The 18 year old defender has had an amazing 12 months which has included his first team and international debuts as well as an FA Youth Cup winners medal.

It was during the FA Youth Cup run that Chelsea fans had the best opportunity to see his talent as he turned in performances that showed his maturity and ability all along the back line in a victorious cup run.

Able to play at right back and centre back, the new squad rules and his versatility mean that he is likely to add to his 3 first team appearances earned so far in the coming season.

Combining first team responsibilities with his youth team duties, it is hard to believe that the Dutchman is still only 18 and with time and talent on his side.

As the pressure begins to mount on the academy to produce the £100,000 signing from Feyenoord looks as if he is about to repay the clubs investment.

Here are a few videos showcasing the Dutchman’s talent, apologies for any dodgy music.

Now that the transfer window is shut, and everyone is settled we will finally get a break from attention-grabbing speculations to absurd rumours .  But I would like to talk about a few players  we, as Chelsea, should have considered.

Firstly: 

 Royston Ricky Drenthe

Player Profile:

-          Birthday:  8^th of April 1987(23 years old)

-          Country  of Origin: The Netherlands

-          Club:  Hercules C.F (on loan from Real Madrid)

-          Position:  Left Wing Back

The young Dutchman has gone on loan and who can blame him as he was told personally by Jose Mourinho that he isn’t in the manager’s near future plan as he would be the fourth choice after Marcelo, Garay, and Arbeloa(the latter alternating from right back to left back according to Sergio Ramos’ fitness).

We could have used him as back up for the mighty great Ashley Cole, though if we were living in my dream world we would have gotten Gareth Bale but Tottenham would never sell him to Chelsea.

Secondly:  Rafael van der Vaart

Player Profile:

-          Birthday: 11^th of February 1983(27 years old)

-          Country of Origin: The Netherlands

-          Club: Tottenham Hotspur

-          Position : Attacking Midfield

The same problem as Drenthe quite frankly, with the arrivals of Mesut Ozil and Sergio Canales, and after Kaka recovers from his knee surgery; Rafa will fall down the pecking order.

Real Madrid didn’t make it a secret that that the Dutchman was out of favour, and the proof was the drama of his transfer to Tottenham that went on late after the deadline was past. We could have got van der Vaart as a replacement for Joe Cole or we have gotten……..

Thirdly: Stephen Ireland

Player Profile:

-          Birthday: 22^nd of August 1986(24 years old)

-          Country of Origin: Republic of Ireland

-          Club: Aston Villa

-          Position: Attacking Midfield

After the arrival of Roberto Mancini to Eastlands; Ireland’s appearances for City started decreasing.

As the Transfer gates opened, rumours of Ireland leaving Manchester City were filling the web. He finally joined Aston Villa in a deal that saw James Milner, City’s top target, go to Eastlands. Ireland himself could have been Joe Cole’s replacement or maybe the player who would have followed in Frank Lampard’s footstep as many, me included, rates him as the next Lampsy.

Finally: Gervinho

Player Profile:

-          Birthday: 27^th of May 1987(23 years old)

-          Country of Origin: Ivory Coast

-          Club: Lille

-          Position: Center Forward/Winger

In my opinion Gervinho would have been a much safer risk than Neymar, and quite cheaper. The Ivorian firstly is better physically built than Neymar and we all know that the Premier League is a very physical league.

Gervinho is very athletic and versatile he can play anywhere in the frontline, and with Ivory Coast teammates Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou in our squad there would have been a chemistry flowing with them three. The agile Ivorian could have been used as a super sub where it would have been Neymar’s Job as well.

Chelsea no longer have the squad flexibility of the Mourinho era, will this affect performance?

As previously discussed on eChelseaFC, Chelsea had to name their 25 man squad today made up of a maximum 17 non-home grown players today.

The club has however only named a 19 man squad under the new ruling split 15 (non-home grown) to 4 (home grown)

In addition to this Chelsea have 6 players under the age of 21 (who are exempt from limits) that have been allocated a squad number this season.

According to the club’s official website the squad until January is as follows

1. Petr Cech
2. Branislav Ivanovic
3. Ashley Cole (Homegrown)
5. Michael Essien
7. Ramires
8. Frank Lampard (Homegrown)
10. Yossi Benayoun
11. Didier Drogba 
12. John Mikel Obi
15. Florent Malouda
17. Jose Bosingwa
18. Yury Zhirkov
19. Paulo Ferreira
21. Salomon Kalou
22. Ross Turnbull (Homegrown)
26. John Terry (Homegrown)
33. Alex
39. Nicolas Anelka
40. Henrique Hilario

Our Under 21 players who currently have a squad number are:

23. Daniel Sturridge
38. Patrick van Aanholt
43. Jeffrey Bruma
44. Gael Kakuta
45. Fabio Borini
46. Josh McEachran

Will this squad have enough depth to retain the Premier League title is the main question on every fans list with the announcement of the squad.

