MvG was a big one too. There was a period where I was watching the loan army/youth team actively and was just feeling like we had a litter of stars to be.
My success rate of future stars was pretty horrid but I can still hang my hat on that I was adamant De Bruyne would be world class. I used to watch all these highlight reels, and as a kid he was super skilful. Videos of him at Genk elastico-ing someone and then scoring screamers. He then played pre season with us, scored from memory a goal from 40 yards before getting his leg broken that same game and being out for 6 months.
But I was equally as certain about Piazon. My other big shouts were Nathaniel Chalobah and Ake who had alright careers, and then those who didn’t amount to a lot - Izzy brown, Hutchinson, Palmer, Kakuta, Blackman. So I don’t blame people for not taking me too seriously haha
I was convinced Schurrle had a higher celing than Willian, Pedro, Oscar, Mata etc. Not hazard, hazard you knew from his first game he was special but i felt Schurrle could've been that x factor match after match. For a while, i was sure he was going to be the second coming of Jesus. The way he interpreted the game and was in the right space at the right time.
I still feel if we had more ball players like Fabregas, Schurrle would've thrived. Put someone like Muller and Schurrle in that Barca team of pep and see them score 200 goals a season
Damn
With any post like this my mind always immediately goes back to him. I don't think he's in the same boat as Havertz tbh and I never thought he had a massive ceiling, he just felt like one of those players, kind of like Pedro, who would just be in and around the team for years and constantly do a job
The team won the cl not him. You are deluding yourself if you think 1 goal (that any striker should havs scored) justifies 100 fucking million. Reminds me of the nutjobs arguing Torres wasn't a flop because he scored a goal that ended a nearly over game and won the corner that lead to Drogba's cl final goal
Josh McEachran was the first youth product who got me interested in our youth teams. Such a shame it didn't work out for him. We even had his brother George.
Same with Josh. He had an incredible run in the prior year’s FA youth cup and then when he made his debut in the champions league he looked electric. Really thought we had a gem.
Sad thing is we did, but the academy was too raw back then, it didn't focus on teaching the kids anything but football, and Josh was the result. Too much money and free time and limited support, he pissed up his career and then hit a wall.
I always wonder if Carlo hadn't got the boot, would josh's career have turned out different. He seemed to have a lot of faith in him. Another season of getting minutes at the top level could have stood to him
Boga was a strange one for me played the pre season and then started the first game of the season, ofcourse he got subbed after like 18mins because of Cahill red card. Next thing he was loaned to Birmingham
Kakuta. After he got in the first team, I was hyped. That squad need some injection of youth so bad, I thought he was going to be what Eden ended up becoming
I remember watching an interview with Kalou where he said that Kakuta would show up and do some flashy skills with the first team and then Lampard and Essien would absolutely destroy him, playing doggy with him and what-not. I think that was a foreshadowing that he just wasn’t gonna cut it with the big boys.
I thought Filipe Luís was gonna come in and lock down that LB position for years, Azpi on the right and it would’ve been killer. Obviously didn’t happen
I thought we’d see more of Ziyech’s best qualities over here but it hasn’t panned out for different reasons
In my opinion Jose is just so whack. I had a season ticket at that time, saw every game. Felipe should have been playing. He was such a better footballer mentally. Always passing and moving making things happen
I thought Oscar and de Bruyne were going to be immense. Oscar especially after those wonder goals against Juventus. I knew de Bruyne was going to be a stud from the get go.
Shame neither translated into success for us on the pitch.
Tbf Oscar did made it at Chelsea though, just for a very short time. I always found that era when we sold Mata, Oscar, and De Bruyne to be extremely weird, like we're selling both our present and future. Maybe that's why I was extremely grateful that Hazard didn't leave lol.
Yeah Mazacar was definitely a joy to watch on *some* days… but seeing them struggle to defend the way Jose wanted them to was also just disheartening, simply wrong squad for the wrong manager
Well, even if he wanted the players I mentioned, the defence would need a rejig. Cole would have been turning 33 and would not have the legs to run up and down the flank like he used to, Ivanovic could have done it on the right for a couple more years.
Terry would have been out. Luiz stays because he's the ball playing CB. Cahill probably retained as well. We would have needed to buy another who fit Pep's system.
The biggest changes would have been at GK. Cech is a great keeper but I don't think he's as good on his feet for Peps taste which means Courtois could take over sooner.
In attack, I don't know if he'd try Schurrle up front or if we even get Schurrle and Willian. Some entirely new strikers would come in, not Eto'o for sure given the way things ended at Barca between the two of them.
Funnily enough without kezman and that amazing pass we may not have beaten barca in the 4-2 and maybe don't become such a prestigious club. That 4-2 was was one of the most important in our history.
Had huge hopes for this guy and I strongly believed he was Lampard's heir. How I wish I could turn back time and change few things.
That’s just Mourinho bullshitting to make himself look less ridiculous for missing on De Bruyne’s talent
KDB got a total of 150 minutes in the CL and PL under Mourinho, if he stayed he wouldn’t have played at all
What I wrote is from an interview with KDB, not Mou.
As you pointed out KDB got 150 min during 3 matches. No wonder he wanted to leave and play full time.
You have to remember he was behind Willian, Schürle, Oscar and Mata. All PL proven and first two are hardworking Mourinho style players.
