I haven't read the article--but I've just passed the newspaper section in Waitrose and this is on the front page of the Daily Telegraph!
I wouldnt mind. As long as Torres is given his marching orders and Lukaku comes back. Drogba will always add something, either on the pitch or the training field.
Back as a coach yes, as a player not sure. Just seems fitting that the most important kick in our history was his last. We aren't United with Scholes, sometimes you have to move on.
Wouldnt hurt having him on the books at player coach. If Torres, Ba and Eto'o ALL go, which is possible, we can buy a new main man who can share the responsibilities with Lukaku and have Drogba as second reserve for emergencies and the odd league cup game. I was open to signing Eto'o for one more season, but on reflection, I think it may be better to shift all 3 (esp if Drogba can take his role as backup) and have new guy, Lukaku, and Drogs as our three choices.
We could probably get £5-10m for Nando, 15-20m for Ba, Eto'o will go for free. Mikel 15-20m Luiz - 35m I think these will go in the summer. Not sure how I feel about Luiz leaving, if he did, I just have a feeling it will happen. Thats about £75m or so, plus we may flog a couple of the guys we have on loan, we can easily recoup 100m in the summer on players, giving Jose more than enough to buy a striker and a ball playing midfielder.
He's 36 now and we should be building more for the future. Saying that though i'd give Eto'o another year....
I may have been a little generous on Ba's figure but I cannot see anyone paying £15m for Torres, not at his age. If they do then awesome, would take their hand off, but I would say around £10m probably more realistic. At 28, Ba would probably fetch around 15m dont ya think, Arsenal wanted him last summer so it shows he is still rated. He just hasnt had a long enough run in our first team.
Yeah but you have to remember he is also a house-hold name. I could see one of the newly rich clubs coming in for him, such as Monaco or Napoli. Ideally he'd be used as paper-weight in any Diego Costa deal. With Ba, I don't think he'll fetch above £10m. We got him for £6m if i remember correctly, and he hasnt done anything since then to increase that price. Also THIS may be an indicator on Ba's price.
Agree with you about Ba, can't see a big price for him nor Torres for that matter. 10 mill would be excellent for either. Ba could up his price if he gets a run of games and scores a few as Eto'o is doing. Think everyone can see that Torres will never get better than he now is.
Give or take on the above, probably will happen. Also, wouldn't be surprised to see Ashley Cole & Marin leaving. Also, wouldn't be totally shocked if Lampard moved to the US for a couple of years. Although none of the above (with the exception of Luiz) will see huge transfer fees, the salary bill will be significantly reduced. I don't know the details, but I would guess that for the 6 of them (excluding Lampard) you would get much change out of £550 -£600k/week. Add Frank to that and you're up to £600-£650k. That's a significant saving on the wage bill, plus cash in the bank to buy a couple of players.
