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For about a week, I had actually forgotten that we're still just in August; so ready for some proper football!
But proper football is still over a week away and the end of August is well over a week away, which means that the end of the summer transfer window is also well over a week away. It's over three weeks away in fact, and the fun is just beginning. It actually should be ending, considering that Mourinho has reiterated multiple times we are done and the market is closed for us (wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more), but you know how these things go. Somebody has a thought or two, the typewriter- and dartboard-monkeys swing into action, and we get excitement and Twitter chatter and boy oh boy oh boy so much drama!
The Raphael Varane rumors have been on low simmer for most of the summer -- thanks to the young defender's Jose Mourinho connection and supposed unhappiness -- while the Cech-Courtois situation is already looking to swing in the younger C's favor, so we can see where some journalistic genius connected the dots and made a story out of it. This report from the Express is just the latest; there have been similar stories in The Times, for example, as well. The Express themselves ran a similar "Chelsea could step up their interest in Varane" story just last weekend, too, but with the Joao Miranda "snub" as the catalyst for said stepping up. So, are we ready to step up now?
How about now? Are we ready yet?
Now?
Not that the Petr Cech portion of the stories makes that much sense either. Not only do they fly in the face of everything that the goalkeeper and the manager have said this summer, about making this a competition and players fighting for their places, Real Madrid already look set at goalkeeper with Keylor Navas and Iker Casillas (and Diego Lopez?). Cech would be walking into an almost carbon copy situation at Real, so how would that improve his station?
But hey, Silly Season. Keep on keeping on.