🇮🇱 Yossi Benayoun

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

As has been said below, we could have over 60 games next season, not everyone will be fit and available for those games and Kakuta can play left wing, right wing and behind the striker, will he be the first choice replacement? No, but he would definitely get enough playing time to justify keeping him at the club this season.

We have Hazard, Mata, Hulk, Sturridge, Malouda, Marin, Meireles, Benayoun, Ramires, likely De Bruyne, and maybe even Piazon all ahead of Kakuta just at these positions. We'd have to sell Malouda and Benayoun and let De Bruyne and Piazon go on loan just for Kakuta to be the 8th choice winger/attacking midfielder on the squad. He'll go out on loan or he'll sit even more than Lukaku did this season..

[Madmax 9,219]

Whether Kakuta (or any other similar academy/reserve product) possesses the mentality or ability to claim a starting role is debatable till they're actually thrown in at the deep end but what cannot be refuted is that these players can certainly be utilised as a part of the 24-25 man squad, instead of using guys like Benayoun/Ferreira and that too for a fraction of their wages. With all the additional competitions we're going to be playing this season, surely Kakuta is good enough to get a few games here and there. Until you've given him the chance to prove himself here, I don't understand how he can be written off.

[The Big Drog 1,110]

We have Hazard, Mata, Hulk, Sturridge, Malouda, Marin, Meireles, Benayoun, Ramires, likely De Bruyne, and maybe even Piazon all ahead of Kakuta just at these positions. We'd have to sell Malouda and Benayoun and let De Bruyne and Piazon go on loan just for Kakuta to be the 8th choice winger/attacking midfielder on the squad. He'll go out on loan or he'll sit even more than Lukaku did this season..

Meireles isn't likely to be played out wide. Malouda might be sold. Piazon won't be catapulted into the first team yet.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Meireles isn't likely to be played out wide. Malouda might be sold. Piazon won't be catapulted into the first team yet.

But Meireles can play behind the striker. I agree Piazon won't be on the first team and Malouda might be sold, but it doesn't matter. Kakuta was going to have a hard time getting into games and that was before Chelsea bought Hazard and probably Hulk. If Chelsea play a 4-2-3-1, the 3 would be Hazard, Mata, and Hulk. That means, even if Malouda and Benayoun get sold, Ramires, Marin, Meireles, and Sturridge would all be ahead of Kakuta as cover. At best, that makes Kakuta 5th among backups which means he wouldn't even get time on the Chelsea bench. (Which would be, even saying Chelsea get rid of Malouda and Benayoun: 7 of Turnbull, Luiz/Cahill, new RB, Bertrand, Sturridge, Marin, Ramires, Meirieles ,Essien, Romeu, Lukaku.) If I thought that McEachran or Kakuta or Piazon would get semi-regular playing time, I'd be all for keeping them at the club, but they are so far down the pecking order, that they'd never play except as subs in the 87th minute in games that were already out of hand.

[The Skipper 20,609]

Is it just me or you are comparing a player who has 150+ pro games already and was sufficiently consistent and performing on loan to earn a role at Chelsea with another spoiled rotten kid who hasn't more than 5 good games in bottom Ligue 1 table at 21 ?

Please stop overrating Kakuta who hasn't (and won't, I'm convinced of that for more than 4 years) the proper mentality to use is "talent" properly.

Your 60 games scheduled point is right but I prefer keeping Benayoun over Kakuta every day of the week.

I've always been an admirer of Benayoun, he's a genuine nice guy who doesn't makes problems in a squad, he's the perfect squad player. Nonetheless he's been treated like shit by Benitez at Liverpool then by Villas Boas at Chelsea (the loan deal with Wenger has ben agreed with Villas Boas in a plane through Zurich for a compensation like "give me your dessert I'll give you Benayoun"). And it's the same coming from fans who take every opportunity available to kick him.

He's a pro footballer who only wants to play football, he was the most performing Arsenal players on the last 10 games of the season because it's the only thing that was expected from him. But people are still likely to say it was only Chelsea not having the CL spot

Hold on mate... Spoiled and rotten? How did you conclude that? Also how have I overrated him? Isn't Kakuta a pro footballer who wants to play football too? Funny how you've completely neglected my other examples such as Sturridge, Cleverley or Welbeck who all had nowhere near as many appearances as Bertrand did, especially when they were 20.