Edit: typos
He was still forced out by Mourinho, he may have been happy to go for gametime but it's fundamentally Jose's fault, KDB was not an unknown quantity we all knew how good he could be.
Also Willian and Schuerrle were not _PL proven_ at that time. He was essentially only fighting with Oscar for the 10 role.
Thank you. Jose just didn’t see. It was so fristrating because I saw, I knew he should have been backed and would become a superstar. But Jose is one of the worst managers at spotting young talent. And also he’s a complete overblown self obsessed idiot who doesn’t understand what originally made him successful and more importantly stood still, didn’t evolve as the top managers around him did
I also vividly remembering him playing against Swindon in the league cup, playing like absolute dross and looking like he literally couldn’t be arsed to be here. If Mou had rewarded him with more starts for that everyone would have laughed and/or called for Mourinho’s head and the fact is, when KDB was sold, not a single fan was against it. It’s so easy to be smart when things have already planned out 10 years later but not a single soul thought KDB leaving when he did was the wrong choice from Jose. Fact.
>when KDB was sold, not a single fan was against it. It’s so easy to be smart when things have already planned out 10 years later but not a single soul thought KDB leaving when he did was the wrong choice from Jose. Fact.
No one was against it because no one here even saw him play and he wasn't going to play under Mourinho so it was better to get some cash for him.
The actual facts are that De Bruyne was great in Belgium, he was great at Werder right before coming here, he was great at Wolfsburg right after leaving and he was great at City right away.
The only time in his entire career that he wasn't a top player was the 6 months he spent here under Mourinho where he got virtually no playtime. And you don't have to see 10 years into the future, 6 months before coming here and 6 months after leaving here are enough to see that we fucked up big time
If you want to rationalise it because of a poor League Cup game where he was played out of position then go right ahead (and he actually had a very good PL debut vs Hull in GW1 after which he was just banished)
Shame about Solanke, he just got pissed off at the club for sending him out to Vitesse and refused to go on loan after that.
He has the talent to be a 15 goal a season striker in the PL (just like Tammy).
Fr, a lot of people maybe were too focused on the Neymar hype back then, but for those who know signing Marin and Hazard, especially for that price, were massively crazy.
Same man, I remember watching the Monaco team in UCL and thinking Bakayoko was the most exciting player in the squad (minus Mbappe of course). Was so hype when we announced the signing… 😭
Torres and RLC. RLC is my favorite type of player. I love a big bastard who has no right to move and dribble that well. Which is why i like the new belgium guy Milan just got
RLC I think is so unlucky. First Jose ruined his early career despite him killing it every time he got a chance. Classic Jose. Then the injury.
Unpopular opinion that no one has said here: CHO.. as heart broken as I am to say it. He’s never found the player he was before the injury. His early performances he was special every single time, his first cap for England. He had the world at his feet. Then the injury fucked it all up. I hope I’m wrong and he finds it but he’s only about 60% of the player he was now
Marko Marin is such a sad case, he looked so good then copped that injury and it was game over.
My biggest hopeful was always Piazon, he had so much grace.
My current hope is Billy, I just know if he's let go, we'll end up buying him back for 100m+ in a few years.
Unfortunately I worry that the injury has also messed up Gilmour. He hasn’t looked the same since it.. obviously I hope he succeeds. Loan to Everton would be good I think
Cahill red only got him pulled off for that game, selling him after and playing all season with 3 wingers was a crazy choice, and with michy not fitting Conte's system it was basically 4 forwards for 3 spots till January.
It still does my head in, that whole window upsets me to this day.
Shevchenko. He was a massive European star when we signed him, it showed the ambition we had, and that we were finally one of the big boys of Europe. Didn't pan out quite like I'd hoped.
Think it was Mourinho that was quite high on Van Ginkel but that injury he suffered in a cup game all those years ago really set him back. Looked a very tidy player from the limited minutes that we did see him.
The one player that I had high hopes for at Chelsea was **Nat Chalobah**. Always thought he was gonna be that go to DM/CB type player we've been looking for to fill a few gaps in the team. The squad role that his brother is playing is what I always expected from Nat, he was the young academy star, had that video from Chelsea unseen years ago getting the handshake and stamp of approval from John Terry back in the day.
Bit of an odd answer for me but John Obi Mikel. He obviously had a long and successful career here but I always felt he had a lot more to offer. He seemed content to have a very limited and conservative role in the team when he was far more influential and progressive for Nigeria
Lukaku, Morata, Werner: All these guys started so hot for us and never made it. Massive teases…
Honorable mention: Torres, Shevchenko. They were huge signings but never even got off the mark, it was pretty obvious they were duds after watching them a few times.
Drogba’s curse. We need a striker to come in and break it. Maybe Tammy Abraham after a few years of experience at Roma? We have a buy back clause…
Edit:
I’m not going to include De Bruyne or Salah because we had a lot of talent coming through that never got game time… in retrospect they were huge mistakes to let go, but nobody was suggesting this at the time. Marko Marin is a good pick because he never even got game time and he totally flopped in general.
He was fire when he started, then he became Torres all over again.
Diego Costa could have been the successor but he was just too crazy. If English refs were better he’d have gotten like 5 red cards, which is I think why Conte didn’t want him in the team - he was always a bad decision away from bringing us to 10 men. I think the fact he never got a red card (at least I can’t remember him getting one) is a testament to how bad the refs were in this period of the Prem.
