Segun Oluwaniyi

Well, if he continues the 30 goal a season pace, it will be hard to deny him. Giroud has never been anywhere near that prolific. The Gomis inclusion is worthy of mockery, though.

It will be interesting. Outside of a few months at the beginning of last season, he was generally underwhelming at OM. I thought Ocampos looked the better player. You cannot deny the potential, though, and if NUFC can recover the player from Bastia, this will be money spent very well. For some reason, I just cannot forsee Thauvin staying at the club for more than two seasons. I think it wil either go very well and he will force himself to a richer club, or he will not have a good time of things and find himself back in France sharpish.

I think even younger and more informed supporters will have rarely watched the imports from Belgium and Holland play often. I've seen Thauvin many times over a few years, but Mitrovic and Wijnaldum I only really know through media coverage, highlight videos, and the occasional match on a big stage. Just watching a player's team a few times doesn't mean you have a good idea of who he is either. I've taken to supporting DR Congo and watched all of their matches in the ACN, but I couldn't tell you much about Mbemba as I wasn't watching with an eye for him particularly.

It is a preliminary squad, btw, with 31 people in it. There is probably a good chance he doesn't make the 23.

Didn't watch them week in week out before Neymar so no idea. The amount of money spent on him is crazy regardless. Don't see what he'll offer them since Mourinho likes his winger on the right to be defensive. Actual intent in the final third. You don't get that from Willian. Mourinho would like a similar ethic to Willian with the instincts in the final third of a Schurrle. But man, Oscar was a direct player who loved to score goals, what happened to him? These guys are the sum of their manager. Where is Cuadrado? Mourinho doesn't want anything else other than have all the players in the world. He can only play one way and one way only. I hope Pedro isn't a massive flop because I like him as a guy on the pitch the way he behaves, but he's going to be a big flop unless Mourinho changes his ways. Oscar didn't look like a direct player who loves to score goals under Benitez, either. I think his destiny is further back, tbh. He is a very mature and capable player defensively, who is also very skillful and creative. He can easily develop into one of the world's best central midfielders, imo. I don't know about Cuadrado, tbh. He has barely played, but when has seen the pitch, the man has been genuinely terrible. He would probably improve given time to adjust and grow, but he is at a club that can easily buy a replacement and probably has multiple other players they own who could take his spot. The chance may not come.

There is no reason to believe this is true. It makes very little sense.

If Roma thought Yanga-Mbiwa was a poor player, they likely just would not have played him. Doing so cost them a fairly significant amount of money. As it happened, he started 30 times for the club in Serie A, Champions League, and Europa League. I don't follow Roma to enough of a level to write a detailed summary of his performances, but he seemed to fit in well enough on the occasions I watched him. As for this move, Mapou wants to make the EURO 2016 squad, and Lyon is a very good move for him. They finished second and genuinely challenged PSG last season, qualify directly to the CL group stages, and have strengthened in this window. The likes of Lacazette and Fekir are staying, and he complements players like Valbuena and Rafael who have just arrived. To paint this as some sort of massive drop from Roma is silly.

Aye, 4 years ago now though Falcao also scored 34+ four seasons ago.

It is easy to say in retrospect, but Soldado just seems the exact archetype of a big-money striker that flops in England. The team doesn't play to his strengths, he has no outstanding physical attributes that obviously contribute to the team and finds himself being replaced within in the year. It seems to happen every season. I am very surprised by how underwhelming Lamela has been though. I thought he was on his way to being a top-level star along with Ljajic and Pjanic.

Nowhere near as good as Beresford the fact he can't get anywhere near Liverpools side is tantamount to that I would guess that I am older than 65-70 percent of this forum and Beresford stopped playing for NUFC when I was 8 (though tbf, I couldn't see matches regularly until well into last decade). For many of us, Enrique is probably the best that it gets in terms of fullbacks. He was fantastic in the Championship and maintained the same level in the Premiership. It is a shame how his career has turned out, given he is not yet even 30. I find it incredible he never even made on appearance for Spain's first team.

Is this true? I can count at least five at Chelsea immediately-Terry, Ivanovic, Mikel, Cahill, Ramires. There might be more. Does Muniesa have a medal? He barely played for Barcelona.

