The only place to be

Good point....but £100k p/w wages for an 18 year old? Those are the figures being reported and that's more than some of our most important players earn. It's unearned and unjustified. Should other players have pay-raises in accordance with this wage, or should they just be told that because Shaw is English he can ask for more and we'll pay it? As for us being the new Arsenal....no.

Against West Ham we created 39 chances. The problem was the lack of a clinical striker to actually finish them. And how on Earth is it easier to blame the strikers rather than the midfield?? I really do hope you're right but I've never been truly convinced by him. Maybe Jose thinks he can utilise him the way he used Alonso alongside Khedira, but I honestly think Alonso is a far more complete player especially defensively. He's got a lot more bite and zip to his game. Granted Fabregas was being used by Wenger as a de facto number 10 in his last couple of seasons, so I hope he shows he can do that. But this will be a system unlike Arsenal, Barcelona or Spain's so there's no guarantees he'll thrive. Fingers crossed.

And Jose put the blame for those performances at the feet of the strikers, and rightly so. Costa looks very much like a Jose signing. Matic looks very much like a Jose signing. Fabregas looks like a Roman signing. Fabregas....Rakitic....those aren't Jose players. He likes players with power about them, someone like Pogba or even Koke who has shown that he can be disciplined defensively as well as picking a pass. Jose is the guy who sold Mata and went with Oscar because Oscar edged Mata in terms of defensive discipline. If this story was about United signing Fabregas then people would be saying he wouldn't fit Van Gaal's style....but he's going to fit Jose's? I have serious doubts.

And that's the problem - the reason Jose always beats Wenger is because he doesn't give his team time and space. He hustles them, he starves them of space and they collapse. Look at the 6-0 win. Now which team does Fabregas fit perfectly into?

Modric has always had that snappiness. He was more like Oscar who can show some pace and hit some balls with some power. Half the time when I watch Fabregas he seems to be jogging and he also looks like he underhits a lot of passes. Maybe it's just his style, but I always think that when we play against Fabregas that he's easily unsettled by someone like Matic or Essien. I've said it before that he's the archetypal Wenger player....and we've always been able to smash those types of cunts.

Honestly I've never really rated the guy. Always thought he lacked a bit of drive and urgency in possession, the type of player that our midfielders (Lamps, Essien, Ballack, Ramires, Matic) would simply out-hustle and push off the ball. To me he's the archetypal Arsenal bottle-job. Not at all surprised Van Gaal doesn't want him, and still surprised that we do.

€75 million isn't enough for starters. Secondly, he's shown no indication that he wants to leave. Bizarre conversation.

He also deserves credit for pushing himself even harder after Roman bought the club. He was by no means untouchable, but he simply made it so that even though we could buy any player on the planet we didn't need to replace him. He's not the most technically gifted player I've ever seen (probably Zola, maybe Hazard), not the fastest (Terry Phelan still probably, although his hamstrings couldn't take it) and probably not the most elegant player (Neil Shipperley easily ....closely followed by Ballack who was just the most graceful player I've seen) but no-one I've seen from any club could time a run into the box like him. If Makelele defined the DM position for a generation, then surely Frank perfected the late-arriving, goalscoring midfielder role.

Can't emphasise just how much my admiration of him stretches beyond simply his football ability. His dedication to his fitness was exemplary and something every young player should strive to emulate. His class on the pitch is also an example every player coming through the ranks should look to embody. Off the pitch he's always been a top bloke too. Met him a few times in different situations and he's been nothing but welcoming and kind. Was especially good with my younger sister when I introduced her at a charity function. He was the first player I think she truly got interested in football through and he couldn't have been sweeter when I explained that. He seemed a bit embarrassed but took some time to chat with her when he really didn't have to. Probably doesn't get mentioned much but he's got to be one of the best transfers in the history of the Premier League. The level of consistency he reached was remarkable, as was his ability to stay fit (another testament to his impeccable preparation on the training pitch which put those moronic 'Fat Frank' comments from those Hammers cunts into perspective). A fantastic ambassador for this club and for this league. Wish him the best this summer too.

Why bother responding to a guy comparing an out and out attacking midfielder to players we're looking to play in midfield?

