for the first team. It is a massive step up and we don't need to rush him. Like Van Gaal does? With who? He has only joined as United manager and he certainly won't be playing any 16 year olds during the competitive season.

That is where you are wrong. Mourinho sees Drogba as a key part of his plans for the season. He may say a lot he does not mean but he already said that he is bringing Drogba back for football purposes and not sentimental ones. He wouldn't describe him as one of the best strikers in Europe unless he is serious about him. If Drogba's role was to help the young ones he may as well of been instructed to motivate Lukaku to stay. There is a lot Mourinho decieves people about. This is not. We got rid of Lukaku and it does not look definite we will sign a new striker. A lot of people would rather Drogba have a subsided role but that is not the case. He will see a lot of game time. Mourinho has not described Torres as one of the best strikers in Europe before. I think that indicates that Drogba may well be our 2nd choice striker next season with Torres as 3rd unless Mourinho goes out and buys a striker. I love Didier for what he has done but I am not really supportive of the idea of him coming back here, especially with the way signals coming across how Mourinho plans to use him.

We signed Costa for £32m to be our main man. Mourinho wouldn't sign a striker like Cavani who is likely to cost more to then rotate the two. Costa is the main man and I don't think he has the intention of rotating Costa for every other game and he certainly is not going to play 2 up front like you said so I don't even think Cavani is a possibility for Mourinho. He will be at PSG unless some other club makes a ludicrous offer for him.

I don't think he is being a coward at all. He just has that arrogance to himself where he considers himself good enough to be starting in the best league in the world. Realistically he could have fought to be 1st choice striker but with the signing of Diego Costa it is very unlikely. If it was not for Costa signing I definitely think he would have been up for the challenge but we signed him and yes we needed a striker like Costa but in Lukaku's view that was probably the final straw for him. We can keep going on about fighting for his place but assuming Costa continues doing what he does best he was not going to be anything more than a super-sub and a striker who makes a few starts in cup and the odd league games. Costa is only 25 as well and can be leading the line for us for the near decade. But yeah I agree with you in that he could have had a chance to play at his boyhood team, a team who will be challenging for major honours for the forseeable future and he might think 'what if?' but I am sure he thought about his decision. I do think you are underrating Everton though. They are growing. They have a good manager, did very well last year and I think fatigue and a lack of squad depth prevented them from getting 4th spot last season but with the right additions they can mount another serious challenge and it is not impossible for them to win the F.A Cup plus they are in the Europa League as well. A bit of a hindrance but still a European competition. But at his age now he probably thinks the mose important thing is to play and I can understand that. He is at a very good team. Like I was saying if he stays here it might take him ages to ever prove he is capable of being the no.1 forward here and he could end up being frustrated. Look what happened last season to start with? He could not initially get ahead of Ba and Torres. Now we have Drogba and Costa who are better than both those strikers so realistically it would be very hard to prove himself and the majority of his appearances will be limited to 20 mins cameos or so. But yeah good luck to him. He could have stayed and fought for his place but he has gone to a good team where he feels wanted, a team with potential and most importantly for him a team where he is guaranteed first team football and will be able to showcase his talents more.

Please look at some of Schurrle's goals then we can re-define what technique is Stoke away 13/14- Both goals Arsenal home 13/14 (6-0 ) Brazil 1-7 Germany (2014 World Cup) Chelsea 2-0 AC Milan (Pre season game last season) He also scored a few excellent goals for Leverkusen. He is one of our best technical players. Please look at those goals I mentioned please

But if he went there without going to Man City no one will have a bad word to say about him. He went off to a different league who are a sister club for City but inferior. But if he joins Man City, that is a different matter itself now. Regardless of what he does he still remains a Chelsea legend for me, even I will be a bit irritated to see him go Man City, that won't change my viewpoint. Appreciate everything he has done for us.

Maybe because this is likely to be his last contract he looked for the best offer and this was the best one........ I don't really care if he plays for any team in MLS.

You accused fans who stated signing for NYCFC and City are completely different of being naive. Of course they are bloody different. Yes same owners, same colours etc but get the message one club plays in America and the other in England. I would find it odd for someone to have a huge problem with that. I certainly don't but Man City is a different factor. A rival of ours who have a great chance of winning the league while the other plays in a retirement for legend such as Frank. Yes, you are being naive. It just doesn't go

That word describes yourself. That is a ridiculous comment. I am not going to explain why because others already have.

