EskWeston

From what i have read i thought he was a centre back, which we are not exactly short of. But being given number 2 may mean he is a right back which would be good as we only have Billy Clifford coming through as a talented right back. This time next year we can look forward to seeing something of him in a Chelsea shirt.

Still problems being able to bring him to the club to play for us. I am sure (my memory isn't the greatest) that he will have to spend this season again on loan before we can bring him in, if we want to bring him in at all.

As i have said in another thread, Frank Arnesson was quoted as saying Bruma will spend at least the first half of this season at Chelsea. I am sure that won't change. If he goes anywhere he will need regular games as a centre back. Right back is no for him.

Pretty sure that Frank Arnesson said that Bruma will stay at the club for at least the first half of this season..... although they could have changed their mind but i doubt it. Centre back we are pretty well covered even if Carvalho leaves as expected. Terry, Alex, Ivanovic, Mancienne, Bruma, Hutchinson and even Raijkovic should it come to that. 4 world class centre backs is too many for one squad, at least the 4th spot should be used for a youngster.

Lol, i remember liking him quite a bit when he first starting playing in the reserves. Don't think he ever made a first team appearance though? Maybe in a pre season game possibly..

Think it will be basically the same group of players for this one, Benayoun should be back, as should Mancienne. Don't know the situation with Hutchinson but he may be available too. Doubt any of the players back this week (Drogba, Kalou, Anelka, Malouda ect.) will feature in this game with just a few days training. Maybe for a short time. Would be suprised to see the club take such a big group of youngsters to Amsterdam but you never know.

Yes indeed they will class as homegrown, as will most of the young players we sign. Only ones like Di Santo and Matic that join at an older age will not qualify.

Lol, where did you pull that name from......... was a decent enough left back actually, from memory i think it was once they started moving his position around that it went pear shaped.... Jiri Jarosik is a name that comes to my mind, and if we are talking bizarre signings then Ricardo Quaresma has to be right up there. Can't believe we didn't play him more.....

Joe has really made a pigs ear of this. Hardly any extra to what we would have offered him, the extra he is getting he will only have to use for security on his house and car in scousleand...... Europa league football for Joey Cole and Liverpool think they have signed Messi... Joe has dropped even further in my estimation

These are very very difficult to gauge, it is so hard to know how the club feel about whats best for their development. Of your loan list i think that Sebek and Philliskirk could well be moved on, and if they do get loaned it will be with a view to a permanent move in the future. Mitrovic and Lalkovic i doubt will get a loan this season, Mitrovic especially won't because he has yet to break into the reserves, Lalkovic also i think will get a season in the reserves same with Walker, he won't go on loaneither and will play reserve football next season. Connor Clifford, Fabio Borini and Sala could go on loan, again depends on how the club feel. McEachran will not be on loan and i would doubt if he will ever go on loan, i think the club are very keen to start gradually introducing him to the first team over time, which is the best thing for him. Given chances in the first team i think will be Kakuta, Bertrand, Hutchinson, McEachran - i hope also Jack Cork and possibly Michael Mancienne, i am unsure if the club will loan Bruma for experience or decide to keep him around. Sinclair and Di Santo are very tough calls to make as they have had very poor loan moves but they have ability, Sinclair seemed very keen in the friendly and did well, although he has always done well at Championship level. Woods will take time to recover from injury and then they will try and find a loan for him i would think. Again this is so hard to call. The most pressing ones ~(i.e the older ones) are Mancienne, Bertrand, Cork, Hutchinson, Di Santo and Sinclair. The others have time on their side still which the club feel may benefit from a loan. I would think the above 6 players will fall into 2 categories, Stay with our first team or move on for good. These have to be made because after the experience they have the club should know if they are good enough or not.

A good first pre season game i thought. Funny to see basically the youth cup side on pitch by the end. Hard to read too much into this game as it was the first and clearly there is a lot to work on though. Thought Sturridge had a good game and continues to look lively, hope he gets more games this season because he will score goals. McEachran did himself a lot of credit and looked good when he got on the ball. Ryan Bertrand looked good also and showed something of what he is about/ Good to see Essien and Mikel back, Essien again looking just what we need as always, lets hope he can stay fit this season. Matic could have been involved more but looked good when got on the ball. Van Aanholt didn't have a great game but Center Back is not for him anymore, he is a left back. Seen him play center back for the ressies with similar results. Bruma the same, was dissapointed to see him played right back as he just is not a right back. All the young players did well when they came on and didn't look out of their depth, was good to see Chalobah on the pitch, will be a big season for him in the youth team this season. The next game is a bigger step up, but this was a good workout for the players and a good opportunity for the youngsters too.

"A homegrown player is classed as a player that was registered with the FA or the Welsh FA for 3 entire seasons before their 21st Birthday" Mikel was signed by Chelsea in June 2006. He turned 21 in April 2008. Which means he only played 2 full seasons before his 21st birthday.

