The Mak

I'm afraid his big chance for Chelsea was blown with that injury. I'm sure he would've been one of Benitez's boys. He would've picked him quite a bit and we could've got a real chance to see what he could do on a consistent basis, but alas...

My point was about disregarding the level of opposition, not solely Mikel. But whatever. No point in continuing this.

"Romelu Lukaku recently told Sky Sports News of his determination to make an impact at Chelsea next season, but he could be offered a move to Germany. According to BILD, Borussia Dortmund are considering a move for Lukaku after also showing an interest in his Chelsea and Belgium team-mate Kevin de Bruyne." BVB linked with Lukaku because their director came out and said some bullshit about KDB wanting to join...sounds legit.

Well, I say us as a select example of, what I like to assume, are educated fans (mostly )! I've seen the crap some people say on twitter. More recently, the SSN article on Torres and meeting Mourinho. 80% all wanting Torres to stay, one of them said they hope he becomes a 'Chelsea Legend'....yeah. I mean, are these people blind or something? They must just keep watching his old Liverpool videos on youtube and hoping. That, or they fancy him. I just don't get it... Anyway, back to Mikel!

'Not a big deal'? Says the guy who took the time to post: It 'not being a big deal' is my argument! If it's not a big deal, why did you post it?! And I hope you didn't edit that image yourself; it would be an awful lot of trouble to go through for something that's 'not a big deal'. I'm sorry you feel the need to glorify every small positive move made by Mikel; especially against a pub team while being up 5-1

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11668/8781513/ Transfer News: Fernando Torres set for Jose Mourinho talks One word...bench. All the recent interviews from Mourinho point to Torres being our Kaka. Mourinho doesn't care about his price-tag and won't put up with his sulking crap. I can see him benching Torres for the majority of the season if he stays. Especially if you consider that he wants Lukaku back and how much effort he will bring to the team in comparison. You heard it here first.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11668/8781427/ Transfer news: Edinson Cavani has described Real Madrid as a 'beautiful team' What is it with South American/Continental players and Madrid? Yeah, they used to pretty good. They also won the European trophy about 5 times in 10 years, or some crap, at the beginning of the competition when it was practically rigged. As far as I can see, Barca will have the league the majority of the time as long as Messi is there, so they're not moving for trophies really. Their fantastic fans who abuse their manager's wife? Perhaps it's the player power? Maybe they fancy themselves running a club? I just don't get the fascination...

So who wants to tell Kevin he's not going anywhere? ...Ah, best leave it up to José! Seriously though, Kevin has 4yrs left on his contract. So they'd want to cough up some serious dosh (which they won't) or put Lewandowski/Gundogan in the deal (which they won't). We need squad depth and are in no need to sell. Dortmund must've actually confused him for a Bremem player or something. Maybe they should piss off back to picking from lower German teams, because they're not getting him as far as I can see. One good season in the CL doesn't make them a bigger club than us.

And Torres scored 22 goals this season, some great ones in the Europa League, but I can't find many people here who want him to be at the club. Another example is Mata. Scored a nice goal against my own country the other day, but I didn't think much of it because I know how bad Ireland are and I know how good Mata is. I expected him to score (at that moment) because the gulf in quality. The same way Mikel is expected to execute such a pass because he's the best player on the pitch. Don't regard my criticism of Mikel as trivial hate. He's a good lad, but I think a club such as Chelsea should move past such an archaic type of DM. However, I do think it's trivial to praise one good pass against what is the closest you'll get to an actual 'pub team' and in a game that ended 6-1. I find myself agreeing with a lot of your arguments, but just not when it comes to some on Mikel.

Yeah, and I'm pretty sure there are good looking DMs in the Championship and League 1, but that doesn't make them fit enough to put on a Chelsea shirt. Heskey also bangs them in for fun in the A-league and Bebe looked stellar in the Homeless World Cup. I think disregarding the level of opposition is a nonsensical argument.