Chalobah. If City lose Yaya they're fucked. If Liverpool lose Suarez they're fucked. It's the nature of sport. Still not convinced that Fabregas is sufficiently good defensively or has a high enough workrate, but if Jose thinks he does then I trust him.

This is just inevitable isn't it. Barca don't want him. Arsenal don't want him. City don't want him. Liverpool don't want him. United don't want him. Koke doesn't want us. Looking forward to the press conference when everyone has to pretend like this is a dream come true.

Oh jeez....why did you have to post that. The mental strength...the emotion....the guts.....that's one of the most amazing moments I've ever experienced in sport. Summed him up as both a player and a man.

Class player and class guy. Doubt this is the last of him we'll see at this club though.

I'm not saying that it wouldn't be funny watching Arsenal fans squirm and of course there's a little bit of hypocrisy in there but he's soooo Arsenal and Barcelona. He's homegrown, he's proven in this league, he's in his prime, he's available, he's probably what we need offensively although I think he's a bit of a softcock defensively....I need Jose to tell me he's the right guy before I believe this could happen. I still think he'll end up at City.

He probably embodies all that Wenger is more than anyone else. If you were to drain Wenger's nutsack entirely, and then stack it 5'10" high and stick a stupid face on it then it would probably look a lot like Fabregas.

I'd love to see a race between Romelu Lukaku and Harry Redknapp to see who could get to a reporter's microphone first. Harry can use his Range Rover of course.

I think I could name 3 young players whose Names begin with B whom we already own who could replace him. Let's see.... Boga Baker Bertrand (Traore) Yay me.

Ladyman at the Mail is saying City aren't in for him as is Jackson at the Guardian. Ben Smith at the BBC is saying Liverpool aren't in for him. The Times are apparently saying United aren't and The Telegraph are saying Arsenal aren't. Basically every club that could buy him has been ruled out by at least one source....except Chelsea, who have been reported in El Confidential as having agreed terms. Fuck it. He might as well have Luiz's old shirt then. Nat can have 8 and I'm a happy puppy.

Not sure why there's discussion about this still. He didn't fancy his chances at a top European club so he asked to leave and went to a mid-tier Bundesliga team where he'd get plenty of football. Good for him doing well for Belgium too but he asked to leave this club. Jose doesn't want players who don't want to be here and fight for a spot in a top club and I don't blame him. Using what happened with De Bruyne as a stick to bash Jose is a bit silly but unsurprising when you look at the comments.

Ashley went a long way to pissing Arsenal fans off before he joined us. I think that got a lot of grudging respect from Chelsea supporters because he essentially forced a transfer to us in a pretty underhanded way. Fabregas is only an option because Barcelona want to get shot of him. Does anyone actually think he's pushing for a move to Chelsea? Arsenal don't want him, Barca don't want him and he wants to live in London. It's a convenience thing if it goes through.

Impose? Now that's a bizarre term to use when I'm simply articulating my viewpoint to someone. Yes sport is about technical skill and athletic prowess, but supporting a particular club fervently overtakes that sometimes. Occasionally you'll see supporters applaud a piece of skill by the opposition but that's a rare occurrence. Fabregas is a technically proficient player and he may well improve us as a team BUT he's also a human being and many supporters will have an opinion about him as a person. No, but people are expressing reservations about the impact of inviting someone like him into the Chelsea family because that's what this (and any) football club is. It's a series of human connections - you're presenting it as nothing more than an Excel spreadsheet. Player A adds +3 value to Football Club A ergo Football Club A should sign Player A from Football Club B. It doesn't work like that. Drogba and Lamps weren't hated by other fans and Terry and Cole were very well respected by the majority of decent football supporters. How about people accept that a lot of Chelsea supporters really don't like Fabregas, really aren't all that excited by the prospect of buying him but that they'd probably give him a chance to show some fight in this shirt first??

What is the point in this stupid little game then? It's ALL about emotional stuff unless you actually think that kicking a ball around a pitch has some greater social worth??

They aren't directly related but the timing of the two things connects them in people's minds.

Cahill Matic Van Ginkel Oscar Azpi Ivanovic PETR CECH A selection of the players whose reported wages would be lower than 18 year old Luke Shaw's reported wages. Now I'm sure some might use words like 'market' and stuff like that to try and justify it but if these reported figures are correct, these aren't market prices when there's so few suitors for him.