lalaboi:
Who is Ibe better than in Nigeria? What has he done that is noteworthy?

Chuba Akpom too? how many professional goals as he scored in his career so far. He is 21, yet to break into arsenal, gone on several loans and has not even scored 10league goals since making a professional debut in 2014. why why why would Nigerian want such a player. We dont want another anichebe abeg.

Ibe doesn't even want to play for you sef

And I certainly cannot blame him. I wouldnt advise anybody to willingly don that green and white.

I don't know how Iwobi was convinced into playing for Nigeria. Someone that was benching Walcott at Arsenal.

page 2222








weedtaker wuz here

Nihilist:


Ibe doesn't even want to play for you sef

And I certainly cannot blame him. I wouldnt advise anybody to willingly don that green and white.

I don't know how Iwobi was convinced into playing for Nigeria. Someone that was benching Walcott at Arsenal.

Weyrey lol. You don throway naija pali abi.

We dont even need that Ibe! who e epp? untalented run and cross ninja like him

Have you heard Iwobi's parents speak? dem be conc naija! couple with the fact that he his okocha's nephew. them nor born am well make e no play for naija.

Chuba Akpom was not even born in the Uk oo according to what i heard on radio a few days ago

Who be that useless Slovenia striker?

lalaboi:


Weyrey lol. You don throway naija pali abi.

We dont even need that Ibe! who e epp? untalented run and cross ninja like him

Have you heard Iwobi's parents speak? dem be conc naija! couple with the fact that he his okocha's nephew. them nor born am well make e no play for naija.

Chuba Akpom was not even born in the Uk oo according to what i heard on radio a few days ago

LOL na by like that?

Super Eagles are a joke run by clowns.

I don't understand how anybody still plays for them sef. You will fly out to camp with your own money and not get reimbursed. You get to camp, no accommodation so you pay for hotel from your own pocket. You get injured and all they do is rub iodine on your wound and give you glucose to lick.

Ibe dey try sha and he could do a job. I just pray he doesn't.

Whats happened to Cahill? Mistakes here and there.

But these boys from Slovenia no sabi score ni? Abi kini gbogbo nonsense yi?

Its officially Keepers night. What a save!

Cahill is a very big joke

Lucky to escape with a yellow here

Kudos to Joe hart

Nihilist:


LOL na by like that?

Super Eagles are a joke run by clowns.

I don't understand how anybody still plays for them sef. You will fly out to camp with your own money and not get reimbursed. You get to camp, no accommodation so you pay for hotel from your own pocket. You get injured and all they do is rub iodine on your wound and give you glucose to lick.

Ibe dey try sha and he could do a job. I just pray he doesn't.

Its always been like this and this where you know those who are selfless and patriotic. In the end, they always get their money.

Dont let idiats like Moses fool you. If Nigeria qualified for the world cup today, all this Chubas and Ibes will want to play for Nigeria without thinking twice.

With this new Manager, we are looking good. We'll get money thing right one day sha

lalaboi:
Who is Ibe better than in Nigeria? What has he done that is noteworthy?

Chuba Akpom too? how many professional goals as he scored in his career so far. He is 21, yet to break into arsenal, gone on several loans and has not even scored 10league goals since making a professional debut in 2014. why why why would Nigerian want such a player. We dont want another anichebe abeg.

We have nothing to lose... If they fail we can decide not to call them up,its not like England will call them up if they fail so we wouldn't be harming their careers

If they turn out to be big then we have everything to gain....There is no way we gonna lose in this case


Getting them before they become big is our best bet,not everyone will be like Iwobi and m even sure he chose us because he is Okocha's cousin

#2222

lalaboi:

Its always been like this and this where you know those who are selfless and patriotic. In the end, they always get their money.

Dont let idiats like Moses fool you. If Nigeria qualified for the world cup today, all this Chubas and Ibes will want to play for Nigeria without thinking twice.

With this new Manager, we are looking good. We'll get money thing right one day sha

Moses parents were killed in Jos riots.

The fact he even turns up to play after the pepper his family has seen in Naija is extreme patriotism.

Ibime:
Moses parents were killed in Jos riots.

The fact he even turns up to play after the pepper his family has seen in Naija is extreme patriotism.

Are you serious about this?