This. That is why sometimes I reckon we will see Fabregas play ina variety of positions and why I also think Ramires is still a key part of Mourinho's plans. In the final third, if we have Fabregas in a more advanced role he is one of the best players to have on the counter. Knowing how Mourinho plays effective counter-attacking football, when we counter with Fabregas on the ball we will see this method work excellently imo. Like what Real was like under Jose. Counter attack with their main no.10 Ozil who had Ronaldo, Benzema and Di Maria to pick from on the counter and they scored goals galore through this approach. This is why the signing of Fabregas benefits Hazard hugely. Opposition teams know there is more than one creative beast in our team and Fabregas is one of the best passers in Europe so on the counter I just imagine us having the likes of Hazard and Costa to pick from. Can see Fabregas playing the no.10 role or more advanced of a CM in a 4-3-3 formation quite a few times this season. Especially when we want to kill of games because as I was saying his decision making the in the final third is excellent.

Hazard is the best no.10 in the team. He is just a very good winger as well but I reckon he could be as effective in the centre if not more. Like Sheva said, Willian's better performances came in the centre. I think he is better there than out wide and I think we are more of an attacking threat when he plays in the centre. But like Skipper said it is a season where I hope he steps up because there is a lot of competition and many fans want Schurrle starting now with his improved performances.

If Lukaku was not such a phsyical beast I could see it but Bojan does not have superb strength or pace. Lukaku has a combination of pace and power. I am not sure if his technical ability will ever be that good but he has an advantage over the likes of Bojan due to his power. Sometimes when you have a combination of those two, you have a some what an advantge.

Yeah, I see your point but my point was that I think Courtois has the same stance as Lukaku at all. He wants to be guaranteed no.1 here and he has made that clear. He commented that he respected Petr but he never gave any indication that he is willing to fight for his place with him. It is like he wants he shirt guaranteed to him as well. He has the right to state why he feels he should be no.1 though but his attitude sounds similar to Lukaku in that he wants a guaranteed spot. My only point I was making.

That has a question mark over it. There have been signals from his camp before that he will only return as a no.1. I personally feel that he has the nod over Cech and will start here as no.1 as part of the agreement for him to stay. Just has not been made clear. His father even said "with the level Thibaut is at now, there is no way he will go to a club and be second choice." That there was a sign of saying part of the requirements of him returning is for him to be no.1. If Cech starts of the season and Courtois can't displace him (which I doubt is going to happen anyway because I reckon Courtois is our no.1) I am pretty sure Courtois would want to leave. Courtois also said in May: "If I move somewhere, I will play. At my age, the most important thing for me, and what I want to do, is to play." He did not give any indication whatsoever that he was prepared to fight for his place. But like I was saying I reckon he knows he will be the no.1 initially.

Well, like I was saying before I can understand why people are angry at him for his attitude. I am not going to dispute that, however if he feels he is happy to play first team football without much competition at an inferior but good team, then that his decision and he seems happy about it. But that has nothing to do with what I posted. Lukaku could have shown a competitive attitude for sure but realistically at this club with the signing of Costa and his price tag, he never is going to be a regular no.1. And tbh he is an excellent signing for Everton and playing first team football there every week in his opinion is more beneficial for him than having to wait to prove himself at a better club. I posted his goalscoring statistics and just indicated that no player is complete at his age. Don't know why you feel the need to keep point-scoring. You hate him, I agree that he could have shown a more competitive attitude but I still wish the best for him and hope he does well in his pastures new I know he did. And that is what annoys me. Not the fact that he hates him because of his attitude. I am not going to hold that against supporters but what I don't like is the same way he was supporting him before, he has let his personal hatred get in the way and try to dismiss his qualities. Sometimes you got to let hatred go and accept something for it's face value. He has an excellent goalscoring stat for his age but he dismisses it because he does not like the player no more.

Haters are going to hate. I never indicated that at all. But his goals speak and shows that all players at their age have attributes to work on. But that stat is very impressive. But yeah everyone on that list has proved that the stats don't lie as the rest are all accomplished goalscorers. I reckon Lukaku will continue to score goals.

Mourinho confirms to skysports news that Torres is staying. End of this saga then and like we all knew he never realistically was going to leave. At this rate he will go down in the history books as the one of the longest serving players here

Yeah but to be the top scorer in the Belgian league at 16, even how inferior the league is, that is a very good achievement. I wouldnt have made much fuss of it if he done it at 18/19 but he done that at the age of 16. I reckon that is an excellent achievement. The rest bar Rooney, Balotelli and maybe Etoo scored their goals in leagues not as good as the PL.

Love or hate him. You can't deny that is a stat for him and even others to be proud of. Some of the players listed below scored their goals in much inferior leagues as well.

