Good news. We could even consider taking him into the squad but I think Genk needs him and we wouldn't even get him at that price.

Maybe next season we could loan de bruyne and lukaku out together, to one team.

As stated above, I don't think either are ready to step up yet.

Or... maybe we figure that if we buy all the young Belgium players, hazard will want to join us :)

What is this talk about Lukaku not being ready? I just don't know what we Chelsea fans want. We have a young striker who has a terrific pace and physical stamina to brush off defenders. He has been banging goals for the reserves and the few minutes he played against Norwich he really threatened with his pace and the player rating he got after the match in this blog was even higher than some established senior players like Malouda yet some fans still believe he is not ready for PL. We all saw what Oxlade Chamberlain's speed did for Arsenal before he was substituted. If he had been a Chelsea player I wonder what some fans will be saying - "Oh he is not ready yet"

IMO the problems with Chelsea are that:

1. Some of our players are old and they have lost some speed. (Take this same team to slower league in Europe like France and Italy they will do wonders. Remember our match against the skillful Valencia team. The pundits never gave Chelsea a chance)

2. Almost all our midfielders have abandoned their primary task to win balls, dominate the game and provide penetrating passes to strikers. They all want to score. Meireles, Lampard, Malouda, Sturridge, Mata and even Ramirez they left that their important primary assignment to provide splitting passes to strikers. That is why in our final third we are never coherent especially against teams that play ten men behind. (Do we notice how Torres has not been selfish and has been providing good assists for others to score. That should have been the other way round.) I am not against midfielders scoring goals but they should not be at the detriment of the team. You will understand my point better if you observe how Man U players look for Hernandez, Rooney or Welbeck. Notice how Valencia provided Welbeck's winning goal against Arsenal last Sunday. If it had been sturridge, Malouda or Mata they will want to be selfish.

3. And finally creativity is lacking.

I guess AVB has loads of work to do.

Don't quite understand the negativity towards this signing. It's good thing that we are looking for young talented replacements for the squad. Clearout in the summer is finally coming!

Dont know much about him really. Who knows if he is good enough. He didnt do much against us to show that he was anything special

Cant say I am too excited about this particular transfer, but its nice that we are doing something I suppose!

I think we should be going after proven premier league talent, rather than ginger nuts from Belgium

Edited January 25, 201214 yr by Zola

tbh i'd take Enrique de lucas at the moment. So anyone with an ounce of pace and creativty will do.

I think we should be going after proven premier league talent

If we concentrated exclusively on proven Premiership players, we wouldn't make many signings in January.

BBC

Chelsea have opened talks with Belgian champions Genk over a deal to buy attacking midfielder Kevin De Bruyne.

The 20-year-old, who came through the ranks at Genk, made his first-team debut in 2009 and won a first full cap for Belgium in August 2010.

The Belgian club revealed that director Dirk Degraen had flown to London to discuss a deal for the player.

"The expectation is that [the transfer of De Bruyne] will be finished this week," said a club spokesman.

De Bruyne managed five goals and 16 assists last season as his club were crowned Belgian champions for the third time.

He made his international debut in August 2010 in a friendly against against Finland.

De Bruyne has played twice against Chelsea twice this season, appearing for Genk in the 5-0 Champions League group stage defeat at Stamford Bridge and again in the 1-1 draw at the Cristal Arena.

Should he move to Stamford Bridge, he will become the third Belgian player signed for Chelsea by Andre Villas-Boas following the arrivals of Romelu Lukaku and Thibaut Courtois.

Have my doubts this kid is good enough, but hes certainly worth a try.

Any aspect of pace and movement up front now would be welcome. Even if its just Ross Turnbull doing shuttle runs its worth a try.

Would like to see who posts his opinion about players playing a computer game and who post knowing the players :rolleyes:

Edited January 25, 201214 yr by jungbrunnenwald

We need young and ambitious players and De Bruyne would fit that category for sure.

I don't want chelsea to spend a fortune on young players from other leagues . I would rather see the chelsea management spot a talent , groom it and make the player a superstar ! I believe Kevin could improve a lot by playing alongside Mata , Torres etc.,

Erm, i think you completely misunderstood what i wrote. Or i don't get your point . :D

Sorry, I thought you said he could go back to his original club on loan. As footballoholic said, it should actually be possible for him to return to Anderlecht on loan.

watching some videos of him id say hes definitely an improvement over malouda. can put a good cross in, can spot a good run, good with ball at his feet . . . and hes only 20yrs old.

We are getting a young Belgian international for 8,5mill. If we go to bidding war in the summer we might end up paying 15mill for him or not get him at all. This deal sounds very good to me.

92 games for Genk so far, 13 goals 25 assists.

This is one step further of letting Malouda and Kalou go. Which is positive to me.

Does anyone else get the impression that AVB is building a team of players who are more hungry and havent really won anything yet like Jose did when he first arrived?

