Tiago

[wilander 35]

Will they reunion in Chelsea in the next season?

[LDN Blue 7,903]

United, Arse, and Liverpool will all likely invest heavily and improve and City will be formidable as usual. I think next season will be even more challenging than this past one was.

Signing Tiago and letting some young players in the team won't help us achieve our goals. Maybe if we win the league then the following season we can start bringing the young guys through when the manager has a bit more leeway. José will be under massive pressure to deliver this season and I honestly think if he doesn't bring home a major piece of silverware he could be sacked. When you're under that kind of pressure can you really risk playing the kids?

We'd still have the exact same frustrating and infuriating issues we've had for a couple of years now. The new striker may get a few more goals than Torres, but we'd have very little creativity in midfield and our buildup play would be tedious and labored. We need a pace setting creative player in midfield and it would be a huge mistake not to bring one in.

Call me naive, but I really don't think Mourinho is under massive pressure to deliver. Chelsea have now won everything there is to win (well, with the exception of the Club World Cup) under Roman Abramovich so I actually think Mourinho has the leeway that you believe he'd be granted if we won something. Sure, he hasn't won the European ones with us but he also really doesn't have anything to prove. I'm sure his objectives were that, and they always will be, but the hierarchy won't be entirely upset with this season.. We got to the semi-finals of the CL, we were in the title race till week 37 (which was a feat within itself with our squad).

I'm not entirely dismissive of the fact we have to continue to mount a good title challenge and be in there again till week 38 and European aspirations will always be the objective.. But Mourinho would not have come back if he hadn't made a series of reality checks to the board. If it's true they want expansive football then he would've told them that you can't just do that overnight (as our managerial history has shown). And the board aren't naive. You look at the way Mou talks about Oscar, Matic, Hazard and Salah "the future of Chelsea", so he/they do want the young players in. They probably do want to therefore use the academy players.

No-one is saying use Feruz/Bamford to lead the line, nor are they saying use Kalas-Zouma as our #1 CB partnership. But does it really do damage to have Chalobah alongside Matic? Nat's proved he can do it at Championship level and obviously it would be a learning curve, but he's protected by having Matic next to him and JT/Cahill behind him.. In the grand context of the squad it's not a dangerous place to play someone.

[Yeboii 1,844]

Call me naive, but I really don't think Mourinho is under massive pressure to deliver. Chelsea have now won everything there is to win (well, with the exception of the Club World Cup) under Roman Abramovich so I actually think Mourinho has the leeway that you believe he'd be granted if we won something. Sure, he hasn't won the European ones with us but he also really doesn't have anything to prove. I'm sure his objectives were that, and they always will be, but the hierarchy won't be entirely upset with this season.. We got to the semi-finals of the CL, we were in the title race till week 37 (which was a feat within itself with our squad).

I'm not entirely dismissive of the fact we have to continue to mount a good title challenge and be in there again till week 38 and European aspirations will always be the objective.. But Mourinho would not have come back if he hadn't made a series of reality checks to the board. If it's true they want expansive football then he would've told them that you can't just do that overnight (as our managerial history has shown). And the board aren't naive. You look at the way Mou talks about Oscar, Matic, Hazard and Salah "the future of Chelsea", so he/they do want the young players in. They probably do want to therefore use the academy players.

No-one is saying use Feruz/Bamford to lead the line, nor are they saying use Kalas-Zouma as our #1 CB partnership. But does it really do damage to have Chalobah alongside Matic? Nat's proved he can do it at Championship level and obviously it would be a learning curve, but he's protected by having Matic next to him and JT/Cahill behind him.. In the grand context of the squad it's not a dangerous place to play someone.

And I think he wouldn't really do that worse of a job then Ramires or Lampard. Van Ginkel is probably going to be great though so he will get that place in my opinion.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

And I think he wouldn't really do that worse of a job then Ramires or Lampard. Van Ginkel is probably going to be great though so he will get that place in my opinion.

