Rumoured Mehdi Benatia

[xPetrCechx 13,570]

Metro + Dailystar...

[Special Juan 28,107]

Not an area we need to look, unlike the striker situation. If true then don't do it and go spend some cash on a decent back up striker.

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

I said it last summer, last winter, two months ago and I say it again - there is no better centre back in European football to fill John Terry's boots.

Glad he didn't join City, now hopefully he won't join United either.

I know Chelsea can spend up to €70-80m this month w/o breaching the FFP rules, so Benatia and Remy would end this terrific transfer window on a high note.

[Mr_President 404]

I hope this can happen if possible, yes it would be nice and romantic for Zouma to come in and instantly hit the ground running, but this is the real world.

My worry about CB position is there is no one really top class in their prime, Terry is still good but father time can hit any moment at his age, Cahill is good but not world class I love his commitment and attitude and has improved ten fold under Mou but can he be the 'main man'? I have serious doubts. Zouma is a talent but still very raw, I would rather he builds up games for the next couple of years, not close to being ready for a major role yet and I seem to be one of a very few that prefer Brana at full back, always have.

What Benatia will give us is a CB at his prime and in the form of his life, because im not convinced going into the season with the current batch, especially as we will likely be more attacking against the lesser sides at least.

£30m for some one regarded as one of the best CBs around is maybe not a bargain but a fair price in this market.

Agree 100%. This is not only just about this coming season but the seasons ahead as well.

If we have enough money to bring him in for £30m + a backup striker like Remy then I think we should be doing it without blinking. We are going for titles this season and if we are going to be battling on all fronts (with several very strong teams in Europe right now) then it makes sense for us to do everything we can to maximise our chance of winning. Obviously this signing and the signing of a backup striker will create further issues with the home grown quota - so that has to be thought about.

[Stats 7,140]

Those saying we don't need him will be saying a totally different thing during some point this season when they realise another quality CB would do us the world of good with all the games we have. When Terry retires it is likely that we will go out and buy a big name CB anyway if we don't sign Benatia now. I am all for signing Benatia. Terry and Cahill need to know they have a quality CB ready to step in if one of their performances are not up to scratch. And Benatia would be a good rotation option as I don't think Terry will be starting every single game, even though he is still a quality CB.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Can see both sides of this one to be honest. First off, I think we can win the league with Terry, Cahill, Ivanovic and Zouma as our centre-backs.

But in terms of the future, we will need someone eventually. Terry and Ivanovic are both getting up there and there's been rumours about Ivanovic moving on for a while which might still happen next year if Azpi and Luis nail down the full-back slots and we have Ake and Wallace as back-ups. Personally I'd love for that new guy to be Varane but Benatia is in his prime and he does seem to be the best available centre-half at this moment in time (Hummels is unavailable surely).

The price seems high but he's the same price as Luke Shaw!! His wage considerations surely can't be that high considering he's rumoured to be on less than €1 million per year.

So I can see the upside in this. He undoubtably would make us stronger in the short and medium-term, but it raises questions over Kalas and Omeruo's long-term futures as well as Zouma's short-term situation.

Ultimately I'll trust Jose. His job is on the line, he needs to win now and our three main centre-backs will be 29, 31 and 34 before the season ends. If we don't sign one now we'll probably sign one next year. We could wait for the situation with Varane and Hummels to change or for someone else to emerge like Benatia did.

Personally I'm happy either way.

[ParNolio7 285]

So I can see the upside in this. He undoubtably would make us stronger in the short and medium-term

Problem is long-term doesn't really exist in modern football anymore, definitely for big clubs like Chelsea. Team needs to be at their top every season, compete for the prizes. You can't afford to have a transition year. Millions and millions are at stake.

A young, promising player like Zouma is bound to be the victim of that. Shame but that's the way it is.

[Special Juan 28,107]

Seems to be a lot spoken about the transfer to us, I just wonder how much legs this has. Reading around it could actually happen.

[Viper22 2,418]

Would prefer Varane, but he might not be available.

But if we sign a back up striker (Remy, Hernandez etc.) and still have cash left over then i'd say sign a CB. JT and Ivan are probably off next year so we would then have Benatia, Cahill, Zouma and then 1 of Omeruo, Kalas and Christensen. Personally i'd prefer that last spot to go to Kalas. A great long term signing and a good short term signing. But is he worth £30M? And we NEED a new striker as back up, and we need it now. That should be our primary focus.

[Special Juan 28,107]

Sounds like Kostas Manolas is close to joining Roma, which would mean Benatia is gone.

[iseah100 5,612]

Varane+Chicharito for £45m and I'm happy.

[Pizy 18,858]

Man, reading around twitter and all over the internet about how good this guy is kind of making me hope there is something to this.

Price is certainly steep for a defender but this isn't Luke Shaw we're talking about here who's unproven, he's a mature and fully developed beast by all accounts.

[Daniel1980 1,425]

I honestly don't know how realistic this transfer is, but apparently United want him too. If he joins them, their team will be much stronger. As things stand, their defence is pretty weak. At Roma, the attacking players don't track back as much as all our players do, yet last season they conceded less than us - 25 goals(in previous season they conceded 56 goals), and Benatia was easily their best defender.

Also, Benatia played in 3-5-2, 3-4-2-1 formations at Udinese, so he's used to playing in a three-man defence, which would be very useful when we need to chase the scoreline. Considering that our midfielders in the pivot aren't the fastest lads out there, Benatia's pace would be handy when the opposition counter attacks. No matter how you look at it, we have only one good experienced defender(Iva) to cover two CB positions as well as RB in over fifty matches. One injury&fatigue and we would end up playing teenagers in important matches, and so far, our young CBs didn't exactly look solid even in preseason matches against shitty teams.

While I want a good striker more than a top defender, so far there's been no indication that we're going to sign a fourth striker (unfortunately). If we don't sign a striker, we'd better address another weakness, though it's a less serious weakness than the striker one. If we sign a striker and don't sign a defender, I'll be happy enough. If we address neither, not so much: two potentially vulnerable areas is one too many.

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

Expensive gamble im not sure we need at the moment

[sdrcfc 461]

Would he start over Terry/Cahill?