John P

From the TransferFlow mailing list:

Dennis Wise says get him in. One straight from the Suds database

The new thick Adidas stripes thing looks rubbish

Yep, it's all about the prestige of playing for Chelsea because they won the Club World Cup remember

Can't imagine many clubs will be offering him big money or a longer term deal at 34 on the back of a serious injury

Are you a cheeky little ITK?

Yeah it does seem a lot when you write it down

We absolutely have to move quickly to get a couple of good replacements in after Gordon leaves. Take advantage of the fact that we have money early in the window and can close deals before other clubs have their ducks in a row

Chelsea have finished 12th and 10th in the last few years. They shouldn't even be in with a sniff of signing the best player from a team that's been in the CL in 2 of the last 3 years. Yet, because of how the rules are, they probably will be back competing for the top 4/5 again soon, despite being run terribly by a bunch of jokers. The financial rules give them a get out every time, so yes, it is happening because of money, just not always because of the wage that can be offered to an individual player at a certain point in time

If you think that the current financial regulations in place that massively restrict any team outside of the traditional big 6 from competing doesn't play a role in any of this (which is the point I'm trying to make) then that's also a weird mindset to be in

How do you know that? The point is that Villa shouldn't need to be getting/be enticed by a transfer windfall to reinvest, because for the last few years they've been better and achieved more than two of those clubs, who have repeatedly failed yet can still go and poach the best players from other teams due to an ingrained financial hierarchy that will still be there even if those teams massively underachieve

Yes I'm sure all of those clubs won't be offering him a pay rise then

I imagine the extra money they can offer would be a big part of the attraction, despite the fact that two of those clubs have been run horrendously for the last few years. So the point still stands

Aston Villa - Europa League Champions, qualified for the Champions League and have to sell their star player to 10th placed Chelsea to balance the books. Rank

The guy is pretty obnoxious and is sarcastically taking the piss with that tweet, which is often his default position. He's also a massive Man City fan

Has he been training in the last week or so?

Never known a situation like this. If there's some sort of agreement not to play him, then don't put him on the fucking bench. So weird

Just saw a reel of his performance against Barcelona in the home leg. He was absolutely fucking class that night

They paid £40m for him didn't they? Even if they go down I'm not sure they'll be selling him at a budget price

I'm in Berlin for a few days and came across a few Stuttgart fans earlier as they're playing Bayern tonight in the German Cup final in Berlin. My son was wearing my old 95/96 away shirt so a couple of them started talking to me about Big Nick. Suffice to say, they fucking love the guy. Insisted that if we play him in the right position he'll eventually be class for us. I for one am choosing to believe them

It's genuinely incredible that he gave it like. Out of all the decisions you could not overturn, he chooses that one . The Man Utd players weren't even celebrating the goal, the ref was the only fucker who thought it wasn't a handball. Absolutely useless

It's a very strange way to end his time here. On the bench but never coming on, kind of accepted by all parties that he's leaving. Just weirdly drifting to an inevitable conclusion

This is basically only the second game he's had as the number 10 / second striker right? Immediately looks more at home there and is showing more what he's all about. It's taken basically the entire season to get there but if we're going to continue with this system next season, then he showed today that he could be a real asset

Well he looks absolutely mint . Seriously though, for a 20 year old keeper he looks like he can do the lot in that video - sweeping up outside his box, he's massive, passes out well off both feet, as well as some great saves. Oh and scores penalties, most importantly

May well be an element of us happy for him to be the big sale this summer (even though there may be more) and we don't want him picking up an injury in the last few games that would scupper a big money move for him too