Arruda

Still no one but the Guardian (or journos quoting the Guardian) giving this deal as done...

I can see where that comes from. Hulk can be neutralized and that has a bigger chance of happening if we're playing a superior team and he's perceived as our only threat. I think if he's integrated in a team with other top class players it won't be so easy to single him out as the rest of the team should be able to provide a constant threat as well. It's a possibility, I'm not saying I'm sure this will case. Also, of all those games you mentioned most happened more than two years ago. Last year we were in the Europa League (were he was instrumental to our success) and this year we were sh*t in both the Champions League and Europa League all together. There's only so much he can do by himself, our team took a big confidence and performance hit with the loss of AVB, of which we haven't recovered completely yet despite winning the league this year. I think Hulk improved a lot in these past two seasons, specially under AVB, his decision making improved and he became more of a team player. I sincerely hope he can deliver the goods, and hope a year from now everyone looks at him as a valuable signing, I haven't admired a player (both in and off the pitch) like I admire him in a good time, and if it's confirmed he goes to Chelsea, then you'll certainly gain a few more part-time supporters in Portugal.

Funny people doubting Hulk's stats because he plays in the Portuguese League... Like if the French League is a superior indicator, they're even behind us in UEFA rankings at the moment (almost with the same points). How many players from our league have had similar success? None. It's not that easy. Quite simply, Hulk's the best player in one of the top 10-15ish teams in Europe. To value him at 20m is condescendent and stupid. That aside, I find it stranger that no further developments have been announced today. All media in Portugal has been using The Guardian (which I reckon it's a respectable newspaper from what I read here) as source. Is it really certain that it's a done deal, and for that reported value? I'd expect our newspapers to have come with information on their own by now if that's the case.

where did that come from? ABola site doesn't have anything and their official twitter doesn't either. Sport, a catalan newspaper, reported those values today, but reporting "sources with knowledge of the operation" without saying who they were.

There is also a twit by Danilo saying Hulk's twitter isn't real:

http://fcporto24.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=47&start=3820#p265272 It does look like a fake account anyway, wouldn't make much sense for him to be smooth talking with Chelsea fans when he's still bound to us. Our club wouldn't allow it, and it's not like it's his style to do that anyway. Irrelevant nevertheless, it is well known he would welcome a transfer to Chelsea, irrespective of the account being real or not. I was just pointing out that it's likely a fake account, I'd expect Porto fans to be better informed about that issue.

Most Porto fans are sure that twitter account is fake. Hulk doesn't use social networking. I wouldn't now, I'm not much into that twitter thing.

I'd put it more simpler than that actually, it's just that the average standard of player here is lower, so a young talent has a bigger chance chance of being inherently better than the competition, even from a young age. We actually don't rotate our squad much, our league is only 30 games long and there is usually a pretty well defined starting XI. A player like James Rodríguez gets game time to develop here not because we're a less competitive league but because even at 19 he's good enough to warrant a first team place, unlike it would happen if he was at Chelsea or Real Madrid. If it were like you say than Benfica wouldn't be able to follow the same policy (and they do) because they can never afford to lose points. The dominance in the league is one-sided. He probably would get a place at a team like Everton or Palermo just like here, but we have an advantage of offering the chance to win titles and to compete in Champions League regularly. We're the perfect team for them to give the jump.

So he's a tough negotiator... How can you blame him for trying to get the most possible for his club? Chelsea will pay whatever it thinks it's fair, if both clubs disagree with the value of the player then there will be no deal. Pinto da Costa's success speaks for himself, he's second to none at his job.

That Rodriguez went for a free, his contract expired. He wasn't a regular option any more, makes little difference to our plans except lowering our wage bill. Awful player, we don't always "get it right". Atletico Madrid are broke so they're looking for free transfers, Cristian Rodriguez, Emre...

Anything less than what Falcao went for will be a bad deal for us in my opinion. He's simply to important for us. I'm sure we will try to go for higher than that, if we will make it or not, it depends who we're doing business with.

