The only place to be

Last season he was one of four strikers who had about equal chance of starting for us. He was getting chances, and I think he would've received more as the season went on. This season he's definitely behind Costa. He's nailed on to start for us and the best Lukaku could hope for is second striker. He'll have to outperform an established, top striker. And the funny thing is it's his fault. He requested a move when he had every chance to play himself in, a chance that EVERY other youngster at this club would kill for. Last season was a once in a lifetime opportunity for him, and he threw it away. That's why so many of the supporters are bored of him, and his comments simply compound it.

Yes it was his first season last year, but did he ever really show what he could be capable of? Schurrle showed in the Fulham game exactly what we could expect when he's settled (and against Stoke too). Hazard showed in his first season how great he could be too (the West Ham match springs to mind). Even Oscar showed on his debut against Juventus exactly what he was all about. To my mind Willian still hasn't done that. He's a tidy player but he really needs to actually start giving an end product.

He's really not.

He was better than he has been, but I'd like to see him with a proper striker ahead of him to link up with and create some space for him. Showed a real willingness to get on the ball though which suggests he wasn't destroyed by the Germany result.

Shows absolutely none of the basic intuition or decision making you need in a defender. He's a joke, but people like him because he's 'a character'. He's like a Big Brother contestant or TOWIE character. No talent but somehow becomes popular with a certain type of person.

No he isn't.

So because he wasn't first choice, he should give up and go somewhere easier? Lampard could've done that when Roman took over because all the signs were that we were going to invest in world-class players, but he didn't. He worked even harder and became a legend. Lukaku got chances in three of the four games he was here for. He would've got more. He instead asked for a move.

And he couldn't have shown his hunger and ambition by fighting for a place here, when his competition was Torres, Ba and Eto'o? He had the best opportunity he will ever have to nail a starting spot down, but he went somewhere where there was very little competition for a starting spot. You can deride that as Dr-Phil (sic) analysis if you must. He's proven he can score goals in a mid-table team. He's proven nothing about playing at the highest level. He's proven nothing about dealing with competing against 'world class' players for a spot (if that's what we're calling Torres, Ba and Eto'o now). But I do see your point. We should ignore his attitude and just be suckered in by him scoring some goals. I'm absolutely bored of discussing him with people who wilfully ignore the most important aspect of a footballer in Jose's mind - character.

The difference between Lukaku and Ronaldo is that Ronaldo is a guy who doesn't shy away from challenges. Mourinho respects people who work hard and no-one in world football works harder than Ronaldo, whereas Lukaku (when presented with a challenge) requested a transfer. That's a severe character deficiency that some people overlook and think Jose will just ignore.

At half the price he might make sense, but no chance at £20 million.

£15 million for one of the best left-backs in Europe who didn't make the Brazilian squad because there's an unwritten rule that Thiago Silva is the only defender with actual defensive talent allowed to be selected. Beyond that I agree that Pogba as a replacement for Ramires and Mikel (£25-30 million between them?) actually makes sense.

Basically he's a perfectly adequate player who you wouldn't actually want to have to play for us, but as a back-up to the back-up he's perfectly capable so long as we don't expect him to do much going forward or a huge amount of defensive work. Based on these remarkable comments on his ability I feel I should add that I've heard he makes a great cup of tea, keeps his area of the changing room clean and always lets the other players borrow his deodorant. But there's a reason that everyone was surprised that he managed a move to Chelsea in the first place. In fact I've heard from people who played with him as a kid that he was pretty average then as well, which just goes to show what a premium left-backs have attached to them.

And what to you is a reputable source? Jason Burt in the Telegraph was linking us with Pogba in May http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/chelsea/10852796/Chelsea-want-to-sign-either-Paul-Pogba-Koke-or-Paulinho-after-agreeing-48m-deal-for-David-Luiz.html The simple fact is that we weren't linked with Fabregas until a deal was very much underway at the start of June. Before that all the talk had been about him going to United. Now I don't generally think that Pogba being in London is a sign he's coming to us, but let's not re-write history and pretend that Fabregas's arrival was predicted by 'reputable sources' that far in advance of it happening. Like a lot of our deals it came quickly out of the blue.

No they weren't. Up until 31/5 when the story about him leaving Barcelona came up he wasn't linked to us in the slightest. In fact it was a few days after that when we cropped up because before that (12 months before that in fact) he was being linked to United, first under Moyes. We've been linked to Pogba since at least the Luiz sale (as well as Koke and Paulinho). The two situations are absolutely comparable.

Suarez is Liverpool's Bale. Teams at that level don't come across proper world-class talent everyday and you should never exchange (to paraphrase Bill Simmons) a dollar for some quarters and nickels. That's to say that it's very rare for a team to compensate for the loss of a star with a few lesser pieces. Spurs became a worse team after losing Bale and I reckon the same will happen with Liverpool regardless of who they bring in.

Where's this Pogba going to see Eminem rumour coming from? Or has is just come out of Eminem being a rap artist and Pogba being black? Maybe he's going to see Wicked.

As a replacement for both Ramires and Mikel then he'd be ideal, plus there's the settling of the Mutu money which could be a very useful bargaining chip. I'd still like to see us develop youngsters like Chalobah and Pogba would be an obstacle to them, but he's got massive potential and if we could get £30 million-ish for Rami and Mikel then his fee isn't quite as prohibitive.

