The only place to be

So what is the point of having an Academy then? Chelsea haven't always bought talent/success either. It wouldn't be 'relying' on them but incorpating them into the squad, although Baker is almost certainly going out on loan. Pogba is only at Juventus because United didn't give him a chance.

I don't think anyone doubts how good Pogba could be, just that the prices floating around are insane. If his agent pushes for less than £150k p/w he wants sacking.

So the €60 million player ahead of them won't stop them? There won't be a financial prerogative to give this guy more chances, regardless of his effectiveness? How many points did Real Madrid win the league by?

Real also won La Liga didn't they? They spent the most money after all. Which badge? The commemorative ones we release if we win a trophy? I think you'll just have to forgive us sentimental types who get attached to names like Osgood, Bentley, Lampard and Terry and want to see the next ones come through. Maybe we shouldn't bother with names on shirts anymore though. Just have transfer fees. Someone should change this thread title to Mr €65 Million. A midfield of €65 Million and £21 million would be amazing. In a betting sense it would actually mean spreading the bet rather than going all in on 1 horse. I don't see how putting all this money on Pogba is in any way 'hedging your bets'. Was buying Torres in 2011 hedging our bets? No. Buying 3 strikers who cost a combined £50 million would be closer.

THAT'S NOT THE CORRECT WAY TO USE THAT PHRASE. Stop saying hedge your bets unless you actually mean hedge your bets. What you actually mean to say is 'go all in' which is the complete fucking opposite of hedging your bets. It couldn't be further away from what you mean to say if you tried. You could literally mash the keyboard with your fists and it would probably produce something more apt than saying 'hedge your bets'. OK? No offence. Phew.....right. As for Chalobah, I've never really failed to be impressed by him. I've been a fan of his since his days in the youth team and at Watford he looked a very special player. In fact if you're looking for a player to be like Yaya Toure then it's probably Nat. He has that laconic style that Yaya has whereas Pogba is a lot more agile and fleet of foot. But I would back Nat Chalobah to step up if given the chance. There's a reason the club gave him such a big contract and the belief amongst the coaches seems to be there too. It's also not just him, but Loftus-Cheek too. Spending €65 million on a 21 year old when we have similar players aged 19 and 18 just strikes me as a little silly. That's double what we spent on Hazard for instance, more than four times what we spent on Lukaku and three times what we spent on Courtois and Azpilicueta COMBINED. I don't quite get the ease with which people can find themselves with such spending.

Is 'hedge our bets' some kind of phrase of the day or something? Chalobah hasn't just been around for the last six months. At Watford he was one of the best players in the Championship. He's been voted England young player of the year. He was a star in our FA Youth Cup team up against a certain Paul Pogba....the same Paul Pogba who left to go to Juve at roughly the same age Nat is now for a tiny fee before erupting into this amazing player. So if you want to tell me that Nat Chalobah doesn't have what it takes to be a top level player for us then that's fine. I'll trust your analytical abilities. If the same goes for Ruben Loftus-Cheek then maybe there's a strong impetus for us to invest what is a large sum in a player like Pogba. But if the club thinks they can develop a player of similar quality in-house then there's a good reason not to take such a large gamble. If we signed just Costa and gave the youngsters a chance whilst bringing in someone like Tiago we'd win the league too. I can't prove that, just like you can't prove your assertion, but I strongly think we're not that far off being the best team around already. The highest level isn't Serie A and the Europa League. We should send Pogba on loan too, just to make sure.

Shaw is not a 'lock'. He's a massive gamble. Pogba at more than twice that price is also a massive gamble. I'm still intrigued by your use of the phrase 'hedging your bets' when you're talking about committing so much money towards Pogba. As for my bias towards English players, I think we need an English core at this club. I also like Shaw for purely sentimental reasons as well, which I've never really denied.

How is spending this much money on Pogba 'hedging our bets'? This amount of money is an insane gamble, much like the Torres deal and that had ramifications much further down the line. You said yourself that last Summer we spent this much money on 4 players - that's hedging your bets/spreading the risk. The figures being bandied about for Pogba would make him the joint-fifth most expensive player of all time yet that seems acceptable to some? Chalobah. He's still a gamble but there's no money attached since we own him. Similarly Tiago would be a smaller gamble since he's free and a proven quantity in more ways.

Because Shaw costs more in both wages and transfer fees and might not actually be as good as Luis. Shaw is a MASSIVE gamble. Luis is less so. Well that's something we don't know yet. We could uncover another young gem in that time or even develop our own in-house. Again you're discounting the young players from making that step up which I'm not quite prepared to do yet. How purchasing Luis doesn't make sense I don't know. He's a good player. He's proven at the top-level and he costs quite a lot less than Shaw would. Don't get me wrong, I'd love for us to sign Shaw but it's a massively expensive gamble. Over the next couple of seasons we'd be set at left-back with Luis.

Say Luis is here for three years, then we can start blooding someone like Dasilva in his final year or look at other young prospects we might acquire. Or we might simply look to bring someone else in when Luis leaves. With the Tiago situation I think he gives us a safety net to maybe start blooding some of the youngsters from this upcoming season. Chalobah should be in the first team squad, Baker needs a loan in all likelihood and Loftus-Cheek could go either way.

