Reddish-Blue

We definitely need more clinical finishing up front!! Will be interesting to see how Conte uses him & Costa.

Based on what you've described, he sounds like the opposite of a Conte player (e.g. hard-working, plays for the team, understands the importance of tactics)

If we're talking about the same French midfield maestro...he has been linked with United as well Not looking good on the transfer market so far....all of our rivals have strengthened in at least 1 position

I'm sure Azpi could be used as the third defender (assuming we sign a quality CB like Koulibaly). Ivanovic should be the one being sold. He's past his peak and we should look to get some value before he gets even worse

Napoli won't accept that. If we really want Koulibaly, it's going to cost around 35 million

Can only hope you're right

Doesn't he basically play the same position as Hazard? (LW/LAM)

I don't know, is Funes Mori better than Cahill? We should be looking to sign someone like Koulibaly or Benatia.

If they sell Pogba, they would just splash the cash on a top-class midfielder. I just don't see Juventus 'settling' for Oscar.

He won't be going anywhere as I don't see any clubs being interested in him. I had hopes that Juventus would sign him...but with the addition of Pjanic, they don't really need another midfielder.

If 'certain' players don't buy in to Conte's plan, then we should look to offload them.

http://www.football-italia.net/85869/lotito-raises-candreva-price Apparently Lazio want 30 million euros for him

There is no release clause in Christensen's loan deal. Bringing him back to Chelsea early would negatively impact future loan deals with solid clubs.

Origi had good positioning in the box and he was able to contribute to Belgium's build up play. For a substitute, he did okay. Lukaku acted like a child on the pitch, he let frustration get the better of him and he became a non-factor.

He was okay throughout the match (probably 6/10), definitely looked more dangerous in the No.10 role. Once Mertens and Carrasco came on, he seemed to have a bit more time and space. It was an underwhelming performance from Belgium. KdB was below par, Lukaku showed his level of maturity and Fellaini was rubbish for most of the game (in the no.10 and CM roles).

Lukaku's lack of fundamentals is worrying. Hopefully those rumors of him returning to Chelsea aren't true

Italy played to their strengths. People weren't pleased when Mourinho sat back and played on the break because only some players were interested in playing that way. If every player doesn't buy into the manager's tactics, you get disjointed performances and concede embarrassing goals (like we did this season).

The last point you made is basically a catch-22 situation. You can't have depth if you don't know how to rotate players within the first team. The title winning season was great, but I feel it kind of 'papered over the cracks' in terms of having a quality XI but not much backup.. Hopefully Conte can help create some depth within the midfield as we have been lacking quality in that area for a number of seasons.

He gets hate because he hasn't improved in any facet of his game. Oscar is like Mikel, he just doesn't seem interested in becoming a 'better' player, he tries when he feels like it.

So that's 35 million (in pounds). Quite a lot for a 28 year old midfielder.

You can't just sign a bunch of defenders, attacking mids and strikers and hope they develop into useful first team players...(even Chelsea did that with Papy Djilobodji).

Some good news on the transfer front. I think that's because Ligue 1 is generally known to be fast-paced and physical, which is similar to what you see in the Premier League.

I'm surprised that we don't sign more Ligue 1 players...as we generally have a good record with them. Gallas, Cech, Drogba, Essien, Malouda, Hazard, Zouma..

I wouldn't mind this signing.

I don't agree with the second statement. The board would be idiots if they sold a key player to a rival (e.g. Hazard, Matic, Fabregas, Costa, Azpi, Zouma, Courtois) Everyone else can be sold for an inflated price