The only place to be

How many starts did Azpi get in those four matches? How about minutes? Less than a minute at United. His first start was a month later in the COC but he took that chance, worked his bollocks off and became a first-choice member of this squad. That's the type of player Jose likes. I also think he's poorly advised. Last season he had Torres, Ba and Eto'o as competition. The shirt was there to be won. Next season he could quite possibly have Costa and Mandzukic as competition. If he wants to leave then we sell him for a profit or loan him. If he wants to stay and fight then good for him. Ultimately this club wins and that's the most important thing. As I've said before, he needs Chelsea more than Chelsea needs Romelu Lukaku.

Lamps is also a fantastic ambassador for this club and a great example for every player in the squad. He can still play a role in certain games but it's also important to bear in mind that if he were to leave then our senior midfielder would be Ramires at 27. A player-coach role on reduced wages is probably my preferred option for him.

I don't think we should sell him necessarily. I think a year or two on loan might be the best if we get in Costa and Mandzukic and then assess him from there. Having said that there's also a case for selling him for profit and using that to strengthen the squad in the short term.

I know exactly what you said. Make all the excuses for him that you want but the guy was getting chances. And you're a little keyboard warrior who can't debate without resorting to insults, usually calling people retarded.

11 league assists in his last season here. That's only two less than Gerrard managed this season. Eden managed 7.

He featured in 3 of our first 4 games including one against the European champions.

Plan A with us next season is almost certainly going to be a counter-attacking tactic. Costa is ideal for that (his running off defenders reminds me of Crespo at times). He also offers a threat in the box. Plan B is going to come into play when we face teams who defend deep and with numbers and what you want then is an aerial threat. Mandzukic is strong in that department. Now in my opinion, Lukaku fits in better right now as a Plan A type player, drifting wide and using his pace to get behind defences. He's bizarrely weak in the air (or not as strong as he should be at least). I don't know if he does the Plan B stuff as well. So it comes down to a combination of complimentary strikers who allow us to do different things.

Lukaku can still go on loan next season and come back aged 22. That's still 4 years younger than Didier was when he rocked up at the Bridge. As far as the cash deal goes, if we can get a top striker for a slightly cheaper price then it's not a bad option.

He asked to leave the club when apparently he 'bleeds blue'. What is the better combination of strikers in your opinion? Costa and Lukaku or Costa and Mandzukic? Which combination offers more variety and ultimately which combination has a higher chance of helping us win games? He has time on his side and that's a good thing because he could certainly improve his all-round play. A one-two combo of him and Costa would be a definite upgrade on this season, but to me they're very similar players. Mandzukic actually gives us an option off the bench to really change the way we attack teams. Not if we get Costa and Mandzukic. We needed him last season but he asked to leave. It's his own fault at the end of the day.

Just to put this whole minutes thing into context, when Jose was in charge of Real Madrid in the 2011-12 season they scored 121 goals.His two main strikers were Benzema and Higuain. Benzema featured in 52 games, starting 40 and scoring 32 goals. Higuain featured in 54 games, starting 28 and scoring 26. Benzema got 3561 minutes, Higuain got 2785. These are two top strikers who bring different things to the table seemingly able to live harmoniously with one another and get plenty of minutes and goals. Costa and Mandzukic can do the same for us hopefully. The other thing to take away from that....Lukaku has fuck all chance of getting many minutes in that type of scenario.

We have young players like Chalobah, Van Ginkel, Baker and Loftus-Cheek on the cusp of the first-team. I'd like to see them given a chance before we spend £30 million + on someone else. This is a player who has proven himself in this league, is probably underpriced because he was apparently bought to Barca as a defender and is homegrown.

