Inter plot £15m raid for Obi

a-Lost-9uY SG

TARGET ... Mourinho is after Blues star Mikel

Target.. Mourinho is after Blues star Mikel

Inter Milan boss Mourinho knows Nigerian ace Mikel still has two years left on his contract at Stamford Bridge.

But the former Chelsea chief wants to get in quickly with a bid to take the midfielder, 22, to Italy.

Mikel deputised for enforcer Michael Essien while he was out with a long-term knee injury this season and earned glowing reports.

Inter are ready with a five-year deal for Mikel — the player Mourinho signed in controversial circumstances from Norwegian club Lyn Oslo in 2006.

The Portuguese boss won a three-way tug of war involving Manchester United and Lyn.

But Mikel joined Mourinho’s Blues only after Premier League rivals United claimed he had signed for them.

omgukilledkenny SG

Ho seh ah...go go!

Bus&Soccer l0v3r (VO3x 1) SG

Ho seh ah...go go!

lolx

limpper SG

he and lucas same pattern, always give away set piece

MarkNKL SG

post deleted

iceFatboy SG

Feel he is over-rated... With essien, why need him???

SomebodyInSG SG

Feel he is over-rated... With essien, why need him???

For cover, other than Essien, there's not much else to choose.

When Essien is injured, Mikel is picked. When they need two defensive midfielders, Mikel and Essien play together.

But $15mil for a player like him? That's a good deal.

cantdecide SG

i tot odi martins. newcastle striker sia. Mikel ok ok la.

dinky1409 SG

essien and obi creates steel in the midfield lehs..

MarkNKL SG

Mikel can play as the holding mid in Chelsea's standard 4-3-3 which leaves Lampard and Essien freedom to rampage forward. Ballack can warm the bench if he stays.

Honestly the man is only 22, hes yet to reach his full potential, 15mil may appear like a good deal now, but in a couple of years, in fact even now he's an integral part of the chelsea squad.

SomebodyInSG SG

To the two posters above me, sell him, use the money get someone else. He won't get better if he doesn't get oppurtunity anyway. Elsewhere maybe he might improve with more matches.

At Chelsea, I don't think he's good enough to challenge for a spot.

MarkNKL SG

To the two posters above me, sell him, use the money get someone else. He won't get better if he doesn't get oppurtunity anyway. Elsewhere maybe he might improve with more matches.

At Chelsea, I don't think he's good enough to challenge for a spot.

On the contrary... as I stated above I see him being a regular starter(started last sunday against Arsenal), hes already shown what hes capable of when Essien was injured and we can mature him into a Makelele mkII within the next couple of seasons. Some chelsea fans are even of the opinion that he could very well play further up in midfield.

Lampard scores 20+ goals a season from midfield and he isn't going anywhere for the next 2 years at least, that secures him a spot in midfield.

Essien is great at tracking back and forth, more of a box-to-box man than a pure DM and can easily occupy the RM position. So thats all our 3 mid positions filled up

Ballack may have signed a 1year extention but he doesn't have the legs anymore and I see him coming on less and less often and even then mostly as a sub.

Who else do we have again? Deco - out | Mineiro - out | Belletti - 1 more season at best or sold

Potential Mid signings like Dzagoev and Hamsik would more likely be angled at replacing ancient Ballack and aging Lampard. Zhirkov to can play anywhere on the left side from wing to full-back and as such should be used more like Belletti.

As to buying better players (ie bigger names) I still think you've got to be off your rocks, Roman isn't going to dip into his pockets to fund a 30mil transfer for a single player, but 30mil total to cover the transfers not funded by sale of players

FlipFlap SG

Lampard scores 20+ goals a season from midfield and he isn't going anywhere for the next 2 years at least, that secures him a spot in midfield.

Essien is great at tracking back and forth, more of a box-to-box man than a pure DM and can easily occupy the RM position. So thats all our 3 mid positions filled up

Ballack may have signed a 1year extention but he doesn't have the legs anymore and I see him coming on less and less often and even then mostly as a sub.

Who else do we have again? Deco - out | Mineiro - out | Belletti - 1 more season at best or sold

do U think Essien can do a job like Gerrard? I feel if given the space, he may even do better than even Lampard..

SomebodyInSG SG

Lampard scores 20+ goals a season from midfield and he isn't going anywhere for the next 2 years at least, that secures him a spot in midfield.

Essien is great at tracking back and forth, more of a box-to-box man than a pure DM and can easily occupy the RM position. So thats all our 3 mid positions filled up

Ballack may have signed a 1year extention but he doesn't have the legs anymore and I see him coming on less and less often and even then mostly as a sub.

