As the Cashley Cole debacle rolls on and on, are Chelsea going to be stupid enough NOT to have lined up an alternative?

Personally, I'd love to see us ruin the start of Sir Red Nose's Season by making a very audacious bid for Heinze !!!

Agreed, he is without doubt the best at defending, although the others all have qaulities, if it's no nonsence defending you want he is your man.

I can't imagine Manure accepting a bid for Heinze, so I'm going for Chivu.

um, where is the Babayaro option??!

SORRY !!!!

It would be Chivu for me if he was on the list - however I opt for Lahm on this list as I have no desire to hand Man Utd ?23m (just as I don't want to hand Arsenal it)

oops just noticed the 'other' option!

ok coombsie. we get your point.

Personally, I'd love to see us ruin the start of Sir Red Nose's Season by making a very audacious bid for Heinze !!!

Yes yes, we get it !

ok coombsie. we get your point.

Oops Not sure how that happened !!

Blame Loz, that usually works. He edited one of my posts once, to make a completely different point. Said it was an accident

looks like I am in the majority here in going for young phillip lahm. He looked good in the world cup, has youth on his side, and no-nonsense ruthless german efficiency!!!

Scott

Ruthless efficiency, I thought that was the Spanish inquisition :)

Does Lahm's performance during the WC warrant a Chelsea transfer? Opinions were divided I seem to remember from the threads about him.

not to mention Fear and Suprise, that was the spannish inquisition

Scott

Poke her with the soft cushions! Put her in the comfy chair!

Confess! Confess!

One of my favourites, that

Lahm for me as well. Young, talented, and clinical. His World Cup performance is almost enough to warrant a Chelsea transfer, but his performances in the Bundesliga were quite excellent as well. I would love to see him at Chelsea, though I wouldn't say no to Chivu either. I can't bear to give ManUre any more money, same with Arsenal. If we can't have Lahm or Chivu, stick with Bridgey until we can.

Chivu or Sorin 8)

Personally, I'm gutted we didn't sign Zambrotta. He was the one I always wanted - to provide competition to Bridgey - but I always thought he would be unavailable. When he became available, I thought, this is it, we're going to finally land him. But no. I think everything considered, he was/is the best option, except he isn't an option anymore is he.

We've dilley-dallied so long that I am of the opinion we should just give Arsenal what they want and sign Cole. I don't want to start the season with our defense a shambles as it currently is. If Mourinho wants Cole that much we should just get him in quickly. The player can start to settle in and our defense can regain some composure from a settled look.

And I'm also of the opinion that if Gallas wants to go, we should let him go and get in a quality replacement quickly. We shouldn't be entering the season so "unsettled" like this, particularly in defense.

Cheers,

Butch

Philip Lahm for me. But if we signed someone to play back up to Bridge then I'd be more than happy.

Zambrotta would have been perfect and my first choice. However, in the current circumstances i would go for Abidal or Lahm. The only problem there being that both Bayern and Lyon would want a kings ransom, and im fed up with us getting ripped off for nothing more than 'good' players.

Lahm would probably be the better choice out of the two.

Zambrotta would have been my first choice as well.

No to Heinze for the same reasons as Cole - not a good idea to throw giant amounts of money at our direct rivals. We will slightly improve our left-back situation, but Wenger/Ferguson will improve significantly in 2 or 3 positions, bringing them closer to us in quality.

I don't think that we can go through a whole season with Bridge as the only recognised left-back in the squad - especially given the current situation with Gallas - so we need to sign someone.

If it were up to me, I think we should try big money bids for either of Lahm or Chivu. If we can't get them, we should try and sign a youngster as backup for Bridge.

Let's try and get a good left-back from a team outside England.

Lahm is a great defender and he can play on both to the left and to the right. He's young and have proved himself in big games (one of Germanys best players in the World Cup).

Bayern M?nich has said that they wont sell any more players, but for the right amount of money I bet they will be tempted. But I think it will be alot of money though and I'm not sure that Mourinho want to spend that much on one player. :(

Chivu is a good player, but I don't know that much about him. Can't say how much we would have to pay for him, but I can't imagine it being that much (compared too Ashley). The question is will Roma sell him? They are aiming for the gold this season and since Chivu is a important player for them. They might not want to sell him. Perhaps if they got Gallas in exhange, but I don't want that. :?

Sorin is a player that I love and that I know for sure is for sale. Villareal wont ask for a ridiculus amount of money either. That is a player that I'm sure we can get if only Mourinho ask for him.

He's a player that is great in defense and just as good in offense. He's the kinda player that can break a pass down by his own goal and shortly after that be up the pitch and score a goal. And he can do it all game long. I think he's got better stamina than Lampard or anyone else.

That's three players that I can think of now that would be good signings.

If we could get Sorin and Lahm I would be very, very happy.

Finally I have a suggestion. When we face Arsenal (if we haven't bought Cole by then). let's make a bet. If we win we get Cole and if they win they get Gallas.

That would be a cheap and easy way to get Cole for free.

How can a club with CFC's resources not have sorted out a left- back ? At the moment we're starting the season with a guy whose confidence is shot and doesn't see a future at the Bridge. What's the alternative ? Geremi ? Billy ? So what if Arsenal want 25 million ? Sort it.

Let's make a swap-deal with Bayern M?nich: We offer them Huth and ?5-6 million, and we'll get Lahm. Deal done.

That might work, Paul Phoenix. They want Huth and for him and a bit of cash they might let Lahm go.

I love Huth and I'd hate to see him go. But he won't get to play that much here unless we get a few injuries. So if we can get Lahm for Huth then it would be okay to sell him. But I'd rather just pay money for Lahm and then send Huth out on loan to a good club that might teach him a bit or two.