Blue_Fox

Unsurprised, I nearly died of boredom myself.

He wants to stay on loan at West Brom next season. Probably the best option for his continued development if Falcao comes.

I think they've looked less intimidating in the Champons League this year. In the league they've looked good as they're winning their easy matches well (which is 99% of matches in La Liga), and Real Madrid have collapsed. You could argue he's living a charmed life off Guardiola's team still. I wouldn't offer him unequivocal praise until the meaty end of the season is done.

At Manchester City he'll be part of a project of nuking the wage bill and rebuilding with young talent, with his friends from Barcelona. You think that would be unappealing to him?

AC Milan supremo Silvio Berlusconi on trying to hire Guardiola: "So we contacted him, but then came the club that hires his friends" What could that mean?

Link? If this is true, perhaps he just hadn't built up the network of contacts he has now. I havn't really seen him get anything wrong in the past year or so I've followed him, at least not in the stuff he "knows". Granted he speculates a lot of crap.

I worry what will happen if no new stadium is built by the time he leaves... certainly won't be able to build anything as magnificent as what's been offered with his backing. Definitely impact on the club's ability to sustain itself as a superpower in the long run.

The most concrete thing I can offer is http://sulia.com/channel/soccer/f/24d2bf37-507c-40c4-afa2-28629911eb2e/ "with the information I have"... is key... Balague's information on anything La Liga is always very good.

Falcao is suspended. It's looking like he's going to Real Madrid.

I'm sure if there was something to this rumour we'd have heard more by now. Seems like the kind of thing The Mirror would report with little to no evidence simply for the hysteria and publicity it will create for them; people want to believe it, so try as hard as they can to, spreading it as far and wide as possible leading to a snowball effect. Probably old news (old shirt anyway), but just came across this: Can't see that it's shopped and the beard says it isn't too old.

"A" Barcelona or Real Madrid? I thought there was only 2? Regardless, the only reason a player has left English clubs for those 2 in recent years is because he has a reason to leave... supports the buying club, wants to fulfil his ambitions, falls out with personnel at the selling club etc. Of Chelsea's young players, I can't see Mata ever wanting to leave. Same with Piazon (supported Chelsea even before he came), Oscar (although he may start being groomed by Neymar at Barca at some point), obviously Bertrand, and Marin I can't see a situation like that arising with anyway. Hazard will definitely want to leave for Real Madrid, it was hinted in his "there was no point joining Real Madrid or Barcelona straight away as I wouldn't play every week" (or somethng to that effect) statement upon joining Chelsea, even before the Real Madrid "dream" story came out. Moses I think may move to Barcelona or Madrid if he gets the chance, don't know that they'd ever want him though... Courtois I don't know much about but I get a good feeling he will be happy to emulate Cech and stay here as long as possible.

More like poker imo

Ironic then that the same media circus now reporting this was reporting that Guardiola was United-bound a few days ago.

Athletico need to sell, eventually. I think a lot will depend on English club's performances in Europe this season. For example if Chelsea bomb in the Europa League and Real Madrid crush Manchester United, he'll look to stay in Spain.

He'll start as backup to Torres, oust him within a month or two, and by the end of the season no-one will even have noticed that Torres slipped out the back door to Athletico Madrid.

Was just catching up on http://cfctruth.blogspot.co.uk/ Seems a councillor of Hammersmith and Fulham Council has jumped into the comments section of the latest post, and has accused the author of misrepresenting the stance of LBHF, and has taken to "clarifying" the council's views on Stamford Bridge stadium expansion, the bids for Battersea/Earl's Court etc, and is then being challenged by the blog's author on this clarification. Good read if you're interested in the future of where Chelsea will play football.

Have to wonder why there was a £7m clause written into his contract in the first place. At first it sounded like lunacy, now it sounds like Newcastle were protecting themselves. Still, what does "degenerative" matter when he's only really needed for half a season?

My worry is that Oscar and Neymar are best friends. For now Oscar has desperately been trying to get Neymar to come to Chelsea... if Neymar joins Barca, how long before the coaxing and persuading to switch clubs starts to go the other way. Oscar is the kind of player Barcelona would fall over themselves to get.