Who else do we have again? Deco - out | Mineiro - out | Belletti - 1 more season at best or sold

I don't suppose the period where he started more this season was when Essien was injured? Most of the time Mikel is standing in for subbing in for Essien. You can check from online actually. Over past half year I think, they started together against Arsenal, Newcastle and 1st leg against Barca. Against Barca, the idea was to have two holding midfield, against Newcastle, Mikel started only because Essien was shifted to right midfield.

I can safely say most of the time they don't start together, and if Essien is fit he is the preferred choice. I'm not exactly a Chelsea fan, but in any case, I've not been particularly impressed when he stands in for Essien. Maybe it's not a fair comparision but that's what I think. I feel a team like Chelsea deserve more quality cover for Essien.

Deco is a different player and position as he's not so much a tackler or a physical presence. Belleti is not worth mentioning and Ballack is not one for the future so guess we agree on that.

I don't feel Mikel is a bad player or whatever, but for 15mil, I think that price is worth selling for someone who doesn't always start for Chelsea.

MarkNKL SG

Deco is a different player and position as he's not so much a tackler or a physical presence. Belleti is not worth mentioning and Ballack is not one for the future so guess we agree on that.

I don't feel Mikel is a bad player or whatever, but for 15mil, I think that price is worth selling for someone who doesn't always start for Chelsea.

You're missing my point, of late and next season, I see Essien starting not in the DM role but in one of the attacking mid-roles beside Lampard while Mikel takes over as the holding mid in Chelsea's standard 4-3-3.Which is why I mentioned the 3 aged clowns, we have nobody else in midfield and nobody of big name or class thats gonna be coming in because despite what the English press say, I highly doubt Roman is willing to break the bank with a severe drop in his wealth and all.

He's only 22, Essien has a 5 year headstart on the lad hence the difference in quality, a couple more seasons and Mikel will get to Makelele's level. What you are proposing is selling a young prospective midfielder who has shown some quality and plenty of growth potential so that we can buy some random mid-late 20s fella to sit on the bench. Do pray tell who is good enough and is available for purchase at the price of 15mil. Zhirkov should be available for 12-15 and the sale Bridge should just about cover it, but Zhirkov isn't a DM or a CM either.

Bear in mind we have a rediculously aged squad in mid and upfront at the moment with Drogba, Anelka, Deco, Ballack, Lampard, and Mineiro in their 30s, while J. Cole, and Malouda are already 27 and 28 respectively.

We should be selling these players, monkeys like Kalou and even those who have served us well at the back like Carvalho, Ferreira and Belletti before even comprehending touching Mikel.

SomebodyInSG SG

We should be selling these players, monkeys like Kalou and even those who have served us well at the back like Carvalho, Ferreira and Belletti before even comprehending touching Mikel.

No, I get your point, it's just that we feel differently about certain things. My understanding you doesn't mean I agree with you. Nor do I expect that your understanding means you agree with me.

For one, you feel Mikel shows promise whereas I am unconvinced of quality even if not counting his age. Given that I probably don't watch as many Chelsea matches as a Chelsea fan. I won't go into details about that at least not this time round.

Off the top of my head, also because it's 4am in the morning, I can't think off hand any player Chelsea would get. Also, any potential candidate is more likely a bench warmer at least for a season or two.

Guess we might have difference in opinion about Essien too. Essien can do a decent job on the right or even the left, but he is not a natural winger. He can fill in but a team like Chelsea should have better. I would say Essien plays on the wings only when filling in due to injury or whatever, but I feel it should not be a long term solution. He is still best in the defensive midfield position. For your theory that Mikel will develop over time, it requires him to play more regularly than he has been, which would mean displacing Essien from his best position in the team.

I would feel wingers are what Chelsea lack at the moment as the team can do with more width.

It's not that I think Mikel is utter crap, but I would not feel he is a big loss a team like Chelsea should he go. What matters is also the price at which he should go. For 15mil for him and his role, I would say it's ok. Chelsea would need to get someone that can provide cover for the defensive role but it won't make sense if it's 15mil or more. You might feel at 15mil there won't be anyone you can buy that's decent cover. But if the price being talked about was more like 7 to 9, then in my opinion they should not sell.

If Chelsea do not buy more players, your idea of shifting Essien out wide is not entirely bad, but it would be better to get wide players and keep Essien in the centre.

MarkNKL SG

I never said shift Essien wide and play him as a winger, I said shift him up but keep him in the centre together with Lampard. But futher up as either an attacking mid or a centre mid instead of as a defensive mid.

As for the wings, we can still keep Malouda and J. Cole to play LW and RW, Malouda has shown some back tracking ability and JC while traditionally a left footer can cut in from out wide.

