Reddish-Blue

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

France has a number of good, young defenders...but you have to be willing to pay a high price for them. If you're only going to spend 5 to 6 million, you'll keep on signing rubbish players like Djilobodji.

I thought the release clause was for clubs participating in the Champions League...

Totally agree with your points, in my opinion, our transfer priorities should be: 1) New CB - Koulibaly would be nice 2) New CM - Radja would be awesome...but I'm not sure if he'll leave Italy 3) A clinical finisher in attack...as neither Oscar or Willian are great in that aspect. 4) One youngster to be given a chance as midfield backup (Chalobah has shown he can play the holding midfield role, Ake can play LB or midfield as well) *I'm holding out hope that Conte can develop Baba into an all-round better player...

If I remember correctly, Radja said that he liked playing for Roma and living in Italy. He's been living in Italy (playing in Serie A) since ~2006.. Maybe he doesn't want to uproot his family and leave his friends behind for a move to England? It's not easy settling down in a new country, just look at Cuadrado. He didn't look like a confident player at Chelsea but as soon as he went back to Italy, he regained his confidence and played a key role in Juventus winning the title... (Just to clarify, I would love to see Radja play for Chelsea, he's exactly what we need in midfield alongside Matic, but I don't see him leaving Italy for England, who knows, maybe Hazard can convince him during the Euros!)

He wasn't great but he wasn't bad either. If I was going to sign a CB from Roma, it would not be Rudiger, it would be Kostas Manolas (even though he would cost 35+ million). He seems to be the more refined, better at passing the football.

It's better to get business done early...otherwise you end up overspending (example: Torres).

Just what we need, another 30+ year old in defense...

In the article, it mentions "The Sun" Generally speaking, The Sun is probably one of the worst sources of information

Buy back clauses only work if the original transfer fee is low (below 15 million). I would much rather see Chelsea start using sell-on clauses with some of these youngsters, that way, we are guaranteed some money if the player lives up to their potential and earns a move to a big club.

Unfortunately, we're stuck with Baba.

He's quality, I honestly wish we went after him instead of Baba. He'll probably end up at City or Liverpool as their both looking for a LB