Been here before

[waldron]

Is this another of those close seasons where Chelsea are linked and turned down by everyone (Kaka, Villa, Pato, Seedorf, Ribery etc) and end up buying yet another 30plus midfielder ? (Pirlo)

[VanBlue]

No

Yes

Maybe

[TheWestwayWonder]

No no and no. Well I hope not. I think the club management learned their lesson with Deco.

And if its between getting only Pirlo vs. changing nothing, I would go with the latter

[BLUENUT]

No no and no. Well I hope not. I think the club management learned their lesson with Deco.

And if its between getting only Pirlo vs. changing nothing, I would go with the latter

They should have learnt it when they signed Sheva over Tevez! - but they didn't.

[TheWestwayWonder]

Were we in for Tevez that summer? I cant remember that. I remember Eto'o vs. Shevchenko was the big debate at the time.

I will defend that transfer all the way. At the time, the name Shevchenko was synonamous with deadly, even if he was 28. I honestly though that he would be the man to lead us to the European Cup

[bjd]

Its mid June. The season has been over for just two weeks. The transfer window is open for another two and a half months.

Whilst i hope we dont leave it as late as we did last year (and we all know how that worked out), lets not get our knickers in a twist just yet.

[dkw]

Its mid June. The season has been over for just two weeks. The transfer window is open for another two and a half months.

Whilst i hope we dont leave it as late as we did last year (and we all know how that worked out), lets not get our knickers in a twist just yet.

well said. people are getting worried earlier and earlier. when the transfer window first came in i remember no-one wanted us to sign anyone too early. now we want players signed the day after the alst match of the season.

[Sparkz]

Just seems all our targets are rulling themselves out or being bought...

Villa and kaka have already joined madrid, ribery has said he doesnt want to move to england and zhirkov wants to play for baca, also with utd getting the money from ronaldo, they will be looking at players we are looking at

just hope we dont have a summer like last year, we have already fallen behind both liverpool and utd

Edited June 13, 2009 by Sparkz

[Ruh Buh Juh]

Just seems all our targets are rulling themselves out or being bought...

Villa and kaka have already joined madrid, ribery has said he doesnt want to move to england and zhirkov wants to play for baca, also with utd getting the money from ronaldo, they will be looking at players we are looking at

just hope we dont have a summer like last year, we have already fallen behind both liverpool and utd

That's news to me, I didn't know Villa has already gone...?

Zhirkov is still on the cards in my book. Give it a week or two and we'll see some hard evidence me thinks.

Edited June 13, 2009 by Ruh Buh Juh

[geezer]

That's news to me, I didn't know Villa has already gone...?

Zhirkov is still on the cards in my book. Give it a week or two and we'll see some hard evidence me thinks.

Villa isn't finalised but it's pretty much as done as it can be without being finished.

[Sparkz]

That's news to me, I didn't know Villa has already gone...?

Zhirkov is still on the cards in my book. Give it a week or two and we'll see some hard evidence me thinks.

have you heard zhirkovs recent comments?

kinda puts me off signing him

[Sparkz]

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11668_5378128,00.html

looks like he might not coming either

[geezer]

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11668_5378128,00.html

looks like he might not coming either

The agent doesn't actually say what it says in the headline.

[Zola's Love Child]

Umm, I really don't think we're going to settle for an over-priced player we don't really need. Almost everyone we've supposedly been interested in has been young, a striker, winger or left back, so I think we're going to be fine.

For some reason I still have faith in Kenyon's Cronies.

[waldron]

Were we in for Tevez that summer? I cant remember that. I remember Eto'o vs. Shevchenko was the big debate at the time.

I will defend that transfer all the way. At the time, the name Shevchenko was synonamous with deadly, even if he was 28. I honestly though that he would be the man to lead us to the European Cup

Yeah, remember the goal in the Charity Shield - classic. Unfortunately, after that it all went tits up. Just for the record. I said we should have signed Berbatov from Spurs and despite all the negative stuff you hear from United fans he didn't exactly stop them winning the league did he ? Let's see if we can tempt Sir with a crafty offer.

[waldron]

I don't want Glen Johnson back - you should never return to the scene of your crimes.

[TomP]

I think our second half of the season under Hiddink showed that we DON'T need wholesale squad changes. We played attractive an winning brand of football with Scolari's squad (and pretty close to Scolari's system). All that we needed to change was a few minor tactical adjustments, and a bit of motivation from the senior players and respect for the Man at the top.

The 30+ year old contigent all still have at least another season in them, and in my opinion, as long as Ancelotti has close to the tactical acumen of Guus and can gain the players respect, there's no reason why we can't compete for 4 trophies again next season regardless of who we do or don't sign.

Obviously, a few augmentations to an already top class squad would be better, but I really don't think we need wholesale changes. I think the changes we need are obvious. Creativity between midfield at attack, more depth in our forward lineup, and a world-class wide man.