There is no denying that Kakuta has talent. I don't see how anyone could oppose keeping a 20 year old who could still improve and threaten the first team over a 32 year old who's never likely to be a first team player anyway. Benayoun is a decent player yes, but you cannot deny that Kakuta has more talent than he ever will have.

Kakuta's mentality is definitely questionable, but he's 20. The one problem with Kakuta is, he knows he's good already so he doesn't work too hard in training. BUT you can't just write someone who was golden player ahead of someone like Thiago from Barcelona at the U19 Euro's in 2010. The likes of Michael Ballack, and even Carlo Ancelotti (recently even) have come out and said the guy's a star. With him being at such a young age, his mental attributes obviously need honing but it's absurd that some would rather have a 32 year old who won't offer anything special but decent cover over a kid who has all the talent. It's exactly this mentality with us fans that I don't understand; we scream at our club for not developing players correctly yet when we have the opportunity to we'd rather go with the 'safe' option.

Having Kakuta in the squad over Benayoun is common sense to me. It reduces the average age, it gives the guy with more talent an actual chance to develop and hone himself and who knows, stake a claim for the first team in the future, most likely cheaper to keep at the club, home grown etc. etc. etc...

We have Hazard, Mata, Hulk, Sturridge, Malouda, Marin, Meireles, Benayoun, Ramires, likely De Bruyne, and maybe even Piazon all ahead of Kakuta just at these positions. We'd have to sell Malouda and Benayoun and let De Bruyne and Piazon go on loan just for Kakuta to be the 8th choice winger/attacking midfielder on the squad. He'll go out on loan or he'll sit even more than Lukaku did this season..

I doubt that if Kakuta stayed at the club that Sturridge, Meireles, De Bruyne or Piazon would be ahead of him. 8th choice winger? Christ. Benayoun and Malouda are debatable as well. My initial suggestion was that if we sold the likes Malouda and Benayoun, Kakuta would be more than good enough to fill in that squad hole.

It's absurd to suggest Piazon in that list even, people say Kakuta is being overrated but yet are overrating another player who isn't ready for the first team at all. Piazon has talent definitely, has a great head on his shoulders but he's still developing, and he hasn't reached the age where he'll start maturing as a footballer like where Kakuta is at now. Loads of people have been tainted by this stupid wonderkid tag, that every decent prospect should be bagging in games at a young age like Fabregas, Messi and Rooney. It doesn't happen too often, but that doesn't mean one bit that they can't develop into a good player. Even Frank Lampard was questioned when he came here, and look how he developed. Kakuta hasn't matured yet, he needs more games before you start writing him off. Ridiculous.

I'll give you the example of Fabio Borini, who the club didn't rate enough. We offered him a contract and everything but he went off to Roma, a club that decided to put their trust in him. Now look at him, he's fighting for that number one striker spot with Bojan, the beloved wonderkid that everyone thought was destined to be a world class player. Even Bojan got games at Barcelona, Kakuta had 6 for us, mostly subs, whilst Bojan had over a hundred games for Barcelona. We've also got Jack Cork who looks a very good prospect too now a days. Crucial to Southampton's promotion last season. Another youth that could've been useful over the likes of Meireles, and perhaps even Romeu. If the current Jack Cork was still playing for us he'd easily be able to cover instead the likes of those two.

KDB isn't nearly as effective on the wing as he is in the centre. He started his career in the centre, and has stated he prefers that role at Genk as well. He was moved to the deep lying playmaker role and everything started to go through him, he instantly became the centre of the team. So the best position for KDB in my opinion is as a CM.

One thing I also don't understand is how people can write off players just because they didn't become a star player at a team they were loaned to. By that logic we shouldn't be giving Josh McEachran any chances either. Give the youngsters time and patience people, and stop slagging them off. Get behind them.

Sorry for the long-winded post but it really does my head in when people simply write off the likes of Kakuta. I'm not taking a pot shot at Benayoun as I do believe he could have been decent for us, but it's time for the new Chelsea to arise. We need to allow our youngsters with decent promise the space and give our youngsters a chance to flourish instead of oppressing them over and over again.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

I doubt that if Kakuta stayed at the club that Sturridge, Meireles, De Bruyne or Piazon would be ahead of him. 8th choice winger? Christ. Benayoun and Malouda are debatable as well. My initial suggestion was that if we sold the likes Malouda and Benayoun, Kakuta would be more than good enough to fill in that squad hole.

