The only place to be

Why? They can make that shit up on the train home.

Fantastic bit of business as others have said. Not only is it good to get a young player with potential and then blood him but it's also fantastic to build these relationships with clubs in other countries. Of course we have the Vitesse link-up but it's also important to have these good links with clubs like Atletico and now Benfica which are mutually beneficial, bearing in mind we have sent about £40 million their way when we signed Luiz and Rami.

Press conferences like this are always a bit dull. The questions are all the bloody same and he will have been prepared for them, so it's a very stunted, fake performance. Generally the rule is don't say anything stupid, get this crap out of the way and then get on with the football. Having said that, he's acknowledged that and there's a bit of a spark.

I don't think any club would consider buying Rooney 'settling', and yes they're both massive amounts of money in the grand scheme of things which is why I put it in terms of players we could add to the squad. To me both players can do similar jobs, but Rooney knows this league and under Mourinho could be a terrifying player for the opposition.

£20 for Mikel? Will that come in two instalments of a tenner now and a tenner when he scores his first goal? Might have a nap after the press conference because for a moment there I thought you said £20 million. :lol2:

You make some great points and I agree with most of them entirely. But one thing kept running through my head when I read this..... I'd rather have Wayne Rooney. Hard-working, big-game player, brings other players into the game, scored goals.....that obviously all has an asterisk based on fitness but they're roughly the same age and Rooney's price was mooted to be about £20 million less than Cavani. £20 million - that's Schurrle. That's probably a Mangala, maybe even 2/3 of a Varane. It's two De Rossis, or one De Rossi and one Van Ginkel. I trust the club to manage their finances and get value but £50 million+ for Cavani is terrifying.

This is like some WWF show....the return after six years away from the ring.....coming out to Macho Man's music, Eva Carneiro on his arm....he makes his way around the room, sits and prepares to take his first question.... But Wait...... What the heck??!!!! THAT'S EDINSON CAVANI'S MUSIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Barcelona player moaning about someone doing damage to Spanish football. How about a collective bargaining deal for the TV money you sanctimonious, fucking selfish cunty cunt cunts!!

Young winger, homegrown, played more than 40 games in his first season, scored 10 goals and still valued at a little bit more than we signed him for. Hardly a nonsensical signing was he. Wouldn't like to see him go and not for that figure, but it depends entirely on the squad makeup.

I'd be happy with that and I think it would do him the world of good because he's got a lot of shit on here, almost exclusively because people thought we would lose De Bruyne. That led to comparisons and people essentially looking for reasons not to sign Schurrle/lose KDB. He had nothing to do with these negotiations and he wasn't the one asking for KDB to go the other way. He's just a very promising young man looking to challenge himself on the biggest stage and that's what we want at this club.

On this one point you want to check your facts - AVB kept him at the club (along with Lukaku) instead of loaning him out and by the time he agreed to let him go, teams had settled on their strongest line-ups and Josh didn't stand a chance. If you want to discuss loans then that's fine but you don't seem to have a fucking clue what you're on about. As for Chalobah, that goal came late in the season long after most people had seen his quality in the midfield for Watford. Maybe you could've joined them then you wouldn't keep mugging yourself off. Again, you don't have a fucking clue what you're on about. Does this 'earth' you two live on not have a rail connection to Watford?

Completely different skill set from Rami and has everything to be better than Mikel right now in my opinion. You'll always get people slagging off young players for whatever reason, and there are plenty who have talent but still won't make it at this club. Nat seems to have everything needed to succeed though, and his attitude and maturity are exemplary. The saving grace from these last two results is that Pearce's position is nigh-on untenable, and that's a massive relief because he's such a shit coach. Entrusting him with the next generation of English talent is criminal in my opinion.

I had to stop here - if he's at the peak of his career, how will he get better? Wouldn't that point when he's better be his peak? There are 11 players on a pitch - there's no rule that says all the goals have to come through your number 9. You don't get extra points for a striker scoring them. He could be a great player for us and he could lead us to the title but any Chelsea supporter who doesn't have a bit of apprehension about expensive strikers coming to this club needs to read up on their history. Yes Drogba was a legend for us (although his early seasons were not spectacular despite us winning titles) but I can name far more big-name strikers who failed at this club.

And Liverpool have won 18 - I think you're missing the point which is that there is more than one way to be successful. We don't have to copy United, and quite honestly if we're going down the route of taking things on from them then there are other things I'd focus on first. I suppose so, if you want to misrepresent history and diminish our achievements in 04-06. By the way, United's success with RVP was from them buying a striker who had a proven track record in this league for around £20 million. We're looking at signing a striker new to this league for over twice as much. If you want us to copy United, why not Rooney who would be a closer comparison to RVP?

I'm never quite sure why we're using United as the model for squad building when we won two titles without a 20 goal-a-season striker, and we have players like Hazard and Mata who have shown an ability to score big goals.

Lukaku is sticking around by all accounts and I'd much rather have him coming off the bench than Ba to be quite honest. But you're right that we need to be shipping Torres off. Shame Benitez doesn't seem to rate him as highly as he did in all those press conferences where he was praising his workrate in training.

People have understandable reservations about us spending so much money on this guy. Personally I'd be surprised if we actually were close to agreeing a deal for this much money because I don't think our board are like this anymore.

It's a bandwagon I'm seriously thinking of jumping on. :blue scalf: :blue scalf: Always loved Belgium and Bruges is a lovely place to unwind and rest, and I was watching the match thinking about picking up one of their shirts. The amount of quality in that team at this moment in time is astounding and the fans seem to be genuinely enjoying it.

You can't say peace one minute, and then immediately threaten revenge. :lol2:

I apologise if you felt I insulted you. I was just having a bit of fun with your predictions (you are the prediction guy after all). No need to go off the deep end. :tophat:

That's a very classy way to go out and though it's easy to give him stick for what happened at the end (both in terms of performance and ultimately an unwillingness to leave and maybe play football for a living), footballers are people too and they do have the same concerns when it comes to money and providing for their families both now and in the future. Personally I think he could still do a job in the right environment and I'll try and focus on that period when he was nigh-on unplayable.

Absolutely agree on the second part. I just don't see Cavani as being the person who will win us the league next season because I think the defence and midfield need so much more attention. Over the last couple of years we've been remarkably sensible in our dealings and literally the moment Jose comes back we revert to 2011 thinking. Maybe he does come in and bang in 30 goals and becomes the difference maker in the run for the CL but I think everyone needs to hold a certain amount of reservations about this whole deal.

Apparently we'd only let him go if we got an offer we couldn't refuse. Honestly I think this Boateng story is one that just gets churned up in summer when we're looking at other players. Maybe his agents are trying to get a bit of interest in him or maybe we're trying to drive the price of someone else down. Maybe the club see him as someone who could perhaps take over the squad duties of Mikel and Ramires next season....