Rumoured Luke Shaw

[Styles 9,790]

Bertrand is a dependable squad player but unlikely to be much more. In Shaw you have potentially a very, very good player who could go on to be one of the best 2-3 leftbacks in World football. Bertrand doesn't have the same potential, there's nothing wrong in admitting that.

[Amblève. 4,995]

In fact, 9 times out of 10 I'd pick Shaw over Cole. Coley hasn't exactly had the most fantastic of seasons.

It's kinda early for April Fools' jokes, don't you think?

[Leif 6,006]

I feel like Shaw will basically be the next Baines if anyone - not Cole or Bale - and that's not at all a bad thing, is it?

[Billy. 2,742]

Luke Shaw is the next best LB for England he is so much better than Ryan imo

[Peace. 4,352]

In the Lazar Markovic, I've already speak my mind regarding the youths. When we see a young player which seems to have a bright future ahead of himself, we shouldn't hesitate to buy him. We shouldn't be too cocky and be like "Oh, but we already have X who, eventually, could turn out to be the new Y if all planets are aligned the XX/XX/201X...". Notice how I did put the emphasis on the conditional words.

Every young players is a risk. Nobody can profess that a youngster will live up to the expectations. We can gauge his future level, but that's all. He can be better than what we thought ; he can turn out to not be good enough to be in a major league ; he can pick up a pretty bad injury and following that having to stop his carreer ; can envolve into a different kind of player (moving from left-winger to left-back, for example) etc...

Statically wise, out of all the kids typed as the next big thing, how many of them eventually live up to the expectations ? 10%, 20% ? Not more. The rest become average players or/and fall into the deep darkness of the anonymity. That means, we shouldn't put all our eggs into the same basket — and here that basket is Ryan.

On the one hand, we have Ryan Bertrand. Some times ago now, he was typed as the next Cole, the next England left-back, et cetera... However, for some times now, his development seems to have stalled. Is it because he doesn't get enough playing time ? Is it because he has reached his limits ? Is it because of a drop of form ? Is it because he is too bothered with the stamps collection he has started this summer ? Is it... I do not know. But the important thing here, is not to know why he seems to have stalled, but to have noticed that he seems to have stalled. This way, we can take our precaution and act early. As the saying goes "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".

On the second hand, we have Luke Shaw. Ima be honest here, I have seen him playing just once, so I am not going to judge him by myself. From what I read/hear here and there, people seem to agreed on one thing : he already looks like a decent Premier League player and he shows great promises. To start 15 games in Premier League at only 17, you must not be a donkey, are you not ?

Bertrand is 23 years-old — Shaw 17. By the time of his 25th birthday, we are gonna most likely know whether Ryan will make it or no, right ? By this time, Luke will be 19 years-old. For the debate sake, let's say we buy Shaw for about the same price Arsenal bought Oxlade-Chamberlaine, i.e. 15 millions pounds. In two years, we will have many answers : whether Ryan's gonna be good enough to be our starting LB ; whether we need another LB ; and we will have a better point of view to know whether Shaw will make it, and thus whether we should keep him or not. In the best case, both will turn out to be World-Class and we will be like the Oil kings. We could sell one of them and thus make profit, or keep both and have two great LB. In another case, Bertrand could turn out to be good enough, and Shaw "meh". If that happens, then we will have our starting LB, and Luke as a cover which is home-grown. In another case, Shaw might as well turn out to be a big flop. But at that time, he will be only 19/20 years-old — I am pretty sure that there would be two or three teams out there willing to try him out — thus we would be able to recoup some money.

All in all, it's pretty much a win/win situation. Even in the worst case, we would not lose that much.

So the bottom line is : to my eyes, all the lights are green to sign him. If this young dude is as good as what you guys making sound, plus bearing in mind that he is home-grown and a Chelsea fan, then it would be a shame to lose him out.

[Strike 7,474]

@Peace., @, and the others picking Shaw over Bertrand/PvA

why not wait to see if Bertrand or PvA develop? PvA has been the best LB in the Eredivisie this season and with good reason. he favours attacking as well (see his goal vs Ajax - classic LB overlap goal)

Regarding Bertrand, I remember last year when everyone was going on about Bertrand after his performances at The Emirates. he didn't turn into a bad player overnight. he has played an awful lot of games at Left Mid this season and a decent run at Left-Back could see him return to the form he was in last season.

Luke Shaw is an excellent LB, i agree but as he said, he would prefer to continue development at Southampton - signed a 5 year (?) contract last month. i believe we should assess our internal options first before jumping onto Luke Shaw. maybe in a few years, this deal makes a lot of sense

[BlueLion. 21,491]

It's kinda early for April Fools' jokes, don't you think?

People who think Cole has been anywhere near good overall this season are blinded by loyalty in the same way they think Drogba is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

@Peace., @, and the others picking Shaw over Bertrand/PvA

why not wait to see if Bertrand or PvA develop? PvA has been the best LB in the Eredivisie this season and with good reason. he favours attacking as well (see his goal vs Ajax - classic LB overlap goal)

Regarding Bertrand, I remember last year when everyone was going on about Bertrand after his performances at The Emirates. he didn't turn into a bad player overnight. he has played an awful lot of games at Left Mid this season and a decent run at Left-Back could see him return to the form he was in last season.