I've heard rumours that Jay Dasilva (actually aged 16) has plans to 'age'. Quite a controversial move but he's hoping to be at least 18 in three years time, possibly pushing to be 19 if time allows. I don't know if you've heard of the Curious Case of Bejamin Button but apparently it's something like that, but in reverse. And you're correct that Aina has featured at left-back this season, as has Ake. Maybe the club think that a proven top-level player is a better bet right now than a gamble on a youngster.

How exactly do you know this? Do I think someone aged 19/20 could be our left-back? Good point. Definitely not. Quick let's buy Luke Shaw.

Bertrand and Van Aanholt are done. I was talking more about the guys coming through like Aina and Dasilva.

Rumours that Miranda is off to United too. That Atletico team is being decimated. As a short-term option then he fits what we need, a bit like the Tiago deal. Not expensive, immediate upgrade, fits the system and gives us a chance to develop some of the young guys.

HIs reported wages are £22,000 p/w less than Shaw's reported wages.

So we might be interested in a 25 year old talent with around 50 caps for his country who might be available on a free transfer from one of the best clubs in Europe?? Wow!! Great work there Daily Mail reporter. This summer I've decided to play a new game. Every time I see a link to a Mail transfer story I try and guess which numpty wrote it. What's sad is that I know the names of more than one Mail reporter....although when in doubt 'that cunt' is an acceptable nom de plume.

Luiz has gone, Lampard is out of contract and Mikel is barely a fringe player and linked with moves to Inter. Not sure how signing a 33 year old Tiago precludes us from involving young players next season.

Not going to have a discussion about this beyond saying that in my view he's a completely rounded midfielder rather than a conventional regista like Pirlo. But if the people who want a DLP see Tiago as being that then all power to them. You can enjoy his passing and I'll enjoy his ability to get from box to box and make tackles all day.

The manager of Chelsea will always be under massive pressure. There is no time that a player can come in and not be under pressure to succeed but there are ways of covering for them. We have one £21 million midfielder already and he is a nailed-on starter. If you buy another £30 million midfielder then that's both slots filled and any hope we have of bringing through youngsters is pretty much done. Tiago is a great safety net. Firstly he's an upgrade on almost every midfielder we have bar Matic. He knows this league, he knows this club, he knows the players - there's very little acclimatising to do. He comes from a system that is very similar to our's. He's technically sound and coped with the rigours of a title-winning team who made it to the final of the Champions League, and was a key player for them. I know some people think that we need to sign a DLP for our midfield otherwise we'll struggle to create chances, but I think that's probably slightly out of alignment with the view of the manager. We lost the league last year because we had no striker, in much the same way that United's strikers won them the league the year before. That's being addressed. If we can address depth issues with quality player who cost nothing and don't block the progress of young players (something that we all recognise the need to promote) then what's the issue?

I honestly don't think we need to spend massively in midfield this summer. Why not actually give our youngsters a chance to develop rather than signing a player for £30 million? The fact that one of the guys people want to buy is Pogba, a guy who left United because he wasn't getting chances just strikes me as odd. Instead of splurging on a player to player 40 games a season why not let Tiago play 20-odd games and give the rest to the yougsters? We were only 4 points off the title with Ramires and no striker last year.

Van Ginkel Chalobah Loftus-Cheek Colkett Boga Swift Ake Baker

Tiago is a much better option than Mikel all round. Mikel really is only useful in one type of situation and Tiago probably does that better anyway. If Van Ginkel and Chalobah are the young guys this year then who are the senior players? Ramires? Matic is still young himself and that leaves Lamps who may not stick around. A 33 year old whose last two games were the La Liga decider and the Champions League Final and who knows the club and the league and the manager could be a valuable commodity. Actually Roberts did and he's younger than Loftus-Cheek....and not as good. Yet. Loftus-Cheek is probably one of the best young talents around and is possibly ahead of where Pogba and Chaloba were at the same age. He could skip the loan process all together and go into the first-team squad.

Or competing with Van Ginkel, Chalobah, Ramires and Lampard for that spot. Not sure how this creates any less competition than signing someone like Pogba. Signing Pogba basically puts a 21 year old and a 25 year old ahead of all of our youngsters. Signing Tiago gives those youngsters a chance whilst also giving us a safety net in case they don't pan out.

Mikel and Torres have both been linked with Inter. Tiago might be more than a bench warmer. He wasn't that for La Liga champions and the team that knocked us out of the Champions League and he's free. He could be the player who pushed Ramires out of the first-team.

Kalas broke his leg so that was hardly Jose's fault. The Forest loan was a disaster, mainly because their manager was a twat but the Boro loan was a lot better. He simply shouldn't have been loaned to the Championship this season though and it would probably kill his career if it happened again next season. He needs to be playing and training with the first-team next year otherwise his career will irretrievably stall and I don't think anyone at the club wants to see that happen. He's too good for that, which is why I'd be surprised if he wasn't training with the club this summer and winning that spot.