Yossi Benayoun - The one that go away!

[Strike 7,489]

We have debated about Lampard, Meireles, Mata and the other midfielders’ contributions this season, quite extensively here on TalkChelsea but what about the one that got away – Yossi Benayoun.

Mock me all you want but Yossi Benayoun could have been the much needed link-up player between midfield and attack

Benayoun joined Chelsea from Liverpool on a three year deal for £5.5m after the League and Cup double in 2010 as a direct replacement for the departing Joe Cole who coincidentally headed in the opposite direction. He had a great début, coming of the bench to score the final goal in a 6-0 thrashing at Wigan. Things were looking good for the little Israeli midfielder whose link-up play and quick feet were hailed by the media. On 22 September 2010, he ruptured his Achilles tendon in a Carling Cup game against Newcastle to be forced out for most of the 2010-11 season. He did not return until April when we played Wigan again.

At the start of the 2011-12 season, he gave up his no.10 shirt to Juan Mata and took over the no.30 shirt saying – “I decided to give Mata the number 10 – his favourite. For me it's just a number, not my lucky 15”. He had a good pre-season – scored a wonderful cheeky goal against Wycombe - and thus it was a surprise when he joined Arsenal on a season-long loan late in the transfer window. Most Chelsea fans did not give much thought to this strange move simply because Arsenal had just been thrashed 8-2 at Old Trafford and were nowhere near the top 4. But Arsenal recovered and as the season progressed and Benayoun is increasingly becoming a crucial part of Arsenal’s attack. He started the crunch games against Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester City repaying the manager’s faith in him with no-nonsense performances. “Yossi knows the job in this position,” said Wenger. “He is also highly focused in the big games – that is a massive part because you cannot switch off. So we have a good balance in the team with him and good focus. And he has quality. In the games he started, he did extremely well and the team did extremely well as well. That is never a coincidence”. Although he has scored only one goal this season, it came at a crucial time – a late winner away at Villa Park.

Judging Benayoun by goals is harsh on him. He is a player in the ‘Dirk Kuyt/Park Ji-Sung’ mould. But given how Chelsea midfielders have performed this season, I think Andre Villas-Boas missed out by letting him go. Meireles was recruited on deadline day and apart from the odd good goal, he has been a major disappointment. Meireles, Mikel and Essien are the exact same type of players. They are typical holding midfielders. How many times have you cursed them when they got the ball and passed it straight back to the centre-backs? Most of our attacks are either crosses from the full-backs or long balls from the centre-backs.

That is where I think Benayoun would have been a more than useful addition to our squad. He gives the holding midfielder an extra option and his link up play with the forwards is much better than anyone else at Chelsea. Sure, Lampard scores goals, but he has lost a yard of pace and is increasing playing alongside the holding midfielder now. Benayoun, Mata and Sturridge in the 3 attacking midfielder slots would have been a much better attack than Kalou or Meireles playing as one of the attackers. Moreover, Benayoun has played with Torres at Liverpool and I think Torres would have scored at least a couple more goals with him around as long balls from the CB’s and crosses from full-backs does not really suit his type of play. Torres loves a playmaker threading balls through to him and sadly, apart from Juan Mata, no one is capable of doing that in our squad.

Even though he is growing old, I hope Chelsea retain Benayoun next season. He will be a handy squad player who will do a good job when called upon

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[Kojo 4,676]

Loaning Benayoun to Arsenal this season was one of the stupidest things this club has done. I'm being serious, he's helped Arsenal get top 4, getting them 6 points single hadnedly, when he could of been playing for us and helping the team. Even been an option for christs sake instead of having to put Malouda on for the sake of resting players.

It's not like he was showing signs of becoming shit, for christs sake he was our best player in pre season. I even remember someone on here saying his movement in pre season was like Gianfranco Zolas, then we loan him out to help Arsenal, great plan!.

[chelsea blue 615]

I really dont think he wants to come back to Chelsea and who can blame him we were to quick to put him out on loan anyway big big mistake by the club and yes he got points for the Arse when he should have been doing that for Chelsea

[MGuerreiro 252]

I actually think many fans here did give a lot of thought in to his loan departure, and if I remember correctly, many members, including me, were furious that we had sent a desperately needed playmaker to no other than Arsenal.

And not that it matters much, but Meireles, Mikel and Essien are definitely not the exact type of players. On the team sheet they may look like they play the same position, but all three have very different abilities if you ask me.

[Steve 10,227]

It was one of the stupidest transfers I have seen in recent time. We had a little squad in which we desperately needed a creative midfielder to feed in our strikers but we gave away out only option at the time. When we signed Mata, he was playing on the left wing and was not sitting behind the strikers like he is now. He would of been perfect in those games against Fulham for example when we needed a creative spark to come in while Mata was being rested. The whole transfer baffled me and to this day I still do not understand it.