A list of just 19 names or 25 players including young talent does not allow the same kind of depth that the club had in the Jose Mourinho days, I sincerely hope that the club is not befallen the bad run of injuries it has endured in previous years.

The main bonus for Chelsea is that no first team or squad player has had to be omitted from the list submitted due to the club falling foul of the rules, this suggests that Carlo Ancelotti feels he has the tools he needs to be successful this season.

Will this be the case? Only time will tell…..

Premier League Squad Rules Explained

The boys discuss the 2-0 defeat of a typically attritional Stoke, applaud some top performances by Ashley Cole, Florent Malouda, Mikel, John Terry and Alex, and ponder the forthcoming challenges of the Carling Cup and Champions League.

No 6-0 this week, so we’ll just have to be satisfied with 32 league goals without reply in our last 7 games. The salient point being no goals conceded…seven clean sheets!

As always it was a battle against Stoke, but even with Super Frank missing a penalty and then limping off, we ran out comfortable winners to leave us the only unbeaten team in the league with the small matter of a plus 14 goal difference. That’s why we’re champions!!

Chelsea’s passing and movement gets glowing praise from the FanCast crew. It’s just like watching Playstation football!! Thankfully, Super Frank and JT seem to have got injured just at the right time with international week coming up so will be better for the rest.

We have our usual awards for the Man of the Match; Chant of the Match; Celery and Guinness moments. Also as it’s the end of the month we’ll be nominating our Goal of the month and player of the month.

The boys also have a look at the forthcoming Carling Cup and Champions League where we will be reacquainted with the delights of Slovakia, the bad trip of the Luzhniky stadium and Didier Deschamps at Marseille.

A song for Obi in “We’re out to show the World the way to Sing” is followed, as ever, by the Dr donning his white coat and stethoscope to answer your questions in Dear Mart and a very grumpy Chidge reading out the best posts from the website and facebook group in “You’re on CFFC”…

The Chelsea Football FanCast: That’s why we’re Champions!

DOWNLOAD HERE!

Well after 3 months of rumours, speculation and drama the transfer window slammed shut at six o’clock UK time. In the window Chelsea lost some former heroes and gained some young talent and a proven Premiership performer.

Here is how the transfer window panned out

Players In:

Yossi Benayoun – £5m* (Midfield):

The first Chelsea transfer of the season, he is an experienced Premier League performer having featured for both West Ham and Liverpool. An impact substitute in his final months at Anfield, it is expected that he will provide back up for Florent Malouda, Frank Lampard or Michael Essien offering a different tactical dimension to Carlo Ancelotti’s options.

Ramires (Midfield)

After weeks of speculation Chelsea finally secured the signature of the talented midfielder Ramires who was one of 3 players that eChelseaFC identified at the start of the season as good potential signings.

Also - Tomas Kalas – Defender -Sigma Olumouc

Players Out

Joe Cole – Released/Liverpool

After contract negotiations broke down, the club announced that Joe Cole was being released that led to numerous claims and counter claims some of which bordered on the ridiculous. Whatever happened Chelsea lost a very talented footballer and only time will tell if it was the right decision.

Michael Ballack – Released/Bayer Leverkusen

His time at the club never delivered on the expectations when he arrived from Bayern Munich, however he offered alot to the club and had a few fantastic periods of form at the club.

Many expected he would get a contract extension, but obviously Carlo Ancelotti and the club felt that they could do without the German international with eyes probably already on the signing of Ramires.

Juliano Belletti – Free/Fluminese

The cult hero of the last few years, he had reached the end of his contract and Chelsea career, with both parties sharing a mutual understanding that it was time for Juliano to find a new club.

Deco – Free/Fluminese

Despite arriving on a crest of a wave, he seemed to only be able to perform during the summer or spring months, becoming anonymus with the first sign of summer.

Played his part in our title last year and this should not be easily forgotten.

Ricardo Carvalho – £6.7m Real Madrid

Probably the most technically gifted defender at the club for long periods of his stay, age was starting to catch up with the Portuguese international and Chelsea got a good price for a 32 year old.

Thank you for your service and contribution to 3 Championship medals Riccy.

Franco Di Santo – £2.5m – Wigan

After signing he was lauded as a future Chelsea star, however this never translated into results struggling in his performances both at the club on loan. £2.5m represents great value for Chelsea based on his current potential.

