First team squad <dl><dd>Updated 4 January 2013.<sup id="cite_ref-133" class="reference">[133]</sup></dd></dl> <small>Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.</small> <table border="0"> <tbody><tr> <td bgcolor="#FFFFFF" valign="top" width="48%"> <table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr bgcolor="#AAD0FF"> <th width="1%">No.</th> <th width="1%"> </th> <th width="1%">Position</th> <th width="75%">Player</th> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">1</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">GK</td> <td>Petr Čech (third captain)</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">2</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">DF</td> <td>Branislav Ivanović</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">3</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">DF</td> <td>Ashley Cole</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">4</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">DF</td> <td>David Luiz</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">6</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">MF</td> <td>Oriol Romeu</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">7</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">MF</td> <td>Ramires</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">8</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">MF</td> <td>Frank Lampard (vice-captain)</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">9</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">FW</td> <td>Fernando Torres</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">10</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">MF</td> <td>Juan Mata</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">11</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">MF</td> <td>Oscar</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">12</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">MF</td> <td>Mikel</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">13</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">FW</td> <td>Victor Moses</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">15</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">MF</td> <td>Florent Malouda</td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> <td width="1%"> </td> <td bgcolor="#FFFFFF" valign="top" width="48%"> <table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr bgcolor="#AAD0FF"> <th width="1%">No.</th> <th width="1%"> </th> <th width="1%">Position</th> <th width="75%">Player</th> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">17</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">MF</td> <td>Eden Hazard</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">19</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">DF</td> <td>Paulo Ferreira</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">21</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">MF</td> <td>Marko Marin</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">22</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">GK</td> <td>Ross Turnbull</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">24</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">DF</td> <td>Gary Cahill</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">26</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">DF</td> <td>John Terry (captain)</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">28</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">DF</td> <td>César Azpilicueta</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">29</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">FW</td> <td>Demba Ba</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">30</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">MF</td> <td>Yossi Benayoun</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">34</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">DF</td> <td>Ryan Bertrand</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">40</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">GK</td> <td>Henrique Hilário</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">57</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">DF</td> <td>Nathan Aké</td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> For recent transfers, see 2012–13 Chelsea F.C. season. Out on loan <small>Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.</small> <table border="0"><tbody><tr><td bgcolor="#FFFFFF" valign="top" width="48%"> <table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr bgcolor="#AAD0FF"> <th width="1%">No.</th> <th width="1%"> </th> <th width="1%">Position</th> <th width="75%">Player</th> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">5</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">MF</td> <td>Michael Essien (on loan to Real Madrid until 30 June 2013)</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">14</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">MF</td> <td>Kevin De Bruyne (on loan to Werder Bremen until 30 June 2013)</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">16</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">GK</td> <td>Thibaut Courtois (on loan to Atlético Madrid until 30 June 2013)</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">18</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">FW</td> <td>Romelu Lukaku (on loan to West Bromwich Albion until 30 June 2013)</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">20</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">MF</td> <td>Josh McEachran (on loan to Middlesbrough until 31 May 2013)</td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> <td width="1%"> </td> <td bgcolor="#FFFFFF" valign="top" width="48%"> <table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr bgcolor="#AAD0FF"> <th width="1%">No.</th> <th width="1%"> </th> <th width="1%">Position</th> <th width="75%">Player</th> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">27</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">DF</td> <td>Sam Hutchinson (on loan to Nottingham Forest until 31 May 2013)</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">31</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">MF</td> <td>Gaël Kakuta (on loan to Vitesse until 31 May 2013)</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">35</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">FW</td> <td>Lucas Piazón (on loan to Málaga until 30 June 2013)</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">38</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">DF</td> <td>Patrick van Aanholt (on loan to Vitesse until 30 June 2013)</td> </tr> <tr class="vcard agent"> <td style="text-align: right;">43</td> <td style="text-align: right;"></td> <td style="text-align: center;">DF</td> <td>Jeffrey Bruma (on loan to Hamburg until 30 June 2013)</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table>
Not sure. I assumed he was sold too. I just copy and pasted this from wikipedia. I do vaguely remember reading something about him being loaned now that it's been brought to my attention.
oh yeah he has deffo been loaned for the season. not sure about a buy out clause. id be surprised though
That doesn't really answer his question to be fair. I don't think he's really ruining us as such. I think it was stupid to appoint him to begin with and I disagree with some decisions he's made but the fans should get over it and stop distracting the players by chanting shit mid-game and what not. How hard would it be to focus when during play you've got 35,000+ of your own fans booing the coach and chanting against him instead of cheering for you?
Yeah it would be but how is it Rafa's fault if they don't? They finished 6th last year and they could easily finish 3rd this year. Given how the fans have treated him, that's a ridiculously good managerial performance, given the loss of Drogba.
pretty sure they were 3rd when di matteo left.... certainly by a more comfortable margin than they are now i am at work now, i really want to reply to this. ill do it later tonight.
Torres is my favourite soccer (yeah, apologies. But i'll never, ever refer to it as football) player of all time. Hilarious to many i'm sure due to his failures at Chelsea but he's the reason I first got into soccer. I was bored one night a few years back and wanted to bet on something and so I put $200 on Chelsea to score 2 or more goals @ roughly $1.50. There were about 6 minutes left and it was only 1-0 to Chelsea and I was cursing my stupidity for betting so much on a sport I never watch and knew so very little about when this happened: <iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gQnFN1vTQ9s" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe> I nearly fell off my chair when the ball died like that and it seemed the chance was lost. I jumped clean out of my chair and shouted "Fuck yeah!" when Torres netted it. Since then i've had a man crush on Torres. Unbeknownst to me at the time, that was Torres' first goal for Chelsea. EDIT: Eden Hazard is fast closing in on Number 1 territory but I don't think he'll ever quit pip Torres for the mantle.
Gun one of my favourite players. With Toure, Essien, Hazard, Aguerro & Mata it's almost impossible to not enjoy watching you guys play as much as you're cunts.