The only place to be

I disagree (obviously). I think he ticks all the boxes although you're welcome to point out which areas you think he's lacking in. No I think you might be right about Josh. Technically brilliant but has to be able to use those talents effectively in match situations. I think finding a team which can utilise his skill-set is going to be nigh-on impossible though which might mean he's better off coming back here. He needs to be around quality players - he's like a Formula 1 gear box. Unless you're going to put him alongside high-calibre parts he's simply not going to work that well. I agree with the second part but what I was alluding to is that age and current level of competition don't have to be the defining factors in whether a player is part of next season's squad. It's no secret that I'm a fan of Chalobah, but I'll be honest and say that I think he has all the tools he needs right now. He also has tools that 90% of pros will NEVER develop.

I don't know who to support tonight - I feel like one of the kids in Kramer vs Kramer.

Chelsea - Steve Clarke Inter - Guiseppe Baresi Real Madrid - Aitor Karanka Chelsea (?) - Materazzi 3 defenders, one defensive midfielder/defender (and brother of possibly the greatest defender of all time). Could be reporters putting 2+2 together. He is a defender and Jose does get on with him but I don't know enough about him to express an opinion either way. Maybe JT could've been an option, or we'd finally snare Maldini like we've been told we would for about 15 years now.

He's a very good player. There are plenty of debates about our squad for next season. I believe De Bruyne is ready as well. Age really doesn't have much to do with it in my opinion though. Josh is 19 and in the Championship and I have severe doubts about him. Essien is 30 and in the Champions League and I don't think I'd have him back next season. What this is actually a thread about is an exceptionally talented player, who plays in a position of need for us and has the added benefit of already being owned by us.

Great point. United (the 'masters at developing youth players') waited and waited and he left. He's certainly proved them wrong and I'll be honest - I'm delighted he's left them because they need a player like him in that midfield. True, but the Championship is a long old slog and he's 32 games and he isn't tailing off. If anything, he's getting better and it's not like he's a right-back or a winger getting a few minutes here and there - he's a key player for the third-placed team in one of the most important positions on the pitch. On paper, he should probably spend another year out on loan but on paper we shouldn't have one the Champions League last year. On paper, Pogba shouldn't be in the France squad ahead of the far more experienced Capoue. At every level Chalobah has looked exceptional - maybe it's time to make an exception for him. If he's given a go I don't think anyone will be disappointed.

Now the short answer to this is 'I don't know'. None of us do - this is very much a case of the proof of the pudding being in the eating, so this is essentially a question based on a recipe. Does he have the right ingredients? Now I know I've been banging on about this in between pushing for Lukaku to be voted FIFA Player of the Year (it's all fixed I tell's ya!) but I've never been so excited about a young player at our club. I thought JT was too slow when he first broke through and I always had a couple of doubts about Josh's physical presence, although I tried to suppress those (now they've been replaced with concerns about his mental preparedness). Sammy Dalla Bonna always looked a bit wet (literally - no player was so constantly soaked with sweat since Erland Johnson) and Jon Harley....well I always liked him. Never should've sold him. But Chalobah seems to have it all. Now let's start by saying which Chalobah I like - in true FUT-style I'm buying the CDM 4231 card and placing straight into my squad (BTW, Cech not being in-form after that save takes the piss). I like CDMs who are converted from defence because it gives them a better base from which to start and it gives them a better understanding of attackers' movements in my opinion. There are exceptions, but my belief is that when players are under pressure they rely on their instincts. But we don't need someone who can simply stop the other team, but someone who can start our attacks and this is where he's excelled. At the top level of sport, the best players have one thing in common - time. Dan Carter has one more second than other players around him in which he's able to make one more step or get that pass off which flummoxes opposition players. Brian Lara and Pete Rose could work out where the ball was coming a few metres before anyone else of their generation. Michael Jordan waited until the last-nanosecond to find that perfect avenue to shoot from. Chalobah always has time. And more importantly he uses that time effectively taking every moment to work out not just where a player is, but where he's going to be and where he should be. That last point is key because it highlights another of his characteristics - he makes people around him better. It's why he's always been marked out as a future captain because he sets a tone that everyone else should aspire to. My main criticism of Mikel is that, whilst he can be great, he needs great players around him. He might not make the team worse, but he'll very, very rarely make it better. You need those types of players in your squad, but you can't rely on them. He also does the Mikel staple of simply moving the ball around, forcing the other team to make constant re-adjustments and letting them create holes to be exploited. Mentally, he's got everything you could ask for. He doesn't bitch and moan on the pitch and he doesn't make the newspaper off it. He doesn't say stupid stuff on Twitter (although it's early days) and at every point in his career, he's stepped up. Through the youth team, through multiple positions, into the Championship and now under-21 duty, he's not just held his own but he's impressed. I see no reason for that not to continue. Which brings me to my main point, which isn't a summing up or conclusion but a question - why isn't he ready? It's hard to answer that without resorting to generalities, but I was watching a piece on ESPN about College football and whether players should have to do time in the system before going to the NFL. For 99% of players the jump would be too great and they'd be murdered, but there's always exceptions (in this case they were talking about Adrian Peterson and Clowney). Football (our football, proper football) is no different. Yes Cleverley (for instance) spent a few years on loan and now he's part of the United first-team, but there's a difference. Chalobah is better than Cleverley. This may be my 'jumping the shark' but I'll stick by it. In fact I'll go a tiny bit further. Chalobah is right now better than Cleverley was at the same age, better than Cleverley is right now and better than Cleverley can ever hope to be. That's not to say that Cleverley is a bad player, he just doesn't have what Chalobah has. He's a rare combination of physical strength, technical proficiency, mental toughness and that 'X' factor. The other question is whether he's better than what we have right now? Again, impossible to say without giving him a go but I've seen nothing to suggest he would be much worse. Yes he'll misplace passes, yes he'll miss assignments but would that be much different from what we've had for the past year? Isn't the reward worth the risk? I'm sure we could loan him out next year so he could gain XP points and be 100% certain to find his feet in our team, but however long we decide to leave him to ferment (or grow, I'm not quite sure how the maturation process of a man-child is known) that first game in blue is still going to be his first game in blue. The pressures associated with that are always going to remain the same and players will crumble or prosper regardless of their previous experiences. Ultimately it comes down to quality and mental toughness. I think this kid has that already. Why wait?

