Barrettinator

Not surprised Liverpool dropped points. I won a bet on it. They actually should have lost that game if the ref had done his job and not been sympathetic towards Liverpool.

Also, I doubt Vidal can speak or read English. I bet he just liked that post cos he's seen a picture of himself and Conte from back in the day. But I could be wrong. Not reading much into this either way.

I'd gladly have him here for the right price. Could turn out to be a Ballack type signing. Getting up there in age but puts in a very valuable 4-5 years for the club. I'd just prefer to not spend 2/3rd of the Oscar money on him. 2 years ago, I'd have been all for that. We'll see what happens though. I don't think Carlo will let him go.

We're having a pointless debate at this point mate. He ain't coming to Chelsea and that's that. Move on.

The Individual can't seem to keep Chelsea's name out of his mouth these days. Bit bitter me thinks.

For a box-to-box destroyer, that's old. They exert a lot more energy and power into the game than your average CM.

How much of James have you personally watched? Find one or two Madrid fans and ask them about James to get an actual solid perspective. He's not coming now anyway. Already been confirmed to stay put, thankfully.

Apparently, he does have an attitude problem (even though I doubted it earlier in this thread). When it's not through him, it's his agent, dad, sister or somebody mouthing off to the media. This is what I've been told by Madrid fans. I doubt Conte would want that around the team. But in the end, this is all speculation. No one really knows what's going on behind closed doors so we'll see.

You need to calm yourself down. You still didn't point out where I've said he can't score. You realize that post was relative to Sanchez and Griezmann, right? It'll be hilarious when this transfer eventually fizzles out. Then all this silliness can stop. It won't happen. Get over it.

Please point me to the post where I've said he actually can't score? And how's he more of a natural goalscorer than Hazard? I bet you if you swapped James for Hazard in that same season in that Madrid team and in La Liga, he'd have hit 25+. Stop it. I've acknowledged that he can in fact score goals. But he's nothing close to the 2 players I and a few others have expressed preference for (goal scoring wise at least). If you disagree with that, then I don't know what to tell you.

It's clearly sourced to AS mate.

https://twitter.com/Chelsea_HQ/status/811940764234162177 Well there we go.

Forgive me if I'm not falling over myself at the prospect of James' supposed goal scoring prowess. He scores a worldie every now and then but really now? Again, I'd be happy to be proven wrong. I think we're being mugged off for 70m here.

I'm saying what we need in that position is someone who can score a goal at any time just like Hazard can. Defenses sometimes load up on Hazard because they know Pedro/Willian are much less dangerous goal threats. We need to make sure every player in that front 3 can keep any defense honest. We have enough creativity around the team. We aren't in dire need of a #10 to play an inside forward role for us. I sincerely hope Conte doesn't go for James tbh.

No one has specifically said we need a winger. We don't have a "winger" in this system. We have wing backs. What we need is an inside/wide forward to play on Costa's right alongside Hazard. Sanchez and Griezmann fit that perfectly. James, not so much.

That's like saying Hazard is our #10 because he's our main playmaker. Sure he CAN play as a #10 and has those qualities but they're bonus qualities he has in his locker. Same with Messi. The most creative player isn't always the #10 mate.

Won't happen if we end up getting Rodriguez.

Messi hasn't been a 10 in a long, long, long time. Not since like 06. He has played on the wing, then as a false 9 and now back on the wing again. Why would you list Messi as part of this group?

Maybe you're referring to last season's Pedro because that is certainly nothing like Pedro of this season. He has been stellar especially on this 11 game winning run. 10 mins per game? What games are you watching mate?

If we're not getting him for like 20m, I'd pass. Isn't he almost 30? I doubt he produces anything beyond 31 or 32 especially considering the kind of game he plays. Would be a waste to shell out 40m+ for him imo.

I'd love nothing more than to be proven wrong by him. I've already been proven wrong by Pedro, Matic, Luiz, Cahill and even Costa and I'm loving every bit of it. But as it stands, I'd rather go after another player. A Griezmann in the summer would have been absolutely perfect for me. But in the end, I'm not Conte so we'll see. It's definitely a better discussion than talking about signing Hector, Miazga and the likes anyway.

Fair enough, good point about his first season at Madrid. But a 5 game tournament is hardly an indicator of goal scoring prowess in my book. I don't think Ronaldo managed more than 2 goals in Brazil (could be wrong). It's way too short a sample to be using.

No, no, no, no. James is NOT a CM. In fact, the main reason he's leaving Madrid is because he's NOT a CM. He's an AM and Zidane plays a 4-3-3 which has no spot for an AM so he's had to either play as a CM or a RW and he's not good enough at CM (Kovacic is ahead of him in that order) while he's not as fast as Vasquez at RW. And when you say "more goal scoring than Fabregas", yeah sure. I guess 8-10 goals is better than 4 goals. But it's nothing mind blowing. I do agree with you that if we're signing him, Conte probably has a good reason for wanting him.

I'm sorry but that makes no sense. Jose was keen to get rid of Mata but nobody can ever say Mata has an attitude problem. It's not 1+1=2. Zidane's system seems to depend on pace seeing as even Lucas Vasquez gets more playing time than Rodriguez. It's probably more of a "we don't need him and we could certainly use the money next summer" thing to me. Same way we're getting rid of Oscar. We don't need Oscar and we could certainly use the money. No one can say Oscar has an attitude problem.

Also 100% agree with this. We badly need a player like Hazard who can score loads and run in behind defenders (and at them). One who can change the game in one moment like Hazard can. Sanchez would be PERFECT for this. A Hazard-Costa-Sanchez front 3 would put us in the class just behind Messi-Suarez-Neymar and Bale-Benzema-Ronaldo. That's a CL winning front 3 if you ask me. Sanchez's work rate will also fit this team like a glove. I see no use for Rodriguez in this current formation. I don't know why we'd want to splash the Oscar money on him. That said, if we're getting him for around 30m (which is possible), I'd be less annoyed by the move. I guess he does give us an option to revert to other formations though. But still, he's not a consistent or even fairly consistent goal scorer. To me, he's a little more polished version of Oscar. I may be wrong on that as I haven't watched him in a while but I know he hasn't been a starter for Madrid since early in Benitez's spell. There's got to be a reason for that (may well be tactical but hey).