I really hope Torres is somehow on his way out of Chelsea, I see him as the major block to a Lukaku return. It would be perfect timing to sell Torres atm with the last games he has had, like it was last season when he became topscorer in EM 2012. I doubt it will happen though and I don't think Chelsea will trust Torres enough again, that they wouldn't buy a world class striker like Lewandowski/Cavanni/Falcao.

Great time to sell Torres, he's got himself 20+ goals for the season and been IMO player of the tournament in the Europa League. Think at the moment his value right now will be better than it was last season at this time.

Does he come back for the post season games in the US?

Surely he will?

West Brom fans saying some positive things here:

http://westbrom.com/forum/index.php?topic=8722.850

Edited May 19, 201313 yr by Bobbywoodhogan

Loans return to us at the end of their team's season I believe so we should have everyone available for City except injuries.  TBH I hope we send out as many youngsters as possible as our first team regulars really don't need more games.  Though we're probably contractually obliged to start a few stars.  

well, you can say the same for mata and lampard. 12 and 15 goals in the league, respectively

 

No, you don't understand my point - Cronaldo has actually at times played as a striker(perhaps not at Real but for sure at United it happened on quite a few occasions)

are real madrid a top club? because they went through the season with just 2 strikers

 

They did not win anything.

 

Look at United, they had RVP, Rooney, Hernandez and Welbeck.

They did not win anything.

 

Look at United, they had RVP, Rooney, Hernandez and Welbeck.

Exactly. They do play 2 strikers though. For our system we only need 3. Hernandez is invaluable. 1/2 goals per game mostly from the bench and playing in weakened teams. Lukaku could play that role. A new signing to be our main man a la Van Persie and Ba to play the Welbeck role. This entails filling in when needed, giving a good amount of work rate and overall contributions whilst not scoring too many.

are real madrid a top club? because they went through the season with just 2 strikers

 

When you have a winger who scores 50 goals a season, you can do without a third striker. Most teams can't.

They did not win anything.

 

Look at United, they had RVP, Rooney, Hernandez and Welbeck.

 

real madrid finished 2nd in the league, played the cup final and the CL semi final. omg what a catastrophe of a season

 

and united had just one AM. i guess that means we have to sell oscar, hazard and marin

When you have a winger who scores 50 goals a season, you can do without a third striker. Most teams can't.

 

a combination of mata and hazard is easily on par with that of ronaldo and di maria

 

not to mention our defence shts all over theirs

Edited May 19, 201313 yr by Lane

Because of his hat trick United could not equal our record in terms of most wins in the EPL 

Because of his hat trick United could not equal our record in terms of most wins in the EPL

Agent Lukaku return to base.

They did not win anything.

 

Look at United, they had RVP, Rooney, Hernandez and Welbeck.

 

Hernandez is a spiffing third choice, granted, but did Welbeck even score a league goal this season?

Hernandez is a spiffing third choice, granted, but did Welbeck even score a league goal this season?

 

1

Happy days.

 

We can't rely on two strikers a la Higuain/Benzema, surely we've learnt a lesson from trying to rely on one for half a bloody season.

a combination of mata and hazard is easily on par with that of ronaldo and di maria

 

not to mention our defence sht all over theirs

 

Ronaldo has 55 goals this season, Mata and Hazard have 33 between them. Having Ronaldo is like having two extra strikers, so in Real's case they can get by with just Higuain and Benzema. Unless we sign him, we'll need more than just Ba and Lukaku up front next season.

Ronaldo has 55 goals this season, Mata and Hazard have 33 between them. Having Ronaldo is like having two extra strikers, so in Real's case they can get by with just Higuain and Benzema. Unless we sign him, we'll need more than just Ba and Lukaku up front next season.

 

i do think we need more than lukaku and ba. but not a big name striker

 

we are a team where every player can score a goal (except for mikel), so having a striker who can bang in 20 is enough IMO. not to mention in 2 years time, lukaku will probably be good enough to be a starting striker and deserves to be invested in

 

what we need, IMO, is a 3rd option who will happily sit on the bench

i do think we need more than lukaku and ba. but not a big name striker

 

we are a team where every player can score a goal (except for mikel), so having a striker who can bang in 20 is enough IMO. not to mention in 2 years time, lukaku will probably be good enough to be a starting striker and deserves to be invested in

 

what we need, IMO, is a 3rd option who will happily sit on the bench

 

I totally disagree, another mediocre '3rd option' is exactly what we don't need! None of our strikers have performed well for us, even Drogba in his last season and half was not scoring a lot in the League. If we want to win the League and really challenge in the CL, a top world class striker who can be relied upon in the big, high pressure games is essential. United realised this last season, when Rooney was not delivering and they went out and got RVP, a proven world class goal scorer, without Messi Barca would not have won the Spanish League, without Falcao, Atleti would not be in a CL place, without Ibra PSG would not be top of Ligue 1. 

 

A top team like Chelsea NEED a proven world class striker not a gaggle of mediocre '3rd options'. Lukaku should come back but he is 19/20 yrs old, has not played in games when the pressure is on and has not been the main focus of a top team challenging for honours. There is no way he can be our main forward. Torres stats don't tell the full pic, he has been very poor in the League and I don't have full confidence in him. Ba is just mediocre IMO, not and never was suitable for CFC, I was against us getting him. Another Emanelo 'genius' signing, lol. I also don't get the club's obsession with Schurrle, he alone is not the answer to our striker needs/issues. If he was so good how come Bayern or Dortmund aren't rushing to sign him?

