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Quintero wasn't in the squad too, and I didn't know Ntep played for them as well who's already a French international and is meant to have been good last season. Still if he is consistently on the bench then he'll get chances eventually.

Rennes have also been linked with Joel Campbell on loan

According to @chelseayouth there is no option to buy. This is certainly interesting, and he is basically replacing Gokhan Inler as it stands. Europa Leage there too so more chances to break into the team.

More faux praise for another nothing performance from RLC.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/roy-hodgson-hints-fa-is-ready-to-accept-adnan-januzaj-for-england-9127312.html Actually this article says the player must live here 5 years continuously after their 18th birthday to be eligible

Well he's lived in England since like he a young teenager I think. I don't know the rules for being eligible but the media reported last year that even Januzaj was eligible for England and he moved here when he was 16.

Edit (post was irrelevant )

That's true he doesn't really play for French youth sides, wonder why. Perhaps their scouting network isn't extensive but would have thought being one of the best players in Europe's best academies would get him noticed. He's probably also reaching the stage where he could be considered for England too actually, wonder if he's recieved interest from them.

Fair enough, apologies for assuming, but it was what I inferred from your post. Anyway we will see with Chalobah, but as you said I've also seen a lot of him, and think he's gotten continually underrated over time. While I'm not sure he'll make it at Chelsea now as newer and more fashionable names have taken his place, I do think he'll still develop into a good PL player at the very least, he still has the potential to go further..but like I said we'll see.

It was one game. I don't get this short term attitude of football fans sometimes where one game can comprehensively show a player's quality and potential. Not even baring in mind that Portugal in general outplayed England, and looked tactically better managed. I've seen games where William Carvalho has done nothing, and Chalobah was probably the best player on the pitch when Reading played Arsenal in the FA Cup. They're both good talents. Chalobah with nearly 100 appearances first team (with a further 76 appearances for England at youth team level) for me makes so much sense to incorporate into the squad for next season.

He was the best of a bad bunch. Upto about 60 minutes he was having a good game, and still had some good moments.

This is my opinion on RLC, bearing in mind I've seen him 30-40 times over the last 2 seasons and I'm just being honest. It really wouldn't surprise me if other people who have watched him silently agree or see where I'm coming from. In general, he's been massively overhyped and his accelerated development (IMO) is down to the fact he's physically bigger than everyone else. In youth games he very rarely stands out on the pitch, it is often the players around him that perform better but he gets rated extremely highly. (Remember how good Lewis Baker was last season?) There's no part of his game other than the fact he's strong that really stands out for me. (From what I've seen) He doesn't have a great passing range, a good shot, even on the ball he is not very progressive and forward thinking. He has poor stamina (often taken off at around 70minites for the youth team) and can be lazy when defending. It is often mentioned that he is actually quite underwhelming at youth level. People then say he's 'saving himself/too good' for youth level. Nothing I've seen in his last two starts has altered my above thoughts. He genuinely has a flawed game that needs so much more work if he's to develop into the player people want him to be. I don't really know what type of midfielder he is as a result. For whatever reason (6"3 and black?) people seem to have this perception he will be like Pogba/Toure Yaya, and this his ceiling is higher than other youth players around him. I'm still trying to fathom what exactly people see when they make these claims. I equally can't fathom why he has been getting such praise in his last two games for really quite average performances, and I think some people are probably putting their heads in the sand. He has been slow and extremely unadventurous on the ball and when defending espiecally against WBA was poor. Mikel gets lambasted for EXACTLY the same type of performances. I mentioned his lack of passing range - the only two times against WBA he attempted a pass that wasn't a 5-10 yard nothing pass they were off target (one was for Costa where he waited so long Costa was offside, the other he tried switching the play and the ball was 10 yards above the recipient's head). I appreciate that Mourinho himself does seem to rate this guy very highly. That's not the be all and end all, given he also wanted to build a team around Oscar and didn't rate Alex. There are two talents contracted to us right now that, for me, are better than RLC and make far more sense to have in the squad next season in Aké and Chalobah. Aké within 2 minutes of coming on against WBA made a forward through ball pass for Solanke, showing more adventure and vision than RLC had all game. He equally with the ball at his feet rarely took more than 2 touches and looked to pass forward, not to the CBs. Chalobah is nearing 100 senior appearances and is still a very good talent, I don't feel the club have handled his development well at all. This won't be popular and feel free to disagree, and it is also possible that Mourinho sees more in training that makes him rate RLC so highly but as of now I don't think he'll make it and certainly don't think he'll be a world class box to box midfielder who'll save us 40-50m on Pogba. I hope I'm proved wrong. Watch him closely next time he plays, objectively and you'll probably see some of the flaws I mentioned.