Chelsea are not the only club. I'm not sure he would choose Chelsea over all others... He cares about playing, and where he plays, that much is certain by the way Newcastle seem to have changed their structure this season just to accommodate him in his favoured position while these contract issues have dragged on. He knows he wouldn't be a starter here, whereas at the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool he'd be one of the first names in the team sheet. PSG are also said to be interested, which is the team he says he supports.

That may be so if there weren't a million other clubs offering him contracts also. There is bound to be one that takes his fancy,

I've been thinking the exact same thing every time I watch Newcastle. Ba plays Cisse's position of last year, only marginally less effectively, whilst Cisse has to play Ba's position of last year, rendering him useless. The manager, the team, even the two players themselves seem to know which way round they should play, but for whatever reason they are deviating from what worked so well last season. Regarding Ba, like I said earlier ITT Chelsea weren't the only club to put an offer on his table, and predictably more have now joined the party, which is reflected in his ability to demand sky-high wages. Doubt this Kenwyne Jones stuff, if imposing Premiership-proven forwards are the desire then bringing back Di Santo must be more desirable than Kenwyne Jones (though I suppose cost would be £20m+). Though I was uninspired by the propect of Remy in the summer, hijacking his in-progress move to Newcastle doesn't seem like the worst option right now. IMO, assuming the board are confident of getting Falcao in the summer, a 6-18 month contract for Anelka can't be a bad bet.

Agree with your first paragraph. With regards to Arsenal and Wenger, what makes you say next year will be Wenger's last? There havn't been any whispers of his retirement afaik, and not that what he says in public is much to go on but he has been particularly adamant that he does not see himself retiring at all soon. He'll never be sacked. Return to Barcelona is widely known to be out of the question, at least for this next stage of Guardiola's career. Man Utd's situation is indeed interesting, Fergie has travelled to meet with Guardiola multiple times recently, and his friend Dave Whelan did say he would be retiring at the end of this season due to health concerns. It also makes sense that he would keep his retirement secret until the last possible second, given the detrimental effect it had on Utd's season last time he (prematurely) announced it in 2001. If it was for definite however, following Mourinho's recent meetings with Fergie whilst Real were playing away to Manchester City, I don't think Jose would have said that he hopes to return to England while Fergie is still managing (in Maksimov's interview) if he knew Fergie was planning to retire, and I think they are good enough friends that he would know. Don't see why people don't think Jose Mourinho can come back to Chelsea, his sacking was a reluctant one after Jose pretty much dared Abramovich to following the Rosenborg game, after he had gotten fed up with Roman's intereference with transfers (interestingly I think Jose is currently showing the same reckless abandon at Real Madrid). Roman immediately bought him a boat to patch up their differences and Jose said himself in Maksimov's interview that he would have no problems coming back to Chelsea. I'm sure Abramovich would consider bringing him back, Mourinho was second choice to Guardiola in the summer. On the flip side of course Abramovich may wish to go with Klopp or some other flavour-of-the-month manager whose attacking football he's been seduced by, as he has done in the past; Jose's ruthless comments on Mancini's Champions League failures this season arouses suspicion that he is trying to make leverage for himself to return to England if an offer from Chelsea does not come. Though his opinions are rubbish, when speaking from his sources Guillem Balague is very reliable and he himself has said this will probably be Jose's last season at Madrid, and Maksimov's interview informs that the Premier League is where he sees himself next.

On the subject, the past few days Catalan press have been reporting that Guardiola has confided in his brother and agent which job he has decided to take, and it is in the Premiership. Havn't revealed where but seems like a straight up shout between Chelsea and Manchester City. Depends whether he prefers City's stability (and familiar personnel in the hierachy), or the pull of London. I predict if he goes to City, Mourinho will come here (no matter what), which is the best scenario imo. If Guardiola comes here, City will probably get Mourinho, but on the off chance Jose keeps and wants his job at Real beyond the summer, Benitez will switch to City.

Apparently still wants to stay, but give it a day or so and he'll be having lucrative offers thrown at him left right and centre. According to tabloids Real Madrid is the most likely destination, which would be brilliant as it means Coentrao/Marcelo will most likely become available.

Still have to see off another club with contract offer, and wouldn't bet against even more clubs joining the battle for him now the first moves have been made... Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs, even Man City are looking for goals... Who wouldn't be in for the league's joint-second top scorer thus far at such a low price? Walcott is nonsense.