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Wishful thinking.. It will take 50 odd years before we utilise our academy to extent of Barcelona and the like.

Timing is also a factor, with Cole leaving. Other english talents will come along, yes, but can you really operate like that?; the LB spot is up for grabs now, this won't turn out to be a Sturridge-saga, Shaw can actually make the position his own.

Fair point.. Again though.. they are few and far between, so when an 18 year old becomes one of the best left backs in the country you have to take notice of that. Anyways, I'm not as concerned as it might seem, I know the club share my view, otherwise they wouldn't have chased Rooney, that deal wasn't entirely for football reasons.

Quality english players come along once in a blue moon.

Bringing in Fabregas and looking to sell Ramires is pretty small-time, a club of this level being able to keep someone like Ramires as a utility player shouldn't be a big ask.

Cahill will be the only home-grown player at Chelsea football club in a few years time then. 1/4

So you'd rather have a small squad?, heck.. why not go the whole hog and fuck with FFP too, and get sanctions from UEFA like City have done in the UCL, thinner the squad the better!. This is an english club, we should have an english backbone, some 'supposed' Chelsea 'fans' don't understand how important it is for the culture.. By the looks of it, we'll have a 17 man squad in a few years time.

Welcome to Vitesse!

English surcharge? We have 4 players to fill the home grown quota this season, we need 8. 1. Zouma 2. Terry (33 years old!!!!) 3. Cahill 4. Lukaku ('if' he doesn't get sold with Ba & Torres holding on) Ake & Kalas 'should' (for their development) be on loan again, same goes for Piazon and co. There comes a point when we can't keep buying random foreign players. There is an agenda amongst some on here, wanting us to become like what Arsenal used to be, an anti-English club.

The point was that it would start at 'less' than 100k and rise, United haven't got champions league football and we can always 'up' the agent fee. It's simple really, we'll continue buying expensive youngsters from other clubs and they'll keep out the academy prospects, not enough room on the bench. Shaw is just a continuation of that philosophy.

He's worth £40m, a 'one off' transfer fee to secure that position for 12 years and the home-grown quota (<4/8 atm). But that's not the issue, it's the wages over a 'potential' 12 year period and how that effects other players on less. That's the only 'would be' pitfall..

Zouma is 19 years old, that's a spot an academy prospect could fill, he might well need a loan too, certainly not ready to replace JT or Cahill. But again, instead of giving these guys a chance we buy young foreign players to fill those spots. 29 year old left backs are not the problem here.. Anyone who has faith in this club to push through academy pospects must have the god gene.

Quality players in the meantime?, we've been buying young foreign prospects from other clubs to kill our academy youth. So it's not a cop out, just reality. Hazard's wages were 'reported' to be astronomical when we were in the race to sign him with United & City. Transfer fees are more reliable (in general), with buy out clauses and so forth..

Lmao, that was the funniest game I've witnessed thus far, wtf.. I had 10 men for the second half too. Although, Zanetti can play anywhere, outfield players with the Joker SQ only lose 2 or so skill points when in net, so he was still pretty high (hence why I only need one keeper).

Those 'reported' wages he's 'demanding!' are speculative though, Shaw would know once he's been here a few years he'll get an increase anyway. Plus the outside commerical deals he's likely to get as a Chelsea player. Pretty much zero faith in our ability to push through academy prospects, so I don't bother factoring that in.

Buying 'wisely' would be thinking long term, both in terms of the home grown quota (which we're failing on atm, we need 8.. I counted 4.. 5 with Fabregas.), and of course ROI. Because as mentioned a million times already, even as an 18 year old he's proven himself at the top level now, he's the 2nd best natural left back in the country.

I've blocked bushman, but someone quoted him saying "nobody cares about 1-11 numbers anymore" and that they don't mean anything. What a clueless twat..

As LDNBlue mentioned, as long as it's the 'right' person, and not given away without thought like with Boulahrouz and the number 9.

Just looking back at the post-game celebrations... Bosingwa-gate was just a result of players who don't care about the club knowing it's their last season. That's the problem when you sign mercenaries, Lampard was the captain and he 'chose' to lift the trophy with JT (direct quotes). Whether or not the mercenaries like Bosingwa/Meireles thought JT deserved that moment is irrelevant to what Frank-fucking-Lampard wants; let alone how the club should be represented.

City are a small club that were fighting relegation not long ago, so no.. they don't have FAR bigger rivals (you make them sound like Real Madrid). City's 'rivarly' with United is geographical not competitive, until very recently.

Signing average english players like Liverpool do isn't what I'm advocating, but when actual 'proven' english talent comes along, you have to roll the dice. It's worth the premium for the culture of the club in the long run.. With Lampard & Cole leaving it's really starting to put things in perspective. Arsenal have shaken off the bad PR they 'used' to have from fielding zero home grown players, with Wilshere, Walcott & Ox. We're now slowly going backwards, and soon enough we'll be the new Arsenal.

R.I.P English core. Throw everything at the Shaw signing, ffs.. even Arsenal have Wilshere and Ox.

Lampard cost, at most, £65m, over 13 years. For perspective, Fernando Torres is costing £100m+ over 5.5 years.