The only place to be

A £40 million bid is on it's way. BTW, have you heard of a player called John Obi Mikel because we could do you a lovely deal on him.

If Brazil wins the World Cup and he becomes one of the faces of it then you've got a great marketing asset. You're still paying a ridiculous amount but maybe PSG sees him as being a face of the club. He's certainly got 'personality', although I mean that in the most Disney/Nickelodeon sense. Do you have Instagram? Do you like pictures of grown men with crazy hair sticking their tongues out? Then you are in luck He's also a good defender on his day and he'll tear up the French league.

Strange distinction to make between a player we signed at 17 for £5 million and a player we signed at 19 for £12 million. Talking to a few coaches who are involved with top young players on a daily basis and what they talk about is momentum. Players at this age (18-21) need to feel like their progressing and being constantly tested. A lot can fall into the trap of feeling like they've 'arrived' at the party after what can be a very competitive experience in the Academy, whereas the very best youngsters are the ones who are continually pushed and pushing themselves to be better. Kalas has a nice progression from being in the youth ranks, going on loan to Vitesse and then coming back here. He was unfortunate in that he got injured towards the start of the season and then found himself unable to get into the first-team simply because Cahill and Terry became too important to rest. Despite that he got to learn what it was to be a pro at this club, he got to work with Jose and he got to prove who he was to him. The fact that he then got a couple of starts late on in the season meant he picked up a bit more momentum going into next season, but for that to continue I don't know if it's worth him staying here. Will Terry and Cahill get dropped? No. Is Ivanovic ahead of him in the pecking order? Yes, especially if we get a left-back (like Filipe Luis) so we can switch Azpi to the right either through choice or necessity. So you're talking about a player being here as fourth-choice CB when we also have Omeruo and (in particular) Zouma who could both do with a season at the club. I know this post isn't going to get many likes, partly because it isn't bashing the club and partly because being realistic about what it takes to make it at a top club isn't that fun but Kalas deserves a crack at having a career as the best player he can be. He's fulfilled a lot of those early steps, he's had a tough first season at a big club but he's ending it moving forward with some decent momentum. Now he needs to do it consistently and that requires either 25 or so starts here (which is unlikely) or a move to a decent club who will give him those starts. But it's all about momentum.

OK, that was evil.

2 are already out injured, 1 of them being a midfielder. Fingers crossed.

We could conceivably sell Lukaku and Courtois for at least double what we paid for them too. Astoundingly good business compared to what we were doing a few years ago. Still scared to believe these rumours though. Too good to be true. Next we'll be linked with selling Mikel....oh wait http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/inter-milan-hint-at-move-for-chelsea-midfielder-mikel-052214

Fourth CB behind Ivanovic if we get full-back cover. I'd love to see Kalas develop here but he needs games and if he can get them in the Bundesliga then it's probably better than the odd game here. We also have Omeruo and Zouma who may well be in contention for a spot next season so it's not like loaning Kalas is us giving up on youth. Jose has had a whole season to appraise Kalas, so maybe he wants to do the same with Omeruo and Zouma. At the end of the day he's only 21. He's got some nice momentum from his matches at the end of the season so he needs to build on that. He isn't going to displace Terry or Cahill.

The Telegraph is reserved as newspapers go. They don't tend to go crazy with the rumours although they will sometimes report rumours from other sources. Of course it varies from reporter to reporter - Ogden is good on United rumours for instance (broke the Moyes leaving story). The final is tomorrow so you'd expect any deal to move forward at the start of next week.

You don't sell Hazards unless you have to. They're not players who are abundant. He's a potential ballon d'or and the truth is that any club looking to buy him right now would have to start at the world record transfer fee and maybe go up to €100 million.

This is the thing about Luiz and arguments that support him - people meander from talking about him as a midfielder and defender too easily. You talk about the way we defend not suiting him but then talk up his performances as a midfielder. When you talk about his 'deep defensive position' do you mean CB or DM? Are PSG buying a defender or midfielder here? I think you're right that our system does require defenders to do the basics consistently and that is a problem for Luiz. He'll shine for PSG because the French league is far weaker.

Gundogan has been out for a year, but Kroos is hardly a defensive workhorse is he? Fabregas is a nice player but I simply don't think he has the mentality that Jose wants. He doesn't have that fire that Jose craves from his players which is why I think that any transfer for him is unlikely. To me he's a bottle-job....perfect for Arsenal.

