As we all know, Kevin De Bruyne has yet to play a competitive game for Chelsea, despite being owned by the club since last season’s January transfer window. Signed from Genk, he spent the remainder of the season there, and it was made clear quite early on that he would be loaned out again this season. The only question was where? As it turns out he has been sent to Werder Bremen, after a couple of appearances for Chelsea during pre-season.
How good a destination is this? I think it’s a pretty good one. The Bundesliga is tough, and is comparable in many ways to the Premier League in terms of pace and physicality. Ideally, it would have been nice to see him playing in England, similar to how Lukaku is now, since he could then begin adapting to the Premiership, and we would also have the pleasure of watching him every week! Werder Bremen is a top club with a high standard of football though, so I don’t think we can complain too much. It may also have been part of the Marin deal.
So how’s he doing right now? Here are some videos, statistics, and punditry:
He got an assist in this game, and as you can see, he could have had another. This is the only video I could find of his time in Bremen. There were a lot more but they all seem to have been removed!
In the first week of the Bundesliga he made it into the team of the week and since then, this is his record for the season.
With 2 goals, an assist, and a team of the week performance in five starts for Bremen, he looks promising. He definitely has more to give though and hopefully we will see a lot more. Keep in mind this is a very early look at how he is doing.
There is an idea among some Chelsea fans that at the age of 21, he either has it or he doesn’t. I disagree with this heavily. At this age there is still plenty of room to grow, and greater challenges in Germany that weren’t given to him by the Belgian League will help him do this. Many of the world’s best players (Iniesta/ Xavi / Drogba) didn’t bloom until a little later in their careers. Pirlo had been playing for Reggina on loan when he was 21. Even Lampard was at West Ham at that age! He would have played a bit part at Chelsea this season, competing with up to five different players; on loan he will progress with a high standard of regular football.
I’m sure he will come back to a competitive Chelsea squad and be able to make an impact here. One question though is which position to play him. He is extremely versatile and has experience of playing deep, wide and in the coveted number 10 role. Bremen have even played him up front a little bit this season. Where he will be most valuable to us I have yet to decide. It’s arguably too early to say. What does everyone else think though? Do we even have room to accommodate him? I look forward to seeing how far he progresses in Germany this year.
