LukakutoStamford

He's not essential to beat Scotland, but it would sure help. I'm more concerned with no Kompany and Vermaelen (he's been pretty good for the NT)

Well considering how much Chelsea paid for him and what he may end up being worth it was great business. I think you might be selling him short although he's at quite possibility the worst position for trying to crack the Chelsea line-up. I hope he has a great year and gets a PL loan next year, so we can get a better idea of his ceiling.

It's Chelsea's fault really they couldn't be arsed over the last few years to get a proper striker and keeping Torres year after year has been pure madness.

Lukaku needed another loan year. People saw his 17 goals and said well he can start here at Chelsea, but what was missed is that Romelu scored most of his goals in wide open play and on counters, which doesn't quite fit with what Chelsea needs right now, a striker that can play in tight spaces. Lukaku needs to play all the time and the loan should help him to get the time he needs to further his development. It was a bad penalty miss and that can be critiqued. He overthought it and didn't jsut slam it home like he normally does on penalties. It's not a big deal to me... what everyone else should be more angry about is giving up the goal on the final play which led to PKs in the first place.

I don't know about that. The Jupiler has some quality youth players. Lots of talent between 16-21 getting chances to play and even starting. Not to mention it looks like the league is getting strong at the top. Bottom isn't great yet, but Standard looks good and Lokeren has been a great surprise thus far.

Hear that Spurs will make a bid (40 million)

I said this earlie in the thread. Lukaku needed to go back to West Board for a second loan year to get significant playing time in order to improve his skill set. Right now being at Chelsea is pointless unless he's going to get similar minutes to what he got last year at WBA. He's not ready for the #1 role and Chelsea's striking options are poor for a PL side.

Same was at work during match so I didn't get to see what transpired, but from the sound of it the the air was sucked of the ball. Result is certainly, but play was poor. Aside from the known striker issues, it seems that the DLP position is a massive concern, and the formation + tactics don't fit with the personnel.

How can I change my name? I'd like to change it to EdenHazardExpert

Lukaku's pass to Pocognoli in the box was definitely an improvement. He held up the ball held off the man and dropped off a nice backwards pass that gave Belgium a great scoring chance.

Hell I'd take Drogba back right now.

Come on now if you've watched more than Chelsea's preseason you'd see that De Bruyne's preseason has been the same as his Belgium NT games same as his Werder Bremen games. He's creates immense amount of chances and he isn't afraid to push forward. He's got nearly 1/3 rd cross rate which nearly double or Mata, Hazard etc. I'm sorry if you can't seen his quality, but make no mistake he's one of the best players in the world.

This is why De Bruyne has to play.

I think both will end up choosing Belgium because Morocco and Albania are unlikely to qualify for World Cups. That being said it's going to be tough to crack the NT squad going forward.

He turned 20 in May

To be fair unless you're from the US or are big sports fan you wouldn't know that the New York Giants (NFL) and the New York Jets (NFL) play their football at the Meadowlands which is in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Just a strange irony.

We're seeing the effects of no KDB. Long balls haven't been great in this game.

Lestienne? He's the best "young player" in league, IMO. I'm surprised that he hasn't latched on with a PL/Bundesliga/la Ligue team yet.

I think it's called tired of Holland performing at a higher level - Fière d'être Belge

Season can't start soon enough it seems. Don't care much for the who's better talk because it's ridiculous. It's nice to have so many options.

Didn't think it was worth it's own thread but there's another young prodigious Belgian striker talent who is being closely watched by Chelsea, Arsenal, Man U, Réal Madrid, Barcelona. 16 year old Julien Ngoy.

5 million euro valuation for free what's not to like? He costs nothing to get and if he comes good like Yaya Toure he's worth 5-6x his current valuation. If not he was free

I think that the video games (FM and FIFA etc.) have raised expectations too much. Too many people get tunnel vision and try to make some grand proclamation to first rather than right. With Hazard, it was easy to tell how good he was going to be because be was doing things like 2x young footballer of the year and 2x footballer of the year in France. He even helped Lille win. Lague title which was equivalent to Wolvehampton winning the PL title

It's not a versus thing. Not to mention the whole who is better argument is absurd. I think what's going to happen is De Bruyne will play in such a way that Chelsea can't afford not to play him. It then in theory leaves one of Mazacar out and unless Hazard craps the bed he's not going to be the one left out. Interesting dilemma to have. England would be a lot more dangerous had De Bruyne picked the 3 lions instead of Belgium