Chelsea FC Continental Loan Roundup: August 15, 2013

The Chelsea season has not yet gotten underway, but that doesn't mean we don't have some news to report on our youngsters on loan (as well as Marko Marin). This year we're going to be doing things a bit differently, as there are just so many loanees that one post a week won't be enough. With that in mind, we're going to break things down into two posts, one featuring our talent abroad, with the other featuring our players remaining in England. Here's the first installment of our continental loan roundup:

• Thibaut Courtois (Atletico Madrid) - La Liga starts this coming weekend, and Atletico Madrid are already qualified for the Champions League group stage. There is no doubt that Courtois will be the first choice keeper this season though, and he'll be worth watching closely as he's expected to be brought back to London next season.
• Marko Marin (Sevilla) - Like Courtois, Marin is still waiting for this weekend for the kickoff of La Liga. He has been active in Sevilla's Europa League qualifying wins though, playing the final half hour of a 9-1 aggregate trouncing that got them into the final playoff round. Marin also helped spoil Rio Ferdinand's testimonial, making the defense look awful when finding the back of the net. I love Marko again...

• Oriol Romeu (Valencia) - Valencia's season gets underway this weekend with Malaga, and I'd expect to see Romeu feature heavily.
• Matej Delac (FK Vojvodina) - Since arriving in Serbia, Delac has managed to start all 5 games for Vojvodina. He's managed to keep three total clean sheets, one in each round of Europa League qualifying, and one more in their Serbian Super League opener. He'll likely get another start on Saturday ahead of a pair of crucial playoff fixtures to assure the club reaches the Europa League group stage.
• Lucas Piazon (Vitesse Arnhem) - Piazon just arrived at Vitesse this week, and has commented on the fact that he's not yet as fit as many of his teammates. I don't know if he'll feature Saturday when Vitesse open their Eredivisie campaign against Roda JC, but he'll likely be a fixture in their starting eleven before very long.
• Cristian Cuevas (Vitesse Arnhem) - Like Piazon, Cuevas arrived late enough that he was not involved in Vitesse's failed attempt to qualify for the Europa League. Unlike Piazon, Cuevas will likely have to earn some minutes with impressive cameos as opposed to being inserted straight into the starting eleven when fit.
• Patrick van Aanholt (Vitesse Arnhem) - Van Aanholt was the only Chelsea loanee to take part in Vitesse's first two games, but unfortunately they were pretty lackluster performances by the entire Vitesse squad. PvA didn't really do anything to distinguish himself in those ties, although he didn't do anything to embarrass himself either.
• Gael Kakuta (Vitesse Arnhem) - Gael Kakuta is dealing with a hamstring injury at the moment, and hasn't yet featured for Vitesse while they attempted to qualify for the Europa League.
• Wallace (Inter Milan) - Wallace just arrived at Inter, and may need time to establish himself. It wouldn't surprise me to see a cameo debut on Sunday though, as Inter kick off their Coppa Italia campaign against Serie B side Cittadella. They will open their Serie A season a week later with Genoa.
• Thorgan Hazard (Zulte Waregem) - Hazard has started all five Zulte games this season, and found the back of the net in their opener. The Belgian side is currently 4th in the Belgian table, having taken seven points from their opening three fixtures. They lost their Champions League qualifier to PSV though, and will now have to play two legs against APOEL to qualify for the group stage of the Europa League.

• Jhon Pirez (CD Leganes) - Pirez exists and has returned to the Spanish third division, but they don't get underway until August 24.