Pedro would be on Chelsea's bench? He's more then capable of walking into the current line up, albeit as a wide attacking winger.

Rahman, Stones and Pedro would certainly give the squad a much needed-boost.

Pedro would walk into this team with ease. We could bring him in and still find room for another AM IMO. Really can't understand why we haven't made a move considering how easy this deal would be to wrap up. (He wants to leave and he has a reasonable release clause.) At worse, he turns us down. Wouldn't be the first player........

you didn't also benefit from an own goal? and a slightly fortunate free-kick too.

you really are the Comical Ali of this forum

Yes, as we feared Mourinho does appear to favour Falcao over Remy. It does make you wonder if it's because Jose feels he has a point to prove..the same with Caudrado.

The rumours linking us with Pedro seem to have died down, it appears much more likely that he will be heading for Man Utd. I've been saying for weeks that he would have been a great signing, one of the few around who wouldn't have been too much of a gamble.
One of the reasons for our reluctance might be the number of players we still have on our books for that position. Marin has returned to the club, there's all the business with Salah (has that been sorted now ?) and Moses is back in contention ( if Jose will trust him enough to give him a start). Then there's Caudrado, is Mourinho willing to admit his mistake and take a big loss to get rid of him ? Plus of course the faithful Willian..who I believe is a damned good player and I don't care what Dixon thinks.

Don't worry, just throw money at the problem - it'll eventually go away.

Please, please, please tell me what Willian does that makes him such a damn good player
Watching him again yesterday, for the upteenth all he did was run aimlessly around the pitch following the direction of the ball. There appears to be nothing going on in his head other than to run run run. When he does finally get the ball he can run a bit more with it until he gets within 25 yards of the goal, which is when he starts to get all dizzy and no idea what to do next
Utterly useless player and seriously holding us back as a team!

Yep Mourinho is a stubborn guy, it's the only logical reason why Cuadrado is even still getting a look-in over Moses. Any idea what we're supposed to be paying Cuadrado? I hope he's not another of these players that we'll struggle to move on as no-one else will meet his wage demands.

I assume we sorted out the business with Salah as he's on a season-long loan at Roma now. I'm not sure why we couldn't just find a buyer for him, it's not like he cost that much in the first place and he played well for Fiorentina last season by all accounts. You can't help feeling he's a player that never really got a proper chance with us though.

I'm not saying Willian is up there with the likes of Marco Reus as a winger, but there again Willian is not an orthodox winger. As a midfield player I think there's a lot to his game. He covers a lot of ground, breaks up attacks, and his little surging runs often take a couple of opponents out of the game. His link-up play with Hazard and Oscar is usually excellent, and in the second half of last season he was one of our best players.
Judging him solely as a winger, there are many better out there. But as an all-round player he's already seen off alternatives like Schurrle, Salah and probably Caudrado.
Before writing him off, you have to be sure his replacement will offer us more over an entire season.

Does that include you ?

Such a intelligent post.

Did you get that from reading The Sun or did manage to think it of it yourself?

He reminds me of Dirk Kuyt, Park Ji Sung and so on, players who just run and run, and often go unnoticed, I'm a Liverpool fan, but I really like Willian as a player.

He's neat and tidy, and he does the simple things well.

I always liked and respected Dirk Kuyt. He was still going strong in the 2014 World Cup.
I never saw him give less than 100% in a game, just short of the skills to make him one of the true greats but he was the type of player any fan or manager would love to have as part of their squad.

Willian seems to be from the same mould, just more athletic.

Mourinho said he adds stability to your squad, and he definitely does!

Saw him give 99% once and I knew it was the end... What Chelsea lack is direct pace - Sterling may be dodgy at the moment in terms of end product but he demands close attention and creates space for others via his runs or dragging defenders away.

Latest is that JM wants Lacazette or Griezmann

You can't fault his work ethic, agreed, but he's supposed to be attacking the opponents goal, not running towards hs own for most of the time! It's like watching Groundhog Day. He gets the ball wide, he thinks about running to the byline, thinks better of it, doesn't want to take the risk, turns around and starts running towards his own goal, before passing it backwards. Does he think he's playing rugby?! D'oh! Sorry, not good enough as an attacking player, and we need a player that can do some of the things that Hazard can do.. Having said that, there's not many out there to be fair, and Cuadrado was supposed to be one of them.

On the Willian debate, to be constructive, I'd give Moses a chance. He did very well away on loan, and is very good out wide running into the opponents box and causing problems. I'm backed by very good sources there as well since The Sun, The Star AND The Sport have all backed him there.

Imho, what he does do doesn't come close to compensate for what he doesn't do!
Contrast him to Mata. What Mata did, more than compensated for what he didn't do!
But I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this.

I'd go as far to say he's a selfish and very lucky player.

He's lucky because some managers put work rate above talent and actual end product.
To some managers, a player running around the pitch = hard work.
He's selfish because what he does is look after his own performance. Never takes responsibility. Never takes chances or tries anything difficult. Always passes the buck and
let others do the really hard job of making the difficult pass, putting the ball in the net. Only concerned for himself by not looking bad and making errors. Easiest thing in football to do that!

I didn't like the idea of getting rid of Mata anymore than you. But if we do want to play a high pressing game (which was presumably why Mourinho lost patience with Mata) Willian and Oscar become key players. Admittedly, at the moment that argument appears redundant, for all sorts of reasons we don't seem able to maintain a high press.

I know many will disagree, but I think Fabregas has been a weakness in many games since the start of 2015. Yes, he made all those assists in the early part of last season, he can split defences with a single superb pass, but when he's off his game, he contributes very little. I make that reference because Willian often has to cover for Fabregas. Play Willian centrally as an attacking midfielder and he's looked a much better player. I'm not saying get rid of Fabregas, on his day he's a match winner for us. But I do think we need an alternative to play alongside Matic in the pivot...and not Ramires or Mikel !

Well we could improve all over the pitch

Stones £35m
Pogba £65m
Muller £50m
Sterling £49m
Pedro £20m

But would it be worth £220 million all in?

United, Liverpool and City have all spent that much just to catch up with out team...

No, but if we had shifted Salah and Caudrado for cash, Muller would have been been fantastic. Failing that, Pedro would be good value. Stones is ok for the future, but not at £35-40m, he's still a "prospect" and wouldn't immediately improve the team..in my opinion.
Pogba ?..only if you have money to burn. Sterling ?..vastly over-priced.

perhaps it is time for a freshen up.

cuadrado was a massive mistake. he should have gone the second anyone showed any interest whatsoever.

moses and salah are good players, but we let a great player go in Schurrle. Another massive mistake.

Congrats it seems on making us seem like fools in the chase for Pedro, he will be a good signing for you guys, nailed on to score past us I would say, that is usually how these things end up panning out.

until they are pictured in the shirt, nothing has happened.

It would be an improvement on cuadrado though, but then so would you.