In his first season at Watford he was 17 turning 18, so sorry he wasn't as consistent as a seasoned pro, but you only have to speak to the Watford fans to see how highly he was rated there (there will probably be quotes from them somewhere on this thread), the guys who watched him week in week out as opposed to '6-7 times'. I watched him as much as I could that season and for Middlesborough and he generally impressed me. Has great potential.

In his first season at Watford he was 17 turning 18, so sorry he wasn't as consistent as a seasoned pro, but you only have to speak to the Watford fans to see how highly he was rated there (there will probably be quotes from them somewhere on this thread), the guys who watched him week in week out as opposed to '6-7 times'. I watched him as much as I could that season and for Middlesborough and he generally impressed me. Has great potential.

@Squawka: 4. ANALYSIS: How Kevin De Bruyne is lighting up the Bundesliga this season - http://t.co/KlohMmx2Wf http://t.co/ndDtTBoCsQ

I didn't realise they were top division in Greece. In fact they finished 6th last season. Apart from the CL teams like Olympiakos it is probably still Championship standard at the most but not going to lie when I heard he was going to Crete I assumed it was a pub team, may have been wrong.

I'm interested to see what role they use him in. In a Chelsea shirt, I kind of think he's been a bit overrated. He's looked pretty reserved in all his appearances (I get that there's not been a lot of those and I'm including pre-season apps) and nothing has really stuck out about him as special except for being hard (sometimes too aggressive) in the tackle. However in the Dutch league of course he was meant to be this box to box midfielder and his goalscoring record was quite impressive in his final season.. I do wonder if right from the off if he's been told to play a more reserved, defensive game by Mourinho, which is fair enough if that's how he sees him but of course it was different to how MVG would have played for Vitesse. So yeah, interested to see the midfield role he has, hopefully we'll see how he does given the chance to make runs forward and drive with the ball (or if indeed he is best as a more defensive player at a top level).

I was wondering what would be happening with him this season especially after not making the pre-season squad. Was worried he'd kind of end up in an awkward limbo where he'd barely play for the U21s and only be seen in the 1st team when he was 3rd choice 'keeper in the CL squad. Interested to see how he does on loan, hopefully gets chances to impress and go on to start

Hope the loan move to Burnley is still on..

Mourinho said that but I'm not really sure why especially with Swift going on loan, their development has both been very similar upto now and both are probably ready for football league loans, don't think it'd be beneficial for Baker to spend another season with U21s.

Not quite sure why Mourinho said Baker is staying but Swift is going on loan, they're the same age and both are definitely ready for a loan after the seasons they just had for U21s. We have quite a lot of depth in CM at the moment so I doubt he'll get meaningful minutes.

? He's 5"11, that's fine for a full back.

I'm actually quite interested to see how this move goes, for £1.5m Sunderland may well have got a potential bargain for a position they've been very weak in past few seasons. Unfortunate for PVA that he couldn't make it here, 2 seasons ago quite a lot had written him off (me included) but he's progression last 2 seasons has been promising, he's at an important stage in his career well and if all goes well he could easily be a Dutch regular and get a move to a bigger club in 2-3+ seasons..we'll see.

Hmm, I think Boga has more potential but that's not to say Baker doesn't show huge promise. TBH I'll be disappointed if both don't go on to be good players at the least.

A loan to a football league wouldn't be too bad, even a short term one. Like someone else said, while he is still young for an U21 squad member he is 17 going on 18, the same age Chalobah when he had his best loan to date at Watford. Boga has done what Chalobah/McEachran did and been making an impact at U21 level right from the age of 15/16, he's already experienced/comfortable at reserve level. It would be good this season if we saw progression from that, keep testing him.