petre.ispirescu

They must have traveled to the future where they have seen Sterling developing into Europe's best player, otherwise I can't explain myself why would anyone pay such a ridiculous amount of money on him. Yes he is talented, yes he is one of the best prospects in Europe, but definitely not worth more than 25m atm. Probably the other 25m it's because he is English and because City are the ultimate clowns on the market. Overpaying like that has nothing to do with the HG quota, simply shows how vulnerable and stupid you are.

Got it mate. But I for one think we won't be seeing any marquee signing(s) a la Cesc/Diego Costa this summer. I have this feeling that Jose's looking to keep the same regulars from last season and add more depth to his squad, improve his bench. I'm on the same page as you and I feel that Chelsea should look into bringing at least two world class players for the starting 11 (preferably a new defender and a right winger), but I just can't see it happening from the looks of it.

We said the same thing about Lampard last summer. And City were definitely in a better position than Arsenal are now. GKs are not the reason why Arsenal haven't won the title for so many years.

And how do you expect to replace Cech with another WC gk? Neuer isn't coming here to sit on the bench. Nor is De Gea, Lloris. Unless we're selling Hazard just to go and replace him with N'Zogbia or Markovic, then I don't see any reason to be worried. Jose knows best. You can't have a squad full of WC players. Jose's probably thinking to start the season with the same regulars that have won the league and add more quality to his bench. Begovic, Falcao, Alex Song are not bad options to have in your squad if you ask me.

Well done kid now go on and show you're worth a chance next season.

He was left out of the squad for the AFCON and then he announced his retirement from international level. But I agree, maybe that decision disrupted him a little bit, hence that poor 2nd half of the season.

@supporter Any substance in the rumours linking Ramos to United? Everybody seems to be talking about it right now. I feel he is just pushing for an improved contract and the captain's armband.

Fuck off Thiago Silva

You just a hater and nothing more than that. Wonder if you've watched any of their matches or you're just spouting shit just for the sake of it. Cuadrado their best player? I'm having a laugh. He's only looked decent against a dreadful Brazilian side just because he's had acres of space to operate. Other than that he was awful against Venezuela and Peru. Especially tonight he looked like a Sunday League footballer.

This must be the worst Brazil line-up I've ever seen. Robinho Venezuela needs to score to at least stand a chance to go through so they will have to attack at some point, otherwise I would have gone for 0:0 correct score. Still, I've placed some bets just for fun. No goals scored before 28th minute (10/11), 0:0 correct score at half time (6/4) and Brazil to win the game and under 2.5 goals combined (9/4).

Time to unleash the beast. Feel he's going to score tonight. Colombia: David Ospina; Santiago Arias, Cristian Zapata, Jeison Murillo, Pablo Armero; Carlos Sánchez, Edwin Valencia; Juan Guillermo Cuadrado, James Rodríguez, Teófilo Gutiérrez; Radamel Falcao García.

How did he do today? Saw that England have scored after he came in. Did he have any influence on that or was some individual brilliance that saved the day?

5m is peanuts for a club of this calibre and you massively underestimate the value of motivation/a new challenge in football. Song was one of the best defensive midfielders in European football in his Arsenal days and looked damn good for West Ham in the 1st half of the last season. He kind of faded away in the 2nd half of the season, don't know what has happened there, could be because West Ham lost their pace as well, but still he is very good player to have on your bench. Lots of players have looked to be finished before a new, bigger challenge arose and then their motivation levels hit the right marks once again. It could be the case here, he is still at the age where he can rejuvenate his career and add a few more trophies to his tally. Mourinho wouldn't be interested in him just for the homegrown factor I'm sure of it, he's quality and could be useful when needed. And he's also developed a special relationship with Cesc, they are very close, Song calls him "his brother from another mother". Little facts, but they always count in the grand scheme of things.

Bentaleb is the only midfielder from Spurs that Chelsea should be looking at. He is the closest thing to Matic right now IMHO. Dembele is dog shite. Probably a fabricated rumour just to speed up the Alex Song/Witsel deal.

Another Ramires type of player might be too much I guess. We have a say here in Romania - "Where there is no brain, then God have mercy on your feet". Well, the say is a little bit different at the feet part (that only makes sense in Romanian), but I've tried to adapt it the best way possible. Here is the original quote(s) though.

I believe one of our German friends here at TalkChelsea that also follows Stuttgart closely once said he is shite and nowhere near Chelsea's standards.

Soon to be xThiboCourtoisx

Lazar Markovic summer of 2013 all over again. Today he's signed for Chelsea, the next day for Benfica, then they say that he is actually Chelsea's player but on loan for two years in Benfica, after that they change their mind and say he is Benfica's player but Chelsea has the 1st option to his transfer for 15m. Then we know what happened. Bullet dodged. Can't say the same about Zivkovic though - he's already ten times the player Markovic will ever be.

Read somewhere that City desperately need to sign at least five homegrown players this summer so they will probably offer him insane wages. But at the same time I read yesterday that Alex Song and his family are well settled in London and will favour a move to a London based team.

I kind of watched Lyon's matches this season just for entertainment and their strikeforce, so I neglected the defensive unit. Heard about Umtiti though, I know he is settled at CB in that team for a very long time. There's some French guys in here, maybe they can tell us more about him. But for the rumoured price of 10m I think he is worth the investment. Heard Real Madrid are interested as well. Has a rocket of a left foot from what I've seen.

He's just assisted Serbia's winner against Brazil in the 117th minute. Haven't watched the entire tournament, but the Romanian commentators said he's the best player of the tournament by a mile. He looked like that in those 3 matches I've watched at this tournament. Serbia U20 have won the World Cup Well deserved, great generation they have. edit: Brazilians just seem to be useless at every level these days, no matter it is youth or seniors. Three minutes before penalty kicks in a WC Final and they bomb forward like rabid dogs. Then Serbia goes on the counter and kills them in three or fours passes.

He is definitely not as bad as some of you suggest. Maybe someone who has followed the Russian league can shed some light on this. I know he was regarded as one of the top prospects prior to his move to Zenit, but since then I haven't heard that much about him, nor watched him. I only watched Belgium's last two matches against France and Wales and quite frankly he was poor. Maybe he's stagnated in the Russian leave and now wants a new challenge. He is still young and could enter in his prime under the right guidance. Seems like a Mourinho type of player, can defend, is tall, knows how to keep hold of the ball.

"Witsel" is the Romanian for "calf" Actually it is "vițel" here but the pronunciation is exactly the same.

This is the guy from the U20 World Cup. That left footed winger I think. He is very good, I've watched Serbia v Mali in the semifinals and he stole the show. Scored one and could have scored and assist another. Before that I saw some highlights from the group phase where he scored a beauty from a free kick.

Yep he's played very well in the last couple of months here, but nowhere to be seen last night. Neymar did some tricks from now an then, but other than that it was a flat and soulless Brazil.