BTW regarding those guys playing for Nigeria, Most of them dont have any connection to Naija beyond that their parents gave them Naija names, Some of them dont even speak any Naija Language, So when they see their talents might not make the European team they fall back to Nigeria

People like Chris Armstrong, Ugo Ehiogu, Efan Ekoku, John Salako Jordan Ibe, Dele Alli, Leon Balogun, Ikechi Anya, Dennis Aogo, Sidney Sam

Also from the commercial perspective, If you make it and make it big as a first teamer for a Grade A country then you are guaranteed a lot of endorsements vs making it for an African team

Imagine if Etoo at the peak of his powers when he was without doubt the best striker in the world chosen to play for Spain oe Okocha was English, or Drogba chose France or if Ozil had chosen Turkey, Henry had chosen some Caribbean country

Most of those guys who chose the lesser country probably thought at the time they made the decision that they wont be able to make the first team of the top team, If they were in demand by the top National team they might choose different

raumdeuter:


Are you serious about this?

I think it was actually the Kaduna riots. His parents were pastors and got murdered by these almajiri people. His extended family then gathered money together to send him to the UK to keep him safe.

Rumours about Carrasco this morning is making me chill here..

Different mood to when I read about the Hazard-Bonnuci swap.

raumdeuter:


Are you serious about this?

BTW regarding those guys playing for Nigeria, Most of them dont have any connection to Naija beyond that their parents gave them Naija names, Some of them dont even speak any Naija Language, So when they see their talents might not make the European team they fall back to Nigeria

People like Chris Armstrong, Ugo Ehiogu, Efan Ekoku, John Salako Jordan Ibe, Dele Alli, Leon Balogun, Ikechi Anya, Dennis Aogo, Sidney Sam

Also from the commercial perspective, If you make it and make it big as a first teamer for a Grade A country then you are guaranteed a lot of endorsements vs making it for an African team

Imagine if Etoo at the peak of his powers when he was without doubt the best striker in the world chosen to play for Spain oe Okocha was English, or Drogba chose France or if Ozil had chosen Turkey, Henry had chosen some Caribbean country

Most of those guys who chose the lesser country probably thought at the time they made the decision that they wont be able to make the first team of the top team, If they were in demand by the top National team they might choose different

George Weah.

Bimffo:
Rumours about Carrasco this morning is making me chill here..

Different mood to when I read about the Hazard-Bonnuci swap.

Carrasco?? He would be a magnificent back up but not consistent enough as a first choice RW
We should go for a top class winger that improves us instantly,not one that Willian has any chance of displacing



But then,he is better than Whatever we have except Hazard

I think I'm quite happy with Willian thank you very much.

Infact I read that Willian is making the highest number of successful crosses per game in the league, and has made fewer key passes than only Dimitri Payet so far this season.

As far as I'm concerned, it's that defence that is problem. Midfield is an artificial problem too though mainly on transitions, and that is Conte's fault.

Nihilist:
I think I'm quite happy with Willian thank you very much.

Infact I read that Willian is making the highest number of successful crosses per game in the league, and has made fewer key passes than only Dimitri Payet so far this season.

As far as I'm concerned, it's that defence that is problem. Midfield is an artificial problem too though mainly on transitions, and that is Conte's fault.

I want to believe you don't really mean that. Last season was his best in a season at Chelsea, what was his output. Apart from his 6 free kicks last season, he scored only 6 goals from open play. That should sum it up!!. He is not very creative neither is he clinical. Chelsea deserves better.

donjazet:


I want to believe you don't really mean that. Last season was his best in a season at Chelsea, what was his output. Apart from his 6 free kicks last season, he scored only 6 goals from open play. That should sum it up!!. He is not very creative neither is he clinical. Chelsea deserves better.

Obviously the context was in comparison to Carrasco.

That being said, the underlying Stats do not lie. Right now Willian is doing a pretty good job given the circumstances.

Obviously we should always look for a better player, but you would have to be pretty spectacular to be better than Willian in this current team.

donjazet:


I want to believe you don't really mean that. Last season was his best in a season at Chelsea, what was his output. Apart from his 6 free kicks last season, he scored only 6 goals from open play. That should sum it up!!. He is not very creative neither is he clinical. Chelsea deserves better.

Despite willian nt giving us what we want, carrasco has nt proven to be better than him. This is someone that is nt sure of starting a match in both his country and club. He looks to me like an inconsistent player, an oscar type of player (my opinion though).