Thought i would revive this thread to highlight where we are at the moment as a club with these rules and what it could mean to our transfer targets and players looking to break into the team. We stand at the moment like this: 1.(HG): John Terry 2.(HG): Ashley Cole 3.(HG): Frank Lampard 4.(HG): Ross Turnbull 5.(HG): Daniel Sturridge 6.(HG): 7.(HG): 8.(HG): 9. Petr Cech 10. Branislav Ivanovic 11. Michael Essien 12. Ricardo Carvalho 13. Didier Drogba 14. Mikel 15. Florent Malouda 16. Jose Bosingwa 17. Yuri Zhirkov 18. Paulo Fereira 19. Deco 20. Salomon Kalou 21. Nemaja Matic 22. Alex 23. Nicolas Anelka 24. Hilario 25. Yossi Benayoun So as we stand right now the only spaces we have are for Homegrown players. As it looks like there are going to be no English players coming into the club we can assume that those spots will be taken by players like Bertrand, Cork, Mancienne ect. Now i am pretty sure that Di Santo will not class as Homegrown so if we want to keep him around then it is going to be something we will need to look at. You could say that Carvalho and Deco are very likely to leave so if we do let them go then there are spaces for 2 foreign players. Basically the majority of the youngsters we have around will come into the U21 bracket and be kept in the squad without having to use up any places.

Benayoun is just a groin problem and should be ok for the Ajax game.

As well as Bosingwa and Zhirkov, Benayoun and Mancienne are also out. He also said he doesn't want anyone to play 90 minutes... Going to be hard to work that i would think, i guess some more young players are going to get game time too, Gokhan Tore maybe, Milan Lalkovic? Kaby Djalo? Will be interesting.

Build up is free, but the actual game is not... Will be interesting team selection for this one, only: Cech, Turnbull, Hilario, Alex, Mikel, Essien, Benayoun and Sturridge to pick from first team players, Bosingwa and Zhirkov won't be back from injury in time. Mikel and Essien will play a half each i would think as they are coming back from injury. The older group of youngsters will be looking to get a look in, Matic, Mancienne, Hutchinson, Bertrand, Cork, Sinclair and Di Santo and then some younger players will hope to get some time Bruma, Van Aanholt, McEachran, Clifford. Will be a little difficult for Carlo to pick a team, Sinclair the only natural winger for a 4-3-3 so he may go 4-4-2 and Sturridge and Di Santo as the only recognised forwards available may mean they play the whole game, or Sinclair could play upfront with 1 of them. A team like this would be interesting to start: ..............................................Cech......................................... Hutchinson........Mancienne.............Alex............Bertrand ..............................................Mikel......................................... ......................Cork................................Matic........................ ...........................................Benayoun.................................. ......................Di Santo......................Sturridge................... Second Half: .............................................Turnbull.................................... Hutchinson........Bruma.............Alex............Van Aanholt ..............................................Essien....................................... ......................Clifford................................Matic..................... ...........................................McEachran.................................. ......................Sinclair......................Sturridge................... No matter what it is a massive chance for these young players to make a mark, and throughout pre season too as it looks like they are going to be very careful with the World Cup players when they come back

Roman won't be leaving. That has been made very clear a number of times. Yes the club may well be looking to cut back on staff where they can which is fair enough if they are looking to build a self sufficient club. I just can't see any way or reason why Roman would leave Chelsea.

Well we will see if thats the case this summer, if Carlo starts to use the players that have been out on loan then this is not the case. Di Santo and Sinclair have had very poor loan spells and on the basis and it would be understandable if the club moved them on, particulary Sinclair who has failed to impress on a number of loan Spells. I would like to see Bertrand and Jack Cork given a chance this season, both quality players and now have bundles of experience which would give them a great grounding. Mancienne i have said how i feel on him a number of times, like him a lot as a player but not "great" in any one position. There is no guarantee that players like Bruma, Borini and Van Aanholt will not have loans lined up for them. Yes if we discount Cork and Bertrand in particular then there is a case for the above argument. Although there is also the point that Carlo hasn't had them with him so he knows nothing about them, whereas the others he has worked with for a year already.

This deal seems as though it would be pretty straight forward if we were to pay what Athletico want and the wages that Aguero wants, but unfortunately life isn't that simple. I do hope that a deal is being done/been done and he will shortly be signing for us. For me it would be a real statement of intent to build on and a player of his age an ability to play behind Drogba would really make a big impact on our attacking play.

Chelsea will know if the injuries are a real problem. It is clear that Liverpool continued to play him when not fully fit which will and has taken a toll on the player. Given the right rest period he could be back to full fitness with no problem and not suffer in the same way. My concern in signing Torres is changing a working formation to accomodate him

Totally agree, i see no reason at all to bring in Steve Clarke. Our current set up is fine and works very well, Ray and Clem are very good at their jobs and work well with Carlo.

The problem with Aguero is clearly the wages that would be needed to bring him to the club, plus the outlay of the transfer fee. If the club don't want to pay the wages Aguero is asking and Aguero won't come down then a deal will not happen. I hope it does happen though.

Absolutely no need to sign a centre back, 3 World class ones already there and a group of seriously talented youngsters.

At times they train with Lollichon and the first teamers but most of the time they train with Mark Beeney who trains the youth and reserve keepers, very well respected keeper coach at Chelsea.

Would be absolutely no surprise to see Ricky leave, infact it would be a logical move for the progression at the club, allows space for the younger defenders to try and break through.