[Strike 7,489]

yes. i am done with chelsea just bombing the ball in from the full backs or centre-backs. that doesn't get you goals. nor does shooting from long range

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

Knowing that he had a good understanding with Torres could have helped a lot and he could have been a great squad player for us.He's a better CAM than Raul and his cheeky passes could have benefited our strikers..AVB's decisions were too predetermined as he focused too much on the future and Yossi was not part of his future plans.

[Swedish House Mafia 508]

Omg.

Where's Term X when you need him?!

[Kieran. 6,317]

Loaning Benayoun was the dumbest thing we could have done. Perfect squad player, could have linked with Mata well. Who knows.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

This awful season has been tough on all Chelsea fans, and it is only normal to try and pin our failures on (the absence) of a single player, be it Modric or Yossi; but reality could not be any more different. This over-simplification of our problems is a step backwards from solving them. Our issues are too complicated to even be solved by a world-class player or two, let alone a 32-yearold average-at-best player. Imo, he has nothing to offer to Chelsea nor has he ever had. I would personally much preffer Josh or Piazon over him.

I'm not saying that we should not have loaned him to Arsenal, but we should have sold him for a couple of millions.

[Strike 7,489]

This awful season has been tough on all Chelsea fans, and it is only normal to try and pin our failures on (the absence) of a single player, be it Modric or Yossi; but reality could not be any more different. This over-simplification of our problems is a step backwards from solving them. Our issues are too complicated to even be solved by a world-class player or two, let alone a 32-yearold average-at-best player. Imo, he has nothing to offer to Chelsea nor has he ever had. I would personally much preffer Josh or Piazon over him.

I'm not saying that we should not have loaned him to Arsenal, but we should have sold him for a couple of millions.

its not pinning all the problems on him. i am not tellin with him around, we would be top of the table, i am tellin that we would be better off from where we are now.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

its not pinning all the problems on him. i am not tellin with him around, we would be top of the table, i am tellin that we would be better off from where we are now.

And I am disagreeing. Like I said, I don't think he has anything to offer to Chelsea. If he was still here, everyone will be moaning that we should have sold him and given Josh or Piazon a chance.

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

And I am disagreeing. Like I said, I don't think he has anything to offer to Chelsea. If he was still here, everyone will be moaning that we should have sold him and given Josh or Piazon a chance.

We loaned out a scapegoat.

[Strike 7,489]

And I am disagreeing. Like I said, I don't think he has anything to offer to Chelsea. If he was still here, everyone will be moaning that we should have sold him and given Josh or Piazon a chance.

maybe. but he was the best player in pre-season by a mile. so the move was very odd

[Amblève. 4,995]

You all forget that the only reason for this loan was to free up a roster spot for Modric, who in the end wasn't bought due to the incompetence of the Chelsea board. If they managed to sign Modric, nobody of you would be complaing about the Benayoun move now.

[Term-X 7,891]

This awful season has been tough on all Chelsea fans, and it is only normal to try and pin our failures on (the absence) of a single player, be it Modric or Yossi; but reality could not be any more different. This over-simplification of our problems is a step backwards from solving them. Our issues are too complicated to even be solved by a world-class player or two, let alone a 32-year old average-at-best player. Imo, he has nothing to offer to Chelsea nor has he ever had. I would personally much preffer Josh or Piazon over him.

I'm not saying that we should not have loaned him to Arsenal, but we should have sold him for a couple of millions.

^ Pretty much spot on.

[Sideshow Luiz 2,310]

I totally agree with the OP. I thought he was going to be an important squad player for us and was disappointed to see him leave. He is the only player we had/have that would be a direct replacement for Mata. Luckily Mata hasn't been injured this year, but if we had Yossi, maybe we wouldn't have to play Mata every match and we could give him some rest. Take Monday night in Fulham for example. RDM tried to give Mata the night off and had to play Miereles in his role (didn't work by the way). Yossi is the closest player we had to Mata, you need squad depth to challenge for 4 trophies. Big mistake by Chelsea IMO. No way he wants to come back and play for us next year, and I don't blame him.

[Tomo 21,751]

There is a deep lying problem at the club, i think Benayoun is a case of thinking well he's been away for a while so he will just slot back in with ease and we will become great again.

Ive seen some comment's on facebook fan page's and other forums saying that we wouldn't be in this shit currently if Anelka stayed, do they even remember the Anelka of last season? he was more frustrating to watch than Kalou and Malouda put together.

Same with our mananger's, ive seen comments saying we would be challenging for the title if we kept Carlo, despite the fact we were just as pathetic last season and next season the same will probably be said about AVB if we are playing the same shit next season.

Even a massive overhaul won't solve our problem's immediately, it will take time.

[diskoviolente 425]

No matter who you loan out, you don´t loan no one out to your fiercest rivals. Simple as.

Benayoun could´ve been handy in our creativity lacking midfield and link-up play with the strikers.

[diskoviolente 425]

You all forget that the only reason for this loan was to free up a roster spot for Modric, who in the end wasn't bought due to the incompetence of the Chelsea board. If they managed to sign Modric, nobody of you would be complaing about the Benayoun move now.

yes, but they didn´t manage to sign Luka.