Nihilist:


Obviously the context was in comparison to Carrasco.

That being said, the underlying Stats do not lie. Right now Willian is doing a pretty good job given the circumstances.

Obviously we should always look for a better player, but you would have to be pretty spectacular to be better than Willian in this current team.

this is just the truth.

donjazet:


I want to believe you don't really mean that. Last season was his best in a season at Chelsea, what was his output. Apart from his 6 free kicks last season, he scored only 6 goals from open play. That should sum it up!!. He is not very creative neither is he clinical. Chelsea deserves better.

Despite willian nt giving us what we want, carrasco has nt proven to be better than him. This is someone that is nt sure of starting a match in both his country and club. He looks to me like an inconsistent player, an oscar type of player (my opinion though).

See mahrez for the stat above.
That Cant be normal,
Or else Leicester don enter am. .

nateevs:
George Weah.

He debuted for Liberia in 1987 when he was still playing in Africa, Maybe if he knew he would be that great, he could have delayed and played for a country in Europe

With growing riches from the new television deal, here's how clubs in the Premier League are performing in 2016/17 on a commercial basis when it comes to shirt sponsorship.

According to data compiled by Sporting Intelligence, it shows just how important main shirt sponsorship is for sides in the modern game and also the incredible differences depending on whether you more often sit near the top of the table compared to the bottom.

Across all 20 Premier League clubs this season, the combined sum sees a new record financial return of £226.5million coming in just for fans to advertise a company when they wear their colours with pride.

That's up from figures obtained by Sporting Intelligence for the season of 2015/16 where the sum sat at £222.9million, which itself was up from 2014/15 levels of £191.35million.

Seeing Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City fill the top five slots given how the title falls usually, and the obvious extra pull that regular European action gives them, is no great surprise, but with the range of sponsorship last season being from £47million down to £750,000, that gap has closed by a small margin and now reads £47million down to £1million.

With 'success' having a factor here on negotiation strength, the curiosity in some of the figures comes from there being a 'Premier League safe' apparent bonus for clubs who are the more regular midtable teams, but then this season Southampton's sponsorship went up a reported £5million compared to last year (Europa League Group stage involvement figuring obviously) but top flight stable Stoke City only increased their last deal by a reported £200,000, and although West Bromwich Albion is said to have increased their new deal by £1.3million, they still sit sixth from bottom with a total of £2.5million.

And yet Sunderland, with their recent battles against relegation grew on their last deal by £1million to sit eight from top with a return of £6million.

Leicester continue to be an aberration when you look at their return, but of course they are sponsored by their owners and with the increased natural revenue into their coffers from last season's Premier League win plus Champions League Group Stage money this season their joint second lowest shirt sponsorship income of £1million (alongside promoted Middlesbrough) shouldn't really be read into - as even though the club won't confirm, it's suggested there was clearly a substantial bonus for their success last season.

Of course, with only six clubs in total registering an increase on last year's sums, some sponsorship deals haven't yet been renegotiated and that will also factor in some of the sums shown - as well as the smaller year on year increase in the last two years.


Club
Sponsor/Nation
Value 2016/17
Industry
+/-
Man United
Chevrolet (US)
£47m
Cars
-
Chelsea
Yokohama (Japan)
£40m
Tyes
-
Arsenal
Fly Emirates (UAE)
£30m
Airline
-
Liverpool
Standard Chartered (UK)
£25m
Bank
-
Man City
Etihad (UAE)
£25m
Airline
-
Tottenham
AIA (China)
£16m
Insurance
-
Southampton
Virgin Media (UK)
£6m
Telecoms
+£5m
Sunderland
Dafabet (Philippines)
£6m
Gambling
+£1m
West Ham
Betway (Malta)
£6m
Gambling
-
Everton
Chang Beer (Thailand)
£5.3m
Beer

Total:
£226.5m
(Up from £222.9m)


With the Premier League being an international product thesedays, it's probably no great surprise to see 16 clubs share 14 sponsors with overseas bases, with the USA, China, Japan, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Malta, Costa Rica featuring and Mansion and Dafabet having two clubs each and Hull City's sponsor, SportPesa, are the first African based sponsor in the Premier League.

Only Liverpool, Southampton, Stoke City and Middlesbrough have UK based sponsors.

