I guess one of Malouda or Yossi (or both) will stay from the look of it. I much prefer him learning his game in England, he's not as raw as Lukaku.

I find it really strange that we sign a guy and then send him out on loan. It's not as if he is a youth player - I know he's still young but he is 21 and when you sign a player of that age, it's normally because you've identified a need for him. To send him out on loan won't do his confidence much good at all and if we REALLY rated him, we wouldn't be sending him anywhere.

He may already be questioning "do I have a future here?".

I find it really strange that we sign a guy and then send him out on loan. It's not as if he is a youth player - I know he's still young but he is 21 and when you sign a player of that age, it's normally because you've identified a need for him. To send him out on loan won't do his confidence much good at all and if we REALLY rated him, we wouldn't be sending him anywhere.

He may already be questioning "do I have a future here?".

I don't find it strange at all and can't imagine that he'd be questioning his future here. It's a big jump from the Jupiler League to the Premiership and he only turned 21 a month and a half ago. He's not a megatalent like Hazard that would just walk into a team like ours at that age. Loaning him to a club like Bremen is what's best for both parties. Furthermore, if we hadn't bought him when we did, there's a good chance we'd have ended up paying more than 7 MP. He made some significant strides in the second half of the year before he got hurt and would have likely attracted quite a bit more attention in the summer.

I agree Nibs, what's the point ??

At 21 he's either got it or he hasn't, (yes i know there are a very few exceptions) it just seems like a waste of money to me.

Off the top of my head I'm struggling to think of a young player we have bought (for proper money) loaned him straight out, recalled him, and has gone on to be a regular starter.

I thought he was going to be part of our new 'young generation' of players vying for first team spots this season.

Ah well, same old, same old.

Alan

I'm sure if he was good enough he'd have been kept witht the squad this year and thrown in at the deep end this season so to speak. I can't help wondering if this was always planned as part of the Marin deal.

I agree Nibs, what's the point ??

At 21 he's either got it or he hasn't, (yes i know there are a very few exceptions) it just seems like a waste of money to me.

Off the top of my head I'm struggling to think of a young player we have bought (for proper money) loaned him straight out, recalled him, and has gone on to be a regular starter.

I thought he was going to be part of our new 'young generation' of players vying for first team spots this season.

Ah well, same old, same old.

Alan

When Frank Lampard was 21, he was still at West Ham. When Andrea Pirlo turned 21, he was wrapping up a season on loan from Inter to Reggina. When Ronaldinho turned 21, he'd just moved to PSG four months earlier. Very few elite attacking/creative midfielders are close to their peak at age 21; most of the people I can think of who were contributing to CL contenders at that age are from Barcelona, and even Xavi/Iniesta/Messi improved noticeably after 21.

So it's very likely that De Bruyne still has room to grow, and therefore it makes sense to give him a chance to play regularly in a better league than the Jupiler before we make him compete for playing time with the likes of Hazard and Mata. The best team in England for working youngsters into the squad while competing regularly is Man U; they loan people out to good leagues all the time - Cleverly (aged 21 at the time) to Wigan, Welbeck (then 20) and Evans (ages 18-20) to Sunderland. Even in our current squad, Sturridge and Bertrand both broke into the first team after successful loan spells at 21. I really don't think this is the death knell for De Bruyne's chances at all.

^ Very good post Katon as usual. The guy is 21 hence he needs to play otherwise his development is stifled and he never fulfills his potential. As Brandinho has said, the Belgian league is not the French league, it is way lower down the pecking order, and the Premiership is a massive step up, and Chelsea are no ordinary team, they are the European Champions no less (yes really, I just looked it up on Wikipedia), there is enormous pressure, there is enormous scrutiny and there is enormous expectation to win. Robbie knows his job's on the line every time we play a game. No way can De Bruyne expect to get much game-time this season. A loan is absolutely the right move, the Bundesliga the right league, and Werder Bremen the right side. Davey Baby says, "Relax people".

