LukakutoStamford

15 would be an underpayment

Works for me:)

I'll file that under wishful thinking. Would be nice but Torres is more suited for side that's trying to fight out of relegation. Benteke for Torres anyone?

Well, I'd imagine after 17 PL goals at 19 his asking price wouldn't be cheap. Klose and Gomez seem to be more realistic and Torres really isn't a suitable option for Barca

Cabaye allowed Hazard to work his magic at Lille. If he can be had cheap he's an excellent option for Chelsea as he's workhouse who can link up the back to the attacking mids. He would greatly help Chelsea and even more specific Hazard create more breaks.

The French should be so lucky. One of Belgium's legacies has been top draw goalkeepers granted there's a gap between Predu'Homme and Courtois and De Wilde was hot garbage.

De Bruyne has been one of the stars of the WC qualifying campaign for Belgium thus far. He had a poor game in the last game v. Macedonia but he's been the 2nd best player on the team besides Courtois. Hazard appears to be finally coming to life for the national team and of course the team has loads of talent everywhere save for the fullback positions specifically the right. He's going to be worth crazy money in a couple of years barring injury but he impacts the game differently then Hazard, Mata, etc. He's basically a young Paul Scholes, but with a greater goal scoring touch. If for some reason he leaves Chelsea he'll end up at Barca/Madrid/Bayern in a few years. I love Hazard and he's got the flair to be one of the greats but Dr Bruyne has capability to a great in much more understated way similar to how Iniesta is so valuable but understated to Messi

ahh just let him go to Dortmund that way when he's tearing it up over there helping Dortmund make it back to the Champions League final we can all laugh and say how he wasn't good enough for Chelsea

I guess we'll agree to disagree re: Cech v. Courtois. Courtois will be the best in the world in one or two years if he's not there already. He can do things that Cech can't do, Cech has more guile and experience but when it comes to physical tools Courtois is freakishly blessed.

The loan was needed for De Bruyne, but right now he's an essential player for Chelsea for 2013-2014. If he's not starting then something has gone terribly wrong. He's starting for the Belgian national team and he's been their best player in most of the games they've played. Chelsea has no one that can bring the type of game he does. Mata and Hazard are different types of players but neither possess De Bruyne's long ball skills. If Chelsea doesn't want him he'll be starting for Dortmond, Bayern, Barcelona or Real Madrid in a couple of years.

I can't fathom what Chelsea is doing, it's rather maddening that Chelsea has an absolute dearth of quality center midfielders and De Bruyne is already one of the best in the world at only age 21. He's criminally underrated on this board. He's the best crosser I've seen in 15 years. He's the playmaker for the Belgian national team whose starting 11 is better than what Chelsea fields. So he's good enough to start for the Belgian national team but not good enough to start for Chelsea? Utterly mindboggling.

The key point is that Courtois was better than De Gea in La Liga. He's better than him now. The other point to notice is that Courtois is also loading up on international caps whith Belgium whereas De Gea wasn't showcasing with Spain. It's not like there was no one else for Belgium either. Mignolet has been excellent for Sunderland this year in spite of their poor record. I think Courtois is a generational talent and as I mentioned previously he's already well past where other legendary Belgian goalkeepers (Pfaff, Preud'Homme) were at age 20.

It came from me. He was born in Belgium and he has Turkish ancestry IIRC.

Considering he's been Belgium's best field player during qualifying he can get a pass for yesterday. I think he's a key to both the Belgian NT's and Chelsea's future success. He's never going to be confused with Hazard (aka little Zidane, aka the Belgo-Turkish terror, etc ...) but every successful team needs a workhorse who has vision, can cross at high level of efficiency, and is capable of scoring.

There will always be crazy expectations for him. It's not a question of handling the pressure but rather put him in the best possible position to succeed and I think that having him at Chelsea when there is so much yet to be determined for next year seems like an unnecessary risk. He's been improving dramatically at West Brom so why bring him back unless the coach and system are in place. I don't disagree about being pushed but he's not starting that many games at WBA so why not spend another year there get more playing time and then come to Chelsea. Gain more confidence by in a settled place with settled team and known quantity at coach. The main problem as I mentioned before is the fact that Chelsea is in this position in the first place. I'd be much more in favor of bringing him back if there was a top flight striker at Chelsea who could be counted on for a year or two while Lukaku eases into the role of main striker. He does have his head screwed on straight and has superb values but that doesn't make him immune from having difficulties from pressure inconsistency etc. Even if he does come back I expect him to do well I just don't like exposing to the one thing (rushing him to main striker) while extremely unlikely that could kill his career.

Can't comapre the two as they two compeltely different styles. De Bruyne is a player who will likely always be underrated for what he does because it will be viewed as solid and technically brilliant. Hazard will garner the attention because he is a flair player whose skill set is unique and his play is eye popping. It's like compairing Zidane to Petit of Deschamps. Zidane will get the plaudits but you can't win a World Cup without Petit or Deschamps, and frankly that's really underselling the dynascism of De Bruyne's play.

