3 Chelsea loan players that Mourinho should use next season

Chelsea’s squad is absolutely massive. On top of the 25-man first-team squad that every team has to name, they have 29 players out on loan at various clubs around the world, including 11 players who were recognised as members of the first-team squad before they left. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that they will have to make all these players happy this summer when everyone returns.

There is a stunning amount of quality in the players Chelsea have out on loan. The only problem they have is pushing the established players in the Blues’ squad out of the team. Let’s take a look at three of those players out on loan that should definitely break into the Chelsea squad next season because they are just too good not to.

Romelu Lukaku

Romelu Lukaku

Romelu Lukaku stats

Although he has by no means set the world alight at Everton this season, Lukaku is the obvious heir to Didier Drogba at Stamford Bridge. He relishes leading the line on his own and with quality creators like Eden Hazard, Oscar and Willian playing in behind him, the big Belgian would score a lot of goals for Chelsea next season, A born goalscorer, Lukaku scored 17 times last season for West Brom and has already bagged nine times for the Toffees this time around, more than all three of Chelsea’s recognised strikers.

Despite much criticism, Jose Mourinho let him go at the start of this season, claiming that he “wasn’t ready” to play regularly for Chelsea. If Lukaku can return from his injury and nail down his place in the Belgium starting line-up at the World Cup, it must surely make the Portuguese manager sit up and take notice of him despite theMetro claiming last week that Chelsea are ready to sell the big striker in the summer to aid their Financial Fair Play standing.

Thibaut Courtois

Petr Cech vs Thibaut Courtois

Courtois was the other player that the Metro claimed Chelsea were willing to sell in the summer for Financial Fair Play purposes. But the Blues would be stupid to let the Belgian goalkeeper leave the club as he is one of, if not the best, young goalkeepers in world football.

He has proven in his time at Atletico Madrid that he can pull off the most unbelievable of saves as well as command his area decisively. Standing at 6ft6, you won’t find a more dominant 21-year-old goalkeeper anywhere.

The only problem with integrating Courtois into the squad would be Petr Cech. He is a Mourinho favourite, who has stood between Chelsea’s sticks regularly for a decade now. It would be a very harsh decision to remove him as his form is arguably better than at this time last year. However, the stats from this season seem to be in Courtois’ favour.

He has kept one more clean-sheet than Cech having played in three less games and also completes an extra save per goal than the Czech Republic international.

Kurt Zouma

Kurt Zouma stats

Zouma was a January acquisition from Saint Etienne but was loaned straight back to the French side so he could play regular first-team football for the remainder of this season.

Mourinho avoided a summer battle for the young French defender’s services by making the move mid-season and Zouma is sure to be in his plans for next season. With the Mirror claiming that David Luiz is on his way to Barcelona in the summer, this leaves a place in the Chelsea squad open to Zouma.

Aged just 19, most Chelsea fans see Zouma as the natural successor to John Terry and you can see why. He loves defending and thrives on the aerial battle, something which Mourinho obviously took notice of as he prefers centre halves who concentrate on defending first and foremost. The Frenchman has won 76% of his aerials in 2013-14, more than Terry, Gary Cahill and Luiz. His defensive performance score for the season trumps Luiz’ by some distance too.