ALSO

Scott Sinclair, Liam Bridcutt (Brighton and Hove Albion), Sam Hutchinson (retired due to injury)

Out On Loan

Nemanja Matic (Vitesse), Rhys Taylor (Crewe), Michael Mancienne (Wolves), Metej Delac (Vitesse), Ryan Bertrand (Nottingham Forest),  Ben Gordon (Kilmarnock), Tomas Kalas (Sigma Olumouc), Slobodan Rajkovic (Vitesse), Jack Cork (Burnley), Danny Phillishirk (Oxford United)

The Nearly Men: Neymar, Begovic, Demechelis, Ramos and countless others

FLORENT MALOUDA LOUDA, LOUDA, FLORENT MALOUDA WHOOP WHOOP!

Frank Lampard is consoled by Didier Drogba after his penalty miss

Chelsea produced a better performance but fewer goals than their previous two games with a 2-0 victory over Stoke City.

Despite an early Frank Lampard penalty miss goals from Florent Malouda and Didier Drogba sealed victory and maintained Chelsea’s 100% start to the season.

Chelsea started with a sharpness that had been lacking in the opening two games and it was little surprise when Florent Malouda was brought down inside the area and a penalty was awarded. Frank Lampard stepped up as usual but his effort focussed on placement instead of power and Thomas Sorenson guessed the right way to make a relatively simple save.

After half an hour of banging on the door with little threat from Stoke it took a surging run from defence by captain John Terry and a deft pass to play in Florent Malouda who did not need a second invitation to  break the deadlock.

Almost immediately Ashley Cole restated his worth to the team with a ferocious effort that combined power and technique to rattle the crossbar from a Didier Drogba through ball.

Chelsea continued to threaten until the half time whistle looking great value for their lead, with the performances of Alex, Ashley Cole and John Terry standing out from the crowd, the latter of which was treated like a hero for his contribution to the opening goal.

After half time Chelsea did not have quite the same penetration and Stoke were slightly more threatening. As in previous games John Obi Mikel almost squandered all of his good work in the game by being caught in possession in the build up to Stoke’s best chance of the game, a 25 yard drive by Glenn Whelan that rattled the cross bar.

Frank Lampard had been subpar throughout the game even is you discount the penalty miss the England midfielder did not look his usual self, which is explained by both his withdrawal as the first substitute of the game and the subsequent announcement that he is injured and will undergo a hernia operation next week.

Despite not matching the performance levels of the first half Chelsea looked threatening and when Nicholas Anelka beat Thomas Sorenson to a through ball just inside the Stoke penalty area, the Dane had little chance to get out of the way and the resulting contact led to the second penalty of the game.

With Lampard off the field, Didier Drogba stepped up and made no mistake to make the score 2-0 and end any hopes of a Stoke revival.

This allowed for the introduction of Daniel Sturridge and for the final few minutes the arrival of Ramires for his Chelsea debut.

Match Analysis

Overall this was a more pleasing victory over tougher opponents than the previous two games games, as Stoke really tried to make an impact in the game.

The slight downturn in the second half should not detract from another clean sheet and excellent start to the season for the blues, now we head to the international break and I hope that Chelsea will not lose anymore players after the announcement that Frank Lampard and John Terry are suffering from injury.

Player Ratings

Petr Cech – 7 – Still not much to do, however he looked strong in the air and back to his best.

Paulo Ferreria – 6 – A better performance that the opening day but still not infallible at the back, a worthy third choice right back though.

John Terry – 9 – His best performance for Chelsea in a long time, calm assured and confident he also showed some amazing touches and positional awareness as well as providing the impetus and assist for the first goal.

Alex – 8 – A perfect partnership with John Terry and some superbly timed last ditch tackles to protect an impressive clean sheet record

Ashley Cole – 8 – Another fantastic performance, that so nearly ended in an amazing goal, good going forward and solid at the back, undoubtedly the best left back in the world.

Mikel – 7 – One of his better performances with Ramires waiting in the wings, still looks prone to mistakes in possession, one of which nearly led to a Stoke goal.

Frank Lampard – 5 – A missed penalty and poor performance from the normally dependable Lampard which may be explained by a hernia injury that led to his withdrawal

Michael Essien – 7 – Another solid performance from the Ghanaian

Florent Malouda – 8 – Amazing start to the season for the Frenchman who now has 4 goals in just 3 games.

Nicholas Anelka – 8 – Always threatening and won the penalty that Didier Drogba converted

Didier Drogba – 8 – Another game another goal, imperious display from the Ivorian

Substitutes

Solomon Kalou – 6 – Short cameo but should have scored after a wasteful shot after doing all the hardwork.

Ramires – 6 –  Made his debut but little time to offer anything more than an introduction

Daniel Sturridge – 6 – Little time to make an impact