Socrates

Everton inch closer to Lukaku signing... http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2892/transfer-zone/2014/07/22/4975050/everton-inch-closer-to-lukaku-signing?CMPID=TWUK_140722_EvertonInchCloserLukaku

Looks like Torres won’t take a pay cut to play elsewhere. So we're lumbered with him. That's no reason for Jose to play him though...

If the Lukaku to Everton reports are confirmed we will go into next season with only Costa and Torres as recognised strikers. Strike that. We will have just one recognised striker. Doesn't sound likely.

Looks like he might have to settle for being an Everton legend: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2697756/Romelu-Lukaku-rejoin-Everton-permanent-deal-48-hours.html

Excellent player. Was outstanding for Atletico last season. Amazed he was left out of the Brazil squad by Scolari. But that says more about Scolari than Luis...

I think this is probably the club's position too. No doubt we've looked at alternatives but they're either not for sale or would take a ridiculous offer to force a transfer. Fabregas might not be our first choice target but under the circumstances it might be the best deal we could do.

Hardly a stampede to snap him up is there? Barcelona are desperate to sell and no-one is really that keen on him by the looks of it. Certainly not at 30m anyway.

Thought Luis was superb in the Champions League final. Does seem a lot of money given his age. But he is a very classy, proven player. Shaw has looked terrific whenever I've seen him. But the silly money being demanded might be better spent in another area of the park. Given a choice, I'd rather the club pushed the boat out on Barkley rather than Shaw.

Third choice is a bit optimistic I reckon. If the rumours are right then I can see us going with Costa, Mandzukic and Lukaku next season (assuming we get rid of Torres). Bamford could be fourth choice in that scenario which I have no problems with given the number of games, injuries, suspensions, rotation that occurs in a long season.

Might as well send him to a witchdoctor and they can sacrifice a goat.

A report in English based on this article: http://hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2014/05/22/bayern-compare-kroos-to-ballack-situation-negotiations-reach-imp/?

Kroos and Luke Shaw would be excellent signings. Credit to United if they get these deals done. Shows they're not messing about. Shame as they're exactly what we needed. 47m for both is really good business.

Where is this 30m pounds figure being plucked from? Most papers reckon Shaw's value is nearer 25m. Still a lot of money for a left-back. But given we’re being linked with Moreno for 20m+ then maybe Shaw's fee isn't that exorbitant. Plus we'd get a fee for Bertrand in the region of £5-6m and his and Ashley Cole’s wages off the books... well then you do the maths.

Random rumour of the day: Chelsea plotting FIVE mega signings for the summer For the record these are: Costa Mandzukic Mangala Moreno Rakitic That’s us sorted then...

You can’t have too many centre-backs... Chelsea want John Stones transfer from Everton done at £12m before World Cup

Seen Bayern a few times this season and Mandzukic has been their least effective player. Not surprised they want to offload him. A swap involving Luiz would be a truly terrible deal. We can do a lot better. But nothing would surprise me with our Board...

Torres won’t stay. He's been given his chance and it didn’t work out. Got a feeling he wants to end his time at the Club and won’t hang around. We'll probably be paying to offload him but it's best for all concerned. Torres, Eto'o and Ba will all be gone. Costa, Lukaku and one other signing. Hopefully it won't be Mandzukic. But I wouldn't be surprised.

A random Brazilian rumour: http://metro.co.uk/2014/05/13/chelsea-plot-15million-transfer-offer-for-hoffenheim-star-roberto-firmino-4725915/

Well if we sell Luiz to Barca and bring in, say, Marco Reus then I can see the logic. Will be sad to see him go but if we have Kalas, Zouma and Omeruo in reserve along with Cahill, Terry and Ivanovic then we're pretty well stocked in the CB position.

I felt like crying after our performance today.

Schurrle for 18.7m - 7/10 - Promising. Maybe should’ve started more games. Schwarzer for free - 6/10 - Apart from the howler against Sunderland, did okay. Willian for 30m- 7/10 - Not what I expected. Thought we were getting a silky goal-scoring winger. Got a workhorse instead. Eto'o for 2m - 5/10 - A questionable buy, despite the goals. Matic for 21m - 6/10 - Promising start but form has tapered off. See how he goes with a proper partner alongside. Salah for 11m - 3/10 - Panic buy. Looks out of his depth.

I'd be amazed if any of Torres, Ba and Eto'o are here next season.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but if we'd not let Lukaku go out on loan and not sold Mata in January just as Oscar's form was going into free fall, we might well have won the Premiership and possibly got to the Champions League final. Can't help but feel that we shot in ourselves in the foot with our loan/transfer dealings this season. The only positive from the last few weeks is that it should now be patently obvious to even our Board that our strikers are all useless; and replacing Lampard is going to be a tall order but something we need to really sort out. If you told me at the start of the season that we'd finish third and get to the CL semi-final, I'd have called that a good season. But somehow it all feels a bit of a let down.

Shambolic second half. What happened to keeping our discipline and trying to hit them on the break? Eto'o was brought on too soon. All went downhill after that. Didn’t think Atletico needed to do much to win the tie. Average side if you ask me. Shoddy defending and indiscipline gifted them the game.

League is done and dusted. All our efforts should now be on the Champions League. Makes no difference to us whether Liverpool or City win it. Why should we sacrifice our one chance of silverware by putting out a strong side in a meaningless fixture? Would like to see us start a second string and rest all our players for the CL second leg. Take the premiership going to the Scousers on the chin. Winning the Champions League would more than make up for it.