Chelsea FC Transfer Rumours: Porto Trio Talk Blues Moves

Lots of comments from various FC Porto players today, some of them interesting and some thoroughly pointless. Ok, so they're mostly thoroughly pointless on account of being transfer rumour quotes, but bear with me.

Radamel Falcao

There is a club that I dream to play for. They are foreign but I do not want to say who it is now. The Spanish league is good, but I prefer the Premier League as there is a better atmosphere on the field.

He's quite clearly talking about us here. While that's lovely and all, Falcao has already said he wants to play for Chelsea in far more explicit terms than in the above quote, so it's not exactly news. We all know he's more than good enough to start at centre forward for us, but the problem remains that we have Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres already competing for one slot, and adding yet another expensive signing to that fray is a woefully inefficient use of resources.

I believe that it is not easy to pay my [€100M] release clause. But if any club is able, it is Chelsea.

Chelsea could really do with Hulk - the club is absolutely crying out for someone able to excel as a right-sided forward, and he's more than capable of single-handedly ripping teams to shreds. However, FC Porto could also really do with Hulk, and they already have him signed to a long-term contract. It'll take an absolutely ludicrous amount of money to get him out of the Primeira Liga. While it's nice that he's thinking about the Blues, and I'd love to see him at Stamford Bridge, if he goes anywhere this summer I would be shocked. There's simply no incentive for Porto to sell, even if he'd like a move.

And no, we're not able to pay a €100M release clause.

Joao Moutinho

It is good to see my name associated with a great club, but it is also true I am already at a great club, FC Porto, where I will to continue to work.

Moutinho's a good player and would be a reasonable alternative to, say, Luka Modric if his release clause wasn't set so high. He's been linked to Chelsea and Manchester United for the same sort of reasons as the Tottenham midfielder has, but with his price set at around 36M there's absolutely no hope of him moving on. He's probably worth about half of that amount, and since he's such a vital part of the squad Porto have absolutely no incentive to sell him on.

All in all, the only one out of those three that I can see moving on in the summer at all is Falcao, and that'd probably be to a non-Chelsea team. He's a cheap(ish), top-class centre forward, and teams should be lining up to pay his release price. I'd love to see all three at Stamford Bridge - Hulk especially - but I just don't see it happening for now. Look to the January window rather than the summer for Chelsea's next Porto raid.