Edited May 19, 201313 yr by ilovechelseafc

We've scored 75 in the league this season with only Torres available up front for half of it.  City only managed 66.  If we signed Falcao or Cavani I really think we'd end up stifling Lukaku to the point where he'd want to leave.  A player like Hernandez would be ideal because he doesn't seem to mind being a secret weapon and coming off the bench to save a game.  

 

He's had an incredible loan, in this league and outscored any player on our team.  He's been so good that he's won WBA's player of the year award.  What more does he have to do to prove himself?  He was probably told to go to WBA, refine his game and show us what he can do.  Well he's responded by outperforming all of our strikers in an inferior team with fewer minutes and fewer starting opportunities   Going by performances he's completely outshone our options.  Not to mention City, Arsenal and Tottenham's options up front.  The goals he's been scoring aren't tap ins capping off a footballing masterclass by WBA's midfield.  The majority of them are from nothing.  Meanwhile we're in the groundhog thread trying to figure out how Mata and Hazard need to align the stars so that Torres can get his optimal service and score.    

 

United can afford to have so many strikers because they still play a 4-4-2.  We haven't played with 2 strikers in years.  The most we can get away with is 3, and if we had someone like Falcao or Cavani, Lukaku would never get a look in because strikers like that don't sit on the bench.  He needs to be playing regularly and he won't get that behind Falcao or Cavani.  That was his first season playing in the league and he's 20.  He wants to play for us and he's earned the opportunity.  While I'd love to have one of the current elite strikers, I'd much rather we moulded our own - especially since scoring goals isn't our problem with all the talent we have in attacking midfield.

 

If we get Jose I think he'll get his chance.  Jose being a known admirer of his, and him being the sort of striker he prefers.  If we do get one of the elite, I hope we get rid of Torres and maybe even Ba to guarantee both Lukaku and the new option get ample games.  Schurrle (assuming he signs) and Moses are capable of playing in CF and the rest of our team is full of goals.  If we're hit by an Essien at RB-like injury catastrophe, Hazard and probably even Mata are capable of playing as a false 9 (as RDM did against Juventus).

 

 

 

 

how can anyone deny him the position of our 1st striker?

People on here saying Torres will stand in the way of Lukaku playing, do you not think that the £40mil+ striker we seem to want to buy will do that? After careful consideration my ideal scenario would be Ba and Torres staying, Lukaku coming back as our number 1 striker and buy Schurrle as a winger but can fill in as a striker if we get injuries.

The new Drogba you better believe it.

He became a man today, Jose will love him !

People on here saying Torres will stand in the way of Lukaku playing, do you not think that the £40mil+ striker we seem to want to buy will do that? After careful consideration my ideal scenario would be Ba and Torres staying, Lukaku coming back as our number 1 striker and buy Schurrle as a winger but can fill in as a striker if we get injuries.

 

We won't win anything with that line up.

 

Torres: Unreliable, in and out of form

 

Ba: Not good enough, too mediocre, Newcastle his level

 

Lukaku: Very young, excellent potential and should be given a chance in the squad but we cannot rely on him in CL or FA Cup Final. Not ready to be our main striker yet.

 

Schurrle: Unproven in our League and in no way a world class striker. If, so good how come Bayern/ Dortmund aren't interested?

 

Looking at our squad, the one thing we are missing in a world class centre forward. United went out and brought a proven goal scorer in RVP, Barca have Messi, PSG got Ibra etc etc. We will not win anything without one.

We won't win anything with that line up.

 

Torres: Unreliable, in and out of form

 

Ba: Not good enough, too mediocre, Newcastle his level

 

Lukaku: Very young, excellent potential and should be given a chance in the squad but we cannot rely on him in CL or FA Cup Final. Not ready to be our main striker yet.

 

Schurrle: Unproven in our League and in no way a world class striker. If, so good how come Bayern/ Dortmund aren't interested?

 

Looking at our squad, the one thing we are missing in a world class centre forward. United went out and brought a proven goal scorer in RVP, Barca have Messi, PSG got Ibra etc etc. We will not win anything without one.

 

I'm thinking about the future here, with Lukaku up top for us will save us 40 odd million on a striker and having Lukaku, Oscar, Mata, Hazard and Schurrle forming an understanding from such young ages we will have one of the best forward lines in the world for years and years. Buying a 40 odd million quid striker now basically tells Lukaku that he has no future here because we can't just loan him out for the next 5 years and he's not going to be a bench warmer for us. It would be a massive shame to lose him but if we sign a big name striker now he's never going to get a chance here.

 

I don't know anything about Schurrle I'm just going on the fact that it's very likely we're signing him.

The look on Ferguson's face when Lukaku finished that hat trick was a pleasant sight haha.

Ba is a load of crap. I've no idea why we bought him in Jan. Should've just recalled Lukaku and saved £7m and Ba's wages! Hope we can offload Ba in the summer to PSG, his 'dream' club, he's not Chelsea, he's a mercenary.

 

We need a world class striker, either Falcao or Cavani, not Rooney and no more mediocre players!!

Edited May 19, 201313 yr by ilovechelseafc