Yep, Van Ginkel should have a future with us. Sure they're not proven world beaters, but Tiago isn't exactly one either.. He's in good form and he's out of contract, yeah it's not a massive hit on finances but it's an unnecessary signing too.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Come to think it again, I think this isn't a very bad signing, but only if Lampard gonna be released. Don't think we need Tiago and Lampard in the same squad at this point.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Lol at Tiago being just barely good enough to be a benchwarmer for us while he was good enough to start a CL final vs the team that knocked us out of the CL. It's a good signing.

Yes, but with his age now certainly he is not fit enough to play in top form weeks in weeks out. So if he join Chelsea, most likely he will do "Lampard" for us next season.

[Atlas Lion 1,223]

Some people are honestly under rating him due to his age. At 33, he still possess abilities as a central midfielder Mikel and Ramires could only dream of having. Quick passing while under pressure and plays it simple. His elegance on the ball whilst in possession may not be up to per say Busquet's level, but he understands the game beautifully and with his experience he could be a major asset for our midfield.

[dee25 1,044]

Call me naive, but I really don't think Mourinho is under massive pressure to deliver. Chelsea have now won everything there is to win (well, with the exception of the Club World Cup) under Roman Abramovich so I actually think Mourinho has the leeway that you believe he'd be granted if we won something. Sure, he hasn't won the European ones with us but he also really doesn't have anything to prove. I'm sure his objectives were that, and they always will be, but the hierarchy won't be entirely upset with this season.. We got to the semi-finals of the CL, we were in the title race till week 37 (which was a feat within itself with our squad).

I don't think that's entirely true.

But for the sake of argument let's assume he's not under 'massive pressure' from the Chelsea hierarchy. Where infact I think the pressure will most likely come from is Mourinho himself. I can't imagine for one second that he would go a third season without being desperate for some silverware. I actually seriously fear what another trophy-less season would do to him because despite what he says about building a team for the future, everything we've heard about Mourinho from those who've worked with him indicate that this is a man that lives to win.

RLC and Baker are all a few years away from being ready.

But Chalobah is a harder case, loaning him to another Championship club would stagnate his development in my opinion. There's nothing more a loan at that level can do for him. He needs to be challenged at a higher level for him to keep progressing, but at the same time it's a big risk for Mourinho to promote him to the first team next season, and I can see him deciding to take a punt with Van Ginkel rather than Chalobah.

Really the time to have promoted Nat was last season, when we had weaker options and when there were less expectations on Mourinho.

[Duppy Conqueror 1,451]

With Frank seemingly on the way out he'll be a good player to help ease the young midfielders into the line up.e.g Van Ginkel,Chalobah etc....would be a good signing to help our youth,whilst still giving us better than what Frank can do now for the next year or two.

[mannyfreshh 164]

What could have been. This is the only player I feel regret for selling too early. He was young too, only 23...

[/quote

What a beautiful goal by Sarah Silverman... Jk. Amazing shot .. After the game vs atletico at home the way he reacted towards our players.. Especially JT.. You could tell he cared about our club

[Duppy Conqueror 1,451]

He turned 33 a few weeks ago btw..not much difference between the stated 34 but when you looking for a player to come in just for a year or two it is.

It's premature to be looking at what we go into next season with tho..there's 3 months until the window that hasn't even opened yet closes.

[Special Juan 27,103]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2640962/Chelsea-agree-free-transfer-Atletico-Madrids-Tiago-Jose-Mourinho-eyes-reunion-Portuguese-midfielder.html

[quickpassnmove 924]

Some people are honestly under rating him due to his age. At 33, he still possess abilities as a central midfielder Mikel and Ramires could only dream of having. Quick passing while under pressure and plays it simple. His elegance on the ball whilst in possession may not be up to per say Busquet's level, but he understands the game beautifully and with his experience he could be a major asset for our midfield.