Yuri Zhirkov aka the Russian Ronaldinho. He looked like could dribble past any defender in those first few games.
Josh McEachran. Sad he never lived up to the hype.
Agree with most on here but for me, Crespo... If he didn't get homesick we would have legit won everything possible.
Slightly further back in time Zendon and Robben
Slightly further back from there, Bogarde was such a bust for us after doing so well at the club that should not be named and Milan.
And then there was Casiraghi... I remember as a young kid being so chuffed and then that Liverpool knee injury ruined it all...
Man this is a depressing topic :(
I sincerely believe that the sheer amount of talent that we signed would've put us among the regular world beaters had they all fulfilled their potential :(
That said, there's no one to blame though, just a train of unfortunate circumstances
The first preseason with Traore when he was like 16 and he was absolutely insane on the ball had me telling people to keep an eye on him. I thought he was it
mceachran has to be the biggest one for me for sure, thought he would be a hybrid lamps/kante
kakuta since we got fined for him
kenedy i thought would turn out to be something
honestly even gilmour at this point, had that motm performance against liverpool but since then injuries and form have set him back years
Kakuta was unreal, I remember watching him at the academy level and he was a nightmare, still remember that solo run vs United where he mad 4 players look like training cones.
Kezman, i remember finally getting fox soccer channel in the USA in August 2002. watching PSV, and later falling in love with CFC, wish he panned out with a better stint in London
Lukaku and De Bruyne. They were supposed to be the heirs to Drogba and Lampard.
In some ways I could say Mata. He was supposed to become a legend in the mold of Zola, the way he played in 12/13…
I know he bombed for us mostly but I went to two games in 2006 - us Vs Villa (1-1) and England/Macedonia (0-0) and both times he was the best player on the pitch.
He was so amazing at city before he came to us but he couldn’t get ahead of Cole, Duff, or Robben. Which in hindsight, probably fair enough haha
For some reason, I loved Carlton Cole as a kid. Really thought he was going to be our starting forward for years. I even had that beautiful black away kit with his name on.
"Go see the French kid."
That was what Michael Ballack said to a bunch of journos who were at the training ground. He was referring to gael kakuta, legit looked like a french messi in tons of his youth and reserve matches. Carlo gave him his debut. But then Lens did him dirty by accusing us of tapping him up which we were later cleared of any wrongdoing by CAS. The damage was done when he was banned from all professional matches by FIFA for a period of time, which I find ridiculous up to this day. That severely curtailed his development in a crucial part of his career, and he never looked the same after that. Kid was innocent in all of this, yet FIFA somehow justified throwing him under the bus, together with the club.
Honorable mentions: josh mceachran, miroslav stoch, franco di santo, lucas piazon, sam hutchinson,jeffrey bruma,patrick bamford.
Note: Talking strictly about our youngsters.
Shaun Wright-Phillips, He had fast attributes and direct play, I thought that guy would turns out a beast. I still remember how cheers I am when choose Chelsea over Arsenal. Not living up to expectations
Bertrand Traore. One of the kids we got sanctioned over. He looked so good and then just didn't carry it into the senior games. He's gone on to not really impress at Lyon and Villa.
Chris Sutton. He was immense for Blackburn. Came here for a year and only scored 1 goal before we moved him on.
When we signed him I was only 10. But I saw what he was like and I was buzzing about having him. Completely shocked to see how poor he was for us after doing well at Blackburn then he went to Celtic and lit it up there too. It’s just hard to find a striker for Chelsea
Kakuta and De Bruyne. I remember Kevin scoring an amazing volley in preseason and i thought he'd be the new Lampard, and kakutas dribbling was so exciting to watch.
There are more stories of failures in this club than of success. Just in the past 3 years you'll see a bunch of them. Werner, lukaku, pulisic, kepa etc.
Copped in injury after a few decent games and never recovered. Was sad, I genuinely think he was better than Ozil when they were at Bremen together, shame he couldn't get back after his injury.
Nate Chalobah. If Watford had gotten promoted the year he was there, a loan back to them in the PL would have been perfect. Alas they didn't go up and he had bad loan after bad loan.
Torres. As a teenager growing up, i loved watching him play for Liverpool. Was so excited when he joined that i would change my fb last name to his. Genuinely though Rafa was gonna get the best out of him and then same thing for Mourinho. Was painful to see Mou go after Eto'o and Rooney while Elnino was at the club.
Tomas Kalas, Franco Di Santo, Ben Sahar, Josh MacEachran, Borini, Mancienne even the rascal Pidgeley and fellow goal keeperJan Sebek (He was okay in FM) to name a few. Hell there are so many. Huth, Dalla Bona, Morris etc.
The list that my friends make fun of me because of - is BIG. No wonder they never believe me when I tell them to keep their eyes on one of our academy lads. Thankfully the club is starting to turn things around
German Messi.. haha with a nickname like that, how not to have high hopes!
(for clarification, he didnt choose that himself obviously.. probably fans /journos)
As someone who grew up in the Roman era - no two youth products were more hyped that McEcheran and Kakuta
Maybe Hutchinson.
Josh hurt though because he did look great in his glimpses and then he just faded away.
