Nathaniel Chalobah

[Stats 7,059]

Out of our youth, Chalobah is the one I am looking forward to see progress to the first team the most. He is the youngest representative for the England U19 at the championships and is a permanent starter in the team and scored against Croatia today. He has been playing above his age groups for club and country for some time now and truly believe he is going to follow Terry in being a rock at the back, even though he can excel as a DM/CM. Maybe he will be captain one day but although I am excited for the likes of Piazon, Feruz etc Chalobah has been at Chelsea his whole career. His anticipation, balance, possesion of the ball is world class. He has been playing with our reserves even at schoolboy ages and has always put in a shift. Would be brilliant to see him make an appearance soon, even if it is a brief apperance in a cup game but he deserves it.

Will be interesting to see what RDM does with him. He will learn at Chelsea but he trains with the first team quite often and maybe a loan to a Championship team would do him good as experiencing first team football will enhance his game. He is playing for his country 2 years above his age group and is a consistent performer, even though being the youngest there. It is a matter of time that he starts pressing for the first team because his reserve/youth team plays have been astonishing. IMO he is going to surpass Mceachran at Chelsea. But just for anyone who is unsure of him we have a star in the making at us

[LDN Blue 7,903]

IMO he is going to surpass Mceachran at Chelsea. But just for anyone who is unsure of him we have a star in the making at us

Easy lad, easy.

We've seen the consequences of us overhyping our youth talent, with some albeit justification. Let's just wait and see how he develops, he's still ripe at the tender age of 16 (or 17). I share you sentiments about his qualities though. The problem is the leap from doing that at a reserve/youth level to a professional one. Patience is key, we've learnt that better than most fans.

[Stats 7,059]

Easy lad, easy.

We've seen the consequences of us overhyping our youth talent, with some albeit justification. Let's just wait and see how he develops, he's still ripe at the tender age of 16 (or 17). I share you sentiments about his qualities though. The problem is the leap from doing that at a reserve/youth level to a professional one. Patience is key, we've learnt that better than most fans.

You have a point, I don't want to overhype him but judging what I have seen I do believe he will be a success but you are right, there is a big leap and he still has a lot of developing to do. That wasnt a dig at Josh but just feel Chalobah has the pyhsical skills to go along with his all round general play which could be benefical in future

[Leif 6,006]

Starts for England U19's vs. France U19's.

[ulvhedin 508]

How did he play yesterday?

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Chelsea boss Roberto di Matteo is ready to let brilliant young centre half Nathaniel Chalobah go out on loan to the Championship.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/chelsea-nathaniel-chalobah-will-be-loaned-to-championship-1138822

Could be b.s. But if it's not then it's quite positive, considering he's only 17.

[Bir_CFC 3,455]

I don't know if we should. He's still only 17 and with the changes to the youth and reserve games and the u18 CL tournament, I'm sure he'll get a lot of good games. And, I think he's still eligible for the youth cup.

All of that > championship imo.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

I don't know if we should. He's still only 17 and with the changes to the youth and reserve games and the u18 CL tournament, I'm sure he'll get a lot of good games. And, I think he's still eligible for the youth cup.

All of that > championship imo.

That depends on how much conviction the FA really put on the development of youth -> reserve -> professional level. At least with the Championship he's guaranteed to have a step-up in the intensity of play. Obviously he wouldn't play that many games, but when he does the exposure will be brilliant. The best thing is, we won't expect he'll play that much so when he does it'll be a pleasant surprise.

He'll still represent England, but I guess it's a slight disadvantage we'd lose him in our FA Youth Cup squad. The experience could be priceless however. We know Bertrand benefited greatly from it, he has over 150+ championship level games to his name.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

My concern is about his physique. He's at level technically but he still looks like a 16 year old. Considering he's a bright future, I think it would be stupid to play him in Championship, we'll end up with a player with a lot of injuries at 28

He's already playing with elder players than him for years, next season there's the next gen CL. Until we could assess what the next gens really brings to the young players as it's a new tournament, we should keep our young players at the moment.

Not the Bertrands, Van Aanholt, maybe even Kalas and De Bruyne. I was thinking at Piazon, Chalobah, Kane and maybe even Josh... they shoudl stay and play this tournament

True, but would you not look at the case of Phil Jones as an optimistic case for Chalobah to have a successful loan period? Jones made his Blackburn debut literally as soon as he turned 18 against us of all teams. He did quite well in that season, didn't play a lot, but got enough exposure to learn and be reliable for Bburn the season after. His United move was rushed albeit, thrown straight into the deep-end.

