Castiel

He seems happy to play backup at the moment (unless he's expressed a contrary opinion in private leading to conjecture about this potential move) and I think he's the best backup you could hope for. I'm never concerned about having him in our backline - he was our best player in the Utd game and saved us from a severe thrashing. He'd walk into most starting 11's and he's never (as far as I'm aware) complained about coming off the bench in emergencies for us. It'd be madness to sell him, unless of course he wants to go himself.

He can play on either wing, with a strike partner, as a lone striker or playing off a main striker. He could displace anyone depending on how the new manager intended to use him.

1. I can only judge what I've seen him do, and I've always seen him play in a deep position. 2. He has no resemblance to what Lampard brings to our team whatsoever - a player like Sneijder however, does. 3. I wouldn't make that an overriding factor in any decision. Would you reject Messi, Iniesta or Xavi because they've only played in Spain?

QPR winger/playmaker has expressed interest in joining us as his preferred club. Review article: http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2011/6/16/2227266/chelsea-fc-transfer-rumours-news-adel-taarabt Seems to have the pace, tricks, goal scoring and playmaking ability you want in a winger. Would be a cheap option as well being lower profile compared to your Neymars and Sanchezes of the world.

I'm sure Torres would appreciate 2.06 chances played to him per game and could do a slightly better job with them than Defoe or Crouch. I qualify Modric as a deep lying playmaker which is something we really don't have at all. Say we went out in a 4-2-3-1 and Modric was in our squad already we'd have: Defence Modric - Mikel Kalou - Lampard - Malouda Drogba/Torres So he'd be competing with Essien and Ramires but brings a different set of skills to the table than either of them. If we went for Sneijder he'd be in Lampards position in that hypothetical lineup, preferring to play directly behind the striker(s). He brings the creative style to unlock defences and pick the final pass which is what we desperately need. However, aside from him being proven in England, he isn't the only player around with those abilities.

Can we hire you as a scout? :P

He clearly meant Torres OR Drogba in a 4-2-3-1

Give them cash and Anelka. They need a striker I hear.

Taken a look at him now, seems a creative and solid player. He's one of those who can make fools out of defenders and has no problem holding the ball and drawing 3 or so people into tackling him which opens up huge gaps before unleashing the final pass. Seems he can shoot and cross as well. I haven't watched him anywhere near as much as I've seen Neymar for instance so can't make an informed decision, but Guus would have had as much experience with him as you could hope for so if he likes him I'm on board. If we could steal him for a low fee and he turns out to be as capable as he seems to be on a regular basis, it'd be a steal of a signing.

Am I going blind or has the edit button disappeared?

I love the logic but isn't Villa sort of wasted wide simply because they have the best player in the world to put in the centre? He's also not on the young side, meaning we'd be looking at replacing him sooner rather than later. We could go for Aguero who can fit in there (he's able to play in any forward position) and it seems like Juventus are the only club putting money on the table for him at the moment. If we're to assume that he will not go to Real as was his promise, I'd be pretty confident in a signature battle between us and Juventus while everyone else is busying fighting over Sanchez. :P

He really doesn't seem like a Mourinho signing to me. How many attacking players do their board want?

Can you just imagine Modric and Sneijder for example, in our midfield? So glad we're looking at this sort of player finally.

Because you don't start a negotiation with your best price! :D

Doesn't seem too far fetched to me. Guaranteed CL football, opportunity to win all 4 competitions every season, no need to move home, much better wages and he's settled well in London already. Think he'd much rather come here than move to a new City and go through the settling in process again (as far as house and family are concerned).

What concerns me is these mysterious players going into Arsenal from Barca's youth academy. Last time I saw that we had Fabregas on our hands. Why aren't we raiding them?

I've not seen anything of this player at all. But people seem to rate him and he seems pretty low profile (thus cheaper) and could be the hidden gem a lot of people are asking for. Will do some research now!

Yep thats the idea, only going to update it when a club announces a deal officially. That way, come the end of the transfer window we'll know everything our domestic and European rivals have been up to pretty clearly.

That deal would crush me. Modric is a wonderful player and would improve us greatly, but losing Lampard? Losing him to Spurs? That'd be one tough pill to swallow.

