GermanBlue

It's a number set by experts according to statistics and reputation of the player and league etc. which should show the players estimated value on the transfer market. Of course it isn't something like an overall rating like in FIFA, because you can't valuate a human in terms of money, but if there's a difference of €10m it is a good way to rate a player. Everybody knows that it's hard to negotiate with Portuguese sites and Matic leaving for that sum is something completely different and unrealistic. Please read my post again. The only thing I wanted to express is that Matic is still rated lower objectively than Witsel despite playing a great season at Benfica and that getting Witsel would not be any easier, because Fernando pointed out that it could be.

Hopefully he's alright. Twisted ankle can be anything from a slight stretch too a rupture. Let's hope for the best.

Fair enough as the club wants to end the rumours, too, and wants the player to be able to totally focus on his performances.

I remember one of our new signings of last season (anyone remembers who?) saying that Juan knows every corner of London so to say. If you tell him you want to eat a pizza or something, he knows exactly where you can eat the best pizza in London and all this stuff. It seems that he's really settled by now.

http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1544383/everton-loanee-romelu-lukaku-was-90-per-cent-sure-chelsea-stay?campaign=rss&source=soccernet&cc=5739

Thanks. All right then I see no problem starting him. Baines will hopefully not have much time for attacking anyway. I think it's fair to rotate the pivot and give MVG a shot after playing Rambo and Lampard in the first 4 games, but Mourinho will probably stick with Ramires next to MVG/Lampard in front of our defence.

Good point, silly me.

Does anybody know something about Willian's defensive contribution? Although I believe we could play a quite offensive style at Everton, we might have to deal with Baines' runs. Maybe even Schürrle again on the right?

That's unlikely as the structure at Zenit is there for some time now and they've been a top Russian club ever since. It's unlikely that Gazprom will stop their sponsoring anytime soon IMO, they are a too big company and they also sponsor Schalke e.g.. The situation at Anzhi was quite different as the club was construed to achieve short-time success and because they simply didn't manage to do that, their money supply was cut off. Matic's market value (€22m) is still less than Witsel's (€32m) and the fact that Zenit bought the Belgian for €40m, would not make him cheaper for us. Portuguese teams are always hard to negotiate with though.

Off to the first match of the season, FINALLY.

Not a one-man team like Spurs were last season, because they still have the likes of Wilshere, Cazorla etc. in their ranks, but he'll be the key player and they'll struggle if he'd pick up an injury.

There's a difference between potential and reality. I agree that he could be one of the best strikers to ever play for Chelsea. No one knows that, but to say that now when he hasn't even scored for us is way too early.

Any more infos on why he isn't in the Spain squad? It's usual not to see him starting for them, but didn't he always have a spot on the bench? Not that I'm mad, I think those two weeks are very good for him. José maybe has spoken with Del Bosque to let him stay at Cobham so Juan can build up his full fitness!?

I think he'll stay until the end of the season now, or at least José will try to make him stay in January. As there is no re-call clause for Lukaku as far as I know, we would only have 2 strikers by January if Ba leaves. Eto'o whose contribution to our team we can't estimate by now and Torres. I think it'll be a massive risk to go into the second leg of the season only with these two. I can see Demba leaving if we bring another striker in. Will we bring someone in? No one knows. It'd be another punch in the face of Lukaku. Nice move. Arsenal don't really have a replacement for Giroud right now.

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