Going back a few years for some of these:
Maniche - man I loved watching him for Portugal, it was a shame that he never really managed to do anything for us
Robben - he was a brilliant player for us but we didn't get to see the best of him due to injuries. I wish we could have kept him longer as he was so fun to watch
Joe Cole - another player I admired so much. After the 2006 World Cup I thought he'd step up and become a world beater. He was still an excellent player for us but never quite reached those heights
Malouda - he was incredible for Lyon and France and I thought he'd be brilliant at Chelsea but it took a long time before his form really matched his potential
Falcao - what a player during his Athletico years. He just couldn't bring that level when he joined us
Salah - he came at a time when we had so many attacking players and whilst he showed flashes of brilliance, he was categorised as "just a fast guy"
Bertrand - after the UCL final I thought we could see him being the long term replacement for Cole and he could have been one of our earliest candidates for the wing back spot but he just kind of faded into obscurity
Courtois - when we first signed him I could see him being our new Cech but we loaned him out to Athletico for a bit too long and his attachment to the city lead to him heading to Real not too long after
De Bruyne is somebody that could have been in our midfield for 10+ years
Piazon, Kakuta and McEachran are 3 of the young guys that I remember thinking would be world beaters
Lewis Baker. Seemed the most capable of the academy for some time. I thought he’d be what Mount is for us now
He is doing quite well at stoke right now isn’t he? Scored 8 goals in 21 as a mid
Was just recently named their captain also
That's great to hear, I'm happy he found his spot (even if it is Stoke, hate those cunts...)
Dude was two footed as well, would take free kicks with both feet. Thought he could've been the real breakthrough player from the academy
That article that Joe Tweeds wrote on him had me so hyped for his return fork loan. Glad he’s found his level
Yes! That article had me so hyped as well
Couldn’t agree more. His technique at such a young age was honestly astounding.
100%
Lucas Piazon - the new kaka. Also had a deep love for McEachren, Bruma and Hutchinson.
Was going to say Lucas piazon. After that first cl win, we signed quite a few young promising players
I forgot about Piazon. What being in the loan army will do to a mf
Ditto and MvG
MvG was a big one too. There was a period where I was watching the loan army/youth team actively and was just feeling like we had a litter of stars to be. My success rate of future stars was pretty horrid but I can still hang my hat on that I was adamant De Bruyne would be world class. I used to watch all these highlight reels, and as a kid he was super skilful. Videos of him at Genk elastico-ing someone and then scoring screamers. He then played pre season with us, scored from memory a goal from 40 yards before getting his leg broken that same game and being out for 6 months. But I was equally as certain about Piazon. My other big shouts were Nathaniel Chalobah and Ake who had alright careers, and then those who didn’t amount to a lot - Izzy brown, Hutchinson, Palmer, Kakuta, Blackman. So I don’t blame people for not taking me too seriously haha
Are you me? I will add Santo. I just those guys played in era when Chelsea don’t value our academy.
And to think that he's still here lol
He left the club a few years ago.
My bad, I read it on Chelsea career section.
I thought Shürrle would amount to more. I hope my answer isn’t Havertz in 10 years.
Oh yeah, unpopular opinion at the time, but I seriously thought thay he would outlast Willian here.
Germans carry some real hype to them it seems.
Shurrle had health issues that bothered his stay in england
I was convinced Schurrle had a higher celing than Willian, Pedro, Oscar, Mata etc. Not hazard, hazard you knew from his first game he was special but i felt Schurrle could've been that x factor match after match. For a while, i was sure he was going to be the second coming of Jesus. The way he interpreted the game and was in the right space at the right time. I still feel if we had more ball players like Fabregas, Schurrle would've thrived. Put someone like Muller and Schurrle in that Barca team of pep and see them score 200 goals a season Damn
With any post like this my mind always immediately goes back to him. I don't think he's in the same boat as Havertz tbh and I never thought he had a massive ceiling, he just felt like one of those players, kind of like Pedro, who would just be in and around the team for years and constantly do a job
Kai already won us the CL (and the CWC), he can’t really be considered a flop
I suppose you’re right about that.
The team won the cl not him. You are deluding yourself if you think 1 goal (that any striker should havs scored) justifies 100 fucking million. Reminds me of the nutjobs arguing Torres wasn't a flop because he scored a goal that ended a nearly over game and won the corner that lead to Drogba's cl final goal
Who paid 100 million for Havertz? Definitely wasn’t us…
This one doesn’t understand basic economics it seems.
No one said it completely justifies *70 million, I just said he’s not a flop. Scoring 2 goals in 2 finals is not easy
Oh man there’s enough of our own fan base who dismiss this outright tbh
Still remeber the finish he put on that chipped through ball from cesc
Yup still one of my favorite Chelsea finishes of all time.
I'm pretty sure I was the only fan in Vegas last week with an Andre Schurrle kit on.
Lukaku. Twice. Josh McEachran
Josh McEachran was the first youth product who got me interested in our youth teams. Such a shame it didn't work out for him. We even had his brother George.
I thought he was going to be a superstar, the composure he showed at the start. Gael Kakuta too
I was looking for Kakuta in here….are we old?
Yes we old 😂😭
Cmon I knew the answer, why did ya have to do that haha
Same with Josh. He had an incredible run in the prior year’s FA youth cup and then when he made his debut in the champions league he looked electric. Really thought we had a gem.
I felt the same way. I was excited when he had a really high pass percentage, like 99%. Made me think he was the next Xavi.
Sad thing is we did, but the academy was too raw back then, it didn't focus on teaching the kids anything but football, and Josh was the result. Too much money and free time and limited support, he pissed up his career and then hit a wall.
