"and can slot in at right-back if required" - close season transfer banter 2014

Okay Mail and Indy saying £50m.

Mail said "close to £50m" in the body, so take yr pick somewhere in the mid 40s

also Costa to Chelsea, is that widely considered a done deal?

Find Coentrao being the 4th highest transfer fee paid for a defender hilarious.

Yes on Costa to Chelsea afaik

Chelsea had better hope Terry stays good for a couple more seasons cos no way is Zouma ready from what I saw of St Etienne this season. Kalas might be I guess.

Also lol at Mail insisting that Man U and Bayern agreed a fee for Kroos but that now the player has ruled it out. No, you were wrong.

PSG already have Thiago Silva and just paid 32M for Marquinhos last summer. Are they gonna play David Luiz in midfield?

defensive mid/Regista probly a better option for Luiz tbh

lol at 'regista'

Maybe sell Silva? Haven't heard anything, but that MF is already stacked with Cabaye not even getting starts. Unless it's a rotation of 2 from Silva/Marqu./Luiz with Alex moving on?

mobility-wise not necessarily pretty passing-wise

theres no chance they sell silva

regista = deep lying playmaker like david pizarro

i was drawing a probably Football Manager inspired distinction between a deep lying playmaker and a regista where the latter is expected to chase the ball more

http://worldsoccertalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/jordan-mutch-goal.gif

he is absurdly thick

as a defensive midfielder his naivete is scarcely less of a problem, he only works as part of a double pivot with another, proper defensive midfielder like matic

psg will play him at cb with thiago silva to hold his hand like he does, mostly successfully, for brasil

Still think Luiz best position is CB. Just not the sort of risk averse CB we're used to in England. Was p great at the Confeds. Cup last summer.

dont believe football manager then

sir yes sir

Evra in

Ryan Giggs, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Jack Rudge, Jack Barmby, Federico Macheda out

todays gossip of adebayor and paulinho out for decent money is much more cheering

Zarate to West Ham! Potentially a very good signing.

his Birmingham stint suggests not

etoo lampard lescott Cole surely the pick of available free transfers,unless anyone will shout for bendtner

lewandowski to bayern hard to beat there

was gonna say "time for Joleon to come home" but we're ok at CB tbh

Mancienne might have been an option.

Mancienne never looked comfortable at CB when he was with us, seen him gazing up as the ball dropped over his head too many times. granted he was v. young and being mismanaged by Big Mick and hopefully has improved in Germany but i'd've played him as a defensive mid if anything

"seen him gazing up as the ball dropped over his head too many times"

Darren O'Deas that float through your head.

hey did someone say free transfers? #stokedforthemadness

can rio these days play at all... ever...sometimes... maybe

i guess i wouldnt necessarily claw my eyes out if that happened. perhaps just the one

holtby and jordon mutch would be nice if i'm choosing

Rio could be ok with someone quick beside him i.e. not Richard Dunne

Is Lampard definitely leaving Chelsea?

released yday

Blackburn Rovers are half way into parachute payments and selling very cheap season tickets for 14/15. QPR/Leicester/Somebody must be tempted to test their resolve for Rhodes who is on 40k a week and would cost at least £8mill. I rarely watch the premiership and don't really know shit these days, but he is the most clinical finisher I have seen and that is after witnessing the likes of Duncan Shearer, Iwan Roberts, Boothy, Onuora, Abbott, Knight etc (._.)

modern poacher's lament though. clubs are looking at what else he's good at

yeah his record is great but EPL managers h8 goalscorers. the fools.

hughton buying two and not knowing wtf to do with them has probably set the cause back some too

i'd still have hooper as well

how many more ac legends can be manager?

r u dissin big iwan there m9

Milan getting rid of Seedorf looks crazy. He was excellent towards the end of last season.

Are they going with Inzhagi?

Considering their workload as far as matches played per season Chelsea's injury record over the last 4 seasons is incredible. In the bottom 3 for days lost through injury every season out of Prem clubs.

Predictably Arsenal in the top 2 for 3 out of the last 4 seasons.

Spurs p bad as well.

Pochettino to Spurs official. Five year contract

Two more years of compensation pay offs than he might have been expecting.

Boo if he starts giving interviews in English. I want him to continue trolling with his interpreter for the full 5 years.

Love that dude, really happy about this.

I know pandem can name better options but hes proved himself legit at soton and he seems like the ideal mix of 'arry man manager and avb technician that spurs need

I just hope we don't give him a "Champions League or bust" ultimatum when it's clearly going to way more competitive next year.

He strikes me as the sort of manager who be able to work well with the (quite considerable) squad he's already got. OTOH, no Southampton academy products there. We know he can organise a defence, although he'll need to do so with better players than Dawson, Kaboul and Naughton.

this is pretty fucked up

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/may/27/eibar-la-liga-promotion?CMP=twt_gu

lol "mexican tony cottee"

ha! my son asked if little p had to leave united because there was a big q in front of him in the team

where's he get it from eh

prolonged exposure to dad joeks will do that to a kid, what can i say

Di Maria just set up three and scored one vs Germany.

One of the three scored by Lamela.

sweet

that's what sandro reducers are for