Worse than Saul. Mad. 

For Zakaria the situation is slightly problematic. He is on loan which puts little or no pressure to play him. If Potter is not 100% comfortable of playing him there is only the pressure from the player himself to feature. Zakaria seems like a very nice bloke so I don't think he will push very hard to play. He is also probably 100% sure of featuring for Switzerland in the Worlds so there is not that pressure either. 

I really hope to see him play for us. I have only seen him play in youtube-clips and I like his athleticism. He has a bit of Ruben and Kovacic in his game. I can see how Italian football is not his cup of tea. He needs to use his pace. 

Looks like he may never play for us.

 Chelsea transfer news: Club keen to end Zakaria loan - BBC Sport

 

Surely he can't be *that* bad?

Shame really, thought he might have been able to a decent job for us as I have always thought he looked decent any time I had seen him.

 

2 hours ago, Zeta said:

Surely he can't be *that* bad?

With all the games we are having to play 9f he does not get some decent game time between now and the world cup then Potter must think very little of him.

16 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

With all the games we are having to play 9f he does not get some decent game time between now and the world cup then Potter must think very little of him.

the problem is that if he plays for us he can no longer play for any other club the remainder of the season as he also played for Juventus and you can only play for 2 clubs in 1 season.

So if he plays 5 minutes for us he will only be able to play for Juventus (who don't want him back) and he won't be able to join another team on loan 

28 minutes ago, azpi28 said:

the problem is that if he plays for us he can no longer play for any other club the remainder of the season as he also played for Juventus and you can only play for 2 clubs in 1 season.

So if he plays 5 minutes for us he will only be able to play for Juventus (who don't want him back) and he won't be able to join another team on loan 

Would be a shame if that is the only reason he is not playing at all for us. He may just need one opportunity to impress.

Was listening to a podcast where fans at the bridge saw Zakaria doing the warmup against Wolves and he looked completely off rhythm. 

 

6 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Was listening to a podcast where fans at the bridge saw Zakaria doing the warmup against Wolves and he looked completely off rhythm. 

 

Players warm up for training as well as matches, so presumably Zakaria knows how to do that. It sounds a bit far fetched.

3 minutes ago, Valerie said:

Players warm up for training as well as matches, so presumably Zakaria knows how to do that. It sounds a bit far fetched.

I guess we will know more in the coming weeks, particularly if our midfielders get injured. 

15 hours ago, axman2526 said:

With all the games we are having to play 9f he does not get some decent game time between now and the world cup then Potter must think very little of him.

The problem with this kind of signing is that there is very little incentive for any manager to integrate that player into the team. It is very similar last year with saul, if you give saul time to adapt to us n to pl, I am pretty sure he will be able to play for us, but why bother doing that. 

 

7 hours ago, Bob stark said:

The problem with this kind of signing is that there is very little incentive for any manager to integrate that player into the team. It is very similar last year with saul, if you give saul time to adapt to us n to pl, I am pretty sure he will be able to play for us, but why bother doing that. 

 

We had a buy option with Saul (and do Zakaria).

Given the contract situation with Jorgi and Kante it would have been very handy if one of them came good so I'm sure if Tuchel/Potter saw the potential for that to happen they'd have persisted.

Wonder if he can play RWB to a good standard. If so might be his chance, cannot be used Dave 3 games a week.

2 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Wonder if he can play RWB to a good standard. If so might be his chance, cannot be used Dave 3 games a week.

Even if he can't, he might get a chance in midfield, if RLC covers at RWB.

1 hour ago, mojo said:

…

Munk got your tongue Mojo? 😉

13 hours ago, Argo said:

We had a buy option with Saul (and do Zakaria).

Given the contract situation with Jorgi and Kante it would have been very handy if one of them came good so I'm sure if Tuchel/Potter saw the potential for that to happen they'd have persisted.