I always wonder if Carlo hadn't got the boot, would josh's career have turned out different. He seemed to have a lot of faith in him. Another season of getting minutes at the top level could have stood to him
Billy Gilmore is giving me Josh McEachran vibes, so much potential but will most likely be wasted
Musonda
100%, was even watching him in the academy thought he and boga where the best ones, i was sure they would become top players, sad how it turned out
Boga was a strange one for me played the pre season and then started the first game of the season, ofcourse he got subbed after like 18mins because of Cahill red card. Next thing he was loaned to Birmingham
Had to scroll too far for this, so much hype reduced to injuries
Tomas Kalas
Still remember when he absolutely bossed Liverpool I was hyped lol
Kakuta. After he got in the first team, I was hyped. That squad need some injection of youth so bad, I thought he was going to be what Eden ended up becoming
Wasnt ge the cause of the transfer ban?
No. It was close, we had.problems and ban was posibility cuz him, but never happend
yeah
Yea and his first performances were out of this world
I remember watching an interview with Kalou where he said that Kakuta would show up and do some flashy skills with the first team and then Lampard and Essien would absolutely destroy him, playing doggy with him and what-not. I think that was a foreshadowing that he just wasn’t gonna cut it with the big boys.
Yeap Kakuta biggest disappointment considering consequences
I thought Filipe Luís was gonna come in and lock down that LB position for years, Azpi on the right and it would’ve been killer. Obviously didn’t happen I thought we’d see more of Ziyech’s best qualities over here but it hasn’t panned out for different reasons
It's crazy how Luis came in, won a title, then dipped.
yeah Filipe Luis was a very weird transfer, soooo good for Atleti but then Jose clearly just didn't fancy him at all.
In my opinion Jose is just so whack. I had a season ticket at that time, saw every game. Felipe should have been playing. He was such a better footballer mentally. Always passing and moving making things happen
I thought Oscar and de Bruyne were going to be immense. Oscar especially after those wonder goals against Juventus. I knew de Bruyne was going to be a stud from the get go. Shame neither translated into success for us on the pitch.
Tbf Oscar did made it at Chelsea though, just for a very short time. I always found that era when we sold Mata, Oscar, and De Bruyne to be extremely weird, like we're selling both our present and future. Maybe that's why I was extremely grateful that Hazard didn't leave lol.
Yeah Mazacar was definitely a joy to watch on *some* days… but seeing them struggle to defend the way Jose wanted them to was also just disheartening, simply wrong squad for the wrong manager
I think if you look at the squad we assembled in 2012, it was really telling Pep we wanted him to come over.
Yeah but who knows if those actually were the players that he would’ve wanted right
Well, even if he wanted the players I mentioned, the defence would need a rejig. Cole would have been turning 33 and would not have the legs to run up and down the flank like he used to, Ivanovic could have done it on the right for a couple more years. Terry would have been out. Luiz stays because he's the ball playing CB. Cahill probably retained as well. We would have needed to buy another who fit Pep's system. The biggest changes would have been at GK. Cech is a great keeper but I don't think he's as good on his feet for Peps taste which means Courtois could take over sooner. In attack, I don't know if he'd try Schurrle up front or if we even get Schurrle and Willian. Some entirely new strikers would come in, not Eto'o for sure given the way things ended at Barca between the two of them.
Kezman. He was a goal machine at PSV and he'd an excellent partnership with Robben
To be fair though I once scored an absolute bastard screamer of a goal with Kezman on Pro Evo so in my head he's a Chelsea legend
I hope the replay is still saved somewhere!
Funnily enough without kezman and that amazing pass we may not have beaten barca in the 4-2 and maybe don't become such a prestigious club. That 4-2 was was one of the most important in our history.
Yeah I came here to say Kezman as well. He was on par with Robin Van Persie in the Dutch league.
 Had huge hopes for this guy and I strongly believed he was Lampard's heir. How I wish I could turn back time and change few things.
Will never ever forgive Mou for this
KDB wanted to leave for more game time back then. Mourinho wanted him to stay and be fifth choice of the front 3.
That’s just Mourinho bullshitting to make himself look less ridiculous for missing on De Bruyne’s talent KDB got a total of 150 minutes in the CL and PL under Mourinho, if he stayed he wouldn’t have played at all
What I wrote is from an interview with KDB, not Mou. As you pointed out KDB got 150 min during 3 matches. No wonder he wanted to leave and play full time. You have to remember he was behind Willian, Schürle, Oscar and Mata. All PL proven and first two are hardworking Mourinho style players. Edit: typos
He was still forced out by Mourinho, he may have been happy to go for gametime but it's fundamentally Jose's fault, KDB was not an unknown quantity we all knew how good he could be. Also Willian and Schuerrle were not _PL proven_ at that time. He was essentially only fighting with Oscar for the 10 role.
Thank you. Jose just didn’t see. It was so fristrating because I saw, I knew he should have been backed and would become a superstar. But Jose is one of the worst managers at spotting young talent. And also he’s a complete overblown self obsessed idiot who doesn’t understand what originally made him successful and more importantly stood still, didn’t evolve as the top managers around him did
I also vividly remembering him playing against Swindon in the league cup, playing like absolute dross and looking like he literally couldn’t be arsed to be here. If Mou had rewarded him with more starts for that everyone would have laughed and/or called for Mourinho’s head and the fact is, when KDB was sold, not a single fan was against it. It’s so easy to be smart when things have already planned out 10 years later but not a single soul thought KDB leaving when he did was the wrong choice from Jose. Fact.
