mclovin83

What position would Fekir occupy for us do you think?

I don't know much about him, but if he is the box to box midfielder as he is being described then that's perfect for what Sarri needs. This seems to be building momentum quickly, and given the players seems desperate to leave, combined with the fact we are presumably already negotiating with Real over Courtois, it seems one of the more likeley ones to go through...

Is Butland actually any better than Willy? I struggle to see how any goalkeeper can just 'slot' into the starting 11 with ease. The season starts in 3 days. I would imagine a relationship needs to be formed with the defense, and this takes time. I am not really a fan of Willy, but at least he is already at the club and knows the players etc.

My only criticism of the club would have been not getting it resolved sooner, one way or the other. I think we should have given Courtois an ultimatum, and had he not signed then replaced him at the start of the summer. We (seemingly) have allowed ourselves to be backed into a corner, with Courtois pulling all the strings.

Courtois is literally f**king the club over by letting this story play out in the media. It's the last thing the club need on just about every measurable level. He has literally destroyed any shred of leverage we may have had with both Real Madrid, and any club we will be negotiating with for a replacement. If he had even an ounce of respect for Chelsea he would immediately make a statement refuting the reports of him going awol. I suspect the reports are true, and they very much suit his agenda to force a move, so I doubt we will hear anything from him. It's ironic that the one time we could actually do with him running to the media, I suspect he will keep quiet. What a little prick.

Compare the his behaviour to that of Eden Hazard. One is a model professional, one is a self-obsessed little brat. Hazard working hard at training today, and clearly accepting of the fact the club can't sell him this summer. Should he still want a move next summer then I doubt many would begrudge him it. He will be remembered as a Chelsea great. Courtois can f**k off and be remembered as a prick.

He really is such a dislikable human being. If he has genuinely gone AWOL then that is disgusting behaviour for a 'professional' on his wages. We should take it with a pinch of salt of course, but it really wouldn't surprise me- it would be in keeping with the way he has handled his desire to leave from day one (which is do whatever suits him). We need a replacement; what happens to Courtois for the next 12 months should be very low down the priority list for Chelsea. Would love to see him miss out on his 'dream' move to Madrid though, one way or the other.

I really don't know. Hopefully the club have something lined up. The best solution I can think of, given where we are now, would be Keylor Navas coming the other way. He would presumably want to keep playing, and aged 31 could buy us a window of 2-3 seasons to find a more long term replacement. Bulka looks a promising talent, but quite frankly I think it's madness for people to be suggesting he should slide into our starting 11 after an impressive cameo in a pre-season friendly. We could learn a lot more about him in the 2-3 seasons where Navas was first choice.

I questioned Martial's pedigree to play as a 'number 9' for us, and I still would be very wary of the fact he has never done that anywhere in his career. That said, his versatility, combined with how useless Morata looks for us up front, is making me think this could make a lot of sense. He would give us options in more than one area (right side of attack and up front), and it's the two areas we could really use alternative options. I really can't see United selling to us though. The Willian swap is probably the only way I could see this happening.

I agree with this post really, but regarding the highlighted bit. I think if Thibaut Courtois has shown us anything during his employment with Chelsea, it is that he will say & do whatever he feels will benefit the interests of Thibaut Courtois. So, if that meant whispering in Hazards ear constantly for the next 12 months about how great Madrid will be, how much they want him, and how much he should push for a move, in order to ensure his buddy goes with him (as he stated was essential when recently blabbing to the media) , then I am pretty sure he would do it. On a lesser level, even if he didn't actively do anything like that, having someone in the starting 11 who has made it clear they want to be somewhere else, simply can't be a good thing in my opinion.

He clearly doesn't want to be here, and in a lot of ways I don't think he deserves to be either. f**k him off, and let's work with players who are interested in giving their all, not pissing and moaning about wanting to be somewhere else every 5 minutes.

It's becoming clearer with every game that this is a real problem. Nobody would have blamed him for not scoring yesterday, he had little to no service let's be honest. But he hardly looked like he broke sweat. I would like to have seen him charging round the pitch like a headless chicken; making runs, dropping into midfield, hell even committing a few nasty fouls and generally imposing himself on the game in any way possible. I'm sorry, but he just looks like a massive limp prick at the spear of our attack, and it's painful to watch. Opponents must rub their hands together when they see Morata is starting for us; they just know it's going to be light work to keep him quiet. I was guilty of wanting to keep faith with Torres for longer than most on here. In hindsight, the club should have cut their losses with that one 2 years before they eventually did. Right now, I would take any offer for Moarata and throw money at any striker that Sarri thinks he could use. I think the situation is that bad, that pretty much anything would be better than starting with Morata up top next season. I am at the point that I even think Michy, or a fired up and hard working Abraham would be better choice to start games for us. The negative and defeated persona of Morata must get in the heads of the other players and just stinks out the entire dressing room. He's a passenger and I think everyone with eyes can see that at the moment. I really hate to write a player off, and it's not like me to be honest, but I can only see this going one way and I think it would be better for all involved to cut our losses and roll the dice in order to try and salvage our season.

Yeah that's wrong.

Did we get clarification on this?

*rolling eyes emoji*

I don't disagree with any of that.... but it doesn't change the point I was making, which was that just because Zaha wasn't successful once upon a time at a 'big' club, it doesn't mean to say he couldn't be in the future.

Not sure about that..... The point being that just because they couldn't break through at a younger age (when given limited chances) doesn't mean to say they can't be highly successful at one of the 'big' clubs when they have matured (and been given the chance). They all have done exactly that. I would agree Zaha hasn't shown similar levels of improvement as those other players listed (never having had the luxury of playing around world class players mind you), although I think he has probably been a bit better than you are giving him credit for!

That is an error. We played Arsenal on Wednesday.

What is the latest with the Fabregas injury? Anyone know when he is expected to be back?

You could apply that logic to many players though; De Bruyne at Chelsea. Lukaku at Chelsea. Pogba at United. Sometimes players don't get the chances. Sometimes players vastly improve. The jury is still out for me on Zaha, but when it comes to any potential transfer, his four appearances at United when he was 19-20 years old would have little effect on my judgement on it.

lol. Yes I am sure. You??

SWP lacked pace?? I would have said that was probably his main attribute?!

Has he been tried at a top club though? Four appearances at United as a 20 year old? I will be honest, I like what I have seen from him. I am not saying I have studied him in detail (clearly, as 15 minutes ago I thought he played on the right), but he always seems capable of making things happen when he's on the ball. That doesn't mean to say that he would be a success with us; SWP was an equally exciting player before he came to us and then looked like he lacked the talent to dine at the top table. I think he would cost too much anyway though, and if he can't play on the right I really don't see how he would add to our current squad.

I am starting to think @yorkleyblue may not be a fan of Zaha...

If he is most effective on the left, then I really don't see what use we would have for him. Hazard & Hudson-Odoi have the left more than covered. It's on the right where I think we should be bringing someone in.