The only place to be

So this is what it felt like when fans of other teams saw us spending £20 million on SWP and £30 million on Shevchenko. Good player but quite a bit over the odds. As for Navas, I'm sure he's much better with the homesickness than he once was but come January I think this guy might be surprised by the shitty Manchester weather. If he makes it to the end of the season without this being an issue then I'll be a tiny bit surprised. Either way, they're building a decent team for next season but I'm still not convinced by Pellegrini.

I think you made a decent point, but I think the bigger issue that could affect Mata is Oscar. When we signed Oscar, I thought he was a potential ballon d'or winner. But this season he's been moved out of position to accomodate Mata who has himself been quite remarkable. The problem is that Mata doesn't contribute enough defensively, whereas Oscar is a tenacious little git with a real bite about him. I'm not sure if we'll sell him, but I think that for Oscar to reach his peak then Mata has to move aside (to the wing or elsewhere) and I think that Oscar has the higher ceiling in terms of what they could become. It's damn near heresy to discuss such a thing and I love everything about Mata both on the pitch and off it, but I think this is an issue that will grow over the next 12 months.

Looks like Karanka won't be coming with Jose. http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11668/8758024/La-Liga-Jose-Mourinho-happy-for-assistant-Aitor-Karanka-to-stay-at-Real-Madrid Wonder who will take that role going forward.

Rio had a great season last year, despite him being a cunt. I don't want to bash JT because he's done so much for this club, but when our backs were to the wall in Barca and you need your leaders to step up what did he do? Some people will say that's unfair and it's one isolated incident and maybe they're right. But that was one of the biggest games in our history and if people want to say that exemplified his leadership qualities then they're more than welcome to, but this isn't the JT of 2010 in my opinion.

A few years ago I'd agree with you in a heartbeat. If you ignore the tabloid stuff then he's a great bloke to have around by all accounts but I honestly don't know if what he brings to the table outweighs the baggage nowadays.

Can't we chuck in as many under-21s as we like? I suppose this is a decent reason to keep him around. I won't lie - a few years ago this would've been a no-brainer because he's a legend at this club, but recent events have soured that somewhat. I honestly don't know if he's still a good enough player anymore either, so this one is all on Jose.

I'm a big advocate of the youth, but if you can get an experienced head to rotate into the team at a fair price then there's really no reason not to go for him. De Bruyne is a great option but his situation is a little up in the air at the moment. He's still about a year or so younger than Mata was when we signed him so another year abroad isn't the worst thing in the world, especially with a World Cup coming up. That's one thing that may convince Sneijder to drop his demands so he can play on a bigger stage and get back into the national squad (apparently he was dropped, can't be bothered to Google).

I thought homegrown status was simply any player association trained for 3 years prior to their 21st birthday?

The rumours put the figure at around that amount if I'm not mistaken, which is pretty much the only reason people here are considering it. They're also said that the wages have to be good value too (but let's get some context - Malouda was on around £100k, Benayoun about £85K and Essien is on around £100k). Hazard, Oscar and Mata are the future of this club (although there's an issue with positions for two of them) but they aren't going to play every minute of every match. Let's not forget that one of them broke at the end of the season after being involved in 62 matches and he missed a European final, simply because we didn't have anyone capable of replacing him. In 2006, Eidur, Robben, Duff, Cole and SWP were all involved in more than 35 matches - that's the type of thing I think we'll get back to so why not get an experienced man like this in IF the circumstances are good?

Exactly. Cavani has re-sale value, is five years younger and if we could ship Torres the other way then that's a massive saving that probably offsets the extra cost in the initial purchase.

I can't see why PSG would let him go on the cheap so it's a lot of money for a player who will be 32 halfway through the season. Plus this would be his last big contract in all likelihood and there are clubs out there willing to pay him the big money - his current club being one of them. Sounds like bad business.

