Chelsea might have added a pair of talented teenagers to their stockpile of talent this week, if reports from their homelands are to be believed. That won't stop us from keeping an eye on the talent we already have, though, and today we'll take our weekly look at the loanees:
- Romelu Lukaku (West Bromwich Albion): Lukaku continued his generally excellent play yesterday afternoon, as WBA knocked off Liverpool 2-0. He scored the second Albion goal in stoppage time, probably putting to bed any thoughts that Liverpool had about qualifying for the Champions League. Thanks Romelu!
- Thibaut Courtois (Atletico Madrid): Courtois had on of the less impressive games he's played in a while, as Atletico were beaten 2-1 on the weekend. Eric Wynalda doesn't believe in sample size when evaluating a goalkeeper, so if he's aware of the existence of Courtois, I'm sure he's screaming for us to sell.
- Michael Essien (Real Madrid): Essien had a solid 90 minutes for Mourinho's side as they cruised to a 4-1 victory. He's not the old Bison by any stretch, but he's certainly been good enough that Chelsea should be planning to either sell him permanently of use him next season. He's just too good to be wasted on loan.
- Lucas Piazon (Malaga): Piazon got 20 minutes of action this weekend, but didn't make much of an impression for Malaga. With the Champions League resuming, he may see more minutes as fixture congestion becomes an issue.
- Kevin De Bruyne (Werder Bremen): De Bruyne has been struggling a bit recently, but he brushed that off with a pair of excellent games this week. He started alongside Eden Hazard for Belgium mid-week, and as usual was very impressive for his country. He then put in one of his best games of the season on the weekend, scoring a goal, bagging an assist, and hitting the post in addition to excellent all around play.
- Jeffrey Bruma (Hamburger SV): Bruma has been starting lately, and was given a tough test this weekend with Borussia Dortmund. He looked fairly good in the upset victory, before being sent off after about an hour of play.
- Tomas Kalas (Vitesse Arnhem): kalas has been struggling a bit of late, and was dropped to the bench against PSV this weekend. He came on with about 25 minutes left to play, and he looked much better in that spell than he has in recent weeks. Vitesse also looked notably better after he was brought on, and I'd expect to see him returned to the starting lineup for the next fixture.
- Patrick van Aanholt (Vitesse Arnhem): PvA started and looked pretty good in both defense and attack against PSV. He provided the leveling assist just before stoppage time as Vitesse picked up a valuable point.
- Gael Kakuta (Vitesse Arnhem): kakuta was probably the best of the three Chelsea players at Vitesse this weekend, although he was marked fairly heavily whenever Vitesse had the ball. His decision making is much improved from this time last season, when he was just breaking into the Dijon squad.
- Kenneth Omeruo (ADO Den Haag): Omeruo was still away from the Netherlands, but I'm sure all of you are aware by this point how impressive he was for Nigeria. His CAN winners medal is well deserved.
- Amin Affane (Roda JC): Affane made the Roda bench this weekend, but wasn't able to get on the pitch.
- Thorgan Hazard (Zulte-Waregem): The younger Hazard has been in fine form of late, and he continued his excellent work in a 1-1 draw this weekend. He scored the only Zulte goal, and it can be seen below:
- Josh McEachran (Middlesbrough): We noted earlier in the week that Tony Mowbray intended to use McEachran a bit more sparingly, and he was rested this weekend as Boro lost 3-2 to Barnsley. Middlesbrough look like a much better team with McEachran on the pitch, so it will be interesting to see just how often he sits.
- Sam Hutchinson (Nottingham Forest):Still injured.
- Nathaniel Chalobah (Watford): I'm sure the continuous praise of the work done by Chalobah this season is starting to sound like a broken record, but it's been well deserved from his first appearance for the club. He had another impressive outing this weekend, scoring a goal as Watford and Crystal Palace played to a draw. He doesn't seem to be showing any signs of fatigue, as he was all over the midfield in this one.
- Todd Kane (Blackburn Rovers): Did not play.
- Ulises Davila (CE Sabadell): Judging from all the reports I've read, Davila had a poor game as his team were thrashed this weekend. He's one I'd be watching for signs of fatigue, as he's never played regularly for this type of duration in his brief professional career.
- Patrick Bamford (MK Dons): Still recovering from injury.
- Sam Walker (Colchester United): Walker has easily cemented his place as the Colchester No 1 at this point, and kept a clean sheet in a 1-0 victory this weekend.
- Billy Clifford (Colchester United): Clifford continues to start and impress at Colchester, and it would be surprising if his month long loan was not extended shortly.
- Jhon Pirez (Leganes): After proving is existence last weekend, Pirez made his second start in a row this week. By all accounts, he looked pretty good.