Seen other clubs doing this and it seems like a good idea to track where everyone ends up going. I'm shamelessly stealing the raw data from what the City fans have collected. If we have some kind of sticky function that'd be useful mods. Premier League Transfers Summer 2011: Arsenal In: Jon Toral(Barcelona-Undisclosed), Hector Ballerin(Barcelona-Undisclosed), Carl Jenkinson(Charlton-Undisclosed). Out: Aston Villa In: Out: Nigel Reo Coker(Released), John Carew(Released), Moustapha Salifou(Released), Isiaah Osbourne(Released), Robert Pires(Released), Harry Forrester(Released), Arsenio Halfhuid(Released), Durrell Berry(Released), Ellis Deeney(Released), Calum Flanagan(Released), Brad Friedel(Tottenham-Free). Blackburn In: Myles Anderson(Aberdeen-Free). Out: Frank Fielding(Derby-Undisclosed). Bolton In: Out: Johan Elmander(Galatasaray-Free), Tamir Cohen(Released), Joey O'Brien(Released), Jlloyd Samuel(Released), Gavin McCann(Retired), Sam Sheridan(Released), Maison McGeechan(Released), Tom Eckersley(Released). Chelsea In: Out: Michael Mancienne(HSV-£1.75m), Fabio Borini(Parma-Free), Jacopo Sala(HSV-Undisclosed), Gokhan Tore(HSV-£1.2m). Everton In: Out: James Vaughan(Norwich-£2.5m), Luke Dobie(Released), Iain Turner(Released), Hope Akpan(Released), Kieran Agard(Released), Tom Donegan(Fulham-Undisclosed). Fulham In: Cauley Woodrow(Luton-Undisclosed), Dan Burn(Darlington-Undisclosed), Tom Donegan(Everton-Undisclosed). Out: Liverpool In: Jordan Henderson (Sunderland-£20m) Out: Karl Clair(Released) Manchester City In: Denis Suarez(Celta Vigo-£875k) Out: James Poole(Hartlepool-Undisclosed), Felipe Caicedo(Levante-£875k), Andrew Tutte(Released), Scott Kay(Released), Javan Vidal(Released), Shaleum Logan(Released), Tom Skogsrud(Rangers-Free), Kim Skogsrud(Rangers-Free). Manchester United In: Out: Joe Dudgeon(Hull-Undisclosed), Edwin Van Der Sar(Retired), Paul Scholes(Retired), Corry Evans(Hull-Undisclosed), Owen Hargreaves(Released). Newcastle In: Mehdi Abeid(Lens-Undisclosed), Yohan Cabaye(Lille-Undisclosed). Out: Sol Campbell(Released), Shefki Kuqi(Released). Norwich In: James Vaughan(Everton-£2.5m), Steve Morison(Millwall-Undisclosed). Out: Jens Berthel Askou(Released), Matt Gill(Released), Sam Habergham(Released) QPR In: Out: Mikele Leigertwood(Reading-Undisclosed), Pascal Chimbonda(Released), Gavin Mahon(Released), Georgios Tofas(Released), Josh Parker(Released), Lee Brown(Released), Joe Oastler(Released), Elliott Cox(Released), Romone Rose(Released). Stoke In: Out: Abdoulaye Faye(Released), Ibrahima Sonko(Released), Eidur Gudjohnsen(Released). Sunderland In: Ahmed Elmohamady(ENPPI-Undisclosed). Out: Nathan Luscombe(Hartlepool-Undisclosed), Boudewijn Zenden(Released). Swansea In: Danny Graham(Watford-£3.5m). Out: Darren Pratley(Released), Albert Serran(Released), Cedric van der Gun(Released), Jamie Grimes(Released), Kerry Morgan(Released). Tottenham In: Brad Friedel(Aston Villa-Free). Out: West Brom In: Gareth McAuley(Ipswich-Free), Billy Jones(Preston-Free). Out: Abdoulaye Meite(Released), Gianni Zuiverloon(Released), Giles Barnes(Released), Ryan Allsop(Millwall-Undisclosed). Wigan In: Out: Wolves In: Out: Marcus Hahnemann(Wolves-Released), Adriano Basso(Released) Key European Transfers: Phillipe Mexes(AS Roma > AC Milan-Free). Taye Taiwo(Olympique de Marseille > AC Milan-Free). Dentinho(Corinthians > Shakhtar-£6.5m). Hamit Altintop(FC Bayern > Real Madrid-Free). Nuri Sahin(Borussia Dortmund > Real Madrid-£8.75m). Andreas Ottl(FC Bayern > Hertha BSC-Free). Nils Petersen(Energie Cottbus > FC Bayern-£2.4m). Juan Angel Albin(Getafe > Espanyol-£2.5m). Gilberto Silva(Panathinaikos > Gremio-Free). Jose Maria Callejon(Espanyol > Real Madrid-£5.25m). Piotr Trochowski(HSV > Sevilla-Undisclosed). Manu Del Moral(Getafe > Sevilla-£4.2m). Andrea Pirlo(AC Milan > Juventus-Free). Kevin-Prince Boateng(Genoa > AC Milan-£6m[FO]). Luc Castaignos(Feyenoord > Internazionale-Undisclosed). Alberto Paloschi(Genoa > AC Milan-Full Ownership). Marco Amelia(Genoa > AC Milan-Full Ownership). Theo Janssen(FC Twente > Ajax-£3m). Ivan Perisic(Club Brugge > Borussia Dortmund-Undisclosed). Thulani Serero(Ajax CT > Ajax-Undisclosed). Chris Lowe(Chemnitz > Borussia Dortmund-Undisclosed). Mehmet Ekici(FC Bayern > Werder Bremen-£4.3m). Christian Fuchs(Bochum > Mainz-Undisclosed). Srdan Lakic(Kaiserslautern > Wolfsburg-Free). Martin Demichelis(FC Bayern > Malaga-£2.5m). Nicolas Douchez(Rennes > PSG-Free). Reto Ziegler(Sampdoria > Juventus-Free). Diego Castro(Sporting Gijon > Getafe-Undisclosed). Mehdi Lacen(Racing > Getafe-Undisclosed). Renato(Sevilla > Botafogo-Free). Martin Caceres(Barcelona > Sevilla-£2.5m). Didier Zokora(Sevilla > Trabzonspor-£4.4m). Diego Alves(Almeria > Valencia-£2.5m). Gabi(Zaragoza > Atletico Madrid-£2.5m). Miranda(Sao Paulo > Atletico Madrid-Free). Adrian(Deportivo > Atletico Madrid-Free). Silvio(Braga > Atletico Madrid-£7m). Bruno Cesar(Corinthians > Benfica-£4.4m). Manuel Neuer(Schalke 04 > FC Bayern-£15.75m). Rafinha(Genoa > FC Bayern-£4.8m). Ralf Fahrmann(Frankfurt > Schalke 04-Free). Andre Schurrle(Mainz > Leverkusen-£7m). Ruud Van Nistelrooy(HSV > Malaga-Free). Benoit Pedretti(Auxerre > Lille-Undisclosed). Cesar(Valencia > Villarreal-Free). Ricky Van Wolfswinkel(FC Utrecht > Sporting CP-£5.3m). Christian Fuchs(Mainz > Schalke 04-£3.5m). Daniel Parejo(Getafe > Valencia-£4.5m). Miroslav Klose(FC Bayern > Lazio-Free). Vincent Enyeama(Hapoel Tel Aviv > Lille-Undisclosed). Balasz Dzsudzsak(PSV > Anzhi-Undisclosed). Manuel Fernandes(Valencia > Besiktas-Loan). Michael Silberbaeur(FC Utrecht > Young Boys-Free).

