Kevin de Bruyne

[Barbara 15,149]

I don't believe the manager should be telling a player why he did and didn't pick. You want him to go to each player before every matchday to tell him why he didn't pick him? A manager is supposed to explain his decisions to the players?

Mou himself has said that he NEVER talks to players about his selections for this very reason. But, if they want to talk, his door is open.

If I'm a player and I want to know why I wasn't chosen, I go and ask the manager. To expect the manager to come tell me why he didn't pick me is ridiculous and should not be expected.

And I don't think Mou didn't pick him cause he was stubborn or something. If Mou thought he was good enough he would have picked him. If he wanted to keep him he would have played him and convinced KDB to stay. There is no way Mou would be fine with losing a player he wants to keep.

sometimes it seems people expect managers to be nannies, instead of your boss who doesn't have to justify his every choice.

Do their bosses do that in their work? Managers aren't babysitters and if someone's so fragile he can't handle being dropped once, well, then there's a further problem.

I do believe Mourinho could have showed more patience, but the kid wanted to leave and Mourinho - being proud the way he is - didn't bother to talk to him and convince him to stay. That's the conversation that could have happened (the one when Kevin asked to leave), but I agree with you, having to justify his choices all the time isn't something any manager do. I don't get this idea that good managers would have done that.

[Stats 7,053]

Yeah, but it is easy to get biased if you don't have the full picture. Anyway, im still pretty sure Mourinho made the right decision in hindsight, and that Oscar fits better when in form (in our system). Sometimes he's too quick in judgement about certain kind of players though. Im pretty sure that most members would rather have players like Mata/KDB/Schürrle/Luiz in favor of players like Salah, Cuadrado, Mikel, and Ramires.

I am on one of those who acknowledge Oscar has been very inconsistent but I am not in the camp calling for him to leave because I think he will be a big player for this season and hopefully many more however I do not see how he fits in our system better than KDB. I can understand you saying that about Mata because he cannot run and track back however KDB has vision, dribbling, stamina and pretty much everything. He would have been perfect once he got into his rythm. He is like a complete no.10.

[iseah100 5,612]

I am on one of those who acknowledge Oscar has been very inconsistent but I am not in the camp calling for him to leave because I think he will be a big player for this season and hopefully many more however I do not see how he fits in our system better than KDB. I can understand you saying that about Mata because he cannot run and track back however KDB has vision, dribbling, stamina and pretty much everything. He would have been perfect once he got into his rythm. He is like a complete no.10.

He didn't want to wait. Damn shame

[Atholy 1,293]

I don't believe the manager should be telling a player why he did and didn't pick. You want him to go to each player before every matchday to tell him why he didn't pick him? A manager is supposed to explain his decisions to the players?

Mou himself has said that he NEVER talks to players about his selections for this very reason. But, if they want to talk, his door is open.

If I'm a player and I want to know why I wasn't chosen, I go and ask the manager. To expect the manager to come tell me why he didn't pick me is ridiculous and should not be expected.

And I don't think Mou didn't pick him cause he was stubborn or something. If Mou thought he was good enough he would have picked him. If he wanted to keep him he would have played him and convinced KDB to stay. There is no way Mou would be fine with losing a player he wants to keep.

sometimes it seems people expect managers to be nannies, instead of your boss who doesn't have to justify his every choice.

Do their bosses do that in their work? Managers aren't babysitters and if someone's so fragile he can't handle being dropped once, well, then there's a further problem.

I do believe Mourinho could have showed more patience, but the kid wanted to leave and Mourinho - being proud the way he is - didn't bother to talk to him and convince him to stay. That's the conversation that could have happened (the one when Kevin asked to leave), but I agree with you, having to justify his choices all the time isn't something any manager do. I don't get this idea that good managers would have done that.

Pardon me, I never said Mou should justify all his choices. Nor did I say he needs to run behind players before/after every game to tell them why they were/weren't picked in the team => absolutely NOT!

My whole point is... there is a moment where you feel this is getting a real problem. And this is not after 2 days, a week or even 2 weeks. But if you see after a month, 2 months or more... that things are not working well because such a stupid non event, management should take action! IMO this was the case with KDB.

And this is not even Mou's fault, the whole management team failed IMO in the KDB case and is to blame.

You can then say... well it's KDB's loss. Mou is the boss., he's a loser. Too bad for him because he could've been playing for our great team.

But in this case this little boy just became one of Europe's best players just after he left Cobham.

So yeah, in the KDB story... this is OUR loss! We f** had one of the best AM of the world in our squad and lost him because of 'bad communication' and stubbornness of our management team.

Be honest for a second... If KDB wouldn't have been a chelsea player, the transfer talk section would be full of: "this is the player we need, get him for 50million, 70 million, etc.".

This is always our loss!!

[Oscar 441]

You guys are pretty quiet after KDB's shit showing vs arsenal

[Pizy 18,368]

You guys are pretty quiet after KDB's shit showing vs arsenal

Why would Chelsea fans be watching an Arsenal preseason friendly?