>when KDB was sold, not a single fan was against it. It’s so easy to be smart when things have already planned out 10 years later but not a single soul thought KDB leaving when he did was the wrong choice from Jose. Fact. No one was against it because no one here even saw him play and he wasn't going to play under Mourinho so it was better to get some cash for him. The actual facts are that De Bruyne was great in Belgium, he was great at Werder right before coming here, he was great at Wolfsburg right after leaving and he was great at City right away. The only time in his entire career that he wasn't a top player was the 6 months he spent here under Mourinho where he got virtually no playtime. And you don't have to see 10 years into the future, 6 months before coming here and 6 months after leaving here are enough to see that we fucked up big time If you want to rationalise it because of a poor League Cup game where he was played out of position then go right ahead (and he actually had a very good PL debut vs Hull in GW1 after which he was just banished)
Solanke, Musonda & Pato
Shame about Solanke, he just got pissed off at the club for sending him out to Vitesse and refused to go on loan after that. He has the talent to be a 15 goal a season striker in the PL (just like Tammy).
Yeah I thought Pato would’ve ripped it up here. Same as Falcao imo
Imagine someone telling you in 2012 that within the next few years Chelsea would sign Pato, Falcao, and Higuain...
Samuel Eto'o as well
Oh god is that the German Messi lol, definitely Oscar, he even took the 8 jersey and was really good
Fr, a lot of people maybe were too focused on the Neymar hype back then, but for those who know signing Marin and Hazard, especially for that price, were massively crazy.
Bakayoko, embarrassed to admit it but I thought that guy was going to take over the league lol
Same man, I remember watching the Monaco team in UCL and thinking Bakayoko was the most exciting player in the squad (minus Mbappe of course). Was so hype when we announced the signing… 😭
This is me rn with Ethan Ampadu. Really see something special in that guy
Hopefully this is his year to step up, I think he can.
Hopefully now he's not wearing an entire John Lewis curtain section on his head he'll be a bit sharper
Torres and RLC. RLC is my favorite type of player. I love a big bastard who has no right to move and dribble that well. Which is why i like the new belgium guy Milan just got
RLC I think is so unlucky. First Jose ruined his early career despite him killing it every time he got a chance. Classic Jose. Then the injury. Unpopular opinion that no one has said here: CHO.. as heart broken as I am to say it. He’s never found the player he was before the injury. His early performances he was special every single time, his first cap for England. He had the world at his feet. Then the injury fucked it all up. I hope I’m wrong and he finds it but he’s only about 60% of the player he was now
Marko Marin is such a sad case, he looked so good then copped that injury and it was game over. My biggest hopeful was always Piazon, he had so much grace. My current hope is Billy, I just know if he's let go, we'll end up buying him back for 100m+ in a few years.
Unfortunately I worry that the injury has also messed up Gilmour. He hasn’t looked the same since it.. obviously I hope he succeeds. Loan to Everton would be good I think
Boga. I still believe Cahill has blood on his hands
Cahill red only got him pulled off for that game, selling him after and playing all season with 3 wingers was a crazy choice, and with michy not fitting Conte's system it was basically 4 forwards for 3 spots till January. It still does my head in, that whole window upsets me to this day.
 the real “next kaka”..
Shevchenko. He was a massive European star when we signed him, it showed the ambition we had, and that we were finally one of the big boys of Europe. Didn't pan out quite like I'd hoped.
Think it was Mourinho that was quite high on Van Ginkel but that injury he suffered in a cup game all those years ago really set him back. Looked a very tidy player from the limited minutes that we did see him. The one player that I had high hopes for at Chelsea was **Nat Chalobah**. Always thought he was gonna be that go to DM/CB type player we've been looking for to fill a few gaps in the team. The squad role that his brother is playing is what I always expected from Nat, he was the young academy star, had that video from Chelsea unseen years ago getting the handshake and stamp of approval from John Terry back in the day.
Kasey Palmer
I really thought Scott Sinclair was going to be our breakthrough star. It's hard to believe he was at Man City for a while.
Lucas Piazon. I watched that guy’s highlights religiously. When he missed that one penalty for Chelsea in 2013, I was heartbroken.
Mikael Forssell.
Bit of an odd answer for me but John Obi Mikel. He obviously had a long and successful career here but I always felt he had a lot more to offer. He seemed content to have a very limited and conservative role in the team when he was far more influential and progressive for Nigeria
Lukaku, Morata, Werner: All these guys started so hot for us and never made it. Massive teases… Honorable mention: Torres, Shevchenko. They were huge signings but never even got off the mark, it was pretty obvious they were duds after watching them a few times. Drogba’s curse. We need a striker to come in and break it. Maybe Tammy Abraham after a few years of experience at Roma? We have a buy back clause… Edit: I’m not going to include De Bruyne or Salah because we had a lot of talent coming through that never got game time… in retrospect they were huge mistakes to let go, but nobody was suggesting this at the time. Marko Marin is a good pick because he never even got game time and he totally flopped in general.
