There have been a few new players turning out in blue this season, sadly very few from the ranks of the academy.
But of the newbies, there have been three standouts for ‘breakthrough player of the season’.
Andre Schurrle
The young German Jonny Bravo lookalike came to the club with a big reputation with his performances in the Bundesliga and for his national side. Capable of running at defences and unleashing a powerful shot, he is a player who on his day will score goals and excite crowds.
Of course in a Mourinho team he is also required to track back and defend for the team. He flattered to deceive earlier in the season, but clearly worked hard on different aspects of his game. He first caught the eye with a couple of superb goals and a decent display against Stoke City, but for me his best two games of the season were against Fulham where he scored a brilliant hat-trick and got massive praise from Jose who claimed he was the best finisher at the club, and against PSG where he came on to great effect and hit the bar with a fantastic shot but also showed a lot of discipline.
If he keeps that level of performance up he could become a regular for a Jose managed Chelsea possessing speed, skill, discipline and an eye for goal.
Nemanja Matic
Many were surprised that we coughed up £21 million for a player we used to own before selling him to Benfica as part of a swap deal for David Luiz!
But in his second game for the club, Matic was to prove what a shrewd bit of business that was in January. His performance was remarkable against Man City away and instrumental in us winning 1-0, not least his beasting of Yaya Toure, most knowledgeable fans choice for Premier League Player of the Year.
Within a matter of months, Matic gives the appearance of having played for Chelsea as our key defensive midfielder for the whole of his life. In fact his assuring and muscular presence was definitely missed during our Champions’ League. He gets nominated as ‘Man of the Match’ almost every week in our Match Awards, and is without doubt one of the first names on the team sheet. He has had an amazing start to his career. Let’s hope he gets even better and can be the mainstay of our midfield for many years to come.
Willian
Having seen Willian play against us for Shakhtar Donetsk in the past, I wasn’t really convinced. He looked like an overplaying, albeit very skilful, typical Brazilian player. A fancy Dan. All fart and no shit. Surely not worth the £32 million we paid for him in what seemed to be a dodgy deal between Roman Abramovich and his Russian mates.
How wrong I was. He did take a little bit of time to settle in to playing for Chelsea in The Premier League, but he well and truly announced himself with a wonderful goal against Norwich on his full League debut.
It would be nice to see him have a shot more often than he seems to do, but what surprises me most is his boundless energy and willingness to track back – no wonder Jose loves him – as well as his clear ability to link play and use his skill to beat an opponent. He did this to great effect combining his energy, determination, skill and surprising physicality to set up our goal against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League semi-final.
He is not the finished article yet, but like Matic, he generally features weekly in our Man of the Match nominations which shows he has quickly reached a level of consistency at club.
If you want to vote for the Breakthrough Player of the Season then all you have to do is vote below. We will be revealing the results and discussing what we voted for on the Chelsea FanCast on Monday 19th May. Watch the show live at 19.00-21.00 GMT (Voting closes at 19.30 GMT) by going to sportstonightlive.com or on this website here or of course you can listen and post in the chat room at Mixlr.
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