He can learn to play a full 90 on a regular basis and continue to develop his game with a lot less scrutiny at West Brom and with nearly the same cast of characters. Are you suggesting that Chelsea fans are going to be patient with him as he's still learning at age 20 while trying to be the main striker? As for West Brom they're a top 8 club right now and they may push even higher before the year is through so it's not like they're a side battling relegation. New coach, huge expectations for Lukaku, and Chelsea, new system what could possibly go wrong ....

It has nothing to do with being ready. That's not is what is at question here. I've merely been suggesting that I think Lukaku can and will be a superstar, but I'm concerned because if there is a way of screwing him up it's thrusting him into the spotlight at Chelsea as the main striker next year. Does that mean I think he'll fail in that role? No. It just means there's no point in rushing him when he can have a second year at WBA get more time, continue to improve, and then be ready for moving into the starting role at 21. Think about that for a second someone of you want to rely on a 20 year old striker. That really begs the question as to what in the hell is the board doing. There should be a main striker in his mid twenties to handle the top flight duties and easing Lukaku into the spotlight at 21-23 years of age. Clearly Torres is rubbish, but it means Chelsea needs a #1 guy for the immediate future and then have Lukaku as the successor.

I think you'll see Eden shoot more next year as I think this year he deferred to other players because there wasn't a sense that he was the go to guy. What made him special at Lille was once he became the man at Lille he got even better more confidence and I think he'll become the guy at Chelsea, not that Matas has done anything wrong it's jsut that Hazard has the temperment to be a leader on the field whereas with Mata he seems to be a bit more of an out of the spotlight guy.

He's the distributing playmaker for the Belgian NT. He reminds me of Paul Scholes (ginger comparisons aside) and his long ball accuracy is reminiscent of David Beckham. He's not the FK specialist that Beckham was (then again outside of Renaldo and a few others who is) but he's top class when it comes to crosses and 40 yard+ balls.

Can't spell manure without ManU

Like I said it's not about Lukaku being capable as I don't think that's the question. It's about the immense pressure of being the main guy at Chelsea without ever being the main guy in a top five league. Frankly, it's one of the best ways for an immensely talented player to fail, to have expectations to be the main scorer on one of the world's best clubs without having been the full time striker in a comparable league.

Hate the move. It reeks of desparation. The kid is 19. He really needs more time at West Brom to develop certain aspects that are lacking. It's not that he's not talented it just that he's going to go from super sub with occasional starts with a mid table club to Champions League caliber team and either be the main guy or play in a squad role. Either way it's a no win situation if he's the guy that's an awful lot of pressure to put on a 20 yer old who has never beena full time starter. If he's playing a squad role then what's the point? If he stays at West Brom he expands his role into being the main striker and gets experience playing a full tiem schedule. He's certainly capable of making the transition but he's coming back to play in FA cup 4th round matches etc the there's no point.

It all comes down to Chelsea's succession plan at the goalkeeper position. 2018-2019 is not even remotely possible. He's playing for the 2nd place Spanish club in La Liga, European League champions, etc. The real question is Chelsea willing to say good bye to Cech and put Courtois in the starting role by 2014-2015 which even still might be too late. Just because he's young doesn't mean he needs 3+ years of seasoning. As I mentioned earlier he's already a top 10 goalkeeper in the world and has the potential to be the best in the world for many years to come. He's far better than Pfaff (FIFA 100) and Preud'Homme (FIFA's Goalkeeper of the Year) were at this point in their careers. You can't take him from a Championship caliber team and throw him to a relegation side like Watford just because you want him to get PL experience and aren't willing to start him. He either takes over by 2014-2015 or you sell him, and there's only one option that makes sense.

He's done, and the best remedy would be to eat his remaining contract barring some miraculous offer which we all know isn't coming. He's never going to play for Spain again. There's no reason for them to play him as he's not good enough and they'd be better off working with young strikers or even going 4-6-0 if need be. He's rapidly moved from a Premier League player to a League 2 player/Conference player. It's astounding how Roman and the board crippled this team with decisions that a 8 year old would know not to make. The Lukaku loan was one of the few correct things they did along with the Ba acquisition. I don't have too much problem with the Sturridge move, but all those moves only work if you're making the appropriate moves in conjunction. However, the board/Roman did nothing to address those holes created by those moves. They knew that Lukaku was going out on loan and it seems as if Sturridge was never in the plans so why in the world didn't they sign at least two more strikers in summer? They've done a number on the midfield as well. While Frank is a legend he's not a full time player anymore. Mikel is too inconsistent and after those two it's a hodge podge of mismatched guys. Similar problems at the back as well. Terry is well past it, Ivanovich is not going to be a long term solution. They board/Roman have done well in acquiring future talents and loaing them, but they've failed miserably at filling the holes in the team to address the next few years.