There is also talk of Lamps being involved in a coaching capacity, and the guy is a genuine Chelsea legend so there is an emotional reason why people want to keep him around.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/chelsea/10836784/Barcelona-offer-Alex-Song-to-Chelsea-as-part-of-David-Luiz-swap-deal.html Very much a slight rumour and no indication about whether we'd even be interested but he's a midfielder so....yay?? Get past the fact that he played for Arsenal and he was actually very productive in his last season in the Premier League. 11 assists in a role that afforded him more freedom to go forward and there were rumours that if he were to leave he'd be valued at about £10 million which could be something of a bargain for a player who is approaching his prime and has experience of this league. One more thing - he was registered as homegrown by Arsenal.

The Belgian winger also admitted that manager Jose Mourinho had been right to drive him hard and demand more from him. 'It’s true and it’s good,' said Hazard. 'I prefer it when we speak like this, rather than saying things like: "He’s the best and he doesn’t need to work".' It's almost like Jose Mourinho knows how to motivate players...weird huh? Fantastic response from Eden though and exactly what he needs to reach the highest levels.

Lukaku is a fancy name and who are you to say Belgium isn't exotic? Is it much less exotic than Croatia? What a weird little rant. Kinda reads like something you'd hear in the mid-90s when Johnny Foreigner started showing up en masse in the Premiership. I can only speak for myself, but the Costa/Mandzukic partnership offers much more tactical diversity and quality than a Costa/Lukaku partnership. Lukaku is still young and had a chance last season before asking to leave. He could still go on loan and come back as a 22 year old, hopefully with a better touch. Welcome to the reality of a post-FFP football world.

Schurrle, Willian and Salah? One season (less in Salah's case) and we 'De Bruyne' one of them? We need strikers and specifically, a striker to compliment Costa. Mandzukic can be that guy. Both good offers, but I'd look to get in a second top-class striker (Lukaku simply doesn't offer much different from Costa in my opinion, especially compared to Mandzukic).

11 assists in 2011-12, including that special one for Van Persie (58 seconds into the clip below). Could be an interesting addition to the squad.

We had a net spend of £87 million that season which we've only spent more than twice. We also broke the British transfer record that season.

The Yankees have won 2 World Series titles in the last 14 years.

Because Hiddink is a better manager than Scolari...according to you Scolari should've succeeded with the resources at his disposal. We got lucky..but according to you AVB should've succeeded with the resources he had at his disposal. But according to you....well you must know where this is going by now. Looking at your profile you say you're 30 and fairly well travelled, so I find it hard to believe that you think money is so important not just in football but in other industries. But if you want to stick with that then that's fine. We'll just agree to disagree.

And they were bought in 2008. That's almost 6 seasons ago now. Were our resources not abundant enough for AVB, Scolari and Ancelotti to be successful every season? When we finished 6th in the league, was that 'doing good'? Money is an advantage but there is so much more that goes into success and that doesn't just apply to football but to every walk of life.

Building a team is the most important thing though, and money is no guarantee of that. It's the type of crap rival supporters used to throw at us all the time but now most have come to the realisation that whilst money gives you an advantage, it's by no means the be all and end all.

3 league titles in 10 years under Roman (two under Jose) suggests that's not true. And it looks like I might've touched a nerve with the liberal little boy who picked his team based on a computer game....strong connection there.

Nat for me, especially as I think Ake might go out on loan.

No, that isn't obvious. I've known proper supporters of this club who come from many different backgrounds and countries. Again you want to paint this some kind of xenophobic bullshit when it's nothing of the sort. Having read your 'hotseat' you do seem a little unworldly and naive (no offence) and maybe want to see 'injustice' where there is none. Being a football supporter isn't a rational thing. It's about emotion and the Chelsea support (the proper Chelsea support) will always have a special bond with Jose not just because of the trophies he won but because of his personality. There is no more perfect a man to be manager of a club off the King's Road in this particular part of West London with this particular set of supporters than Jose Mourinho. You clearly don't understand that. You might never. Anyway, back to the Luiz deal.....apparently he only has two years left on his deal which means this summer window is the highest his value will be unless he signs a new contract. I've heard nothing about contract talks in the last year which is a little surprising but any deal would almost certainly see an increase in his wages. So there's another wrinkle.