LukakutoStamford

Frankly, Mourinho doesn't get any stick when he should. He ran off De Bruyne, failed to get any striker worth a damn and let Mata go. It's no real shock that this team has trouble scoring because it's a team that has no play maker and no one leading the charge from the back. This team needs someone to distribute the ball at all levels. Hazard needs a break and some help.

Vastly underrated player, more of a DLP based on his skill set even though he plays CB/LB

He wasn't at his best but he got zero help

Jose needs to get busy this summer and get more talent in the middle of the pitch.

I wouldn't worry about PSG there's no way Eden would go there because he's already played in Ligue 1 and he knows it's a step down from the PL. The French Ligue is good but playing for PSG does nothing for him aside from being in Paris. I get the sense that he knows that under Mourinho and with money that Chelsea there's nowhere that's a step up save for Madrid and that is only based on a historical basis. I think Eden realizes he can get the most exposure at Chelsea in terms of a global audience and he can create a legacy as Chelsea's greatest player if he continues to improve. The only concern would be if Jose left then I could see a move made.

Voted for Benteke on the assumption that Cavani wouldn't be available. Benteke and Lukaku are completely different types of players. Benteke is an excellent target man who can play Hazard, Oscar, William etc through the 18. He provides a nasty physical edge whereas Lukaku is just a horse. Benteke used his size to create fear in his opponents. Negatives with Benteke are inconsistent play and he misses too many sitters which I'm sure wouldn't go over too well.

To be fair, Hazard grew up 5 minutes from the French border, and he was a superstar and beloved at Lille so it's not like there's no reason for French people to like him.

I'm not sure what else Courtois has to do short of winning the World Cup. la Liga, or the Champions League to demonstrate he's proven? Courtois is well beyond where the greatest Belgian Keepers, Pfaff and Preudhomme, were at the same age, and those two were world class caliber. I get the sentiment re: Cech but the shrewd business move is to go with the young proven keeper because he's got 15 years left and Cech might have 5-7

Considering that Chelsea bought Thorgan for 800,000 pounds they've already done a great bit of business as he's probably worth 8 million pounds right now. I don't know about being better than Eden as Eden at age 20 was winning his firs French player of year award winning a Ligue 1 title for Lille for the first time since 1955. Then at age 21 Eden was winning his second French player of year award with 20 goals and 10 assists. I think Thorgan has a PL future the question is when and for whom.

If you want Chelsea to be a top club in the world then their current strategy is the only way to go. It's difficult to find players who at 12 are going to develop players for a CL team in the Premier League. Chelsea is being quite savvy be understanding the concept that there are only 23 spots and for every 20 buys maybe 2-4 will come good. In order to have continuous success you need to have succession at the academy level where maybe 1 out of 100+ will come good, buying up 18-21 year old players, buying 22-25 year old players and 26+ players.   If Courtois doesn't start for Chelsea (barring injury/ extraordinary circumstances) then a massive mistake was made by management. Lukaku may not be a fit for what Jose wants to do. As for the others it's going to depend how Chelsea moves forward in the transfer market this summer. Obviously striker needs to be fixed and at most only of the current three strikers should be on the squad for 2014-2015. There are still issues in the middle of the pitch as well as centerback and fullback.   Jose seems very clear about streamlining players that don't fit his vision. He sold Mata to a direct rival (at least they were now they will go through a 1991 Liverpool like drought). De Bruyne was sold (lost confidence) and I wouldn't be surprised if Lampard, Essien, Mikel, Cole are out the door this summer.   Jose wants top quality (re world class) talent at all positions for players 21-28. He wants them to be defensively responsible and he wants them to play fast and technical football.

Better is a relative term. Each of three bring something different. Lukaku is a great poacher, Benteke is a an excellent target man, and Bats is kinda like Sturridge imo

Rooney is gone imo after this year. The summer will again be transfer muppet heaven especially for central midfielders and center backs.

I thought Eden had an average game but started off fairly poorly and was too easily dispossessed. He showed more as the game went on, but it seemed like he was extremely isolated and was being marked by 2-3 guys at a time for various stretches in the game. It was clear that United's plan was to make sure that Hazard didn't beat them.

Too many Jose lemmings on this board. How anyone can say De Bruyne wasn't mentally tough enough need their head examined. It's that type of insanity makes me wonder how many of you have competed a high level in any sport. It didn't work out but to suggest that for any other reason than chemistry is pure folly.

