Wishlist Hulk

[Henrique 9,133]

I have a rough list in this post. 4 players of that list were not part of the Chelsea squad when we started Kalou on the wing not to mention that was a very special occasion. Obviously we may not want some of those players to be regular starters (Malouda), some of them will go out on loan (De Bruyne, Kakuta?) and some may just not belong on the wing (the rest of them ) but that's not how squad depth works.

So it could have been a case of simply Dunga not being a fan?

Well, around 2008 Dungas already had his team for 2010 WC. So, it was not a time for experiments, because around 2008 Hulk wasnt a guy to take into consideration yet, because it was the year he moved to Porto.

I mean, it was around 2009 that brazilians got to know this guy, so you have to undertand you can just ask him to play for the NT. We have a lot of guys that are way worst that Hulk but are in the team because they play in Brazil or played here, so the manager know the guy I think is worth trying.

[Strike 7,056]

i am still not convinced that

-------torres

hazard mata hulk

--mikel lampard

will work.

Hulk as a player could be great but will this team work well together or be aware of their defensive duties? i am not sure yet.

[mnmontero 78]

I am one of those who does not think Hulk is a good signing. Not for his footballing ability, because he is really a gifted player a very good one, but for the development of the current squad and the academy.

If Hulk signs for us that will mean that the young players (Sturridge, KDB, Kakuta, Marin and even Lukaku) will be presented with a wall. I know a lot of you can say it's good because that means there will be more competition for places and etc.

But no I actually think that Hulk signing for us means Sturridge and probably Kakuta leaving the club. You can say what you want about Sturridge, that he is selfish and what not, but he is also playing outside his normal position which is a CF or ST.

Bottom Line: Hulk will be a gamble for the club, we don't even know if he will actually work. By signing him we are sacrificing the development of the young players that have been growing in our system. I think if we deploy them periodically with the team we can re-create the Busby Babes and even surpass them with the young ones we have in our ranks. Chelsea just needs to give them a chance. Just look at Bertrand's development in the first team.

[calculatingInfinity 1,445]

It would be a gamble to not take advantage of the status as the european champions and get the best the club can right now, Roman don't want to risk losing out on Champions League like the club very nearly did. Marin, De Bruyne and Sturridge will still only have one injury/suspension or one player from the starting line up getting rested and they would start, considering the amount of games a English team plays a season they will get quite a lot of play time. Lukaku could be screwed quite a bit here though, should maybe be loaned out.

The squad needs depth like the other big clubs in premier league and we are getting that.

[themightyblue 443]

I am one of those who does not think Hulk is a good signing. Not for his footballing ability, because he is really a gifted player a very good one, but for the development of the current squad and the academy.

If Hulk signs for us that will mean that the young players (Sturridge, KDB, Kakuta, Marin and even Lukaku) will be presented with a wall. I know a lot of you can say it's good because that means there will be more competition for places and etc.

But no I actually think that Hulk signing for us means Sturridge and probably Kakuta leaving the club. You can say what you want about Sturridge, that he is selfish and what not, but he is also playing outside his normal position which is a CF or ST.

Bottom Line: Hulk will be a gamble for the club, we don't even know if he will actually work. By signing him we are sacrificing the development of the young players that have been growing in our system. I think if we deploy them periodically with the team we can re-create the Busby Babes and even surpass them with the young ones we have in our ranks. Chelsea just needs to give them a chance. Just look at Bertrand's development in the first team.

If you look at Bertrand's development, the thing we did is not rush him and put him in the first team when he was ready. Kdb is not even in the same position as hulk, Lukaku will be loaned, Marin is going to get a whole load of games for us as he's pretty much a first choice sub and i'm completely gonna be honest and say that i don't think Kakuta deserves a place at the club. Buying Hulk has no effect on Sturridge either, Sturridge himself said he doesn't want to play on the wing and thats his fault alone if he doesn't get games even though im sure he'll get the opportunity this season. I don't get the obsession of rushing young players into a first team, if there good enough they'll get in.

[coolhead23 1,146]

I am one of those who does not think Hulk is a good signing. Not for his footballing ability, because he is really a gifted player a very good one, but for the development of the current squad and the academy.

