Khedira rumours flying around again as he was left out the super cup and only has 1 year left on his deal. Would be a great signing for us but I think we'd need to move on one more non home grown to accommodate. Mikel would probably be the obvious choice but some reports are linking Schurrle with A.Madrid which I would not be happy with.
We need a striker who will challenge Costa. Our midfield and defence are more than fine imo! Definitely would not say no to swapping Mikel for Khedira though.
Striker is a difficult one as we only ever really play 1 so can you justify having a top class player sitting on the bench all the time? Having young under studies or an older player happy to play less works as long as Costa stays fit. Torres will also have to accept being on the bench most weeks given his form! Ideal scenario would be to have someone like Rooney who is good at 9 or 10 so can be pushed forward when RVP is injured for instance.
Schurrle? He is the best of the AM's to be a false 9 imo. Also Fabregas has played there for Spain before. I think we will be okay. If Costa and Drogs are injured I would move Schurrle up and stick Hazard, Willian and Salah behind him. Or you could move Fab up to no.9 in front of the same 3 and put Ramires beside Matic and Oscar.
Torres is the burden. I would be very surprised if we haven't tried to sell him this summer, just think his wages scare everybody off. Someone like Bony or Remy would be ideal as a second choice rotation option to Costa. Last thing we want is Costa getting too comfortable as number 1 and affecting his progress. Unfortunately, I don't see Torres leaving until 2016 when his deal is up. I don't think we'll have an amazing strikeforce (as a whole) until that day.
Whilst Schurrle and Fabregas have played there before I'm not convinced they would be able to do the job for a prolonged period. Schurrle for instance seems to thrive on arriving from wide positions, long shots and through balls with him running from deep. Not sure I'd want him playing back to goal and it certainly did not work on the rare occasions it was tried last year. Fabregas has only played there for Spain really and they will do anything to get as many midfielders on the pitch to pass everyone to death!
I wouldn't be surprised if Lukaku was allowed to leave partly because Torres couldn't be sold. If Atletico wouldn't even have him back that says a lot about his wages, his ability or both. I'm not as anti Torres as some though and think he'll be ok as a 2/3 choice.
Should have just subsidised his wages for a new club. Paying around £45K a week to get Torres off our hands would not be the worst bit of business. Paying another blossoming striker £60-80K to be our 2nd/3rd option would be benefical for all. Even save us wages over the year.
This thread needs to be active - giving hope for another striker. Balotelli looks like a decent punt - which might enable Pool to get yet another top 4 finish. People might say he is like Tevez or Adebayor - but Mario loses much if he screws up his Italy national career, unlike the other 2. So he needs to put in a shift week in and out. right? Definitely would have been a huge upgrade to Nando - even if Mario only plays 20 matches.
Balotelli is far too inconsistent and brings far too many problems with him. IMO whilst the fee is good, this will be seen as a bad bit of business in the long run. There's a reason AC are selling so cheap. Re the striker. The fact Bamford hasn't been loaned out (to my knowledge) may be cos they are trying to shift Torres and if they do Bamford will be third choice. If they don't, Bamford will be loaned out last minute to one of the many suitors.
An "ITK" on twitter who is relatively accurate posted about an hour ago that Roma have submitted a bid for Fernando Torres.
http://metro.co.uk/2014/08/26/does-...nge-suggest-chelsea-exit-is-imminent-4846241/ looks like Nando is on vacation right now. More good news please.
The same guy has now said Torres to Milan is "imminent". Everything in place to make the move happen apparently. Hope he's right.
And with Aitor Karanka claiming that Bamford is most likely to be at Middlesbrough by next week, and Jose persisting that he won't go into the season with only two striker, it looks like we will be dipping in for a new striker. Destro looks the most likely. Also talk of Milan taking Van Ginkel too, not sure whether it is on loan or permanent though.
wtf already.. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...re-as-Diego-Costa-suffers-hamstring-blow.html Costa suffers hamstring injury in training. Why does he train ffs? Get another striker right away.
So on deadline day Chalobah signed for Burnley for six months, Blackman to Boro for six months and Van Ginkel to Milan for a season. Hopefully they will all come back better players. Still don't understand why Lewis Baker never goes on loan, he's head ans shoulders above anybody else in that age group. Maybe we intend on keeping and training him with the first team squad as well as a few cup games??
The Squad GK - Courtois, Cech, Schwarzer DF - Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Luis, Terry(HG), Cahill(HG), Zouma(U21), Ake (U21) MF - Matic, Mikel, Fabregas(HG), Ramires, Oscar, Hazard, Schurrle, Salah, Willian FW - Costa, Drogba, Remy Foreign: 17 Homegrown: 3 Under 21: 2 A very strong 22 man squad, excited for the season.
