With Lampard injured, Essien and Mireiles gone we are clearly short on central midfielders. Mikel is off to the ANC in January. Romeu will likely fill in. Still we have no cover and no options.

Its really the Ramires replacement we need. However Ramires is a unusual running midfielder rather than your traditional creative strong type.

I am thinking we need an Alonso, Pirlo, Shweinsteiger, Modric, type, but younger. Real Madrid seem to have a surplus of these guys. Sammy Kheidra might be one for instance.

Who is likely to be available and is good enough?

recall kdb from loan, if we can ofc

Edited October 25, 201213 yr by Lane

No one. We have Josh and Chalobah with romeu. All capable of taking the reigns while Mikel is at the AFCON. No point buying a pirlo if it's just for a month or two.

Josh and Chalobah are not going to be Mikel or Ramires replacements just now. The assumption that Mikel and Ramires never get injured is ridiculous

And even if not injured they still need to be rotated through a season. I'm assuming that Lampard has very low availability this season.

Strootman and Gundogan look like good prospects.

It's only for like 5 games and not particularly hard ones at that. Nigeria won't get that far anyway :D

Stick Luiz in there.

Either one of the Bender brothers would be pretty good.

Frank will be fit again long before then. I dont think we will sign a midfielder in the January window.

We have Lampard and Ramires. Could do a lot worse. As backup we have Romeu.

I could also see us moving Oscar down seeing as he's okay defensively.

We don't need a new centre mid; we've had a world class one sitting in the reserves all season:

Lamps will back in a couple weeks , we also have Marin on the way back. I think we are covered.

Lamps will back in a couple weeks , we also have Marin on the way back. I think we are covered.

We've been saying that for the past 2 months

We've been saying that for the past 2 months

But now it seems he's actually back. Atleast that's the news today. Tomorrow he might just wake up with a broken arm or something.

If Robben was made of glass, what the heck is Marin made off?

Fellaini + K. De Bruyne in our double pivot

We do not need to sign any more bloody midfielders, we've got loads.

Mikel, Ramires, Lampard, Oscar, Romeu, KDB, McEachran, Essien, Benayoun, etc...

If we keep signing more, the likes of KDB, Josh, Chalobah, etc... will never get a game and just leave.

Lamps will back in a couple weeks , we also have Marin on the way back. I think we are covered.

are you implying marin can play as a cm?

are you implying marin can play as a cm?

I think he's trying to say that we can move marin to LW hazard to CAM and Oscar back further. Well I hope thats what he is saying anyways

Josh and Chalobah are not going to be Mikel or Ramires replacements just now. The assumption that Mikel and Ramires never get injured is ridiculous

There hardly Mikel replacements, Mikel doesn't need to be replaced, it's only a few games and the player we already have are good enough. What do you suggest, we buy Gundogan for 5 or 6 matches and let him play on the bench then? Ridiculous.

We have an abundance of players who can play there, and you guys are suggesting buying another midfielder in for 5 games, just for cover?

I've always liked Strootman, but with the form that de Bruyne has displayed in Germany, I'm beginning to think it'd be pointless to bring him in. Ditto for the likes of Gundogan, the Bender twins, etc. If we were to buy a midfielder, it'd have to be someone that's a clear upgrade on what we have, e.g. Sami Khedira. There's no chance Real are going to sell him though. Just look at the way they collapsed when he had to leave the pitch against Dortmund. Real were overrun with no less a player replacing Sami than Luka Modric. That isn't to suggest Modric was entirely at fault, but rather to illustrate how essential Khedira is to Real's fortunes.

We don't need a new centre mid; we've had a world class one sitting in the reserves all season:

I can't tell if you are being serious here? If so the term world class is thrown around far too casually for my liking these days.

I don't think it is necessary to sign anyone at this stage, perhaps, as other have said recall KDB or chabaloah but if we were to sign someone may as well not have them as a stopgap and bring someone of true quality in. Someone in the mould of Mousa sissokho or Yann Mvilla would be fantastic in our squad

Even if de Bruyne and McEachran are unable to be recalled I would rather us "struggle" this season than panic and sign someone in January that hinders the progress of two potential superstars.

If Mikel is injured, Romeu can easily take his place. Or God forbid, we play without a defensive midfielder, which is possible in most of our league games. There are plenty of options within Chelsea, there is no need to look outside it for instant solutions.

I can't tell if you are being serious here? If so the term world class is thrown around far too casually for my liking these days.

I don't think it is necessary to sign anyone at this stage, perhaps, as other have said recall KDB or chabaloah but if we were to sign someone may as well not have them as a stopgap and bring someone of true quality in. Someone in the mould of Mousa sissokho or Yann Mvilla would be fantastic in our squad

It's quite obvious he's joking.

It's quite obvious he's joking.

I did think so but have to check sometimes!!