Have to laugh at the number of people mocking us for signing a Barca 'reserve', as if not being able to displace Neymar/Messi/Suarez is something to be ashamed of

Happy with the signing. Will bring some much needed freshness and pace to the squad.

Alexis Sanchez was in a similar position. He's been awful

I'm not against giving young players a shot, I've always believed in the old saying that if they're good enough, they're old enough. But I also think a young player has got to be a bit special to break through for a team like Chelsea..
The problem with playing RLC as a starter for me is that in the few appearances he's made so far he hasn't looked like that special sort of player. Another problem is that he plays in a very exposed position, there's no room for errors. Kurt Zouma took his chance so it can be done. Maybe RLC will come on in a game where we are coasting and suddenly set the place on fire, who knows ?
Its a carch 22 situation with young players really, play them and they come off and the managers a genius. Play them and they prove a liability and everyone's calling the manager an idiot. Looking back at Kevin de Bruyne, everyone will say we were crazy to let him go. But at the time I agreed with Mourinho, he just wasn't playing at a level to justify a first team place.

I think Pedro will be an excellent signing. A top quality player at a sensible price. I'm not too bothered about us getting Stones in this window to be honest. He's overpriced for a player that may not improve our current team significantly. Probably a great prospect for the future, but nothing's certain in football. Anyway, I can't see how our back four can go from the most solid in the PL to being in need of a complete overhaul in a matter of a few months ?

Well Ivan was dodgy last season, exposing Cahill and we all saw the results of that.

Signing a new left back and putting Dave back at rb is sensible.

Then a pairing of terry, Cahill or zouma looks ok.

The reserve keeper looks great too!

Pedro officially signed.

John Stones to follow? It needs to be done.

City are looking very strong, but we can challenge, and Mourhino's a better manager, and getting backed by the owner at a crucial time. That didn't happen in his 3rd season last tenure.

Willian to leave is what the media is saying, and I agree. Those on this site who constantly back him because he 'runs a lot' should hang their heads in shame. We need a player who can attack, and if all he can do is run towards his own goal, we could just play another full back in that position.

We shall see. If Caudrado stays and Willian leaves, someone needs to be sectioned, it would be crazy.
I've defended Willian, but if we get better that's great with me. Pedro should be an upgrade, but I wouldn't be getting rid of Willian just yet.

There's a band wagon and almost everyone's on it, and it goes, Cuadrado is the worst player Chelsea have ever signed. I'm not blind, and I agree that his performances have been poor. But why did we pay around £24 million for him?! The board aren't stupid.

Take a look at this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeRjiyhD0e0

Hazard (ish), and a player doesn't go from being that good to that bad for no reason. You never know, and if he can do even some of what he was doing in Italy, he's a player worth trying again.

Really ? I thought most of the mocking has been aimed at Man Utd ?
They thought the deal was all done and dusted and we snatched him from under their noses.

You know as well as I do that you can find a YouTube video that makes practically every player in world football look great..I might put one up myself.

But seriously, he did have a very good season and a half with Fiorentina, but strangely he had done nothing much of interest before that and he's 27 years old. I think he was a January panic buy, and he would be better off practising his trade in Italy or somewhere less "robust" than the EPL. He has trouble staying on his feet let alone scoring goals !

Man City have completed the signing of Nicolas Otamendi. They certainly mean business this season, looking very strong.

RB, you say some things that I agree with and some things that I disagree with. Take a look at the video! That's not average, it's sublime! And no! you can't find a video like that about any football player.. Play the game son!..

I'm sticking my neck out here, but I would cast a serious shadow of doubt against ANY club that pin their hopes on a Nicholas..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCmk96_Pfpg

It's part of their job to know more about football than the average fan!
I find it's a good idea to listen to those who know more about a subject than one self does.

Looking good against modest opposition means nothing!
Graham Hick used to score zillions of runs against medium pacers or on pitches that were
as flat as a pancake. Put him on a fast pitch against a good quick bowler and he was less than useless.
Flat track bullies i'm afraid!

I agree that so far RLC's performances have been quite safe, but it's far too early to write him off. Predicting a player's future potential is one of the hardest things to do in football - how many of us believed Matic was ever going to be good for us before we sold him to Benfica? Of course there will always be those types of talents who carry a lot of hype around them at a young age (Hazard and Neymar etc.) but hype does not always translate to top talents.

CM is definitely a demanding position; it's imperative that any CM playing for us should have good technique (I really can't stress this enough), good positional awareness and mobility. It sucks when a young player makes a mistake, but it's not like our established players have never made a mistake which resulted in a goal. So as long as our youth players learn from it and don't let it affect their confidence, that's the most important part.

I'm really happy with the way Zouma is coming along and if RLC can get the same amount of minutes as Zouma did last season, I'll be pretty content. Cahill's poor form led to Zouma starting more games at the start of the new year and he didn't disappoint. IMO he was unfairly dropped against our PSG home game, but I guess Mourinho wanted to go with experience and all that jazz. I really hope RLC will take his chances when they are given to him. He's already been warned by Mourinho from our post season tour about his nonchalant attitude and once Mou identifies there's an attitude problem there really is no going back in most cases (De Bruyne being the most recent example).

It is a bit of a catch 22 problem but it's not like we expect Mourinho to play all our youth players at once. Playing 1 or 2 youth players surrounded by experienced, international players shouldn't really hinder the quality of our game. Kalas didn't look out of place when he played at Anfield and Ake looked comfortable in midfield when we were playing in the EL. We could talk all day about the possibilities of what could happen if we play our youth but the only way we will know is if we play them!

No its not. It's their job to promote the circus of the premiership and feed the hype.

Yes it is a good job to listen to people who know more then oneself like when you said away attendance was down due to Jose at the recent city game because of these people who are paid to know more then the average fan told you so when average fans told you attendance was actually higher

Cuadrado a panic buy, when we were way in front then? now MC dont have to comply with FFP to the same extent, its hard to see us finishing above them. I thought this before the season started when we were 13/8 favs, & MC were 3-1. Look at the odds now. Hope im wrong.

Now there is no such thing as ffp, I guess that's it for the premiership.

Only four teams can now ever win it, and it's looking less and less likely that Chelsea and arsenal will even figure in that.

The spending power of city and United is just on a different scale, and withy the new deal coming in next season it's going to,probably be overtaking Madrid and barca.

There will be no more competition

I don't go with that at all!
Under Roman, all of our best and most successful signings have been in or around the 10-30 million mark. We will still be signing those kind of players, so i can't see a problem.
We just need to cut out waste and stop blowing 60 million on the likes of Willian and Cuadrado.
We should also remember we have the 'London Factor' in our favour.

Poor hard done to, financially disadvantaged Chelsea?

I've heard it all now!

The gap had closed over the Christmas/New Year. Fortunately for us, Man City threw away their chances and we finally got over the line with games to spare.
We have the money and could spend around £130m (according to a source who is always pretty well informed of our finances) without selling or contravening the FFP rules. I think we are just taking a more responsible attitude to our spending, and there's probably the rebuilding of the stadium to take into consideration ?

Todays press are full of Stones coming to chelsea for £40m

And back from the death, Pogba to Chelsea for £60m, possibly including one of either Cuadrado, Willian or Oscar.

A summer of Begovic, Stones, Pogba, Falcao, Rahman, Nathan and Pedro would be quite a list!

Out: (£32m)

Cech £10m
Kakuta £5m
McEachran £> 1m
Luis £11m
Romeu £5m