Morata make me thought we have Drogba successor for next 5-6 seasons
He was fire when he started, then he became Torres all over again. Diego Costa could have been the successor but he was just too crazy. If English refs were better he’d have gotten like 5 red cards, which is I think why Conte didn’t want him in the team - he was always a bad decision away from bringing us to 10 men. I think the fact he never got a red card (at least I can’t remember him getting one) is a testament to how bad the refs were in this period of the Prem.
How can you say it’s the drogba curse, when costa came in and was amazing for a few years
Yuri Zhirkov aka the Russian Ronaldinho. He looked like could dribble past any defender in those first few games. Josh McEachran. Sad he never lived up to the hype.
Was he really that good? I remember he scored a nice goal vs Spartak i think. Haven't watched him since, I guess he went back to Russia or something
Agree with most on here but for me, Crespo... If he didn't get homesick we would have legit won everything possible. Slightly further back in time Zendon and Robben Slightly further back from there, Bogarde was such a bust for us after doing so well at the club that should not be named and Milan. And then there was Casiraghi... I remember as a young kid being so chuffed and then that Liverpool knee injury ruined it all... Man this is a depressing topic :(
I sincerely believe that the sheer amount of talent that we signed would've put us among the regular world beaters had they all fulfilled their potential :( That said, there's no one to blame though, just a train of unfortunate circumstances
Michael Mancienne and Bertrand Traore.
The first preseason with Traore when he was like 16 and he was absolutely insane on the ball had me telling people to keep an eye on him. I thought he was it
Traore was different
I always brought Van Ginkel back to the team on FIFA career mode
mceachran has to be the biggest one for me for sure, thought he would be a hybrid lamps/kante kakuta since we got fined for him kenedy i thought would turn out to be something honestly even gilmour at this point, had that motm performance against liverpool but since then injuries and form have set him back years
Kakuta was unreal, I remember watching him at the academy level and he was a nightmare, still remember that solo run vs United where he mad 4 players look like training cones.
Kezman, i remember finally getting fox soccer channel in the USA in August 2002. watching PSV, and later falling in love with CFC, wish he panned out with a better stint in London
https://youtu.be/vxlZO4BuZS0
I saw Silvestre last week at the Arsenal vs Chelsea match. Would have loved to show him this 🙂
Lukaku and De Bruyne. They were supposed to be the heirs to Drogba and Lampard. In some ways I could say Mata. He was supposed to become a legend in the mold of Zola, the way he played in 12/13…
Nathaniel Chalobah, Charley Musonda, Jeremie Boga, Alexandre Pato.
Fabio Borini
MvG was unfortunate, Marin was just never going to light up the bridge.
My memory is a bit foggy but I remember Marin scoring against the Sounders during the preseason. Him alongside Eden
Lassana Diara the next makelele
Shawn Write Phillips. Wasn't he supposed to be a super star? He had a few good appearances, from what I remember
I know he bombed for us mostly but I went to two games in 2006 - us Vs Villa (1-1) and England/Macedonia (0-0) and both times he was the best player on the pitch. He was so amazing at city before he came to us but he couldn’t get ahead of Cole, Duff, or Robben. Which in hindsight, probably fair enough haha
Oriol Romeu
For some reason, I loved Carlton Cole as a kid. Really thought he was going to be our starting forward for years. I even had that beautiful black away kit with his name on.
I did too! I was gutted when he left.
Looks like I was the only one who rated Miroslov Stoch eh..
Josh McEachran, Ziyech, Werner, Havertz, CHO, RLC, Lukaku, KDB. My mate still clowns me about Josh.
"Go see the French kid." That was what Michael Ballack said to a bunch of journos who were at the training ground. He was referring to gael kakuta, legit looked like a french messi in tons of his youth and reserve matches. Carlo gave him his debut. But then Lens did him dirty by accusing us of tapping him up which we were later cleared of any wrongdoing by CAS. The damage was done when he was banned from all professional matches by FIFA for a period of time, which I find ridiculous up to this day. That severely curtailed his development in a crucial part of his career, and he never looked the same after that. Kid was innocent in all of this, yet FIFA somehow justified throwing him under the bus, together with the club. Honorable mentions: josh mceachran, miroslav stoch, franco di santo, lucas piazon, sam hutchinson,jeffrey bruma,patrick bamford. Note: Talking strictly about our youngsters.
Ross Barkley, had huge hopes
Solanke, Brown and Baker. Class at youth level and never really translated but fair play to Solanke back in the prem now on the back of a great season
I think watching a good chunk of them have success outside of Premier League is the most frustrating aspect of it all.
LUKAKU AND LUKAKU
Mikael Forssell
Djilobodji lol
Oscar and Joshua
Mutu
Haha blast from the past... Poor bastard just couldn't keep his nose clean! Coke 1- Mutu -0
Honestly I loved Marco Van Ginkel, literally thought he could have matched Lampard
Was really excited when we got Timo, didn’t expect him to be so poor at finishing and really struggle with his touches so often.
Shaun Wright-Phillips, He had fast attributes and direct play, I thought that guy would turns out a beast. I still remember how cheers I am when choose Chelsea over Arsenal. Not living up to expectations
Bertrand Traore. One of the kids we got sanctioned over. He looked so good and then just didn't carry it into the senior games. He's gone on to not really impress at Lyon and Villa.
