“But Sky Sports' Spanish football expert Guillem Balague reported as recently as Tuesday that Pedro had already agreed personal terms with United and that the 28-year-old was just waiting for the clubs to agree on a transfer fee, despite interest from Manchester City.”

 

 

Hands up all those who want to hear Guillem backtracking on that one!

Fantastic news, supported this topic from day 1 and hopefully not the last signing.

 

Hopefully will lift the doom and gloom that has been around here over recent weeks!

Really gutted about this, rate him a lot. Great transfer for Chelsea.

Is it just me, or have Cech and Valdes been the two best players for us this season so far?

Really gutted about this, rate him a lot. Great transfer for Chelsea.

 

It's ok, you have Ronaldo 2.0 in Depay....right?

 

 

“But Sky Sports' Spanish football expert Guillem Balague reported as recently as Tuesday that Pedro had already agreed personal terms with United and that the 28-year-old was just waiting for the clubs to agree on a transfer fee, despite interest from Manchester City.”

 

 

Hands up all those who want to hear Guillem backtracking on that one!

 

 

Fun as that sounds I think I'd rather not hear anything from Balague at all.

 

 

“But Sky Sports' Spanish football expert Guillem Balague reported as recently as Tuesday that Pedro had already agreed personal terms with United and that the 28-year-old was just waiting for the clubs to agree on a transfer fee, despite interest from Manchester City.”

 

 

Hands up all those who want to hear Guillem backtracking on that one!

 

guillem bollocks is a pish talk c**t. 

“But Sky Sports' Spanish football expert Guillem Balague reported as recently as Tuesday that Pedro had already agreed personal terms with United and that the 28-year-old was just waiting for the clubs to agree on a transfer fee, despite interest from Manchester City.”

Hands up all those who want to hear Guillem backtracking on that one!

Off topic. I went on a stag do to Madrid and Guillem Bollockgay was on our flight, Madrid v Barca that weekend. We were chatting with him in the queue, as Alan Partridge would say, a bit of gentle joshing. We bought a round of beers on the plane and bought one for him and had the air hostess take it down. She spoke to him and then brought the beer back to us. He told her he only drinks wine. W*nker!

Edited August 19, 201510 yr by middleweight

Never trust a man who doesn't drink Beer!

If confirmed, Pedro should bring a lot more balance to our team. I haven't seen the stats, but it seems that most of our progressive play (i.e. non-counter attacking) ends up on our left side, with Hazard, Oscar, Azpilicueta and Costa linking up. When we do use our right side, we often see Ivanovic relatively isolated, especially with Willian's tendency to move inside. In these last two games and at times last season, Ivanovic has struggled to deliver crosses into the box or get behind the opposition left back to the byline. With Pedro, not only will we be more effective in counter-attacks, we should be much more aggressive on our right side.

 

What's more, I think the signing puts pressure on Oscar by forcing Willian to compete for the number 10 role (in addition to right-sided forward).

Edited August 19, 201510 yr by Hazardous

Assuming this doesn't fall apart at the last minute, does Pedro slot straight into our starting XI? If so, who do we drop?

 

Willian.

Now we have Pedro, who wants to join me in going over to Cuadrado's house tonight to pack his f**king bags for him?

 

I'm already looking at one-way plane tickets to Italy on lastminute.com

No need to spend out on flights mate, I heard Accrington Stanley are short on the right.

Assuming this doesn't fall apart at the last minute, does Pedro slot straight into our starting XI? If so, who do we drop?

 

Right now I would drop Fabregas and play Oscar or Willian deeper. Later on we can rotate them, it's a long season and they'll need rest if we're lucky with injuries.

I'd drop Willian provided that Oscar can maintain his typical early season form. Once Oscar tails off in January he hopefully won't start another game this season and Willian can come back in.

Edited August 19, 201510 yr by Jonty

Right now I would drop Fabregas and play Oscar or Willian deeper. Later on we can rotate them, it's a long season and they'll need rest if we're lucky with injuries.

 

The problem with that is that Fabregas plays a role in the team which no one else in the entire squad can really come close to doing.

 

I do agree that the beauty of this deal is that it gives us additional options who are of starting XI quality, which is something (not exactly unnoticed by Chelsea fans) we have been lacking since Schurrle left. On the other hand, with the addition of Pedro, I'm not 100% sure what our strongest XI is. I suppose it gives us options for different calibres/styles of opponent.

No need to spend out on flights mate, I heard Accrington Stanley are short on the right.

He'd struggle to get a game!

The problem with that is that Fabregas plays a role in the team which no one else in the entire squad can really come close to doing.

 

I do agree that the beauty of this deal is that it gives us additional options who are of starting XI quality, which is something (not exactly unnoticed by Chelsea fans) we have been lacking since Schurrle left. On the other hand, with the addition of Pedro, I'm not 100% sure what our strongest XI is. I suppose it gives us options for different calibres/styles of opponent.

 

When on form, yes, I agree. So far this season he has done nothing that others are not capable of. A few games on the bench might give him the motivation to get his act together.

Right now I would drop Fabregas and play Oscar or Willian deeper. Later on we can rotate them, it's a long season and they'll need rest if we're lucky with injuries.

Totally agree I think both Oscar and Willian would give more deeper than Fabregas. Love to see him further forward with less defensive responsibilities.

When on form, yes, I agree. So far this season he has done nothing that others are not capable of. A few games on the bench might give him the motivation to get his act together.

You could say the same for Ivan, Costa, Willian and a few others though.

Cesc creates thing no one else in this side can come close to doing.

He hasn't signed yet!

Very happy that this one seems to be happening, especially as it seemed he was set for United.

Media in full "save face of England's biggest club" mode, as happens every time a player doesn't go there.

Hopefully he can oust Willian, his lack of end product is a big issue and he's offered no right side protection so far this season so what's his raison d'être?

You could say the same for Ivan, Costa, Willian and a few others though.

Cesc creates thing no one else in this side can come close to doing.

 

I could but most of them will not compete with Pedro for their place ;)

Willian yes, I just feel that Fabregas was more underwhelming so far this season.

He hasn't signed yet!

I think it's pretty much sown up, he's in London for a medical apparently.

This sounds plausible to me:

 

After chief executive Ed Woodward flew to Barcelona on Monday apparently to close the deal, it is difficult to accept that Van Gaal simply lost interest in a player he had made his No 1 target to replace Angel Di Maria.

United have been tracking Pedro ever since Di Maria ended his unhappy year at Old Trafford by moving to Paris St Germain earlier this month.

And although there is strong interest in Thomas Muller, he is a different sort of player and Bayern Munich are highly unlikely to sell whatever Untied bid.

As Pedro had a release clause of £22m, United could not have been outbid by Chelsea. United are so flush with money that suggestions they were haggling over the method of payment and that Chelsea were prepared to pay more up front are hard to believe.

It is also unlikely that Chelsea have offered Pedro a better contract than United.

What it boils down to then is that Pedro fancied Chelsea more than United, and preferred working with Jose Mourinho more than Van Gaal, who has also had a stand-off with his Spain international team-mate David De Gea.

United picked up those vibes and pulled the plug. But it is a major blow because Van Gaal had identified Pedro as the perfect player to give his attack the pace, creativity and goals it has lacked in the early games.

 

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/599368/Pedro-Barcelona-Manchester-United-Chelsea-transfer-move