But at Blackburn he made a successful impact & Allerdyce did well to use him sparingly.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

But you cannot compare the like of Rooney, Barkley, Jones etc... You've seen their built ? They look like 22 years old at 17 or 18

Of course that if the player is ready at a young age he can play a part (not Wilshere's one to play an overall 60+ games a year). But with players such as Piazon or Chalobah and even McEachran who can show bright things in pro (as at Swansea or in pre-season for Chalobah), when they have to cope with the real rythm and pace of a Premier League game they show they aren't ready.

Josh was substitued early at Everton, Bruma had a torrid afternoon vs Villa (even if it was against such a powerfull forward Heskey is)

I agree, the physicality and the pace of the PL isn't designed for players like McE or Piazon to make immediate impacts. Would the Championship, therefore, not be a better stepping stone in progression? It doesn't necessarily mean they'd come back & be ready for the challenge of the PL, but the exposure would be less damaging should they fail to shine, no?

[Stats 7,059]

I am fully supportive of this, as I said in previous posts he is the brightest talent coming through our youth ranks, he has so much qualities and if we can enhance his learning potential it would definitely be to send him out on loan where he is going to have first team opportunities. Despite Chalobah's young age and being 2 years younger than Mce he is well suited to a championship team IMO. He looks very young still, but he has quite brilliant posture. Even when he started a couple friendlies for us last pre-season, he looked quite decent. Him being the youngest in the England U19 squad, has helped them reach the final and rarely looks out of place in reserves

To sum up, whilst he is very young and he is almost certain to be a future Chelsea star, if he can experience first team football at a level of the championship that will do him wonders, as he is way past the quality of youth level and this would be a much needed step up rather than reserves.

However as, RDM is aware of if we send him out on loan to a championship team, we have to make sure he will get playing time as a lost year sitting on the bench will prove costly, however I hope a move does happen as I believe he is ready for a crack at this level

[Blue Armour 4,300]

I agree, the physicality and the pace of the PL isn't designed for players like McE or Piazon to make immediate impacts. Would the Championship, therefore, not be a better stepping stone in progression? It doesn't necessarily mean they'd come back & be ready for the challenge of the PL, but the exposure would be less damaging should they fail to shine, no?

Championship is hardly any better when it comes to physicality. What SeB is suggesting is that playing against grown professionals at this age might not be a good idea.

[Ollie 4,400]

Every time i've seen Nathaniel play he looks like he can go a long way whether its for the Chelsea Youth or England youngsters. Can play CB or CDM very competently. So many youngsters go through the net without much of a chance. This guy won't be one of em. I agree that he'll surpass Josh. The only thing that can stop this happening is us signing everyone like we seem to be trying to do ....

We're an English team, we need to keep producing these young players or we'll pay for it in the future. He's one of our best 'home grown' prospects. The loan is what he needs and i hope he has a really successful one. Routing for this lad to be a real future hit. Hopefully in Chelsea blue.

I've missed most of the Under 19's but when i've seen him, he just looks so comfortable and makes so many right decisions.

[BlueDutchy 63]

What about a loan elsewhere in Europe? If Chelsea would agree with you, SeB, on his physique but do think he should play regularly then they could ponder a loan to Holland. Technically wise you can hardly find better competitions for players to develop.

However, I think his physique is ok. Black players (not being racist) are usually more athletic and full grown at a young age (see for example Lukaku). Of course Chalobah is more built like Ramires, but Ramires is also a though, athletic player.

[Kinol 337]

He is going to Watford on loan until january. 1st team football will do well on him

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Yes but I hope fans to get too over-expectant on him getting minutes on the pitch. It must still be remembered that he's 17.

[Duppy Conqueror 1,494]

that would be good move for Nathaniel. he`ll get coached by Zola..

yeah i know entirely different kind of players but NC could be taught some useful ball control skills and there`s no one in history i`ve seen whose better at close range free kicks than Zola with his superb skill of being able to get a free kick up over the wall and then back down and usually in the net than him. i think we need to develop players with as many useful skills as possible and we have lost a little in the free kick department with drogba gone and Lampard in the twilight years of his career.

[DONI. 1,291]

Official:Nathaniel Chalobah loaned to Franco Zolas's Watford