Breaking news on SSN now.

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thingers crossed on this one...

every one has heard of anelka but Ivanovic and Franco zola are the first possibilitys for discoveing a couple of gems in the Grant era and will go some way to showing us his intentions for his time in charge

It's all official on the Chelsea website as well now :-))

I'd rather Belletti, please.

got a feeling this will mean a few players leaving. definately one centre back , possibly a right back. ben haim and paulo possibly?

Maybe we're willing to accept Spurs' £8mil offer for TBH.

It started last season, but this season has been even worse -- Ferreira just doesn't seem to be capable of holding his own. He's not Glen Johnson bad, but he's close. I can't see him sticking around next year. Whether he, and/or TBH, leaves in January comes down to numbers.

Once JT is healthy, and our African contingent returns, you'd figure our first choice back four are:

-----Belletti-----Carvalho------Terry-----A.Cole------

and our back ups at each slot (assuming Ferreira and TBH are gone):

------Essien-----Alex-------Ivanovic-----Bridge------

or

------Ivanovic-----Alex-----Essien-----Bridge-------

Essien would be able to slot back there if Lampard and Ballack are healthy and we also have Mikel back, even assuming Sidwell leaves. Especially since Maka looks 100% again when he plays.

My conclusion is that TBH is free to go, and whether Paulo is kept around for the rest of this year depends on who's buying. I'd hate to see us "loan" him out for free, and pay his wages, like we've done in the past with other players, when we could actually make money from them if we stuck to our guns.

as much as a like paulo, hes a pure confidence player and he was ruined by his terrible games in the euros those years ago (like his namesake robinson for england and spuds is now) - if his mental state was like belletti's paulo would be awesome.

He wasn't ruined by those at all - it was after those that he had two great seasons in our back four. His confidence was shatterered when Jose began constantly rotating him out of the side any only playing him when he neded an emergency centre half or left back.

as much as a like paulo, hes a pure confidence player and he was ruined by his terrible games in the euros those years ago (like his namesake robinson for england and spuds is now) - if his mental state was like belletti's paulo would be awesome.

Think thats harsh, he had a phenomanle 2 seasons for us and i for one dont think he's been as bad this seaon as people make out

no, both in the euros and the world cup especially he had bad times. they served to diminish him as was visible by his being dropped by his mentor jose. yes he did have 1 and a half great seasons but was not able to mentally keep that form. hes still not the first choice fullback! i said, i really like paulo, but you cant argue hes not a confidence player...

Paulo just needs games. A run of them. No coincidence that the last time he had that (end of last season) culminated in his best form for us for 2 years and ended up with a close motm showing at Wembley, keeping the player of the year in check.

Cant see him getting them now though to be honest.

Ivanovic Profile

http://www.theshedend.com/branislav-ivanovic.html

I consider Ivanovic a fairly long term buy and as such, though he may get some game time this season, I don't beleive we are going to start selling defenders now. I think TBH will be here till the end of the season (at which time his position will be considered). As for Ferreira, his sale this window is a stronger possibility, but still something I consider only a 50/50 chance.

The deal is all done and dusted:

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Cheesiest photo ever!

Why is Bobby Charlton in the pic

hmmm he will wear the number 2, let's just hope he dosen't turn out to be as good as the previous owner of that number.

Why is Bobby Charlton in the pic

Looks more like Jack

hmmm he will wear the number 2, let's just hope he dosen't turn out to be as good as the previous owner of that number.

It's good that he's been given the #2 shirt and not some silly "reserve team number" like #45. I wonder if Belletti or Alex would've been given the #2 shirt if Johnson had completed his move to Pompey a bit earlier.

hmmm he will wear the number 2, let's just hope he dosen't turn out to be as good as the previous owner of that number.

Or he could be a Super Dan

Any news of a press conference?

Would love for him to turn out to be a reincarnation of Super Dan, would be great to see the number 2 kit brought back to full glory!1

I like him already - he is a southpaw.

Cheesiest photo ever!

Doesn't that hair remind you of Christian Panucci? And I can't remember, what number shirt did Panucci wear? Wasn't no.2 was it?