Enrico

I heard he's got a clause in his contract that says he gets a payoff of 6 million pounds if he is sacked. If he leaves of his own accord he gets nothing.

I can't believe Liam finally did it. Well you know I always had faith in you Liam.

Ballack is bringing more of that than Lampard did, and some other attributes as well. I think Ballack has a great case for him not to get dropped.

It looks like a golf shirt.

Could we perhaps loan them Sinclair, Sidwell, and maybe Pizarro for that week?

I think Avram Grant managed him there but who would want to play for Grant? I think he played for money. And felafels.

If the player is thinking of moving it wouldn't make sense for him to sign an extension which would make him more pricey and thus less attractive to any potential destination clubs... if he doesn't move then you're paying the player millions over the prolonged period in which you have no use for him. Financially they amount to almost the same thing. Though if the player was with you you can still use him if and when you want... but then there's potentially trouble with dissent which may affect the rest of the squad. In Nico's case I don't think there was any transfer interest at the time when he signed the contract, and I don't think anyone else came in for him this time either?

I believe 17m was the amount that was required to trigger Duffer's release clause.

I did the eliminations based on the positions we're more likely to be able to sign for with quality, making the players left out more dispensible.

Rather delightfully mod and I are immune to it - you can't escape us. We're Invincible!!! That's more of a bane than anything else.

Interesting concept. 1. Cech 2. Terry 3. Carvalho 4. Bridge 5. Essien 6. Mikel 7. Ballack 8. Shevchenko 9. Alex 10. Cudicini 11. Lampard

Wasn't this concluded long ago? He is Argie. And all Argies are mercenaries. Somebody oughta put this on Wikipedia.

Whoever posted it couldn't even get the currency right.

That's all down to the manager really.

It's true. Even if he loves the club 40k a week is clearly difficult to live on. And to be fair to him he hasn't yet come out with "it's not about the money". (has he?) Unless the guy is considering leaving, it's always about the money.

It's geezer's fault for spelling it 'Di'.

Not a valid argument in his case surely as Di Canio's played in England for several years before. He should already have a good idea of 'the passion'.

No question that Makelele has to be no.1. Then there's Crespo and Cech for me.

After the signings of Shevchenko and Ballack (who clearly aren't his according the those in the know and he said nothing about this) you still think Mr Mourinho wasn't Roman's bitch?

Exactly. Isn't the money the main issue then? If it's mainly length of contract it'd be like the Gus Poyet/Wisey situation where they wanted to stay for longer while not asking for more money.

Bitch. "I wanna go I wanna go!" And what about that "it made me sick to think about signing for Chelsea" line? Blah blah blah just f**k off Didier. You were used right and you were effective, but you're still a peasant first and footballer second. What's the problem with selling him this month?

Length of contract is surely a big part of it, but he's still not going to accept a 6 year contract at a paltry 40k a week is he?

Maybe I've just never noticed it yet, but... has anyone ever seen reports yet of foreign fans being stabbed/attacked, who are NOT English?

Hopefully he's grown sure enough of himself to take on this challenge, because no disrespect (ok maybe a teeny bit) but there were clubs much bigger than HSV who wanted to sign him and he chose to go there.