Bamford is decent but like seriously some of you are overrating him way too much without seeing him play in the PL. If I disagree with something I will challenge them on it. I agree with some comments on Lukaku where he is criticised before people consider me as someone who keeps defending him. But Bamford is 4 months younger, so in other words the same age and has only had a quarter of the season in the Championship with the majority being in League 1 while Lukaku has played the last 2 seasons in the PL and scored. Bamford is better technically than Lukaku but imo that is it. How does he have more potential? Don't know how people reach conclusions like this when we have never seen him play a competitive game for us or in the PL. Right now Lukaku is in a different league to him. The same way people say no CL teams bid for Lukaku, Bamford was sometimes benched for Derby. He did well there but he was not always a guaranteed starter. Lukaku would walk into every team in the Championship. Fact. But what I feel helps Lukaku in the future over Bamford is that he has got the pace and power required for the PL which is often a bonus. Bamford has shown potential in lower leagues but the PL is a big step up. Time will tell. Will be good to see him make it here but still got my doubts. I don't want to get into a full blown debate with you again because he is a player of the past. We have had our agreements and disagreements but if you are using this tweet against him, I think it is way over-exagerrated. He knew he was joining Everton so who cares? Is Hazard 'classless' for stating he would be joing the CL winner (us) while under contract with Lille? Guess not. He was in talks with us and Lukaku was in agreement with Everton so they are both the same situations. That is just an excuse to be bitter towards him. As with the reference to Collymore, he is a wife beater and I hate wife beaters but using that as a reference to show why Lukaku is 'classless' is ridiculous. Terry is a home-wrecker and I don't respect that off the field part but if a young aspiring defender retweets what he says is that a crime or classless because he cheated with his own team mate's gf? No because people and I respect what Terry does on the pitch. Lukaku knows of Collymore in the football world and retweeted it. Simple as that. You are blowing it way out of proportion. Lukaku was as good as a Everton player when he retweeted it. Just had not been confirmed. I won't criticise him over that when other players have done similar things before including our own players, like Hazard. That is the final bone I wanted to pick with you regarding Lukaku.

I don't want to go back and forward with this Lukaku thing. It is a shame he was not willing to stay and fight for his place but looks like Chelsea are happy with the deal and so is Lukaku. But if you are going to talk about disrespect to the fans and manager that is one of the worst jibes to use against him. How the hell is that disrespectful to the fans or manager? He was loaned out to them so obviously while he was a Chelsea player, he was representing Everton. I would not of expect him to say anything else. He said he hopes his goals will help them finish above us. What else is he going to say? If that is a reason for fans to slate him I find that utterly ridiculous. When Courtois played against us if he said that he wants to beat Chelsea and ensure he knocks us out is that a problem? No, because he is playing for Atletico so that would be his aim. Lukaku was playing for Everton and he plays with the intention of winning the game like every other footballer so thus he wanted them to finish above us. Maybe it did not need to be said but is that really something to have a dig at him for? No. Not disrespectful by any means. Courtois played to knock us out the UCL but when he returns his role is to win it with us. All I have to say on this matter. Annoyed about it. Looks like he wanted the move and we granted it. We move on. I wish him good luck with his chapter as even though he has annoyed many people, he never spoke about the club in a derogatory way and praised Mourinho and us a numerous amount of times.

7 assists at WBA. 8 at Everton. His link up play is underrated and so is his hold up play. It is not world class but certainly not poor. He can work on it. Those assists are there for a reason. He is not just a simple poacher as people try and make out.

I know he did. But if Mourinho let go of his stance of wanting 'winners' we could have the PL title in our cabinet now. If he forced Lukaku to stay he probably would have been an unhappy bunny for a while but he would have got over it. Lukaku asked for a move and Mourinho granted it. That is how I see it. Not sure how relevant this is but if I was playing FM and Lukaku asked that I wouldnt have let him go because he wanted 'the easy way out'. I would have kept him on the basis that he was a key part of the season and more importantly because I make the calls, not Lukaku. Seems on this case Lukaku was able to make the call too easily.

Yeah we needed him to fight for his spot and because Mourinho likes 'winners' he let Lukaku leave because he asked to. Well Mourinho made the costly decision. Regardless of what he likes maybe he could have been more firm with him and demand he stays but obviously not because Mourinho likes "winners" and he let him go and then he was left discontent at the quality of the strikers. He is the manager, he granted him the leave and yes, us and Lukaku might just be in a different position if he stayed last season. But yeah agree, to disagree then