Guardian, BBC, SKY etc all reporting he's on his way. Will apparently go back to St Etienne on loan and join the first team next season. Highly rated in France and considered to have world class potential. £12m fee. Likely one of Luiz, Terry or Cahill will make way, hopefully it's the latter.
Yeah, 31 on my save and still going strong at Milan haha. Too much time on my hands.... Anyway, i reckon Cahill is probably the safest of the three to stay. I wonder if JT will get a new contract end of the season? I fancy he might get a year and then Luiz will go, probably to Barca.
Would have put my money on Luiz to go even a month ago. Since then, he's played well as DM and well again in CD. Starting to think Jose might have changed his mind about Luiz, cause he's playing more consistently and being given a chance to show versatility. Zouma is as unproven at this stage as one or 2 other youngsters we already have, so see him as a regular starter mid next year. I think JT will be the one to go, he is miles past his best, yet could have a good career ending 2 years at somewhere like Galatasary. Will be interesting to see how things pan out.
I disagree CP. Bar the Stoke Sunderland games, JT has been superb this season, very consistent. His best season since 09/10. He won't be going anywhere. Jose will want to keep some if not all of the old guard to maintain a connection to the club Unfortunately the mail agree with me http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...-deserves-new-deal-Chelsea-ASH-WEDNESDAY.html
[video=youtube;mhGVTEl6uRo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhGVTEl6uRo[/video] Perfectly good tackle but in France they do it based on how bad the injury is so he got a 10 game ban.
Wouldn't for a second suggest your football knowledge is threatened by that of the Mail EC !! Can't argue with JTs' form this season, but it's not as good as 4 years ago, for obvious reasons. If Jose is rebuilding, then JT has a real big serious problem.... he's too slow and getting slower. Luiz aside, for my money in sheer ability Cahill is the weakest and hasn't come on as I thought he might. Fair to good player at best. If Jose thinks JT can cut it again next season, fair enough, then it's Cahill I would let go. I know Luiz divides opinion, but the lad has something special, and I would hate to see him sold before he gets a decent run with the new look team of next season. For mine, DM, think he and Matic would be a great combination.
For me, as I have stated before when Luiz plays CB he is let down by the other defenders not being up to the pace of him. Can anybody say that JT, Ivan or Cahill match the pace of Luiz, nowhere near and even Cole has started losing positional advantage over attackers. Now imagine if Azpi-Luiz-Zouma-Shaw was the defence that lined up, playing a high line they would squeeze the opposition and if caught in behind, all four defenders would have the pace to track back. It could be the plan all along. On Luiz, everyone said he would be sold last summer because Jose disliked him, then again this January. But behold, he is still here so he cannot be that negative in Jose's mind. Courtois Azpi-Luiz-Zouma-Shaw Ramires-Matic Willian-Oscar-Hazard Costa That is a team
I have the same opinion as you regarding Luiz' pace. In the early days, he would dash out, some say recklessly, and JT or Cahill would be left behind and a gap created. Pleased to say it seems either experience or Jose has corrected this habit, and he is more solid and aware. There is a strong rumour that Courtois will be "swapped" for Costa, madness in my opinion, but I'm full of mad opinions. I think, this years form aside, JT, Cahill, Cech and Lamps are all very close to their use by dates. Lamps is no longer 1st choice, JT is used more sparingly, Cech has avoided that fate so far, quite rightly, and Cahill continues to disappoint. Interesting times, and a bigger rebuilding job than was anticipated me thinks.
If the opportunity for Cech to go to another big team in Europe, such as either Real (Ancelotti link) or Monaco (Ranieri link) then I think it could benefit all. No doubt Petr has been a brilliant, if not one of the best servants, despite the problem he had. But our team needs to start evolving and letting Courtois (the next Cech of this generation) go would be madness. And neither man deserves a part time role next year.
can't even make a case for trailing leg... he is pulling out the trailing leg as soon as he got the ball with his first leg. amazing athleticism.
