The only place to be

I'm not entirely sure he knows what's best for his development. I think he would be best served by coming back to Chelsea and joining the first-team squad.

There's plenty of doubt about potential. Right now I'd put Chalobah ahead of him in all honesty and he's an example of a guy who has taken that next step comfortably. Josh needs at least another year out on loan and he needs to step up his intensity and aggression and maintain focus for the full 90.

1. How many rich, powerful men do you know who aren't prepared to put success before their egos? Because they aren't going to be rich men for long. 2. How much control would he have under Begiristain?

So he wasn't consistently starting in his 30 odd internationals or the 150-odd games for Barca? :lol2: You know Messi was the long-haired short-arse right? As for Josh, I've seen him at least half-a-dozen times this year and each time he's looked tidy but failed to really control the game much of the time. He's got all the skill in the world but he doesn't seem to have that drive you see in the big players like Lamps or Wilshere or Gerrard or even Iniesta and Xavi did at a similar age. Look at the way he moves around the pitch - he looks like a little boy and he needs at least another year out on loan. Compare him to someone like Chalobah who is a year younger but has taken his step-up with comparative ease. It's way too early to write him off but let's not pretend there aren't serious question marks hanging over him.

Wait..... So Messi wasn't starting full games until he was 22? You're saying Messi didn't start a full game until three years ago??? So the 150-odd games for Barca were all substitute appearances? What about his 30+ international caps?

Yes.

He hasn't been considered an attacking midfielder for about 3 years now. Carlo saw him as the next Pirlo and if we're suddenly deciding he's an attacking midfielder then he's pretty much fucked at this club. And he absolutely does need some aggression in his game. He's been such a lightweight in every game I've seen him play for Boro that he struggles to impose himself on games which is a problem when he's supposed to be the one who sets the tempo. He needs a bit of aggression and a bit of arrogance because he's going to be playing in a league that is physical. I do agree he is absolutely one of the best passers we have, and I think he has tremendous vision but he struggles to actually show that in most games because of his attitude and his physique. How many times has he been pulled off in the 60th minute this season? Also, look at the way he carries himself around the pitch. He needs to puff that little chest out a little bit and just have a bit more about him if he wants to lead this team because he certainly has the talent in his feet but I have serious doubts about everything else.

How many minutes will he play for us next season? With Ba and him to share minutes, I'd expect him to get a lot. Of course we probably won't do that but it doesn't mean we shouldn't. There's always an argument not to do something, to hold back on taking a chance on someone but at some point you have to do that and he looks ready.

True, but you're shit at darts. Australia is exceptional when it comes to sport though.

And why is he better placed to do that at West Brom then at Chelsea? People want to give him time and be patient - isn't that what we've done for the last decade? And how's that working out for us? So we give him another season on loan, what's the argument against giving him another one? It's the same argument that it is now isn't it, that we don't know if he'll be good enough for us. I think what people are trying to say is that he needs a loan not to the Midlands or Spain, but somewhere a bit further afield. That's right.... he needs a loan move to a parallell universe. He needs to spend at least a decade on Earth-2 where he will play on exactly the same team as he would here, but without the risk to our own title chances (because we'll have them won't we?). Only then, at the age of 29 will we know if he's good enough to play for us and then we can obviously use the time machine to travel back in time to the summer of 2013 and take a chance on him. In the meantime, let's just throw some money at Falcao or Cavani or *insert flavour of the month's name*.

That's an interesting debate for another thread. What I will say is that a guy at the gym said something similar about rugby. We have the largest number of registered players in the world, but seem to struggle producing players. But I've also heard the same thing about cricket, athletics (although that's changed a fair bit) and many other sports and I think that's part of the issue - we try to compete at a large number of sports which means people who might've become great footballers instead go into other sports where they have decent but not world-class careers. Of course there are a myriad other socio-economic factors as well as well as governing issues (the gap between academies and first-teams is absurdly large and there's no B teams in this country like there are in Spain).