If Hulk signs for us that will mean that the young players (Sturridge, KDB, Kakuta, Marin and even Lukaku) will be presented with a wall. I know a lot of you can say it's good because that means there will be more competition for places and etc.

But no I actually think that Hulk signing for us means Sturridge and probably Kakuta leaving the club. You can say what you want about Sturridge, that he is selfish and what not, but he is also playing outside his normal position which is a CF or ST.

Bottom Line: Hulk will be a gamble for the club, we don't even know if he will actually work. By signing him we are sacrificing the development of the young players that have been growing in our system. I think if we deploy them periodically with the team we can re-create the Busby Babes and even surpass them with the young ones we have in our ranks. Chelsea just needs to give them a chance. Just look at Bertrand's development in the first team.

I think what is important is to get specialist in each position, that is the mark of a strong team. For us the right side has been always a hole ever since Joe Cole's decline in form and then he moving out. We have tried to gamble to Struddige and Ramires last season with mixed luck and if i m not wrong i dont think we have anyone in the youth ranks as well to fit into the RW position. I know we would say Marin is the one who would come in that position because he a versatile player who can play across the line but he wouldnt be drafted into the first team right away (I really have my doubts). So what are the options for us, get back Danny boy in that position and hamper his progress as a striker or get in Ramires and create a void in the middle. Makeshift plans wouldnt work in the long term, so we need a young and established RW who can be backed up by Marin. Not saying we should get Hulk (he is really costing the club hell lot of money) only but a RW who can do the tirelessly running and crossing on the flanks eg: someone like Valencia

[Madmax 9,219]

Career of Chelsea target Hulk is more incredible than how he was named

Yet behind the muscles and the superhero schtick is a quiet and humble professional, who has put in the hard yards and the air-miles to stand on the brink of his dream move to Chelsea. The basic fee of £38m has been agreed and his personal terms will not represent an obstacle. Why should they when his relatively modest Porto wage is set to rocket to £110,000 a week? The final stages of a transfer can be the most excruciating. Hulk just wants to hold the Chelsea shirt and smile for the cameras.

His journey from Campina Grande in Brazil has taken in rejection by the biggest clubs in his country, a move to Europe at a youthful age, the machinations of agents who have controlled his economic rights and a trawl around unheralded Japanese clubs. But his career found its touchstone when Porto took him from Tokyo Verdy in 2008 – they paid €5.5m to his third-party owners for 50% of his rights – and he has become arguably the most loved player at the Estádio do Dragão since Jardel, another Brazilian who knew his way to goal.

In his four seasons at the club, he has won three league titles and three Portuguese Cups, together with the Europa League in 2011, which represented the final leg of the treble under André Villas-Boas. The goals have poured in. Over the past two seasons, he scored 57 in 91 appearances. But he has also won hearts with the strength of his personality.

After the Europa League triumph, when Villas-Boas was lured away by Chelsea and Atlético Madrid paid €40m to sign the striker Radamel Falcao, the team threatened to break up. But Hulk, the captain, kept his head down and he helped to keep things together. Porto finished as the champions. His captaincy is not of the tub-thumping, grand oration variety. He leads by example.

Hulk had offers to leave last summer but he felt a debt to the Porto president Pinto da Costa, who had dealt sensitively with the great personal tragedy to affect the player. Hulk was shattered when his little niece was left unattended for a fatal moment at a family get-together in August 2010 at the house that he had bought for them in Campina Grande. She fell into the swimming pool and drowned. Hulk was not there but Da Costa told him to return home and take all the time that he needed. Hulk has subsequently celebrated goals with a look up at the heavens.

He is all about family, and is extremely close to his sister and brother, the latter of whom could be expected to accompany him to London. Life was tough for Hulk as he grew up and he recalls how his father, who sold meat at the local market, would wake him in the small hours to take him along, even when he was a mere toddler. Upon their return, Hulk would play futsal for the rest of the day.

Hulk was spotted by an agent playing for a team in Campina Grande and he was taken for a trial at Corinthians only to be passed over. The agent had a connection at Vilanovense in Portugal and he took Hulk there to begin his youth apprenticeship. At the age of 16, Hulk visited the Estádio do Dragão and he declared that, one day, he would play for Porto. Everybody laughed.

