Chelsea F.C [2011-2012]

[Mandieta6]

Rajkovic gone to Hamburg on a permanent deal. Shame, but I've discussed this already, and won't get into it again.

This means Alex is staying put unless we sign another defender (not if we sign a right-back, must be a C and then he could be allowed to leave for Juve. Expect a few rumours of us going after CBs to intensify, the Rolando rumour specifically.

Cue a reported interest in making an 18m bid for Cahill (the same amount as reported for Rolando), which I assume is just talk and won't materialise. That said, I wouldn't mind such a deal.

I'll preface by saying that I love Alex, I think he's worldclass, and though he's not that fast and has been dogged by injuries, he's more dependable than Luiz at the moment and is a brilliant, strong, CB with a cannon for a foot. But the fact of the matter is he's 29, with a ready-made replacement capable of stepping in (and likely displacing him) and taking over the starter spot permenantly, and he takes up a foreign-player spot and has shown that he's willing to leave.

Cahill meanwhile, would count as homegrown, is younger than Alex and while not as good nor as strong, he's better tehnically and would make a very good back-up for the CB spot.

For the 18m price, I'd rather have Cahill over Rolando becuse he has Prem experience, is homegrown,m and I've seen him play and know him fairly well, whereas I know little about Rolando.

Cahill for Alex would free a foreign spot, allowing us to bring in someone like Modric, too, for example. The rumour makes good sense for us, but I'm more than happy with Alex, and am not suggesting that we should hurry into such a deal, but I wouldn't object it to either.

Also, we'd be taking one of Arsene's transfer targets, and that's not bad either.

 

[Mandieta6]

Am now hearing about Malou to Juventus for 5m, ridiculous. What is with this rumours lately? I get that the board and AVB are looking to rejuventate the squad, but that doesn't mean that they will just sell everyone over 30 and buy younger alternatives.

Also forgot to mention the Ulises Davila rumours. He's a 2m Mexican target who featured prominently for Mexico in their tournies this summer (not the Copa America) and apparently played well. He seems to play in an advanced midfield role or on either flank, and this seems like a pretty legitimate rumour. Dunno much about him, but I welcome any reasonable bid for a young, talented player.

 

[Arnau]

Why do you rate Alex that high? He's slow and awkward, David Luiz is better, i'd love to have him in Barça.

 

[Tiago_10]

Why do you rate Alex that high? He's slow and awkward, David Luiz is better, i'd love to have him in Barça.

I never understood it either. Even Luisão is better than Alex, let alone David Luiz..

 

[Mandieta6]

Alex is not that slow, and he's certainly not awkward. He positions himself well (and therefor doesn't require much speed anyway) and is great at muscling players off the ball and is a good tackler who commits few fouls. He's very good in the air too and commits few mistakes. Actually, him getting outmuscled by Long is his only mistake in a long long time, and that was partly Ramires' fault anyway.

Luiz is brilliant, and will certainly displace Alex, as he's quicker, better on the ball and generally very good at this job, but at the moment he just commits more mistakes and more fouls, getting caught out of position.

Alex was our best player multiple times last season and injuries really ruined his season, but he's one of the best defenders in the world.

Frankly, I like Alex more because I've seen them both play and he's simply more assured and played better overall. I love Luiz, but he got overhyped and in terms of current ability, is not one of the starters, he's not even the 3rd best centreback yet. He'll get there, probably this season because Carlo trusted him and so will AVB.

 

[vitu]

Frankly, I like Alex more because I've seen them both play and he's simply more assured and played better overall. I love Luiz, but he got overhyped and in terms of current ability, is not one of the starters, he's not even the 3rd best centreback yet. He'll get there, probably this season because Carlo trusted him and so will AVB.

You should let him pop your cherry since you "like" him that much.....

 

[Mandieta6]

If anyone's gonna pop my chocolate cherry (other's been popped already), it wouldn't be Alex.

Lamps the way to go.

Sexy. As. ****.

 

[Mandieta6]

Mata officially, officially ours. Announced by the site, the deal is signed, but no number yet, probably because the club are waiting to see if a cash plus Yossi deal goes through for Modric, which will leave the 10 shirt open.

 

[Arnau]

You better give up for Modric already, for this amount you can get Valero which is as good or better.

 

[Mandieta6]

As I said already, I'd be fine either way, with or without Modric. If Valero is better, why did you choose Modric in the draft?

 

[Arnau]

It's all a part of a plan.

 

[Pizarro14]

Lampard class all written in him. Just wish they give the guy more credit to him in the NT. So how is Torres doing ? I'm still shocked to this day he picked another big club in England and not go to Serie A. But since he is as fragile as glass well thats another debate I do not want to get into. Where's that English player from your youth team that is playing first team at another club in the premier league? forgot his name. Please tell me you guys are only loaning him for first team experience?

 

[Mandieta6]

Sturridge? He's at the club.

People have disliked Lamps ever since the 'daddy's boy' image in West Ham, and he's never deserved any of it.

Torres is doing better than last year.

 

[MaSsiVe]

our president and king Pinto da Costa has confirmed tonight to have received an offer from Chelsea for Alvaro Pereira, and that it took him only 30 seconds to reject it

 

[Mandieta6]

It's a lot of talk for something that really makes little sense. Does AVB not trust our LBs at all? I don't get it, and I'm not sure what Porto would get out of making up a fake bid, unless they want someone to come in and take him off their hands for a higher price,

 

[Mandieta6]

AVB has officially come out and said that he wants to sign Perreira, but that it's unlikely that we will sign him this window. I assumethere are loan deals on the cards for PVA and Bertrand and that he plans to use Mata on the right.

Still seems redundant, especially for the price. And I'm not liking the Malou for 5m rumours at all.

 

[Zakov]

Well, I'm not against the signing but I'd prefer we actually give a chance to Bertrand and PVA than sign a new player. We've got the talent at our disposal, why not give them a chance to prove themselves?

 

[Mandieta6]

I think that the idea is for Perreira to be a backup for the LW moreso than for LB, and perhaps act as a stopgag cover for LB until one of the young LBs takes over. There's no point, having recently signed both of them to long contracts, to bring in someone older to stand in their way when we're trying to rejuventae the squad. We won't be selling Cole any time soon either, he's still the best LB in the world.

Malou's a different matter, and I think we should keep him, especially when the offered price is just 5m, but it seems like anyone over close or over 30 is on his way out soon.

 

[Filipower]

Pereira.

 

[Zakov]

Are the Malouda rumors believable? Seriously, the guy scored the winning goal in our last game, and is always a handful when coming on as sub. Definitely should keep him. He was one of our main sources for goals the past two seasons. Especially with Lampsy seemingly subdued so far.

If anything we should be selling Kalou. The guy has had so many chances from the start and I honestly don't know what his best position is. It seems AVB prefers Nico and Nando up front followed by Drogba and Torres. So if anything, Kalou is only getting minutes from the start because Sturridge is suspended. So far he hasn't done much to aid our attack.

Don't think Kalou will get much of a sniff in now that we've got Lukaku.