This loan move has certainly raised eyebrows, but a move to a top side in Holland like Ajax is far from the worst move a player like Traore can make plus he will be exposed to UCL football and playing for a good side in the Dutch league.

If he does well with Ajax, he has to be considered as a future prospect as a striker with the club. Our constant emphasis to send our academy players and youth out on loan can only get us so far and is beginning to become tiresome for supporters.

We need to bite the bullet at some point and start showing some faith in our youngsters even though it's likely it will come at the cost of short-term pain.

The onus is on the club to re-evaluate its expectations to an extent and be realistic when it comes to having patience in the manager and the development and foundation he is building.

Well said.

If you are angered by this decision I think it's fair to say that anger should be directed at conte and not the club.

Also I'd if you think the club should impose certain players upon the manager?

I'm more than happy to wait and see what his approach is. If we have no kids in the squad when the window closes that would be extremely alarming.

I expect that we will though, and if so it will be a question of waiting to see if they get used or if they are there as a result of tokenism or poor squad building.

This actually means one thing. Either Lukaku is coming or Conte prefer Hazard playing behind the striker just like in the Madrid match rather than on the wings.

If you are angered by this decision I think it's fair to say that anger should be directed at conte and not the club.

Also I'd if you think the club should impose certain players upon the manager?

I'm more than happy to wait and see what his approach is. If we have no kids in the squad when the window closes that would be extremely alarming.

I expect that we will though, and if so it will be a question of waiting to see if they get used or if they are there as a result of tokenism or poor squad building.

This wouldn't be necessary if we had a proper philosophy in place.

This wouldn't be necessary if we had a proper philosophy in place.

Conte ergo sum

I can't get my head around this one, i hope Conte is right sending him on loan but even if he is, there are wider implications in my opinion which makes this move a bad one :

- it clearly indicates Chelsea is not prepared AT ALL to give youth a chance. If i was a young player i would think twice in signing / renewing contracts at Chelsea. Pressure.to get results is not an excuse, almost all other top teams with the same pressure to get results integrated youth

- Bertie won't have a big motivation to come back even if it does well at Ajax. look at Christensen he is not keen to come back. Why ? Well there are 2 clubs, one rejects you (you can disguise it as you like, a loan is like a rejection at the personal level ), the other club puts faith in you. Which one would you rather play for ?

- if we don't have a spectacular move lined up top 4 would be a dream. Costa gets injured /suspended,Bats is new to PL and Remy is not reliable

Only time will tell if this was the right decision or not but our previous history is not encouraging.

For me it sadly looks like Good bye Traore !

Is this confirmed? If so, I'm devastated. Like really devastated to a degree greater than for any other player.

He was such a ray of sunshine last season, both his playing and his personality.

I really thought he would be our next big star, and I still think he has that potential.

The only explanation I can find is that in the long run it will be good for both, Traore and Chelsea. Conte could think that he still needs to mature a bit, and he wasn't going to get the necessary minutes this year at Chelsea to do that. By going to Ajax, he can get that polishing Conte wants and he will bring Traore back next year as a more finished player. But all this is speculation and in the hope that Conte is here to stay (and I really hope he stays) and is looking to build a champion team in the long run.

Once again: we are aiming to win the league. That is the main target. Giving chances to a young promising player is a side-project. A plus, a perk. I think Conte and Traore had a talk and both decided this is a good idea.

A lot of reports saying that he was the the one that wanted to go on loan ...

A lot of reports saying that he was the the one that wanted to go on loan ...

That suggests Conte spoke with him and indicated that he shouldn't expect much playing time this season.

If Traore is leaving, I'm not just gutted. I'm frustrated, even angry, at the club.

Would JT have made it here if he were a youth player today? I really question that.

Disappointed by this news, when conte said he was ready to cull a few players after coming back from the u.s., i was hoping it would be the likes of moses, cuadrado, remy, and maybe oscar or Matic, instead it looks like kenedy will follow traore out the exit door, and who knows what will happen to rlc, aina, and Chalobah.

Mahbe we are looking for a small but strong squad this season with no european football, but at the moment, i dont think we have improved much at all, yes kante is a good signing, but jt, ivanovic, and cahill, will all most likely be worse than they were last season.

Hopefully a busy 3 weeks before the window shuts, and we end up with a well balanced squad, because its looking a bit all over the place going into the first game of the season.

Would have liked him to stay personally but don't think it's an awful move.. He's played under the manager before at Vitesse and looks to be the main striker lining up for Ajax so should see plenty of playing time and that's the most important thing at his age.