Vilanovense could not afford to buy out his rights and, back in Brazil, São Paulo refused to pay a sum that amounted to €18,000 for his signature. He was taken to Vitoria, where he made his debut before, after one further appearance, he was whisked to Japan in 2005. He played for Kawasaki Frontale, Consadole Sapporo and Tokyo Verdy, which had to go down as an unusual grounding for a career at the top level in Europe.

Hulk took the No12 shirt at Porto, in honour of the fans, the team's 12th man, and H12 has become a brand name, a little like Cristiano Ronaldo's CR7. Hulk has a football school in Campina Grande that he called H12 while he has dressed up his sports car with H12 logos.

It would be a mistake, though, to construe him as flash or egotistical and he would also be largely exonerated by the Portuguese Football Federation for his red mist in the tunnel against Benfica, when CCTV footage showed him rucking with stewards. They effectively overruled the League's verdict when they said he had been provoked and should only have been suspended for four matches. The trouble was that when they reached the decision, he had already sat out three months of domestic football.

Hulk felt persecuted after the incident and he has had his problems with referees, feeling that they do not offer him protection. Manchester City fans, though, took a dim view of what they saw as play acting from him during the Europa League meeting in February. "You're not incredible," they sang to him.

Hulk trades on his explosiveness when cutting in from the right, his power and his ability to make the difference in one-on-ones. His arrival at Chelsea would make a difference to Porto's accounts and it would provide yet another link between the clubs.

Chelsea have taken Ricardo Carvalho, Paulo Ferreira and José Bosingwa from Porto for a combined £49.25m, and they paid a total of £18m to secure the release of the managers José Mourinho and Villas-Boas. Of the current squad, Raul Meireles and Henrique Hilário are also ex-Porto.

Porto paid a further €13.5m last summer to buy another chunk of Hulk's economic rights – they now own 85% – and the remaining 15% will need to be squared before the Premier League signs off the transfer. Porto will simply purchase it and then sell. For Hulk, the excitement is tangible.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/jun/01/chelsea-hulk-career-incredible

[capriccioso 2,545]

So he's much more of a Salomon Kalou type person than a Cristiano Ronaldo style egotist. Good to know, that goes against a lot of my preconceived notions of him and has certainly made me anticipate his signing a bit more.

[Henrique 9,133]

So he's much more of a Salomon Kalou type person than a Cristiano Ronaldo style egotist. Good to know, that goes against a lot of my preconceived notions of him and has certainly made me anticipate his signing a bit more.

LMAO

So you can be happy, he is not the next Drogba, ne is the next Kalouuuuu.

[manpe 10,859]

He seems like a leader. Would be good to have strong personalities in the team as a big chunk of it left with Drogba.

[Japep 16]

So he's much more of a Salomon Kalou type person than a Cristiano Ronaldo style egotist. Good to know, that goes against a lot of my preconceived notions of him and has certainly made me anticipate his signing a bit more.

If he isn't so like Salomon in the pitch (what is to say selfish), then there is no problem.

But that is also true, we need a leader in front, too, like Drogba.

[Spike 12,049]

From that article it seems he has a strong and humble personality. Hopefully, he fits the idiom "charismatic leader".

So he's much more of a Salomon Kalou type person than a Cristiano Ronaldo style egotist. Good to know, that goes against a lot of my preconceived notions of him and has certainly made me anticipate his signing a bit more.

I would compare him more to Javier Zanetti than Salomon Kalou. But that is just me.

[The Big Drog 1,110]

i am still not convinced that

-------torres

hazard mata hulk

--mikel lampard

will work.

Hulk as a player could be great but will this team work well together or be aware of their defensive duties? i am not sure yet.

Gomez

Ribery, Kroos, Robben

Works and is very effective and puts opposing teams on the back foot, why can't our forward line do the same?

[Superblue 6,344]

So he's much more of a Salomon Kalou type person than a Cristiano Ronaldo style egotist. Good to know, that goes against a lot of my preconceived notions of him and has certainly made me anticipate his signing a bit more.

I saw an interview with him once and they asked him what he does in his free time. He said he goes straight home from the training ground to spend the rest of the day with his wife and young daughter He came across as a very humble family man.

