Tiago

[Special Juan 28,102]

Yeah all official, shame because I think he would of been a great squad edition back here.

[The Mak 4,459]

Would've prefered him over Mikel. Oh well.

[Barbara 15,149]

Jorge Mendes owns a part of Tiago's economical rights so we'd have to pay him some money to get Tiago because in England these part-ownerships are not allowed. No such problem in Spain.

how can he own a part of his economical rights if he's a free agent now?

That's confusing.

Also I'm very worried about we reaching the homegrown quota. In our first team only JT, Cahill and Cesc count, right? So it means we need to get another five HG in the other 22 positions we have available... I don't see us adding foreign players anymore. To pick five of our u-21 (and unless Cech leaves, we can't even have Jamal in the count) and the likes of Moses and Bertrand leaves us with little room for getting more foreigners as we basically are left with no first team HG players.

[Jype 6,398]

how can he own a part of his economical rights if he's a free agent now?

That's confusing.

Also I'm very worried about we reaching the homegrown quota. In our first team only JT, Cahill and Cesc count, right? So it means we need to get another five HG in the other 22 positions we have available... I don't see us adding foreign players anymore. To pick five of our u-21 (and unless Cech leaves, we can't even have Jamal in the count) and the likes of Moses and Bertrand leaves us with little room for getting more foreigners as we basically are left with no first team HG players.

If it was true in the first place I would guess it had something to do with Jorge Mendes being Tiago's agent and them still having an ongoing contract between them. Anyway, doesn't matter anymore now that he re-signed with Atletico. Good for him, although I would have liked having him back.

Wouldn't be too worried about the homegrown quota. It's true that we don't have enough of them at the moment, only the three you mentioned and maybe Lukaku too if the rules are like I've always assumed them to be, but we can still have a big enough squad even if we left a few HG places unregistered. 17 non-HG, three or four HG and a few U21s is more than enough to have a full 23-24 man squad. We just need to make some room to the squad if the plan is to add any more players but I'm sure the club will take care of that. At the moment it's not looking likely that we'll be adding any players other than Drogba to the team and we'll only need to offload two players to be able to register everyone and having guys like Torres, Mikel, Romeu, MvG and three non-HG goalkeepers I'd say it's not impossible to sell or loan enough players to make room for everyone else.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

how can he own a part of his economical rights if he's a free agent now?

That's confusing.

Well he'd be a "free agent" in the sense, he no longer has a contract with Atletico Madrid. His contract with Mendes probably goes longer.

Also it's quite funny now, because wasn't he the "catalyst" who "convinced" Luis & Costa to sign with us?

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Good luck for him.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

He would be good backup, free too. Now we have to look for other CM because I dont think Mou will trust Rambo, Romeu, Mikel as backups. Mikel should be sold and someone new bought as backup.

[stroey 2,525]

He would be good backup, free too. Now we have to look for other CM because I dont think Mou will trust Rambo, Romeu, Mikel as backups. Mikel should be sold and someone new bought as backup.

Maybe that's why we extended Romeu's contract, he could be the squad player we need. Mikel is reliable, especially in a 4-3-3 where he only needs to protect the back 4z

[The Chels 2,502]

I was watching a repeat of the Atletico defeat and still can't believe we turned down the opportunity to sign this guy on a free. He is like a hybrid of Matic and Fabregas - defensively sound, great passing and intelligence (exposed Hazard twice with 2 excellent passes that led to 2 goals), a leader and very experienced. He'd have been perfect for a midfield 3 in the big games.

[Madmax 9,219]

Watching him against Madrid the other day just drove home yet again what a shame it is that we missed out on him in the summer. Would've been perfect for us. Mikel has his uses and anyone who's been here long enough will tell you I've defended him a lot but he's far too limited for an aspirational side like ours.

[DYC. 7,542]

Watching him against Madrid the other day just drove home yet again what a shame it is that we missed out on him in the summer. Would've been perfect for us. Mikel has his uses and anyone who's been here long enough will tell you I've defended him a lot but he's far too limited for an aspirational side like ours.

Didn't rate him in his time here, the same for his period at Juve. But he's been absolutely brilliant at Atletico. Football's a funny game, a player can take huge leaps in his development even at a late age. I'd still take him in the summer btw, regardless of his age.

[Blue Colored Sky 1,807]

Why we didn't sign this guy ? Jeez, he is so perfect for that pivot. Through Fabregas walking yesterday I have a thoughts what a fantastic paring Tiago would do with Matic in the centre. That pressing ! Shame.

[iseah100 5,612]

And he would have been free! Tbh we would have won if Mikel was healthy.

[termninja 5,290]

Why we didn't sign this guy ? Jeez, he is so perfect for that pivot. Through Fabregas walking yesterday I have a thoughts what a fantastic paring Tiago would do with Matic in the centre. That pressing ! Shame.

Perhaps he didnt want to leave? Agree, I eas hoping we could bring him too.

[stroey 2,525]

I read it was something with his agent having his transfer rights (3rd party ownership) or something in that direction, which EPL doesn't tolerate.