Not too annoyed here. We already have 2 strikers ahead of him (Probably be playing 4-3-3 now) and he will get game time. I think Ajax will be a very good place for him with a manager he trusts. I certainly don't object to him ironing out his game in a more forgiving league. Same as with Christensen and Musonda. As long as the loan improves them then no worries with me.

when people say playing youth is a risk i fail to understand how. i understand we can't go playing 5/6 youngsters at a time, but 2 or 3 isn't asking much. i mean we saw last season even utd was able to integrate youth into their first team with positive results; the same for city and arsenal. if we are only going to ever rely on every member of the first team being an experienced player we will never find the next great youth product. 

when people say playing youth is a risk i fail to understand how. i understand we can't go playing 5/6 youngsters at a time, but 2 or 3 isn't asking much. i mean we saw last season even utd was able to integrate youth into their first team with positive results; the same for city and arsenal. if we are only going to ever rely on every member of the first team being an experienced player we will never find the next great youth product. 

 

Tottenham came second on the back of Kane, Alli, Dier, while we were playing Ivanovic and Matic epxecting different results each and every matchday.

I think this strongly suggests that Conte has seen what he needs to, looked at the market, and thought "we are playing 4-3-3

That suggests Conte spoke with him and indicated that he shouldn't expect much playing time this season.

If Traore is leaving, I'm not just gutted. I'm frustrated, even angry, at the club.

Would JT have made it here if he were a youth player today? I really question that.

Initially I was beyond frustrated for the same reasons you've given, but now I've had time to think I believe it is the right call.

By the looks of it Conte has ditched the 4-2-4 idea (at least for now) and settled on 4-1-4-1/4-3-3, if that's the case Costa first choice and Bats second, which means third choice is between Remy and Traore.

Without European football the third choice won't be seeing much time on the pitch, I would say 10-15 games max and most of them will be as sub, we might aswell just let Remy (who despite some infuriating flaws knows how to score at this level) play that role while Traore plays week in week out at a CL club.

So our strikers are Batman, Costa, and ,Remy, unless LR is part of the Lukaku package deal,,?

Horrendous. But also typical of the club. 

I am done even hoping that a youth player gets through.

For eg: I dont expect Aina to get a single minute of football unless Ivanovic actially breaks his legs. I say legs because even if he can stand on one leg, the coaches and managers of this club would have him starting. 

Just the way it is at CHelsea.

Pathetic.

Horrendous. But also typical of the club. 

I am done even hoping that a youth player gets through.

For eg: I dont expect Aina to get a single minute of football unless Ivanovic actially breaks his legs. I say legs because even if he can stand on one leg, the coaches and managers of this club would have him starting. 

Just the way it is at CHelsea.

Pathetic.

 

I am especially frustrated, because by halfway we knew last season would be a waste. Instead of playing it safe we really should have blended some of the youth into the first teams with multiiple starts. Not all would have worked, but the players that did would have had half a season of decent first team football.

I am especially frustrated, because by halfway we knew last season would be a waste. Instead of playing it safe we really should have blended some of the youth into the first teams with multiiple starts. Not all would have worked, but the players that did would have had half a season of decent first team football.

We played Traore, he did well...scored some goals and continued it into this pre season.

He has been shipped out so I doubt us playing more youth last season would have changed anything tbh.

We played Traore, he did well...scored some goals and continued it into this pre season.

He has been shipped out so I doubt us playing more youth last season would have changed anything tbh.

 

We played Traore a bit. In the second half of the season Traore played 450 minutes out of a possible 2250 minutes. We didn't even give him 90 minutes in the FA Cup, where he scored 2 goals in 57 minutes.

 

Overall he started 4 games (1 goal, 1 assist) out of possible 53, was never played a full 90 minutes.

 

Loftus Cheek had it a bit better - 7 odd starts and 687 minutes across the season.

 

Overall both Traore and RLC had peanuts.

We played Traore a bit. In the second half of the season Traore played 450 minutes out of a possible 2250 minutes. We didn't even give him 90 minutes in the FA Cup, where he scored 2 goals in 57 minutes.

Overall he started 4 games (1 goal, 1 assist) out of possible 53, was never played a full 90 minutes.

Loftus Cheek had it a bit better - 7 odd starts and 687 minutes across the season.

Overall both Traore and RLC had peanuts.

They still had more than any youngsters got previously, it was an improvement. Remember finishing in a European place was still a realistic goal up until the final 4 or 5 games.