LukakutoStamford

Reus is made of glass, Bale is quite good, but Messi would bring a whole other level to Chelsea. As big as Chelsea has become getting Messi to come would be an emphatic statement about how Chelsea sees itself in world football and it would put everyone else on notice. As mentioned, this is more of theoretical discussion because if this move were to happen people would still not believe it until Messi actually showed up on the pitch and played his first game. Hazard-Messi would be the most mouth watering duo that one could imagine. Just think of the interplay just outside of the 18 with Hazard flicking Messi on, or Hazard making a 40 yard dribble up the center of the field pinballing a pass off of Messi to receive the return pass and then Hazard shooting it into the goalkeepers chest (Hey, Eden has got show a bit more here, right!).

Lol those kits look like French national team kits. Too bad Chelsea couldn't get Cote D'Or, or Fortis AG. Next time maybe we'll see an American based sponsor.

Lol those kits look like French national team kits. Too bad Chelsea couldn't get Cote D'Or, or Fortis AG. Next time maybe we'll see an American based sponsor.

My guess is that a potential Messi deal would be paid over 4 years and that the transfer fee and wages would be most covered by sponsorship deals that are unique to Messi himself. If Adidas were offering to cover 140 million over 4 years and you add the turkish airline for another 20-40 million over 4 and lets say another Messi sponsor jumps in the transfer fee is all but covered or part of the fee is covered and Messi's wages were covered. The FFP essentially was put in from preventing owners funding clubs through their own businesses riding assistances through subsidiaries. It was also put in to keep clubs from spending themselves into bankruptcy. As for Jose I'm not sure what else he would say. It's not like he's going to come out and say sure he's coming we just need to address the finances of the deal. Of course it doesn't mean he's coming, but I don't think it is as far fetched as some think.

Witsel would give Jose lots of options and depth in the midfield. Witsel could step in for Matic. Witsel can play opposite Matic. It would allow Oscar and Fabregas to be even more offensive.

Hazard has been the best player in the PL this year. People really need to understand advanced metrics a lot better to see why this is the case. He's even got metrics comparable to Messi. Where he falls short of Messi is in the final product, finishing.

He plays a finesse style of play which considering his size makes him look smaller than he is. He's actually very silky on the ball and has great footwork for someone that is 6ft tall. Strange you'd think he wasn't very agile as I think he's exceedingly nimble for someone of his height. He's a different type of forward than Benteke or Lukaku. I think he'd be better suited playing as a second striker role. Needs work on his finishing and at times his decision making is a bit suspect. Liverpool was an interesting choice but I think Liverpool could be dangerous with him Sturridge and Sterling playing together.

Maybe we can send Torres to Galatasary or Besitkas perhaps the new of his drop in form has not yet reached Turkey. If not I know the Indian pro league is always looking to raise its profile.

I'm sure Chelsea will continue to reload. Difference between Luiz, Mata, and Hazard is that neither Luiz or Mata were potential Ball D'Or candidates. They were both players who provided a lot for Chelsea but neither had the potential to be the best player that Chelsea has ever had. Who knows maybe he leaves, but I don't think it is as cut an dried as some may think it to be. I think there's something special about becoming an all time legend at club as opposed to being one of many who will always be overshadowed by the other legendary greats irrespective of how good he performs.

News for 12/18/14 Transfer Guru Cordella not surprised Man Utd are targeting Belgian youth talent Indy Boonen, a 15 year old left back, and his brother Seppe Boonen, a year old 13 goalkeeper, both who are Genk youth prospects are on trial with Man United. http://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/exclusive-transfer-guru-cordella-unsurprised-man-utd-targeting-belgian-youth-talent-4054239#.VJRcMXkAA

Marin is still on the team?

Ahh the mythical buy back clauses like unicorns, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster. Buy back clause only works if you sell a player to a tiny club that could never afford a player if he blows up so to speak. If Thorgan were to be sold to Gladbach Chelsea would likely get 10-12 million. Gladbach isn't a tiny club that couldn't afford that. They'd never agree to it. I'm not sure why people are so quick to dismiss him as future possibility for Chelsea. Doesn't mean I would lay a bet on it happening, but he passed the first test by winning Belgian player of the year and helping lead Zulte Waregem towards the top of Belgian league. Now without him and Malanda Waregem is mediocre. He's been scoring and playing quite well while getting limited minutes at Gladbach which looks to be a 2015-2016 CL side. http://www.transfermarkt.com/thorgan-hazard/leistungsdaten/spieler/102226 In 932 minutes (8 starts of 23 appearances) He has 4 goals and 7 assists. Averaging a goal every 233 minutes an assist 133.15 minutes and a scoring play once every 84.73 minutes.

