BaneIvanovic

Tore Alderweireld a new one on Friday night. Will have an easy time settling in to Benfica given the large Serb contingent amongst the team.

Except Zidane is one of the best to play the game and could single handedly win matches and change games. Luiz is more of a liability than an asset.

I personally think that Lewandowski is probably the best #9 in football and is unique in the sense that he plays like a proper #9 - unlike someone like Falcao who is purely a poacher or someone like Ibra, RvP, Rooney who can play up front or off of the main striker (a 'tweener' for a lack of the better word) - the man does it all. And I agree, if I was Roman, I'd be frantically dialling the main chiefs at Dortmund and doing all I could do to bring him to Chelsea.

He's still going to Bayern, just Dortmund are refusing to sell through principle.

Delac has pretty much regressed as a keeper in the past couple of years, which is a shame. I guess he could be kept around as Croatia are EU members from the summer onwards.

He's Juve bound and it's pretty much a forgone conclusion that he's going there (provided Juve cough up the money), apparently. It's a shame that we were never in for him as I like his game and we could do with a finisher of his calibre.

Davey missing the point completely, again.

Because that has everything to do with how good a player he is bro!

I'm sure there have been cases when a player's been injured but still signed for the club. Carroll to Liverpool springs to mind but there must be other examples.

Of the top of my head, his goals this season came against Everton, Benfica, Rubin, Steuea, Aston Villa, Nordsjealland, Shakhtar, Newcastle, Reading, Sunderland, Arsenal, Brendtford, Leeds, Monterrey, Wolves. I might've missed the odd opponent out but not stellar opposition is it?

Your initial point is that because Ibra left, Inter magically managed to go on and win the CL all of the sudden because they'd gotten rid of Ibra and replaced him with Eto'o but that's ignoring other factors that were important to Inter's success. If the only transfer they made that window was swapping Ibra for Eto'o, do you think they win the big one? Not a chance in hell. The fact of the matter is that he's a proven winner and has won major titles at every club he's been at, with his only 'blemish' being the missing CL medal but players shouldn't be judged on how good they are on whether or not they've won the CL (because there are so many scrubs who have won the CL, that it's ridiculous). The JFH analogy is also a bit off. The way you make it seem as if Mourinho wasn't impressed by JFH or that Mourinho saw that he wasn't a team player or whatever and that that was 100% the reason for Jimmy leaving the club is a tad wrong too. I highly doubt Mourinho wanted a 32 year old staying on, hence the whole squad revamp Mourinho did when he came. (Note - the spending and signings made in those Mourinho title winning years might, just might, have been important as opposed to letting JFH go)

Xabi Alonso rumours doing the rounds again, the Sunday Telegraph running with that story this morning.

He only spent two years at Inter, I thought (unless I'm missing something)? They simply came up against a stronger side in United that year. They strengthened a lot in the following season - the signings of Milito, Sneijder and Lúcio were much, much larger and important factors than the Ibra-Eto'o switch. Sneider had the season of his life that year and was a key part of Inter's success that year, Milito was a goal machine (scored in all of their Finals that season and goals that sealed the title domestically) and Lúcio was a huge upgrade for them at the back. So yeah, it's easy to say the lazy statement of 'Eto'o came in and Ibra left and so Inter won it' but that doesn't really tell the whole story.

Well him scoring tonnes of goals is bound to benefit the team, regardless of if he's doing it 'for himself' Seem to be stretching that narrative for all it's worth too, btw, to belittle Ibra's ability which is pretty ignorant to do. To use your Inter CL winning point, do you ever think that they won't it because they had Mourinho as a manager and that it was a mighty upgrade on their previous (manager) as opposed to the exchange of an individual.