It didn't work out, but this mental stuff is just gibberish. Sometimes it just doesn't work out. I'm bummed because I think that on form he provides Chelsea with excellent long passing and crossing which are skills that Chelsea is lacking. I think he'll come good at Wolfsburg and make his way to Dortmund eventually.

Sadly your first statement is patently false. Oscar does not have nearly the crossing accuracy nor the long range accuracy as De Bruyne; however, there's no shame in that as very few players do. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaIJLpvcd_Q It's somewhere in there the 45 yard aerial pass to Lukaku that hits him in stride to allow a brilliant 1 v 1 on goal.

Looks like Chelsea got a great return for what they invested initially. Should be interesting to see how he gets on at Wolfsburg and the World Cup this summer.

This thread seemed to take a left turn somewhere. The CIES football observatory ranked him 4th with a value of 55.5 -64.5 million Euros and that was as of this summer. Ronaldo was 3nd witha value of 102.2-118.7 million, Bale was 9th with a value of 43.5 to 50.6 million euros

I'm hoping this doesn't mean he'll be at Anderlecht for the next 1 1/2 years. If it's a 6 month move it doesn't make much sense. Hazard should get a La Ligue 1 move next to a mid low table team or a move to low table PL team.

Hehe, why would he go back to La Ligue 1? The only possible move at this point would be to Real Madrid and that's even dubious as 1) I don't know where they would put him and 2) How are they going to come up with 75+ (maybe 100+?) million Euros they would need to acquire him

Apparently 17 goals at West Brom at age 19 including a second half hat trick at Old Trafford and 9 goals in less than half a season at Everton at age 20 is insufficent progress. Couple that with the blinding strike force of Eto, Torres and BA I'd say yes Lukaku has failed at Chelsea

Like anything else. Supply and demand and comparables. De Bruyne's value is based on his Bundesliga performance, Belgian NT performance, his age, and his lack of Chelsea performance. I think it's wrong to suggest that his value hasn't increased at least 2-2 1/2 fold since he was acquired by Chelsea from Genk. He was the top play maker for Werder Bremen and top offensive playmaker for the Belgian NT, and he showed a high level of play albeit inconsistent while at Chelsea. The problem is that a player's value decreases when no one can see him play save for brief cameos in games against championship sides every once in a bluemoon (no pun intended). Ultimately, I think Kevin doesn't fit into Jose's style and Kevin's playstyle doesn't meet Jose's needs. The problem with that is that Kevin does have certain skills that Chelsea sorely lacks in the form of crosses, set pieces, and directness of play but Jose doesn't feel that Kevin's defensive liability is worth his offensive contributions. It's a fair enough point but I can't really judge a player that has barely played since September and only gets one game once every 10 games. And before we get the Marin comparisions. Marin has never come close to contruting the the German NT like KDB and never had such an impact at the Bunedsliga level as KDB. I think Kevin can play at the Chelsea level, but it just hasn't clicked yet.

Oh he will and I suppose he could be a pied piper and lead Youri Tielemans to Chelsea. Although Chelsea Still, the move isn't that great because he's still in the Belgian league. He needs a step up in class. French mid table team (Lyon) would have been the better move. I'm guessing Chelsea wants to develop a stronger pipeline to Anderlecht and who wouldn't really. Lukaku, Musonda Jr., Tielemans, Mitrovic, plus a big pipeline into one of the top Belgian academies.

De Bruyne just has a different personality other players. He needs to play consistently and not feel like any mistake will keep him glued to the bench. At Bremen he had a lot of freedom and he ran around alot, but his defense is poor, specifically tackling. In the Belgian NT he had a lot of freedom as well. The difference at Chelsea is that Jose is demends strong defensive responsibility from his AMs. Hazard's defense this year has been quite good and is severly underrated. I thought as good as we was v. Sudnerland his defensive plays were almost as remarkable as his offensive plays. De Bruyne isn't that type of player which is a weakness but he hasn't been asked to be strong on defense because of his offensive playmaking acumen. He's a younger version of Paul Scholes imo and given how inconsistent the strikers have been I thought maybe Jose would look to play the 4-2-3-1 with Harzard as faase nine allowing for Kevin's long balls/crossing and set pieces to be incorporated into the game, especially when the crossing and set pieces have generally been quite poor. Considering Chelse agot KDB for 7 mil 18 mil+ add-ons would be a great return. The only problem is that if he finds his form at Wolfsburg and then in the summer at the WC his value might double and who knows if a PL rival like United/CIty give him a shot.

Could be a comfort thing. Maybe he's just better suited for the Bundesliga. Nice upgrade on the GF from the last one Courtois stole