Luke Shaw is an excellent LB, i agree but as he said, he would prefer to continue development at Southampton - signed a 5 year (?) contract last month. i believe we should assess our internal options first before jumping onto Luke Shaw. maybe in a few years, this deal makes a lot of sense

Granted, I even said that a few posts back. RB34 needs a string of matches at left-back to prove himself.

[Peace. 4,352]

@Peace., @, and the others picking Shaw over Bertrand/PvA

why not wait to see if Bertrand or PvA develop? PvA has been the best LB in the Eredivisie this season and with good reason. he favours attacking as well (see his goal vs Ajax - classic LB overlap goal)

Regarding Bertrand, I remember last year when everyone was going on about Bertrand after his performances at The Emirates. he didn't turn into a bad player overnight. he has played an awful lot of games at Left Mid this season and a decent run at Left-Back could see him return to the form he was in last season.

Luke Shaw is an excellent LB, i agree but as he said, he would prefer to continue development at Southampton - signed a 5 year (?) contract last month. i believe we should assess our internal options first before jumping onto Luke Shaw. maybe in a few years, this deal makes a lot of sense

First of all, I have never said that we should not wait and see how Bertrand (or Van Aanholt) develops. Read back my previous post.

From what I understand of your comment, you are suggesting that we should wait and see how our two LB develop, and then, if they turn out to not be as good as we thought, maybe go for Luke Shaw. That what I was mentioning in my previous post : that's what we call putting your eggs in the same basket.

And you go on about the form that Ryan has last year. My answer is pretty simple. Do you remember when, back in the days, people didn't want us to sign Lukas Modric because we already had Josh McEachran ? Now tell me where Josh's at. Didn't we thought that we had a gem in Gaël Kakuta ? He wasn't able to fulfil his potential. Didn't we deemed Sam Hutchinson the next captain of this club ? He might hang up his boot because of his knee. Didn't we thought that we had a future great center-back in Jeffrey Bruma ? Didn't we thought we had the next big thing in Scott Sinclair ? Didn't we thought, at some point, that Micheal Mancienne will turn out to be a good player ? Et cetera...

Every fans tend to overrate the youngsters from their own team. That's normal. We tend to do it even more since we are desperate to finaly see a product of our academy playing for us. I am not saying that Bertrand is overrated, not at all. I am just saying that we shouldn't get carried on because of a few promising performances. Instead, we should get carried away only after a promising season — and that's not the case at the moment.

Okay, let's take the time to assess Ryan and Patrick before going for Shaw. Fine. But what if they turn out to be not good enough for us ?! By that time, if Shaw keeps it up, plus the fact he is english, he could as well be worth £30m — or even worse, he could sign for Manchester United (or another team). Brilliant. We will have to look to splash a lot of money to get an above average foreign player while we could have bought an english talent for less.

For the past years, we have built castles into the air with our youngsters, again and again and again. That has to stop. We should act before something happens — not react after the occurrence. We have to anticipate things, not to wait for them.

I am not writing off neither Bertran nor Van Aanholt. I am not saying that we should outcast them to buy Shaw. Non, all I am saying is that we shouldn't lose out our chances to get a talent such as Luke Shaw because they COULD* be very good for us.

* Could — which is used to indicate a possibility — is the key word, here.

[Amblève. 4,995]

People who think Cole has been anywhere near good overall this season are blinded by loyalty in the same way they think Drogba is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Granted, I even said that a few posts back. RB34 needs a string of matches at left-back to prove himself.

Those who think Shaw is better than Cole need to watch their games more closely. Cole has declined, I don't think anyone will disagree, but it's absolutely ridiculous to think Shaw is anywhere near as good as Ash. People get too carried away by what Cole and the other greats have done in the past, making them think that they're shite now.

[The Skipper 20,609]

@Peace., you make a very valid point but then again we can also look at the other side of the coin and say that buying Luke Shaw now for £10m (or whatever his fee will be) is also another big gamble. Shaw looks an outstanding prospect but anything can happen - look at Kakuta for example who looked to be head and shoulders above everyone in his age group.

My point is that right now we're pretty solid at the left back position with Cole staying for another year and Bertrand and PVA coming through alright - we shouldn't really prioritise signing Shaw as he could be as big of a gamble as us allowing Bertrand and PVA to fight it out as to who becomes our new starting left back.

Personally I think we should allow Luke to develop maybe for another year or two before seriously considering purchasing him. Maybe if he's still making strides in his development we could have a look at purchasing him next year if the price is reasonable and if he'll be worth it. Right now though I don't think he's anywhere near ready for CFC. If he comes now we'd practically ruin his career unless we let go of both Bertrand and PVA.

