Socrates

Liverpool sign Victor Moses from Chelsea on one-season loan for £1m

Ah well. Better than nothing I suppose. An improvement on our current strikers - which isn’t saying much. Bit of a comedown considering the strikers we were linked with. Maybe he still is very good. Here's hoping...

Reports are that he wants a two-year deal and that's what we're offering him. Can't say I'm too thrilled at this one but presumably the club think he's the best option right now. Oh well...

Cost 3.5m. Going out on loan. One for the future perhaps. Plus Spurs were after him...

Apparently Benzema, Di Maria and Ozil are all surplus to requirements at Real Madrid if you believe the Mirror... http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/arsenal-transfers-karim-benzema-been-2225958

Another winger is what we need... 'Chelsea line up Christian Atsu...' "Jose Mourinho is closing in on yet another winger at Chelsea. The Blues' boss is set to seal the £3.5million signing of Porto ace Christian Atsu. Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers had been chasing the 21-year-old Ghana international, but failed to agree a fee with his Portuguese club. Atsu, who has a year remaining on his contract, is now set to travel to England for a medical and to discuss personal terms. It is unclear whether the player, who had also been tracked by his former Porto boss Andre Villas-Boas at Spurs this summer, will be part of Mourinho’s plans immediately or go out on loan." http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/chelsea-transfers-christian-atsu-porto-2231749?

No he hasn't. He's been winding down his career, on a last huge wage packet, playing in a mediocre league as a support striker. It's a long way from Cavani to Eto. Sad thing is he's probably better than our current crop of strikers. Which is why we're even interested.

Hmmm... Chelsea drop Rooney and ready Suarez-Torres swap http://www.sportsdirectnews.com/premier-league/30994-chelsea-drop-rooney-and-ready-suarez-torres-swap.php

Maybe the plan was to wear them down first half then bring on Lukaku to take on their tiring defence. At least I hope that's what's going to happen as that was pretty ineffective otherwise.

Well rumours abound that Real are willing to sell Benzema in order to finance a bid for Suarez. Would be interesting if he became available and United stick to their guns over Rooney. Anyone know how Benzema got on with Mourinho?

It's going to be a long season. Don’t know why people are surprised at this transfer. Gives us more flexibility with our midfield. Mourinho commented on the drop off of intensity already in our games this season. And it was a big problem last season when we only had Benayoun to bring on when trying to keep Oscar, Hazard and Mata fresh. Now we can replace them with Willian or De Bruyne without losing any quality. Moses is mooted for a loan to West Brom. Mata Hazard and Oscar are our key players but it was ridiculous the number of games they had to play last season. Keeping them fresh will only improve their performances.

There are rumours that Moses is going on loan to West Brom, so if this Willian deal is happening (and that's a big if) then it's probably as a replacement for Moses. Not Mata.

Unless I've misread these reports, Willian is in talks with Chelsea. But where does it say that Mata is in talks with Man United? Is this part of the totally unsubstantiated ‘Mata is not a Mourinho-type player' nonsense we've been hearing about this Summer? For the record: Mourinho is adamant that the Spaniard is very much part of his plans, revealing that he intends to use Mata as a winger who will cut inside from the right.

"Of course [Mata] fits into my plans," the Blues manager told reporters. "I have my idea about him, about where he produces better and where he has more difficulty. We will try to help him perform better in those situations.
 "I like wingers coming in on the inside for the penetrative movement, for the pass, for the shot and Juan is the only player we have to do that on the right.

"On the left we have Hazard, Victor Moses, Kevin De Bruyne, Andre Schurrle ... Juan is also very comfortable playing as a No.10. In between these two positions, he has a lot to give to the team." http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2892/transfer-zone/2013/07/28/4148599/mata-is-part-of-my-plans-says-chelsea-boss-mourinho

Why would we sell Mata if we get Willian? People need to get a grip! Willian is good enough to rotate with any of our attacking midfielders. Mourinho was already complaining our players were leggy last night so we need options. Willian plus Rooney would be great. Mata is going nowhere.

Pleased with the three points. Tough game against a team that set up to hit us on the break. We did well to see the game out. In main due to a couple of fine saves from Cech. Thought Lukaku did well when he came on. He's not quite Drogba, but he's the best of a mediocre strike force. Hopefully we’ll do something significant in the last days of the transfer window. We really could do with better options upfront.

Thought we were looking good - then we scored and took our foot off the pedal for the next 40 minutes. Don't think we've created a real chance since the goal. I'd take Benteke for Ba anyday though...

I read he's willing to take a payout down to 300k a week! This deal is so not happening!

http://metro.co.uk/2013/08/15/chelsea-close-in-on-sami-khedira-as-he-demands-exit-from-real-madrid-3925126/?

Gustavo would be an excellent signing. Would offer us more than either Mikel or Essien. But he doesn't seem like a priority right now. Hope I'm wrong as he was very good in the Confederations Cup.

Hope that's the last we see of an Essien-Mikel partnership. Christ it was painful.

Me too. I reckon United are keeping him out of preseason training so he lacks match fitness when he moves on – probably to us. Would like to see it wrapped up soon. But United seem to be a bit slow in recruiting new players – must be the Moyes factor!

I know it's not a popular view here but I'm surprised we've not been linked to Suarez. He's one of the top five strikers around. I'm not bothered by his 'baggage' anymore than I would be by Tevez's or Maradona's. They're tough South American street fighters that'll do anything to win. Rooney is the closest English equivalent but I rate Suarez higher than Rooney at present. I know which I'd rather we didn't have to face next season and it's not Rooney.

According to a Spanish-based journalist on Talksport the bid is in the region of 20-25m euros!

I was pretty confident Luiz would be staying until he picked up this mystery injury. Seems there's a plague of these type of injuries when another club expresses an interest. Really not sure why we'd let him go. Unless... I know Mourinho rates Raphaël Varane of Real Madrid – could they need the money to finance the Bale bid?

Two Luiz threads?