With few clubs changing sponsors for this year, and including promotion/relegation over the summer, last season only Liverpool, Newcastle, Stoke, Norwich and Southampton could boast British based sponsors, and 14 clubs had overseas sponsors from 12 countries making up the rest.

The betting industry remains a curiosity in the game as well - a blanket ban within football and junior strips unable to carry their branding - betting companies this year account for ten clubs' sponsors but that curiosity also applies to wider sponsorship in the game such as the SkyBet Football League and the many other ties in that come with sport and football in particular.

Betting companies are actually up from seven in 2015/16 so clearly it's big business and clearly has an effect in terms of attracting and keeping punters.

Sporting Intelligence point out for the figures above, they have been sourced by either the sponsor or the club - so are probably as accurate as we'll get.

The German football market is said to be the second strongest when it comes to commercial shirt sponsorship deals, but for 2015/16 industry analysts Repucom have data that indicates the Premiership is a more than doubly attractive market, with German Bundesliga clubs only taking in £101million - roughly where Premier League clubs were six years ago - so the growth alone is phenomenal and many would argue why that still doesn't translate to fans when you consider the price of match day tickets, season tickets and even the replica shirts themselves.

As for shirt prices you can't get much change these days out of £50 for shirts alone, and the Premier League is largely split with ten clubs charging just under £50, and ten clubs charging over £50 - with two charging £60 now.

A full kit for two clubs costs over £100, with Burnley charging the cheapest this year at a full kit price of £66, and as fans will know who have youngsters in the house, the discount for far smaller kits isn't exactly massive either.

Twisting from shirt sponsorships, and moving into the realms of kit supply details - details for the 2015/16 season (again compiled by Sporting Intelligence) showed Manchester United's deal with Adidas guaranteed them £70million a year and even Real Madrid's deal is only worth £30million a year. Below them we have Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool on a reported £28million a year.

With no other Premier League side figuring in the kit supply deal top ten which ends with Paris Saint-Germain earning £17.5million, that's clearly another area of growth clubs will be looking to exploit to increase revenues and with the top ten in that list taking a total of around £280million from those deals alone that's a lot of additional cash to tap into.

Again though relative success, dominance of the domestic top flight league and greater exposure through the Champions League gives those clubs a boost many others could only dream of.

Admittedly as I've read around there is some debate on some of the sums listed but it still serves to give a very good picture about how clubs now rake in the millions with the fans effectively no longer being directly involved in that - but secondary as purchasers not supporters.

But maybe that's why the working man's game is now known as a 'product' and clubs focus on enhancing the 'customer experience' and in many cases prioritising results over entertainment value.

Football has always been a results based business, but with every passing year the result seems to be less about three points.

Read more: http://www.manchesterunited.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=464002#ixzz4Mt1vneb8

[size=14pt]Who is Tammy Abraham, the Chelsea loanee making headlines with Bristol City?[/size]

Chelsea have an incredible 38 players out on loan this season, but the one creating the most headlines is English teenager Tammy Abraham. He turned 19 at the beginning of this month and has a huge future ahead of him, if he is managed correctly. This season, he is on loan at Bristol City in the Championship and he already looks to be one of the best strikers in the division. The Chelsea loanee is leading the scoring charts with eight goals from eleven matches, an incredible return considering that this is his first real taste of senior football. His form with Bristol City earned him a call-up to the England U21 squad and he scored twice during his first start for the side against Bosnia.

Although Chelsea are known for raiding youth academies across the UK, Abraham has been at the club since the U8 age group and has steadily built himself a reputation for being the best talent coming through the ranks at Stamford Bridge. It was his performances for the U18 squad in various competitions that brought him to the world’s attention. In the 2016 UEFA Youth League, he finished as the tournament’s second top scorer with eight goals. This was before scoring the winning goal in the side’s victory over Manchester City in the FA Youth Cup.

His incredible scoring record for the youth sides resulted in Abraham training with the senior squad towards the end of last season and he impressed interim manager Guus Hiddink. The Dutchman gave Abraham his Chelsea debut against Liverpool in May and the striker went on to feature against Leicester City on the final day of the season. The excitement around the young striker reached an all-time high and it was a coup for Bristol City to sign Abraham on loan this summer. The club’s manager Lee Johnson summed that up when he labelled his loan signing a ‘£20 million player’.