What is this talk about Lukaku not being ready? I just don't know what we Chelsea fans want. We have a young striker who has a terrific pace and physical stamina to brush off defenders. He has been banging goals for the reserves and the few minutes he played against Norwich he really threatened with his pace and the player rating he got after the match in this blog was even higher than some established senior players like Malouda yet some fans still believe he is not ready for PL. We all saw what Oxlade Chamberlain's speed did for Arsenal before he was substituted. If he had been a Chelsea player I wonder what some fans will be saying - "Oh he is not ready yet"

IMO the problems with Chelsea are that:

1. Some of our players are old and they have lost some speed. (Take this same team to slower league in Europe like France and Italy they will do wonders. Remember our match against the skillful Valencia team. The pundits never gave Chelsea a chance)

2. Almost all our midfielders have abandoned their primary task to win balls, dominate the game and provide penetrating passes to strikers. They all want to score. Meireles, Lampard, Malouda, Sturridge, Mata and even Ramirez they left that their important primary assignment to provide splitting passes to strikers. That is why in our final third we are never coherent especially against teams that play ten men behind. (Do we notice how Torres has not been selfish and has been providing good assists for others to score. That should have been the other way round.) I am not against midfielders scoring goals but they should not be at the detriment of the team. You will understand my point better if you observe how Man U players look for Hernandez, Rooney or Welbeck. Notice how Valencia provided Welbeck's winning goal against Arsenal last Sunday. If it had been sturridge, Malouda or Mata they will want to be selfish.

3. And finally creativity is lacking.

I guess AVB has loads of work to do.

In the league cup games, he just didn't look as sharp/dangerous as I'd expect from a 12m youngster - imo. I'm not criticising him, I just think he needs regular games to progress to the next level. And let's be honest, that's unlikely to happen over the next season or two.

Anyway, with regards to kdb, I'm impressed by his shot. Looks like he can really strike it, with both feet too - useful

I don't get why we would loan him back unless we have no choice in the matter. At this point we will have loaned out Sturridge, De Bruyne and Josh. All of which might be better players than what we have on our roster.

we are signing him and he is going to continue playing for genk for the remainder of the season on loan. he will come here in summer.

Hope he shows more than in the games against us, he didnt show up particularly good in the match at the Bridge were he appeared to give up the fight very easily and his tracking back poor. He must have shown more to the scouts than the two matches I have seen him. Don't really understand buying him Jan to loan him back, surely we should be usiing the months ahead to get him used to training with the first team squad... if he stays at Genk we still get a player lacking the experience of playing alongside better players in summer. It can be argued that he continues to get playing time though still at a lot lower level, does this really aid him? Next year is likely to be a loan year too.

Does anyone else get the impression that AVB is building a team of players who are more hungry and havent really won anything yet like Jose did when he first arrived?

Would like to think so!

Would like to think so!

It is usually good that the player has a habit of winning. Doesn't need to be CL or Prem trophies but winning is a habit like Zola said in his interview with Wise.

But I like the idea of getting players that are hungry. We had a great bunch when Jose came. Pure magic every part of the squad. We need to aim to that.

Hope he shows more than in the games against us, he didnt show up particularly good in the match at the Bridge were he appeared to give up the fight very easily and his tracking back poor. He must have shown more to the scouts than the two matches I have seen him. Don't really understand buying him Jan to loan him back, surely we should be usiing the months ahead to get him used to training with the first team squad... if he stays at Genk we still get a player lacking the experience of playing alongside better players in summer. It can be argued that he continues to get playing time though still at a lot lower level, does this really aid him? Next year is likely to be a loan year too.

I actually like the move as this is a move for the future, not the present. KDB is only 20 years old (turns 21 in June) and will spend the rest of the year at Genk. Next year he can come to the EPL and spend a year at a side like Bolton to get some playing time and get acclimated to the EPL. Then the year after he can get playing time for Chelsea. At that point he will still be only 23 years old. Getting him now in summer means he can train with the squad in the summer and we don't have to worry about another club coming in and swooping him up or creating a bidding war. If you identify him as someone you want: go get him now.

Hope he shows more than in the games against us, he didnt show up particularly good in the match at the Bridge were he appeared to give up the fight very easily and his tracking back poor. He must have shown more to the scouts than the two matches I have seen him. Don't really understand buying him Jan to loan him back, surely we should be usiing the months ahead to get him used to training with the first team squad... if he stays at Genk we still get a player lacking the experience of playing alongside better players in summer. It can be argued that he continues to get playing time though still at a lot lower level, does this really aid him? Next year is likely to be a loan year too.

My thoughts exactly!!

I think this is a better move then people think it might be. I actually think he did the basics quite well against us. put some very good crosses in and actually did bossy for pace, ok bossy was dreadfully out of position to start with.

But he has pace, a trick or two and is two footed. I do think people will have to show patience with him, may take him a few months to get used to the usual hustle and bustle of the prem but think we are on to a winner with this one!

I think this is a better move then people think it might be. I actually think he did the basics quite well against us. put some very good crosses in and actually did bossy for pace, ok bossy was dreadfully out of position to start with.

But he has pace, a trick or two and is two footed. I do think people will have to show patience with him, may take him a few months to get used to the usual hustle and bustle of the prem but think we are on to a winner with this one!

That's precisely what I saw in the two games against us.

He clearly isn't ready for the Prem.

I started out liking the prospect of signing him then went off him when we played Genk. He couldn't even trouble Bosingwa but he did play some nice passes a few times. Obviously being signed as someone for the future if we do sign him.

I agree. I'm mystified by this one. He was very ordinary in both legs against Chelsea. If the rumoprs are true, I sincerely hope it's AVB driving it and not someone else in the club. That's because I only trust the judgment of one person and it's him. If this comes to pass, I'm hoping it's AVB who sees something.