Hopefully he gets a few minutes off the bench tomorrow. 

This smells like the typical Conte undesirable transfer. He comes injured, we will wait him whole lotta time to see him on the pitch, then we will see him, we will realise he is a scrub and in the end of the story - he will get more minutes than Bakayoko does right now. Unchangeable starter. But right now, we are in phase 1. 

Edited January 19, 20188 yr by Pendergast

8 minutes ago, Pendergast said:

This smells like the typical Conte undesirable transfer. He comes injured, we will wait him whole lotta time to see him on the pitch, then we will see him, we will realise he is a scrub and in the end of the story - he will get more minutes than Bakayoko does right now. Unchangeable starter. But right now, we are in phase 1. 

Don't think we will start with Barkley yet he just might come off the bench and grab the winner.

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11668/11213918/ross-barkley-outlines-ambitions-to-become-world-class-at-chelsea

Ross Barkley says he is "obsessed" with improving and has ambitions to become a "world-class" player, as he prepares to make his Chelsea debut.

The 24-year-old left boyhood club Everton to join the Premier League champions earlier this month, but has not yet featured as he has been recovering from injury.

However, he is in the squad to face Brighton on Saturday, live on Sky Sports Premier League, and speaking to Sky Sports, he explained how determined he is to develop at Chelsea.

"I am obsessed with improving. I want to get to a level where I am regarded as one of the best and coming to a club like Chelsea gives me the right platform to improve," Barkley said.

"I want to be regarded as a world-class midfielder. At the moment I have a lot of potential and a lot of world-class attributes and I want to showcase that at a massive club like Chelsea and win things and be regarded as a top-quality player.

"I have got to a level where I feel I needed to make the jump to Chelsea and push myself and get myself to a better level and playing with world-class players here is only going to help.

"I am ready to hit the ground running. The first half of the season dragged for me, I just wanted to kick a ball, but I am back fit and I am ready to go."

Barkley has not played a competitive match since May 2017, but did get some minutes under his belt in a behind-closed-doors friendly against QPR this week, playing 75 minutes and scoring a goal and providing an assist.

"It was a good runout," he said. "I have settled in really well with all the lads. It was my first game for a while since I have been out injured and it felt good to get back out onto the pitch.

"I have had four full weeks of training now so I am feeling really fit. I feel really good and am ready to go."

With Alvaro Morata and Pedro both suspended for the clash with Brighton, Barkley could go straight into Antonio Conte's starting line-up alongside Eden Hazard.

He described Hazard as an "unbelievable player", and added: "You can't put many players up there with Hazard, he is unbelievable, he is up there with the best in the world, I have been training here for a couple of weeks and you can see how sharp he is.

"I am not the same type of player but if I could get anywhere near his level now I would be made up."

Edited January 19, 20188 yr by enigma

I'd like to be world class too, Ross, but we don't get what we want all the time.

Edited January 19, 20188 yr by Odiddy

15 minutes ago, Odiddy said:

I'd like to be world class too, Ross, but we don't get what we want all the time.

He's got a chance though. The talent is there, now it's time for him to show it consistently.

yeah, finger's crossed. Good attitude and all, but words are just that, words. Seen a lot of young players say they want to win ballon d'or etc. and they amount to nothing (depay at Utd rings to mind)... 

Still, can't knock him for having ambition I guess.

Love the guys ambition, really hope he's a massive success here he certainly has a lot of potential.

I'd give him a start, just need to inject something in our tired/out of form line up. It's not even a risk if Cesc is out.

10 hours ago, icecoolguy22 said:

I'd give him a start, just need to inject something in our tired/out of form line up. It's not even a risk if Cesc is out.

Big risk starting him after an injury like that, rather he had time to warm up during the game.

You know what, I have a good feeling about Barkley.

His low transfer price has meant his move have somewhat flown under the radar compared to other names. Yet he has a good mix of youth and experience, has a good eye for goal outside the box and he'll be eager to impress.

Doubts over his current fitness aside, he's got a bit of no-nonsense style that the squads been missing recently.

He is a guy you can definitely say about it's worth the talent and totally deserves some time. Not like some other starters...

Wanted to see him play today but we still won. Guess his debut is against Arsenal then.

3 hours ago, Pendergast said:

He is a guy you can definitely say about it's worth the talent and totally deserves some time. Not like some other starters...

Never played a single game for us but deserves to play over people that have been training all year. 

 

Okay mate..

On 19/01/2018 at 22:49, Scott Harris said:

He's got a chance though. The talent is there, now it's time for him to show it consistently.

Is it the talent there though to be world class? Im not sure.

I think he will makes his debut against Newcastle 

Not going to be too hard on him after just 60 minutes when he is clearly trying to come back from a long lay off.

However, when I've seen Barkley for Everton and out on loan and even for England, you get the impression he is another SWP, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain etc................In other words, he will sometimes produce a worldie or do something where you thnk, "WOW", but week in, week out, he isn't all that. At school he was probably the best kid in the playground and got used to going past the other kids for fun. And that's what he still tries now and 1 in every 20 attempts it will come off.

I do hope that he will improve our squad once fully fit, but I seriously think he will be added to the list of "luxury players". Hope I'm proved wrong.

 

Edited January 25, 20188 yr by Nibs

We should have given him a couple of runouts with the development squad to help him regain some fitness. Don't know why we didn't.

It's hard to expect someone to miss six months and not feel the long layoff effect. Barkley needs time to show his quality.

He played like someone who hasn't played a game in 9 months.... 

Just now, ForeverCarefree said:

He played like someone who hasn't played a game in 9 months.... 

yep.

The wrong game to chuck him into, no game sharpness was a killer.

Musonda should of played, why wasn't he even on the bench?

2 minutes ago, jack_super_class said:

Musonda should of played, why wasn't he even on the bench?

Because he didn't cost multi-million pounds. At Chelsea you only get a look in if you cost a lot, regardless of if a youth player may be a better option.

5 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Because he didn't cost multi-million pounds. At Chelsea you only get a look in if you cost a lot, regardless of if a youth player may be a better option.

Christensen is regularly starting ahead of two £30m defenders.

Christensen is regularly starting ahead of two £30m defenders.

He's got a not-too-shabby chap to his right as well, who cost about 7 million.