That's your opinion, but it's not mine. Just don't believe the image you see on tv because he's by no means naive when it comes to understanding the way to market an image, and nor are the people he pays a lot of money. Simple fact is that he's somehow the second most marketable star of this tournament. You may think stuff like that 'just happens' but it doesn't. No. He's ok as a DM but he's not brilliant. He's certainly had good games there but let's not go overboard. Although once again there's the discussion about where the world's most expensive defender's best position is.

So you realised that he's a world class DM but Jose Mourinho didn't. Is that likely? Someone doesn't have to be an 'actor' for something to be an act. But of course why would he play up the emotional shit? It's not like the cameras will be drawn to him more thus increasing his profile and earning power...oh wait. Out of interest do you think that footballers endorse products because they genuinely believe in their quality?

This whole 'nice guy' schtick is just so overplayed though. The Brazilian team went overboard with the emotional stuff in the World Cup, but Luiz's mawkish attempts were the worst. He's a preening, selfish, look-at-me type player. It's that stuff I objected to with his constant instagramming. Maybe I'm being cynical but I don't think much of what he does is sincere. The way he hijacked James Rodriguez after the final whistle, the emotional screaming of the national anthem....every single act seems almost scripted to attract the world's cameras, right down to the emotional final speech, eyes red from tears, voice cracking....just in front of the advertisements. And it's worked. He's become the world's most expensive defender when he has HUGE deficiencies. He has 4 million Twitter followers, a distinctive, hugely marketable look and even the trademark gesture (tongue out, thumbs up with the pinky finger pointing down....if you think that's any less scripted than Bale's trademarked 'heart' gesture then you're naive) which all adds up to one thing - endorsement deals. Oh, and I know I'll be accused of being a hater and orchestrating some slanderous campaign against a sincere young boy who just wants to play football. Maybe I'm cynical but I've been around enough sportspeople and 'their people' to know that very little of what you see in front of the cameras hasn't been planned, vetted, focus-grouped and sponsored long before it ever happens.

There's absolutely no reason for him or us to do that though. He's on holiday, we've got the deal sewn up so why not just wait until he's in Cobham ready to train and get the photo done at the same time? He's a Chelsea player in all but name now. People just need to relax and not look for conspiracy theories.

He shouldn't accept that though and I doubt many teams would. Third-choice full-back is rarely a specialist in that position. It's Geremi or Essien most of the time and that's the way it should remain in my opinion. Cash in on him now, let him continue his spectacularly average career elsewhere and everyone's happy. The truth is he's simply not that good a player. I agree with you about Van Aanholt though.

Too much talking about me, rather than the points I've raised which is amazing considering the length of your post. You talk about his start to the season being enough to justify him not getting stick but how many games did he actually play well in during that time? 8? 9 maybe? After that there's what, the Southampton match, Arsenal at home, Stoke and maybe Newcastle. That's a good performance every 4 or 5 matches from a player who has been here for two years and put in over 100 appearances. And I actually defended him a lot of the time. I said that selling Mata was the right thing (still believe that) and that we shouldn't sell Oscar when the PSG rumours were abound but he does absolutely nothing to defend himself much of the time. He's looking more and more hesitant when in possession of the ball. Look at his dribbling technique recently compared to someone like James, Hazard, Neymar, Alexis Sanchez etc. I'm starting to have grave reservations about whether he can actually play at number 10 for a top team. His future may lie deeper in midfield as a tempo setter a la Modric rather than the star of the side. Now I can make an argument to say that all may not be that dire, particularly in light of the performances of players like Gotze and Isco last season, but the simple fact is that in his second season in the Premier League he didn't just stagnate....he regressed. Whilst Hazard actually stepped up and improved as the season wore on, Oscar got worse. As for the World Cup, I don't think it's a great barometer of a player's level of quality but the argument put forward to defend Oscar was that he was saving himself or focusing on this tournament. It's therefore annoying when he's bang average for most of it. Finally, I have no idea why you decided to ignore discussing Oscar and spend that post talking about me. I don't make posts in response to you personal so why you felt the need to do that I don't know but if you want to continue doing that then I'm more than happy to offer more ad hominem responses to you.

I actually replied earlier by pointing out that the Germans actually took their foot off the gas (which they clearly did) and that Ramires's performance was nothing special, but simply looked ok (not good) because Paulinho, Oscar, Luiz Gustavo and Fernandinho were all very poor themselves. I'm not the one with my knickers in a bunch because a guy who was actually poor by any objective measure didn't get credit for not being quite as shit as others who were worse. Please put me on ignore though because I'm doing the same with you. Enjoy your time as a Chelsea supporter.

I think people need to be a bit realistic about what Jose Mourinho (he's the Chelsea manager) will select to start away to Burnley. I'd be very surprised if Ivanovic didn't start and anyone not selecting Cahill and Terry as starting centre-backs (Zouma lolololololololololol.....no) is having a laugh. Courtois Ivanovic Cahill Terry Azpi Fabregas Matic Willian Oscar Hazard Costa Could even see Ramires or Tiago starting because Burnley will be up for a fight in their first game. Can't see Jose messing around too much with the back four when we have two much more comfortable home matches to introduce Luis to the league. Bit boring but first day of the season is about getting three points, not blooding youngsters or taking risks.