Chelsea

[Beary]

I have never seen anyone with such big ego and humongous hubris glands in any professional sports.

[Fosterbloke]

He looks old now.

[john316]

I noticed a couple of the journos on Sunday Supplement yesterday telling us how 'accurate' Mourinho was in his assessment of the striker situation. Working out perfectly for him in that he won't get much heat for potentially finishing 3rd and not getting close to a trophy despite a ton of new arrivals. He had two windows to get a competent forward and miserably failed. He plays two holding midfielders away at Palace and barely gets a negative comment about it. Rafa playing one at Palace would have been laughed at!!

[baitman]

...He plays two holding midfielders away at Palace and barely gets a negative comment about it. Rafa playing one at Palace would have been laughed at!!

rafa did amazingly well at chelsea but they will never admit it. ungrateful cunts.

rafa always did what he had to do to get the results. now maureen is trying to be more measured tactically and he just isnt up to it.
he is now officially ****e

[Sarb]

What did the Sunday supplement folk think to the genius move of him loaning Lukaku to Everton and leaving himself with 3 strikers he apparently doesnt rate

[Yozza]

Revealed: The Chelsea players set to leave the club in mass summer clear-out

Chelsea are planning a mass clear-out of more than 10 players in the summer, with Fernando Torres, Ashley Cole and John Obi Mikel all set to leave.

Manager Jose Mourinho admitted after Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace that changes had to be made in order to improve the squad for next season.

While the Portuguese again revealed his frustration over his underperforming strikers, a number of players in different positions are on their way out.

The senior members of the squad who are vulnerable include Torres, Demba Ba, Samuel Eto’o, David Luiz, Mikel, Cole and back-up goalkeepers Mark Schwarzer and Hilario.

Anxious to adapt to Uefa’s Financial Fair Play rules, the club want to bring down the wage bill, which means they will let Luiz leave for £30million and are prepared to sell some of the 28 players currently loaned out including Romelu Lukaku, Marko Marin, Victor Moses, Ryan Bertrand, Gael Kakuta and Josh McEachran.

Mourinho is determined to make some high-profile signings, including Atletico Madrid forward Diego Costa, to improve their ability to challenge on all fronts and is aware he has to raise funds to bring in the quality he wants.

The club have run out of patience with Torres, who has two years left on his £175,000-a-week contract. He has scored just four League goals this season and if a permanent move cannot be secured, a loan one is a possibility.

Ba has confirmed he will be leaving Stamford Bridge after failing to make an impact since joining from Newcastle 15 months ago.

Eto’o has been Chelsea’s best forward with 11 goals and the club have an option to keep him for another season when his contract runs out in May but no decision has been made on that.

Cole’s deal expires at the end of the season, too, and he is expected to leave having not started a League game for more than two months.

Mikel has found himself frozen out since Nemanja Matic joined for £21m in January and Chelsea hope he can command a large fee because he has three years left on his contract.

As Standard Sport revealed, the club are also prepared to cash in on Brazil international Luiz. Paris St-Germain and Barcelona are both interested in his services. Significantly, Mourinho substituted Luiz at half-time at Selhurst Park for “tactical reasons” and has rarely played him in his preferred central-defensive role this year.

With the club looking to bring Thibaut Courtois back from his loan at Atletico Madrid to compete with No1 Petr Cech, veteran keepers Schwarzer and Hilario are likely to be released.

Chelsea are also confident they can make a significant profit on their loan players. Lukaku has scored 13 goals at Everton but his relationship with Mourinho has soured and he has had a price tag of £20m-plus put on his head.

Moses and Marin, at Liverpool and Sevilla respectively, cost £16m between them in 2012 and are not part of the Chelsea coach’s plans, so permanent moves will be sought.

Chelsea are hoping to buy Luke Shaw to compete with Cesar Azpilicueta for the left-back slot next term, which means Bertrand is also surplus to requirements. Bertrand, 24, is at Aston Villa — his sixth club on loan — and wants to stay there. Youngsters Kakuta and McEachran have failed to fulfil the potential shown when they made the breakthrough under former boss Carlo Ancelotti and can go, too.

Mourinho dropped a major hint over his intentions at Selhurst Park. “We want to improve the team and the players and make some surgical movements in the transfer window,” he said.

“Normally at the end of the season, players that are not playing a lot or who are not happy and prefer a change, that is also part of the market.”

[BubbaZanetti]

...they will let Luiz leave for £30million...

That's very nice of them. How many takers for that amount do we reckon there'll be?

[Boogs]

20 million plus for Lukaku? Really?

[BubbaZanetti]

It reads like a sales brochure/pitch... Journo obviously trying to curry favour with Mourinho, just like they used to do with Mr Ferguson.

[Sarb]

Id buy Luiz.

[Roboklopp]

For £30m??

[Boogs]

Id buy Luiz.

It's a good job you're not Brendan Rodgers then

[Sarb]

For £30m??

Not for that

He played really well under Rafa. Mourinho is just a ****.

[Fredo]

Luiz for 30m?

He's a liability defensively.

[Sarb]

Didnt he play really well in midfield under Rafa?