The form of Abraham in August was enough to convince the Championship club to sell last season’s top scorer Jonathan Kodjia to Aston Villa for an eye-watering fee of £15 million. The money involved certainly played a part, but they realised that they had a ready-made replacement in Abraham and made a decision that they may not have done previously in the summer. The 19-year-old has gone from strength-to-strength since Kodjia left and is relishing his responsibility as the team’s main goal threat.

Abraham is a complete forward, who is able to hold up the ball and pick a pass. However, his best attribute is his movement off the ball. He is more intelligent that other young forwards as he is capable of finding space in the penalty area and timing his runs perfectly behind the opposition defence, while he is an excellent finisher. His chance conversion is at 36.4% this season, which highlights how clinical he can be when provided with good service.

As well as causing problems with his pace, the Chelsea loanee is tall and has shown that he can compete physically in the Championship. He is averaging 1.4 aerial duels won per game which is impressive considering he has little experience in senior football. This is certainly an area of his game that he can improve over the course of his loan spell in Bristol, but he isn’t easily bullied either.

The future looks bright for Abraham and his career has been managed intelligently to date. Bristol City was a superb loan destination and he is going to continue to develop at Ashton Gate until May. It is the next step that will be interesting as his chances at Stamford Bridge will be limited, regardless of how he does for the rest of the season. The hype building around Abraham will offer a new challenge over the coming months. He will now be expected to perform consistently for Bristol City and he no longer has the element of surprise that he had at the beginning of the season. If he manages to maintain a healthy scoring rate and finish the season with 25+ goals, the next destination for him will surely be the Premier League, either with or without Chelsea.

http://tbrfootball.com/who-is-tammy-abraham-the-chelsea-loanee-making-headlines-with-bristol-city/

[size=14pt]A New Season & A New Magic Octopus (Almost)[/size]

Regular readers will remember in 2015/16 a super computer crunched the numbers as the season went along to determine final places and final point positions in the Premier League table.

Now the magic Octopus doesn't appear to be fully back this season just yet - maybe their tentacles are still being waxed or something? (and no I still don't know why I call a super computer an Octopus either) - but in the last few weeks based on the start to the 2016/17 campaign, some numbers have been crunched as it comes to who will win the Premier League crown, who will find themselves in Europe and the inevitable relegation battle and who will find themselves in the Championship next term.

Talksport ran the piece - along with others - and I believe it's again Stats' Super Computer being used as it was last year - I just can't find the table this time round with the point predictions on their website!

The numbers were crunched as on October 5.


Pos:
Club
1
Manchester City
2
Arsenal
3
Liverpool
4
Tottenham Hotspur
5
Manchester United
6
Chelsea
7
Everton
8
Leicester City
9
Crystal Palace
10
Southampton
11
West Bromwich Albion
12
Stoke City
13
West Ham
14
Middlesbrough
15
Watford
16
Bournemouth
17
Swansea City
18
Burnley
19
Hull City
20
Sunderland


Of course with so few games played, at this stage nothing can be read into the final predictions, and many will wonder at final placings at the minute given the relative form of some sides.

But hopefully in the coming weeks the full table, with expected points and so on, will give a clearer picture and as games tick by - just last last season in many ways - the predicted table did start reflecting the actual table as the months ticked by.

So whilst nobody should be placing bets on it - it'll be interesting come May once again to look at this early table and see just how different it actually is.


Read more: http://www.chelsea.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=572316#ixzz4MtCFBAvg

[size=14pt]Making sense of Roman's record Chelsea move for Leonardo Bonucci.[/size]

Leonardo Bonucci is Antonio Conte’s top priority in the next transfer window and Roman Abramovich is preparing to bankroll a massive world record bid of £60m to sign him.

This is great news for all Chelsea fans after witnessing only what could be best described as atrocious defending against Liverpool and Arsenal of late. Although it seems that Chelsea are preparing a straightforward deal, it appears that Juventus are looking at Cesc Fabregas in addition to a fee in order to contemplate selling him. According to The Sun, Chelsea would rather offer Eden Hazard as an option instead.

I personally find all of this staggering for many reasons. First and foremost, no one in the world is worth that amount of money if you think realistically. The prices in Football these days have ballooned to extortionate amounts and for a fee like that to be quoted for a Defender is unheard of.

Secondly, we have to ask whether or not Cesc Fabregas would be interested in a move to La Liga? If you are to believe reports recently, he was offered the chance to join AC Milan and turned them down; choosing to stay and fight for his place in the Chelsea team. It’s clear that he is passionate about the Premier League having taken the opportunity to return after his time in Barcelona.