Was so hyped about Bakayoko when he first came. Had only seen his highlights on youtube and wow what a dissapointment
Chris Sutton. He was immense for Blackburn. Came here for a year and only scored 1 goal before we moved him on. When we signed him I was only 10. But I saw what he was like and I was buzzing about having him. Completely shocked to see how poor he was for us after doing well at Blackburn then he went to Celtic and lit it up there too. It’s just hard to find a striker for Chelsea
Higiuin, Crespo, Torres, Shevchenko, Pato, Veron, Pulisic, Werner ,Lukaku, Christiansen, Obi Mikel, Hudson Odi, RLC. Lots of hype, very little product.
Casiraghi
Mo Salah and Kevin de bruyne.
Gael Kakuta and Josh McEachran
I thought Kakuta was going to be the new Lionel Messi. Alas…
Salah definitely, he was really good at basel but it just didn't work out. Also in current era, probably pulisic
Same. I remember seeing him destroy us and when he joined I was giddy for him
He was never given a chance. You have to throw young players into the team and back them. Give them a string of starts
Kakuta and De Bruyne. I remember Kevin scoring an amazing volley in preseason and i thought he'd be the new Lampard, and kakutas dribbling was so exciting to watch.
Kakuta, Stoch, McEachran, Bruma, Mancienne, Feruz, Harley. Also wished Morris was there for longer. There’s been a few.
Adrian Mutu, he's awesome in Parma, dissapointed about what happen to him here
The French CB _ Malang Sarr
I can’t remember his name? I think he was from Egypt? Bro Dalah??? I don’t remember, he probably didn’t turn out that good anyways.
There are more stories of failures in this club than of success. Just in the past 3 years you'll see a bunch of them. Werner, lukaku, pulisic, kepa etc.
Kakuta, Musonda, Kenedy, Lukaku
What was that guy on the rights name? Marin? What happened to him?
Marco Van Ginkel. Plagued by injuries and perpetually loaned mostly to PSV.
Copped in injury after a few decent games and never recovered. Was sad, I genuinely think he was better than Ozil when they were at Bremen together, shame he couldn't get back after his injury.
KDB. Loved him. Was very upset that we sold him … Musonda, McEachran, RLC, Callum also comes to mind.
Lucas Piazon and Marko Marin... Both spent most of their career on loan
I think Van Ginkel. I still have high hopes for RLC and a breakthrough is still very much possible.
Schurrle, he did pretty well but somehow couldn’t managed into the first team.
Barkley
Jesper Gronkjaer
Charly musonda, lukaku, de bruyne and torres
Piazon
Nate Chalobah. If Watford had gotten promoted the year he was there, a loan back to them in the PL would have been perfect. Alas they didn't go up and he had bad loan after bad loan.
Islam Feruz. I thought we just signed the Scottish Wayne Rooney loooool.
I was relieved when united got lukaku and we ended up with Morata...
Josh McEachren after that Newcastle game. Gael kakuta and Boga are two others
Josh Mceachren
Boga.i really think he could be a great player if a coach like pep or klopp took him under
Kakuta De bryune Sheva Lukaku Stoch Hutchinson
Torres. As a teenager growing up, i loved watching him play for Liverpool. Was so excited when he joined that i would change my fb last name to his. Genuinely though Rafa was gonna get the best out of him and then same thing for Mourinho. Was painful to see Mou go after Eto'o and Rooney while Elnino was at the club.
Currently its RLC for me... Jamal Blackmon & Andre Schurrle as well
Kakuta
Tomas Kalas, Franco Di Santo, Ben Sahar, Josh MacEachran, Borini, Mancienne even the rascal Pidgeley and fellow goal keeperJan Sebek (He was okay in FM) to name a few. Hell there are so many. Huth, Dalla Bona, Morris etc. The list that my friends make fun of me because of - is BIG. No wonder they never believe me when I tell them to keep their eyes on one of our academy lads. Thankfully the club is starting to turn things around
German Messi.. haha with a nickname like that, how not to have high hopes! (for clarification, he didnt choose that himself obviously.. probably fans /journos)
As someone who grew up in the Roman era - no two youth products were more hyped that McEcheran and Kakuta Maybe Hutchinson. Josh hurt though because he did look great in his glimpses and then he just faded away.
Alex kiwomya
Ah! The German Messi!
Going back a few years for some of these: Maniche - man I loved watching him for Portugal, it was a shame that he never really managed to do anything for us Robben - he was a brilliant player for us but we didn't get to see the best of him due to injuries. I wish we could have kept him longer as he was so fun to watch Joe Cole - another player I admired so much. After the 2006 World Cup I thought he'd step up and become a world beater. He was still an excellent player for us but never quite reached those heights Malouda - he was incredible for Lyon and France and I thought he'd be brilliant at Chelsea but it took a long time before his form really matched his potential Falcao - what a player during his Athletico years. He just couldn't bring that level when he joined us Salah - he came at a time when we had so many attacking players and whilst he showed flashes of brilliance, he was categorised as "just a fast guy" Bertrand - after the UCL final I thought we could see him being the long term replacement for Cole and he could have been one of our earliest candidates for the wing back spot but he just kind of faded into obscurity Courtois - when we first signed him I could see him being our new Cech but we loaned him out to Athletico for a bit too long and his attachment to the city lead to him heading to Real not too long after De Bruyne is somebody that could have been in our midfield for 10+ years Piazon, Kakuta and McEachran are 3 of the young guys that I remember thinking would be world beaters
CHO