Essien can also perform pretty well in a RM role in 4-4-2 Diamond which I've seen chelsea adopt if there is a need to change the game a little or go narrow.

So we have

-------------------Cech

Bosingwa - Carvy/Alex - Terry - A. Cole

--------------------Mikel

-------Essien --------------Lampard

J.Cole-----------Drogba-------------Malouda

Bosingwa and A.Cole track back and forth, but only up to midfield as we've seen in later games instead of Scolari's tactic of using sending them all the way up to the other box, J.Cole and Malouda can pick up where they left off along the midfield touchline and run up, or we can play the ball through Mikel->Essien/Lamps->Wing->Drogba or go narrow Mikel->Essien->Lamps->Drogba.

And I also get Mikel isn't quite Makelele yet, he needs to learn how to do a long through pass without overdoing it(this is a problem for Ballack who has lost his first touch) and not make stupid challenges, otherwise I'm pretty satisfied and confident in his ability to improve.

As for wingers, buy Zhirkov as cover and maybe some other Random joker, whos purchase can be financed from the sale of aging dead weight, and part of the token injection of 30mil from Roman. As further cover, promote young blood like Stoch... you can tell I'm placing quite some faith in young blood as I've gotten sick of seeing us purchase big expensive names in their mid-late 20s only to see them turn into collossal flops.

SomebodyInSG SG

Hi Mark,

I'll address your last post later. Maybe even tomorrow. For now though, it's not a case of me not understanding you, but rather this statement mislead me. Some would view it as a contradiction, but I'll let you clarify yourself before I comment anyway.

Essien is great at tracking back and forth, more of a box-to-box man than a pure DM and can easily occupy the RM position. So thats all our 3 mid positions filled up

MarkNKL SG

Would you prefer RCM? If you take it soccernet style RM can also mean RCM depending on which formation the team is playing in.

I did mention "chelsea's standard 4-3-3" previously and "thats all our mid positions" in the quoted statement implies a central midfield role instead of wing role. Furthermore, when Chelsea does adopt a 4-4-2, I find thats its usually in diamond and we tend to go narrow, the fullbacks will still bomb forward on occasion but the mids tend to stay in the midfield instead of running down to the opposition goal line.

Although I do acknowledge my earlier statement wasn't clear enough and unless you're a chelsea fan probably wouldn't understand what I was driving at.

So to reiterate:

Mikel - CDM

Essien - RCM

Lampard - LCM

^ Last nights starting midfield positions and stayed that way for most of the match. Mikel sits back as cover, the 2 FBs and CMs bomb forward.

SomebodyInSG SG

Would you prefer RCM? If you take it soccernet style RM can also mean RCM depending on which formation the team is playing in.

Well, I don't find soccernet positions very accurate. But if you're specifically referring to a diamond midfield then it makes more sense. I do use soccernet for lots of other statistics though.

Although I do acknowledge my earlier statement wasn't clear enough and unless you're a chelsea fan probably wouldn't understand what I was driving at.

So to reiterate:

Mikel - CDM

Essien - RCM

Lampard - LCM

^ Last nights starting midfield positions and stayed that way for most of the match. Mikel sits back as cover, the 2 FBs and CMs bomb forward.

I don't know if I missed your exact mention of "4-3-3" in an earlier post, but it was 4am and I was still steering in the direction of Essien being on RM. Just to point out, RM and RW to me are different, so that you don't misunderstand me either.

I'll try not to define positions so much, but so that what i say would make sense. I'll try to stick to what is mentioned by both of us so far.

Don't worry, I understand what you mean, I have watched some Chelsea matches just not as many as you. I feel differently however about your mentioning Essien and Lampard both playing centre together.

My first thought is that it's not ideal, whether going forward or now, Lampard is at his best being in centre alone. This could be a whole other discussion which I don't plan to elaborate.

Secondly is I feel Essien is playing on the right because Joe Cole is injured. If he were fit, I think Essien would be shifted back to centre. Now the fullback can go up because Essien himself makes a decent rightback, so he can cover when Boswinga or whoever it is goes up. Basically still more right than centre for now.

When they played Barcelone, they did play both Mikel and Essien in a 4-5-1, but rather than Mikel behind and both Essien and Lampard attackinig from deep, it seemed more like two defensive midfields together.

Going forward, what you mentioned is a definite possibility but really depends on the next manager. Also your setup is based on current players, I would get someone to start ahead of Malouda as I think he is too inconsistent. He has been good of late though but I'm sceptical.

I would prefer Drogba to have a partner upfront and I think Anelka has been ok, not fantastic but ok. Wouldn't hurt to get someone else though.

I'm not saying what you suggested is bad overall, just that we might feel diferently about certain things.