I don't usually contribute to this sort of topic because the club doesn't usually let me down (lets keep perspective of life before Abramovich) but having seen other fan forums from other clubs I'm quite happy about how we're conducting our business. Look at Sanchez. We're not even linked with him to any substantial degree but Real, Barca, Juventus, City, United and Inter are all fighting over him tooth and nail. Their forums have monumental threads arguing over it and panicking over losing out to someone else. Meanwhile we're quietly going about our business, with nothing but made up speculation surrounding who we perceive to be targets (Neymar, Modric, possibly Aguero or Sneijder) with our only solid target, Lukaku being as close to a sure thing as you could hope for. We seem to be letting everyone else fight the media war over a signature while we silently conduct our negotiations, leaving nothing for the press to suggest what we're up to. The fact that we have no idea what is going on as fans is a testament to how professional our club behaves. Ferguson was talking about De Gea being done to the cameras before his season was even over, only to have him come out and claim he'd never even spoken to United. Talk about egg on your face. I'm happy to sit back, relax, look at who we might be after and wonder how they'd help us progress while the club goes stealth mode and snatches who we want from under the noses of everyone else brawling over the same target.

After his sly dig at us for manager sacking in the papers, I've come to the conclusion that Scholes is an unadulterated prick of international standards.

Arsenal have absolutely no answer for Drogba either. :P

Crisis over the day and everyone loses their minds. Then it turns out to be horse sh*t. Isn't the close season wonderful?! UEFA should target these agents with the FFPR's, not the clubs. Its the agents bullsh*t in the media which makes us overpay.

Hutch, I can only describe you as a walking reality check.