£7 million for a 32 year old in the last year of his contract who is also one of (if not the) biggest earners at the club. Is anyone not tempted by this? Let's be honest.....he's not Frank Lampard.

Despise him? Tell you what....get down the Bridge and try and 'despise' someone like Essien in front of Chelsea supporters and see how that works out. He's a great servant to this club who has suffered two terrible knee injuries and you want to despise him? Fuck me....oh and this isn't you being victimised for holding a contrary opinion (god knows you'd probably love to play that victim card again), but you've got to admit you're being a bit of a .

I've watched Watford a lot and I disagree. Fuck knows what you're on about with the Phil Jones comparison considering he's made that midfield position his own for both club and country. Jones has been used in about 4 different positions over his professional career at United - Chalobah has really only played one or two at most. I'm sure he could play at CB, but he's the complete opposite of the 'traditional English type centre back'. He's the type of ball-playing CB that we tend to say is a continental-style CB which is why Rio Ferdinand was so celebrated in his younger days, and still is to a certain extent. He isn't a ball-lumping Terry Butcher-type by any means, which is pretty much the archetypal English CB because we have tended to value strength and physicality over skill and technique. The one thing that defines Chalobah's game is time - he always has more time on the ball than other players and that is a very unique trait to have. Coaches at this club, Watford and now England place great emphasis on that type of thing especially in the more congested areas of the pitch which is why he has been moved forward. The simple fact is that as a midfielder he has a skill set and physicality that we just don't have in great abundance in this country. Look at Bayern and Javi Martinez (a converted defender) who combined physicality, technique and workrate - that is the future of holding midfielders and the closest we have is Jack fucking Rodwell.

So we're going to ask Oscar, Mata and Hazard to play 60 games again? Fuck it, let's loan them out on days when we've not got a game and see if we can get them into triple figures. And Styles mentioned that this is the type of deal we've stopped making.....no it ain't. People think we just buy young, and on the surface that's true but what we've been targeting is value. Sneijder at £5 million on decent wages offers value a bit like Demba Ba did. At the end of last season we had Yossi Benayoun on the bench - Sneijder would be a nice replacement for him if we look to loan De Bruyne for another season but it depends on the make-up of the squad. If we're going with two players for each position then someone like Sneijder could be ideal as another option in that trio.

He was a centre-back in the academy for much of his time before being moved forward, but he's been used almost exclusively in that role for both Watford and England u-21. Sometimes I'm just unable to comprehend some people's understanding of sport. He's not just 'capable' of playing in midfield, he's fucking good at it and been a revelation there this season. By Luiz him I presume you mean wait until he's 26 and lacks the physical conditioning to play a midfield role - I don't think we're doing that with him.

Capoue is a different type of player. De Rossi is a different type of player and we're linked with him too. Thiago is relatively unproven, 4 times as expensive and would look to be starting so that's a different case. Van Ginkle is seen as a deeper player and again one for the future, also twice as expensive. If we signed him then we may well loan him for a season. Strootman is a different type of player and again, unproven. Nice option but probably more of a pivot player and again more expensive. Benat is a deeper player and I think we've all moved on from him haven't we? Again, I don't know if he's lost his spark. I haven't spoken to him and I don't know his situation, but if Mourinho speaks to him (you could give him his number?) and feels he has a few seasons left in the tank then why not go for him?

I'm starting to come round to this transfer too. Always liked De Rossi and he's certainly a rare combination of physicality and technical ability which we could do with. Plus he looks like a real throwback player at times, with the beard especially. Trying to think of the last Chelsea player who had a beard.... De Goey? Eidur liked a bit of fuzz but not that great. Hmmm.....