Very strange given that Zakaria looks like a similar profile to RLC to me, from what I've seen Zakaria is capable with the ball and he's tall too so as such you would think that Potter would be excited to pair the two together and by the end of the season secure a decent midfielder for about 25m which is nothing in this time and age.

Maybe Tuchel just had this amazing lack of insight for players listed for loan that are totally not capable as they once were, after all Saul on paper looked like a decent option too but that didn't work out at all...

19 hours ago, Argo said:

We had a buy option with Saul (and do Zakaria).

Given the contract situation with Jorgi and Kante it would have been very handy if one of them came good so I'm sure if Tuchel/Potter saw the potential for that to happen they'd have persisted.

The buy option is not important. We didn't have buy option for Kovacic.

Let's just say it will take Zakaria 10x90 min to adapt to pl. Will you keep playing Zakaria over jorgi/kova/ruben/kante/gallagher just so he can adapt to pl? You are risking upsetting those 5 players for very little gain. 

If Zakaria is Kovacic who is clearly an elite level talent then it is whole another story. 

16 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Munk got your tongue Mojo? 😉

Ben Jacobs being safe with his tweet. 

Apparently there are real concerns over Zakaria and that his loan spell may be cut short. There were also reports that Tuchel was shocked just how short on confidence and sharpness Zakaria was and that much worked needed to be done to get him up to speed. 

Potter stresses no decision has been made on Zakaria and that he is training well and ready to help when needed. 

1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Ben Jacobs being safe with his tweet. 

Apparently there are real concerns over Zakaria and that his loan spell may be cut short. There were also reports that Tuchel was shocked just how short on confidence and sharpness Zakaria was and that much worked needed to be done to get him up to speed. 

Potter stresses no decision has been made on Zakaria and that he is training well and ready to help when needed. 

Potter also called Zakaria "important", an important member of the group or words to that effect.

Will see, if he is important then you would expect him to get some minutes between now and the world cup.

So Potter reminds us that Kova is carrying a knee injury. 

Potter also says he wanted to rest Kova more but events have gone against him. He also says Zakaria is training well and is an important player but there is heavy competition for places.

Kante injured, leaves Jorgi, RLC and Kova who he wants to rest. That is not heavy competition. Can Potter not BS us on this. If Zakaria is not playing cause he is leaving in Jan for a side other than Juve just say so! Otherwise why is he not playing as RLC is hopeless.

3 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

So Potter reminds us that Kova is carrying a knee injury. 

Potter also says he wanted to rest Kova more but events have gone against him. He also says Zakaria is training well and is an important player but there is heavy competition for places.

Kante injured, leaves Jorgi, RLC and Kova who he wants to rest. That is not heavy competition. Can Potter not BS us on this. If Zakaria is not playing cause he is leaving in Jan for a side other than Juve just say so! Otherwise why is he not playing as RLC is hopeless.

At this point it is pretty clear that Zakaria is not going to play unless there is a major squad emergency. We are almost certainly planning to send him back to Juve in January and he would then be able to go out on loan to another team, as long as he hasn't played for us. If he plays 1 min for us he cannot play for another team this season apart from Juve.

Tuchel didn't play him. Potter doesn't play him. There must be something really wrong with him. He was only at Juventus for half a season, and they decided to loan him out? Sounds like they aren't impressed and want rid. Teams usually give players more time than that - think there are more issues with him than meets the eye. I wouldn't be surprised if it is attitude/commitment issues etc.

Edited October 22, 20223 yr by Chelsc96

7 minutes ago, forbzy said:

At this point it is pretty clear that Zakaria is not going to play unless there is a major squad emergency. We are almost certainly planning to send him back to Juve in January and he would then be able to go out on loan to another team, as long as he hasn't played for us. If he plays 1 min for us he cannot play for another team this season apart from Juve.

Then can Potter please just come out and say that and not waste a bench spot on him? Put Casadei on the bench instead, let's not overplay Kova so he breaks down again.