Agree with Davey, excellent post Katon. Its amazing how some fans seem to think players are failures if they dont make the first team by 20 and too old by 30.

^ Very good post Katon as usual. The guy is 21 hence he needs to play otherwise his development is stifled and he never fulfills his potential. As Brandinho has said, the Belgian league is not the French league, it is way lower down the pecking order, and the Premiership is a massive step up, and Chelsea are no ordinary team, they are the European Champions no less (yes really, I just looked it up on Wikipedia), there is enormous pressure, there is enormous scrutiny and there is enormous expectation to win. Robbie knows his job's on the line every time we play a game. No way can De Bruyne expect to get much game-time this season. A loan is absolutely the right move, the Bundesliga the right league, and Werder Bremen the right side. Davey Baby says, "Relax people".

Well said. If Lukaku weren't eligible for homegrown status, I'd have advocated loaning him and de Bruyne together to a Bundesliga team. I'm happy that we're not having the same mistake with Kevin that we made with Romelu last year.

A little disappointed, I was hoping he'd play a part in the squad this year. I suppose we'll have to wait and see what else happens before the end of the window, but if we end up with the likes of Malouda and Benayoun in our squad, but this guy out on loan, I'll be quite annoyed.

Well said. If Lukaku weren't eligible for homegrown status, I'd have advocated loaning him and de Bruyne together to a Bundesliga team. I'm happy that we're not having the same mistake with Kevin that we made with Romelu last year.

does any of this give hope to our up & coming midfield talent (stars).....baker, clifford, josh, etc to name a few,......... or do we keep buying up talent and loaning them out for experience .....surely these younger guys are being misled re hopes we have for them, should they not look to get moved out for experience too or else moved on? stay and play in u/21 or reserve and then contract ended??????

When Frank Lampard was 21, he was still at West Ham. When Andrea Pirlo turned 21, he was wrapping up a season on loan from Inter to Reggina. When Ronaldinho turned 21, he'd just moved to PSG four months earlier. Very few elite attacking/creative midfielders are close to their peak at age 21; most of the people I can think of who were contributing to CL contenders at that age are from Barcelona, and even Xavi/Iniesta/Messi improved noticeably after 21.

So it's very likely that De Bruyne still has room to grow, and therefore it makes sense to give him a chance to play regularly in a better league than the Jupiler before we make him compete for playing time with the likes of Hazard and Mata. The best team in England for working youngsters into the squad while competing regularly is Man U; they loan people out to good leagues all the time - Cleverly (aged 21 at the time) to Wigan, Welbeck (then 20) and Evans (ages 18-20) to Sunderland. Even in our current squad, Sturridge and Bertrand both broke into the first team after successful loan spells at 21. I really don't think this is the death knell for De Bruyne's chances at all.

Of course KDB has room to grow and develop - that's no doubt what the club are hoping. He's going out on loan for a whole season and it will be down to him to do brilliantly in Germany and impress. No-one is saying he is a failure yet but if I was in his position I would certianly already be having my doubts. Wouldn't be so bad if we had a team full of 30+ year old playes like we did a few seasons ago but when he comes back, he is going to be competing for a place with players of a similar age to him - some even younger, who the club didn't feel the need to send them out on loan (meaning they must think they are better players). And by the time he comes back, the chances are we will have signed one or two more.

Let's just hope the loan move works out as if it doesn't he could quite easily become the forgotten man.

He was saying when we sealed the deal that the club would be evaluating him during the summer tour but he expected he'd probably go out on loan - Belgium's just such a lower standard compared to the PL, it's nigh impossible to jump straight into our team from the Jupiler League while we're trying to win every match, as anyone who saw Lukaku last season should realise. Obviously he's got a harder path to the first team now that we're the CL winners and have signed Hazard and Oscar than he did when we bought him, but so far he's on the trajectory he seemed to expect when he joined.

