Van Butsen

The story suggests that she initially demanded the pay increase though, not the other way round Then sort legal action Then declined a settlement figure which was more than her initial request

Does anyone else think Vardy at Arsenal would be at total odds for both his style and Arsenal's style of play? They are polar opposites

Sounds like a great family man accustomed to life in Italy and not overtly keen on a new/tougher challenge in another country at his age. All the best Radja

Basically none of them have come back to bite us. Lampard maybe, but we still won the league so it mattered not

And in other news, a Portuguese swearing expert has found work for the first time ever

Agreed on Morata's technique/ability around the ground, but I think they make a lot of the same runs, get the ball in a lot of the same places and score similiar goals, so doesn't really strike me as an obvious complimentary partnership

Really? From what I've seen they remind me very much of each other. Morata perhaps a slightly more agile version. (This is Costa I'm referring to)

I agree with xfactor, it does happen quite a lot for Italy, they show up late and everyone writes them off but they do generally perform. Last tourny they beaten by the best Costa Rican team in forever and an always competitive Uruguay. After originally wanting Italy to finish in the group stages in order to bring Conte back to Chelsea ASAP, I'm now of the view that if he can inspire this Italian team to do some great things this tournament, he may have the ear of one or two players and implore them to come with him to London for a new challenge.

Good to see he has a sense of humour https://www.instagram.com/p/BGM2dkvwJfX/?taken-by=willianborges88

Fairly sure every club does

I'm 99% sure we already have a clause like that in the loan contract. Although I do remember Atletico giving us the big old get f*cked when we tried to tell them Courtois was not allowed to play against us in the CL. I don't see Benteke as an upgrade on any of our current strikers

I'm sure it's tabled in the contract that we could bring him back on the proviso we paid BM x amount. We are (generally speaking) shrewd business operators and it wouldn't get to a legal point

Full credit for going into such depth Dorset. I particularly enjoyed the last paragraph. Spot on

I can't say enough how much I disagree with that statement. It's been discussed enough, but surely the great teams adapt and change as often as possible to remain successful. I certainly see us with an identity, i can't really articulate it the way I see it and others haven't agreed when I've tried, but I certainly don't see us running around like a headless chook which so many people seem to suggest.

Pull the trigger, signal intentions

If you had better stats than Remy does you'd be pushing for a starting place and you probably wouldn't be as content to be a back up. Below table is obviously from wikipedia, so I'm not enlightening anyone here, but he hasn't been far off a goal every 2 games (which includes playing in the premier league) for the last 8 years. The anomaly being with us, but I'd hedge a bet a lot of those appearances were subs coming very late on. 2008–2010 Nice 68 (26) 2010–2013 Marseille 68 (27) 2013–2014 Queens Park Rangers 16 (6) 2013–2014 → Newcastle United (loan) 26 (14) 2014– Chelsea 32 (8) I wouldn't spend money on a back up, if we could bring in another goal scorer of Costa's ability then that would be money better spent.

Yep I'd personally love them to falter at the group stage, get Conte's mind on Chelsea as early as possible. Sadly, I feel Italy have a knack of not looking great, showing up late, looking really stylish when they get off the plane then turning it on when the tournaments start. Multiple world cup winners.

Rui Faria has had a good run hasn't he

I'm sure it's just a weird camera angle, but I think between now and the start of the season he has the Copa America and the Olympics, so he should come into the season in top condition if a little tired!

Where can everyone see Juan Mata playing his football? Presuming he leaves Old Trafford of course. Funnily enough I think he fits into our team better than any of the other obvious clubs. I hope he's got better character than to go to Liverpool. Perhaps a return to Spain, Atletico? Fairly sure he has said he loves playing in England, just can't quite find an obvious home for him. Edit: Definitely meant to post this in the ex's thread

i certainly don't think it's beyond us if everyone regains a bit of form. Matic is the key for me. It will be really tight, can't see one team running away with it and that gives us a shot.

This first year will be uneventful, can't wait to see him in 2-3 years

No games being played by me, you can definitely have a better signing than another, I never said otherwise. But can you really argue that we weren't in a stronger position by having another striking option? If you're forced to play an uncapped player then you are surely weakened, this is black and white to me. "Let's hope the owner gives the manager his full backing and tries to get the players the manager wants, when he asks for them. Not second rate squad fillers and potentials." This was your comment that I had a problem with. It's not even about facts or squads or last season, it's just embarrassing that this is how you think and we support the same club. I don't agree with the views that there are people working against each other within the club. I don't agree that we sign squad fillers on purpose with the knowledge that they aren't good enough. I don't see a problem with signing potentials.

Roman's essentially interest free loan to Chelsea has ticked over the £1bn mark. He pumps a truck load of money into all aspects of the club and I'm extremely grateful for it. He has a passion for the club and an interest that other owners don't. I loved his reaction to Shevas goal in the community shield

Well when you really drill it down, obviously there is a difference between signing me to play left back or signing a professional player. A lot of people are just so quick to right off our signings. they aren't mugs, they can kick a ball. If we'd signed Ngolo Kante in the summer, had him on the bench for the first half of the season then sent him out on loan in the second, people would be saying his squad position was wasted and we should have used a younger player instead. We never would have known how good he could be. Its the club, the manager and the other players that have brought out his potential. Chelsea are in a great position to be able to develop anyone with some talent into a great player. Having your examples in the squad definitely makes us stronger. I'm not going to argue that Pato hasn't shown much, but here's a bloke that's scored 50 goals for Milan and is still only 26. If we get a few injuries we are undoubtedly in a stronger position for having him as an option. We can still choose a youth player, but we have Pato as well. Surely this makes us stronger? Miazga, a great young prospect, in the national set up (decent national team), we shouldn't pass up the opportunity to bring him in just because he didn't grow up in the UK. If we get a few injuries, which we did we can fall back to a youth player who has never played a senior game of football, or we can play a guy that has done. We aren't forced to play someone, we have the option. Surely this makes us stronger? Anyway, I don't want to get into a discussion about particular players, I think anyone we bring in (within common sense) can play a role and make us stronger.