All I'll say is good luck to Real if they're signing Cavani (£50m+) and Bale (£70m+), as well as giving Ronaldo a new contract (£50m+). Not to mention their also being linked with the likes of Isco (£29m+). Even if just two of those deals go through, it'll cost them at least £100m+ over the next few years (including contracts). There are too many variables for Madrid at the moment for them to plunge into the Cavani deal I think. It all depends on where their priorities lie; who they want most. Personally I don't think Ronaldo will leave. In fact, I'd put money on it. I also don't think they will get anywhere near their valuation of Higuain (£25m-£35m), unless idiots like Monaco come in. So I think they have to be select on who they want exactly. However, there's still a chance that Cavani is no. 1 on their list.

Not sure if I buy this stuff about Madrid and City from his mother. Especially if he said himself the other day that he's not sure Spanish football would suit him. It could very well be the case that we've been the only ones giving solid offers, they just aren't to the liking to Napoli, and this is their way of getting us to up the ante. Maybe it's a bit of wishful thinking, but it's not crazy....

C-U-N-..... Who wants to finish this for me?! C'mon! You all know the words!

Transfer news: Barcelona set to move for Chelsea's Fernando Torres - Graham Hunter http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11668/8773998/Barcelona-set-to-move-for-Chelsea-s-Fernando-Torres-Graham-Hunter Being reported now on SSN...

The only thing that annoys me about the boy is his ridiculous touch and control. You think a winger would be good for counter-attacking, but he's often killed our attacks with his terrible touch. Many times he looks panicked with no real plan. More so in the second half of the season though. Hopefully he improves. That said, he's great squad player.

Screw Chris Cohen, I won't believe it till I hear it from @We Hate Scouse !

We could partly own him? We already owned a % of Wallace from the Deco transfer as far as I remember, or something to that effect. Either way, I won't be loosing sleep over him.

I honestly don't think he'll get a guaranteed starting position in any PL team...he can risk it, but he's be better of going to a championship team ala Watford.

Like many on here have said, until his mentality changes at least, he'll never make it here. I still see a little boy out on the pitch, both physically and mentally. Even if you took Mata as the opposing example. Weak physically, but I think he's really stepped up mentally, especially this season. He's getting more of a winner's mentality and, as nice as he is, I don't think he's afraid to get in someone's face if it came down to it. (speaking in general, not about u21)

Sorry to break up the love-in, but I've seen Mikel play with more 'variety', meaning kicking a ball more than 5yrds, and he's terrible at it. Remember when Benitez first came in and he decided to see if Mikel could be his 'Alonso'? lol, it was quite funny. It was like having Cech in midfield. I'd love for it to be only a mental thing, but I just think he's just too far gone for it to be that.

I don't know what to make of that. Hopefully he's only saying that in case we're stuck with him for another year! And hopefully he's secretly trying his best to get rid of him...everyone can see he's handicapping the club...

Exactly. The journos were too busy fishing for juicy quotes by bringing up 'The Special One' (which felt like a billion times), Abramovich, Iniesta, Casillas, etc. instead of caring about FOOTBALL matters. And then there were just stupid ones, like the Paulo question? Wtf like? That's why I'm thankful that Belgian journalist was there; a media that is actually concerned about it's players.

Stupid journos. Stupid questions. 95% about Mourinho and stuff we already knew. It's like they didn't even bother to watch the Chelsea interview. I honestly don't know what they're paid for. Bunch of mugs. As Artinho mentioned, the only with piece of information is that José thinks Lukaku and de Bruyne are good enough for the team. Other than that, it was nice to see him in a Chelsea press conference again, but it was pretty much a waste of time because of idiot journos! Was there a question even raised about Torres? Nothing mentioned about Courtois either. I know he can't give away much, but a little clarification along the lines of what he said about Romelu and Kevin is always nice. I suppose it was also nice that he said he's not afraid to bench underperforming big names when he talked about Casillas...here's looking at you ladyboy...I guess this is what he said to Romelu to convince him to return for next season!

Because I want him to be Chelsea's future keeper...what? You don't?

He's made no secret of his hate for Chelsea, so when some fans come along and say they want to sign him, I think it's quite embarrassing to be honest. Either that or they haven't been supporting Chelsea for too long... Yes, football is important, but so is having some fucking dignity.