Chelsea Contract Players Ake, Nathan Benjamin Retained Azpilicueta Tanco, Cesar Retained Ba, Demba Retained Baker, Lewis Renard Retained Bamford, Patrick James Retained Bertrand, Ryan Retained Blackman, Jamal Clint-Ross Retained Cahill, Gary James Retained Cech, Petr Retained Chalobah, Nathaniel Nyakie Retained Clifford, Billy Retained Cole, Ashley Retained Courtois, Thibaut Retained Davey, Alex James Retained Davila Plascencia Ulises Alejandro Retained De Bruyne, Kevin Retained Delac, Matej Extended Dos Santos Emboaba Junior Oscar Retained Essien, Michael Retained Feruz, Islam Retained Hazard, Eden Retained Hazard, Thorgen Ganael Francis Retained Hutchinson, Samuel Edward Retained Ivanovic, Branislav Retained Kakuta, Gael Retained Kalas, Tomas Retained Kane, Todd Arthur Lucien Retained Lalkovic, Milan Offer Lampard, Frank James Retained Loftus Cheek, Ruben Retained Luiz Moreira Marinho David Retained Lukaku, Romelu Menama Retained Marin, Marko Retained Mata, Garcia Juan Manuel Retained McEachran, Joshua Mark Retained Mikel, John Obi Retained Moses, Victor Retained Musonda, Lamisha Chashi Retained Musonda, Tika Kafusha Retained Nditi, Adam Eric Richard Retained Oliveira Dos Santos, Wallace Retained Omeruo, Kenneth Retained Osmanovic, Anjur Retained Pappoe, Daniel Mills Retained Piazon, Lucas Domingues Retained Pirez Araujo, Jhon Alexander Retained Santos Do Nascimento, Ramires Retained Saville, George Alan Retained Swift, John David Retained Terry, John George Retained Torres Sanz, Fernando Jose Retained Van Aanholt, Patrick John Miguel Retained Van Homoet Bruma, Jeffrey Kevin Retained Vidal, Oriol Romeu Retained Walker, Samuel Colin Retained Scholars Beeney, Mitchell Ryan Retained Christensen, Andreas Bodtker Retained Cole George Retained Conroy, Dion John Retained Dabo, Fankaty Sheikam Retained Gnahore, Ambrose Gnahoua Retained Houghton, Jordan Retained Kandi, Chike Retained Killip, Ben Retained Kiwomya, Andrew Alexander Retained Mitchell, Reece Steven Retained Muleba, Jonathan Retained Ssew**kambo, Isak Ssali Retained Starkey, Jesse Aaron Retained Wright, Kevin Retained Players released Affane, Amin Benayoun, Yossi Deen-Conteh Abdul Aziz Ferreira, Paulo Renato Rebocho Hilario Meireles Alves Sampaio, Henrique Malouda, Florent Johan Nkumu, Archange Turnbull, Ross

Except that his game isn't based on pace and he's scored 70 odd goals since turning 30, so he seems to be getting better with age, it'd seem.

Boateng's one of Milan's best players, tbf, and his versatility is always a plus. Could definitely do a job as a b2b midfielder if partnered with a more defensive minded midfielder.

He's had a cruiciate injury a few years back but the number of games per season that he's played prior and since then are hardly those of what you'd associate as someone who is injury prone. The fact that he's improved as a player since his injury is telling as many find it tough to recover from such injuries as they tend to have an effect on the physical side of their game (ie. pace and mobility)

Saying that as if it's a fact is incredibly nonsensical. I get it, you don't rate him or like him or whatever but you're letting that cloud your judgement of him as a player.

If you're going to play that game, what did Juve do the season after he left and what have Milan done since he's left?

At Inter he most certainly was key to their 3 Scudettos and was their top scorer in each of his seasons there (won the Serie A golden boot in his last season), he was key to Juve's titles too - in particular the one before Calciopoli - and was obviously the main reason Milan won their Scudetto and challenged in their defence for it the following season. Despite being labelled a 'flop' or 'nuisance' at Barca, he still averaged a goal every other game so he was impaortant to their side - obviously not their most important player. So, in short, saying that he wasn't an important player to those sides is plain wrong. It's nearly as wrong as you dismissing his influence on the team when there's clear evidence to the contrary.

That's an incorrect summary of Ibra, tbf. Aside of his incredible goalscoring ability, a great trait of his is that he gets the best out of his teammates and elevates their levels of performance/makes them look better so saying he plays for Ibra is a bit silly. Any sides aspiring for greatness should stear clear? Oh please. He was a pivotal part to every title winning side he was part of. Hint - he might take FKs and penalties because he's the best on his side at them.

Of course. My point is that a statement that we 'shouldn't touch him with a bargepole even on a free' is such a hyperbolic statement to make, which shows incredible ignorance.

The flagrant ignorance about Zlatan is quite shocking.

He's only got a year left on his contact so can't command that high a transfer fee.