That post was just tongue in cheek because of Eva, I don't expect us to make €50m with him. Keeping an unsatisfied player is usually not good, but occasionally we do it anyway. It's not good for us to send the message that any player can just fret and leave when he wants either. Sometimes their performance is hurt and the player gets devalued (I think this happened with Ãlvaro Pereira this season) but many times they keep improving and we get the deal we want the following year. Had we allowed Deco to leave in 2003 like he wanted we wouldn't have been European Champions in 2004. No one pointed a gun to Hulk's head to sign the contract he has with us (that includes his wage, the biggest in our club, and the buy-out clause that locks him in here). He'll leave if we get what we think it's a fair deal for him. How much our management thinks that is I don't know, be it 30, 40, 50. We have other options for cashing in if we're unable to sell him this season. Ãlvaro Pereira, Rolando, Moutinho, Fernando, James Rodríguez, are all players that can go for a decent fee (we already got €13m for Guarin). The first two are very likely to be offloaded this summer, it's gotten to the point were their presence is doing more harm than good. Same cannot be said about Hulk, he has been an extremely hard working professional so far and there's nothing in his behaviour indicating that he won't continue to be, even if he is unfortunate to stay another season. Nevertheless, and like I said, I hope the deal comes to fruition. I think Chelsea's the right club for him and he deserves the "jump" for all he has given us. That said, we will obviously not damage the clubs interests at that expense. He cost us €22m in total plus wages, so he's certainly not leaving for less than €30m, he's worth more in the pitch for us.

€50m guys. Or €20m + Eva, I would take that.

Well, I wish I could say but unfortunately he played about 90 minutes of football the whole season, 10 or 20 minutes at a time. The manager we got after AVB really ignored Iturbe. I hope this changes soon as I'd like to know what the hype about him was about. Hopefully he'll have more chances next season. Otherwise he'll probably be loaned.

Thanks dkw, I actually registered in 2009 when we were in the same group but haven't been here since then. It may have been overstatement to say that he's the best player I remember but, at least in terms of attacking players, I think only Jardel, Deco and Falcao can be made an argument about being as good. Jardel was superb during his 6 years in Portugal but he didn't succeed anywhere else, and Deco only peaked here for two seasons, he was average before Mourinho. Hulk has provided us with 4 seasons at a superb level, and hence I think I will have longer lasting memories of him.

Hello mates, just thought I'd chip in with some thoughts from this side of the fence. First, glad to see that some posters on this thread seem pretty well informed about our meager league. I'm positively surprised about that. Regarding his clause, as has been ad nauseum repeated here, it means absolutely nothing in the negotiation process. Some Porto players have left for their buy-out clauses (Carvalho, Pepe, though these were friendly deals) but the vast majority leave for far less. The only instance I recall of it being forcefully activated (against our wishes) was with the Villas-Boas transfer. I guess in most of the PL the only way to get out of a contract is to let it expire or by mutual agreement. Here we use the added concept of the buy-out clause, it's a third way to get out of a contract. In Hulk's situation it's merely symbolic, as it's completely disproportionate to his real value. Exactly like Cristiano Ronaldo's 1bn clause, it's a mere publicity stunt that means that his contract works like the PL contracts, i.e., he will only leave through negotiation or contract expiration. That rumour of Anzhi having offered €70m for him and being rejected also circulated here and it's obviously total bullsh*t. That value alone is more than our yearly turnover and there is absolutely no way the club would reject such a proposal. Considering our business model depends on us selling about 20-30m per year, that would guarantee us being in the green for 3 years, the club simply wouldn't reject that. Regarding the negotiation itself I don't know how it will pan out. Hulk has served us magnificently in the last 4 years. Absolutely no problems off the pitch, no fretting in the newspapers, nothing to complain about him. I expect the club will try to find a compromise between his expectations of going to a superior league and the club's own interests. I'm not going to argue too much about his real worth. In the Porto foruns, our fans have clearly unrealistic expectations. Many think we're going to get something like €60m or €50m+Lukaku. I'm a bit more down to earth. I regard Hulk as the best player I've seen around here for the past 15-20 years (the time I've been following football), and expect he'll be priced accordingly. The risk he won't adapt is a real one, but I guess that counts for any player, irrespective of the league the player comes from. You have plenty of examples in your own team. Porto has sold quality players throughout the years which proved to be good value for the buyers and, of course, some flops as well (Quaresma the most striking recent example). Comparing him with Falcao, which was sold for €40m (and apparently worth every penny), he should theoretically be worth at least as much. It may sound arrogant from our part, but we will obviously try to squeeze every penny we can for him. It's our business model, and modesty aside, we're very good with it. Porto is one of the best managed clubs in the world. I dare you to find any club from a country of similar dimention that has been as successful a us in Europe. There isn't any. Outside of Germany, Italy, England and Spain, only Lyon comes close in consistence (and even they are a bit down at the moment). For the second year in a row we'll be top seed in the Champions League groups. We manage this with with a €60m-80m turnover. We make about €10m from TV revenues, far less than the bottom PL team. The only way we remain competitive is because our buy-low sell-high policy has served us well thus far and we're the best club at enforcing it. We're not here to sell players at their "fair" value, we're out to try and squeeze every penny we can. Hopefully this deal will come to fruition. As much as I'd love him to stay here forever, it just doesn't work that way, and considering he'll eventually leave anyway, at least I'll like him to go to my favourite league and to a club worthy of his value. I'd absolutely hate to see him leave for a weaker (albeit wealthier) club like Anzhi or PSG. I want him to prove his mettle at the highest level possible. And will be cheering for him. Yes, now that AVB has been sacked I can root for Chelsea again. Cheers. EDIT: Congratulations on the CL. Feels good, doesn't it? ;)

