Since that freakish performance in the World Cup they've actually played some decent stuff, beating teams like Columbia, Argentina, Chile, Turkey, France and Mexico.
Even in the World Cup they ended up in 4th place, atrocious for them but England would have called that a success.

But they did not play "like Brazil" so it don't count. Their cannot compare to their 82 team and none of them come close to Socrates

Socrates was my hero. Smoked like a chimney but still played like a God. Do you remember when he came over and put in a cameo performance for some little northern non-league team ?

Well no, we haven't been able to replace those players, and it was a great team. I was saying that a couple of pages back. Though I think Ramires would still have made a useful squad player even back then, and the same goes for several other players in our current team. It's the use of the word "crap" that I object to.

I dare say someone could come up with a random list of players that arguably players such as Drogba etc are not as good as but that is not going to make them "crap". Just because a player is not as good as another player is not a reason to dismiss them in such a immature fashion.

You get to a certain level and it's impossible to be "crap" and the level Ramires got to is a million miles above that level

Again, he was crap when compared to most of the top class we had. If he was at say a Southampton, then i wouldn't say he was crap i would say he was at his level.

You remember that Brazilian team of 82. Everyone who loved football loved that team!
BUT, as brilliant and fantastic to watch as they were, they were a fatally flawed team with a donkey at centre forward and very dodgy keeper. That was to cost them bigtime against Italy and they went out as glorious failures.

For all his work rare, a top team should not have a player in the middle of the team who's first touch is so poor [for that level] and one who is such a poor passer. Without doubt, he gave the ball away far, far more than anyother player in our team.
Yes, there were moments when he looked like a 'proper Brazilian' and showed genuine class - the goal against Barca showed composure and a fine touch. However, all too often when running with the ball he looked like a Dog chasing a balloon.

I am all for our team having 'water carriers' because every team needs one of those.
Kante, at Leicester, works his butt off but he has the technical ability to go with it.
That is the level we should have been looking for.
Speaking of him. If i had my way, he would be at the top of our shopping list for next season. He's exactly the type of player we are crying out for!

But you cannot compare players to other random players level that is not how it works.

Just because he is not as good as another player is irreverent.

Of course that is how it works.
When we want to try and improve the team we look the positions that need improving and we look for a player in those positions who we think is better than the ones we already have. That is comparing one player to another!

Of course but you are saying because one bunch of top class players are better he is crap. Of course they are better, Nobody is saying he was a top top player but what he was is a decent player who did a decent job. The same people who said Mata was a very good player said the same about him. Was they right about Mata and wrong about Ramries?

Nobody is saying he is in the class of many players at Chelsea at the time that's not being questioned but he was still a decent player who did a decent job. There are not just two levels Lamps level and crap level. He was somewhere in between.

I would have thought Kante was similar in many ways to Ramires (at his best). Ramires was certainly better than some of the other "fringe" players we had previously, Scott Parker, Smertin, Sidwell etc. But they weren't "crap" either, as they proved elsewhere.
Yes, Kante would be a useful addition. I'm not sure he would be top of my shopping list though, but perhaps I haven't seen enough of him.

Decent enough player offers slight differences to Ramires (but one is not better then the other just gives us different options)

Worth looking at but I not sure it's someone we should be looking to bring in at the moment, Would more come under one to watch before we make a judgment on

I don't think Kante is similar to Ramires.
He plays deeper and covers a lot more ground side to side of the pitch. He's a better, cleaner tackler and ball winner than Ramires and is a good link man between defence and attack.
If anything, I would say he's a cross between Makalele and Essien.
He won't come cheap (at least 30 million) but he'd be worth it!

Trouble is it would be a difficult transfer to arrange.

They would be rightly very difficult to deal with and it would be a very long winded transfer (as any deal would be between Premiership clubs) its one of those that even if we started now it would prob take until deadline day (trademarked by Sky Sports) and even then more likely not to go though not sure it would be good use of our time (more so if it did not come off). We really need to get this transfer window spot on and spending time and money on unlikely transfer as this maybe not the best use of our resources, That's why I said we should wait and see with him, If he starts talking about leaving or they look willing to sell or if things go wrong at the club (maybe more easy to do a deal in the the following window) then we can swoop in and arrange something.

We need to do our deals fast and clean and not get bogged down with going back with offers then another offer then talking about it then going away and coming back etc.

In the past this sort of deal would be easy due to the changes in TV money it would be just as easy to arrange buying Messi or Ronaldo or Bale

You're correct in saying it wont be a quick or easy one to pull off. For one thing, he might not want to join a club with no CL football and one that looks like it needs a rebuilding job.
But if we are interested in him? then we should go in hard and fast with a big offer and not mess about like we did with Stones. Jump in with a 40 million offer. It might be more than he's worth but there aren't many players like him around.

But they still wont sell. The figure is not really the main issue, 30/40m with the money in the game today is not that much different (and due to them getting Champions League Football and more then likely winning the league etc) what they will be more worried about is not looking like they lack ambition (this season was a one off) or they going to roll over and sell the crown jewels when the big clubs come calling. Its be more of a face saving issue, They will want to drag it out just so they can say they did to the fans and the media. Money is not the difficultly, Its getting the transfer done. We could over 45m on the first offer and they still prob would not do the deal right away and still would be talking on deadline day as once we put in a big offer we will be not wanting to lose face by saying we can even buy players from Leicester nowadays

As I say, I haven't seen that much of him to be honest. I see he's got a call-up to the French squad and could get his first cap. If he really is a cross between Makelele and Essien, then yes, we should buy him if he's available. That's some comparison !
I was thinking we might go for Arturo Vidal. I don't know how settled he is at Bayern but he might be agreeable to joining Conte again. Different type of player of course, but he would give us some "bite" in midfield, and he's still only 28 and would be considerably cheaper.

Kante has had one good season, just got in the France squad and we should be paying 40 million for him. Sorry but that's just madness.

Stones is being valued at 50 million and can't get into a struggling Everton team.
I'd rather pay over the odds for a player like Kante, than throw 10 million a year at someone like Ibrahimovich.

A figure plucked from the air?

Got it from several media sources - You know, those guys who spend their days and nights down the Dog and Duck making up BS.
10 million a year is hardly an excessive figure in this day and age.

Valued at 50 million by who ? The media ? I haven't heard Everton say thats the buying price. I would of thought they decide the price not whatever paper you read or radio station you listen to.

So yes plucked out the air

Show us his play slip

Show us the offer from Chelsea offering that amount of money

Show some actual evidence of this figure.

If you cannot then wait until you can

If the wages are not excessive nowadays and he is a good player why would you not want him?

If the wages was excessive and he not a good player I could understand the thinking

We need to rebuild for the future. He's 34. End of!

35 goals in 39 games this season for Zlatan. Age is irrelevant if he's still good enough, and we could do with some more big characters on the pitch that can inspire the team. I'd happily take him on a free transfer for a season or two, if he's prepared to not start every game. Costa, Ibra and Traore would be a decent set of strikers to go into next season with.