I think the worries about his work rate and going down at times easily can only be determined once he has been here and settled at the club. A lot of the foreign players do not have such qualities when they come here but they embrace the English spirit and that spirit is arguably strongest within Chelsea.

For example look at somebody like Mata. His work rate was tireless and he showed real defensive discipline in 2 games against Barca and the final against Bayern. I wouldn't have expected him capable of showing that when he first joined.

[Strike 7,056]

Gomez

Ribery, Kroos, Robben

Works and is very effective and puts opposing teams on the back foot, why can't our forward line do the same?

yeah. real effective in the final

i get your point though. adds pace and flair to our attack and that will inadvertently help torres but we have to think about defensive duties here. mata can be bypassed too easily and hazard and hulk's defending will not be enough against good opponents.

also, the bayern attack has had its fair share of problems. robben-ribs dispute etc plus, the bayern attack had a solid base to rely on in the form of schweinsteiger while we have lampard who is aging and can't physically out-run or outmuscle opponents.

[The Big Drog 1,110]

yeah. real effective in the final

i get your point though. adds pace and flair to our attack and that will inadvertently help torres but we have to think about defensive duties here. mata can be bypassed too easily and hazard and hulk's defending will not be enough against good opponents.

also, the bayern attack has had its fair share of problems. robben-ribs dispute etc plus, the bayern attack had a solid base to rely on in the form of schweinsteiger while we have lampard who is aging and can't physically out-run or outmuscle opponents.

Actually yes it was rather effective (with Muller playing ina more attacking role than Kroos). It was that forward line that pressed us into defending so deep, maybe our attack next season might make other teams do the same against us, give us the initiative in the game.

I think people are understating Hulk's willingness to work a bit, he is no Ramires but he is also no Robben. Anyway if we are playing against a Barcelona or Real Madrid, the only teams we should have to defend deep against, then you can be confident that Ramires will probably start ahead of one of those 4.

Granted the Bayern midfield is stronger than ours, though Mikel has improved and Lampard has developed well into playing a deeper midfield role.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

I think people are understating Hulk's willingness to work a bit, he is no Ramires but he is also no Robben. Anyway if we are playing against a Barcelona or Real Madrid, the only teams we should have to defend deep against, then you can be confident that Ramires will probably start ahead of one of those 4.

What is wrong with your logic man?

We bought Hulk and Hazard to play attacking football including against teams like RM or Barca. Not putting them on bench and play anti-football!

this season, we had to play defensibly against

Barca or Bayern because we had no attack. Now with Hulk and Hazard, we will play against Barca or any team with RM style, possesion, fast moving, counters, attacking, creative football.

And again, you would bench Hulk and Hazard on lets say CL final, most inportant match against Barca or RM and play with Ramires and Kalou just because they can defend better?

Fuck that, you need to start thinking more about attacking football, not just this damn defensive style. I bet Mou isnt thinking, he will bench Ronaldo and play Coentrao just because Coentrao can defend better.

We play defensive because we had shit attack, now with 70mio spend in attack, I expect to see Bayern/City or RM attacking style in all our matches!

[Superblue 6,344]

What is wrong with your logic man?

We bought Hulk and Hazard to play attacking football including against teams like RM or Barca. Not putting them on bench and play anti-football!

this season, we had to play defensibly against

Barca or Bayern because we had no attack. Now with Hulk and Hazard, we will play against Barca or any team with RM style, possesion, fast moving, counters, attacking, creative football.

And again, you would bench Hulk and Hazard on lets say CL final, most inportant match against Barca or RM and play with Ramires and Kalou just because they can defend better?

Fuck that, you need to start thinking more about attacking football, not just this damn defensive style. I bet Mou isnt thinking, he will bench Ronaldo and play Coentrao just because Coentrao can defend better.

We play defensive because we had shit attack, now with 70mio spend in attack, I expect to see Bayern/City or RM attacking style in all our matches!

Agree to an extent. We'll still have a back 4 and 2 defensive minded midfielders to defend for us.

The attacking 4 will press teams further up the field and hopefully win the ball at times in key areas which pins teams in just like real and barca do.