bjd

Of course we can announce a signing , we just won't unveil anybody with a press conference/shirt yet, that's all. Far too much being read into the Nike deal aspect of things. Signings will come, that's the main thing.

But that's my point really - that still doesn't stop us signing players. We would just wait for them to be unveiled once the Nike deal starts. Who knows, but I'm fairly sure the kit deals aren't holding up any transfer agreements.

This isn't really true. Deals can be agreed and announced. There just won't be any unveilings until the new kit is live. Unveilings rarely take place when the deal is announced anyway, certainly not at Chelsea.

Exactly, and the Twitterarti lap it up. I keep seeing this Di Marzio name mentioned . People claim he is 'reliable' but clearly he is a joker.

Well there's a surprise.

I'm not sure buying players is just as easy as some of you make it out to be. It's probably easy on Football Manager though

This time last year we hadn't signed anyone either. The panic is ridiculous.

The latest 'rumours' are from Duncan Castles. Make of that what you will. its a nonsense piece of writing with nothing to back it up at all.

Dont like the look of City away and Utd away back to back.

Mate Costas first touch is a shocker most of the time. It causes the breakdown of so many attacks, along with the needless dribbling, as you rightly point out.

The key words in the Chelsea statement are 'return to training'. So it's prob going to be a extra month on top of the 3 months for him to get match fit. Hopefully 3 months is a worst case estimate from the club, but if they are correct then I'll be surprised if we see him before October. Awful for him of course but I guess we can be selfish fans and say it's happened at the best possible time. And let's face it, we were due a big injury - it certainly could've been worse. Fingers crossed we don't get stung with some tough early fixtures.

Really pleased for him, and it's so well deserved. I rated him first time round and think he's done a great job this season. Ive got to be honest though, I don't think he'll be a first XI player next season.

The state of some of these posts. Yeah let's sell Hazard... i think people forget just how bad things were last season. We'd have snatched at 4th place if offered in August. We are now 9 points clear! Theres a few areas we can improve upon but we are clearly a work in progress. We are clearly a good team with a great manager and it was a deserved point tonight I thought. A good result and we've extended our lead. Not that you'd know it...

2014. It was about a perfect away performance against a top team that I can remember. Obvously yesterday was fantastic, but we have to be honest, we did ride our luck a little..

Yep. Hes been shocking. Hes been riding the coat tails of that 6 week purple patch last year where he banged in a few free kicks and seemed to stand apart from the rest of the team as their games completely collapsed. Since then he has been no better than mediocre. I think his poor form has been largely ignored and he seem to be getting a bit of a free pass for some reason. Whilst its not the critical area of the team that currently needs looking at , i think hes been shocking.

In not saying bin him, far from it. Hes in different stratosphere to Begovic. A settled, comfortable defence would make all the difference to him. Luckily, he'll get that in Madrid!

We've been doing it for the past 3 years! Either that or not buying anyone at all. Line those up alongside not promoting any youth prospects and you end with a 4th season of a right back playing left back, a £25 million Bolton reject and the worst centre back pairing we've had since Cahill and Luiz, which happens to be....oh. To be fair it would be nice if Courtois saved something every once in a while, can't help but feel a mannequin would offer a similar prescence at the moment.

Got my letter too yesterday. Reading the above comments about the challenge and Mishcon de Reya. Obviously doesnt make any difference but its interesting to note one of the Directors of the CPO Gray Smith is a partner at Mishcon de Reya.

But Ake went on loan before Conte had even started at Chelsea. It wouldve been nice to let Conte have seen him in traiing, just once...

99% sure thatll be the case with Alonso. At best i expect him to be competent. which is ridiculous when you think factor in the equally competent Nathan Ake is on our books, and homegrown too. Luis will be a first XI player and will add something to the team (and yes he will cause problems too, but let not do this again), but Alonso i have my doubts over, but its only fair to wait and see. Also im still confused about the Eduardo deal. He wont play barring some badly timed injuries - i just dont see the point of having a non homegrown 3rd choice keeper.

Fair enough. It's a bizarre signing no doubt about it, the weaknesses are glaring but he's got his qualities too. I'd argue that he brings benefits to the squad and makes us stronger, and I'm not just talking about the charisma character geezer side of things either. Lets agree to disagree. Glad It's over. Hate the transfer window and all its glamed up to be. We can all start proper now that we know who is playing for who.

We get the message g4! out of interest do you think we are stronger or weaker with David Luiz in the squad?

@Davey 8aby Well said Davey

Id wager he will be a PSG player next year!

So. Lets think about this... We signed Matic. We sold Matic as part of a deal to buy Luiz. We resigned Matic. We sold Luiz. We resigned Luiz.