[Oscar 441]

Why would Chelsea fans be watching an Arsenal preseason friendly?

too see the competition.

I watch every united game so far and other ICC games

[Barbara 15,149]

You guys are pretty quiet after KDB's shit showing vs arsenal

I don't think his quality has ever been questioned. This is preseason, not the right time or place to evaluate players' quality.

[Pizy 18,368]

too see the competition.

I watch every united game so far and other ICC games

If ever there was an example of preseason being meaningless it was yesterday when United beat Barca.

[Oscar 441]

If ever there was an example of preseason being meaningless it was yesterday when United beat Barca.

WHY? Barca showed they are are 10x better than united yesterday, just unlucky by the score line.

Barcelona absolutely demolished their midfield with the so called great Morgan S, Carrick and young and mata on the wings...

[OhForAGreavsie 5,890]

You guys are pretty quiet after KDB's shit showing vs arsenal

I don't think his quality has ever been questioned. This is preseason, not the right time or place to evaluate players' quality.

I think I'm KDB's biggest fan around here and suspect that, barring our Belgian members, I've watched him play more often than anyone else who posts here. I watched him play for Genk after he had been signed and loaned back, I watched every game he played for Bremen which didn't clash with our fixtures and I watched every Belgium international for two seasons. Internationals during which he pretty much always outplayed Eden.

I became a fan because I was so impressed with what I saw from KDB during those five months for Genk. I believed that the talent he demonstrated gave him a chance to be a formidable contributor for Chelsea. There was a lot to admire in his play; his awareness around the box, his tremendous range of passing, brilliant shooting and his top of the line crosses. Here's the thing however, I've seldom been so impressed with him since.

Kevin attracted a lot of praise for his efforts at Bremen but undeservedly so in my opinion. There were good displays of course in the 20 odd performances I saw but, while I acknowledge that most people remember this differently, in my opinion there were also some dreadful ones. There were many times when I felt sure KDB would be dropped by Thomas Schaff after outings that featured sloppy passing, ineffective decisions, and serious tactical indiscipline. He never was benched however.

There was a brief moment when my optimism returned after that amazing assist against Hull at The Bridge. It had a beautiful simplicity and absolute perfection that encapsulated what I liked about KDB in the first place. Unfortunately my hopes that we would see Genk Kevin were dashed and I felt that what we saw in a Chelsea shirt was the Werder Bremen version. By the time Jose allowed him to leave, I was forced to admit that it was probably the right decision.

Since then I've only seen Kevin in internationals and in four games for Wolfsburg. In just one of those, vs Bayern, did he play well. Admittedly he was spectacular in that match but Bayern were amateurish and played directly into Kevin's strengths. They got exactly what they deserved as he tore them apart.

The upshot is that I think KDB flatters to deceive and I would be surprised if he is able to repeat the incredible statistical output he achieved last season. As I say, I'm a big fan and I'd be delighted if he does but in the end I don't think Kevin is as good as those numbers make him appear to be.

[OneMoSalah 8,776]

He never done it in a Chelsea shirt. He played shit against Swindon and was sent to train with the u21s, I don't care if hes the best attacking midfielder in Germany now or not he made an absolute mess of his chance here. Wolfsburg aren't a top top club, Chelsea is. I still don't regret selling him, the only guy who I am gutted we sold is Robben because although he wanted to go he turned out to be amazing.

[LAM09 6,744]

He'll be off to Bayern or City during this window.

[Oscar 441]

He'll be off to Bayern or City during this window.

THERE is 0 chance he signs for Munich this window and zero chance munich will pay 60m for KDB ever.

Munich signed Costa and Vidal and Kimmich this summer.

[LAM09 6,744]

THERE is 0 chance he signs for Munich this window and zero chance munich will pay 60m for KDB ever.

I'm not sure about any rumoured fee, but I can see him replacing Gotze if he leaves.

[Oscar 441]

I'm not sure about any rumoured fee, but I can see him replacing Gotze if he leaves.

GOTZE doesnt start on munich

[DaddysHobby 60]

KDB starts the season with a nice assist, a pen and a man of the match performance to give Wolfsburg the Super Cup title over Bayern ... also collects his POTY award ...

Well deserved ... last season KDB provided 29 assists (and 16 goals) ... according to kicker.de

- a record 21 assists in 34 Bundesliga matches (and 10 goals)
- 2 in 6 DFB-Pokal matches (and 1 goal)
- 6 in 11 Europa League matches (and 5 goals)

PS Ribery (2011/12) and Misimovic (2008/09) provided 20 assists.

[Fernando 6,453]

Kevin De Bruyne expected to be Manchester City’s final summer signing

• Wolfsburg open to selling midfielder

• Fee likely to be around £48m

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/aug/05/kevin-de-bruyne-manchester-city-wolfsburg

Really looking forward to see this guy return to the PL. I want to know if he can do it here. As a lot of Bundesliga players recently have disappointed.