Imo, the main worry about keeping Mata and Hazard is not about us winning trophies, but how long it is before Barca or Real Madrid come looking for them.

I don't expect Hazard to be here more than a few years, but Mata came from La Liga and has said some negative stuff about it, so I'm not too worried about him leaving.

I actually think we'll keep Hazard for a while. He's Belgian like Lukaku and will be more used to northern european climate and culture. At some point Mata will go home and Oscar probably grew up watching La Liga so will head that way too. Hopefully before they head off they'll win some trophies with us.

At least with Eden we've got his brother on our books too. Providing Thorghan makes the grade with us then it gives him one extra reason to stick around.

Well, if Lukaku bases his decision on the first season he had with us, you can see why he might want to stay with WBA for another season. Neither Sturridge or Lukaku were given many chances, despite the form of Torres.
But I still think, with the right manager, he would get plenty of experience this time around. If we did manage to sign Falcao, we wouldn't want him playing 50+ games a season. Then there's the possibility of playing two from Falcao, Ba and Lukaku.
I agree, we might not go for Falcao. But with the Torres/Atletico connection and Courtois to use as a bargaining tool, we must be favourites to get him if we're serious.

I read about our interest in Aubameyang, but I've never seen him play to be honest. Looking at his CV he appears to have been more of an attacking midfielder. He's quite slightly built, not that there's anything wrong with that. But I'm not sure he would be a genuine alternative to Falcao or Cavani though.

Whatever happens, I'm not sure I could stand another season of waiting for Torres to produce the goods. I feel it's time to call it a day, both for his sake and ours.

Assuming we did sign Falcao (and i'm not at all optimistic that we will pull off that deal) then I don't see why Lukaku couldn't be brought back into the squad, unless we end up signing more than one new striker. The two strikers that are playing for us at the moment are average, and I'd already rate Lukaku as a better option than either of them. For me, Ba was nothing more than a stop gap signing. If we don't manage to move Torres on in the summer but are offered a profit on Ba I think we should take it (providing we have a new striker and Lukaku with us next season).

Ten of Frankie's best. Watching these back really brings home what we'll be losing when he leaves.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...lsea-goal.html

I rate Ba. He was vying for the golden boot before he joined us, so maybe we're the problem. Torres should ideally go, but with 3yrs on his contract and him presumably on mega money it will be hard to shift him. Falcao will cost silly money and might not even work out or settle. I'd rather we brought back Lukaku and Piazon and let them battle it out fairly with Torres and Ba. We have a great midfield in place and one of them at least should be able to take advantage of that service and get the goals we need.

Ba's just one of those players that blows hot and cold i think. Quite good in patches but not the most consistent of players. I remember last season for Newcastle he started well then his scoring dried up in the second half of the season.

We are pretty jinxed with strikers though on the whole. Watching some of those Lampard goals in the link you posted above made me think how well an intelligent player like Gudjohnsen would have linked up with Mata and Hazard.

I think his goals dried up when he got moved further out to accommodate Cisse. You're right though, a Gudjohnsen would lap up the service from our current midfield. Or a Hasselbaink, Anelka or Drogba Hopefully Ba is just settling in and Lukaku can build an understanding when he come back

Maybe i'm doing Ba a bit of a disservice seeing as he's been in and out of our team since arriving. Still can't see him as more than a short term fix but I'd be happy if he proved otherwise. Would be curious to see how he would get on with a proper run in the team for the domestic games up to the end of the season. Won't happen though as we know.

Ba is a decent 3rd choice option. Just so happens for us that we don't have a great option for 1st and 2nd.


Cahill out of Friday's game, Ramires missing for Brazil, and Luiz is a doubt as well. Hope they all miss their games tbh......hate International football.

Me too. I hope none of our players every play an international game again.

Ive had it with the england team. They treat JT like crap, pander to Rio and he mugs them right off.

awryt guys first time posting on here, what would be your perfect summer signings?
Falcao
Isco
Fellaini
Would be my choices along with lukaku, de bruyne and essien comin back.

Welcome new person I am not that long here either.

I would love to see Essien back fit as he is one of my all time favourite players ever. Fellaini would be a great signing for us and i would love to see that happen.
But really what we need is a Manager that will stay for longer than 1 season as i think stability is what the club needs.

hello and welcome.

i am a big fan of falcao and fellaini and would welcome them to the club with open arms. Fellaini is probably quite likely. I would love to see him ad Luiz in midfield!

Lukkaku has to come back over summer.

Whats de Bruyne actually like?

He's been playing in CM for Bremen and doing a great Xabi Alonso impersonation. Great passing, scores goals, plenty of assists, and his defensive game has improved as well. If he'd stayed with us he would have been used as cover for Mata/Hazard/Oscar, but he's learning to play a role that will be far more valuable to us, so I'm glad he went out and looking forward to his return

Hi, welcome to the thread.
Rumour has it that we have first option on Isco as part of the Piazon loan deal ? I wonder about that though. In January they were talking in terms of £15m, his reputation has grown since then and Malaga could get closer to double that figure. That's a very big price for a future prospect.

Falcao would certainly be top of my wish list. He appears to have everything, pace, dribbling skills, good in the air, and a lethal finish with either foot. He also seems to be a thoroughly decent guy, which is a bonus.
I like Fellaini but I've had second thoughts about him being the answer to our problems in DM. He would be fine along with a true holding player, how about Victor Wanyama at Celtic..he appears to be a new version of Michael Essien.

Thanks. Yeah Essien in his prime was excellent for Chelsea, surely if hes playing for Real he can come back and play a part for Chelsea. Mourinho or Hiddink for me.

Some good calls in this post

I am astounded that Juan Mata hasn't made the shortlist for POTY

18 goals and 23 assists

Ridiculous, isn't it? Deserves as much as anyone to be on it.

Ridiculous that he isn't, been player of the year for me.

Torres is 29 today, he isn't getting younger, he has to go in the summer. We've given him more than enough time to find his form but it isn't happening, better for everyone if we let him go elsewhere

The question is, what sort of transfer fee would it take to sign Torres?

The astronomical wages will be the problem in moving him on, unless he's prepared to take a salary drop.

We'll probably either end up keeping him in the squad or sending him out on loan like we did Veron/Crespo/Shevchenko.