The problem is that we've not given kids like him a chance in the past, but maybe we should now. He looks ready to contribute in a meaningful way to our team so long as we don't go chasing another high-priced striker like we did two years ago. What exactly does he need to develop that's best served at West Brom? Physically he's looking great, so it comes down to technique and tactical awareness both of which might be best served at Chelsea so long as we get the right manager in. Loans are designed to get kids used to being part of the first-team - that seems to have been achieved at West Brom so why not bring him back? So which team?

He's a Chelsea supporting beast of a man who likes scoring goals against Liverpool.....oh and we already own him. I'd rather go into the new season with him, Ba and one other (possibly Feruz but more likely a guy who can play on the wings too, a bit like Kalou but better) than spunk £40 million on Falcao.

Would seem to be the perfect player for us and we weren't the only club to have turned him down as a youngster. Would love to see us move for him in the summer.

I don't disagree that he has the makings of and English Xavi, but he simply doesn't impose himself on games at the moment and he has a tendency to drift out of them especially around the 60 minute mark. We're desperate for a DLP but as much as I want Josh to be that guy everytime I see him, there's always question marks there which is why I think he's about two years away from being where someone like Wilshere was last year. Also, if we're going to compare him to Xavi then let's at least be honest and admit that Xavi is a tough little barstard too. Josh needs to harden the fuck up, man up and realise that he's got amazing talent so doesn't have to look like a deer in the headlights every time he steps out on the pitch. He's got to be more of a cunt.

Yeah, we're awful. We hired him when he couldn't get an interview at a fucking Championship club.

Are you kidding? He's been hyped up precisely because he is English. I love the kid but he ain't Wilshere, and it's not just their bodies that are different. Wilshere has some bite and aggression that Josh simply doesn't have. He drifts out of games far too easily and let's the opposition walk over him at times, rather than imposing himself on games like he should. He's got phenomenal technique but he really needs to harden the fuck up. Also, comparing him to Oscar is unfair. Oscar has shown he has some bite in his game and he's also got a far higher workrate than Josh. He's young so he still has time to develop his game and his body but I'm nowhere near as convinced as I was two years ago.

Wankfest? Seems it's just Chelsea supporters appreciating a young guy doing well. You say why not loan him for another year, but what does he get from it? He's shown he's capable of playing at this level and we need a striker. Why spend another £50 million on someone like Falcao when we have so many other needs elsewhere? And talking about doing things right in our history?? We've neglected giving the youth a chance for the last decade and finally we're in a position where a kid has proven themselves in the Premier League, and we have a need in his position. The right thing to do would be to give him a chance. But apparently in your mind, the right thing to do is to spend £50 million on a 27 year old striker because we've never done that before. :banghead:

I'd be fine with this so long as we strengthened elsewhere. If we get this Markovic kid as well then why go after Falcao?

There's a good case for letting him come back in the summer and fight for a spot in the team. With Torres (hopefully) gone then why not let him step up? He seems ready to really stake a claim and we really need to strengthen in other areas before we start looking at the likes of Cavani or Falcao. I'd rather spend £40 million on the midfield than one striker - it doesn't seem to work that well for us.

He's ready. :blue scalf: :blue scalf: Bring him back in the summer.

Maybe they could get a member on here so they could explain exactly what they want to do. Right now they seem to have a problem communicating EXACTLY what their aims are.

He can start both. He's barely played in the last few months and got about 4 minutes on Saturday. He won't be match-sharp so a run out today for 60 minutes means he can still play on Thursday. Whether he will or not is another question, although I hope he does.

One question - why didn't Rafa put on John Terry away to Reading?

We're being linked with arguably the greatest manager in the world - Jose. Even if we don't get him this job is still prestigious. We have amazing talent in our ranks and are still in third spot despite being largely rudderless this season. Plus there's a huge amount of potential to build something truly amazing at this club, so there will always be people looking to take on the challenge. Oh, and it pays fucking loads. Guardiola turned us down so he could win three Bundesligas before going to Manchester and Klopp didn't just turn us down but also Real Madrid. No reason to be quite so pessimistic.