Not sure who else would come in January unless there's a fire sale, discontent with a top player, or a club needs to free up assets. Juventus is still in the CL so that would likely rule out Pogba. Is Kheidira a big signing? Reus possibly or even Sterling? Anyone else have any ideas?

It will be interesting to see what happens when Terry retires/gets too long in the tooth. I'm hoping that Ivanovic will be the temporary organizer at the back (if he is suited for the role) as I'm not sure Cahill or Zouma is suited. I'd like to see an upgrade over Mikel and Ramires in the midfield area and someone who can back-up Matic and possible play alongside him. Right wing needs needs to be sorted but it's hard to say what exactly is needed there. Reus would be great except he's made of glass. Sterling would be a good fit except his price tag will be ridiculous. Sanchez would be great to steal from L'Arse but again price tag would be insane. Cuadrado would be a great add but there will be lots of teams after him this summer. Lacazette and Bellarabi are interesting possibilities for RW.

No reason to be worried. Chelsea is in the transition to becoming of the of clubs on the level with Bayern, Real, Barcelona, Man United and given that the PL is the biggest league in the world in terms of exposure and the exposure is only growing I would imagine that players will trying to get to the PL as quick as possible. For example, NBCsports paid 250 million dollars for the PL rights for 3 years in the States. In comparison the US domestic league, MLS, got 90 million for 8 years. When the bidding comes up for the PL soon I'm estimating that a 4 year deal would probably command $500 to $600 million dollars, and I could be underselling it. It's not going to be long when TV companies are paying over a billion dollars to broadcast a league that's not even domestic.

So that's that. Slippy Starfish, Lolatelli, and company for a semi-final rendezvous. Should be fun.

Anywho he's certainly one of biggest stars in terms of marketing. He's got lots of charisma and his faces in the FiFA 15 commercial with Messi were hilarious.

I don't Chelsea wants to sell. It's hard to say whether Thorgan has the chops to play at Chelsea. I think he needs a decent run of starts to see how he fares in the Bundesliga. Who knows maybe he makes the squad next season.

News for 12/17/14 Divock Origi has won Belgium's Promising Talent of the Year award for 2014. http://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/liverpool-striker-divock-origi-wins-prized-belgian-award-4053878#.VJHlXfldV8E Real Sociedad lead race for Adnan Januzaj loan https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/man-utd/transfer-talk/news/report-sociedad-lead-januzaj-race_194307.html

Background on Pietro tomaselli. Crazy to talk about a kid of this age, but you never know. Chances are he'l never live up to the hype but someone has to do it. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2872331/Watch-Roma-s-nine-year-old-wonderkid-Pietro-Tomaselli-live-billing-new-Totti.html5