The argument might be hypothetical, but you are the one saying his wage demands are high - you haven't got a clue what he would ask for do you? I don't, and I don't pretend to know. His fitness isn't good enough and he hasn't looked motivated - these are all things that are fixable under the right coach. He isn't Essien who has suffered TWO terrible knee injuries so it's a bad comparison to make. He did have cruciate trouble but that was before his 2010 season. As for pace, we're talking about a guy who could come in for Mata - I don't think it's something we'd miss. But if you're telling me there are better options on the market (worked with Mourinho, high skill level, £5 million, under-30) then that's a great point - one question though.....who??

The difference being that Sneijder is being mooted to cost one-tenth of what Torres did.

But we clearly have learnt a lot. It seems weird that you would take all the other good transfers and then look at this one transfer and use this one example to judge the club's performance in the market. Personally I'm looking at it the other way - we clearly have learnt so if we're pursuing this guy then the people in charge of recruitment must see something in him. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt at least until he's stepped foot on the Stamford Bridge pitch ready to kick a ball. You know what, the sun is shining so I'm going to be extra nice and not write him off until his second game for us. How patient am I??

That's pretty much my objection to this transfer. I think he will cost too much (although we're talking about roughly the same money Benayoun was on, and the same fee) and I don't know if he'd be comfortable as a squad player BUT there is the Mourinho factor and I'm sure Drogba will tell him good things about us. If he sat down with Jose and said he just wants one more shot at the big time (with all due respect to Galatasaray) and was prepared to work hard with the understanding that Mata is very much our main guy then I think this is a decent move. Yes we have a strong XI but you need players who can come in and do a job when the main guys need a rest and he has the skill, knowledge and experience to do a job - for me it comes down to hunger and fitness.

Exactly. The simple fact is we don't know what we're going to do next season, so you have to build in a lot of 'what ifs' to this discussion. Some people are quite prepared to say they simply don't know, but that under certain circumstances it does make sense. Others are happy to dismiss it out of hand which is just ridiculous in my opinion. That's the key point for me. We won't pay over the odds for him and he might be at a point where top-class football means more to him than a paycheque. If he's got that hunger then he's got to be looked at. The fear is he becomes another Benayoun and that's a fair point, but I really don't think we're the type of club to get into that type of mess again. Mata and Hazard are the future - this guy is at best a great squad player which is something we lacked last year. We're getting rid of Malouda, Benayoun and probably Marin so there will be gaps in the team and a cut-price Sneijder under Mourinho could be a real bargain.

Mate, I would message you but I think you're pissing in the wind with this fella. My first thought was that this was a terrible idea, but as a budget buy (basically taking a chance like we did with Marin to a certain extent, and even Belletti in a way) then I think he'd be a great bench option. I totally agree with you on Piazon who is more of a Hazard-type player who cuts in. Having said that, I was never blown away with him in the youth ranks. Lovely touch but never really imposed himself on matches (Forest was an exception I suppose, maybe even United). The one thing he showed at Malaga which did surprise me was workrate. I think he could have a future here if he takes another step and shows something more.

I'm not changing the subject - you brought up Deco, called him a Mourinho player and failed to mention that he was actually Scolari's signing (easy way to tell the difference, Scolari is bald, Jose isn't). Again, this is a discussion about a player who has undoubted skill but seems to have had motivational issues. I don't know if you're new to sport or not but things like that matter, and if Jose thinks he can get him back to his best (which is what we're predicating this transfer on - the people suggesting we sign him are using arguments with nuances that you simply don't seem to be able to grasp) then he offers a lot of options to this squad. Oscar played 64 games as well. Hazard played 62. Now I know you're easily confused/fucking thick but we didn't play 180-odd games last season so there was some overlap (i.e. they played most matches as a threesome) and there's also talk of moving Oscar back in the team so having another potentially top-class player in the mix as an option is something any team looking to compete on 3-4 fronts will want. At the right price, on fair wages and properly motivated (see all these conditions people are factoring into their analysis??) he requires consideration. He isn't going to be like Deco who was envisioned as being a key player in the team, in a new system. He's going to be a rotation option (that means we give players like Mata a rest, m'kay?).