Yep. He needs players who are capable of seeing what it is he sees and acting on it - the problem is you don't get many of them in the Championship. A team needs to commit to having him in their team and building around him, which is why he struggled at Swansea. He needs to prove himself before he gets a shot here, but here might be the only place where he can prove himself.

I keep thinking this kid needs more time on loan, but I have no idea where. He needs to be surrounded by top-class players who can take advantage of his passing but I'm not sure he can carry his weight in the team or if he even has the mental toughness to make it. Maybe it's time we bring him back into the first-team squad and give him a go.

So we'll be playing a match in the largest media market in the USA.

According to a mate he bossed it, so nothing new there. This lad seems to be growing in stature as the season wears on which is pretty amazing considering the ferocious level of competition in the Championship.

I've thrown in Modric's name as the playmaker we could get, but I'm wondering if that's the route we need to go down. Maybe we could go more physical players there like Mikel and Ramires. Maybe Chalobah. He's strong and defensively-minded, but he's fantastic on the ball and can keep the game ticking over. A partnership with Mikel might take some of the pressure off of Mikel and allow them both to take turns in moving forward and linking the play up, in a throw back to the Petit/Vieira or Ince/Keane partnerships. Then you've also got Ramires, Romeu and maybe even Ake who could do similar things. You've also got the option of moving De Bruyne or even Oscar back into that midfield two if teams are defending deeper against us.

Tough vote. Leif and The Skipper both contribute regularly and have good insights, whilst Ja1 has kept that youth team forum going on his own at some points. All three are worthy winners.

Henrique sorta, kinda has a point in that stability in the coach's position might not be necessary - where he's completely wrong in my opinion is that stability in itself is overrated. It's entirely necessary in my view. We bring kids into the academy before they're 10, we sign them before they're 18 and if they make the first team they could be here for about 20 years. That's an oversimplification but there needs to be stability for that period, an overarching view of where the club wants to be heading so that plans can be made accordingly. Even over a shorter period of time that's evident. Over the last four transfer windows we've signed almost 20 players, so an average of five players per window. If you're making that type of commitment, both financial and practical, then you need to have an idea of what type of football you're wanting to play and what your needs are. If we look at the examples thrown out you can see how that applies. Ferguson makes a particular type of signing, and it's not changed a huge amount over the last 20 years which means the people in the academy and the scouting department know exactly what they're looking for. Similarly at Arsenal you've seen a particular type of player define Wenger's first seven years in charge but there you can see a different ideology take over, one that has put economic needs ahead of ambition and it's turned into a mess. I've long said that Arsenal and Wenger have become too entwined with one another so they're in a position where they will struggle to excise him from the club. That is obviously beyond stability into co-dependence, Sid and Nancy-style. With Barca and Bayern what you're seeing is a philosophy that transcends coaches. Here the coach is an important cog in the machine, not the engine. Whilst they may bring their own idiosyncrasies to the role but they won't re-define it. The same goes for Real Madrid, which is why I think Jose was the wrong choice for them - that role is more like a strait-jacket. We seem to be between these two ways of running a club - we're still defined by the Mourinho period and our success in May was built on that, as well as a bit of luck. Carlo never made the team his own in my opinion and we've been drifting aimlessly in many respects since 2007. But no discussion on this can be had without reference to one man - Michael Emenalo. At the moment, he seems to hold more sway over the direction of this club than any other. He is the stable presence. And do you know what? In many ways we've got a more focused approach in recruitment and development than we've had for many years. You can see exactly what the club is trying to do from the players they've brought in. You can see the beginnings of a new type of development path for young players from the academy and elsewhere. You can see a unified vision of what football this club wants to be playing. Any coach we bring in will be a short-term appointment in all likelihood (that's 3-5 years) but the club can't have a short-term view. There needs to be an ethos of what this club should be that goes beyond that. The kids that we'll want to introduce into the first team in 5 years time are 14-16 now. They need to be learning what their roles in that team might be NOW, which is why stability is a must. It just doesn't have to be sitting in the dugout.

