Barrettinator

Looks like it's happening. Personal terms apparently agreed. - "Unless situation turns around, Chelsea have won the race. - "5 year contract, €42m (£36.7m)" - "Player was waiting for Conte to sign his extension to meet with Conte and seal his arrival"

After all this while, I've only just noticed the "CFC" in his bio. You're right. He is a Chelsea supporter.

Which is why they're not getting Sanchez. It's that simple.

He'll return to Chelsea but not as a player. I don't see him ever wanting to be a number 2. He's doing the Emmanuel Petit bit with Arsenal.

All those articles have been claiming he's signed for City for the past 2-3 days. One even claimed he was in Manchester for a medical and he debunked it hilariously on twitter: Not saying the links to City aren't legit but I don't think anything is settled yet. Notice how quickly Bernardo Silva was announced? Yeah. Not over until the fat lady sings.

Good luck to him. I think he'll recapture his Stoke form at Bournemouth.

Seems like such a strange transfer rumour tbh. Would obviously be a cracking signing but I just can't see Bayern letting him go, Sule or not. Also, wasn't he injured a lot this season?

Actually, you're right. "Legit" is a stretch too far though I don't know that Piraux is a CFC fan (comes across more as a PSG fan imo). But we haven't been linked with Mendy at all in weeks while it gained steam with City and United.

The commentators are gonna have a great time calling all 3 of them "Kontay".

We finally have a legit link to him. Would be the perfect LWB to have. Fantastic offensively, very solid defensively, great off ball runs and very physical. He's like a more physical, bigger, less evolved Ashley Cole (I know that's huge praise but I can't think of any other comparison tbh). If we can get Conti as well, we'll have our wing back positions fully sorted. Mendy would cost up to 50 million euros though. Also, United and City (especially City) are apparently very keen on him as well. If we can get him before they do, that would be brilliant.

Decided to add the away and third kits. 2006/07: Away Third: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2007/08: Away: Third: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2008/09: Away: Third ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2009/10: Away Third --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2010/11: Away Third -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2011/12: Away Third ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2012/13: Away Third --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2013/14: Away Third ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2014/15: Away Third -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015/16: Away Third ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016/17: Away Third --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Turned out to be a long post. But I guessed I saved everyone else the work. Fire away.

Do you deliberately make things hard for yourself just for the fun of it? Let's end this please. It's derailing the thread completely. Not about to get into a cock fight.

The guy who goes on about "oh I was the one who came up with the idea of the 100% tax being the reason for Costa's new stance and now everyone's following me" is talking about someone else's ego? Ah, I love football fans. I'm arrogant for not wanting you to misinterpret what I said? Tell me, when two people are trying to say "this thing could mean A or it could mean B", does that mean one of them has directly said "it means B"? You're the one who's on ego trips whether it's a Costa discussion or a youth player discussion or a Cahill/VVD discussion but I'm the one with an ego? Pure projection. Alright then, sorry for rustling you out of thin air. I'll now retreat to my sad, lonely life with my insecurities and at the same time massive ego and weak personality where I never get along with anyone.

It's incredible how you manage to take one point and draw a completely different meaning from it. First of all, I mentioned the tax thing because the post I quoted didn't seem to put that into context. Nothing to do with "schooling". Also, I never directly said Conte HAS a problem with Costa RIGHT NOW. Let me state my position unequivocally so you don't misinterpret it again: If Costa is sold, it will be because Conte wants him gone. If he stays, it will be because Conte wants to keep him" (whether you think Conte should keep him or not is just your opinion one way or the other). Since we're nitpicking, he didn't score 20 goals after being linked with a move away. He had scored 14 goals up to that point, if I'm not mistaken. Which means he scored only 6 goals in the league between January and May. 5 months. You show respect by not throwing a circus on our season while we're doing well. It's not a thing exclusive to Costa so there's no need to act emotional about it. Drogba's disrespected us like that in the past before, although just once. Hazard too this season. For all the stick he has gotten from Chelsea fans for being a loud mouth at times, Courtois did come out and end his own rumours. If you're going, say it. If you're leaving, say it. Don't throw a circus into a focused and potentially successful season by letting the media run with nonsense (which they will always try to do). There's no need going back and forth with this. I've made my opinion clear. If he stays, I'll support him during the season like any other Chelsea players. If he leaves, I'll be happy to see the door shutting behind him. Whether you like that opinion or not isn't my concern.