Hello fellows. Sorry to bother you but I was trying to review a goal by Chelsea, one in which somene (I think SWP) makes a spectacular voley cross from the right and is finished with a great header (I think by Crespo). I been wandering in youtube for some time now but can't even remember on which game it was. If someone knows this, I'd appreciate the help, thank you. PS: Found it guys, Real Betis, thank you anyway. Couldn't figure how to delete the thread.

Saw that, top class :D

I didn't vote because I'm not a Chelsea fan but I wasn't expecting to see Ashley Cole so unanimously chosen. Probably our lack of knowledge of the opponents team results on different expectations and thus different opinions. I saw one or another complimenting Hulk as a dangerous player when we at Portugal are unanimous in that he made a terrible game. Exactly the same phenomenon happened against Man U last year. I watched the game on Television whilst listening to the Radio every now and then and portuguese commentators were praising Essien the whole time, and many regarded him as the MotM on Chelsea's side. They called him "lung", "engine", "distributor", etc... While you guys who know him a lot better everyone say he was just terrible. Just a funny tought. Regarding Ashley Cole and Peter Cech my vote would go to Cech just because the last 20 minutes of game Cole clearly lost to the substitute Varela. On the first half he had Mariano ahead of him wich didn't gave him trouble and Hulk is in a reasonable bad form. But Varela, wich came in on the last 20 minutes of the game or so didn't lost a ball to him and we all felt sorry for him didn't coming in earlier.

Welcome friend. From my longtime membership on this forum I can assure you will not regret joining this wonderful place

Hello dudes, already presented myself on the hello newbie thing. Porto fan, readying with excited for the one which is also our favourite competition. That being said I didn't got particularly happy being drawn in the same group with you guys. Chelsea is probably the more regular team on the Champions League on the last half a dozen years and never loose points at home. Also, we have played some times recently so there isn't much novelty around these games. Probably Porto will be battling with Atletico for 2nd place and I think we're favourites on this regard. Here goes for a good game. Last year Manchester broke the history of never an English team winning in Porto. I'll pray this year Porto breaks the history of never winning in England, though I think better chances will come in the future, you guys are on great form. Will be happy if we bring a point from there.

Just to say hi. Obviously I'm a Porto fan that decided to join today so we can discuss the game afterward :D Chelsea is indeed my favorite team in England, and I think it is that way for most Porto fans. The voluminous amount of business between our two clubs helped a lot in that regard. And though I'm not by any means a "fan" I have trouble preferring any of the other 3 due to the redness of their equipments, and that is as good a reason as any other to appreciate Chelsea. Good football everyone.