You think that it's debatable that Benayoun and Malouda would be ahead Kakuta? You think Kakuta would be ahead of Sturridge and Meireles? Nobody is writing the lad off, but he has done nothing in his career yet. All the players you mention are internationals with a history of success in the Premiership.. Kakuta just played 14 games for a team that got relegated in France and you're treating him like a bona fide superstar. This is not a debate about potential or ability, it's about where players are in their careers. Kakuta has done nothing in his career as of yet. Even if Benayoun and Malouda get sold, there is no hole at winger.

As for Borini, you are picking and choosing. Chelsea have signed and let go a lot of players and very few have ever done anything: Ben Sahar, Jimmy Smith, Shaun Cummings, Fabio Ferriera, Lee Sawyer, Sergio Tejera, Carl Magnay, Liam Bridcutt, Ben Gordon, etc...It's almost an endless list. You have two choices as a club. Either you give young players plenty of opportunity to succeed and you lose a lot of games because they are not very good, or you send the youth out on loans and let them succeed or fail elsewhere and once every decade, you miss out on a good player.

[Madmax 9,219]

First time I've seen SeB pissed

[CHOULO19 24,332]

First time I've seen SeB pissed

First time I've seen a post that took me 15 mins to read I wonder how long it took him to write that

[Strike 7,492]

benayoun is a good midfielder to have in the squad. he links up the mid and the attack brilliantly and it was painfully obvious through out the season that chelsea have a one dimensional attack - dump it long from the CB's or the Fullbacks. even when Mata got the ball in the space between the opposition defence and midfield, he did not have enough options to use. Kalou is hardly the player you would spread the ball to on the wings and drogba was usually marked by opposition defenders. lampard and mikel rarely involved themselves in attack. maybe ramires was the only option that would be open to him often and that has to change next season

i say move ramires to the double pivot rather than have him on the bench behind hulk. ramires will give us a lot more going forward than mikel but at the same time is not a defensive liability. and the attack will be much better when mata has hazard, hulk, ramires and torres as options to look to next season

where does yossi fit in all this? benayoun is the perfect backup to mata. mata, as we know, can't be asked to play 50 games in a season. he's no ramires.

and whenever mata sat out last season (arsenal, newc, liverpool), we were clueless in attack. so, we need a good rotation option to mata in case he is injured/suspended/rested and i can't think of a better option than benayoun. he is good, underrated and would agree to 20-30 games in a season, something similar to the season he had at arsenal.

de bruyne and marin will be viable options but banking on them to come good instantly is insane. new signings need time to adapt and i think benayoun should be kept around atleast until de bruyne is settled here.

[M0rb1D4S 84]

Ajax Amsterdam has interest in him.. We can try to change him + some pounds for van der Wiel..

[Kieran. 6,317]

I actually think we should keep him around for a year. He can't have high wages and a nice creative squad player.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

I actually think we should keep him around for a year. He can't have high wages and a nice creative squad player.

And have him subject to more abuse from us?!

[Kieran. 6,317]

And have him subject to more abuse from us?!

The abuse was unwarranted, imo.

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

Benayoun's heart and mind is no longer at Chelsea (if it ever was in the first place). Best for everyone if he pisses off.

[Melanicus 5,208]

Keep him for one year, there aren't a lot of old, experienced players who would cope with being just squad players. Benayoun is decent backup - creative and experienced player, who has great understanding with Torres and doesn't cause troubles, if he doesn't player regularly... One year isn't a lot you know...

[Jase 43,479]

I believe all the hate stem from this.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/4304439/Yossi-Benayoun-doesnt-care-where-Chelsea-finish.html

Never said anything that backs up the headline and people just went bonkers!

[5354 204]

Like I say, it was a bizarre decision to allow him to go to a RIVAL CLUB.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I'd rather give Kevin or Gael a chance than a player who has no future here and has "implied" on a couple of occasions that he does not want to play here anymore. The man sung "You'll never walk alone" in the Chelsea dressing room ffs! :banghead:

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I was (obviously) joking about the song. What I meant by "implied on a couple of occasions that he does not want to play here anymore" is that he dismissed questions about his future at Chelsea more than once in interviews.

I know you don't think too highly of Gael, but (with all due respect) we can't just take your word for it. He has impressed in France, I think he has earned a chance here and same goes for De Bruyne.

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

Never though Benayoun was a signing we needed, best he moves on.