Chelsea’s road along the knockout phase of the Champions League to the Final in Munich had been tough. A thrilling round of 16 win against Napoli was succeeded by a slightly more comfortable tie against Benfica. Then, in a thrilling, epic, two-leg semi-final, the Londoners overcame the tournament favourites, Barcelona, in their own back yard. Saturday 19th May saw tens of thousands of Chelsea fans stream into Munich via air,…
The Loan Report: May 13-19
This week’s Loan Report is in honour of the fine country of Belgium. Chelsea have become increasingly enamoured with their footballers in recent years, and many of them continue to make impressive progress in their young careers. This week, Romelu Lukaku scored his first professional hat-trick, Kevin De Bruyne reached double figures in goals on the last weekend of the Bundesliga season, Thorgan Hazard netted twice as Zulte-Waregem confirmed their…
Loanee Review: Patrick Bamford
To round up the 2012-13 youth football season at Chelsea, we’re reviewing every single one of the Chelsea youngsters currently on the books who have spent time out on loan during the campaign. Here, we focus on Patrick Bamford. Club: Milton Keynes Dons Appearances: 14 (4 goals) The Story After a stuttering start to his professional career (save for two brief outings as a Nottingham Forest player before joining Chelsea),…
Loanee Review: Patrick van Aanholt
To round up the 2012-13 youth football season at Chelsea, we’re reviewing every single one of the Chelsea youngsters currently on the books who have spent time out on loan during the campaign. Here, we focus on Patrick van Aanholt. Club: Vitesse Arnhem (Netherlands) Appearances: 31 (1 goal) The Story For some players, it takes them a bit longer to put everything together and truly flourish. For Patrick van Aanholt,…
Munich Weekend on TheChels.Net – Travels With The Chels
If you’re a Chelsea fan and you can’t remember what you were doing this day 12 months ago, you were probably either under five or consuming illegal substances. I remember very clearly, and wrote a ‘Travels’ (published here in a slightly abridged version) to prove it…. This night had it all. There was hope. There was despair. There were tears. There was joy. And that was just the three and…
Munich Weekend on TheChels.Net – Munich Memories Part 2
Thanks to all those who’ve offered their Munich Memories. Today’s readers’ recollections are:- Prabheek Rajbhandary (@prateek423) remembers ‘getting my head shaved and not remembering it the next day due to drunkenness’! Ken Barkway was in the top tier of Chelsea end when DD rolled the ball into the net – he recalls there was silence, an almighty roar then sobbing. Finally, Martin Wickham had a brush with the stars:- ‘At…
Loanee Review: Sam Walker
To round up the 2012-13 youth football season at Chelsea, we’re reviewing every single one of the Chelsea youngsters currently on the books who have spent time out on loan during the campaign. Here, we focus on Sam Walker. Club(s): Bristol Rovers, Colchester United Appearances: 14 (Bristol Rovers), 19 (Colchester United) The Story For the second consecutive season, Sam had loan spells in England’s third and fourth tiers, and they…
Loanee Review: Milan Lalkovic
To round up the 2012-13 youth football season at Chelsea, we’re reviewing every single one of the Chelsea youngsters currently on the books who have spent time out on loan during the campaign. Here, we focus on Milan Lalkovic. Club: Vitória SC (Portugal) Appearances: 8 (0 goals) The Story Entering the last year of his contract, a campaign during which he would turn 20, a loan move for Milan Lalkovic…
Munich Weekend on TheChels.Net – Munich Memories Part 1
OK, so you might barely have recovered from Chelsea’s triumphant trip to Amsterdam to lift the UEFA Cup, but at TheChels we have no hesitation in celebrating the first anniversary of that extraordinary night in Munich 12 months ago – OK, 363 days ago, to be pedantic. On Sunday we’ll be revisiting a classic ‘Travels With The Chels’ and on Monday there’ll be a special ‘What C ‘IF’ C’ on…
Loanee Review: Kenneth Omeruo
To round up the 2012-13 youth football season at Chelsea, we’re reviewing every single one of the Chelsea youngsters currently on the books who have spent time out on loan during the campaign. Here, we focus on Kenneth Omeruo. Club: ADO Den Haag (Netherlands) Appearances: 33 The Story It’s been something of a breakout season for Omeruo, but his exposure has had almost nothing to do with his performances in…