[Jype 6,398]

Now that Cole was given the new contract I don't see much sense in buying Shaw this summer, unless he were to be loaned back to Southampton for another season and then return in 2014 when Ash most likely leaves the club. That being said, I really rate this guy and would be over the moon if we were to sign him for a reasonable fee before our rivals step up the chase for his signature but I can't see a place for him in our squad for next season as Cole still plays most games and Bertrand is more than good enough to cover for him.

[Joker10 946]

I really have no problem buying Shaw to compete with Bertrand, and in the end of the day Chelsea deserves the best possible LB to succeed Cole. Whoever that may be, add PVA to the ring also he has showed enough promise to contend also.

Not sure why people are concluding that since Shaw looks better at age 17then those two at the same age or younger, then he will be the better
player. Shit if it was that simple then clubs wouldn't be spending millions on scouting. Young players progression is more complex then that, some players peak earlier and others are late bloomer. I can name hundreds of examples.

[Strike 7,474]

First of all, I have never said that we should not wait and see how Bertrand (or Van Aanholt) develops. Read back my previous post.

From what I understand of your comment, you are suggesting that we should wait and see how our two LB develop, and then, if they turn out to not be as good as we thought, maybe go for Luke Shaw. That what I was mentioning in my previous post : that's what we call putting your eggs in the same basket.

And you go on about the form that Ryan has last year. My answer is pretty simple. Do you remember when, back in the days, people didn't want us to sign Lukas Modric because we already had Josh McEachran ? Now tell me where Josh's at. Didn't we thought that we had a gem in Gaël Kakuta ? He wasn't able to fulfil his potential. Didn't we deemed Sam Hutchinson the next captain of this club ? He might hang up his boot because of his knee. Didn't we thought that we had a future great center-back in Jeffrey Bruma ? Didn't we thought we had the next big thing in Scott Sinclair ? Didn't we thought, at some point, that Micheal Mancienne will turn out to be a good player ? Et cetera...

Every fans tend to overrate the youngsters from their own team. That's normal. We tend to do it even more since we are desperate to finaly see a product of our academy playing for us. I am not saying that Bertrand is overrated, not at all. I am just saying that we shouldn't get carried on because of a few promising performances. Instead, we should get carried away only after a promising season and that's not the case at the moment.

Okay, let's take the time to assess Ryan and Patrick before going for Shaw. Fine. But what if they turn out to be not good enough for us ?! By that time, if Shaw keeps it up, plus the fact he is english, he could as well be worth £30m or even worse, he could sign for Manchester United (or another team). Brilliant. We will have to look to splash a lot of money to get an above average foreign player while we could have bought an english talent for less.

For the past years, we have built castles into the air with our youngsters, again and again and again. That has to stop. We should act before something happens not react after the occurrence. We have to anticipate things, not to wait for them.

I am not writing off neither Bertran nor Van Aanholt. I am not saying that we should outcast them to buy Shaw. Non, all I am saying is that we shouldn't lose out our chances to get a talent such as Luke Shaw because they COULD* be very good for us.

* Could which is used to indicate a possibility is the key word, here.

fair enough

we tend to underutilise our youngsters. if aforementioned players had been nurtured and given the chance, then maybe they'd have turned out good but given the climate of the club its understandable why they're not given a chance. hopefully the next manager will

edit- you seem awfully confident that Luke Shaw will turn out to be a great talent. that maybe so but if we do sign Shaw i believe we'll loan him back to Saints to develop. he needs regular gametime at the too level. something neither bertrand nor pva get.that'd be good deal imo as opposed to sign him and breed him straight away

[Beepu 1,714]

Would give bertrand and PVA a chance, shaw has looked quite good for a 17 year old but who knows maybe he peaks early.

[Blue Armour 4,436]

@Peace., you make a very valid point but then again we can also look at the other side of the coin and say that buying Luke Shaw now for £10m (or whatever his fee will be) is also another big gamble. Shaw looks an outstanding prospect but anything can happen - look at Kakuta for example who looked to be head and shoulders above everyone in his age group.

My point is that right now we're pretty solid at the left back position with Cole staying for another year and Bertrand and PVA coming through alright - we shouldn't really prioritise signing Shaw as he could be as big of a gamble as us allowing Bertrand and PVA to fight it out as to who becomes our new starting left back.

Personally I think we should allow Luke to develop maybe for another year or two before seriously considering purchasing him. Maybe if he's still making strides in his development we could have a look at purchasing him next year if the price is reasonable and if he'll be worth it. Right now though I don't think he's anywhere near ready for CFC. If he comes now we'd practically ruin his career unless we let go of both Bertrand and PVA.

Anything can happen, yes...but Kakuta is not the right comparison. Shaw is playing regularly against PL opposition and is proving capable. Kakuta was never trusted with that role neither with us, or for Fulham.

But I agree with with the rest of your post. Cole has signed a new contract, and with Ryan as a backup a new LB is NOT high priority at this stage.

That being said, Shaw could be a target for a number of other clubs and we might have to secure him as early as possible..especially for the season after the next one, when Cole might call it quits.