I think currently all is going well. Reading between the lines, I think that Ancelotti has given Kenyon/Roman a list of targets that fit this bill nicely, and a bit of mystery surrounding the progress with these targets is a breath of fresh air compared to the Robinho saga of last season, and the Ashley Cole, Michael Essien, Didier Drogba debarcles of the last few seasons.

In my opinion, one or two main transfers (especially if we get someone like Aguerro, Ribery or Tevez) would fill these holes in our squad perfectly. These are the types of players who could play as a second striker, attacking midfielder or a wide man. If we miss out on our main targets, so be it, and we move on to second option players.

This is the crucial thing we didn't do with Robinho. We played cat and mouse all close season with Real, and got burned. How much better off would we have been if we had turned down Real's ridiculous demands and signed someone was not a superstar, but could do a job for the team. Instead, we ended up playing the likes of Stoch and Sinclair (arguably too early in their development) under Scolari, and we were force to shoe-horned in Anelka on the right flank under Hiddink.

In my opioning, this goes a pretty long way to sum up how we lost the title last year. Last season, Man United went down 1-0, and they brought on Tevez and Berbatov. We went 1-0 down and brought on Stoch or Beletti. This is pretty much a complete role reversal from our days of squad depth under Mourinho.

Obviously if we have departures, then we need to replace them, as Scolari really trimmed us down to a bare-bones squad last season, and we do have the ACN in January. The one exception to this is if we lose a defender - I think it is time for Maccienne to step up.

[Zola's Love Child]

I don't want Glen Johnson back - you should never return to the scene of your crimes.

Unless I've forgotten something in my sleep-deprived daze, what crimes did Johnson commit?

Unless you count some of his defending as criminal when he came into the first team...

[Maksimov]

I don't want Glen Johnson back - you should never return to the scene of your crimes.

There aren't many cases where it has actually worked out. Johnson's no Le Saux.

[Tim]

He stole a toilet seat from B&Q when he was at Chels, so technically Waldron is spot on...

Amazingly pointless theft!

Edited June 15, 2009 by Tim

[BLUENUT]

He stole a toilet seat from B&Q

But the police had nothing to go on

Edited June 15, 2009 by BLUENUT

[Star]

Were we in for Tevez that summer? I cant remember that. I remember Eto'o vs. Shevchenko was the big debate at the time.

I will defend that transfer all the way. At the time, the name Shevchenko was synonamous with deadly, even if he was 28. I honestly though that he would be the man to lead us to the European Cup

It was mentioned on the open top bus parade by Peter Kenyon when interviewed by Chelsea TV. It later went out on sky.

From memory Kenyon stated ....

"Yes, we have watched Carlos Tevez, at this stage we will not go down that avenue but if a player such as Shevchenko becomes available we will definately be interested."

We promptly then signed Ballack and Shevchenko and I take no satisfaction at all in saying that I probably hit it home as much as i've slated Peter Kenyon, that it would cost us our league title and let Man Utd in the back door.

[BLUENUT]

It was mentioned on the open top bus parade by Peter Kenyon when interviewed by Chelsea TV. It later went out on sky.

From memory Kenyon stated ....

"Yes, we have watched Carlos Tevez, at this stage we will not go down that avenue but if a player such as Shevchenko becomes available we will definately be interested."

We promptly then signed Ballack and Shevchenko and I take no satisfaction at all in saying that I probably hit it home as much as i've slated Peter Kenyon, that it would cost us our league title and let Man Utd in the back door.

Especially when they weren't the managers choice and Tevez was.

It all went pear shaped from there.

[TheWestwayWonder]

Okay, but on the flipside Tevez was completely unproven in European football, and 22 at the time. On top of that there was an undercurrent of thinking that Jose didnt get along with Argentines becasue of how things had gone with Crespo. West Ham had nothing to lose when they managed to get both him and Mascherano, and obviously his style and his class his first year gave Man Utd all they needed to know he was gonna be a great striker. And yet he still hasnt been "30 million" convincing

Separating fact from bullsh*t when it comes to these behind closed door goings on is impossible to do. And with the benefit of hindsight im sure we couldve had a much better team than now.

The Ballack signing I didnt understand (though I think its obvious that more than Kenyon's preference was at work there....Roman wants to make this club profitable and buying huge stars is a way to do that) but at the time I was absolutely thrilled we signed Shevchenko. Drogba had done well, but not really had his break out year yet, and this was meant to finally be the missing piece of the puzzle. That unquestionably world class striker, proven at the highest level, who would lead make us the preemminent force in European football. If it had been the Sheva of years past, we would have been.

Now, with the benefit of these failed experiments and the trophy return since, we know that going young and hungry with the signings is the way to be. But at least we have an owner who is willing to dig deep and do whatever it takes to make us a winner.

[youlots]

Tim: Amazingly pointless theft!

Must have known he'd end up at Liverpool.