The thought of getting him for £10-15 million 18 months ago would've been astounding to me. I don't think I could convince myself to think this would be a great deal now but let's be honest - the past 12 months haven't been a fair reflection of who he really is as a player. United was the absolute wrong move for him and they managed him poorly, but no-one came out of that season looking good. He'll be a decent player for someone and part of me wonders if he could still do that DM job alongside Matic, but that ship has probably sailed.

I hope Lampard stays and I think he's needed at the club right now with Cole almost certainly gone and Cech possibly having a smaller role. Van Ginkel's absence was weirdly unnoticed by most people outside the club, but he could be a real surprise next season. I think Ramires hangs around because he has a unique skillset. Chalobah has a chance to impress in the summer and I'm hoping he does enough - I'd give him the number 4 shirt right now actually. I think we'll sign someone else but it won't be a Kroos or Rakitic or Fabregas. Be interesting to see what happens with Pasalic as well. Could go to the World Cup, could get a few weeks training here, could be loaned out. Wouldn't put it past Jose to surprise people and include someone a bit younger next season.

I agree that's the type of profile Jose seems to want there. Athletic players who can contribute at both ends like Matic or Modric. Fabregas has always seemed a bit powderpuff to me, closer to someone like De Bruyne. More chance of us going for Song than Fabregas in my opinion.

Matic, Lampard, Van Ginkel, Ramires, Chalobah + A.N.Other

It's only fair that we should get £50 million for a defender like Luiz when we paid £50 million for a striker like Torres. #karma. (The chances of us getting much more than £35 million are fantastically remote but it's a profit on a player we don't actually need).

I do sometimes wonder what type of 'banter' I'm sometimes missing out on by my amazing ability to ignore Twitter. I guarantee that no-one worth giving a fuck about cares about our training kit being light blue. Do you know how I know this?? Because it's a training kit. No-one has ever cared about a training kit for the simple fact that it's a training kit.

He doesn't say that. Again, listening to the interview rather than reading comments out of context really doesn't make me feel all that outraged. He's massively complimentary about Cech and seems to be making a case for not coming back rather than demanding to start. Do people actually expect him to say that he would be happy simply playing the Cup games? Oh wait, people want boring automatons who don't say anything no matter how bland their comments actually are. Even the Mail can't be bothered to sensationalise those comments http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2635282/Thibaut-Courtois-does-not-want-Chelseas-cup-keeper-hopes-talks-Jose-Mourinho.html That's essentially what he is saying.

Nothing he has said in that interview is out of order. He's massively respectful to the club, to the fans and to Cech. There's this strange desire in modern society to find something to be offended by, to make mountains out of molehills. There needs to be a collective unbunching of panties.

Here's his comments in full. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01zhnm5 Personally I think he sounds very respectful towards the club and Cech. He's very complimentary and the way I inferred it was that he thought Cech would maybe stick around whilst he didn't return next season. To me he doesn't sound like this monstrous ego demanding to be given the first-team shirt, but simply recognises the problems that having two top-class keepers brings.

His comments are so innocuous that you have to respect the effort that those who are feigning offence are putting in. Seriously, he could've said so many worse things yet the only (barely) contentious thing he said was that he and Cech wouldn't want to play second fiddle to one another. That's in the same interview that he said Cech was a legend and one of the best in the business. The nerve of the man.

Personally I've never gotten over Jose lying about his team selection prior to the Barca game in 05. What type of manager isn't honest with his team selection and tactics before a match? This whole David Luiz thing is just another example. He should start the season by being totally upfront with the media and opposition managers about his intentions regarding team selection and tactics.

What an overreaction to a few innocuous comments from an ambitious sportsman who is saying what most of us have been saying for months. Going by form he's the better keeper so why would he want to leave a club who could possibly be European champions to sit on the bench behind a guy whose form has been declining ever since he was European champion?

Took that goal superbly. He's a proper poacher in the box.

Best goalkeeper in the Premier League last season. The argument about Courtois benefitting from our defence could quite easily have been made about Cech in his time here. Fortunately Courtois will come into another team with a strong defence next season. If he had been here this season then he may well have already claimed the shirt because Cech was pretty ordinary at times. Am I the only person who sees nothing wrong with what he's said?