It's hilarious how you're trying to take credit for Costa's new position on leaving post 100% tax rule I'm sorry but it was so painfully obvious. You might be a genius but this one didn't take a genius to put together. I don't even remember your own post on this. Chelsea may not have wanted to sell him around the time the story broke in January because obviously he was firing on all cylinders but as the story has persisted since then, no one at the club has come out and vehemently said "Diego Costa is going to be a Chelsea player next season, no questions asked." Part of those "cold decisions" Conte talked about will probably include Costa. And not in the way you see it. Want to know why? When pressed yesterday or so on Costa, Conta declined to directly comment and gave a vague "I'll have to take a few days to consider every player's future" answer. A cold decision also means getting rid of a 20 goal a season striker because the manager has a problem with his attitude (attitude - something that's very important to Conte). Time will tell which of us is right. But I'll guarantee you one thing - if a 70m offer comes in for Costa this summer, Chelsea will sell. We don't need every player playing for us to be in love with us like Terry or Lampard or Drogba but some level of professionalism and respect is required. They aren't playing for us for free. The matchday tickets we buy and number of times we tune in with our Sky subscriptions is what pays their weekly wages. Whether you want to admit it or not, they owe their living to us FANS.

I think you're mistaken my position. I've mentioned it already in this thread a few times. If Costa goes, we'll need to bring in TWO top class strikers. Of course I see the need for two strikers we can truly rely on. When we were at our own peak, we had Drogba and Anelka firing (peak of the old guard). So that settles 50% of your post. It's based on a position I've not taken. And who told you Chelsea don't want to sell him? Do you actually truly think that if the new Chinese 100% tax rule hadn't just come in, Costa would still be a Chelsea player by the start of next season? Only way you'll believe that is if you're deluded. Or did you think the rumours in the papers since January were based on nothing? Oh what a massive coincidence that new contract talks only seem to pop up after the China option is gone. Tbo did NOT want to go to Real. He made sure he came out himself and rubbished those rumours at the height of it. Noticed how the stories died pretty quickly unlike the Hazard stories? Everybody knows Hazard would love to play for Madrid. But that doesn't mean he's pushing for the move. Hell, there are only few players in world football not wearing a certain blue and claret that don't want to play for Madrid. If Costa truly wanted to be here, he would have rubbished the rumours the way he's just done over the past 2 days when we REALLY needed him to do so. But he didn't. I'm sure that's also just happenstance. From the silly antics on the pitch, to going missing for 50% of the season, to having 2 different spats with Mourinho and Conte and throwing bibs and breaking down a lot of our attacks because he's got the first touch of an elephant half the time, etc etc. For once, we could really just use someone level headed who can also score goals. Those things aren't mutually exclusive. And Costa isn't the only striker in the world who could lead our attack. In fact, there are others on the market who can do so, including some who have higher potentials than him. So I hope he leaves and we bring in 2 serious strikers. And if unfortunately he stays, then I hope we bring in another top class striker. That way we don't have to beg the heavens for goals once January comes around and he goes missing yet again.

Someone posted this on Reddit and I thought we'd have a discussion about it. Now that the Adidas era has officially come to an end, what kit was your favorite? What were your favorite memories of the kit? What was your least favorite kit? Personally, the 06/07 kit is one of my favorite ever. There's just this feeling about it that's so elegant to me. Also, the 09/10 kit I thought was pretty simple and effective. Hated the 10/11 kit. Didn't like the 11/12 kit either but the CL win made it memorable for me.

I think you'll find the scope of Chelsea fans expand well beyond the tiny subsection that exist on this forum. There are a lot of fans that want Costa gone, in case you haven't noticed. And as @brakeit said, he brought it on himself. I've had enough. We can do better. Even if he ends up staying, we still need to bring in another top class striker. I've had enough of dealing with his silly mood swings every season.

Don't think any top team is going to touch Matic. Will probably end up at Inter or something.

Absolutely do not want this lad to stay. I'd take 60m right now from anybody. That's the least he's worth in today's market.

If this is true, Atletico can f**k right off

You make it sound like he's the only striker who can do that.

He'll be saying the same about United when he gets fired in 2019.

Actually, I misread that. My mistake. Yeah, Pedro should be a back up at this point in his career. Pedro, Moses, Matic and Costa. Those positions need upgrades. I would say Alonso too. Still not satisfied with him in that position going into the CL.

Why would you want Pedro to leave? He's been one of our best players this season and come up with important goals many times. If we get someone like Sanchez, he'd be a perfect back up to either Hazard or Sanchez, along with Willian.