At the end of the season, we will see a host of CMs come back to the club after successful loans. De Bruyne will probably make the first team easily. Chalobah is on the brink. McEachran probably needs another year on loan. Essien is having a so-so season at madrid and will probably be sold but it still remains to be seen.

 

If Lamps gets another year or 2, we will have too many midfielders who arent that far away in ability.

 

Lamps, Mikel, Rambo, Luiz, Romeu, Essien, de Bruyne, Chalobah, McEachran even Oscar could potentially play as a cm. Thats 10 players for 2 (maybe 3 depending on the formation) positions

 

Even if we sell Essien and send Chalobah and McEachran on loan, we are left with 7 players for 2(3) positions.

 

Some are advocating buying a midfielder but im not seeing unless we offload some. I, personally, would transfer mikel and throw chalobah into the fire as his replacement

Lamps - I think will be let go in the summer, Mikel - will still be here, Rambo- same as Mikel, Luiz - we are not sure if the new manager will want him in midfield, Romeu - could be sold or only used as a bit part player, Essien - sold unless Jose takes over, de Bruyne - maybe brought back as Lamps replacement int he squad, Chalobah - another loan, McEachran - another loan, Oscar - used as a number 10.

I think that Chalobah would be played as a defender any how.

Chalobah has been enjoying a newfound success under Zola as a DM, so it will all depend if the new manager sees him as a DM or a RB/CB

 

Anyway, I think that Essien will be gone so we'll have Mikel, Lampard, Romeu (maybe) De Bruyne and Ramires.

 

Then it depends if we are playing 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, and whether the next manager sees Luiz and Oscar as options.  I don't think we're as over run with CM's as you are fearing 

This article is an excellent analysis of our midfield problems/needs:

 

http://plainsofalmeria.co.uk/2013/02/18/midfield-matters/

This article is an excellent analysis of our midfield problems/needs:

 

http://plainsofalmeria.co.uk/2013/02/18/midfield-matters/

 

I read that the other day, good read. We will need to add at least 1 defensive midfielder, maybe 2, depending on whether Frank stays and/or if one of he loanees is brought into the first team fold (KDB looks the most likely).

Oscar and KdB can both play further up the field. Luiz is also apart of the CB rotation. Frank is likely gone, could get another year. Chalobah and Josh needs to be loaned out to a club not in the championship before we can talk about them being ready to play here. Essien is gone. So that leaves us with Rambo, Mikel and Romeu as our CMs guaranteed to be around next year. Id hardly call that too much depth

Oscar and KdB can both play further up the field. Luiz is also apart of the CB rotation. Frank is likely gone, could get another year. Chalobah and Josh needs to be loaned out to a club not in the championship before we can talk about them being ready to play here. Essien is gone. So that leaves us with Rambo, Mikel and Romeu as our CMs guaranteed to be around next year. Id hardly call that too much depth

 

Bingo. And Ramires isn't a great fit in the 'double pivot', and we still don't know if Luiz is a DMC.

At the end of the season, we will see a host of CMs come back to the club after successful loans. De Bruyne will probably make the first team easily. Chalobah is on the brink. McEachran probably needs another year on loan. Essien is having a so-so season at madrid and will probably be sold but it still remains to be seen.

 

If Lamps gets another year or 2, we will have too many midfielders who arent that far away in ability.

 

Lamps, Mikel, Rambo, Luiz, Romeu, Essien, de Bruyne, Chalobah, McEachran even Oscar could potentially play as a cm. Thats 10 players for 2 (maybe 3 depending on the formation) positions

 

Even if we sell Essien and send Chalobah and McEachran on loan, we are left with 7 players for 2(3) positions.

 

Some are advocating buying a midfielder but im not seeing unless we offload some. I, personally, would transfer mikel and throw chalobah into the fire as his replacement

 

I'm a big fan of Chalobah and will be extremely disappointed if we loan him out again next season. I'd like to see him alongside Ramires, KDB or Oscar. 

 

I'd sell Essien and Romeu, loan McEachran and probably wouldn't extend Lampard's contract (as great as he is). 

 

Luiz, Mikel and Chalobah would compete for the defensive role and the rest would compete for the offensive role. I think if you tell Mikel just to defend and feed the creative players he can be very good. Better than Romeu. It's when you allow Mikel to attack that you see the majority of his weaknesses. 

Oscar and KdB can both play further up the field. Luiz is also apart of the CB rotation. Frank is likely gone, could get another year. Chalobah and Josh needs to be loaned out to a club not in the championship before we can talk about them being ready to play here. Essien is gone. So that leaves us with Rambo, Mikel and Romeu as our CMs guaranteed to be around next year. Id hardly call that too much depth

 

im confident lamps will stay and i dont see why every young player we have has to have an obligatory 'premiership club loan'. theres a preseason to evaluate both josh and chalobah, i think the latter is definitely good enough to start cup games and come off the bench in blowouts (like we had against villa and stoke)

 

kdb is a centre midfielder, and a good one at that. the fact he can play anywhere in midfield is a bonus, but he needs to be in the starting lineup. we have plenty of attacking midfielders as it is. hazard, mata, oscar, moses marin and piazon is plenty. there shouldnt be a reason to move de bruyne further up the pitch.