Finally, why on earth would Chelsea consider selling their best player in Eden Hazard? It makes no sense whatsoever because someone who has the natural talent and ability he has should be able to fit inside the framework of any team playing any formation. Whether it’s 3-5-2, 3-4-3 or 4-3-3, surely there has to be room for the Premier League Player of the Year two seasons ago?

The approach and intent of any club as they approach a transfer window albeit in the summer or in January should be to improve their squad and the options they have available. I totally understand 100% our intention to buy a world class Defender but to potentially lose two players of high class in other areas completely defeats the object of what you are trying to do.

If Chelsea are to be successful again and challenge for the top four this season, with title the aim next season, the club must keep hold of their best players. Therefore, I see no substance in any reports of Chelsea offering players to Juventus in exchange for Leonardo Bonucci.

Could a £60m offer from Roman Abramovich tempt them into selling? We will have to wait and see.

http://www.chelseadaft.org/2016/10/making-sense-of-romans-record-chelsea.html?m=0

Ruling it in

The rules and regulations that form modern-day top-level football can be complicated or tough to pin down, and in the latest edition of our feature answering some of your questions about them, the topics involved focus on the advantage rule and substitutes...

Tom Le Sauvage from Guernsey starts us off with an interesting query. He asks:

Imagine a player commits an offence which will be deemed as a second yellow card, or even a straight red, but the referee gives advantage to the other team and play carries on.

What happens if the advantage is wasted, the ball fails to go out of play, and then the offending player goes on to score for his team before the referee has been given the chance to send that player off?

Well Tom, the area regarding advantages in Rule 12 of the Laws of the Game states that:

‘If the referee plays the advantage for an offence for which a caution/send off would have been issued had play been stopped, this caution/send off must be issued when the ball is next out of play…

‘…Advantage should not be applied in situations involving serious foul play, violent conduct or a second cautionable offence, unless there is a clear opportunity to score a goal. The referee must send off the player when the ball is next out of play, but if the player plays the ball or challenges/interferes with an opponent, the referee will stop play, send off the player and restart with an indirect free-kick.’

So, if the advantage is not capitalised upon and play carries on, the player who is due to be sent off cannot get involved in play. As soon as they do, the referee must whistle for an indirect free-kick and send them off. We hope that answers your question Tom.

On a separate disciplinary-related issue, Joshua Block recalls seeing Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone sent off last season after one of his coaches threw an extra ball on to the pitch to waste time. Joshua would like to know:

What would happen if a substitute warming up interfered with play, either by kicking the ball when it was in play, or obstructing an opposition player? Would it be a yellow or a red card?

Well Joshua, a substitute, or indeed substituted player, would be cautioned if found guilty of:

• delaying the restart of play

• dissent by word or action

• entering or re-entering the field of play without the referee’s permission

• unsporting behaviour

If, however, the offence was deemed to be especially serious, say for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity, the substitute or substituted player would be sent off. In the highly unlikely event a substitute would enter the field of play and get involved, it would be at the referee’s discretion to decide how cynical their impact was and so what punishment was required.

Club's official site.

[size=14pt]Is the Centre-Back Crisis Answer Closer to Home?[/size]

At a time whereby Chelsea are struggling to develop a degree of defensive stability with the middle of our defence looking very porous, a strange piece of transfer tittle-tattle has emerged this morning.

Whilst tabloid speculation continues to link Chelsea with the Juventus centre-back Leonardo Bonucci and with Chelsea, supposedly, prepared to pay a huge price for the 29-year-old centre-back, could the answer to our prayers be a lot closer to home?

The reason we ask is that lurking in the pages of the popular tabloid publication The Sun on Sunday, is that it is being implied that there is interest in our young defender currently out on loan, Andreas Christensen.

But the interest in Christensen is coming from not just any old side but one of the top-sides in Europe, Barcelona.

It seems that 20-year-old Christensen has impressed the Catalan giants with his displays and that the Spanish side see the Danish defender as the natural successor to Gerard Pique.

Christensen is currently on a lengthy loan spell with the Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach and the inference is also given that Antonio Conte is looking for more experience in the heart of the Chelsea defence rather than give youth a chance.

Read more: http://www.chelsea.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=572305#ixzz4MtFMexzo