Who said he's rubbish? I thought people just thought he was an average player who we could improve upon by signing someone like Shaw. I don't think anyone has said anything harsher than that to be honest. He's 23, he's made over 200 first-team appearances as well as 2 England caps and a few Olympic appearances. But now he's finally getting a chance to show what he can do.

He made 84% of his passes against Southampton yet had a terrible game. This over-reliance on an empty statistic to support the notion he's a great player shows a complete lack of understanding of the game of football. Not all passes are equal. I've made that same point. He looks good if he's surrounded by good players but he doesn't elevate the performances of players around him. The reason I like Chalobah so much is because he's the complete opposite. He's a leader. He makes the player next to him better. But I understand people think he isn't ready for the first-team. They can't type exactly why he isn't ready, he just isn't.

Wait...if Rafa is the fat spanish waiter, are you this guy?

I do. I want him to fulfil his potential. Yes, I think mentality is important. Technically and physically Mikel and Chalobah have it all. What will set them apart is their mentality. But if you want to discuss the specifics of Chalobah's game, I'm more than happy to. He should be Superman now? Is it easier to debate Mikel when you make up lies about what other people have said? I say he should make long balls and forward passes? You are a liar sir. Those aren't opposing points. That having a medal doesn't confirm one's exceptional quality, nor does it exempt them from criticism. I support these players week in, week out. If you want to question that then we're really not going to get on. Again, I don't think I've ever thrown Capoue's name into the ring as a replacement. Is this yet another lie or are you unable to read what people have written? That's fine by me. You've shown yourself to be a poor debater and a liar.

Why would you? It's not like matches have any bearing on your opinion of him.

Nobody here hates him. It's a ridiculously stupid thing to say because Chelsea supporters don't hate their players. Learn that. I've said Chalobah is better and i base that not just on his technical skills, but his intangibles (that means his mentality and personality, okay?). Yes, we know what he's supposed to do. Actually no-one has said that. No-one wants him to play like Ronaldinho, no-one expects him to. Okay? So did Kalou. So has Wes Brown. (De Rossi won the World Cup by the way, so he can't be that bad). We do support our players. I don't think Capoue is a better player, and let's not forget that he lost his French national squad spot to Pogba, a player who was just 19 at the start of the season. PS. is this thread sponsored by whoscored.com?

You're the one who admitted going over the top in defending him. I've actually agreed with the point about people being too vociferous in criticising him or too sycophantic in defending him. He's a decent player but he's not someone we can rely on because he's inconsistent. The last two games demonstrated that perfectly. Put great players around him against opposition that won't put pressure on him and he has a place in the squad. But we need a LEADER in that position and that isn't him I'm afraid. BTW, you admitted you didn't watch the game against Southampton. Maybe you need to stop going over the top in defending him and focus on what's best for this club.

Thought he was brilliant today in every aspect of his play and could be an important player for us beyond this season. Held the ball up well, brought other players into the game with his runs and took his goal superbly. Does raise the question of whether we need another big striker (Falcao, Cavani etc.) in the summer if we have this guy and Lukaku.

As close to Rafa as the restraining order allows.

He had 84% completion rate against Southampton yet a terrible game - don't watch whoscored, watch the games.

Is this supposed to mean that other supporters of this club don't make intelligent arguments about him? Which members are you talking about specifically?

The only trouble with winning a game is that this troll pops his head out. It's like having a cracking St Paddy's Day on the black stuff and having horrible, stinking runny Guinness shits the next day.