He has abilities in front of the centre backs that every player at CFC could only dream of having aside from Matic.

If CFC DON'T get better quality in center midfield this summer, regardless of the striker position changes, Chelsea run the risk of falling out of the top four. The 2013/14 saw the stumbling Manchester United along with the oft-mentioned inability of Chelsea to kill-off lower and mid-table sides who pack it in defensively. You Chelsea fans can console yourselves with ideas that Liverpool will inevitably fall back down due to pressure and fixtures next season, but they're not the ones who've had difficulty passing, nor with attack speed, let alone the benefit of having Europe's top striker.

The young players at Chelsea don't even need to enter into this conversation if we know that Luiz is gone, Essien left, vanGinkel is an entirely unknown quantity (compared to one who was NOT unknown in Strootman), Lampard has never been an all-around player for CM (as in a traditional 4-4-2, or even the popular 4231) in front of the CBs and is just slowing down, and Mikel is leaving. Sure, it's good to get someone like Chalobah match time, but the first question should be: "who are the pillars of our center midfield?" There's only ONE right now. Chelsea need more pillars in the spine of the team; quality and depth, experience and capability. Tiago is a good fit for the the need.

The striker position's lack is only one dimension of the lack of confidence, speed of attack play, and frequent impotence of Chelsea's overall attack and I know Jose sees this. I feel he will be doing the right things with this squad. Hopefully the transfers go well this summer, both INS and OUTS.

[The only place to be 11,313]

United, Arse, and Liverpool will all likely invest heavily and improve and City will be formidable as usual. I think next season will be even more challenging than this past one was.

Signing Tiago and letting some young players in the team won't help us achieve our goals. Maybe if we win the league then the following season we can start bringing the young guys through when the manager has a bit more leeway. José will be under massive pressure to deliver this season and I honestly think if he doesn't bring home a major piece of silverware he could be sacked. When you're under that kind of pressure can you really risk playing the kids?

We'd still have the exact same frustrating and infuriating issues we've had for a couple of years now. The new striker may get a few more goals than Torres, but we'd have very little creativity in midfield and our buildup play would be tedious and labored. We need a pace setting creative player in midfield and it would be a huge mistake not to bring one in.

The manager of Chelsea will always be under massive pressure. There is no time that a player can come in and not be under pressure to succeed but there are ways of covering for them. We have one £21 million midfielder already and he is a nailed-on starter. If you buy another £30 million midfielder then that's both slots filled and any hope we have of bringing through youngsters is pretty much done.

Tiago is a great safety net. Firstly he's an upgrade on almost every midfielder we have bar Matic. He knows this league, he knows this club, he knows the players - there's very little acclimatising to do.

He comes from a system that is very similar to our's. He's technically sound and coped with the rigours of a title-winning team who made it to the final of the Champions League, and was a key player for them.

I know some people think that we need to sign a DLP for our midfield otherwise we'll struggle to create chances, but I think that's probably slightly out of alignment with the view of the manager. We lost the league last year because we had no striker, in much the same way that United's strikers won them the league the year before. That's being addressed. If we can address depth issues with quality player who cost nothing and don't block the progress of young players (something that we all recognise the need to promote) then what's the issue?

[Jusek 2,031]

A bit random but wow his English is very good. I'd like to have him back. I mean for free, why the hell not?

[EBH 283]

I didn't know we were going back in time to 2005. Chelsea might as well sign Jiri Jarosik to complement him.

[The Skipper 20,593]

I know some people think that we need to sign a DLP for our midfield otherwise we'll struggle to create chances, but I think that's probably slightly out of alignment with the view of the manager.

Tiago is a DLP though.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Tiago is a DLP though.

Not going to have a discussion about this beyond saying that in my view he's a completely rounded midfielder rather than a conventional regista like Pirlo.

But if the people who want a DLP see Tiago as being that then all power to them. You can enjoy his passing and I'll enjoy his ability to get from box to box and make tackles all day.