It isn't much different than Moses or Bojan playing for them, in terms of the level of player and the effect he'll likely have on the team. It is just that Shaqiri has been a big name for several years and Stoke are still looked down upon because of the Pulis era and being a relatively small club. The move stands out a bit. Shaqiri is twice the player Moses and Bojan have ever been tbf. I think Shaqiri is overrated, tbh. Both Moses and Bojan were very, very effective for Stoke last season when fit (this was the main issue, both struggled with injuries), I'd genuienly be surprised if Xherdan was that much better.I quite like Shaqiri, but his flashy style and big name can inflate opinions of him at times, tbh.

It isn't much different than Moses or Bojan playing for them, in terms of the level of player and the effect he'll likely have on the team. It is just that Shaqiri has been a big name for several years and Stoke are still looked down upon because of the Pulis era and being a relatively small club. The move stands out a bit.

Yesterday, my local team, 3SC (Shooting Stars Ibadan), yesterday won their first league away match in five years.

They should make an additional category just for Abdoulaye Faye.

I stand by what I said. Many players do not want to work hard for the team when they don't have the ball. Many do not have the physical abilities or mental concentration to maintain hard work for 90 minutes. It is an important attribute. Whether this justifies starting Colback every single match, is a different argument.

Aye, it's like being praised for turning at work. and performing to the absolute bare minimum of your duties, footballers train 5 days a week, running around a lot should be a given...what supposed to set them apart from the rest of us is that they're supposed to be good with the football It is a bit silly to act as though graft and energy are not attributes. Many players at this level do not have the ability or desire to "put in a good shift". Fair enough, running around full speed for 90 minutes isn't my ideal vision for a footballer, but there isn't a need to diminish players that work hard for the team.

He was at worst average today, and yet we are still gifted with continuous discussion of how poor a player he is.

Nah, I understand that, I just believe that is a foolish system given the things the rankings are used for...i.e. comparing teams in tournament/qualification draws. It is fine as a form guide, but in international football, tournaments are the beginning and end of everything and need to be weighted more heavily. The rankings are based on a four year window and if you fail to qualify for both of your major tournaments in that period, it should be very detrimental to your ranking.

Tbf, though, Mourinho is pretty decisive about his players. If he doesn't like something about the player or believes he isn't up to standard, he won't hesitate to dump them. It isn't limited to youth players at all. He dumped Mata because he didn't run enough and shipped off De Bruyne and Lukau because he didn't like their attitude. Those were big money players who were coveted across Europe and it didn't matter. I'm not sure it is so much youth he hates. If you don't fit, he won't play you.

I have been yelling about this for ages, and every time I mention it people think I am crazy or justify the ranking because it is mathematical. It is simple, Romania and Wales haven't qualified for the last two major tournaments and are ranked among the top ten team in the entire world on the back of a few recent good results in qualifiers that are amplified by the artificially high rankings of European teams. Romania are especially ridiculous. Their biggest competitive accomplishment over the past four years is beating Turkey and Greece in qualifiers, yet they are 7th. Such a ranking shouldn't be used to seed World Cup or determine work permit situations.

I guess Azpilicueta was "young", but he had well over 100 appearances in Spain and France top flight with Osasuna and Marseille including 180 minutes in a Champions quarterfinal tie before arriving at Chelsea, never mind the experience he gained under Di Matteo/Benitez. Definitely not some youth player. You could replace him with wor Santon, or John Obi Mikel who Mourinho converted to defensive midfield and gave minutes to fairly immediately. Fwiw, I think Chelsea are doing a very good job of using the system to their advantage. They generally turn a profit on these young players and the loans (especially to clubs with which they have a good relationship) is a very good way to evaluate the young talent. The problem is that the club's actual strategy of integrating players to the first team seems confused. Integrating players whoare actually bought for the first team seems to be no issue, but the loan returnees are often left stranded and have more connection to the clubs they have been loaned to than Chelsea. Step up from Mbeki for sure. What a bizarre and fantastic time for ANC humour.

As evidenced by him not hitting the target even once?

Conservative, tbh.