I know some here are at a fatigue point with all things Belgian that aren't Chelsea property (Hazard Bros., Thibaut Courtois, Musonda Bros.) . That being said I figured for those that are intrested this thread could be a spot for news and notes on upcoming Belgian prospects and wonderkids for the future. After all it is interesting to look back and see how people viewed certain prospects and their futures and then to see how they pan out. Below is a list of prospects that it by no means complete and it may lack accuracy. I'll keep it to players who turn 21 and younger for the current year (2014). Please feel free to add any players you know of or that I've missed or leave any commentary if you've seen a player or have any impression on his potential. Since I'm not in Belgium and Flemish is like an alien language to me it can be a bit hard to keep tabs on all young Belgian players 1993 DEF Brandon Mechele (1/28/93) – Club Brugge Jonas Heymans (2/6/93) – Willem II Johnathan Vervoort (8/13/93) - Charleroi MID Thorgan Hazard (3/29/93) – Chelsea on loan to Monchengladbach Franco Zennaro (4/1/93) – Fortuna Sittard Brice Ntambwe (4/29/93) – Mons Mehdi Tarfi (7/5/93) – Zulte Waregem Alpasian Ozturk (7/16/93) – Kasimpasa Wannes Van Tricht (11/13/93) - Geel FW Dolly Menga (5/2/93) - Lierse Jason Adesanya (5/26/93) - Geel Yannick Ferreira Carrasco (9/4/93) - Monaco Massimo Bruno (9/17/93) – Salzburg (Austria) Michy Batshuayi (10/2/93) – Marseille 1994 DEF Alexander Corryn (1/3/94) – Lokeren Michael Heylen (1/3/94) - Kortrijk Jordy Croux (1/15/94) – Genk on loan to OH Leuven Jordan Atheba (4/4/94) – Standard Liege Birger Verstraete (4/16/94) – Club Brugge Cedric Buekers (4/17/94) – OH Leuven on loan to Heist Gilles Ruyssen (6/18/94) – Gent Jordan Lukaku (7/25/94) - Oostende Bjorn Engels (9/15/94) – Club Brugge Julien De Sart (12/23/94) – Standard Liege MID Ibrahima Cisse (2/28/94) – Standard Liege Rob Schoofs (3/23/94) – Sint Truiden Dennis Praet (5/14/94) – Anderlecht Gianni De Neve (7/25/94) – Gent Thomas Foket (9/25/94) - Gent Julien De Sart (12/23/94) – Standard Liege FW Nathan Kabasele (1/14/94) – De Graafschap David Iboma (12/3/94) - Beerschot Leoandro Trossard (12/14/94) - Genk 1995 GK Alexandro Craninx (10/21/95) – Real Madrid Lucas Pirard (3/10/95) – Standard Liege DEF Corentin Fiore (3/24/95) – Standard Liege Jason Denayer (6/28/95) – Manchester City (PL) Timoty Castagne (12/5/95) – Genk MID Adnan Januzaj (2/5/95) – Manchester United Leander Dedoncker (4/25/95) - Anderlecht FW Divock Origi (4/18/95) – Lille (On loan from Liverpool) Theo Bongonda (11/20/95) - Celta de Vigo 1996 GK Xavier Gies (12/17/96) – Anderlecht Thomas Hooyberghs (7/26/96) – PSV Eindhoven DEF Arno Monsecour (1/19/96) - Lokeren Willem Celen (1/31/96) – Lierse Gilles De Waele (2/13/96) – Cercle Brugge Joey Dujardin (2/16/96) – Zulte Waregem Akhenaten Poto Mees (2/21/96) – Mons Alexis Scholl (3/11/96) – Anderlecht Senne Verbiest (5/9/96) - Genk Dion Cools (6/4/96) – Oud-Heverlee Leuven MID Nick Van de Walle (1/1/96) - Lierse Oulare Mamadou Obbi (1/6/96) – Club Brugge Jordy Vleugels (5/17/96) -Willem II Dylan Seys (9/26/96) – Club Brugge Tom Rosenthal (9/30/96) - Watford Alexis De Sart (11/12/96) – Standard Liege Iebe Swers (12/27/96) – Sint- Truidense FW Zakaria Bakkali (1/26/96) – PSV Nicolas Napol (4/3/96) - Lorient David Henen (4/19/96) - Everton Jinty Caenepeel (7/18/96) - Gent Siebe Schijvers (7/18/96) – Genk (Jupiler) FW 1997 GK Nordin Jackers (9/5/97) – Genk Quintijn Steelant (1/30/97) – Club Brugge DEF Ilkan Cavus (1/24/97) – Genk Dries Wouters (1/28/97) - Genk Andrea Morias (2/14/97) - Anderlecht Nathan Ledyer (4/14/97) – Ajax Marco Weymans (7/9/97) - PSV Eindhoven Jellert van Landschoot (8/27/97) – Club Brugge MID Arno Verschueren (4/8/97) Oud-Heverlee Leuven Dylan Damraoui (5/4/97) – Club Brugge Yan De Maeyer (5/5/97) – Mechelen Youri Tielemans (5/7/97) - Anderlecht Ayron Verkinere (5/17/97) – Cercle Brugge Paolino Bertaccini (11/9/97) - Club Brugge FW Jeff Callebaut (1/23/97) – Zulte Waregem Jur Schrijvers (3/11/97) – Club Brugge Thibault Vlietnck (8/19/97) – Club Brugge 1998 DEF Wout Faes (4/3/98) – Anderlecht FW Matthias Verreth (2/20/98) – PSV Eindhoven Lennerd Daneels (4/10/98) - PSV 1999 DEF Zinho Vanheusden (7/29/1999) – Standard Liege Indy Boonen (1999) - Genk MID Thibaud Verlinden (1999) – Standard Liege FW Francesco Antonucci (6/20/99) - Anderlecht Adrien Bongiovanni (9/20/99) – Standard Liege 2000 2001 GK Seppe Boonen (2001) – Genk 2002 2003 2004 Pietro Tomaselli (11/17/04) – AS Roma

Gladbach wants him on a permanent. I don't blame them he's been quite a sub for them. I think he needs to start games for them and then he might be ready for the Chelsea bench next year. However, if he can get another year at Gladbach and start for the full year I think he could be ready for a full time role at Chelsea. It will depends on how he continues to develop. He's more like Oscar than Eden.

Remember that he's still young and developing physically. He's never going to be s physical specimen but he will be wiry strong.

Team needs more Naingogglan

Team played too slow and the chemistry on the field was poor. This team hasn't figured how to beat teams that park the bus. Chelsea is at its best when they get early attacks and don't allow the defense time to set up. The team needs to refocus on 1-2 triangles and getting their timing down. Too many players are playing way too many games in a row. This was 5 games in 13 days it's too much to ask players to play full ninety in each of those games and not be tired.