I'm only judging the player that I've seen turning out some energetic and skilful performances for Chelsea.
I've always considered him a handful, and at aged 28, I'm indifferent, but we could invest in worse squad players for a whole lot more than £3m.
If past experience offers any indication of the future, then we can look to two examples of similar experienced midfield players - Park Ji Sung and Yossi Benayoun - and I have this down as 1 negative and 1 positive.
So the question is; do we have anyone better already? [i.e. Esteban Granero]
And thereafter, is this a risk in terms of squad balance [excusing the financial risk on the basis that the fee is low and wages should be close to the average].