And if he impresses at Bremen, even if he can't get into our first team, the last two young attacking midfielders who left them went to Real Madrid and the European champions. Obviously his turning into Ozil would be a ridiculously lucky outcome, but the football world at large will pay attention to what he does there even if Chelsea wind up not having room.

Started v Dortmund now on the LW; assist already.

Started v Dortmund now on the LW; assist already.

How'd he do, only saw the last 20 minutes or so. And who played Cam? Watching the city game now..

Wondering if he struck another penalty in?

got 2 assists in this game, shouldve had 3

Edited August 9, 201213 yr by Lane

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lev5JAHgOKk

heres the full highlights. judging by this video de bruyne wwas beasting out there

Edited August 10, 201213 yr by Lane

Bremen's keeper is having a shocker at 2.28 in that video!

De Bruyne looks very good and sharp, judging by the video he will probably get a lot of game time.

His second assist was something else, great bit of play from him. Exciting stuff!

Had a great half hour against netherlands. Loaning him was such a ridiculous move, he is already better than essien, meireles and malouda. We have major issues in our midfield and we offload a player like de Bruyne.He couldve easily rotated with Lamps, slotted in at right wing if needs be . . . I think he will have a great season at Bremen, which will piss me off even more

Had a great half hour against netherlands. Loaning him was such a ridiculous move, he is already better than essien, meireles and malouda. We have major issues in our midfield and we offload a player like de Bruyne.He couldve easily rotated with Lamps, slotted in at right wing if needs be . . . I think he will have a great season at Bremen, which will piss me off even more

Meireles was consistently brilliant in the Euros, which is much more revealing than 30 minutes in a friendly.

Why would having a great season for Bremen piss you off at all? If he plays well, he'll get significant minutes, which will be great for his development. I'd prefer that than have him in a rotation here. At his age, he needs minutes. He'll get more in Bremen than he would here.

Meireles was consistently brilliant in the Euros, which is much more revealing than 30 minutes in a friendly.

Why would having a great season for Bremen piss you off at all? If he plays well, he'll get significant minutes, which will be great for his development. I'd prefer that than have him in a rotation here. At his age, he needs minutes. He'll get more in Bremen than he would here.

I especially like the part where i said 'i based my opinion on the netherlands match alone' . . .

it pisses me off because we are crying for a player like him in our midfield, and we loan him out. We dont have many creative CMs better than de bruyne, actually we only have 1. De Bruyne couldve easily gotten 20 starts + sub appearances this season. Its probably not as much as hell have at bremen but its still enough to keep him developing

I especially like the part where i said 'i based my opinion on the netherlands match alone' . . .

it pisses me off because we are crying for a player like him in our midfield, and we loan him out. We dont have many creative CMs better than de bruyne, actually we only have 1. De Bruyne couldve easily gotten 20 starts + sub appearances this season. Its probably not as much as hell have at bremen but its still enough to keep him developing

What are you basing it off of then? You mentioned that he had an impressive 30 minutes and then claimed he was already better than three established players, one of whom was one of the true standouts of the European Championships, so it was a logical retort.

I really don't think that it's realistic to pencil in De Bruyne for 20 starts, let alone to say that he'd have gotten them "easily". De Bruyne has a skill set that we could use, absolutely, but why rush him into a role that might be over his head? It's a huge jump from the Jupiler League to the Premiership. Why not allow an asset that could pay huge dividends in the future to develop properly? What if he has trouble adjusting to the pace or physicality of the Premiership and rarely leaves the bench? Winning the double last year has put an enormous amount of pressure on Robbie. If he doesn't at least secure a top 4 finish this year, there's a good chance he'll be out of a job. As such, I don't think this is the best environment to be playing someone like De Bruyne, especially when we're already set to rely on the likes of Hazard and Oscar, who are also young and might have growing pains. There are only so many young players you can afford to have in the squad right now and De Bruyne is one that makes sense to loan out, in my opinion.

If he doesn't at least secure a top 4 finish this year, there's a good chance he'll be out of a job.

A good chance? I'd say there was every chance.